At the 150/300 level play seemed to have loosened up a bit. No one at my table was in any imminent danger, with the shortest stack at t3,000 or so. I include the next hand only for comic relief – I had no part in it and folded some trash in early position.
After my fold the man who seemed like the most solid player raised to t1,000 from his stack of t7,500 or so. The clueless lady mentioned heavily in Part 1 called him and the small blind went all in for t4,000. The initial raiser called quite quickly and then clueless lady seemed to agonise over her decision. I actually have her on tape saying: “But that’s all my money… if I lose I might go out… this is tough, I have a really really good hand…” At this point you’d be forgiven for putting her on something like JJ or AK, but then she says: “OK, I’m going to call.” She has about t5,000 so it’s near enough her whole stack, but as she flat called all the money goes into the small blind’s side pot.
The solid player announces a bet of t1,000 in the dark, and after I explain to the newbie what that means she calls.
They turn up the hands.
The small blind has two black nines, a reasonable holding for what was essentially a squeeze play from a shortstack. Unfortunately the solid player with AA was never going to fold, and neither was the novice woman with her powerhouse… Qh 8h!
It would be a lovely ending to this anecdote to tell you that the flop ran out with three low hearts, but unfortunately the player with the bullets made aces up and the turn and river couldn’t bring a nine. The AA-holding player scooped a massive pot, now holding twice the chips of anyone at the table and eliminating two players, including one who was incredibly entertaining. At this point it was announced we were to have a quick break for a colour-up and breaking some tables.
I was told I’d be moving to a totally new table, and upon sitting down I had mixed feelings. All the players had massive stacks, which was both good and bad news for me – juicy implied odds if I was the best player there, but with seven big stacks there I had to give some of them credit for being decent players. Totally card-dead, I watched the play for a while and deduced there were some good players and some donkeys.
Quicker than I thought the blinds reached 300/600, and with my stack at t6,300 I wasn’t too happy with that. No sooner had I posted my small blind than I had the opportunity to double up, however. The donkey under the gun raised to t1,200 and received two callers when it limp/folded back to me with QQ. I had two options – I could move in now, which would be reasonable bet size and probably win me a good sized pot. Or I could flat call and move in on any flop. I favoured the former, as a flop with overcards or straight/flush combinations would be worrisome for a single pair. Surprisingly my caller was the big blind and everyone else folded. The pot was t16,200 and mine for the taking as the big blind showed TT. I was very very aware of cold decks and his 18% chance of knocking me out, but the flop of QQ2 lessened his chances somewhat! I scooped a massive pot and the table congratulated me warmly, as though making quads was a deliberate and skilled move on my part. I wasn’t complaining though.
They say lightening doesn’t strike twice, but apparently this deck of cards had never heard that saying, as in the next four hands I was dealt AK twice, AA once and JJ once. Here’s how they went down:
AK – it folded to me on the button, I raised to t2,000 and both blinds folded.
AA – it folded to me on the cutoff, I raised to t2,000 and the button and both blinds folded.
JJ – it limped (yay! Money!) to me and I raised to t3,000. The button called and both limpers folded. The flop was a good 5-4-8 rainbow and I bet t5,000. The button smooth called and the turn bought a beautiful J. It made two hearts and slowplaying didn’t cross my mind. With t10,000 or so left in my stack and a t17,000 pot I moved in and he folded.
AK – it folded to me and I raised to t2,000. Evidently the table had had enough of me and the small blind re-raised to t6,000. The big blind came over the top of him for all his chips and the small blind insta-called out of turn and turned up QQ. I laughed and folded face-up, and the big blind showed JJ. He spiked a jack on the turn and eliminated the over-eager bettor.
The tables broke again and blinds were 400/800 as I was moved once more. I spotted the solid player from my first table but didn’t recognise anyone else. This particular table was 7-handed. My stack was t25,000 give or take a few hundred and according to the whiteboard the chip leader had t40,800. I was the biggest stack on my table with 22 runners left. Only the top six got paid but everyone at the final table received a free drink and a packet of peanuts. Consolation indeed for the bubble.
Related posts:
- My first live MTT - Part 4 The very first hand of our new full table was...
- My First Live MTT – Part 1 Last Wednesday, after dutifully writing my blog for PokerEagles,...
- My first live MTT - Part 3 My new table seemed to be delivering me absolutely perfect...
- Pot Limit Omaha Poker Game Last week I got invited to a pot limit Omaha...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
