Step 6 (updated)

Much of this post was written while I was playing the tournament. (Updated May 30 with the second half included)

What you cannot tell from the descriptions below, but was very noticeable, was the speed of play. We played almost 2 hands per minute, this is much faster than the speed I am used to. It was probably because so many people were folding already in the early stages, where I am used to seeing 5- to 7-handed pots. It was clear that some people knew exactly what they were doing, in particular Brink82 and Chalab01. I am less sure about toliman_54 (finished 2nd) who was seated further away from me, but seeing as he survived longer than I did, I'll give him some credit as well :-)

Clear mistakes from me are marked in red below. A nice thing about this game was that I managed to eliminate three opponents and fatally crippled a fourth one.

THE HANDS:

Won the first hand: got 88 OTB. All folded to me, I raised to 5BB, both blinds fold.

Limped with KJ, flop AK2. Both blinds check, I bet 80 into 120 pot. SB calls, turn is third diamond (9), SB checks again. I check, river 5 gives him two pair... he had 5-2!! Stack 1900.

Limped with 77, missed flop, bet 80 against one caller (who plays a lot of pots), he folds. Back to 2000.

Limped with JTd, only BB plays. Flopped two diamonds, called 80. Turn is Th, called 120. He checks river, I bet 200 into 500 pot, he folds. 2200. (Added later: this was actually also quite a clear mistake, if not one that mattered very much. I had to assume I was ahead here. A bet of 100 would have been better, he might still have called that. My bet was actually designed to get him to fold, so it was kind of a scared play.)

Called with AJo UTG and called 3xBB raise. Miss flop and have to fold to c-bet. 1890. On next hand, get 44 and call minraise of same player. Flop QQ9, I bet and he folds. 2040.

TT as SB. Call raise of 3BB=180, flop AKx. I don't dare to try anything here and fold to a c-bet. Stack 1860.

Tried to steal with Q8s in MP. (Heck, this table is playing so tight, why not.) BB, the short stack, calls. Flop Qxx, he goes all-in for 530, I call. Pot is 920 and I am fairly sure I am ahead here. He has 44. I eliminated the first player! 9 left, stack 2600.

88 as SB, limp, bet into flop JJT, both opps fold. Stack 2700, level 50/100.

QhJd as BB, button calls with J7s... Flop 873 with two diamonds, I bet and he calls. Turn is Qd! Now I check, he bets 300 into pot 650 and I just call, worried about the flush but with a flush draw myself. He must be worried too since he checks the blank river behind me. Stack 3400.

A9 OTB, all fold and I call. Flop A42 with two spades, BB bets 200 into 300 pot, I just call. He then checks the turn 7. Thinking that he was just bluffing, I bet another 300. He checkraises me all-in for 920! I have to call 620 into a 1920 pot, a trivial call and he has A5. This is the second player I eliminated! 7 players left, stack 4400.

Stole two pots in a row, once as button I had to c-bet with K2 on a flop of AQx... (My opponent had checked after thinking for a while, so I knew I had a good chance here.) Stack now 4670.

Some time later, after folding a number of hands in a row, I get 55 in MP and raise to 3BB = 600. The small blind goes all-in for 1260 and I have a clear call, getting 3:1 on my money. He has AK and I win the race. 6 players left, stack 6230! However, on the very next hand I get 66 UTG+1. UTG calls and I raise to 600 again. (PS June 13th: another relatively clear mistake, raising on two successive hands is likely to lead to somebody calling. Also, in the previous game with 55 I was first in, here there was already somebody in the pot.) UTG calls, making him pot committed. He raises my c-bet all-in for 430 and has 99. Down to 5200.

A number of hands later (stack 5100), I raise to 900 = 3BB with KJ UTG, perhaps not my best move of the night. The same player from just now, here BB, goes all-in for 560 to call this and has AK. That's the second time I doubled him up! Stack 3910.

A dubious call, a failed steal and some blinds bring me down to 2440. However, three players are still below me with stacks 1270 (twice) and 1870. Just a few hands later, the two smallest stacks go all-in against eachother! Now I am officially in the money and assured of $500, easily my biggest payout ever. Now the question is how much further I can get with the second smallest stack.

As SB, I go all-in after all fold and do not get called, fortunately. (This seemed to be the only way to get money from the BB, who made a habit of reraising my raises.)

Then I get AA as BB and stupidly reraise after the button raises. He folds, so that I make only 900 from this hand. However, this does move me into 2nd place momentarily. Disaster strikes a few hands later when I raise with AQ and run into AK in the BB, putting me down to 1770. But then, with AK UTG, I go all-in and the BB (you know, the player I doubled up twice already in this game) called with AT for nearly his entire stack. I did not do the calculations, but this move seems dubious. Anyway I finally win a hand against him and get back to 3690.

We are now three small stacks and one huge stack which keeps getting bigger by hammering the other stacks. After three rounds with four players, the smallest stack makes a stand with A9 when the button raises all-in, and loses to Q7. Now I am ensured $700 but I also clearly have the smallest stack. I get lucky when my all-in with KQ gets called by 55 and I turn a straight. However, on the very next hand, the button raises to 3BB = 1200 and I go all-in for 6380 with AK for some mysterious reason. I might just have called and waited to see a flop, but nooo. He has JJ and I lose the race, nearly losing my entire stack in the process. So this is where I basically lost $300 (and possibly more) on a coin flip.

The penultimate hand was quite incredible. I was already down to 540, blinds 200/400. I could not believe my eyes when I saw what my opponents did.

Blinds: t200/t400
3 players

Pre-flop: (3 players) Hero is BB with 4♠ 8♣
Button raises to t1200, SB raises all-in t11100, Hero folds, Button calls all-in t6570.

Uncalled bets: t3530 returned to SB.

Flop: T♣ 6♥ 9♦ (t8570, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t15940)

Turn: 7♥ (t8570, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t15940)

River: 8♠ (t8570, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t15940)

Results:
Final pot: t8570

Brink82 shows [ Jh, Ah ]a straight Seven to Jack.
toliman_54 shows [ Kd, As ]a straight Six to Ten.
toliman_54 wins 3,530 chips from side pot #1 with a straight, Six to Ten.
Brink82 wins 15,940 chips from the main pot with a straight, Seven to Jack.


All Brink82 had to do was fold to be sure of $1000. So this bet could have cost him $300 (third place gets $700). On the other hand, this win gave him a completely dominant position and he indeed went on to first place for $2000. So looking at it again, the bet might actually have been reasonable, seeing as he was "only" risking $300 to win an additional $1000. Funny.