Another MTT

Another blowout... I have marked the most important hands in red.

$5 FTP

Call 105 raise with 66, miss flop.

Raise to 120 = 3BB with QQ. Medium stack pushes, limper calls this push. I push, he calls this too... with AT. The pusher had K9. I was thinking "A or K and I'm dead." The flop was... Q33. Stack 3500, average 2317.

Limp 88, miss flop. Already 3 pocket pairs in 21 hands!

And there is the fourth: 22. I accidentally fold, but miss the flop, which is Ace high. 112 players left out of 190, top 18 gets paid. My M is high.

QQ again!! Raise to 150 = 3BB. SB calls, checks flop. I CHECK, flop was J96, two diamonds. Now he bets the pot on a low turn! I flat call. The river is K. He checks, pot is 1000. I bet 200, he calls with JT. Very nice, very well played if I do say so myself. Stack 4115. I am in 22nd place out of 101 players remaining.

I have now had five pocket pairs, including twice QQ, in the first thirty hands... Even more surprisingly, both QQ's won me nice pots!

99!!! as SB. Raise to 4BB after one limper. Short-stacked BB pushes, limper folds, I get 2:1 odds and call. He has AJ, I win the race. Stack 5000!!! And there is my SEVENTH pocket pair, 44!!

The flop gets checked to me, I bet more than half the pot. One caller, he checks the turn, I check as well. Now he bets 3/4 of the pot on the low river. Why would he bet so much? I think about it for quite some time before calling. He had KQ... Stack is now 5858, this is quite incredible. I am now in 13th place out of 82 remaining. The average stack is 3607.

Of course, I've had tournaments like this before, where everything is going great at the start. The important thing here is to remain calm and focused, and not do any weird calls with subpar hands. Fortunately I was playing a SNG in parallel, and I think I got some of the weird calls out of my system now (don't ask).

The blinds are still only 40/80, this means my M is now 48. That may be some kind of record for me... But the average M is 30, so I should not make too much out of this. I am 14th out of 74 players.

Blinds now 50/100, M=38. Succesful steal keeps me level.

66 UTG, I limp. Flop 442, I bet 400 into 500 pot. One caller... Indeed, he has the 4 (A4 it was). Back down to earth! Stack now 4188. 4088. Continued steal: 4388, fortunately. 4288 after OTB limp.

I misread the pot in that hand, otherwise I would not have bet quite so much. After the call, I guess I definitely should have given up on the hand, but it worked before...

So now I'm back in average position, with a stack of 4288 (avg 4453).

I just got moved. Raise AJo UTG. Only BB calls, but refuses to bet anything despite my repeated checks- the flop was JJ3... 4538.

BREAK

I am 29th out of 61 remaining. Quite OK.

Blinds now 60/120, M=24. Take it easy!

Limp SB with the hammer. I turn an oesd but check before realizing it. Everyone keeps checking and I actually make my straight. Now I check again, I probably should have made a tiny move here. Someone must have had a pair... Yes, actually two people did. Oh well.

Successful steal: 4898, average 5181.

AJo in MP, raise to 360=3BB. All fold! Limp T9o in next hand, only blinds play. Flop flush draw, bet 320 into 480 pot. BB gets disconnected! Now I have to wait a minute and a --- he folds. Stack 5398, slowly chipping up... Average stack 5277.

I am 17th out of 52 remaining, that is not bad at all!

Limp A6 as SB and notice that BB is not interested in this game (insta-check), so I bet out on the flop J97. He folds as does the single limper. 5558, but average 5700! A few people got eliminated in quick succession.

I avoid disaster when I fold 88 after I raise, the big stack pushes and is called. They have AK and KT(...) and the turn AND river are kings. But since I raised, I am now down to 4758 again. Back to work... Blinds 80/160, so my M=20.

Raise JKs in 3rd position, get reraised, dammit. By KK. Good that I folded...

Down to 4278 now, but M still 17.5.

That was a silly move I guess, my position was too bad for JKs.

Now I am 31st out of 46 remaining.

About one player per minute gets eliminated. There is real value in being patient. Especially since there is also a very big stack at this table, to my immediate left, who is stealing with abandon.

JUST GREAT: I fold K7 after a minraise as BB, flop K77.... Wonderful.

3978, blinds 100/200, M=13.
Starting to get more exciting now.

Funny, I am in 32nd place, the player in 33rd had only 3000! Seems I am the last player with a somewhat reasonable stack (though even he still has an M of 10).

Try to steal with QTo. AND IT WORKS, phew. Now i get AJo! AGain raise to 600. Again all fold! Now I get AK!! Third successive raise to 600. NOW the BB calls, and the flop is K44, a dream flop. We both check, he tries something on the turn, I raise to be on the safe side, he folds.

Back to a stack of 5878 where I was 15 minutes ago! Of course, it was worth more back then, but I'll take it... Back in 17th position, 40 are left now. Average stack is 7125.

Failed ministeal as SB: 5278.

Am going to fold a couple of hands now, don't want too much action when I raise.

We still need to lose 20 players before we get paid.

Steal OTB works: 5328. 33 players remain, 15 more to go...

Round now costs 560, so my M is down to 10. I probably calculated it wrong earlier, I forgot about the antes.

31 remain, I am 21st.

A9 as BB. Call minraise (was getting 7:1 odds). Flop 872... One pushes with middle pair, is eliminated by set of 2s. 30 left.

AJ OTB. Raise to 900=3BB. SB pushes, I have to fold.

Now we are definitely into push-or-fold territory: my M is down to 6!

Going to be difficult to outlive the bubble, there are still 30 players left. Am going to have to double up soon.

28 left now, I am 22nd...

Q4 as BB. I flop two pair...
All check, turn is second J! I FOLD when the river also brings a third spade. Sickening. I should have bet bigger on the turn, probably push... The turn was the second spade.

On the next hand I push as SB with AJo, BB INSTACALLS with A2 and IMMEDIATELY flops a 2. Out in 28th.

Another two hours of my life gone...