Games that play themselves

I can't believe the amount of great cards I got last night. And I got paid off too!

JJ on hand 6 as SB. MP raises to 3BB, gets two callers. I think the odds are sufficiently small that anyone has got a big pair, and I decide to go all-in. I guess I just did not want to face a flop. Sure this could have been the end of my tournament, but a win would put me in a very favorable position and the odds were on my side, at least as long as there was no higher pair out there. Anyway, AQ (original raiser) decided to call and doubled me up: 2450.

Very next hand AJ. I call a minraise and the flop is JTx, four players remain. Second one minbets, I raise to 100, only BB (Akagirl) calls. Turn is 8, I bet 200 and he raises to 400, I fold: 2110.

A few hands later I get QQ UTG and raise to 100 (level 15/30). One caller, flop is AQx... I check, he bets 200, I raise to 400 (there are two clubs on the board and of course my opponent might have a straight draw). The turn is another Ace, ending all my worries about outs against me, and I check again. This time he checks behind me. The river is a club Jack, possibly completing his straight or flush, and I bet 300, which he calls: 2955.

The very next hand I get JJ again! Akagirl raises in EP, two players call. Flop is 954 with two clubs, I bet 150 (pot 375). Akagirl calls, but folds on bet of 600 on turn 3. (She only had 580 left by this stage.) Stack 3360.

(A few hands later I fold QT preflop and the flop is AKJ...)

Shortly after this, I get TT, my fourth pocket pair in 25 hands. The level is 25/50. I raise to 150 and get 3 callers. I am none too happy about this until the flop amazingly comes 2-2-2, giving me the full house. I have to be ahead now and I raise a bet of 150 to 300, leaving only me and the original better in the game. The turn is a J and I decide it is better to end the hand now before more dangerous cards appear, so I now raise his second bet of 150 to 600, putting him all-in. Although he is obviously completely pot committed at this point, he folds! Stack 4055.

On hand 32 I get 77 in middle position (6 players left). My raise to 3BB causes everyone to fold.

Two hands later, KQ UTG, again I raise to 3BB. One caller (SB), flop is KK8... He checks, I bet 200 into a pot of 700 which he calls. He checks the turn 3, now I bet 400 which he calls. The river is another 3, giving me the second full house in 34 hands! He checks yet again, I bet 500 and he flat calls for the fourth time in this hand. This puts me up to 5605... What I think happened is that my opponent simply refused to believe I had a king on the flop. Perhaps he had AA or QQ, who knows. Note that I only showed down two of my pocket pairs so far, in the other three hands my opponents folded. So my opponent might also have been thinking that I was just bluffing. But AA seems more likely.

So now I have basically half of all the chips at the table (there are 12000 chips in total). From here I basically stay constant (win some pots, lose some pots) until we are heads up with both about 6000 chips. Now actually came the most difficult part of the game for me, as my opponent slowly whittled me down to only 2500 chips! I then switch to SAGE (the level was 200/400) and go all-in with K3 as SB, he folds. Then just call with K2 (stack too high for SAGE again) and bet on a missed flop of T55, he folds. All-in with AJ and A8 (level now 250/500), then flat call with 87, flop AA8. I bet and he folds again: back to 5000.

All-in with A9, then with K8 after he minraised (not liking it, but playing SAGE again), he folds! 6000. After losing a few hands, I get JTs as BB (level 300/600, stack 4500) and go all-in after his minraise to 1200, he finally calls with A9 and the flop is J92 and I win. The game only lasts one hand more as I get 22 on the very next hand, put him all-in for his remaining 3000 and he calls.

That was my sixth pocket pair in 91 hands (5 of them came within 25 hands).