Last friday, I was a bit tired to play MTT but my poker friends wanted to and am I likely to be the one who would miss out on the fun?! I don't think so! The game started out the way it usually does... fold and fold until a good hand comes. I was not leading nor was I ahead. My stack was most of the time ten times the blinds (until I got blinded out in the final table). There were some bad calls and I got bad beats but my emotions were intact. I was just staying cool all throughout... even when I won hands and became the chip lead at some point.
Here are some of the hands that are still rooted in my memory...
After a bad call, I had 77 and raised 6x the blinds... and u know what lucky bluffer (the guy in the Killer 8-8s post) reraised and forced me to go all in. I called. He had AQ and nothing came on the board. I doubled up!
Before the first table collapsed, I had AA and raised 4x the blinds. BB called and all the others folded. Flop comes and nothing came that would threaten my pocket rockets. I raised 3x the pot. The guy called again. Turn comes and I went all in and still he called. So, I doubled up again! I cannot even remember what he had... but he had been scrutinizing some of my plays beforehand so he was probably underestimating me.
Onto the next round, I had 5h,8h on BB. 4 people called and no one raised, I just checked. Flop comes 5-8-X. I had two pairs. I raised about 4x the pot size and the guy on short stack went all in. He had A,8. Turn and river came but no help for him.
On BB, I had K,4 and again no one raised, so I checked. 3 of us were in this round. Flop comes K-K-Q. I checked thinking of slow playing. Second guy raised about 2x the pot size. Third guy called but didn't seem to have the K. I checked my hand again and just called thinking that the second guy is not known to be a bluffer so, if he did have a K his kicker would probably be higher than mine. Turn comes, and no one raised. River comes Q... which gave me a full house so the kicker did not count at all. I raised 4x the pot size, Second guy got surprised but called. Third guy took his time to think... he had a Q but he folded. Turns out the second guy had a K, too and with a higher kicker... good thing the Q came to make us split the pot.
Now here is my favorite win, I had QQ and raised 6x the blinds. Chip lead went all in and all the other folded, I had a feeling he had AA but I called anyway. Flop comes the Q! Turn and river did not give him an Ace. So, I doubled up! Thanks again to the Q! This win made me the chip lead.
Onto the TV table as they call it, my first time and I was the chip lead... now, that's fun! Just a few good hands came along, though... and I think I only won 2x when there were just 6 of us. I got blinded out at this point... the best hand I had when there were 4 of us left was probably K9 and called an all in from the short stack since I was BB and only needed to add another BB size. The guy who went all in won.
The final hand I had was Ah6h and went all in, new chip lead called (lucky bluffer) and the guy who doubled me up with AA awhile back. Flop comes 10-X-6. Chip lead just had K high and I thought I had a chance since I had a pair but the other guy had a 10. Oh well it was a good game... got ITM! For the TV interview, when I was asked what my secret was I said perseverance. Haha! I should have said, perseverance and a LOT of patience!
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5 comments:
Hmmmm from the way you recently posted and the moves you made you are progressing very very fast! Great job!
Don't worry about the final table. My only goal is to GET to the final table since the blinds force more action and its more of luck then skill. However, just remember that aggression is the key. The hand values go up when you are 4 handed and anything with an Ace is a powerful hand already.
So try to play more aggressively especially when you are in position. Doing so wont get you blinded out.
Oh and I would suggest you view the other blogs on my link introduce yourself much like JPT did. That way you can get more bloggers seeing and commenting on your blog.
Hope to play some poker with your group someday
Way to go with the Queens! Congrats for making it ITM! =)
That is good that you have patience to begin with. Some players learn that the hard way! Keep it up. Just like what gamefrog said, selective aggresion is good. Try to read Phil Gordon's little green book. It talks about tournament poker.
Ariel
cool! my bf just bought the book... ill try to steal it from him.. hehehe..:P
thanks for the tips and the encouraging words guys!!!:)
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