Thursday's Tourneys - Day and Night

Thursday was a pretty decent day for my play. I had taken a couple days off and decided to put in a long session. I ended up playing 16 MTTs from 9am til 430am with a little break around dinner. Early in the day I made a deep run in the 10am 16k $26 but was unfortunately not able to make my first final table of October. I had played about 56 tournaments in October to that point and was down about $100. Deep in the tourney I was holding on and managing my stack very well. I made a very poorly timed bluff:
14 players left and I am utg+1 with QJo . I have been able to steal from early position for quite a while and that had helped me survive the lack of cards I had received in the final few tables. blinds 2k-4k 500ante. I raise to 10780 and it folds to the bb who calls. (I have 123k back, he 247k - he is noted as aggressive but not very experienced - he defended his bb with almost anything but folded to cbets.) Pot is 27k.
Ah7s9s flopped and he check-called 18990. pot is 63940. (i have 105k he 228k)
Turn is a 3 and he checked again. This time i bet 47370. That is where he shoved. a strong move considering my line and his checking twice. I had to fold of course and was left with 57k. I was able to survive a few more hands but had to shove with my 13bbs when the same player opened in mid pos and i had AK. His A10 outflopped me and I was out.
I was mostly happy with how I played because in this tourney I was not able to get much going late. However, even though I was varying my play and raises, I think I was betting too much thinking that it would make my opponent believe that I had a stronger hand (ex: a big ace in the big hand). I have to remember to adjust my lines to my opponent and not necessarily play them as I think they look strong. Needless to say,this was very frustrating taking $130 when first was $4000+.

The positive thing is that I am always the most experienced and usually the best player in the field late in these small stake tournaments. It is rare that I am finding people that I cannot handle.



So I have had a pretty good time playing the $11 Superstack tournaments. The structure is so good that it takes away so much of the luck factor and with deep stacks, my advantage is multiplied. I have made so many deep runs in these of late, I am starting to think that I shouldn't play anything else.

Finished 4th for $1550 in this one and was playing for almost 10 hours. This tournament I managed my stack well late and got very lucky! Winning 1010 v JJ near the final table bubble, QJ v AJ shortly after and A8s v QQ with a rivered A at the final table. I made one bluff that i think I played well but the result would say otherwise.
For the record, the players at this table were decent. I think all three in the final four were profitable (a big deal these days) and they were 3 betting a ton.

With 2.7m (blinds 20-40k 5k ante). I raised utg 79o to 108000. button folded as he always did and sb and bb called (pot 344k). A96r flop and the sb leads 160k to me. i imagine what I would do with a good ace or two pair (AQ, AK, A6, A9). Since it is not superdrawy, I would call and raise most turns (not to mention I might have the best hand - if he bets a brick turn I am only proceeding as a bluff).  I call - pot 664k. (he has 1.365m, me 2.4m). The turn is a 2s BRICK!. He checks. This is where I went wrong. I was attempting to protect my hand by betting BUT i am not protecting against anything by betting here - except 87 which i should be able to just be aware of on the river. PLUS, i might still have the best hand. For some reason, I bet 384k (this cant be for value- why would i do this?) he calls. 1.4m in the pot. 980k behind for him. The river 3s and now I am worried that he has an ace. if he had AK, AQ, or two pair he would have shoved the turn so now with 1.4m in the pot I decide I need to bet. I feel I can make any 9, A4, A5, A7, A8, A10 and maybe AJ fold. I move allin and he tanks and calls with AJ. I am not sure if he knew i was bluffing but it was a monster pot that put him almost at chip lead and lead him to finish second. With the way I was playing preflop and on flops, there was no reason for me to take a chance. I lost the hand on the turn with my 384k bet and should have gone for pot control with what might have been the best hand.

I was down to about 25bbs and about 20 minutes later with the blinds 25-50k 7.5k ante. I shoved utg/co with 55 and was called from the other shortstack on the button with KK. crippled i was out the next hand.

I let this one get away from me and should have been more patient. It reminds me of watching the WCOOP final table when AJKHoosier was there and watching the amazing amount of time the players took to make each decision. That is something that I need to do late. It surprising how much you can get caught up in the fast play if the whole table is moving quickly. Nice to get my first final table of the month and I'll take the $1550 for now.