Tuesday, March 22, 2005
So close I could taste it....
So the weekends on Full Tilt now include a $50K guaranteed and a $75K guaranteed tournament on Saturday and Sunday respectively. After winning the 2am tourney again on Friday, I had decided what the hell I'll play. Well after my three minutes of boneheaded moves in the $50K that took me from 30th to out, I wasn't so sure I'd play in the $75K. But as I saw the lineup on Sunday, 255 entrants in total with top 36 paid, I bought in. Fresh off the mistakes of the day before, I kept it tight for a long time. You started off with T3000 chips for this one which I thought was nice. For $216 I'd like to be able to make some plays and maybe even one moderately bad one without being knocked out. I was somewhere between T2300 and T3500 for most of the first ninety minutes. Then I flopped to the nut flush and got supremely lucky when I had a shortstack come up with pocket Jacks on a low board and someone else had flopped two pair. That put me at T5300 and in position to really start making some moves.
I got lucky a few times taking out some shorter stacks and kept on building the pile. Shortly after I entered the third hour of the tournament I started making some huge scores and found myself at T32,000 which was good enough for 5th place at the time. That would've paid me $3500 if I could've just ended the tournament right then. Finally we got into the final 36 and play opened back up. I took on a short stack with pocket sevens versus his AJ offsuit but he ended up hitting the Jack and I was down to T24000.
After getting blinded down for a little while and sitting at T21000 now, it got folded around to me on the button with J10 offsuit. Blinds were at 1000/2000 and antes of 250 so I decided to try and put a move on the blinds and I raised it to 8000. Small blind came back over the top all-in which had me covered. This is the only decision of the tournament that I really question. I had definitely been aggressive all along, raising up to take blinds at some spots and this guy had been on the table with me for a while too. So he could very easily have just been popping me back to make me wary of stealing. My hand was marginal enough to play or fold and as I keep thinking about it, I don't think folding it was really a bad decision but for the situation it left me in as a short stack, it may have been worth a shot at going all-in there. I think if I had been suited I may have just done it there. In any event, I folded, was left at T12000 which was the shortstack overall. Was able to make some plays here and there and get a little deeper in the money but I finally made my stand with pocket dueces when the chip leader raised over me with AJ offsuit. He got two more Aces on the flop and turn and I was finished. 22nd place paid $412 so not a bad outing but still a little disappointing as I had been so close to a few thousand.
One other random part of that tournament which was probably an omen of things to come was when I got pocket Aces during the 2nd hour. I raised up in early position, got two callers. Flop came Queen high I checked, MP led out for $200, Button raised to $500 which I took up to $1200. The MP folded and Button went all-in. I could barely contain my excitement putting him on either AQ or KK, so when I called and he turned over AA as well, it was kind of surprising. Kind of like going out to show off your shiny new toy only to find out everyone else on the block already has it. Oh well.
So the ultimate goal has been set. I want to play in the $1500 NL Hold'em event at the World Series on June 3rd. I need to get my bankroll to $5000 before I'll do it though, currently I sit at $1750. Hopefully I can take down a few more tournaments between now and then, the last week of March shaping up to be a big one in that regard. Flight is booked and two months to make the rest of the cash. Wish me luck...
I got lucky a few times taking out some shorter stacks and kept on building the pile. Shortly after I entered the third hour of the tournament I started making some huge scores and found myself at T32,000 which was good enough for 5th place at the time. That would've paid me $3500 if I could've just ended the tournament right then. Finally we got into the final 36 and play opened back up. I took on a short stack with pocket sevens versus his AJ offsuit but he ended up hitting the Jack and I was down to T24000.
After getting blinded down for a little while and sitting at T21000 now, it got folded around to me on the button with J10 offsuit. Blinds were at 1000/2000 and antes of 250 so I decided to try and put a move on the blinds and I raised it to 8000. Small blind came back over the top all-in which had me covered. This is the only decision of the tournament that I really question. I had definitely been aggressive all along, raising up to take blinds at some spots and this guy had been on the table with me for a while too. So he could very easily have just been popping me back to make me wary of stealing. My hand was marginal enough to play or fold and as I keep thinking about it, I don't think folding it was really a bad decision but for the situation it left me in as a short stack, it may have been worth a shot at going all-in there. I think if I had been suited I may have just done it there. In any event, I folded, was left at T12000 which was the shortstack overall. Was able to make some plays here and there and get a little deeper in the money but I finally made my stand with pocket dueces when the chip leader raised over me with AJ offsuit. He got two more Aces on the flop and turn and I was finished. 22nd place paid $412 so not a bad outing but still a little disappointing as I had been so close to a few thousand.
One other random part of that tournament which was probably an omen of things to come was when I got pocket Aces during the 2nd hour. I raised up in early position, got two callers. Flop came Queen high I checked, MP led out for $200, Button raised to $500 which I took up to $1200. The MP folded and Button went all-in. I could barely contain my excitement putting him on either AQ or KK, so when I called and he turned over AA as well, it was kind of surprising. Kind of like going out to show off your shiny new toy only to find out everyone else on the block already has it. Oh well.
So the ultimate goal has been set. I want to play in the $1500 NL Hold'em event at the World Series on June 3rd. I need to get my bankroll to $5000 before I'll do it though, currently I sit at $1750. Hopefully I can take down a few more tournaments between now and then, the last week of March shaping up to be a big one in that regard. Flight is booked and two months to make the rest of the cash. Wish me luck...
