10$ KO 2nd Place Recap

Like most tournys, this one started out pretty slow for me. I didn't see many cards, won a few pots without a showdown, and got moved twice before I sat down at the table where I would soon win my first big pot.



Needless to say, that's a gift from an EP limper. I don't know what he thought he beat when he called my 3b shove, but hey, I'll take it. That hand propelled me into solid chip position, but it was still early.

After that, I have a huge conflict in a blind vs blind situation. I probably could have (should have?) shoved the flop, but in the end it works out beautifully when he tries to go for the checkraise again on the turn and lets me river my flush.



The table I was at was pretty soft and I was able to steal pretty regularly, now that I had the entire table outstacked by a large margin. I kept chipping up until I finally get played back at here, and decide to gamble with one of the shortstacks, and get a gorgeous flop. (I was going to call a shove regardless)



Shortly after that, I get moved again. This time to a table where I'm covered by one player, and have many players that could put a serious dent in me. It was a far cry from the last table, where all 7 players combined barely covered me.

It doesn't take me long to win my first big pot here, although I played it horribly. I've had a bad habbit lately of thinking cbetters are bluffing a large quantity of the time, and therefore I play slow because I don't want to push them off the hand. Terrible thinking really. I need to be going for big pots, and I shoulda stacked this guy on the flop or turn.

The replayer doesn't like this one, and those of you who post on CardPlayer have already seen this, but here's the results.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6497908772: $10 + $1 Knockout (49286001), Table 4 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Holdem - 19:31:51 ET - 2008/05/20
Seat 1: lisacap (9,295)
Seat 2: Zapbeeb (22,779)
Seat 3: CheckinMyAA (20,929)
Seat 4: 13-SHARK (16,203)
Seat 5: RedSasquatch (19,871)
Seat 6: NML500 (14,860)
Seat 7: namgoong1982 (3,583)
Seat 8: LoKaL64 (26,395)
lisacap antes 50
Zapbeeb antes 50
CheckinMyAA antes 50
13-SHARK antes 50
RedSasquatch antes 50
NML500 antes 50
namgoong1982 antes 50
LoKaL64 antes 50
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 200
13-SHARK posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Jd 7d]
RedSasquatch calls 400
NML500 folds
namgoong1982 folds
LoKaL64 has 15 seconds left to act
LoKaL64 folds
lisacap folds
Zapbeeb folds
CheckinMyAA calls 200
13-SHARK checks
*** FLOP *** [7c Ah Js]
CheckinMyAA checks
13-SHARK checks
RedSasquatch bets 1,600
CheckinMyAA calls 1,600
13-SHARK folds
*** TURN *** [7c Ah Js] [5d]
CheckinMyAA checks
babblz sits down
babblz adds 12,415
RedSasquatch bets 4,800
CheckinMyAA calls 4,800
*** RIVER *** [7c Ah Js 5d] [6d]
CheckinMyAA checks
RedSasquatch checks
babblz is feeling angry
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RedSasquatch shows [Ks Ad] a pair of Aces
CheckinMyAA shows [Jd 7d] two pair, Jacks and Sevens
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (14,400) with two pair, Jacks and Sevens


So it was definitely frustrating when he turned over what he did. I was astonished he limped this hand UTG, no doubt going for the dreaded limp/reraise. This is why that's a terrible play. You give garbage hands a chance to clobber the flop. Of course, my play was no better in the hand, so I can't point fingers too much.

The next hand is a bit of scarey situation. When you raise UTG and UTG+1 INSTA-shoves, you gotta wonder. I decided to bit the bullet and make the call..



Winning races in spots like this is something I haven't been doing a lot in the last few months, so I knew that this was huuuuge. Suddenly I was in the top 5 in chips with less than 80 remaining.

I tried to stay aggressive, but I was getting played back at a lot. A couple of hands where I got shoved on left me down to 30k. I hover around there until I lose a big pot with JJ when OTB calls me with the monster QTo. The flop was AQx, and we both checked, I bet the rag turn and he called obv. Another ace on the river, we both check, and he drags a 14k+ pot. Blech.

The blinds were now at the point where any pot was a big pot. The next hand I played was ATs in MP. I raise, and get called by the 41/8/0 to my left. The flop brings two hearts on QTx and I cbet, he calls. I was slightly worried until an offsuit ace fell on the turn. I bet again (damn flush draws always get there vs me) and he folded, leaving me with a 14,600 pot which put me back over 30k.

I was starting to slip in relation to the field at this point. I think there were about 40 left and I was 17th or so.

The next hand is a gift from the Calling Station chip leader to my left, who I was having a hell of a time playing against until this:



So that was a huge double up that put me right back in it with 3 tables left. This is about the time where I made the rail call on the CP forums, after which Loretta, Champ (pureprophet), lilkimmer, and NYRambler all came to cheer me on, which was fun.

Then I lose almost a 1/3 of my stack on a OTB steal attempt vs the same guy that doubled me up. I have a really hard time playing against stations when I'm out of position... That left me at 37K which was still a respectable chunk of chips putting me around the middle of the pack.

An orbit goes by and this time I find JJ OTB. Eeeexcellent. I raise as per the norm, and to my delight the shortstacked SB shoves on me. The calling station miraculously folds, and I hold vs KTo. Of course, the very next hand I lose almost half my stack with the same hand.



When the calling station overcalled my shove, I froze. I was not expecting it at all, and I end up seeing a horrible flop and folding. It's sort of a relief that I would have lost the bet anyways.

All of a sudden I was a hurting unit, sitting at about 17 of 21 remaining. Thankfully, our table broke a few hands later and I was moved to the same table as the chipleader, but now I had position on him.

Problem was, I only had 14bb. So this is where I started having to make moves. I did manage to stay afloat, and actually chipped up from 28k to 45k until I make a huge resteal. The whole time Loretta is spamming "J J J J J J J" in the chatbox:



Again I double through the chipleader, and now sit on a comfortable 95K (30bb) putting me around 4th as we approached the final table bubble.

Of course, in true aggrodonk fashion, the very next hand it folds to me in the SB with J8s. The BB has been playing pretty tight so far and was sitting on just over 10BB, so I open shoved, only to be snapped by A7o. Back down to 61k and 20bb.

I won a bit of it back by open shoving AQ, and then shoving QJs over a CO limp. The blinds had gone up again, so now my 71k was only 17bb.

KK wins a nice pot when I bet it and take it on the flop to move up to 84k and 21bb.

Then I get a LOL gift from the BB. What the HELL was he thinking hahahaha. (Converter doesn't like this one either)

Full Tilt Poker Game #6499345615: $10 + $1 Knockout (49286001), Table 16 - 2000/4000 Ante 500 - No Limit Holdem - 21:27:10 ET - 2008/05/20
Seat 1: a1steak (41,096)
Seat 2: NoLimitToday (144,388)
Seat 3: Rognotic (150,295)
Seat 4: BPRANGERS76 (176,086)
Seat 6: MY DOGS RULE (200,558)
Seat 7: Bobnjul (137,410)
Seat 9: CheckinMyAA (75,944)
a1steak antes 500
NoLimitToday antes 500
Rognotic antes 500
BPRANGERS76 antes 500
MY DOGS RULE antes 500
Bobnjul antes 500
CheckinMyAA antes 500
Rognotic posts the small blind of 2,000
BPRANGERS76 posts the big blind of 4,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [9c Qd]
MY DOGS RULE folds
Bobnjul folds
pureprophet (Observer): but you are girly men <---- I don't remember what this was in reference to
CheckinMyAA raises to 9,100
a1steak folds
NoLimitToday folds
Rognotic folds
BPRANGERS76 calls 5,100
*** FLOP *** [5d 8d 9h]
BPRANGERS76 checks
CheckinMyAA bets 14,000
BPRANGERS76 calls 14,000
*** TURN *** [5d 8d 9h] [Jd]
BPRANGERS76 checks
CheckinMyAA checks
*** RIVER *** [5d 8d 9h Jd] [Tc]
BPRANGERS76 bets 28,000
CheckinMyAA calls 28,000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BPRANGERS76 shows [2c 8h] a pair of Eights
CheckinMyAA shows [9c Qd] a straight, Queen high
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (107,700) with a straight, Queen high

Again, maybe a hand I should raise, but the diamond on the turn unnerved me a bit.

Then I lose 1/4 of my stack when I call a raise with A7s in position. The QKTss flop got checked around, and a 6d turn got checked to me again, so I decided to lead. I got called by the raiser, and we checked a 7d river for him to show me K7o.

Kings again win me a nice pot to put me back up to 135k. The guy that called me was getting into the habbit of calling my raises from the blinds, and check/instafolding to my bets, so I continued to pound on him whenever I could and managed to build up to 180k doing that.

Finally, I get the last laugh with the former calling station chip leader and collect his bounty on an extremely clutch hand. I'm leaving it in text cuz of the chat.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6499563688: $10 + $1 Knockout (49286001), Table 16 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Holdem - 21:44:24 ET - 2008/05/20
Seat 2: NoLimitToday (229,984)
Seat 3: Rognotic (296,390)
Seat 4: BPRANGERS76 (38,323)
Seat 6: MY DOGS RULE (119,026)
Seat 7: Bobnjul (94,010)
Seat 9: CheckinMyAA (148,044)
NoLimitToday antes 750
Rognotic antes 750
BPRANGERS76 antes 750
MY DOGS RULE antes 750
Bobnjul antes 750
CheckinMyAA antes 750
CheckinMyAA posts the small blind of 3,000
NoLimitToday posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ah Qs]
Rognotic folds
BPRANGERS76 folds
MY DOGS RULE raises to 20,000
Bobnjul folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 147,294, and is all in
NoLimitToday folds
MY DOGS RULE calls 98,276, and is all in
CheckinMyAA shows [Ah Qs]
MY DOGS RULE shows [Jc Jd]
Uncalled bet of 29,018 returned to CheckinMyAA
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
*** FLOP *** [4c 3c Qh]
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
Loretta8 (Observer): a
*** TURN *** [4c 3c Qh] [Kd]
Loretta8 (Observer): hold
*** RIVER *** [4c 3c Qh Kd] [Td]
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Queens
MY DOGS RULE shows a pair of Jacks
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (247,052) with a pair of Queens
Loretta8 (Observer): BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Rognotic: gg


Boom indeed! Shortly after, it was final table time!

I bounced around around 220k-300k, then got a few hands to get some pots and move up to 400k, putting me in the chip lead for the first time in the tournament. Things were looking good with 5 players left.

Seat 1: Legalizeit2 (279,286)
Seat 2: NoLimitToday (188,834)
Seat 3: Rognotic (321,949)
Seat 4: BPRANGERS76 (191,134)
Seat 9: CheckinMyAA (398,797)

I had been on a bit of a cards heater to this point, and suddenly the floor fell out and I stopped getting anything. Unfortunately for me, Rognotic got the wind in his sails and knocked out all 3 of the other players, leaving me a slight dog in chips heads up.

Seat 3: Rognotic (787,803)
Seat 9: CheckinMyAA (592,197)

I was taking it to him at first, winning 9 or 10 of the first 12 heads up hands. Then everything fell apart and he started taking it to me. Suddenly down 2-1 in chips, and getting tired of him pushing me around, I go out on this hand.



So it was a little disappointing. First place was 920$ and change, while 2nd was 570 and change. It's always nice to take down a whole tourny, but at the same time, this cash (580$ when you include roughly 5 KOs) is absolutely massive for me. I'm suddenly bankrolled comfortably for the stakes I like to play at (10$ MTTs, 25NL) and I've got my confidence back.

Hope you enjoyed the recap! I'll try to make another deep run soon. In the meantime, I'm rather enjoying chalking up a lot of 25NL experience. ...It's off to a bit of a rough start (AA, AKs, AQs are among my top 10 losing hands over 7000 hands) but I've started working my way back up to even. Sitting at -0.89 bb/100 so far (down ~1 BI). But I'll get there.

Thanks for readin'