We started with $3000 chips this time, and it was a 2-table tournament, I had Nikki, Chris, Barbie, Daniel, Rishi, Ben and Lola at my table. I didn't go into the tournament with any particular startegy other than don't donk of my chips playing stupidly. I started out the tournament playing tight, and I had won a few small pots to get my stack up to about $4000. Then this hand occured
My hand:
I am sitting in the Big Blind, and the blinds are $100/$200 Chris limps into the pot from 5th position, Daniel was in the Small Blind and calls. I check and the flop comes:
Daneil checks, I decided to check as well, Chris leads out with a bet of $600, Daniel folds I think about what Chris could have, and I am thinking he has a King with a kicker like a J, or he had a weak Ace. I contemplated re-raising him in this spot, but I didn't want to put to much into this pot as my hand was easily counterfeitable and if Chris did have something like A 10 he was unlikely to fold, I still wasn't 100% sure exactly what he had but I new I was in the lead. So I just called, the next card was:
I check again and Chris bets out with about $800, I still feel confident I am ahead, but I don't want to overplay the hand, because if my read was wrong I didn't want to lose too many chips this early. So, I just call still confident that I am ahead, but the River card brings:
When I saw that card I knew I was beat beause if Chris had an Ace his kicker was going to beat mine, so I check and Chris checks thinking I had a King and he shows:
He raked in a nice sized pot, I was sort of surprised that he did not raise pre-flop with that hand, it almost cost him a lot of chips. As the tournament moved on I played tight to the vest and moved all-in the few times winning the blinds uncontested. Then I doubled up a few times with pocket pairs, and winning a few showdowns.
I had a decent sized stack of about $8000 chips, then a big hand came up late in the tournament. I am in the big blind with these cards:
Chris limps into the pot from about the seat to the right of the cutoff. Everyone folds, and I just check. The flop comes:
Looking at the flop I haven't hit anything, and I am out of position I have a decent amount of chips even though the blinds are $800/$1600 at this point, I am thinking about the range of hand Chris has, and since he didn't raise pre-flop earlier with AQ I had to expand it a bit. I am thinking he has 2 face cards, and he just wanted to see a flop, and I feel I am behind, so I check to see what he does and he checks behind me, the next card is:
I now pickup a fairly good flush draw, and I don't think the flop or turn hit Chris either, at this point I am thinking he is still ahead of my hand, and there is a possible flush and possible straight on the board, so I check. Chris leads out with a minimum bet of $1600, which I believe to be a "feeler" bet I start thinking about what he has, and the way he played the hand I did not feel that he flopped the flush, and I was confident that the turn card did not help him.
Being that I put him on 2 face cards pre-flop I wondered if one was a Jack or a Ten, but I gave those a low probability because I felt he would have made a nice sized bet on the flop to prevent me from catching a hand to outdraw him. I think a pocket pair wasn't likely here as he would more than likely have raised pre-flop rather than just calling from that position. But even with all of that I still feel that I am behind in the hand, and I don't think calling his bet is unreasonable to take a chance on almost a nut flush, I have about an 18% chance of hitting a spade on the river which isn't very good and if he has the Ace of Spades I would be in bad shape. There was $5600 in the pot, and it cost me $1600 to call I am getting 3.5 to 1 for my money, and I feel confident if I hit a spade on the river I will win the hand. So I decide to call mainly because it's an easy decision if I don't hit the flush I can get away from the hand plus there aren't many other situations where I can win this much money with a single call and have an easy decision to make. So I call the $1600, and the river card is:
Pefect card for me, so I bet $3200 and Chris goes All-in I call, and he shows
a Queen high flush, and I win a huge pot with my King High flush and knock Chris out of the tournament.
This pot basically propelled me to the victory after that hand I gained the chip lead and never relenquished it, I beat Barbie heads up because of the large chip lead I had, but winning a tournament always feel good. I was happy with my play throught the tournament, I made a few mistakes, but I never put too many of my chips at risk without a good reason.
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