Binion's Weekend Deepstack (part 2)

Continued from the last blog - make sure to read that one first!  When we last joined our hero, it wasn't looking so good and I was on the ropes.  Still at the 200/400 blind level.

200/400

Lady in early position raises to 1600.  I look down at pocket aces - hell yes.  Call.  Blind calls too.  Flop is K-9-x.  They both check to me, I bet 2500, they fold.  Not bad.  That lady had put a lot of money into the pot a couple other times so I was hoping to win a huge pot from her here, but no such luck.  Still a good pot.

300/600 - stack at 16,225

Lose 25 in the chip race.  One weird thing about Binion's is that they don't do any ante levels with the 25 chips, they start them with the 100 chips later.  Really weird IMO.

Lady limps in early position. I'm in the big blind with pocket tens and raise 1500 more.  She calls.  Flop is 8-6-4 with 2 to some suit.  I lead out for 1700.  She says "I'm all in" and I SNAP call.  She was short but she is like, "I have a 5k chip too!"  Like I thought it was almost nothing more to call and I didn't see her chips.  I said "I don't care" and flipped up my tens.  She did not expect that and showed some serious anguish as she turned up A-8 suited.  Turn, jack.  River, jack.  Boom.  Ship it.  Up to 27,600.

Raise to 1300 with A-10 on the button.  The big blind calls.  Flop is J-8-x with two of the same suit as my ace.  Check, I bet 1200, and I take it down.

Something happened to me during that hand, even though it was pretty inconsequential.  I tend to stress out about my bets and try not to give away tells, although I think I probably am constantly giving off tells.  This time I was just like I'm going to think about the best size for what I want to do.  I'm going to throw it out there, and that's that.  In my mind I've made the optimal decision to try to get the other person to make a mistake.  So I don't have to stress about it.  No matter what they do, I think I made the right decision and they are going to make mistakes.  This is harder to explain than I thought it would be, but basically I started to feel really confident in my bet sizing and because of that, didn't have to worry about anything else.  Just confidence is what I was feeling and it felt great.

400/800 - stack at 28,300

Guy raises to 1600 and I just call on the button.  Sometimes I like to pot control a bit with A-K preflop especially if I have a decent stack.  I don't want to get in a huge flip with A-K if I can avoid it.  I miss the flop and fold to a 2500 bet.  Flop was 5-5-3.  As it turns out, another guy had 9-9.

I get A-K again, raise to 1600, win.

Raise K-10 suited to 1600, win.

Raise to 1600 with K-Q suited under the gun.  Check and fold on a 10-9-8 flop against 2 other people.

500/1000 - stack at 26,500

I open on the button to 2100 with 10-8 suited.  The big blind calls.  Flop is sick.  Q-3-2 all of my suit.  Flop the flush, wham.  Love it.  He checks.  I bet 2000.  Now he check-raises to 7000!!!!  Whoa.

I wasn't super worried about flush vs flush.  If that happens, it's a cooler and what can you do.  I was more worried about my tournament life and wanted to play the best way to preserve that.  So I decided that I would just call and make sure I see a safe turn before committing the rest of my chips.  If another spade comes it would be pretty bad.  The ace of spades seems like a reasonable card to make that check-raise with.  Maybe that plus a pair.  Or a set.  So I just call.  Turn is an 8 and he checks.  Now I go all in for 16,000.  He calls!  I flip up the 10-8 and he is like "Arrrghhh, you did hit it".  He flips up Q-3 for top two pair on the flop.  I fade the 4 outs on the river and win a monster pot!

600/1200 - stack at 54,500

I raise the cutoff to 2400 with Q-10.  The blinds both call.  Flop is J-9-x rainbow.  It checks to me.  I have a big draw and definitely can bet, but I decided to just take the free card.  Check.  Turn is the best possible card, a king!  Now one of the blinds bets out 2300.  I raise to 7000.  He calls.  River is a 5 and I still have the nuts.  He checks.  I bet 15,000.  He folded.  I guess I could have bet less, but I don't think that was too big of a mistake if a mistake at all.

I raise to 2400 with K-8 suited.  Guy raises to 5000, I fold.

To be continued again!  At this point I have a great stack in the tournament and am doing really well.  Time to crush!!!!