Aria Saturday tournament

More live update style... Writing this as in play the tournament today.

25/50, 10k stack

Limp with 43s (clubs) after 3 limpers. 7 people in, big blind raises to 450. 1 caller, I call, the button calls. Flop 322 with 2 spades, blind bets out 4500 (lol), he wins.

50/100, 9400 stack

Fold T9s in early position first hand... Was tempting :) missed anyway though.

Next hand early position AQ. Min raise to 200. Middle position and big blind call. Flop J77 rainbow. Check, 275, win.

64s in blind, check. 4 way. Flop AJ7 2 of my suit, check around. Turn 4. I bet 150, 1 call, guy makes it 650. I think for a while and fold. 2 pair might not be good if I hit and it's going to be hard to get much more if the flush hits.

QTs limp in late position after limper. Small blind calls. Flop T82 with 2 of my suit - monster. Blind bets 200, limper calls. I raise to 750, they both call. Turn off suit 6. Blind leads for 2000. We both fold.

Next hand limp with A2s in late position. Thought about raising but I've shown a little weakness by folding some hands post flop and I think it's fine to see this multiway for a limp. Miss, fold.

A8s next hand. Limp after a limper, fold when I miss, same reasoning.

Down to 8500. Not bad really, I felt like I had some big losses in those other hands but they weren't bad at all.

3 people limp. I'm in small blind with AQ. Raise to 700, everyone folds.

Very next hand on button A9s. One guy limps and I raise to 250. He calls. Flop Q76 with 1 of my suit. Check, 200, win.

Middle position raises to 350. I call with black 2s. Old guy to my left makes it 2350. We both fold.

Last hand of the round fold KQ in early position.

100/200, I have 8950

Guy in early position with a somewhat short stack makes it 400. I call with pocket tens. Late position guy and blind calls. Flop Q9x all spades. I have the ten of spades. Check to me, 700, late position guy calls. He didn't look super interested on the flop but I'm not good at reading people. Turn ace of spades. I bet 1100, he folds.

Call 500 in late position from early position raiser. I have 77. Button calls too. Flop AQ6, fold to 1100.

100/200/25, stack is 9500

Guy in middle position raises to 500. I reraise out of the blinds with AK to 1500, he folds.

200/400/25, stack is 9700

Guy who has been playing a decent amount of hands (all for a raise) open limps the button. Small blind calls. I raise to 1800 with A9 just trying to pick it up. Small blind says "are you sure you want to do that?" And I say "what's done is done." Limper calls. Flop 532 with 2 clubs and I have the ace of clubs. Bet 2000, win.

300/600/50, stack is 10800. 38 left out of the original 66.

Move tables. Second hand get 77. Guy in late position raises to 1800. Next guy who seemed to be bluffing the previous hand reraises to 4000. I go all in. He calls with KQ. Hits a K, game over.

Nugget live updates

Playing right now at the Golden Nugget. Live updates...

Very first hand at 2/4, waiting for 1/2 NL. KK, 4 bets preflop, 6 ways. Lose on the river to a flush (J3s), 2 other people had an 8 for a straight.

T8 in the blind. Flop JJ7, bet it all the way, lady folds on the river when I miss.

Lady next to me - halitosis.

Last hand at 2/4 53s. About 6 or 7 way to the flop. Flop 652 and a guy to my left is talking about not being able to get people out. I call 2, he raises to 4, I call 4. 4 people on the turn. Turn K, check to him 4, fold to me, call. River 5. Check, he has pocket tens, I win. Probably not that great. 

Move to 1/2.

All of the money is to my right so it's pretty good. I have $514 total, up )14 from the other table.

Fold 74s to a $15 raise from a $500 stack first hand. Turns out its AA vs KK all in preflop.

Sitting in the 10 seat, I accidentally tip someone's card and it flips up when it's coming out. Ace of hearts. Lol.

Lady goes all in on the river after she and 3 others called $20 on the turn. River brought the flush and paired the board. Everyone folds, she shows A3. Called the turn with a gunshot, shoved the river with nothing. I was impressed, didn't think she was capable of that. Stupid to show it though.

After an hour not much going on. Pretty boring.

Call 1 more with 72 in the small blind. See the flop 4 ways, Q72 with 2 hearts. Bet 10, 2 calls. Turn 9h. Bet 22, guy calls. River ten. Bet 35, he raises to 100, fold.

A-10, raise to 17 on a button straddle. Straddle and the big blind call. Flop ten high, bet 35, straddle calls. Turn is a jack and I check the turn and river. Win vs 77, back up a few bucks.

So sick.... 

Call 8 with 77. I tell myself I'm check raising if I flop a set. Flop A76 with 2 hearts and 1 diamond. Check, other guy checks, button who raised bets 20. I raise to 65, call. Turn 3 of diamonds. Bet 100. He raises me all in for 350 more. Ugh...... Not sure what to do. He could have AA or 66, so that's a wash in my opinion. He could have turned the straight... He raised preflop, but he was on the button. He might also have something like AKdd. Anyway, I call. River ace. He had 45. So sick. Bought in for 500, up to 1050. Never hurts to get lucky.

Wow, even against a range of only AA, 66, 54s I should call there given the odds. That's surprising. Little less than 40% to win vs that range. I was getting around 2 to 1 to call. That makes me feel better.

Left a couple rounds later. +$545 on the night. Ship it. Everyone needs some luck sometimes.

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!!!!

Binion's Weekend Deepstack (part 1)

I had been wanting to play the weekend Binion's tournament for a while.  It's the best tournament in town for the money, hands down.  20,000 chips to start.  20 minute levels for the first hour, but then 30 minute levels after.  They also start at 50/100 which I don't even think is a bad thing, because the levels progress pretty reasonably slow after that.  There also is a 10k guaranteed prize pool.  There ended up being 109 entries in this one.

50/100 - 20,000 starting stack

Ready to play and I am going to have fun today.  I'm drinking a little bit (nothing crazy) and I made a deal with my wife that we would swap 20% of our action with each other.  Let's do this!

I raise 86s in middle to 225, win preflop.

I raise AJ to 225, old ponytail guy makes it 875, I fold.

100/200 

Call with 5-5 from lady's under the gun raise to 400, miss, fold.

Very loose headphone idiot raises to 525 on button. He had been raising a lot and had shown down some weak hands.  I reraise to 1200 with A2s from the small blind.  He calls.  Flop is K-8-6 with 1 of my suit.  I bet 1400.  He gives up.  Whew.  :)  This tournament is GREAT because you can take chances like that and if it doesn't work out, you are still in OK shape.

150/300

Loose headphone guy from the last hand raises to 750. I call with A6s. Flop the world, T-6-6. He checks. I bet 1000.  Now he check-raises to 3000!  I call.  Not sure what the best play was there.  I figured I had the best hand, but I thought a reraise would be too scary.  Turn is a 7 and he checks.  I bet 3000 and he gives up.  Stack up to 24,600 and I'm getting off to a great start.

Starting table

Next, I get pocket sixes and raise to 600. 2 calls, both in the blinds. Flop is 5-5-3 with 2 diamonds.  It checks to me, I bet 850, call (guy to the right of the cowboy hat in the picture).  Turn is a queen.  He checks.  I bet 1300, he calls. I'm planning on checking behind a lot of rivers.  River is another 5, giving me a full house.  He checks.  

At this point I really felt like he was weak and I honestly thought I had the best hand.  I figured if he had a queen he would bet the river.  I thought it was more likely he had a flush draw or maybe even a 3.  He had lost a BIG pot earlier where he flopped the nut flush and another guy turned a boat, so he was short and only had a little over 6k left.  I looked at his stack and tossed a couple white chips in (5k chips) to put him all in.  

Now he goes into the tank.  I'm trying not to give anything away, but I want a call at this point for sure.  I'm just staring at the flop and waiting.  This goes on for a LONG time.  Finally he grabs his chips and shoves them in.  I show the 6-6.  He flips up... pocket tens.  Bigger boat.  FUCK!!!!  Seriously thought I had the winner.  I had a pretty good stack building up and that took a big bite out of it.

Time to get back to work.  I raise A-Q in early position to 600.  Miss the flop, check and fold.

200/400 - stack is 16325 

30 minute rounds now.  Took a pretty big hit to my stack but really, I still have over 40 big blinds so I'm not in any danger yet.  

Lady in early position limps and the small blind limps.  I'm in the big blind with pocket 8s and raise to 1600.  They both call.  Flop is A-6-3.  Small blind checks and I bet 1500.  The lady folds, but the small blind check raises to 5000.  I fold.

This next hand is hilarious.  I'm in the small blind with Q-Q.  I want to raise a little more than usual.  I've been taking a beating and maybe the big blind will think I'm on tilt and do something crazy.  I raise to 1500.  He is like "whoa" and is thinking about a call.  Then I realize - I didn't raise to 1500.  I thought I threw out a 1k chip and a 500 chip.  Nope.  I threw out a 1k and a 5k chip, raising to 6000!  LOL!!!  Just your standard 15 big blind raise.  At least I have a good hand!  The big blind is agonizing over it and clearly has a good hand, so maybe this will work out OK for me.  He ends up folding face up - pocket tens.  Good fold.  Big mistake by me though.  Honestly I was just a little drunk and that's probably why I messed that up.  Stack at 13625.

I call 600 more with pocket 3s from the big blind.  See the flop 4 ways, miss.  Down to 12625.

Pretty much in a free-fall at this point.  Making mistakes, not running too hot, it's not looking good.  More tournament action in the next blog!

Aria Friday night tournament (part 2)

Continuing my tournament post.  If you haven't read part 1, go back and read it!  I have a lot of poker to write about so this week will be more blog heavy too.  As I'm sure you could tell by the fact that the last blog was posted on Monday instead of Tuesday!

600/1200/100 - stack is 13800

Raced off the green chips at the break.  2 greens.  I get a jack and a 5, no good.

Button and small blind limp. I'm in the big blind with 33 and go all in for 12500.  They both fold.

Very next hand in the small blind I have A-Q, raise to 3000, and win.  Stack is up to 18500.

Moved tables to the upstairs section, table 6, 10 seat. Came in at the best possible spot, where the small blind should be but I get to wait one hand.  Free round!  All of the big stacks are directly to my right as well.  Really good position for me here.

I check 10-7 in the big blind and we see the flop 4 ways.  Flop is 9-8-4.  I bet out 2600 and everyone calls.  Pot is big... come on baby.  One time.  Turn is a blank.  I check and fold.  Interesting thing is that 2 people get all in on the turn, and one guy had limped with 9-9 and flopped top set.  So freaking sick - where is that 6 when you need it???  That guy needs to get punished.

Shove the small blind with pocket tens after the button limps and pick it up preflop.

200/800/1600 - stack is 16700

Guy goes all in for a little more than the antes.  Next guy with a decent amount of chips shoves over the top.  I look down... ace.... king.  Here we go!  I go all in as well.  Super short guy had 9-2, other guy that shoved had 4-4.  Off to the races.  Flop trip kings and I win a big pot!  Up to 34000.

I min-raise the button with pocket nines.  The big blind calls.  Flop is A-7-3.  He checks and I check.  Turn is a jack.  He leads for 3500 and I just fold.  Down to 27300.

Min-raise with 3-3, win preflop.  Up to 30500.

1000/2000/300 - stack is 27300

2 tables left!  Getting close to the money.  83 people started the tournament, down to 20.  Pays about 9 places.

Table change again and this time the seat was not super favorable, I was in the blinds pretty quick.  Blinds pass through me and I have 23100.  

Pick up pocket tens on the button and shove.  Win uncontested, up to 26600.

In 2 hands it folds to me and I look down at 7-7.  I have about 12 big blinds.  All in.  Big blind calls - pocket kings.  Fuck.  No seven.  The dealer counts down the chips and I am still in but super short, I have 2000 left.  

I am not too sure about that hand.  I think 12 big blinds is more than I should have shoved with pocket sevens.  It's hard to imagine too many hands where I'm going to get called and have the best hand.  Basically just hoping to flip.  I could have min-raised, folded to an all-in, and still had 9 or so big blinds.  I mean folding would make me feel sick but I think it would be safe to say I was either flipping or crushed.

Time to get lucky, I have one freaking big blind left.  :)  In a couple hands I look down at A-9 suited and call all in.  We see the flop 4 ways.  Flop is pretty good, K-9-x.  One guy bets in position and everyone else folds.  He flips up K-Q.  Come on baby.  Turn... ACE!!!  Yes!  River changes nothing and I basically 5x up my stack.  Yes!  Up to about 10,000.

Small blind limps.  I have K-J and shove.  He folds.  10,400 in my stack and hanging tough.

In the cutoff I look down at A-10 suited and shove.  Win preflop.  Up to 17,600.  Almost 10 big blinds, I'm still in this!  

1500/3000/400

Early position guy limps, button limps.  I'm in the big blind, look down, and see that beautiful sight - pocket kings.  I shove a little less than 6 big blinds.  The button thinks about it and calls.  He flips up Q-10 suited and I'm in a great spot to pick up a big pot.  Flop A-Q-x.  Turn, 10.  Fuck.  River blank.  Out.

Went out in 15th place.  Disappointing, but I did have to get pretty damn lucky to get there in the first place.  Sick tournament run continues!  I'm doing absolutely awesome lately and even though I didn't cash in this one, getting this deep really felt good.

Other Thoughts

You know what else I'm thinking about poker lately - tournaments are 100% the way to go.  I just think there is SO much more dead money in tournaments.  It's not even close.  In cash games I just don't see people making absolutely massive mistakes constantly.  In tournaments though it happens nonstop.  Maybe once you play much higher stake tournaments everyone is great and it's about the same between tournaments and cash.  But I really think that compared to 1/2 games, the tournaments are just so much softer.  Easier to navigate too, your decisions are just a lot easier.  

For me personally it seems easier to make that big bluff or some other big move in a tournament as opposed to cash.  You are going to lose your money if you don't make a move anyway, so it is easier to stomach.  Whereas in cash, if you make a big move and lose your whole stack, even if it was the right move it's hard to take.  

Plus I think the wild variance of tournaments makes it WAY easier to think you are good when you aren't.  These old guys play all the time, they all think they are the shit, and they are awful.  And yeah they are going to get 8 handed and chop sometimes, so they think they are doing well.  But overall they aren't good and are probably donating.  It's a lot harder to tell though for them because it's a slower bleed when you are only losing one buy-in per night and maybe 3 per week max.  In cash you might drop 4 buy-ins in a night and when that happens you are ready to killl yourself.  

That's it for this blog.  Stay tuned for more exciting poker action!  Thanks for reading guys!

Aria tournament Friday night (part 1)

Played the Aria $125 tournament on Friday night.  Here's the recap.

BTW at my first table (about the first 5 or so levels) there was this guy that just had a MASSIVE stack, it was insane.  Probably 40k+ in the first level.  I have no idea how he got it, but he was playing absolutely crazy.  Just an older guy from out of town.  He would essentially call any amount with any draw, bet 4x pot, it was so insane.

25/50

Had J-J in early position, raised to 150.  Blind called.  Flop K-7-2.  He checked dark, I bet 150, he folds.

50/100

Call 250 more with AJs from the small blind.  See the flop 5 ways.  Board runs out Q-9-8-7-7, nobody bets until the river.  Super stack old guy bets the river, preflop raiser calls.  Old guy had A-10, raiser had J-J.

100/200

That old guy is going crazy.  He doubled up a guy in a ridiculous pot.  Got raised preflop, he limp-called.  Flop was king high with 2 clubs, and about 1k in the pot on the flop.  Old guy leads for about 2k, other guy shoves, old guy insta-calls with 9-7 suited, just a flush draw.  Gets 10k in on the flop.  Starting stacks in this tournament are 10k btw.  Other guy had flopped top set and it holds up.  :P

I raise to 525 in late position with K-Q.  3 callers.  I miss, check fold.

K-Qs very next hand, 525 again.  4 way.  Flop is K-10-6.  Checks to me and I check.  Probably should have bet, I'm not really sure why I checked.  I figured it was 4 way, I probably had the best hand, but I could sort of pot control and just see what the others did on the turn.  Turn is a 7.  It checks to me, I bet 800, 2 people call.  River is a king.  Checks to me again, I bet 1200, one guy calls me and I'm good.  Stack at 13,400.

Last hand of the round I pick up K-K in early position.  Raise to 700, the blind calls.  Flop Q-J-x.  He checks, but he looked kinda like he wanted to bet.  I checked also.  Probably should have bet, really no good reason to check it.  Lots of hands the guy could call me with.  Turn is a queen, he goes all-in for about 6000, I fold.

100/200/25 ante

A-K suited under the gun, raise to 525.  Crazy older guy calls and another caller. Flop is J-9-x with 2 of my suit.  Pretty good flop.  I lead out for 700.  Old guy makes it 4000.  I thought about it for a decent amount of time, but I just decided to fold.  I figured he could have one of these things - a smaller flush draw, a straight draw or straight/flush combo draw, a pair, or something bigger.  And I guarantee I had ZERO fold equity because that's how he had been playing it all night.  Against that range I'm flipping at best and didn't want to risk my whole tournament at this point.  But I did think about it.  Overall I thought it was a good decision.

A-J, I raise to 700 on the button, limper calls.  He leads 1500 on a 10 high flop and I fold.

200/400/25 - stack is 9675

Big stack loose old guy limps. I have AA in the big blind and put in a big raise to 2000 because I figure he won't fold to much.  He calls. Flop is 456 all diamonds and I have the ace of diamonds.  I bet 2000, he folds.

Only other hand I played was calling 450 more in the big blind with QJs, missing, and folding.

300/600/50 - stack is 9300

Didn't play a single hand at this level.

400/800/75 - stack is 7900

My first hand was right behind the button - gotta love that when you only have 10 big blinds.

Got QJ and folded it - didn't want to shove that for almost 10 big blinds.  Looking for a better spot.

In early position, I look down at A-10 suited.  I shove.  The loose old guy SNAP calls me, not a good sign.  Everyone else folds.  I flip up my cards and he flips up A-8 suited.  That's about as good as I can do here.  The flop is 9-6-6, turn is a 3... come on baby... river 7.  Double through.  I have 16850 now and am back out of the danger zone.

I call a min raise with 74s in the big blind, see the flop 3 handed, and miss.  Probably could just fold but I don't think it's terrible.

K-10 in the small blind.  I limp, he raises to 2500, I fold.  I probably should have just raised or folded.  Hand was good enough to raise, but I just didn't want to commit the chips at that point.  But if that's the case, I probably should just fold.

Stay tuned, my Aria tournament run continues on the next blog!

Golden Nugget tournament

Saturday night in downtown Vegas.  Played cash on Friday night and got absolutely molested.  It was brutal.  Lost about $350.  I'll talk about that one later maybe.  But today let's talk about this tournament.

I wasn't feeling like playing much.  Got destroyed the last couple cash sessions.  And my wife didn't want to play the Aria tournament because it was a little more than we wanted to spend.  So we decided to play the Nugget tournament instead.  I called over to see what they have.  Tournaments throughout the day, $65.  So we went up there for the 7 PM tournament.

Sat down and it was more short stacked and less organized than I was used to with my recent visits to Aria.  No tournament clocks anywhere (wtf).  Only 4k starting chips as opposed to 10k at Aria.  Oh and it wasn't just a $65 tournament.  It was a $65 tournament with an optional $40 for 4k extra chips (double).  I didn't immediately buy in, and thought I'd just wait and see.  I had been planning on only spending $65 on this tournament.

I won the very first hand dealt (flopped nothing 3 ways, bet 75 when I turned a flush draw, hit my flush, bet 150 and the guy folded).  After that though it was REALLY slow.  I had pocket 7s and 8s and missed with both.  Idiots at the table were hitting and getting rich like crazy.  Two old guys were just RAKING IT IN, omg.  Just couldn't miss.  Guys had like 20k and 15k when the average was probably 5-6k.  Telling racist/sexist jokes, and just being total assholes.  I hate guys like that.

I'm blinding down and have 2700 left.  The 100-200 (3rd) level is about to finish up and it's my last chance to add on.  Pass.  Fuck it.  Next level is 200-400 and $40 for another 10 BB doesn't seem worth it.

Payouts

200-400 level comes and I have around 6 BB.  Gotta make a move immediately.  Old guy with huge stack limps.  Another guy limps.  I look down.  Black ace.  Second card, black ace.  Yes.  Ship.  Old guy calls.  Other guy calls.  They check it down.  I was up against K-Q and J-J and triple through.  About 8k now.  Maybe I have a shot at this!

Tournament was SO weird by the way.  They aggressively colored up chips.  25-50, 50-100, then they colored up the quarters.  No antes.  No tournament clock or easy way to tell what the next blinds were or when they go up.  Blinds went up in RIDICULOUS fashion.  From 300-600 to 1000-2000, etc.  Just so fast.  Even big stacks sometimes had like 10 BB.

After my AA win I'm blinding down and getting nothing.  Then the rush hits.  I shove about 6 BB with 88 into a mid-position raiser.  He had pocket tens.  Good game.  Flop 7-5-2.  OK.  Turn 6... some hope!!! River... FOUR!!!  SHIP IT!!!  I won that hands and the next 3 hands in a row (just blinds, but whatever).  I built a decent stack out of that run and had 31k at the 1000-2000 level.  15 BB is short, but not at this tournament.

I could see one of the guy's cards next to me EVERY hand.  Most of the time I could just see some of the middle of the card, like I could see that he had some middle diamond, a red picture card, or whatever.  I see he has a jack, look down and see pocket jacks.  That sucks but I still play it, and end up getting a guy's 7k stack at the 2000-4000 level.  He had J-2 in the blind.

My 40k

I have about 40k and the tables are getting short.  All of a sudden, they say it's the final table AND we are only 8 handed!  Must have been a monster hand at the other table where several people busted.

I flip positions with the old guy and still can see one card, but it's a little harder.  I'm in the small blind with Q-4 offsuit.  I look at his hand and can see a middle spade, so I shove and he folds.  Great info to get.  I wouldn't shove that normally but when I can see one low card in his hand, I think Q-4 is way ahead of that range.  Actually I just ran PokerCruncher with Q-4 offsuit vs any 7 and Q-4 is a 52.5% favorite.  Not as good as I thought but still a favorite, and I'm sure that guy is folding way more than he should anyway.

Getting short, I had to make some tough decisions.  Guy went all in (that had been going all in a decent amount) and I had Q-J suited on the button.  Folded.  Also folded A-3 offsuit in the cutoff with 31k left at 3000-6000.

With 7 left they talk about paying the bubble.  Normally I always say no, but I had one of the shortest stacks at that point so I figured why fight it.  One guy was lower, and there was another guy tied with me approximately, and everyone else had more.  And I had one shove left in my stack.  So I figured it was worth it.  We took $50 off of 1st, $30 off of 2nd, and $20 off of 3rd for the bubble.  Now I'm officially in the money!  Sweet!

Shoved A-9 from the small blind into the big with 31k, he folds.

Raised 7-6 suited to 12k (still at 3000-6000) and everyone folds.  Up to 49k.

Blinds go up to 5,000-10,000.  So ridiculously huge.  I have 40k at this point - 4 big blinds.  Guy shoves 26k and I look down at A-Q.  I shove over the top.  He has 5-5.  Hit an ace!  Boom, 6 people left and I'm the chip leader!  (By a small margin.)

Old guy that has been crushing the whole time (not by skill) starts talking about a chop.  $500 each if we chop now he says.  I say I don't want to chop right now.  He starts getting super pissed off and confrontational, basically saying that I'm not better than them, etc.  I say I just want to gamble.  He says OK, I see how you've been playing, let's gamble, etc.  He was super annoyed.  Haha.  Love it.

Guy shoves 16k, I call the extra 6k out of the big blind dark.  Wake up with 7-7, bust another guy who shoved K-6.

Me and that ornery old guy are the biggest stacks at this point.  He raises under the gun to 30k.  I have about 90-100k at this point.  I look down at my cards.  Ace.  Other card... king.  I start moving my chips in and the old guy immediately starts saying "OK let's do it, blah blah blah".  So I shove from the small blind, the big folds, and the old guy calls.  With A-3 offsuit.  Flop K-J-J and the pot is mine!!

3 handed with a monster stack

Holy cow - I just busted the other overwhelming chip leader.  I have 209k.  On the board I can see the total chip count is 280k.  I have 2/3 of the chips with 3 people left!!!!  OMG, I might win this tournament!!!!

I just have to bust these two guys.  Keeping it cool but I want this pretty bad.  I'm in the big blind and the small blind limps.  He had been playing pretty aggressive so I figured he probably didn't have that great of a hand.  I look down at 9-6 suited and shove.  He calls his other 50k, damn.  He has 10-3 of the same suit.  We both flop a flush, sick.  I guess I was doubling him up either way that hand.  Down to 164k.

I just start going all in over and over.  The old guy keeps folding everything.  I know they want to move up the ladder so I can really take advantage.  This is awesome.

Asian guy asks when the next break is.  No more breaks.  He says he really has to use the bathroom and asks us if we could do a break.  I'm fine with it.  Dealer says it's not possible.  So he's like fine and just runs to the bathroom.  2 hands are played while he's gone and I win his blinds both hands.  Before he got back the floor came over and asked, where'd this guy go?  When he heard he went to the bathroom, he said yes we could do an impromptu break.  I said I was fine with it, but the old guy wouldn't agree.  What an asshole.  The blinds are so huge and why be a total dick about it?  Later he started saying he had to pee too, I was SO hoping he would have to go and I'd be like sorry, no break for you.  Get blinded off.  Didn't happen though.

They kept surviving.  I called an all-in with 5-5 vs 2 overs, lose.  With blinds at 10k-20k, old guy shoves 22k total (2k more, lol).  Asian guy and I call and we check it down.  I have A-9 and river a 9.  Old guy slow-rolls pocket 10s.

My final victim

Eventually the Asian guy goes bust.  One more guy to beat and I win this thing!!!!  I start punishing him, just going all in over and over and he is folding everything.  Come on baby!!!!

Get all in with K-3 vs Q-9 for the entire tournament.  Seeing the cards run out was surreal - like the old days where I would play sit-n-gos online on PokerStars and win.  But I have never won a live tournament at a casino in my LIFE.  Q-9 holds up.  Damn.

Little later he shoves a small stack.  I look down at K-10 and insta-call.  Flop a 10.  Come on baby... turn nothing.... river, king.  No straight!  I win!  OMG I won the whole tournament!!!!   YES!!!!!

Tournament over - I win!!!!

Literally the first tournament I've ever won.  I'm on the sickest tournament run in my life and loving it.  Running good and playing good.  I won $1150, tipped 50, and walked with a great profit.  And in an add-on tournament, I never even added on!  LOL!  Awesome.

Just another awesome tournament under my belt and what a great feeling to win it outright.  No chop, I just took it to the end and beat everyone.  So freaking awesome.  More poker stories to come!