one is enough

Squeezed one tourney into tonight between another late end to work and Carmine-minding. I thought I was in big trouble on hand number one - an average player minraised and I had AK. Since this was the first hand, I didn't know if minraise meant his hand was "meh" or if it meant his hand was "RRRAWR". I called the 2x bet.

I hit my ace on the flop - Ace Three Five, two clubs. He checks, I bet, he min-checkraises. Oof. So now what, did he have a strong kings/queens and was testing me, or did he have A3/A5 and hit his crappy 2 pair against my dominating big slick? Since stacks were still deep, and I was getting 3.25-1 odds, I decided to call again. (probably a bad play).

The turn was the nine of diamonds - putting two diamonds on the board.

Now he bets pot - 765. Dammmnnnnnnn. One check to his sharkscope stats - he's played 102 tourneys (not many), and is a modest winner. Well, I figure either he's got KK/QQ/JJ and just can't believe I've got an ace (I did just call the flop bet), or he's got two pair or a set and I'm in big trouble. Should I just fold the damn hand? Not a terrible play, certainly, but in the heat of battle decide his inexperience is my primary read and stick it all in. He calls and shows Ace hearts, 6 hearts. I'm ahead now but had to dodge 11 river cards (3 sizes, only 8 hearts b/c I have Kh). A lovely black ten gives me a first hand double up.

This is my only real hand until we get to 5 handed. I raise JJ and get shoved over from the worst player at the table. Since this same player had just lost a hand where he had raised a bet on the flop, and then folded to a shove-over, I thought the tilt-fu might be high in this spot, so I call.

He shows Aces. Bleah. They held up. Double bleah.

This knocks me down to under 4 BB but I'm not dead yet. I shove my button with any two cards and stay ahead when the blinds fold. I shove K9s from the cutoff (probably a borderline play), everyone folds. My big doubleup comes with 99 under the gun, five handed. I have just recently won a few small pots and have almost exactly 10 Big Blinds left. Limping is ridiculous, so is folding. Raising to a non all-in seems silly too. Only one option left. I put it all-in.

When the tightest player at the table calls me, I figure I'm racing or in big trouble, but he turns over almost the best hand I could have hoped for (other than 88) - he shows A9. He has only one live card and I double up into first place when I avoid it.

The bubble breaks about 2 hands later - I have come from the brink of elimination into the money.

In the very first hand of the bubble, I get rockets in the hole. I click my F2 button to lower my raise from 3x to 2.5x - hopefully just enough to look weak. (I almost never limp with aces, I always get nailed). The small blind - the same bad player who turned up with aces against my jacks earlier - shoves over me - a big overbet since he has 5000 chips like I do. I call and he turns over - JJ!. I briefly think how sweet redemption is, and then I realize that the poker gods will probably let him hit his two outer to have some true ironic fun with me. Strangely, they allow me to savor my revenge and let my bullets remain the winner.

When heads up, with a 10-1 chip advantage, I shove with Q2o. My opponent turns over Jack-Jack. Whoops. Ok, no biggie, I'll still be the chip leader when this hand is over...

except a Queen hits the flop and turn and gives me the win.

From worst to first. Good play and a bit of luck at the end.

I had time for a second tourney, but decided this was enough for one night. No need to get greedy