Monday, October 19, 2009

18 man win #3

I took first place in an 18 man tourney for the third time this month. The tipping point was soon after we combined into the final nine- I was around 8 big blinds, and a player whom I didn't know (he was at the other table for the first part of the tourney) limped into my blind from early position.

I was in the big blind with AQ. I had no read, but in the end I felt like it was time, and that was a much better chance that this guy was playing badly (high blind limping) than slowrolling a big hand. I shoved over him. He thought for a good bit and then called - with KQ. Whew. From 9th to second in chips just like that (after the small matter of avoiding the 3 out suckout, of course).

I was able to build up chips on the bubble with some stealing and one nice resteal with A9. I was not stealing liberally, though - the giant stack was the big blind on my bubble, and the guy to my left seemed donkish enough to call incorrectly. Correctly or not, I was playing patiently, waiting for a big hand or for the bubble to break somewhere else.

The bubble broke soon (a set of kings vs. a nonbeliever with pocket sevens), and then a "post bubble euphoria" hand ensued where two people got it all in with Q6 vs. J5. Yikes. That brought us to three. I knocked out #3 in a standard AK vs. JJ race (I won with jacks, holy moley!).

Heads up was a pretty long affair - my opponent seemed pretty good and we were both changing strategies. He limped in with AK and buried my AJ when I raised. I mixed up limps and raises with both good and bad holdings.

I had one read on him - when he checked instantly, he had nothing. I would bet and take the pot. If he checked after a moment's thought, then I had to be more careful - with a checkraise or at least a call often coming my way.

I think he ultimately got frustrated. He started raising bigger preflop - 5 times the blind, which was committing. He raised my limp three times this way, so I knew I just needed a hand I could go with. That hand came Ace-Jack suited - no powerhouse, but good enough against his current level of aggressiveness. I limped, he raised, and I shoved it in. He correctly called (after committing himself) with K8 and I held up again.

A couple hands later, he limped into my 95o and I checked. I hit top pair and bet out - he shoved over me. "Damn, he limped with a monster", I thought, but I had to call. I was half right - he had limped with AK, and now decided to shove, even after missing the flop. My call was good. He hit his ace on the turn, but I hit my own 5 outer on the river with a five and took the tourney. Hey, the best hand (when the money went in) won.

No mistakes this time, and a win to show for it.



3 comments:

Memphis MOJO said...

Congrats on the win.

Do you ever play 9-player or 6-player sit & goes?

matt tag said...

I almost always play 9 player SNGs - the 18 mans are a new thing I've been trying lately.

Probably 750 of my 800 played SNGs to date are 9 mans.

bastinptc said...

Congrats.