A 5th Place Finish

So we started back day two of Event #6 with 18 players and I was pretty comfortable with my stack and chances to make the final table. I had great table draws for the entire tournament with never having anyone at the table with a massive stack and always having one of the larger stacks at my table throughout the tournament. When play resumed I picked up right where I left off and was lucky that my table was made up of all people that I had played with on day one. I never really got played back at and I never got called with marginal hands. Heard a lot from the other players when they folded to my raises that they were gonna let me have it and pick a better spot. My image was pretty close to the vest which allowed me to do a number of things such as raising utg with any two cards or three betting and getting virtually no resistance with that. Although ppl saw me as only playing good hands I made it clear that my BB was not to be a target and I defended it a good bit with the exception of maybe two players b/c these guys weren't raising with anything other than top 5 hands.

With about 14 players left I took a pretty big dent when I opened with AcQc utg+1 and one of the two super tight players moves in and it cost less than a complete reraise and I KNOW I'm behind. I call and he has AK and I actually turn a flush draw and whiff. I don't get flustered and just know that I will be able to accumulate unless our table gets wide open for some reason but I know that's not gonna happened. I make a raise or two and win a couple and lose a couple blinds and then one of the most important hands of my tourney came up while I was in the BB. The guy who was in the 9 seat and wasn't really that great of a player but was able to maintain his chip stack for the most part but I definitely had him on a wide range of raising hands ESPECIALLY from the button (he was "that guy"when he was on the button). Well he raises to 13k when the blinds were 3k/6k and I look down at 6,3 of hearts and start contemplating the situation. With him having a wide range I figured it was time to gamble and with 62k to start the hand I call with full intention of making a play at the pot NO MATTER WHAT FLOPS. There is a certain point in tourneys where you're not just taking flops but have to go into every hand with full intention of doing whatever it takes to win the pot. I call the raise and the flop comes 5,7,8 two clubs. I don't like moving all in b/c although it may be complete b.s. I just feel that ppl are more inclined to call thin when someone moves all in rather than making a bet. I bet 24k and he sets me all in and I call. He has Ac,Qc and I'm open ended with two live cards. Turn is a 6 and river a 3 and I double through. And like I have my own P.R. guy at the table the 8 seat tells the guy who just lost "I thought everyone realized by now not to mess with his blind"...I thought it was a little out of line but nonetheless was to the point and I didn't mind.

I had to hear this guy cry about me calling him with 6,3 preflop for a while. Some people just don't get it at all. It didn't matter what I had and he just couldn't comprehend that I wasn't folding any hand there. I don't know where the thought came from like it's against the rules to call with "not good" hands...ppl are just so scared to play after the flop if they don't hit their hand....these are the same guys that would never have the balls to call with Ace high on the river. I eventually went with "I'm sorry sir, I just play really bad...and if you'd like to provide me with a list of hands that is acceptable to call your raises with I'd be happy keep that in mind"....he kinda smirked and we moved on. It was nice b/c I eventually busted him when we were at the final table and he had JJ and I called his AIPF with AK. It even felt better to hit the Ace on the turn.

I lost a shitty hand to the eventual winner and doubled him up. This guy was a good player and he pretty much just had situations where the cards played themselves. I was utg with 88 and completely got lazy and didn't realize the blinds had gone up to 6k,12k and I made a minraise. The SB (who came to the final table with over 230k was not good....he just hemorrhaged like 100k limping and calling)...well he called my minraise and the BB moved all in. The pot was huge and I had moved all in over the top and the BB had 99 vs. my 88 and he held up and never really looked back after that. I made a comeback after that when I doubled after getting it in bad with A,5 vs. A,Q and hit a 5. The eventual winner picked up some good hands in key spots including busting a fellow GCP'er when Kai overplayed his A,10 and the other guy had 10,10 and it held. Kai was pretty disgusted with himself for playing it that fast. I eventually got it all in when the button raised with rags and I had 55. I moved in and he was somewhat embarrassed about his hand but he was in great shape. He had j,7 and the flop came paired over my fives and then turn gave him a gut shot. I was dodging half the deck and he hit his gut shot and I was out in 5th.

It was a good run and I had a great time but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that I didn't win. I stayed relatively emotionless throughout the tourney which is tough and I've always said that I refuse to blind away in a tourney and stayed true to that and tried to pick my spots. Before the final table I only called one river bet and lost. Was only all in three times in the entire tourney and twice at the final table and obviously I only lost one of those. It would have been nice to get a ring, but it was nice to hear congratulations and have friends out there sweating me. Davey was also running pretty well in the nooner and me being on the stage and he being on the floor I could keep an eye on his table while I was at mine. He had a tough end to his night but he did cash so that's at least a positive. And it meant some more money won by some Houma boys as we've had a strong showing thus far. Not sure when I'm gonna play again. Might go play some cash game tonight or Wednesday and then prolly play the $500 on Saturday.
Till Next Time.
Keep It Real Homies.