Sweet Tournament Win – The Slump Ends
Hey guys,
It has been a while since I last wrote, I just got home from a sweet tournament victory ending a month-long slump of getting turned or rivered in every all-in situation. I played in a few earlier today and got some awful beats, picked up aces in the big blind, the entire table called big blind, I raised from 100 to 800 and got 5 callers. Flop comes Q-8-2 and I bet about half the pot. I get called by one guy, the next guy reraises, it folds around to me… I go all-in, the caller folds and the re-raiser calls and shows Q-9o. I was like “hell yeh double up” then the turn gave him trips and I was gone. So I play in another one and I was at a table with a very aggressive player that liked to splash around and re-raise with next to nothing. I got a good read on his betting patterns and entered a pot against him in late position with K-9 suited. The flop came 10-9-3 and he bet 200, I put him on Q-9 or J-9 so I raised to 800. The guy puts me all-in so I trust my read and call, he shows J-9 and the turn reveals a J and I am dealt another sickening beat… It’s alright, it’s poker and thats the name of the game…
So I entered the next upcoming tournament earlier tonight and I got a double up very early. I had an awful calling station at my table that would call any bet with any draw or any pair. I again had K-9s and hit top pair. I decided my strategy against this guy was to play my hands very hard and very aggressive against him. So I bet the pot and as he called I went all-in dark before the turn. The turn revealed another king so I knew I was good, he called my all-in anyway and mucked when I showed my trip kings.
So I’m up to like 25-30x the big blind at this point and am sitting pretty. I continue to play a super-tight yet aggressive game until I got moved to another table. Once there I entered a very risky situation and this is what started the luck run. I picked up A-Q of spades and under the gun raised 3x the big blind. Playing most of my hands a lot harder than normal I raised him from 2000 to 10000 and he immediately pushed for a few thousand more. I called and he flipped over pocket aces. I was like shit…. until I flopped broadway and knocked him out… He was the 2nd big stack at the table behind me. At this point I’m sitting pretty and have a pretty big stack.
So a few hands later I get A-Q of spades yet again and I’m feeling it once again, so it folds around to me in the small blind and I raise which prompts the big blind to move all-in. I call and he shows A-J… I flop the nut flush and he’s gone.
Now I have a monster stack and have room to play big stack poker. Three or four hands later I pick up 7-10 suited and decide to play it, this hand normally is very far out of my starting hand requirements and I never consider it, but I was in position and had everyone covered probably 5-to-1. The flop in this hand comes A-K-7. It checks to me and I bet, it prompts a re-raise from a small stack that was probably a little over twice my bet. I decide to test the waters and I call, he shows A-5o and I”m like “shit” until I hit trip sevens on the river to knock out another player.
Now it’s the final table and its a pretty tight table, so I steal the blinds a few times, I snuck into a raised pot with 9-10, flopped top pair and insta-pushed to represent tremendous strength and stole a huge pot. I start getting a run of hands like K-10, Q-10, J-9 and fold them to small stack all-ins that are increasingly frequent.
I pick up Q-10s on the button and I call, the big blind who was the 2nd biggest stack besides me pushes all-in in big blind. I go on a whim and call, this was a very debatable call because I really try to avoid calling all-ins with high suited connectors or two face cards but it was too late. He had A-Q and I was dominated…. until the river when I hit a ten and take over the 2nd chip leader’s chips, now I got things dominated. So the hand goes on, I knock out the 4th and 3rd place guy and i’m now heads up. We go back and forth for a while exchanging blinds and I doubled him up once trying to make a move with K-8s. I picked up A-2o and pushed because I still had him covered big time so he called with J-8s and I spiked an ace on the river to win the tournament.
So to those of you that are getting awful card runs and sick bad beats, stay confident in your game or switch part of your game up a little bit… if you’re playing too conservative, too loose, too aggressive make adjustments and see if you can find success.
