Small Tournament Milestone

I have been bored playing No Limit cash games for the last 3 weeks so yesterday I decided to fire up a $20+2 180 person Sit and Go on Poker Stars. I have only played one other large multi player tournament since the World Series of Poker ended so I have been jonesing to play for a while.

My early tournament hands were really uneventful. I am staring at my Poker Tracker stats and here is the early going:

Blinds Total hands win/lose
10-20 14 (50)
15-30 13 240
25-50 16 (325)
50-100 19 550

So as you can see I played with my original stack amount for quite some time. I finally picked up some hands and they held up and I began to plow through the field.

As everyone knows, you need to get lucky a few times to go far in these tournaments. I was up to 5,860 and 2nd in chips at my table. The blinds were 100-200 and I decided to steal the blinds with Ad-6d from middle position. It's folded to the small blind with 1330 in chips. He pushes all in. I am priced in so I make the crying call and he turns over KK. The flop is T-Q-9 all hearts. Absolutely no help for me. Luckily my opponent does not have a heart either. The turn is an 8. And the river is a beatiful 7 giving me a runner-runner straight. They moved me to another table right after the hand finished so I did not even realize how I won the hand because I was looking for an Ace.

A few hands later I am at 7,990 in chips and blinds are 100-200 with 25 ante. I open raise in the cutoff with Ace-Ten offsuit to 600. The small blind "Rippyken" calls and everyone else has folded. The flop is Js-7c-4h. It's very ragged so I figure my continuation bet should take it down. Instead Rippyken leads out for 600 into a 1,600 pot. The bet looks weak and the board looks so harmless, I decide that I can raise him off of it. I raise to 1800. Rippyken calls.

I did not want a call obviously. Now I am thinking he may have a set of 7's or 4's. The turn is a 6s and he checks the turn and I check behind. The river is a 4d, pairing the board. Rippyken checks again. I know the only way I can win this is by betting. However I feel like it will take a bet of at least 1/2 of my remaining stack to win it and I don't want to gamble. I check it through and he shows Qd-7d for a pair of 7's. I am surprised he did not lay it down preflop or on the flop, but I probably saved some money since if was willing to call those two bets, he probably would have called the river. So now I am back to 5,565.

About 10 hands later a carbon copy of the previous hand happens again. I have As-Th in the cut off position. I have one limper in front of me. This time I raise to 800. Rippyken calls again out of the small blind and the limper folds. The flop is 2s-Jh-4c. Another ragged flop. This time Rippyken checks and I check behind. I was thinking that this time, if I fire out on the turn, he may give me more credit for a hand. Plus it will give me another chance to see what he does on the turn. The turn is 3h. He checks and I bet 1800 into the 2,200 pot. Rippyken folds. He had shown weakness twice, plus I had better outs this time with a 5 for a straight or an Ace on the river probably gives me the pot as well. So I am back up to 6,465.

The blinds are up to 200-400 with 25 ante and I need to do something. I am down to 5140 in chips. I am in the small blind with 8-8. Boomerang with 5,605 in chips (who I had reraised a while ago when he tried to steal from my blind), open raises for 1,200. I push all in and he lays it down.

I fold 10-15 hands in a row again. I am in the big blind with Kd-Jh. A small stack raises all in to 1600. The blinds were 300-600 with 50 antes. Everyone has folded to me. I have to call. He turns over pocket tens, so I like my chances. Unfortunately, I don't win this race.

A few hands later I open push with 66 and win 1,800 to stay alive.

Then under the gun, I open push for 5,115 in chips with Ah-Jd. This is probably too aggressive. The blinds are 300-600 with 50 antes. I am not interested in sliding into the money so I feel that 8-9 times the big blind is short and I need to move up. I need to stop doing this. Be patient. Sure enough, kidjason calls with pocket 5's and I need to win another race. This time a Jack falls on the flop so I think I am winning. Then I realize that a 5 also fell on the flop, so I am crushed.

I am only left with 1,141 after this and I am in the big blind which is 600 plus the 50 ante. This is where I go on an incredible run. I have 6-7 offsuit. Kiddjason decides to min raise to 1200. GCagg with 14,000 in chips calls from the small blind and I of course throw in my last few hundred in chips. I flop the open ended straight draw and hit it on the river. So now I have 3,623 in chips.

Blinds go up to 400-800 with 50 ante. We are now to the money bubble. I guess players are starting to tighten up, but I don't know why since you only win $18 if you squeek in. I have Ac-2c under the gun and I open push for 3073. Amazingly everyone folds and I collect 2300.

In the big blind, the very next hand I am dealt a garbage 8-4 offsuit. A moron only min raises to 1600. The small blind calls, and since I am getting 10-1 I am forced to call. The flop is 8d-5h-2h. The small blind checks and I push in. Everyone folds and I collect 5100 in chips.

Then I pickup pocket 7's. I raise all in after two limpers and they all fold. What do you know, I am over $10,000 again. I raise again with pocket 8's and get no takers. I even win a pot with 6-3 offsuit in the big blind when everyone checks every street and I pair my 3 on the river. I think this was the hand that broke the money bubble.

This was a nice milestone because I had not yet made the money on the 180 person sit and gos until this moment. I paused briefly to pat myself on the back and then got back to work.

Not that it mattered much, but during the last 30 minutes of my tournament I had the computer at the dinner table and was enjoying lasagna made by Michele. I am glad she is so understanding about my hobby. I think a lot of wives would have thrown a tantrum. Not Michele.

So now I am pumped up to 13,898 in chips. I pass for a few hands and then raise with KQ. I get two callers. The flop is Qs-4s-3h. The pot is 8000 and I have 11,198 left after the preflop action. One player checks and I move in. They both fold. Now I am pumped up to 19,198 in chips. The blinds are still 400-800 with 50 antes so I have some room to play now.

Unfortunately, it all ended quickly and painfully. I am dealt Qh Jc on the button. It's folded to me and I raise to 2400. Bartonfa in the big blind calls the bet. Bartonfa is the chip leader at our table with 39,814 in chips. I briefly thought of just limping on the button to avoid tangling with him, but I figured if he comes over the top, I'll just lay it down.

The flop is Jd-6h-5d. Perfect. Bartonfa checks and I bet 4000 into a 5600 pot. He check raises me all in. I feel like I have too much invested in the pot, so I call. He turns over J-T and I have him crushed. He only has 3 outs. I'm gonna be chip leader at the table! I am gonna go all the way.......Ten on the turn. FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!! I am out in 15th with a whopping $18 profit.

How in the hell do guys do this for a living?????????