Reg 3rd In Stars $8 Rebuy $20K Guaranteed For $3,568.01 - 26th May 2008

Before the start of the tournament, I took the option to buy an extra 1500 chips and started with a 3000 chip stack. When I play re-buy’s, I like to play them like a freezeout and try to stay away from any big confrontations pre-flop unless I’m holding 10-10+ or AK. This can sometimes work against me, as I often start the freezeout stage with a shorter than average stack but I find it’s too easy and expensive to gamble early on with speculative hands. I also like to play the torunaments for the value and there isn’t a lot of value in the games if you’re regularly re-buying five or six times.

So, with my strategy in place, I proceeded to fold my first fourteen hands before picking up 10-10 in middle position. The blinds were 15/30 and I raised to 150. The Big Blind re-raised to 440, at this point, I probably
could have folded but I decided to push in and hope I was racing. He called me with JJ, I didn’t improve and had to buy an additional 1500 chips to replenish my stack to 2620. That proved to be the last time I had to re-buy.

The next key hand wasn’t far off. I picked up AK in MP on hand 22. The
blinds were still 15/30 and I made a small raise to 85, hoping to induce a
re-raise from one of my opponents. The cut off raised all-in to 1520 and I
called. He showed AJ. My hand held up and I moved on to 4215 in chips.

That was pretty much it until the first break. I picked up a few small
pots and after taking the add-on, I had increased my stack to 7060.

On hand 56, I was dealt 10-10 again in seat three. The blinds were at
75/150 and I raised to 450. The player that had limped UTG called and we
saw a beautiful 3-2-10 flop. He checked to me and I bet 600, he again just
called. A king fell on the turn and he pushed in for his remaining 3105
chips. I called and he showed A9 and was drawing dead. I had now moved on
to 11740 in chips.

The game moved on to hand 74, where I got 9-2 in the big blind. It folded
to the small blind who completed for 100. I decided to take a flyer and
raised to 650, obviously hoping my opponent would fold but disappointly he
called. The flop came down 6-4-6 with two clubs showing. My opponent
checked, so I bet out 850 and prayed that he would fold. He called and the
turn fell the 9h. He checked again, now, I thought he had to be drawing,
or have me called again.crushed. I elected to bet 2500 and to my dismay,
he min-raised to 5000. I should have been done with the hand there and
then but he only had 1366 left behind and it just didn’t feel right, so I
set him in, he called and showed 8-5, he didn’t improve and I moved on to
18206 in chips. Having just reviewed this hand, I can’t believe just how
badly I played it. Fortunately for me, I was up against a player that
decided to make a move when he had little fold equity and a poor hand.

On to hand 86 now, where I picked up 10-8 on the button. Seat 2 min-raised
to 400 and I decided to call in position. The small blind also called and
three players went to the flop. I git the flop hard as it came A-10-8 but
I was aware how vulnerable my bottom two pair was. The initial raiser bet
out for 2000, I raised to 5500, the small blind folded and then the
original raiser moved all in for 13150 chips, I called and he showed Jc 9c
for an open ended straight flush draw, he picked up even more outs on the
turn as a 9 fell but the river was a harmless 5h and I picked up a huge
pot of 28500 and moved on to 30406 in chips.

I’d rode my luck and put myself into a good position. I also had a little
word with myself and told myself it was time to slow down a bit.

Slow down I did. For the next 111 hands to hand 197. I was pretty much
card dead. I’d fiddled around a bit and increased my stack to 34126 but it
had been very slow going and I was getting slightly frustrated. I was
dealt AQ in seat 6 Seat 1, with 13111 in chips raised from 1000 to 2500. I
re-raised to 8500 and it folds back to seat 1, who moves in for an
additional 5011 to me. All I can do is hope I’m racing and call the push.
He showed 9-9 and it took until the river before an ace from space saved
me. I wasn’t happy that I’d again put myself in a marginal situation for
half of my chips but I guess you have to win these races if you want to go
deep in 1000+ runner games.

By hand 257, my stack had reduced to 30020, mainly due to raising with 99
and having to fold to a shove on a K-10-7 board. I hadn’t seen a premium
hand for what seemed like an eternity and was getting quite irritable.
With the blinds on 1000/2000 a200, I got AJ suited under the gun. I had
made the money and wanted to go about building a stack that would carry me
deep, or get knocked out. I had been dying a slow death and decided to
take a stand. I moved in for my remaining 29820, I wasn’t sure whether I
wanted a caller, or not and was disappointed to see the guy on my
immediate right insta call. Everyone else folded and he showed QQ.
Luckily, I caught an ace on the flop and doubled through to 64440. This
was the first hand I’d gone in as a significant underdog and was grateful
that my luck was in.

Now, I was pretty focused on going deep. I’d taken a pretty reckless
gamble and was fortunate that it paid off. I intended to make the most of
my good fortune and decided to slow right down again and wait for a good
spot.

On to hand 276, the blinds had moved on to 2000/4000 a400. My stack had
been reduced to 37540 due to the blinds and a hand where I raised from the
button with A5 and was forced to fold when the BB pushed. I was back into
‘all-in, or fold’ mode, which to be fair makes the game a lot simpler when
I picked up AK in seat 3. I moved in, hoping to be called. Seat six duly
obliges and I’m delighted to see him show KQ. My hand held up and I was
back in the game. By now, a lot of EMS members were railing me and it was
helping me remain composed as I didn’t want to make a donk move and show
myself up.

An hour passed and I’d picked up literally nothing of any note. My stack
had dwindled to to 51364 and the blinds had gone up to 3000/6000 a600.
There had been a player at the table that had been raising at least three
times per orbit for the last half an hour or so and was using his 200k in
chips to bully the table. His range had to be huge, so when I picked up
A10 in the BB, I moved in on him after he’d made it 18k to go. I wanted
him to call, as I presumed he wouldn’t have an ultra strong hand. I was
wrong, he called and turned over AK and I was in trouble, again. The flop
game me an extra 4 outs as it came J-7-9. A lovely 8 came on the turn and
I’d got lucky again. I don’t think I played the hand badly, given the
previous actions of the opening raiser and my relatively short stack and
would do the same thing again in the same situation. Sure, I’d got lucky
but it was entirely possible that I could have had him dominated when the
chips went in.

Hand 407 was a critical hand that to be absolutely frank, I played
abysmally. I’d been card dead for a long while and had been forced to
scratch around, raising with rubbish, just to stay alive, when I was big
blind, the small blind would continually raise, there hadn’t been an
unraised pot in a long while and I was getting nowhere. We were down to
the last three tables by now and I was only interested in getting to the
final table and the heavy end of the money. I was ready to gamble in order
to achieve that but that doesn’t excuse how badly I played this hand. It
folded around to the sb, who pushed all of his 89768 chips in on me for
the umpteenth time, I had 55 and called without thinking about it. It was
a horrible call but I’d allowed my frustration to get the better of me, he
showed JJ and I lost a huge pot. I was down to 50k and the blinds were
5000/10000 a1000. I was all but dead and very annoyed at my lack of
patience.

I couldn’t afford to see another BB leave my stack and on hand 411, I was
dealt K9. It was enough for me to shove with given the circumstances and I
wanted a caller. I only had 40868 chips and fully expected to get looked
up. The big blind called with 33 and I spiked a king. I was back up to
94936 and still in a mood to gamble. It was as if the terrible call with
55 had sparked me into life after getting bogged down wating for a hand.
On hand 412, I picked up A10 and pushed again. I was called by the button
who easily had me covered. He flipped over QQ but I caught an ace on the
flop. I dodged him tripping up on the turn or river and was now sat with
the most chips I’d seen all day, 215072.

On hand 426, I was dealt 88, the table bully, who was getting a lot of
abuse from the rail from those he’d sucked out on, raised again from 12000
to 36000, I moved in for 163000, figuring that I had plenty of fold equity
if he had his usual junk. He had AK this time though and called. The flop
cam small and I caught an eight on the turn to take the pot down. Again,
given the circumstances, I thought I played the hand well given his wide
range and the fold equity I had. I’d moved on to 355344 and only had eyes
for the final table now.

Several hands passed by and I was adding to my chipstack nicely. By the
time we had a final table, I was sat third in chips with around 900000.
The short stack bust out on the second hand, leaving me sat third of eight
remaining players. Unfortunately, the HH I requested from Pokerstars is
cut off at this point, so I’m going to have to go by memory now but there
was a significant pot around 20 hand into the FT, where I raised with 88
from the button. The big stack in the big blind called and the flop came
8-7-7. He checked to me and I made a small bet of around 40000, he called.
The turn was a 5. He checked again, so I bet around 120k and he called
again. The river was another 5 and he made a weak bet of 80000, I raised
to 240000 and he paid me off. I’d moved up to chip leader on around 1.5m
in chips and was feeling really good.

There was a lot of action on the table but nobody seemed to be getting
eliminated. I was maintaining my stack well though and wasn’t at all
concerned that the field wasn’t thinning too quickly. With the blinds at
30000/60000, there was a 3-way all-in between two short stacks and a big
stack. The big stack held 55 and he cracked AA and AK when a 5 came on the
river. All of a sudden, we were six handed and I’d been demoted to second
in chips.

Of the six remaining players, there was one player that was clearly just
trying to ladder up as far as he could, he had let his stack dwindle from
800000, down to 250000. When he finally moved all-in, the BB called him
thin with J9, which beat the short stacks AQ and we were down to five
players.

I was still second in chips with 1.8m. My raises were getting through and
it seemed that I had a good table image. I had been playing as well as I
could for the last hour or so, taking some pots down without a showdown
and generally getting my own way. The chip leader and the guy third in
chips had been clashing often and as a result of that, the other two
players weren’t getting an opportunity to make any moves. It wasn’t long
before we were playing three handed, as the short stacks were forced to
play with mediocre holdings against the table aggressors and didn’t get
lucky. Because of my reluctance to play a big pot whilst two players were
on life support, I was the shortest stack when 3 handed play began. I
still had around 1.9m chips, with the other two players having around 2.5m
and 2.2m respectively. At one point, the weaker player of the two dropped
down to 1.2m in chips and looked to be heading for the exit door, save for
a lucky card on the river which gave his dominated A7 a four flush vs the
big stacks AQ.

Whilst all of this was going on, my stack dropped to 1.6m. Given the
amount of gamble both players seemed to have, I wanted to wait as long as
I could for a relatively decent hand. With the blinds at 40000/80000 a800,
I limped on the sb with A10 suited. I fully expected the big blind to
raise, as he was playing very aggressively. He raised to 240000 and I
re-raised all-in. He called me with 88 and we were racing for around 3.2m
in chips. The flop gave me some hope when it came Q99, a J on the turn
gave me plenty of outs but I missed as a 5 fell on the river to end my
game. Usually, when I’ve just gone out of a game, I’m really annoyed and
deflated but this was a very friendly final table with good banter and
respectful players. This helped me swallow the bitter pill of coming so
close but not winning.

I have to thank all of the EMS members that railed me, offering
encouragement and support for around three hours. It really does help to
have good players watching and encouraging.

In summing up the tournament, I’d say by and large, I played just about as
well as I can. Yes, I got lucky but I think you need a bit of luck from
time to time to go deep in an event. If you are reading this but are not
yet a member of EMS, I would encourage you to sign up and get involved on
the forum. My game has improved significantly in the short time I’ve been
a member. I’m not saying that I wasn’t capable of such a good run before I
joined the forum but I’d say I’m definitely more capable of regularly
going deep as a result of getting involved.

Thanks for reading.

Reg.