Bas Final Tables DTD 321 £300!

I decided to play the £300 mtt at DTD as I really want to play more live, and where better in the UK to play, then DTD!

I sat at my 1st table after playing cash for about 2 and a half hours, so I probably wasn’t in the best shape,
but with the 10k starting stack, I knew I had some room to dance, so I decided to do what I usually do, and build up a nice stack at start.

Nothing really happens for first 30 mins, then I get 7s3s in the cutoff, it’s folded to me, I raise to 150 at 25/50, the BB was a reasonably old man, looked like the standard
live player, only re raises huge hands, always bemoans other people constantly raising, etc etc. He re raises to 450, and I know he has like JJ+ here, so I’m just looking to outflop,
or outplay on really horrible boards for him, stuff like Kxx and Axx boards, as you can find out really easily if they have it or not

Of course.. I don’t need to worry about that rubbish, as the flop comes 773, I was laughing so much in my head, thinking about how he’s going to probably kill me if this
gets to showdown! He leads for 600, I dwell, and raise to 2050. He thinks for about 10 seconds, and announces re raise as I expected, and makes it another 2000 on top!
I decided to just flat as I had position, and thought he would shove almost every single turn, whilst if I shove over top, he is likely going to fold.

So I dwelled… pulled a few faces of discontent, and then called. The turn was a ten, he thought for 5 seconds and shoved, I snap called him, he turns over JJ, and begins
to absolutely flip at me! “oh my god how can you play 73 to a re raise, you wont last long in this” etc etc, I was trying really hard not to laugh at this point!

The guy on my right then whispers to me “I don’t think he knows who you are”, I was taken back by that straight away, as I had no idea who he was! He then tells me he’s
CCTV from AWOP, and we spend the next few hours getting to know each other and joking away to each other, he certainly made things a lot easier for me after I showed the 73,
cos I was getting the usual rubbish from the other players, of course I then get aces and flop a set and pick up another pot, and in no time I was up to 25k

Then the rest of the day went terribly, I got re raised every single time I entered the pot, with hands like 99/TT, and then some ace rag steals, I also couldn’t win
a showdown to save my life! I got moved table, to my left was John Sadler, who was the person who busted me from the £500 deep stack, James (CCTV) was moved to other side
of table, sat beside Ali Mallu, who had at least 50k, and was certainly a presence at the table!

I can’t remember much from this table as I was so card dead, I did call down with 99 on a KxxTT board and the person insta-mucked river after I called after a little dwell.

Then I lost AK vs T6 AIPF for 12k pot, he decided to move his 8bb stack in after I raised to 1750 at 300/600 from UTG+1, Ali flats, and he shoves, I obviously isolate,
and Ali folds, and board comes x2345, so I was then down to 16k.

Ali then busts someone TT vs AT AIPF for like 50k pot, after he huge overshoved from the BB to this button raise.. then very next hand, I raise AT at 400/800/100 to 2000 with 14.5k,
he insta-ships from the SB, and I tank for like 3 mins, I decided to relucantly fold as I’m beat here like 95% of time and I still felt I had enough of a stack to do damage, and
I’m so used to playing the short stack that I am more comfortable with it than an average stack! Then my much needed double up comes, the guy who had T6, shoves the cutoff
for 13k, I had just shoved 99 UTG and got no action, and now in the BB I pick up AQ and insta-call, he has A8 and does not get there, back up to 27k!

Then I make my standard sick fold to live players, 15 mins left of day 1, I have 27.5k, competent player limps UTG, as he’s competent I’m sure he does it with more than KK/AA, Ali limps behind, I raise it up
to 3k with JJ in the SB, the BB (my nemesis, John), re raises to 9.6k, I know his game really well from playing with him in £500 for a long time, and then at this table
for a few hours, I fake dwell and show my jacks, I was always folding, cos I know his range there is QQ-AA, if he had AK he’d have raised bigger, he shows his aces and
I’m like yeah live poker is easy!

Then I get moved table with 10 mins left of the day, I dont recognise anyone at the table. My first bit of action was from the SB with 76os. The cutoff limps, I complete,
BB checks. Board AK6, I check, BB checks, cutoff bets 1k into like 3k pot, I think he’s full of it here as his limping range is really wide, so I bumped it up to 3.8k,
he calls after a long thought, by this stage I’m fairly certain I can get him off an ace too as it’s right before end of day 1! Luckily I get rewarded again, when the turn
comes a 6. He had about 21k at start of hand. I ask him how much he has left, and then bet 4800, he thinks for ages and folds, I take the nice pot.

Then the huge hand comes, it’s announced that it’s the last hand of the day, and I have 27.5k or so, 4 limpers, I look down at JJ on button, and contemplate just shoving
and picking up all the money, instead I raise to 6k, the blinds fold, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 6k of his 20k stack, and then the guy on my right shoves 18.2k, now, by this
stage I’m thinking wtf?! in my head, I know the guy on my right is full of crap, I mean, if you had a big hand on the last day, would you limp behind 3 others with 20bb’s?

My only worry was the guy who limp called 1/3 of his stack, and I took a lot of time to think the hand through. I just decided that these players looked bad enough that my
jacks are in reasonable shape, and of course my pot odds are huge at this point, and ship it in. UTG+1 looks at me like Wayne Rooney would if you stole his christmas dinner,
he then announces “I have absolute crap”, well played then mate? He tanks for 3 mins, and as I’m asking the dealer to call for the clock, he says he calls and turns his Q3 up,
whilst the other guy shows Q7, £300 mtt, does not matter guys! Luckily my jacks hold and I win a 70k pot, even though I had to sweat the 865 flop!

I was in a state of shock, and the adrenaline rush was huge, I was so pumped, I couldn’t stand still, I tried to help the dealer count my chips, but I was shaking like hell!

So I ended day 1 in 3rd out of 34, with 11 paid, I knew I was in great shape, but it was nowhere near over, I mean 70k at 600/1200 blinds is fine, but all it takes is to run bad in some big pots
and you are out in 30th, I went back to the hotel that evening and tried to relax, I thought about what my plan was for day 2, and decided that my best bet was to play as lower-variance game
as possible to start with, dodging all in pre-flops without a big hand etc, it’s not the optimal way to play, but it was what I wanted to do to start out, as I knew an early hit would crush my
already struggling confidence whilst in such a bad tournament spell.

So I got there on day 2, got up and running, and was down to 50k within no time, as I tried a few steals, and lost a few showdowns, and then I got back up to 70k with a few nice hands, and then with the following hand:

Ali limps button, I have KJhh in SB and complete, BB checks, board 9c4c2x, I lead 2800, Ali thinks for 30 seconds and calls. Turn is an 8, I bet 4800, he thinks for 2 minutes and then folds, my line
is top pair at worst almost always, so I feel he has to give me a ton of respect in that spot, and he knew I wasn’t a rash player, so I felt he gave up all his drawing hands and 55/66 etc

Then a huge hand for me happened, Ali limps UTG+1, I limp 76dd in next position, button limps, SB completes, BB checks, board comes 3d 4d 5x, holla? SB shoves 15k or so, BB calls and has like 16k total, Ali folds,
I think for about 10 seconds after looking the button’s stack, and go all in, he folds, and BB obviously calls, the SB had 85 for top pair, BB had 65 for top pair + open ender, which are both
of course in absolutely awful shape vs my hand, no 7 on turn or river and they are both gone, and I’m over the 100k mark, I think I had about 110k after the hand.

Then I run really really terrible for what seems like forever, from 27 left until about 20 left, I fold a load of mid pocket pairs to re raises, I get into sick post-flop spots, example:

Blinds 1k/2k, I have around 55k by this stage, Ali opens to 5k, I flat AJos, SB and BB call, so pot is like 22k. board J54, they all check, so I stab 8k at the pot enticing action from the blinds,
as I’d snap call any shove from them, they both fold after little thought, and Ali immediately announces all in. He was the 1 person I wasn’t expecting to shove the flop, and I tanked for about
5 minutes, and I just could not believe it, he’s the most loose and unpredictable player I’ve ever played against, which is why I should probably call in this spot, but I’d never seen him do this
move after raising pre flop, so I mucked, and he flipped aces, which was a deceptive play to say the least. At least I knew what his 2.5xbb raise meant compared to his normal 3-3.5xbb raises!

I dropped all the way down to 40k at 1200/2400, then managed to pick up a few pots and get back up to 65k, then the following hand happens at 1.5k/3k:

Ali limps, I raise to 11.5k with KK, all fold to him, he calls, board 984, he open shoves for effectively around 50k, a huge overbet, I insta-called, he had JT and did not get there, and I was
back up to being 1 of the chip leaders with less than 20 to go

After that hand, I just kept my stack between 110-140k, and then the bubble burst and I had 130k, and I managed to do what I do best when deep, lose every flip!, First at 2k/4k,
the guy on my right had let himself get blinded down to 40k, and he shoves the button, whilst I know he’s not shoving his whole range, I know my AQ is more than enough to get it all in,
he has 77, 1 of the strongest hands he can have, and I miss everything, instead of going into final table with huge stack, it looked like it would be less than average. But wait, there is still
time to lose more chips!, I get A2 on the button at 3k/6k blinds, the SB has 36k, I have about 70k, and the BB has me covered, I decide to open to 15k, and the SB shoves, I’m getting such good odds
that I decide to call with A2, and I was actually ahead of his KQ, and he gets there, so now I am left with 5bb and on the verge of final table bubbling, I was steaming at this point as I’d seen
all my hard work be worthless as 2 flips crushed my stack, and the hope of ending the huge tournament downswing looked over. It didn’t help it was hand for hand and taking a long time, then I got
K5hh on the button next round and shoved my stack in, the BB called with A3, and I flopped a 5, and rivered another 5 and was back up to 75k, and then someone went out, so the final table
was set, I was only on 12bb’s (and blinds 4k/8k soon into final table), but I felt confident as I just needed to double up and I would have some play. I was of course really happy to have made it,
but it could have een so much different if I win AQ vs 77, I’d have been in a really big shot of 1st without having to get lucky. Someone had 400k coming into final table, there was only 1.18mil
chips in play, and of course I got blessed with him 2 on my left, I then had 3 good players to my right, and all the worse players on other side of table, so it was a terrible seat draw for me.

Luckily I got my early double up, I went through the blinds and was down to 60k, Norwegian pro Rolf Woods raised from the hijack position to 18k, and I find QQ on the button and shove and try
to look like I don’t really care, he thinks for about 2 minutes and then decides hes getting too good pot odds to fold, and calls with KJ, board comes all low cards and I’m back in it!

Then nothing happens forever for me personally, I watch 3 others go out, I sit there folding and just moving up money/waiting for a reasonable situation to re-steal, it doesn’t come, the blinds
were about to be 5k/10k, I get QTos on the button and shove about 80k, both blinds fold, next hand i get 66 and shove the cutoff and get called by TT and don’t get there, and end 6th for just over
£1500.

I was really gutted not to have got a better finish, but there was literally nothing I could do, and I didn’t exactly run awesome, apart from the 73s, I only got my money in bad once until final
hand, and that was the K5 vs A3. I was really happy with how I played, and I feel my live tournament game is really really strong in these buyin tournaments, the next step is to test it on
a higher live stage, as then I’ll really find out what I need to do to improve my game!

Thanks to everyone who cheered me on, and big thanks to the people who came to DTD and got me drinks/kept me calm/gave me lifts to hotel!