Brag Post Alert!

Don't read this if you hate brag posts. It was a fun morning for me today. Backing up to last night, got a little bit of time to play some 50NL on FT, and was down about a buy-in. Hopped onto a $12+1 DS Qualifier for the $530 Sunday Million, and was out in 5 minutes when my aces got cracked all-in pre-flop vs. Q8. Huh?? Yah, sucky. Managed to win a $26 tourney token on FT, but other than that, a down night.

This morning, I had to wake up to review some documents for work, so I was up very, very early. I figured I would get into the 5 EST $24+2 tourney on FT. I limped with AK in early position with the hope of re-raising, and got the chance when almost everyone limps and the BB raises it to 4BB (after 6 limpers???). So I re-raise and he puts me all-in, he's got QQ. I lose the race, I'm out. In about 4 minutes. Ick. $26 not well spent.

Was going to focus on my work only, but got onto Stars instead (I'm such a good procrastinator!) and a $12+1 $530 Sunday Million qualifier was starting in a few minutes. I got in. Then, my luck changed.

I got heads up on the first table after playing only really premium hands and getting it in really good a couple of times and taking the chip lead. When we got heads up:

PokerStars Game #14807113372: Tournament #74378667, $12+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level V (75/150) - 2008/01/25 - 05:43:23 (ET)
Table '74378667 1' 8-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 4: funvloh (3197 in chips)
Seat 8: PJS JR. (5803 in chips)
PJS JR.: posts small blind 75
funvloh: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [6s 9s]
PJS JR.: calls 75
funvloh: checks
*** FLOP *** [9d 6d 5s]
funvloh: checks
PJS JR.: bets 300
funvloh: calls 300
*** TURN *** [9d 6d 5s] [Jh]
funvloh: bets 2747 and is all-in
PJS JR.: calls 2747
*** RIVER *** [9d 6d 5s Jh] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
funvloh: shows [Js 7h] (a pair of Jacks)
PJS JR.: shows [6s 9s] (two pair, Nines and Sixes)
PJS JR. collected 6394 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6394 | Rake 0
Board [9d 6d 5s Jh 4c]
Seat 4: funvloh (big blind) showed [Js 7h] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 8: PJS JR. (button) (small blind) showed [6s 9s] and won (6394) with two pair, Nines and Sixes

After waiting for a good 20 minutes for the other tables to finish, I got started on table 2. Things didn't go well early. I got down to about 1000 chips before I raised all-in to pick up blinds, and then:

PokerStars Game #14807360565: Tournament #74378667, $12+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level IV (50/100) - 2008/01/25 - 06:14:13 (ET)
Table '74378667 1' 8-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: PJS JR. (1105 in chips)
Seat 3: katcher11 (5950 in chips)
Seat 4: Sedda (1025 in chips)
Seat 5: hpcricket (2445 in chips)
Seat 8: ceejee (1475 in chips)
hpcricket: posts small blind 50
ceejee: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [Jd Ac]
PJS JR.: raises 1005 to 1105 and is all-in
katcher11: folds
Sedda: folds
hpcricket: raises 1005 to 2110
ceejee: folds
*** FLOP *** [3s Js 4c]
*** TURN *** [3s Js 4c] [3d]
*** RIVER *** [3s Js 4c 3d] [2c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hpcricket: shows [Ad Th] (a pair of Threes)
PJS JR.: shows [Jd Ac] (two pair, Jacks and Threes)
PJS JR. collected 2310 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2310 | Rake 0
Board [3s Js 4c 3d 2c]
Seat 1: PJS JR. showed [Jd Ac] and won (2310) with two pair, Jacks and Threes
Seat 3: katcher11 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Sedda (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: hpcricket (small blind) showed [Ad Th] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 8: ceejee (big blind) folded before Flop


I took down some blinds in the next 4-5 hands, and the other short stacks got wiped out in a hurry, 2 of them on one hand with my heads-up villain. Katcher11 had taken out, I believe, everyone at this table, so he had most of the chips. Situation didn't look good...

PokerStars Game #14807379077: Tournament #74378667, $12+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level IV (50/100) - 2008/01/25 - 06:16:30 (ET)
Table '74378667 1' 8-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: PJS JR. (2160 in chips)
Seat 3: katcher11 (9840 in chips)
katcher11: posts small blind 50
PJS JR.: posts big blind 100

Got worse...

PokerStars Game #14807403214: Tournament #74378667, $12+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level V (75/150) - 2008/01/25 - 06:19:30 (ET)
Table '74378667 1' 8-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: PJS JR. (1710 in chips)
Seat 3: katcher11 (10290 in chips)
katcher11: posts small blind 75
PJS JR.: posts big blind 150

Then, I got it in bad and sucked out...

PokerStars Game #14807465095: Tournament #74378667, $12+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level V (75/150) - 2008/01/25 - 06:27:04 (ET)
Table '74378667 1' 8-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: PJS JR. (1935 in chips)
Seat 3: katcher11 (10065 in chips)
PJS JR.: posts small blind 75
katcher11: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [Kd 5s]
PJS JR.: raises 1785 to 1935 and is all-in
katcher11: calls 1785
*** FLOP *** [5h 4d 6d]
*** TURN *** [5h 4d 6d] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [5h 4d 6d Kh] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
katcher11: shows [Ah 9c] (high card Ace)
PJS JR.: shows [Kd 5s] (two pair, Kings and Fives)
PJS JR. collected 3870 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3870 | Rake 0
Board [5h 4d 6d Kh Th]
Seat 1: PJS JR. (button) (small blind) showed [Kd 5s] and won (3870) with two pair, Kings and Fives
Seat 3: katcher11 (big blind) showed [Ah 9c] and lost with high card Ace

Then, on 3-4 hands in a row, he raised and I re-raised all-in with top 15% hands and took them all down. He almost insta-folded every single time. After than, he seemed to be a little rattled and stopped raising. He was folding and unwilling to put any chips into the pot unless he had a hand. He was waiting for an opportunity to get it all in with a good hand.

I became the aggressor and was betting almost every flop that we saw and taking it down. Then, 2 hands after taking over the chip lead:

PokerStars Game #14807505734: Tournament #74378667, $12+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round II, Level VI (100/200) - 2008/01/25 - 06:32:00 (ET)
Table '74378667 1' 8-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: PJS JR. (6620 in chips)
Seat 3: katcher11 (5380 in chips)
PJS JR.: posts small blind 100
katcher11: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [5d 6h]
PJS JR.: calls 100
katcher11: checks
*** FLOP *** [7c 8s 9d]
katcher11: bets 400
PJS JR.: raises 6020 to 6420 and is all-in
katcher11: calls 4780 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [7c 8s 9d] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [7c 8s 9d Jc] [4s] (Made me sweat a T on the river!)
*** SHOW DOWN ***
katcher11: shows [9s Qh] (a pair of Nines)
PJS JR.: shows [5d 6h] (a straight, Five to Nine)
PJS JR. collected 10760 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 10760 | Rake 0
Board [7c 8s 9d Jc 4s]
Seat 1: PJS JR. (button) (small blind) showed [5d 6h] and won (10760) with a straight, Five to Nine
Seat 3: katcher11 (big blind) showed [9s Qh] and lost with a pair of Nines

BOOM! $530 score! Since there were only 44 players in the tourney, there was no 2nd place money. It was all or nothing, and it felt wonderful to come out on top. Maybe $530 is not a lot to some, but it's a wonderful increase to my roll. They are T$, and I probably won't play the Sunday Million, but a nice cash none the less. Probably will treat myself to playing one of the $215 Sunday Millions at a later date.

Needless to say, I am beaming at work today, very happy about my tourney win. I appreciate you all for reading, and will post some cash hands that I played after the tourney. Was up about a buy-in on Stars in about 45 minutes, then it was off to work. Bankroll after the tourney win: $2,514!

Yah baby. Highest so far.

Let's keep going.

Ryan