Next we have the best laydown I’ve made yet. Im caught in a bind. Faced with 2-1 to call in position with JJ against an aggressive player and a reraise from a new guy at the table.

I should have laid this down but clearly my game needs work as I call, why I’m calling is stupid here as if I’d taken some time I would have remembered the key point of this hand. The reraise allows the initial raiser to shove!

Which he does. All in for my tournament life??? Man I regret even calling the 5600. I have to fold. He later claims he had AA, for a preflop shove over a reraise and call it’s very likely he’s being honest.

Now I bet him off a pot after its limped. Kinda wanted some action

Now I’m in a hand with a guy I know to be relatively tight, but not too tight that its only big pairs.

Now instead of gung-ho calling I break this hand down. He has 10k behind and I’ve been playing loose. The only overcard is a K. You just wouldn’t shove if you had QQ or JJ here, not instantly (which he did). With AA or AK I’d expect a bet not a shove so this blew my out of the water. It seems wrong.

I put him on AQ or AJ and he’s trying to put pressure on me to fold. If I’m right I’m getting 2-1 to call and my odds of winning (if I’m right) are around 4-1. I call

And I’m right.

Oh chip leader, why won’t you call??

I was attempting a fast play, hoping he called my 5k raise (at 500/1000) with AQ or even KK hoping to dodge an Ace. He folds. Repeat21 is proving to be a very tight player!

Now the hand of the game so far.

76o is a pretty marginal hand at best. But if you let me limp, limp I shall. This is my creative play at it’s best.

I said to myself without hesitation. Wanda has KJ. it’s the kind of hand you limp with and would flat call here.

She will still think she’s good here too

I value bet the river and she pays 11000 to see it.

Joe rivers a straight for the main pot but wow was I spot on with my read and pick up 39k in the side pot! The key thing here is I didn’t CALL a bet from Wanda. I bet out and was called. Then I got lucky, which sometimes you have to be and then I carried on from my bet out playing aggressively. I’m actually surprised KJ paid my off on the river, I’d probably have laid it down.

Repeat shoved the river, I fold as he has 36k behind and I’d have 28 if he didn’t have a flush or a J or trips (a few hands beat me). I let it go confident I’m making an ok laydown especially against this guy

We split after I shove the turn.

Splitting again. This time I didn’t bet my draw against the chip leader. We just checked it down.

A raise and another checked board. This time the sidepot is mine.

Blinds are now at 1500/3000 a375.

I raised UTG with AK and it’s checked down to the river where he bets and I fold.

Now I’m down to 17bb with around 160 players left from 3300. It seems in the last 20 mins a heck of a lot of players have gambled and big stacks are starting to emerge.

I raise and take the blinds.

But oh no, now at the most critical stage yet when you need cards to survive let alone get chips I am card-dead! J8 is the best hand I see for 2 orbit! And I mean J high!! I’m being blinded away and I should really shove something but I cant bear to go out with a hand like 83offsuit.

MY LAST STAND

AJ in late position with 4bb (2500/5000) leaves me no alternative, I run into KK and that’s that.

I finish 97^th for $14.75 (over 4x my investment). Still, a 97^th place finish from 3300 players ain’t bad but hey, I’d used my 9 lives coming back from 600 chips in the 3^rd level so I can’t complain too much.

It’s also worth noting that from 269 hands I won big with just ONE junk hand (76o) and had to have a loose opponent with top pair call me down!

John pointed out in an earlier blog than no being called with your big hands is a horrible feeling.

All in all you need a lot of luck to run deep. Getting the hands is half the battle, Getting the call is the other half!