Animal Instincts

OK i think i couldnt be much happier with my game overall for the day, key hands are as follows:

Had called off a bit of my stack (10,000 starting stack) down to almost 8000 when i got my first big flop (blinds 25,50)

Serial raiser in about 40% of hands made it 125 from mid position. SB (small blind) called and i called in the BB (big blind) with 7h5h.
Flop was 468 and i know raiser will keep betting if i call so it goes chk chk , he bets 300ish ,sb folds and i call. turn = Q (so i still have the nuts). Chk he bets 1000 and i raise to 3000ish hoping he has trips and doesnt put me on the straight. He folds and ive almost got back to my 10k starting stack.

My stack varied from 7500 to 10,000 in the first 2 levels and i got involved a bit more in the 2nd level playing some ace rags and KQs agressively by raising after there had been a caller(s) before me as most of the table were very tight. Didnt hit too many big flops at this stage , just enough to sustain me but i felt i played better in level 2 after settling down a bit.

I moved tables and tightened up at first to try and get a feel for what type of players were at the table. After just over an hours and only playing about 4-5hands i made whats probably my biggest and best live poker play to date.

It was the final hand before the dinner break (6 hours in) and this was even a factor in my play as i knew my opponent was good enough to think i wouldnt put my whole tournament on the line at this point.

blinds 100,200 ( I have 10-11k) and QhJh in the BB
Fairly agressive good player makes it 600 from early to middle position, easy player next to him calls and i call.
Flop is Kh8h-x (x means low meaningless card to u readers that havent seen that b4)
I bet 1200 into the 1900 pot. Raiser flat calls and other guy folds.
Turn is the Qs giving me 2nd pair and the flush draw. I check almost sure that this guy has the king and wanting a cheap card but i also wanted to see how much he bet with such a big drawing hand of mine.
He bets 3000 very quickly and i immediately think he only has the king , not trips or KQ and im confident i can push him off it as a check raise on the turn looks very strong to a good player after ive led out on the flop.
I count out 3000 and see how much i have left ( a further 6500-7000) then stack it up and push it in.
He goes into the think tank for over a minute before folding and showing me a king ( i did not show but commented "nice fold" ).

Boy was the adrenaline pumping after that hand and i now had 16k going into the dinner break on a table that wasnt too bad to play on as well, so was really looking forward to coming back.

After the break i hit some nice cards against 2 simple players to bust them (1 drawing dead on the turn when i moved all in, and the other drawing to only 2 outs on the turn also when the chips went in) and before i knew it i was up in the 30-34k stack range which i knew was double the average stack at the time.

I had my luckiest hand of the night beat wise when i raised in late position to 1100 (blinds 150,300) with AJoff and the table tight short stack lady (she had played 2 hands maybe in over 2 hours) flat called me leaving herself with only 2400 left, i immediately thought shit she probably has a small pocket pair and dont wanna risk whole stack on it and if she checks the flop im allin regardless on the board as the pot is 2800 (with antes as well). The flop is 2s3c3s which i know cant have helped her and she moves allin. I go into the think tank as im getting about 33% pot odds but im thinking im most likely between 25 and 33% favourite. After a couple of minutes im happy to gamble ,the chance she was on a flush draw with a hand like KsQs helping me to decide the marginal pot odds call in the end. Turned out it was a bad call as she held AcKc but i spiked a jack on the turn for the 8k pot. This was pretty much my only bad big decision of the day as far i was concerned and i know im due some luck after st kitts and deauville so it was nice to see it even out for once. Obviously my stack was biggish at this time so my tournament was not on the line as i would have had about 26k left if i had lost that hand but instead i was up to my peak of 34k.

We hit the last level of the day 200,400 (50 ante) and i was on my third table having moved before the hand i described above again. It was an ok table with a good selection of stack sizes to play against and i felt comfortable soon after sitting down as most of the table appeared passive as there was a table bully (who fortunately was about 4 seats to my left so we didnt clash too much) dominating most of them. Several busted and some big stacks got moved to the table so my plan to steal a lot in the last level was revised and i actually only got involved with fairly good cards when raising.


I managed to escape without too much damage against a couple of flopped trips against me.
As ive said before i like to gamble a bit with some bluffs at this stage when i have chips to spare and there are 2 key hands that pushed my stack up to the 42,450 i finished on. If i can play on instinct in a pot i will regardless of my cards.

Middle position makes it 1200 i call on the button with KdJd and the BB calls also. Flop is QdQx7x, i decide to represent the queen by flat calling the initial raisers continue bet and BB folds. Turn = 7d giving me the flush draw but also slowing up my bluff as a lot of people wouldnt bet here if they had the queen (i might btw depends on my mood ! and player against me) and it goes chk chk. River is the 10d giving me the flush and he chks so i know im good for the hand. Now because this isnt a bluff now i only bet 4k rather than the 8-10k i was gonna bet with the queen. He calls instantly and looks disgusted so obviously had a pocket pair, maybe even a big one !

Finally and by far the second best play i made of the day was an AK i had in 2nd position. i made it 1500 to go and the chap next to me instantly reraised me to 4k. i have had a few friendly discussions with this guy and he also made this move earlier with AK against the guy to my right who laid down JJ. I put him on AK or QQ but with only 30 minutes to go until the end of play im confident i can push him off his hand preflop. Key thing here is i think he would have took time with AA or KK to reraise. Out stacks before this hand are approximately 35k me and he has about 25k which is obviously key as well to my move. I take a reasonable time to try and make it look strong before making it 13500 in total to go knowing im committing to an allin if he moves on me but my bet looks huge as though im holding KK or AA (neither of which i had all day btw) . He doesnt take long and folds showing AK to the table, i show AK also and get quite a reaction from the table, SWEET. In excess of 40k after that and remained there.

Right i must go and eat as much carbohydrates as my body allows , it is so mentally exhausting playing and i want to be in good shape for tommorrow.