Animal Instincts Finally Rewarded.....Surely The End Of The Bad Run

It had to come good sooner or later and i certainly feel like a bit of weight has been lifted from my shoulders after finally getting a reasonable cash. Only played 1 game yesterday and lost on a flip to have gone 5/26 with 100 entrants at 20euros, key thing im changing for the moment is to go back to basics and be more patient (well most of the time). Tonight i played a few games but only came good in the 18$ rebuy game i played with 480 entrants, finally finishing 4th for $1600. Normally the finishing place i would feel gutted and pissed off with $6k and $4k to 1st and 2nd, but after the run i've had of late its relief more than anything else. Funny thing was when i hit the last 15 or so players i thought to myself it would be nice to make the top 4 as anything below wasnt a significant cash for me.

Anyway i could probably write a book on key hands and stuff but i will put some examples down below.

Biggest pot by a mile was 1) anyway.

1) blinds 1200,2400 i raise utg to 7200 (i hav 75k stack) with AQoff (no diamonds) and i get called by middle position 100k+ stack that has been playing way too tight since he hit my table. This narrows down what i think he could hold and i put him on 2 high cards or a low pocket pair, his game was very ABC and i think he would have reraised the way he was playing with a monster.
Anyway flop is Jd10d8x and with a double gutshot out of position i know it could be tricky. I decide to put a smaller feeler bet out rather than my usual 60-70% of pot bet. 7k into 18k is the bet and he raises me but only to 20k in total. I take the 20k to be weak and cant resist pushing all in because i think he has missed the flop or even if he has hit there arent many holdings that would want to call a 67k in total bet all in. Anyway he calls with KdQd and i hold up with ace high on this 50/50 pot after the flop. This guy was not happy and could not understand my move and proceeded to stalk me for the rest of the tournament which for a change i laughed at and didnt get annoyed one bit by his actions.

That pot set me in 2nd of maybe 200 players left and i never looked in trouble to make the cash after that (pays to 27). I lost a 60k pot a few hands later JJ vs AQ which wasnt ideal but i probably hit about 50% of my 50/50s in the game and the 1 or 2 75-80% shots i had held up.

With 18 left i was top 3 or 4 and was trying to play tight for a change as there was a table nutter that you could easily get paid off against if you hit. Anyway i did hit 1 flush against him but unfortunately he priced me in on another pot with 11 players left and i missed both a flush and gutshot draw costing me a wad of chips. When it hit the final table i was only about 4th-6th with a few players having around the same stack. I sat tight and eventually doubled AQ vs A9 after 1 or too all ins b4 that.

The whole game when i overraised with middle to big hands i fortunately picked the right spots as never got called. These were KJstd, AJoff and 77. When we were down to the final 5 or 6 i also folded 22 preflop correctly when a button had raised and then 77 the next hand when utg had raised and got a caller. JJ and QQ were out there on those hands. My patient pick the right spot tactics were definitely being rewarded for a change.

With 5 left i missed one huge 600k pot when i called a small (gay) raise in the bb with J10std. Unfortunately the blinds were too big to not go all in on the 89K board, got chips in first but he had AK and i missed. I was left crippled and pushed the small stack well before eventually losing K8 vs AJ for a 400k pot that would have put me right back in but i finished 4th.

Hopefully more of the same to come in the near future, patience patience patience with 1 or 2 mad animal instinct moves does work and these are the tactics for now anyway.