So I returned the day after and we got moved to the feature area for the final table. Blind levels were now 60 minutes and the blinds were rolled back from 4000/8000 to 2000/4000 after Tony Hachem vehemently argued that it would be a crapshoot otherwise.
So obviously a few minutes in, in an effort to ensure that stacks remained relatively deep, he opened the button 5.5x to 22K.
Right.
Sam Youssef (old dude, high stakes player apparently) woke up with QQ in the big blind and shoved for 150K total and Tony called with AQs. The queens held up and Tony busted soon after (he only had 10K after the hand).
Sam also busted the fourth place finisher (Henrik from Norway, and here’s a shout out to you because I know you stalked my blog the night before and are reading this! lol) with QQ v A9 and I busted the third place finisher (Tom Rafferty, who final tabled the Main Event) with top set on KTx v QTo.
When it got down to heads-up I had a chip advantage over Sam but nothing too major. My plan for HU was to play a lot of small pots and to grind him away. I felt I had a huge edge both postflop and in heads-up in general so I really didn’t want to play unnecessarily big pots. This was probably best typified by a hand where he raised the button and I defended red sevens. The flop came 623 all clubs and I led out in an attempt to take it down before the gazillion bad cards came on the turn. He instantly raised my 20K bet to 70K and I was almost certain he had two overs with a club. He’s a slight favourite but with the amount of money in the pot I wouldn’t be too wrong to just jam and race for the win. But I decided to let it go and move on.
I didn’t 3-bet or 4-bet for the entire first hour of the match and continued to try to play small pots. To be fair I didn’t really have any hands to 3-bet for value at all. The closest I got to 3-betting was with TT which in the end I declined to do since it’s no fun 3-betting TT if your opponent is going to put you on QQ+. Good if you have air, but not if you have TT…
We only played a handful of medium pots (I’d classify a big pot as one where a bet went in on every postflop street and I don’t think we played any of those) and I usually got the better of him in them. In one hand I defended 64s from the big blind and check-raised a 66J flop. When he called and the turn came an ace I decided to go for a check-raise. At the time I thought this was definitely the best line since I put him on a jack or a floated ace high. I thought he’d be scared off the jack if I bet while he’d bet the ace anyway. In hindsight I think the guy is enough of a calling station that I should just bet turn, bet river. Anyway he checked back the turn and the river brought a queen for a final board of 66JAQ. I bet 65K and he called with QJ because ‘once the queen came he couldn’t get away from it’. Yes, three pair is awesome. I’m pretty sure if the queen doesn’t come I only get one more bet out of him so in that sense my line is probably pretty neutral compared to betting the turn. But since the queen did come I really wish I bet turn and shoved river since apparently he couldn’t get away from it. Oh well.
Eventually I had about 550K while he had 350K when the key hand came up. Blinds were 4000/8000 and I opened with black jacks from the small blind to 20000. He instantly re-popped to 70000. He had done this about twice before and I had folded both times, once with air and once with QK. Anyway I obviously shove and he SNAPS me off for 280K more. I wince as I figure that I must be beat, given that I hadn’t 3-bet or 4-bet the entire match and now that I do I’m snapped off in a heartbeat. I roll over my jacks and he rolls over…98c.
What.
The flop comes 932, the turn brings a 9, the river pairs the 3. Sammy boy shouts ‘YES, YOU’VE DONE IT AGAIN SAMMY!’
I count my chips.
200K left.
Still good to go.
Two hands later I open shove 44 and he reluctantly folds T8o and the hand after that he opens to 20K and I look down at A6. I think this is pretty close but I ended up jamming for 200K. With 250K I don’t think I can shove but with 200K I can chip up by 10% if I take down the blinds. Against a better HU player I think this is a snap-shove but against this particular player I think it’s a lot closer than it looks. Anyway he called with AT and I hit a 6 on the flop and rivered the nut flush.
400K v 500K.
Come on!
A few hands later he opens 2.5x again and I defend K7c in the big blind. The flop comes down KQ6 with one club and I check/call. The turn brings a blank 4 and after I check he immediately pulls out a stack of 5K’s for a total bet of 100K into the exactly 100K pot. At this point I don’t think I can check/call and evaluate/fold river since the pot will be 300K and I’ll have 270K left. So it was either check/call turn and call any river or fold now or shove now. I felt that his range was any king, JT, J9, AJ and AT, and perhaps random air. He definitely checked behind a queen. Part of me really wanted to avoid this big pot and keep chipping away; I had after all only committed 10% of my stack. But the other part of me couldn’t see how I could continue chipping away if I planned on folding top pair all the time. So I decided to go with the hand and shoved the rest in. He snapped with AK and I bricked the river.
Awesome.
2 comments:
What did the second place bring you?
Good tournament write-up by the way...very insightful.
Nice recap! Very well written, I could feel the heat of the game from here. Congratulations by the way.
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