I took a little over a week off and yesterday was my first day playing. I decided to play a $550 buyin tournament at the Isle Casino in Pompano Florida. It had 162 entrants and was 25.5k to first place. The levels were 30 minutes long and everyone started with 10k in chips with a 2k addon for $20, so 12k in chips.

I played a couple pots early and my stack went up a down a little. The first real big pot I got involved in came down at 100/200. I made it 500 preflop with AKo in early position and got 3 callers. The flop came AJ5dd and I bet 1250. This tight kid that I’ve played with a bunch flats me and everyone else folds. The turn comes 6s and I decide to bet 2100. He snap shoved for like 5k more. I tanked it for a little bit and decided to muck. He’s pretty tight and with his timing and everything I felt like it was JJ/55/AJ. I really didn’t think he would shove combo draws on the turn and felt like he would get in KQdd on the flop, etc. He later told me he had AJ so hopefully I made the right fold there. I was down to probably 8k after this hand.

A couple hands later a guy limps UTG the button limps and I check 63s in the big blind. The flop came KJ2dd and we all checked. The turn comes 6s putting two spades out there and I lead for a little bet of 300. They both call. The river is the 6c and I bet 1k. The button who was pretty fishy made it 3k and I knew I was beat unless he was turning some missed flush draw into a bluff, which is possible but he was just so bad, so anyways I had to call and he had A6o and I was now down to 3300. Rough.

I shove my 3300 stack into the fishy limper from above and the blinds and everyone folds. The very next hand he limps UTG and I pick up AKo in mid position. I shove 3800 all in and the small blind calls with 1100 behind and the UTG limper moves all in. The sb calls all in with A7ss and the UTG player has JJh. Board runs out K93hhQh river bricks 7d and I am back up to 12k after a nice triple up.

I get moved to a new table and I blind down to 7500/8k. UTG limps for 400 and 2nd position makes it 2700. I move all in with KcKh and he calls with ATss. The flop was scary Q86ss and ran out 8h 5h and I doubled up to 16k.

Another hand came when this player who limped like 30% of hands in late position (remember him for the future of this post) limps at 300/600/50a and I raise the cutoff with AThh he calls and the flop comes 678hh and I bet 3250 with 12k behind, he thinks with his gutshot and decides to muck. I’m up to about 20k at this point.

A mid position player makes it 1500 who is semi active, the guy above calls in the cutoff and I call in the sb with 89dd. The bb calls also (who has all the chips like 80k-100k at this point) and the flop comes 674d. I check and the bb leads out for 2500. I decide to move all in for 15k more because I know the player and play with him a lot and he will think my shove is stronger than a raise and he will definitely peel a lot with his stack any hands he’s betting the flop to see if turn improves him. I figured he’s mucking here like 95% of the time to me since he had noted how tight I had been playing this particular tourny and along with his bet sizing on this flop. I’m now up to 27k.

I raise KK UTG to 2100 at 400/800/100a and a mid position player shoves in 9k with ATcc and it runs out Q93dd7d8 to put me up to 37k.

A pretty interesting hand that came up happened at 400/800/100a where I raise the button to 2100 and this younger guy shoves all in in the big blind for 50k. I had about 30k or so behind and tanked it for a little while. His shove is really weak in my opinion and I thought he was doing it with hands he wouldn’t know how to play to a 4bet if he did 3bet. He wasn’t an advanced player or anything so its either like AK or like 22-55 or something. So I decided to muck although I think it’s an interesting spot and he showed me a deuce. So he obviously had 22.

I raise hijack to 3100 at 600/1200/100a and the sb short stack shoves in 7k total with AT. I have AJo and he wins with KT6xx and I’m at 30k.

Blinds are now 1k/2k and guy shoves hijack for 12k. I call with ATo in the big blind and he has Q8cc. The board runs out QT7J….Ace! I scoop the pot on the river and move up to 40k going into 1.5k/3k when the average is about 45k.

I have about 55k and the cutoff shoves in 10k. I reshove the button with QTdd and he flips over A7o. The board runs out K55dJdA on the river and I’m up to 66k.

Here is definitely one of the most interesting spots I have been involved in in a live tournament. I am up to about 95k or 100k and the blinds are 3k/6k. There are 20 people left and 17 people get paid. I make it 14.5k in third position with 8s8c. The big blind calls with 36k behind. This is the same guy who would limp all the time in late position and everything. The flop comes Q93ss and he shoves all in for 36k. Initially I was like dang.. I’m in trouble here. Last time he moved all in (preflop) he had AA. He was pretty spewy/loose but when he typically but his chips in he had a hand. So I went into the tank. I ruled out JJ/TT because I thought he would shove them preflop. He also commented earlier about me not being scared to raise in early position and someone else at the new table we were at asked if I was an internet player, etc. So people were noting to me raising preflop. I also didn’t think he would shove a Q or 9 because he would like to get value from me considering I’m either going to call his shove or fold anyways, so I felt like his shove didn’t include those type of hands either. Now JT/KJ/KT/A4ss type hands are all in his range. I then tried to think a little deeper inside of his head. I knew he was just a live guy from playing with him and he wasn’t that deep of a thinker, so I also decided to include all small pocket pairs in his range like 22-77. I ruled out him having a set since he would definitely check or not move all in at least, and I can see him doing a stop and go with those type of hands since there is only one overcard (the queen) he’s concerned about in his mind. He was also getting a massage and had his eyes closed the whole time during the hand. I thought that was a sign of weakness from him as well. I feel like I can read body language fairly well so I told him “I think I’m ahead here, my gut is telling me to call you.” He didn’t flinch and I stacked the chips to call. If I made the call I had 43k chips remaining at 3k/6k. I counted out the 36k and put it into the pot. He turned over 77 and I was ahead. The turn came the 3 and the river was a 7!!!!! Noooooooooo!!!! Rivered for 120k pot on the bubble!!!

Two hands later I’m not in the big blind and the hijack makes it 20k preflop. I look down at AJhh and shove in my last 43k chips. He calls with KJo and I hold. I get back up to 120k and we are still left with 20 players with 1`7 being paid. Average stack is 92k.

We have 20 people left still and a tighter short stack player raises to 16k with about 40k behind. It folds to me in the big blind and I look down at AA. I decide to flat. The flop comes 834cc and I check. He bets out 15k with about 25k behind and I move all in. He doesn’t take much time to fold. Very next hand button makes it 20k with about 40-45k behind. He had been open shoving so him raising here on the bubble was suspicious. I looked down at A7o in the small blind and moved all in. He mucks and I was now up to 185k.

I raise to 21.5k preflop at 4k/8k/500a with AKhh and the guy with 77 from hand earlier defends his big blind again. Flop comes AQ7r and I bet 26.5k He mucks. Next hand I raise A8o UTG 6 handed and they all muck. 19 Players left.

It folds to the button and we are 6 handed 2 away from the money. The button is the guy from the 77 hand earlier and he moves all in for 69k total. I look down at K8cc in the big blind and go into the tank. I tell him “I’m pretty bitter about that 77 hand.” and he starts responding all nervously. He’s basically trying to talk me into a fold I can tell. He was notorious the whole tournament for limping in late position/button/etc with his whole range and since I was putting so much pressure on the bubble I figured he had to shove and that was his only play in his mind to win any chips. He seemed nervous enough that his range would be wide enough to make my K8cc a profitable call, so I decided to call. He turned over 33 and it came KK4JA. I was now up to 310k on the stone bubble with 2 tables left.

I chilled at the new table 9 handed and didn’t do anything on the bubble except raise a couple hands since it was a new table and I had a lot of chips. Image/etc plays into that and people love to play back at you so it was best to just relax now. The bubble burst and two hands later I look down at KK in 2nd position and make it 21.5k. Guy in 4th position moves all in for 64k and the big blind reshoves for about 80-90k. I know one of them has to have aces so I decide to fold. Hahaha, just kidding! Was just seeing who actually reads this thing lol, of course I called. First shover has 99 and the big blind has AQo. Board runs out 346KJ and I am up to 475k with 15 left when the average is 110k.

The immediate hand before break (before it goes to 6k/12k) the button shoves all in. He’s an older guy but he only has 50k and he has moved in quite a bit in late position. I look down at Q9o in the big blind. I tanked for a little bit and everyone in the tournament had left to go on break. Nobody from my table was still there or interested in what was going to happen. Since it wouldn’t affect my image at all with the table aside from the button shover, and the fact that I had a ton of chips/decent price/blinds going up/etc I decided to call. He turned over AKo and the board ran out KJxxx and he wins the pot. I am now down to about 420k where the average is 130k.

I raise ATo UTG at 6k/12k to 29k. I get two callers and the flop comes AJ3cc. We all check the flop and the turn comes the Th. It puts out two clubs and two hearts. I lead out for 50k after the big blind checked to me and the mid position caller calls my turn bet. The river is a nice brick 2s and I don’t think he ever has QK here without shoving the turn with all those draws and put him on like QJ/KJ or maybe AQ. I decided to bet 120k on the river (he had about 260k total.) I probably should have bet the river for like 80k but I went for a bigger value bet he ended up folding and I was up to 565k. Same guy from above raises UTG to 30k with 250k behind and I shove JJ in the sb he mucks.

UTG moves all in for 38k and I call in the bb with QTo he has K8o and I lost at 6k/12k. Cutoff shoves all in for 64k I reshove in the sb with KQdd. He has A9o the board runs out K753 Ace on the river and I am down to 480k with 11 left.

With 10 players left a guy is all in for 3k in the small blind. I raise the button to 38k at 8k/16k. The big blind calls. The flop comes QT4r and he leads for 25k into me. I thought this was pretty weak and I thought a raise looked strong here with an allin player before we made the final table of 9..so I raised to 63k or so and the guy shoved in QK on me and beat the allin player who was all in for like a 15k side pot. I am down to 320k now and we are at the final table.

At the final table a guy makes it 50k in 2nd position. This guy already made like a 4x on the hijack and folded AKo to a sb shove (they both had decent stacks) and said we probably have the same hand. I wish that hand would have ran out really I cant imagine how these guys are mucking AK there but anyways, He makes it 50k and I look down at KK on the cutoff. I have 320k and I really thought about flatting here but the players behind me definitely would never squeeze and there is just so much money out there already I decided to move all in. The small blind called all in with JJ for about 80k and the other guy who made it 50k folds AQ and the board runs out QK9KQ and I have 445k with 8 left.

There is a guy who was just crippled the hand before with Top pair vs. set and he has 10k now on the button. I raise in 2nd position with A6cc to 48k at 10k/20k/2k. There is a player in the big blind who has 34k. I figured he would fold here and try to outlast the other guy who was shorter but apparently not. He ended up calling all in with J9o and I win the pot with T62Ax board. The guy who has 10k is now paying a 2k ante every hand and folding still so I raised the next couple of hands since people were scared to lose since he was about to be knocked out lol.

Guy to my left raises the cutoff to 54k and I shove AQo on button. He has about 400k I am up to 630k 6 handed with 1.9m in play. I probably should have cheese 3bet here to like 128k but I screwed up and just shoved on him. With so much money in the pot already and the structure the way it is I really don’t mind taking 100k and putting it into my stack every time in these spots but If someone would shove light I should be taking those edges. Oh well.

I raise cutoff with AQo, button reshoves all in for 54k with JJ. I call his allin for 6k more (I made it 48k) and it comes Qxxxx and I win another hand. I raise AKo on button to 48k the older guy who was 2nd in chips calls in the big blind. The flop comes out J72r and he check folds to my 56k cbet. I am up to 750k now.

The button moves all in for 95k I look down at AQo in the small blind and call vs. his 77. Oh what do you know? I won another flip on a T83A4 board and am up to like 850k.

We are now 4 handed and this is where it gets super interesting so pay attention. It folds to me in the small blind, I shove all in with QTo. The bb has 140k and calls with K8o. He wins the pot and I am down to 715k.

At this point there are 4 of us left and the blinds are about to go to 15/30k/3k which means there is basically little room for play left. It is about 12:30AM and the casino closes at 1AM. We either have to finish the tourny tonight, chop it, or we have to come back and finish it tomorrow (on a Thursday.) I had no problem with any of the options and we started discussing a chip chop deal. I had about 40% of the chips in play and I would have taken a little over 20k with a deal. The original payouts were 6.1k to 4th, 9.3k to 3rd, 14.3k to 2nd, and 25.5k to 1st. The short stack saw he would only get 2k more than 4th and was on the phone with his backer and said no to the deal. Now let me explain some more. The guy to my left has been pretty straight forward with me the whole time. I had shown him some of my hands, he just wanted to get short handed and chop. I was cool with that too. The structure is pure bananas. Once the short stack said no to the chop the guy to my right got pretty upset because he wanted to chop. The short stack then proceeded to double up to 600k through the older guy at the table and wanted to chop. Now the guy to my right is like oh now you want to chop hell no blah blah blah… F this we are playing I am going to win this tournament now I am not chopping unless we chop even (which I wasn’t going to do at this point in time) and saying all this stuff. He was obviously frustrated.

So now he raises to 65k in the small blind at 15/30k/3k and I shove on him in the bb with K3ss. He had some betting tells that I picked up on so I felt like I knew when to shove on him light. He ends up mucking he had about 400k. I am up to about 760k now.

The kid to my left has 600k and moves all in on the button. The older guy in the small blind tank calls with 55 and the guy to my right almost calls with A7ss saying he wants to end the tournament and probably has the best hand etc, he was frustrated like I said. The button has AA and the older guy has 55 and the guy with 55 hits a set on the flop and doubles up to about 500k. The kid to my left is now down to about 350k.

The sb guy who is frustrated shoves all in for about 500k. I look down at A2o. This is one of those spots where I know its most likely I am ahead but I decided to pass up on this small edge to take a bigger edge. The other stacks both had about 300k and I had about 750k at the time. I figured it would be best to wait because they got pretty crazy after we said no chop and they were all moving in a ton. I shoved him my hand in hopes he would show me his but he mucked fast. I told him I know I had the best hand but he can have it and he replied with “You were ahead but I was live.”

The very next orbit the kid to my right had just reshoved all in vs. the old guys UTG raise and now it folds to him again in the small blind. He has about 680k at this point and moves all in. I look down at A7o and have about 700k. I decided to call and he turned over ATo he wins on a T6JJx board and I am left with 15k in chips and lose the very next hand for a very disappointing 4th place.

I’m not sure about the A2 fold, although I’m pretty sure its correct, and the A7o call was super tough spot for me. These guys were going absolutely crazy since we were on a time limit or had to come back and play/not chopping too. It was just a crazy dynamic and I told myself I would just relax and wait for the bustouts and wait for some hands. It’s pretty frustrating to get in a spot like that where it’s real hard to fold. I think a fold would have been alright though, it probably is a fold actually. But that’s always easy to say after the fact. It’s too bad none of my friends were sweating so I could have some input on the dynamics. It really was crazy to see these guys just shoving every hand. If I win that pot I have 1.4mil in chips and the tournament is over. Like I said, it was rough and I probably could have folded but I was thinking about how I just showed the A2 the orbit before and how he seemed tilted and wanted to just end it and he was being overly active after the chop fell through. I mean it might be the right call given his range. He was not an internet player or anything. He was just a normal live casino player who was younger. I don’t think he was real advanced or anything so I really think he could just be shoving any two there and it’s possible I got unlucky. I will never know but I am still pretty bummed a day later.

All comments welcomed and appreciated. Goodnight.