ANZPT Day 2

So I made to day two... Day 1 was a nightmare I finished with a very short stack of $13500, very short considering we all started with $20k. I was in long ball mode and I psyched myself all night to be going all in or folding. The very first hand I get dealt is AQ and it is my big blind. I'm happy, 3 limper's, I shove it in and rake in a nice little pot. I gave the big stack, who was also the small blind a lot of stick for not calling my shove with an Ace in his had, he had over 100 k, and my shove for the pot was well worth a call with an Ace in his hand for a chance to knock me out and rake in the pot.

This table is relatively soft, its been an orbit now and its only the short stacks that are creating the action, I've won another pot and I've built my stack up to a bit over 20k and I am pumped. I start to relax I've got 20 BB (big blinds) again, I can breath a sigh of relief!

I actually start to steal blinds and make a couple of plays with 3 bets (For those of you who do not know what a 3 bet is, it is a poker term the  Big blind is the first bet, a raise pre-flop is the second bet, and a 3 bet is a re-raise pre-flop, this can also lead to a 4, 5 bet as well). I three bet my QQ's but do not get called by an early position raiser.

A young player who was on my table on day one, leads out for a slightly smaller raise than the BB, I look down at KcJc, and stupidly I 3 bet an extra 2k on top, he shoves it on me. I can't believe I just wasted a pretty good hand, but hey he could of had AK there. I fold.

So my image at the table has been built up to be pretty aggresive, and now I'm waiting for the perfect spot when I actually get a hand. The blinds have just been bumped up to 500 - 1000 with a 200 ante, and I look down to A♠K♣ in my hole and from a middle position I sneakily make it 3 k to go.

The player on the dealer button, thinks for about 2 seconds and shoves his entire stack in for around 28, 000. Everyone folds back to me. I have about 27,000.

What can he have? AA, KK? Why would anyone in their right mind want to get me off the hand in a tournament worth over 200K when they are holding such a good hand pre-flop. They don't. No one who know's how to play poker would make such a silly raise there. Which means he hasn't got AA or KK. But does he have a pair? Quiet possible, and very likely.

The thing about AK, pre-flop usually when facing an all-in you are either a massive favourite, against any other AQ, AJ type of hand, or only a slight dog, against a pocket pair. In a tournament situation where chips are god, and utility of these chips are as well, when you are holding AK you should call. But quite often it take A LOT of balls to do so, when your tournament life is on the line, it can be quite daunting. What am I thinking of doing, calling with not even a pair?

I think this guy doesn't have a big pair at all, shoving all his chips in is pretty weak here. Trying to bully me out of the hand. I should call, so I did....

He rolls over A♣Q♣, I smile, a guy next to him says "Unlucky man, what a cooler."

It sure was, I'm a 70% favourite going into the hand. The pot is over 50,000 making whoever wins a nice size stack for the table that I was on.

The flop:

K♦J♥10♠

He just flopped the nuts. The absolute freaking NUTS! I go into the hand a massive favourite and he just hits a 1 in 98 hand.

The Turn:

J♦

Gives me some life.... I can now win with a K, or a J, or tie with the 3 remaining Q's that are left in the deck.

but the river brings the ultimate brick: 2♠, and I am out of the tournament.

Thanks for coming, see you later. Well it was a great experience, and I walk away pissed off for getting out. But I really can't be, I was in a situation where I needed chips, and was presented an opportunity to grab them, I took it. And got smacked down by lady luck for doing so, all part of the game. Roll with the punches.

A big thanks goes out to the guys that staked me and gave me this opportunity to play, hopefully next time we get a bit more luck on our side. Watch this space for more updates about my poker career in the future.

Cheers - SS