Poker Marathon

I have a detailed poker story to share so if you’re not interested in the story in its entirety I have included a summary at the bottom. Also, throughout the story there will be links you can click on to view the transcript of certain relevant hands. Feel free to click on those links as you go. Click here to review some poker jargon before continuing.

The Story:
We began with 403 players. After playing for a couple hours I was in about 40th place of the remaining 56. It paid 54 places so I decided not to do anything too aggressive until I made into the money. At this point I wanted to get at least a little something for my time. This is how much of the tournament went for me. I was toward the bottom of the pack struggling to stay alive.
Each time I got short I would pick spots to shove in my whole stack. I usually managed to pick up the blinds. Because this tournament was a higher entry fee than I often play I think the field of players was better overall. This does create for higher competition, but it adds more predictable play from your opponents. Also, this tournament had just 6 players per table, which made for more faster action, and more frequent involvement.

I kept fighting and hanging around. Once I had aces a guy tried to make a play on me with 78s. He flopped four clubs, and I had to sweat it out. The aces held and I stayed alive. Shortly after I pushed in with 88, and was called by A9 (he had less chips, but enough to cripple me). He flopped an ace, and I hit a miracle 8 on the river.

I found myself in 30th place out of 32, but as long as I stayed alive I could keep moving up on the payout scale. If I could make the top 24 I would make an additional $50. I continued to live. With the blinds at 2500/5000, and holding only 30,000 checks I looked down and found KQo. Almosted eliminated, with very little options, I quickly pushed all-in. I was hoping to steal the blinds, but the SB called. Then the BB called too. Uh-oh. This is surely the end. The flop came K84. They both checked. Maybe I'm good now. Maybe I’ll triple up. It turned out they were holding nines and sixes, and I was holding 90,000 chips.

By this time I had Jeff on the phone acting as my poker coach. He had been helping me make decisions. Earlier, with K8o I wanted to push all-in from the button to steal. Jeff said the BB had too many chips and I should wait for a better spot. He added, “With his stack he would call you with A2 right now.” Right after I folded the SB went all-in and the big stack called with that exact A2. The SB had QK, and the big stack took him out. If it wasn’t for Jeff there I would have been eliminated. We kept fighting.

It got down to 7 people, and I was still alive. With good play and good fortune I made the final table. With 5 people left I had an average chip stack. My mindset had transitioned from surviving to winning. With a K7o and 150,000 chips, against the advice of my poker coach, I raised to 22,000 to try to steal the blinds. I was called by the BB. The flop came KJ6. He checked and I bet 29,000. He check-raised all-in, and I called. He was bluffing with Q5. Down to four.

With 4th place finisher was eliminated the chip stacks were:
Seat 1: Katchman1 (419,164) Seat 3: gutshot7 (328,913) Seat 4: BtCh I MiTe Be (460,923)

With the blinds still at 4k/8k we had plenty of poker to play. Btch took the lead as the battle continued until I had this key hand with J9s. After taking down that victory I was left heads up, with about even chips.

Occasionally, Btch was slow to act so I looked him up on the site. It turned out he was playing 4 other tournaments at the same time. Likely a pro. But I still felt I had a big edge in heads up play. I amassed a chip lead, and then we got all the money in preflop in a race situation. His small pair held.

Now I was forced to battle from behind. Down 3 to 1 in chips I began my comeback. When I had regained the lead he even typed in how tough I was play to against. At that point I think both of us sensed it was a matter of time until I beat him. I remained focused. His time came on the final hand against my J7. I flopped top pair, and he check raised. I came back over the top and he called with just a flush draw. (At this point probably a reasonable call on his part.) No spade hit.
I even had the railbirds cheering for me, singing my praises, and asking me for cash. The only decision I was left with was how much to tip my poker coach. We did it. This was my first big win since 2003.

The Summary:
Yesterday, I entered a poker tournament that had 403 entrants. I took first. Woohoo.