How Do You Defeat Someone Who Is "Having A Good Day"?

On Sunday, Julie had another $40 afternoon tournament. Even though it's July, we had a good crowd of 19 players. (She only has two tables.) I did start a Running Log of this tournament, but I fell behind early on. This was mostly due to a future Hand Of The Day against Julie when I did her a little dirty, and busted her out of the tournament in Level 2. I stayed active for a few levels because of my good cards. I got to the first Break (End of 100/200 Level) with 23125 chips.

After the Break, I wasn't playing many hands. Partially because my cards went quiet, and partially because of who was on my direct Left. I have a small list of players that I never try to steal their Blinds because they will always call me. Chan is one of those players, and he was on my direct Left. But he got his KK cracked with QQ (Donkey Dawn), and was out of the tournament.

Now the player on my direct Left (Mike T) was the other big stack at the table, so I just stayed patient. Fortunately, the cards got a little better. I picked up a few hands (most notably was a Set of 3 against Donkey Dawn). I got some value with them and even knocked out a few players.

When we got to the Final Table (400/800), I had 37525 chips, which was the Big Stack. There were two other players over the 30k mark (Mike T & Brad). I also had a wonderful seat draw. All the players on my Left had small or medium stacks, and would fold to my steal attempts. Both of the 30k stacks were on the other end of the table.

I slowly worked my stack to just over 40k, when I hit a bump in the road. The Cutoff (Mike T) raised to 3000 in the 600/1200 level. I was the BB, and was the only caller with KQ. Flop was Qh Js 6h. I checked. He thought for a bit, and then went All-In. I insta-called, and he had AQ. I lost 20k in that hand. Ouch!

That got me down to just over 20k, but I was now 4th in chips. I kept working my great seat draw, and building back my stack to over 30k. Most hands went well, but there were a few bumps in the road. At this point we were still 9 handed, and I started to knock out some players. The only suckout was when I raised on the Button with QTc. The SB (Cheryl) went All-In for not much more. I called, and she showed AQo. I missed the Flop, but hit a backdoor Flush on the River.

The Bubble popped in the 1k/2k level. I was 2nd in chips behind Brad, who had a ton of chips. He's a loose Cash Game player who rarely plays tournaments. So far, he's been playing like a loose Cash Game player who rarely plays tournament. A lot of questionable play, but he's having a very good day with the cards.

I knocked out the 4th place finisher (Donkey Dawn) in the 1200/2500 level. In a Blind vs Blind hand, she shoved on the Flop with a Flush Draw, and I called with Top Pair. She missed, and this gave me 60600 of the 190k chips in play.

The very next hand, I'm Button, and raise it up to 7500 with AQd. Because of the knockout, there was only a BB (Brad), and he thought for a moment before raising to 30k. I had to stop for a minute and think. AQd is a damn fine hand with just three players left. As I've already mentioned, Brad isn't a Tournament player, and has been doing some bizarre things. But what made me pause and think was the third player at the table (Mike T) who only has around 5 BB left. Finally, I decided that Brad's range is just too wide to fold AQ, and I shove for the 60k. Brad snap calls with AK. DRAT!! But the Lovely Lady appears on the Flop, and I doubled up.

Mike T is eliminated soon after by Brad, and I start the Heads-Up match with the Chip Lead. The first big hand we play ended up being his A9 vs my A7 on a A-high board. I was in the BB, so I just Checked & Call the whole way. This gave Brad back the Chip Lead.

We play for a while before the next big hand. I called a raise in the BB with 53o. Flop was Jc 5c 4d. I checked Middle Pair, and Brad bet 10k, which has been his regular bet. I decided to check-raise to 25k. I don't know if I had the best hand, so this was sort of a semi bluff, but I want to slow him down. He just called. The Turn was [Jc 5c 4d] 8h. Because of the check-raise, I now had to shove All-In for around 45k - 55k, Brad calls, and shows 84o for Two Pair on the Turn. I miss my 2-outer, and finish in 2nd place for $220.

So back to my original question, how do you defeat someone who is "Having a Good Day"? Well, I had a Good Day at the table, but Brad had a Better Day. And in a poker tournament, sometimes that's all that matters.