LOL Donkaments #1

Caesars Palace 9am $70 - 06/15/11

You get 4000 chips, and 20 minute levels with a decent structure for a daily tournament. They got 44 players on three tables. They have Re-Entry, and a lot of players used it.

Very first hand, I limped in Mid with J9d. Four players saw the Flop of Js 9c 8c. UTG+1 bet 150. I raised to 400 to either isolate, or just win the pot. It folded to him, and he called. Turn was [Js 9c 8c] 7s. Yuck! We both checked. River was [Js 9c 8c 7s] Jh. He led out for 600. It's rather obvious that he had a J, so I raised to 1500. He called with KJ.

Things kept going well for me. I knocked out a few more players, including my AKs vs an AKo when I hit a Flush. I had 11200 at the first break.

The carnage continued at our table, which became the Table Of Death. I wish this was a Bounty tournament, as I was the main head hunter. When we got to the Final Table, I had 48100, almost triple the average of 17600. Nobody else even had 20000. I had only one thought going through my head... Don't screw this up!

Well, the good news is that I didn't screw it up, but Lady Luck definitely put up a fight. I had numerous situations and suckouts to deal with. It started in the first orbit when I raised to 2000 with QQ. Next player went All-In for 9800. I made the call, and he had AA. I also had other hands that I raised with, but had to fold after another player went All-In, including AJ when the other guy had KK.

There was an old guy who was to my Left+1, which meant he's the BB when I'm the Button. He was a terrible calling station. This would be wonderful if it was a Cash game, but it can be very annoying at a Final Table. He also had the toughness of a cockroach, as he just would not die. I raise with KK on the Button. He went All-In with A6c, and flopped an Ace. He kept calling bets, almost never raised, and just would not die.

By the time we got to the next break, we had just popped the Bubble, and had five players left. The stacks had evened up considerably, and I was no longer chip leader. The leader had around 28k, I had 25k, and the short stack was around 12k - 15k. Since I couldn't raise to steal blinds because of the old geezer, I shifted gears down in to Small Pot Poker. I limped on the Button three consecutive times. The SB and BB (old geezer) called. I would make a small bet on the Flop or Turn with Middle Pair, the Geezer would call with Bottom Pair, and I would be good at showdown. With the Blinds at 1000/2000 and 1500/3000, these were good sized pots, and I was successful at rebuilding my chip lead through stealthy aggression.

After I got my stack over 40k, I started to raise a little more. I had bled the Old Geezer down to the point that he was hanging on for dear life, and he actually started to fold. By the time he finally got knocked out in 5th place, I had almost 70k.

During three handed play, I raised the Button with AQo. The SB moved All-In with a decent stack, and I called. He had AJh, and flopped the Flush. That took over half of my stack, and I had to go into survival mode. I carefully maneuvered with small pots, some All-Ins, and a few good folds. Once again, I was able to slowly get my chips lead back thanks to a rather good blind structure.

Eventually, the AJh guy knocked out the 3rd place player. We did a quick chip count, and I was ahead by only 4000 or 5000 chips. We decided to do an even chop. I left the Poker Room at 1:40pm with $705 after the Dealer's Tip.