Chip & A Chair (Sort Of)

This is a mini "LOL Donkaments", as I played in the Wednesday night $55 at the Peppermill. It had 22 players, and things went well for me.

We pick up the action with four players left, and it's the 2k/4k/400 level. We are all relatively close in chips, as nobody is super shortstacked or has a Tower Of Power. This tourney is paying three spots. Naturally, someone brought up saving some money for the bubble, and I immediately shot it down by saying, "Paying three spots is fine for this tourney."

Now to the action...

It folded to me in the SB. I raised to 9100 with A9o. The BB shipped All-In for 36700. It's a 30's Lady who seems kinda of new to the game. She played almost no hands before the Final Table. She has been much more active at the Final Table, but I haven't seen her turn over any bad hands.

This is a really close decision. I have her covered, but barely. A9o is a pretty good at a four-handed table, especially Blind vs Blind. But she doesn't seem like someone would just shove to steal. It finally came down to this being a turbo structure, and me having under 10 Big Blinds.

I reluctantly called, and she showed her hand, which had a better kicker than mine, AA. I don't catch my miracle, and I'm down to 2000 chips. Can I take back what I said about the Bubble Save? (just kidding)

Next hand, I'm the Button, and have 1600 after I pay the ante. I looked at my hand before I shoved, just in case I was dealt something like 72o. Fortunately, I got a dealt a decent hand to shove with, Ac As. The two Blinds checked it down, and one of them won the side pot with 9-high. I almost quadrupled up with the antes.

Next hand, I'm UTG, and shove for 6000 with A7o. Both the Button and SB fold, and the BB called the extra 2k without looking. I don't remember what he had, but I doubled up again.

Next hand, the Button raised to 12k. He's a 50's guy who I think I picked up a tell on. I noticed he usually does something with his arms, and does a quick lean back in his chair right after he raises. But a couple of times he didn't do that, and didn't have a good hand. This time, he did the quick lean back after he raised. I'm not sure how accurate this tell is, and I really don't have time to study him in a turbo donkament. Fortunately, I look down at 72s, and quickly fold my BB.

Next hand, it folded to me in the SB, and I shoved All-In for 10600 with A3o. She thought for a moment, and called the extra 6600 without looking. She turned over 86c, and I won the coinflip, giving me 22800 chips. She asked me if she should have called without looking. I said that I would have looked, just to make sure I didn't have a 83o type hand. I'm shoving with a lot of hands, and 86c plays well against many of those hands.

Now that I have a huge stack that's over 5 BB, I folded the next two hands. One of them was 53o, and I don't remember the other one.

Next hand, the 30's lady raised to 20k from UTG. Button folded, but the SB shipped All-In for around 48k. He's a 70's Greek guy named Spiro, and he practically lives in the Poker Room. He doesn't play a lot of tourneys, but I know that he's on the tight side. I do my "Please Please Please" thing before I looked at my cards in the BB, and saw at KJc. This is certainly a quality hand at this point of the tourney, but I'm probably in bad shape against these two players, especially since we are still on the Bubble.  I think for a moment before folding. She called with AA again, and Spiro has AKo. He doesn't suck out, and was the Bubble Boy thanks to a nasty cooler.

The "How Would You Play It?" question is what if I look down at QQ or JJ, giving that we are on the Bubble?

Next hand, the Button raised preflop, and I folded whatever two cards I had in the SB.

Next hand, the level went up to 3k/6k/500. We color up the Orange 100 chips, and I don't get any chips. After I post the 500 ante, I have three Blue 5k chips left, or 2.5 BB. Once again, I want to make sure I don't have 93o type hand. I looked at the first card, which is Kh, and pushed my three chips in the pot. She called in the SB, and the BB folded. She had ATo, and I had K3h. The Flop was T3X. I miss my five-outer on the Turn and River, and I finish in 3rd place for $175.