Tourney Report

[Ian J]

Hey guys,

I know these are enjoyed typically so I'll give my first ever tourney report a shot. I figure this qualifies as a good time to try one.

First off, I would like to thank the 2+2 community for all that they have helped me with. I don't participate as much as I should here but I read daily and would certainly not be the poker player I am today without these forums and all of the contributors to them. So once again, I thank you.

I will try to recollect the general flow of my tournament for you and some big hands I played, but I did know recording during the tournament so it may be a little difficult.

Early on, I could tell that I was at a very good table. There was this one guy who was just completely awful and I would take advantage of that later on in the tournament when he developed a big stack and gave a lot of it to me.

Onto some hands:

50/100 blinds: I raise it up UTG w/ QQ and a very tight (or so I thought) player who I've played Bellagio 1/2 with 3 bets me from the button. I decide to disguise my hand and call. Flop is KQ7 and I c/r he calls. Turn is a 9 putting 2 flush draws on board I bet and 3 bet his raise. River is an A completing no flush and I c/r him again and he calls and shows 77 and I win a very big pot that if lost would have had me below the 2k in chips mark. Instead I have 5000ish I believe.

75/150 blinds: Men Nguyen limps all in for 100 UTG and I raise it up w/ Kh8h in the hijack, the CO, a very good and aggressive asian woman who I've played 2/4 and 1/2 with and respects me 3 bets me and the donkey stated earlier calls in the BB and I call. Flop J83 with a diamond draw we check to Jade and she bets, donkey calls and I c/r. Jade thinks for about a minute and folds what she later said was 99 [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] and the donkey calls again. Turn is the Jc and he check calls my bet. River is the 4d which I hate and I wuss out and check behind and manage to somehow beat the 32o that he was holding for 3 bets preflop. I beat Men's hand too and now I have some chips.

100/200 blinds: UTG (very aggressive guy from Bellagio cash games again; theme?) raises and I 3 bet QQ next up. Comes back and he says let's 4 bet this 99 that I've got here. Flop KTx and I call a bet, turn is a brick and it goes check check. River bricks again and I call his bet and win.

Very next hand I get AA UTG and raise, guy who respects my play 3 bets on the button and I call. HU to an AJ2 rainbow flop and I make a very poor play and c/r and he folds 99.

I'm having a hard time remembering the rest of the hands that resulted in me having 23k at the dinner break when the avg. was 8k, but that's what I had. Scott Fischman is then moved to my left and I go on a downswing as soon as we return. Boy did I play bad in that stretch.

200/400 blinds: Mimi Tran raises the button and I 3 bet KQs in the BB and she calls. Flop K44 I bet she calls. Turn is a 5 that brings a flush draw I c/r get 3 bet and payoff her K4o.

A couple hands later the guy from the QQ v. 99 hand opens the hijack and I 3 bet A9o in the CO. He calls. Flop is J high rag rainbow he leads and I donk it up and raise. He calls and then check calls again. The river is a 9 and now he checks and I value bet it. He starts thinking and I start thinking what a sick luckbox I am and then he finally calls on the river w/ JT. Ugh.

Couple hands later I open J8dd in MP. Fischman coldcalls cause he's a NL player and I believe the donkey called. The flop was JT4 rainbow and they both call my bet. The turn is the Kd and only Fischman calls my bet. The river pairs the T and I try some retarded bluff c/r and lose to AK. I now have around 10k if you're not counting at home.

Now we go to 300/600 blinds and I get moved to a table consisting of:

Seat 1: Newhizzle
Seat 2: Some Swede who plays good and tight
Seat 3: Shaniac
Seat 4: Matt Matros
Seat 5: Yours Truly
Seat 6: Schneids, later replaced by Barry Greenstein
Seat 7: Fischman
Seat 8: Marco Traniello
Seat 9: Tight soft spot I've never seen

Nice lineup, eh? So right about now with less than 10 bets and the worst table I've ever been a part of in a tournament I'm thinking this thing is over for me with about 100 left.

400/800 blinds: Swedish guy raises up front and I 3 bet it with 99 and throw up in my mouth when he 4 bets it. I call and we're off to a K 9 [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] 2 flop. He bet 3 bets me and I call and then raise him when a 2 turns and he calls down and I nearly double completely up.

Same level some guy who replaced Shaniac raises in the CO and I 3 bet it w/ 66 in the SB and now Barry Greenstein just decides to 4 bet it in the BB and I'm sick again. QQ7 flop has me check calling and I do the same when a Q hits the turn. The river is a J and Barry makes in my opinion a very poor check behind on the river as my intention was to check fold. I suppose Barry has no way of knowing that I'm capable of this level of thought so it's not his fault really, but he could have won this one. He flashed AKs.

Now in position I 3 bet the same guy I 3 bet w/ 66 when he opens in MP and I find KQo. He calls and c/r a 775 diamond draw flop and I call and spike gin on the turn, the Kc. I raise his bet and then get a value bet in even though the 4d rivers and he shows JJ. By this point I think I have a lot again, maybe 35-40k.

I now get moved to a dream table except for the one guy on my left who is the same guy with the JJ. He is loose and aggressive and thinks I am too so he plays back a bit while we whittle our way down to the money. Everyone else is playing pretty darn tight and nobody plays particularly well. I raise a lot of pots and work my ttack up to 58k by the end of the day at 1000/1500 blinds. We're in the money and I'm 3rd in chips and excited about my chances tomorrow.

Day 2 was a roller coaster. I fired off and got up to 73k. I then found myself all the way down to 26k at one point. I picked up AJ 3 hands in a row and won all 3 pots, including busting Barry Greenstein and getting a signed book.

Then at 1000/2000 blinds we were 6 handed with about 20 players left and the kid UTG deliberated and then raised. I took this as sure weakness and 3 bet him next up w/ JTo, he called and then check called down with what I imagine was KQ the way he got so upset. The board read QTxJx. Goodbye image.

I reached 113k at one point and then found myself all the way down to 46k with 12 or 13 players remaining.

2000/4000 blinds: I open in the CO w/ A8o and the BB defends. He plays good. He c/r a Q32 heart draw flop and I just decide man I need a pot and 3 bet it. He folds right there like a good boy.

I then proceed to go on a sick rush where they never call when I bluff and always do when I have it and next thing you know about 25 minutes later I have 188k and am the chipleader at the dinner break. We come back to 3000/5000 blinds and 2 hands after the dinner break we have eliminated the 2 remaining players that leaves us with our final table of 9.

At the final table I ran sooooooooo bad to start. I must have been winning around 3 of 13 showdowns or something like that. Every time I played a pot all in vs. a short stack, I lost. However, I was really playing great and managed to never go much below 100k in chips after starting with 207k. Here's a hand from very early at the final table vs. our very own CSC, who knows me and I know him and so on.

3000/5000 blinds: I open in the SB w/ black 66 and he calls. He calls a KT2 flop and then raises me on the 5 turn with no flush draw on board. I folded the turn, and am still not sure it was right.

About 5 or 6 handed on down to 3 I really went on another one of those sick heaters that seemed to be so timely for me in this tournament. No bluffs got called, I always seemed to get max value. It was just perfect and we headed to dinner with me having half the chips in play and my opponents each having 250kish. I had 530k.

Jerrod Ankenman and I eliminated the other guy Javier Torresola [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] pretty quickly and began HU play with me having exactly one more T5000 chip than him. He had me all in at one point on a KTxx with 2 hearts board. AK for me, T8hh for him and I fade the draw. Then I 3 bet Q9 and get a JT8 board against his 79. After that, we played a long time and it was a grind, but I was just running so hot and playing the best poker of my life.

On the final hand I flopped a gutshot and overcard w/ A3 on the T52 flop and called a c/r. A 3 turned and I said let's just get it all in here in case he has a 2 or 34 or something weird so I raised, he called and then an A rivered and he check called his last 20k with K5 and I was champ.

So surreal. I still don't know what to make of it.

Hope this was enjoyable to some. Once again, I thank you all.

[gobboboy]

Great read. All it needs is a picture of the jewelry.

[Ben Young]

congrats

[Jurollo]

Grats

[sirio11]

Congrats Ian !!!!

[Huckster]

Congrats, and cherish the bracelet they are hard to come by.

[newhizzle]

Ian, great job, nice read, sorry i wasnt there to see you win it, i left at the dinner break and went to the bellagio, nina told me you won it later, congrats!

[Khabbi]

Which event was this report from?

[El Diablo]

Ian,

Congrats, after all these FT's here, nice to see one of you donks bring home a bracelet!

[Beachman42]

Nice report. Congrats on the win!