One time, in a freeroll.....
Played the $50 GPP freeroll tonight. Cost a mere 1GPP to get in which
is nothing (I have over 1700 of 'em with a pretty light playing
schedule). However it is a rebuy tournament where rebuys and add-ons
cost $.10 each.
Actually registered late for this and decided what the hell, I'll give it a shot with the free entry, planning on not rebuying because I got it confused with another tourney and thought rebuys were $3. Lost half my stack early on when I'm in the BB with AK and I raise against the SB's open-limp and c-bet the flop and have to check back the turn and fold the river on a wet board. Go card dead after that and figure it's going to be a short night.
However, we get to the end of the rebuy period and it asks me if I want to take the add-on. For $.10 I'd get 3000 in chips so I take it. Not long after I get moved to another table, there were about 35 left of the original 52 runners. I'm still pretty card dead, having yet to win a single pot. Guy who has me covered shoves for like 9000 third to act. I'm 2 seats behind him and call with TT. Everyone else folded, he had 69 and my hand held up. A couple of hands later he did the same thing and I wake up with tens again! This time it was 85o and I had to sweat it out since he flopped a pair, but my tens held up and I was in pretty good shape now.
Tourney got down to the final two tables and I was staying afloat. 10 places paid and I won enough pots to keep myself out of the danger zone. The whole table was waiting for the 2 short stacks to bust when we got down to 12 left, but they each doubled up twice when being all-in from the big blind. They finally did bust though, and 2 players from the other table busted before the tables could merge for the final table.
I got a nice "welcome to the final table message" from the site and we all got re-seated and high carded for the button. My A♡ allowed me to be the button first hand. My table draw was actually pretty bad though as the two biggest stacks were directly on my left so I had to play pretty cautiously. After seeing the whole table play pretty cautiously 8-handed I did start opening my range up and taking down some pots preflop to stay afloat.
Two players get eliminated and we're down to 6 handed. I'm the short stack with 11000 with blinds being 800/1600 with a 200 ante. I'm in the BB and the button (next shortest stack with 15000) min-raises to 3200. I shove with A♢T♡ figuring to be ahead of his range. He calls and turns over A♡K♣. Flop comes K♢Q♣5♠. Turn 5♢. River J♠. Thank you very much. Comes down to what it's all about doesn't it? Making the wrong move at the right time. Seriously though given the size of his raise I think my shove given I figure to have some fold equity and still be in there against hands that I'm either ahead of (like KQ, maybe KJs) or slightly behind (small to medium pairs) if he calls.
That puts him down to about 4000 and he busts a few hands later. Then the big stack busts 2 other players and I find myself down to 3 handed. My goal at this point was to get to heads up but not be afraid to gamble should the situation call for it. The stacks at this point were me: 20k, other player 24k, big stack 151k with the payouts being $6.75, $10, and $15 for 3rd, 2nd and 1st respectively.
Blinds now are at 1250/2500 with a 310 ante and I'm in the BB with Q♠5♠. The big stack min-raises from the button and the SB folds. I decide to call with the pot-odds, leaving me with a little more than a pot-sized bet behind. Any flop I hit I'd shove which I did end up doing on a flop of K♣9♠4♠. He tanks and then calls with Q♣J♡. Hate his call but I guess I understand he wanted to gamble as the big stack and thought I might be on a total bluff. Turn card J♣ and I'm down to a spade and a spade only. I'm rescued on the river with the A♠ and double up. Fun fact: the stop & go has never ever resulted in a fold any time I've ever tried it ever.
A few hands later the big stack knocks the other player out and I get to heads up, albeit with over a 3:1 chip deficit. I do chip away at a few pots and then he decides to open shove on me from the button when I'm in the BB with KK. I of course call and am delighted to see he has K5 and my hand holds up. I actually gain the chip lead on him and feel like I'm outplaying him in the smaller pots.
A hand comes up where I have K♡6♡ in the SB. At this point the blinds are 3000/6000 with a 1500 ante. I have ~102k to his ~92k before the blinds and antes are taken. I decide to just limp which I have been doing a lot in position, even limping some Ax hands. He checks in the BB and the flop comes 2♠Q♡4♡. With 13500 in the pot he checks and I bet 10125. He check min-raises me to 20250. I figure he likely has a Q and even though I have decent equity I'm really not happy about shoving as I don't see him folding top pair and I'm still about a 57/42 dog even counting the 3 remaining kings as outs.
I cannot fold to the min-raise of course so I elect to call in position and see the turn. I was hoping he'd be worried a bit about my call and at least check to me so I could get a free card. Turn comes 3♢ and I pick up 3 more outs with a gutshot straight draw. He bets 27k into 54k and I just elect to shove for his final 38k behind. He's actually giving me just about the right odds to call and that's not even taking into consideration implied odds, so did I make a mistake by shoving here?
He thinks about it and calls, showing Q♠J♡, so he has one of my outs. River is the Q♢ and I am decimated. Very next hand I'm in the BB with 33 and he puts me in from the button with J♡2♣ and 4 ♡s come on the board and GG me.
So I do collect $10 for my efforts which is a pretty nice 100x return on my $.10 investment. Pretty happy overall with how I played (and how I ran, lol) but the one hand at the end I'm still not sure about. I think it's close between calling and raising and folding is out of the question for sure. Would have loved to win it but it sure is fun making a deep run in the tournament and coming very close no matter how small the stakes.
Actually registered late for this and decided what the hell, I'll give it a shot with the free entry, planning on not rebuying because I got it confused with another tourney and thought rebuys were $3. Lost half my stack early on when I'm in the BB with AK and I raise against the SB's open-limp and c-bet the flop and have to check back the turn and fold the river on a wet board. Go card dead after that and figure it's going to be a short night.
However, we get to the end of the rebuy period and it asks me if I want to take the add-on. For $.10 I'd get 3000 in chips so I take it. Not long after I get moved to another table, there were about 35 left of the original 52 runners. I'm still pretty card dead, having yet to win a single pot. Guy who has me covered shoves for like 9000 third to act. I'm 2 seats behind him and call with TT. Everyone else folded, he had 69 and my hand held up. A couple of hands later he did the same thing and I wake up with tens again! This time it was 85o and I had to sweat it out since he flopped a pair, but my tens held up and I was in pretty good shape now.
Tourney got down to the final two tables and I was staying afloat. 10 places paid and I won enough pots to keep myself out of the danger zone. The whole table was waiting for the 2 short stacks to bust when we got down to 12 left, but they each doubled up twice when being all-in from the big blind. They finally did bust though, and 2 players from the other table busted before the tables could merge for the final table.
I got a nice "welcome to the final table message" from the site and we all got re-seated and high carded for the button. My A♡ allowed me to be the button first hand. My table draw was actually pretty bad though as the two biggest stacks were directly on my left so I had to play pretty cautiously. After seeing the whole table play pretty cautiously 8-handed I did start opening my range up and taking down some pots preflop to stay afloat.
Two players get eliminated and we're down to 6 handed. I'm the short stack with 11000 with blinds being 800/1600 with a 200 ante. I'm in the BB and the button (next shortest stack with 15000) min-raises to 3200. I shove with A♢T♡ figuring to be ahead of his range. He calls and turns over A♡K♣. Flop comes K♢Q♣5♠. Turn 5♢. River J♠. Thank you very much. Comes down to what it's all about doesn't it? Making the wrong move at the right time. Seriously though given the size of his raise I think my shove given I figure to have some fold equity and still be in there against hands that I'm either ahead of (like KQ, maybe KJs) or slightly behind (small to medium pairs) if he calls.
That puts him down to about 4000 and he busts a few hands later. Then the big stack busts 2 other players and I find myself down to 3 handed. My goal at this point was to get to heads up but not be afraid to gamble should the situation call for it. The stacks at this point were me: 20k, other player 24k, big stack 151k with the payouts being $6.75, $10, and $15 for 3rd, 2nd and 1st respectively.
Blinds now are at 1250/2500 with a 310 ante and I'm in the BB with Q♠5♠. The big stack min-raises from the button and the SB folds. I decide to call with the pot-odds, leaving me with a little more than a pot-sized bet behind. Any flop I hit I'd shove which I did end up doing on a flop of K♣9♠4♠. He tanks and then calls with Q♣J♡. Hate his call but I guess I understand he wanted to gamble as the big stack and thought I might be on a total bluff. Turn card J♣ and I'm down to a spade and a spade only. I'm rescued on the river with the A♠ and double up. Fun fact: the stop & go has never ever resulted in a fold any time I've ever tried it ever.
A few hands later the big stack knocks the other player out and I get to heads up, albeit with over a 3:1 chip deficit. I do chip away at a few pots and then he decides to open shove on me from the button when I'm in the BB with KK. I of course call and am delighted to see he has K5 and my hand holds up. I actually gain the chip lead on him and feel like I'm outplaying him in the smaller pots.
A hand comes up where I have K♡6♡ in the SB. At this point the blinds are 3000/6000 with a 1500 ante. I have ~102k to his ~92k before the blinds and antes are taken. I decide to just limp which I have been doing a lot in position, even limping some Ax hands. He checks in the BB and the flop comes 2♠Q♡4♡. With 13500 in the pot he checks and I bet 10125. He check min-raises me to 20250. I figure he likely has a Q and even though I have decent equity I'm really not happy about shoving as I don't see him folding top pair and I'm still about a 57/42 dog even counting the 3 remaining kings as outs.
I cannot fold to the min-raise of course so I elect to call in position and see the turn. I was hoping he'd be worried a bit about my call and at least check to me so I could get a free card. Turn comes 3♢ and I pick up 3 more outs with a gutshot straight draw. He bets 27k into 54k and I just elect to shove for his final 38k behind. He's actually giving me just about the right odds to call and that's not even taking into consideration implied odds, so did I make a mistake by shoving here?
He thinks about it and calls, showing Q♠J♡, so he has one of my outs. River is the Q♢ and I am decimated. Very next hand I'm in the BB with 33 and he puts me in from the button with J♡2♣ and 4 ♡s come on the board and GG me.
So I do collect $10 for my efforts which is a pretty nice 100x return on my $.10 investment. Pretty happy overall with how I played (and how I ran, lol) but the one hand at the end I'm still not sure about. I think it's close between calling and raising and folding is out of the question for sure. Would have loved to win it but it sure is fun making a deep run in the tournament and coming very close no matter how small the stakes.
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