I’m such a bad blogger. I swear to god I’ve been meaning to update this weekly, but time has been flying and a lot has happened since my last update.

I promised to make an entry about my eventful Mexico trip, but I’m going to ditch that for now. I will do it once I have time to, but first I’m going to do some thinly veiled bragging.

I was supposed to play at the LAPT Uruguay in a $3000 buy-in tournament, but I got stuck in Mexico on my way there (more on this later) and had to skip the tournament. The next live event I managed to play was the $2500 buy-in Unibet Open Algarve. I think I’d been playing really well in all of my live tournaments this year, but hadn’t managed to cash yet. Since Tower has been supporting me both financially and mentally, I thought it was about time to achieve something for them. And indeed I did, as I hit my deepest live tournament run so far. For your pleasure, I’m now going to write about my tournament in the form of hand histories. I hope this will be educational for the readers. I think I played almost optimally during the whole tournament, but feel free to disagree about any hands with me – I’m always up to a debate!

Day 1a
Blinds: 25/50, My stack: 10.000, Holecards: KK
I had only been sitting in my first table for about three minutes when I played my first hand. I guess I could’ve got knocked out in the very first hand, had I played this more aggressively. I raise to 200 chips and get three callers, including a 40-year old Portuguese woman in the big blind. The pot is about 800 chips, the flop comes 976 and the woman (who is first to act) bets 2500 chips. Even that it’s crazy to play the nuts this way, I think this is exactly how I’m expecting her to play it if she’s hit a straight or a set, so I elect to get out of the way and fold. What happens next is even funnier. A swedish pro named Micke Norinder shoves all-in for 10k, a random Portuguese guy cold calls and the lady calls as well. Micke has 66, the lady has 99, and the other guy has 85. The board doesn’t pair and someone gets a dream start for his tournament. I’m glad I only lost 200 chips there.

Blinds/antes: 200/400/25, My stack: 20.000, Hole cards: K9o
For the first couple of levels I’ve played very aggressively as I always do and doubled up my stack by winning loads of small pots and knocking out one short stack. This time I open to 1k from middle position, and a local player with an 18k stack 3-bets to 3k on the button. I think he has a wide 3-betting range because of my loose image. I’m pondering whether I should shove or just call and check-raise most flops. I decide to do the latter (which is probably the worst of my options now that I think of it afterwards). The flop comes T76 with two clubs. I check, Villain bets 4,5k, I shove my gutshot and he folds.
Blinds/antes: 200/400/25, My stack: 30.000, Hole cards: AQo
Shortly after that last hand I open to 1,1k from the cutoff, and a Swedish internet player raises to 3,5k from the BB. I’ve 3-bet him a couple of times as a bluff and he’s folded both times. I know he’s capable of 3-bet bluffing as well (there was another Swedish player in the table and I heard them talking about 3-betting frequencies in Swedish. It’s handy to know many languages, although I don’t think they realized I understood what they were saying). Based on this it’s a very easy push (he’s got 12k behind). Unluckily he wakes up with AK and I don’t hit a queen. Down to 15k. No worries though, just a couple of hands later I double up back to 30k with AK against some local fish’s QJ.
Blinds/antes: 200/400/25, My stack: 28.000, Holecards: 44
Here’s another sick bluff: A local gentleman raises to 1200 from the hijack, SB calls and I call as well from the BB with pocket fours. Usually I’d 3-bet here, but I’ve been 3-betting every second hand and think I need to change gears for a while. The flop comes QJ9, SB checks, I check, the gentleman c-bets 3k, SB calls. For some reason my live reads are on the ball (the gentleman was shaking as if he was bluffing and the SB didn’t even consider raising), they were both weak so I perform a sick-ish all-in bluff. They both fold quickly. Phew!
Blinds/antes: 400/800/50, My stack: 38.000, Holecards: 22
The last hand of the day. I have already quadrupled my starting stack and am standing above average. I’m packing my stuff, happy to continue to day two. Then I look at my cards for the last time: pocket deuces. Maybe I should see just one more flop...? A solid, tight local internet player opens to 2k from early position, everyone folds and I just call from the big blind. Again I would sometimes 3-bet here, but I thought his opening range was pretty tight and therefore it would be a lot better to set mine. If I don’t hit a set I can just check-fold and only lose 1200 extra chips, and if I hit a set I can win his whole stack. The flop is quite nice: 722. Quads! Woo! Now I only need to get him to stick his chips in. I check, he c-bets 3k, I ponder my options for a bit and just call. Actually I think my call here is a REALLY big mistake, I should be check-raising here virtually every time. He knows I’m super aggressive and I don’t think he’s ever going to give me credit when I check-raise a super dry flop like this, and I think he will be 3-bet shoving or at least calling any pocket pair and most random over cards. When I just call, I’m risking hitting a scare card on the turn to slow down the action. Anyway, the turn comes a jack, I check, he bets 6k and I check-raise to 16k. He shoves, I call in a heartbeat and his 88 is drawing dead.
After 12 hours of play I finish the day with 77.050 chips, second of all players. In my next entry I’ll talk about day two and how I made it all the way to the final table.

My story about Day 2 will be posted in a week, I promise!

Much strength at the felt,
Miikka