I finally took it down this week, finishing 1st out of 12 players! This netted me a cool $75 and, most importantly, 10,000 points to add to my league season total. As of right now I'm sitting pretty in 2nd place in league standings, a mere 500 points behind the front-runner.
The game!
Things were going so-so for me until we got 7-handed, which is when things really started happening. Up until that point my stack was fluxuating between 20 and 35k chips (starting with 20k as always). My first big hand went like so:
I was dealt 77 and limped from early position at 800/1,600 blinds. The person to my left min-raised to 3,200 and there were was a flat call from the chip leader plus the free money from the SB and BB who folded before it got back to me. Obviously I called the 1,600 more.
The flop came down 4-5-6 rainbow. I bet out 4,000 and the guy to my left shipped it for about 16,000 more. The flat caller pre-flop was really thinking about making the call or shoving himself but eventually folded. I pretty much snap-called with an over pair and open-ended straight draw. He turned over A-K suited. Luckily, nothing came for him and I took a huge pot. He was eliminated.
Nothing too interesting happened until we got 4-handed. There was a huge chip leader with about 50% of the chips in play, a short stack with about 5%, and two of us with pretty even stacks at 22.5% each. We were on the bubble and I was feeling pretty confident that I would at least cash.
Here's how my most important pot of the night happened. I was dealt Q-6 of hearts in the SB at 1,500/3,000 blinds. Both guys to my right flat called, so I figured I might as well come along too. The BB was the chip leader and I was fearing a big raise to punish our weakness but he checked. Family pot! :)
The flop came down 9-Q-5 with two hearts. I had top pair with a flush draw. I bet out 4,500 and the two guys to my left folded. The dealer pushed all-in and I snap-called again thinking I was huge. Unfortunately, he turned over 9-9 for trips and a number of my outs were no good! I could no longer hit a Q or 6 and only a heart with no paired board would give me the win. Luckily, the turn was a 4 of hearts and the river didn't pair the board, which would have given him a full house. I just had him covered for chips, so it was a near double-up and elimination victory.
The bubble was burst and I was almost even with the chip leader!
It didn't take long for the two of us to call the short stack's all-in and check it down for the easier elimination. The chip leader won the pot giving him a slightly bigger lead with 55% of the chips to my 45%.
We played small-ball poker back and forth for about 20 minutes and the chip lead exchanged hands several times. Eventually, he started whittling me down and it wasn't looking very good. The lowest I got was about 25% of the chips in play to his 75%.
I took a stand calling one of his frequent all-ins with 6-7 of diamonds hoping my cards were live at the very least. It turns out my hand was dominated against his 9-6 off-suit (no diamonds). This is when lady luck struck again and the flop came with two diamonds giving me flush potential. Hilariously, there were 5 diamonds on board by the river and I made a straight-flush.
Double-up ftw! We were pretty much back to even again. He won the next couple blinds, putting him slightly ahead but fireworks happened soon again.
Blinds were 5,000/10,000 and I was dealt J-8 of diamonds. I called from the small blind and he checked. The flop came 10-4-2 all diamonds, which made my flush. He bet out 15,000 and I re-raised another 15,000. He re-raised 20,000 more on top and I shoved it all in. He made a sour face and called saying he was pot committed. I didn't think he was, especially when he turned over 10-3 offsuit with no diamonds and was drawing pretty much dead. He could only win with a runner-runner full house and it didn't come (what are the odds there, like 2%?).
This left him with a mere 20,000 chips to my 220,000. A couple hands later I pushed with J-7 offsuit and he called with K-10 offsuit. I hit a lucky 7, he missed, and that was all she wrote.
It's nice to get my first big win of the season and I'm pretty pumped for next week. I'm neck and neck with the league-leader and there are a couple people behind us in close pursuit. The race is on!
Week 1: 3rd place of 12 ($15 profit / 6,500 points)
Week 2: 9th place of 12 ($15 loss / 1,000 points)
Week 3: 7th place of 13 ($15 loss / 2,000 points)
Week 4: 3rd place of 13 ($15 profit / 6,500 points)
Week 5: 1st place of 12 ($75 profit / 10,000 points)
Total profit/loss: +$75
Total points: 26,000 (2nd place in league standings)
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