Hendon Mob Shootout Event #1

So, as I said, today's the first big tournament I'm playing after the downswings post I wrote up. It still hasn't corrected itself, I'm still on the down streak, but I like the tournament's structure so I decided I'd buy straight in and see what happens.

100+9 buyin, 125,000 guaranteed prize pool. 1221 players started us off. 180 cash. 23,750 for first place.

As usual, I take a rotation off to let the movers do their moving, and see where I think I'm at in regards to the table, then get to it. From late position I raise it with 99, and get re-raised by the big blind. The flop coms 10/3/2, he bets out and I call figuring there's a strong chance I'm still good if he's continuation betting with AK, AQ. Turn is a 9, and now I'm in great shape. He checks, and I check behind hoping to spring a trap. The river is the case 9 giving me quads. He checks and I put out a hammer bet, betting the entire pot, and he comes over the top all-in which I obviously instantly called(he had A/Q).

A few hands later, UTG+1 raises, and I smoothe call the very next seat with AA, a very dangerous play considering there's alot of table to act behind me, but I really wanted to play the hand very ninja-like and try and maximize value. Everyone folds. Beautiful. The flop came J/3/2, he bets out I call. Turn is a 3, he bets again I call. River is a 10, he bets out again and I raise him all-in, he calls with AJ.

My 3000 starting stack is now 8200. A few hands later, I'm in the cut-off with 3c/4c, and I raise it up. The BB re-raises me large, and I call with chips behind figuring I can make alot of plays here on the flop. The flop is actually pretty great, 7/3/2 rainbow. I actually now beleive strongly I'm ahead. He fires out pot, pretty much assuring me that I am, and I slam it back all-in. He tanks for a minute or two before calling with AK. I head into first break with 10,500, good for 12th in chips.

Coming back from the break, I kinda flounder around for a long time, and basically head into the 2nd break an hour later with pretty much the same chip stack, not really playing any real pots.

After that break, I come back and finally spike a set(I had seen lots of mid-pairs but never hit when I got into pots with them), and built a few more chips, to 12,500.

A few hands later I limp into a pot that's been limped several ways with 7/7, and the BB with a below average stack shoves it all in. I figure there's a very wide range of hands he'd do that with, and I doubt I'm beat, but probably racing. So I call off and decide to take a race. He has A/8 offsuit, and my 7's hold. 19,000 in chips. A little more strong fundamental play and I get myself over 25,000 in chips, and hovering around the top 25 in chips.

After that, I hit another reasonably dry spell and dip back under 20,000 in time for the 3rd break, nearing the bubble now for money.

After the break, we come back with around 20 people to go for the bubble, my stack still healthy, and im surely cashing, which is a great feeling after this downstreak, so im already not concerned with that, im ready to play a big pot.

I call on the button after 2 EP limps, with As/10c, and the SB tops up, BB checks. The flop is Q/3/3, it is checked all around. Turn is a 10, and the SB bets out a fairly small bet as compared to the pot(2800 vs 5000 in the pot), so I decide to call off once. River, gin. 10. He fires out 4500, and I raise to 10,000, which he calls(holding a slow played 3), and I scoop a huge pot to put myself right back into the top 20 and in the running to go deep in this tournament with 34,500.

Bubble breaks thank god so we can start playing at a normal pace again, hand for hand in these takes forever.

After that it was a grind, just basically keeping myself afloat, not really picking up hands worth playing big pots with so stealing blinds here and there and keeping the chips right about where they are, as we dipped under 100 players, with me still hovering around 34,000 in chips.

The next big pot I play is kind of sick. We're at the level of 250/1000/2000, and UTG straight raises my BB to 4000, I call with A/6 off, he has 10,200 behind, and the flop is Q/J/6. I fire out at the pot, and he re-raises all in, which sucks, but the pot's laying me 5 to 1 to call at this point, so I call hoping to catch a 2nd pair. Instead? He's holding AA so my ace is a dead card. I have 2 outs. Which apparantly is more than enough outs for me, since a 6 spikes on the river, and suddenly I'm at 48,000 in chips.

I grinded it out for a fairly long time, and eventually found myself getting towards a short stack, I had been under average for a while, 33,000 with the blinds at 300/1200/2400. It was folded around to me with Ah/Jh on the button so I popped it to 6000. SB re-raised me all in. I went into the tank, and called time, eventually deciding his range was too big to fold to that bet, and calling off with AJ. He rolled over A/8 to my excitement, and my AJ held, doubling up to 70,000 in chips, and a spot in the top 20 out of the 56 players left again.

After that I lost a big pot when I had 10/10, raised preflop UTG, and got called by the SB. The flop came Ac/7c/3c, he checked to me so I decided to make one continuation stab, and bet 12,000 into the 16,000 chip pot, and he shoved back at me, forcing me to fold.

After that, and a couple rounds of the puck, I found myself on the short stack again, with 34,000, and blinds really growing with around 40 players left. UTG+2 raised it up preflop, and I shoved over the top with 7/7. He called with A/Q and turned the broadway straight to win the pot.

And that was it, 41st place, 360 dollars earned. Not as good as it might have been, but a good result all the same, and moreso, a real confidence booster considering my last post about the down swing. I'm really happy. Still unsure if I'll play the Pot Limit HA event tomorrow(Hold'Em and Omaha) which is also a Hendon Mob Event or not...I have my new TV being delivered tomorrow so I may not be able to do it, either because I'll still be waiting for the delivery, or I'll be attached to the 61" High Definition display...one of those 2 reasons likely.