Cashed today

So today was the $500 buy-in event and started with 370 players. We started the day with 3000 in chips and at the first break (we break every 3 levels) I was at 2600, not getting any good hands and just trying to pick up some chips when the opportunity presented itself. The good thing about this is that when you don't get any cards, your image at the table is that you only play premium hands. So when we got back from break I had already spent almost 2 hours with the same players so I knew in the next couple rounds I could start stealing pots with rasises as the only time I would get called is if someone had a monster hand. This became very obvious when I would raise and guys would show me pocket 10's or AQ and fold it to me thinking they were beat.

WIth this strategy I picked up some chips and by the second break I had around 7000 with the average chip stack at around 5700. I continued playing solid poker and by the dinner break I had around 14000 and we were down to 81 players. They were dropping quick... A really crazy hand happened before dinner that doubled me up to that amount.

I was in the big blind with the the blinds at 400/800 with a 125 ante. So before any betting there was 1250 in the pot. At this time I had 7000 in chips; it folded all the way around to the small blind who had about 15k. He raised to 3400 which is a very large raise so I thought he probably had a weak ace or a small pair. I look down at AJ suited and think about it for a little while.

If I just call, and he pushes in on the flop and I don't hit it I have to fold and will only have around 3500 left in chips. I could fold and give up my 800 or I can move all-in. Since I had him on only a few hands I thought I should be ahead here, so I decided to move all-in for my remaining 7300. He started thinking about it and now since that was the case I knew I had him beat but did not want a call in case he hit a lucky card. To my surprise he called, the suprise though wasn't that he called but that he turned over 89 offsuit. I was like oh my gosh jackpot.

The flop came with the door card (the first card you can see) an 8 and I was like great but the card right behind was an Ace. So I ended up winning the pot right before dinner break.

After dinner we played for about 2 hours and then were down to 40 players and I made the best decision of the tournament for me. If I would have played it the way 99% of all people would, I would have been busted in 40th place, and once again on the bubble.

Here is the action: I am again in the big blind and it folds around to Bonnie ( I can not remember her last name) but she is one of the pros at the tourney. She is on the button with the blinds 1200/2400 and a 300 ante and raised to 5000. Now a standard raise is usually 3 to 4 times the big blind and she only raised it a little over 2. So this in itself to me was a little odd. The small blind folds and I look down at AK suited. this is the 4th best starting hand in poker. But you still have to hit it to win. But anyone I know would either reraise or push all-in in this situation. I set my cards down and put a chip on them to think about how to extract the most chips from her. As I was contemplating this I looked at her to see what I thought I could do; she looked really confident and was super relaxed. RED FLAG.... So I then decided to stack my chips as though I was going to move all-in and see how she reacted. When I did this she instantly sat forward in her chair and looked at my chips. I could see her already counting them in her head and again RED FLAG!!!! So I looked at her and said," I think you have a monster" and layed the AK face up on the table and announce I fold... The rest of the table looked at me in disbelief and someone even said," give me those cards so I can move in". At that time she looked at me and said, oh my god how do you get away from that hand and tables AA. My best laydown of the tournament, and allowed me to make it to the money.

The top prize for this event was $44k and 27TH-36TH was $600. big difference and why we need a top 3 finish.

Tomorrow is the $1,000 event and should have a top prize of over $100,000.

Until tomorrow...