Bubbling the satellite

I played in my poker league’s satillite to the quarterly final table freeroll.

The freeroll is worth over $600 and the top two players get a ticket.

I managed to finish 12th in the standings so I had earn my way into the freeroll tournament. The players make it interesting by adding $20 into the pot and award the 3rd place finisher $50 (the bubble boy) and the top two will split the remaining $150 and get a ticket to the quarterly freeroll. As an extra side action, a few players pony up $5 for bounties (only 8 players participated in the bounty).

We started with 10 players, 10k in chips and 20 minute blinds. This is the type of tournament that I feel I can take advantage of because I like to play a few spec hands aggressively early on and the deepstack keeps me in chips until I can hit a huge hand, which is exactly what happened during the 3rd level.

My chipstack goes up and down during the first few levels. I was as low as 6,500 chips but I built my stack up to around 9k when the 3rd level hits. The blinds are now 75-150.

I’m UTG with 8/5 spades and I raise it to 450. Byron, the cutoff flat calls, the BB calls also.

The flop is a wonderful 5, 5, 9 with two diamonds. Byron is a very loose player and he’ll call with almost anything. So the 2 fives on boards looks great but I’m vulnerable because byron can easily call with a/5 or k/5 suited (highly unlikely but possible).

I check my trips to Byron, he bets out 500. I check raise him to 1,500. He flat calls. Byron might be on a draw here, with the two diamonds on board or he could have a monster hand and slow playing me with 99. Byron can be a calling station when he’s chasing but he also plays the same way when he has a has a huge hand. I doubt he has a huge hand as he would’ve protected against the flush draw himself.

The turn is a K. No diamond. This helps me as a King is definitely within Byron’s playing range. I’m hoping he has something like K/9 and he’ll fall into my trap.

I check again. I know this is dangerous because if he’s on a draw he’ll check behind me but I’m willing to take that chance for a chance at a huge pot. I know Byron, he’s a fairly predictable player and he’s one of those players that can’t lay down a hand like top pair and will pay a person off in those situations.

Byron quickly bets out 1,500. I think for a few seconds. I get the feeling that Byron has a good hand and liked that K, so I go all-in to fake a steal and hope he pays me off. Byron quickly calls and shows AA!

The river is a blank and I win the pot. 1 person down.

Nice, I busted a player with AA. In the end Bryon decided to slow play his AA and he paid for it. If he had raised me PF i’d have laid down my 8/5 suited. Or we can look at it another way, he tried to trap me with his AA and it would’ve worked in normal circumstances since he knows my style is to play ATC aggressively early in tournaments. Hey even donks like me get lucky once in awhile.

The next big hand I was involved in was when the blinds were 200-400. Jimmy, my on and off again nemesis, raises to 1k in EP. John calls, I peek down and see A/Q hearts. I decide to call and see what the flop offers me. I usually will raise with this but a 1k raise by Jimmy could mean anything and I don’t want to re-pop him and have him shove against me holding A/Q even if they were suited. Sarah, another tough player comes along for the ride in the BB.

The flop is: 8, 9, 10 with two hearts. Jimmy is first to act and he leads out 5k. John folds and I have a big decision to make here. I push all-in, effectively putting Jimmy all-in. This is a 10k bet. I have outs so I think this is a good move on my part. Even if he has a set I’m still drawing to a winning hand. Jimmy goes into the tank. He finally makes the call. He has J/10. Top pair and an open ended straight draw. Jimmy’s the slight favorite (51% vs. 49%).

The turn is a 3 of hearts and I take down this huge pot. I’m the chip leader with over 30k in chips.

This is where the game goes south for me. I’ve been playing pretty aggressive and I have chips and I stay aggressive throughout the game trying to bully the short stacks. I build my stack to over 37k in chips when the the poker gods decide to go against me. I get KK when the blinds are 400-800 and I get a short stack to go all in. I quickly call. He shows A/5 hearts. An Ace falls on the turn and I double up a small stack. A few hands later, I get all-in with another short stack with q/10 clubs vs. 77. I nail a Q on the flop and I’m ahead but a 7 hits on the river and I’m doubling up another player.

There are 5 players left at this point and I’m around 30k, so I’m still in a good spot here.

I get a chance to knock out a player but again lady luck goes against me. The blinds are now at 600-1,200 and I get A/Q offsuit. I raise to 5k. I get a caller in the BB. He’s got about 17k so I have him covered.

The flop is:

Q, J, 5. Rainbow. I have top pair and I raise to 10k. BB calls.

The turn is a 7. He checks and I put him all-in. He calls and he shows A/10.

A King on the river fills his straight and I double up another short stack.

I’m beside myself. I can’t catch a break late in the game. That’s 3 hands that I’ve been drawn out against but then I got here by outdrawing a few players so I guess I should’nt complain.

When the blinds hit 1,500-3,000 the 4th player gets knocked out and we’re in the money. But I’m playing for the top two spots and I’m 3rd in chips. I have about 11k at this point and I double up against the chip leader when my K/Q offsuit catches a backdoor flush against A/J.

The other two players are really tight, so tight that they don’t bet their hands effectively and I pay for this later on when I have K/Q suited and I’m in the BB. The button flat calls. the SB calls. I raise all-in 22k or so. The button goes into the tank. He’s taking his time and I know that he’s conservative and I’m hoping he folds. He calls with A/J clubs. I had to laugh at this. Not only did he not raise preflop, he almost folded. If this were me I’d either have raised PF or at the very least insta-call with A/J suited in a 3 way game.

The board doesn’t help me and I’m the bubble boy. I did win some money though and I finished in 3rd although I didn’t finish in the top 2 and I didn’t move onto the $600 freeroll, I’m happy with the way I played.

Oh well, There’s always next quarter.