I get up early and head down to the poker room at about 8:00am to see what’s going on. They have two tables of $1/$2 NL running, each playing six handed. The buy-in is $60 to $200 and I bought in for $100, sat down and was immediately the short stack (I still would have had a short stack with a full $200 buy-in). I pick a table, fold the first hand, and watch a guy go all in pre-flop for about $175 and get called. All-in guy turns over 95 and caller turns over 10 10 (yikes, loose table) and the 10's hold up.
That table breaks and I’m happy (running almost) to go to the other table. I play tight, folding mostly, and then pick up QQ. I raise from UTG and get one caller (I’d been playing so tight, that everyone knew I had a hand). Flop is rags, I bet and take down the pot (whew, got my first winning pot out of the way).
I play for awhile, nothing of note until I get KJo. I limp and see a flop of J88 with two clubs. I bet $10 and get 1 caller. Turn is a blank, I bet $20 and get called. River blanks again, I’m worried about AJ and A8, so I check. Guy bets $50, and I fold. I think if I call, I win, especially since I see him tell the guy (friend?) next to him something about clubs. I suck, I never saw the flush draw on the board. That hand put me down to about $65. Later I pick up QQ again and get all the money in preflop. My Queens hold up and I’m up to about $140. I end up $40 for three hours of play.
Next, we (T-Bird, KK and myself) sign up for the Imperial Palace’s $55 NL tournament (freezeout) at 1pm. The tournament structure is pretty horrible; 1,300 starting chips, blinds start at 25-50 and go up every 15 minutes. We all end up at the same table, and T-Bird is unlucky and loses to runner runner two pair in the second level. I was able to almost double up early on when I made a flush on the turn, went all-in on the river and a guy called me with nothing. I think he misread his hand and thought he had a straight.
Shortly after that hand, I get JJ and raise to 300 (blinds 50-100) and get 1 caller (2 seats to my left). Flop came K 10 3, I bet $400 (standard continuation) and he raises all-in. I fold, leaving me with about 1,700. For the next 2 levels I fold trash hand after trash hand, and am down to my starting stack of 1,300. We go on a break and as we come back, the tournament director tells me that they are moving my seat. Normally this would suck, but there were 3 very aggressive players at my table which doesn’t help my style of play.
The first hand at the new table I get dealt 33 in the cutoff. The blinds were 200-400 at this point so I decide to push. The big blind calls with AQ, and my pocket 3's hold up. I play at this table for about 5 minutes, then they break the entire table. I get moved to another table, still with a shortish stack of about 2,800. Within the first 5 hands I get AQ of hearts. I raise to 1,000 and get one caller. The flop came 336 with two hearts. I’m first to act and go all-in for my remaining chips. Guy thinks and thinks and eventually calls with 77. All I need is an A, Q or heart. Statistically I’m a favorite to win the hand with two cards to come. Turn, brick. River, a glorious A. I double up again to 5,600±. Within two more hands I get dealt 99. A short stack to my left is all-in (in the big blind) and the player 3 to my left raises all in, I call and he turns over AK. I win yet another race, and now have about 10,000 in chips.
Once again, my table breaks and I get moved and we are now down to 30 players, from the starting 100 (includes alternates). I make a couple of pre-flop raises at the new table, get no action and increase my stack to 12,000. This table break after about 15 minutes, and we are now down to two tables ( I think I played at every table but 1). First interesting hand I get is AQ and raise to 2,000 (blinds were 300-600). Guy to my left calls (I just have him covered by 1,000±) and two short stack call/are all-in for less then the raise). Flop comes rags, I check, guy with chips checks. Turn - Check/Check. River is an ace. I bet 3,000 he goes all in, and I call hoping he doesn’t have AK. He turns over AJ, the two shorties miss the entire board and I win a 25,000 pot and am the chip leader of the tournament. After taking three people out on that hand, with the other table losing two players, we are down to the final table, with only 8 people instead of 10.
Next up Part 2b - The final table
