My first tournament
My first tournament ever on Aced poker
Written by cowboyrazz26
It’s a 5 dollar rebuy with 81 players, and its my first time paying at aced.com.
The first thing I noticed was that I can’t make a rebuy from the beginning of the tour – only when you loose all your chips.
I’m a bit disappointed with this, because this is one of the reasons why I love a rebuy tournament. There’s always someone who doesn’t see the advantage of starting with a double stack. But of course I’m counting on winning anyway… ?
Starting stack is 2000.
The first hand I play is J9. 2 players before me limp 20 and I do the same. BB now raises to 100, and the two players before me call, so I take a chance to see if I get lucky. Flop is Q4T.
Everybody checks to me and I bet half pot 200. I get one call and a blank turn. He checks again, and I figure I can’t bet him out with another medium bet, so I take the free river. I hit a lovely king on the river, and now he bets 280 in the pot worth 800. He has about 800 left, so I put him all in. He folds and I’ve now got 2740 chips.
Blinds are now 50-100. I pick up AJ clubs.
One guy calls and I raise it to 450 from the button. The flop is totally blank – three small cards.
He checks it and I make a bet on the flop and steal the pot.
The hand right after this I get AQ off. I raise it to 350, and the guy I just bluffed moves all in. I suspect him for being on tilt, but when another guy calls him, I figure my AQ is no good.
To my surprise the caller shows JQ and the initial raiser shows QQ. So my read that he was on tilt was not right. Good thing another guy decided to call him?
Blinds are still 50-100 and I’ve got 2600. I make a limp in early position with AQ hearts.
We are 4 to the flop AK2 with two hearts. Not the worst flop for me?. First man bets 200, and I decide just to call. Heads up to the turn 10. He now bets 100, and I raise him to 600 – he calls. River 4 of hearts gives me the nuts. He checks and I bet the rest of his stack. I actually expected a call, but he didn’t. I now have 3800 chips.
The next hand I win a race with 99 against a short stack with KQ and advance to 4300 chips.
The blinds goes up to 75-150 and I pay to see a couple of flops with AJ and 77 but don’t hit anything, and I now have 3800 chips. I get A2 in small blind. There is one call from early position, so I call too. Flop is A77. I check this, because I’m almost certain that if BB checks too, the last guy has to bet. I’m only afraid of the 7. If he has got the ace, it’s most likely a small ace, and I can probably get a split pot then. He bets 200 and I call. Turn is a 10, and I check again, because I still can’t put him on a better hand. He checks too, and the river is a K. Now I think I have to bet, because he will probably check again if I do. I bet 500 and he folds. I now have 4600 chips, and it’s time for the break. With my add-on I now have 6600 chips.
Blinds are now 125-250 and we have played one round after the brake. I look at J6 spades in the small blind. I get a cheap flop with 3 others. Flop is 79Q with two spades. I’m first to act, and bet 750 in the 1000 pot. First two players fold, and I get a nasty click raise from the last player.
If I call this there will be 4000 in the pot. He has 2000 left, so I know I have to hit on the turn if I call, because he most likely will push on the turn. I decide to fold. I think a lot about this hand.
I actually regret I didn’t pay the 750 to see if the spade came. But the hand is over, and I have to move past it.
Stack: 5600
I get a lot of cold cards now, and the blinds are getting bigger and bigger every 10 minutes.
I try to make a steal with K8 in cut-off position. But BB calls and moves all in on a blank flop to my K8.
I now have 4300 and with the blinds going up to 250-500 and a 25 ante, I’m beginning to look for an all in hand.
This is exactly what I get in my next big blind.
I look at AA, and just hope somebody wants to play. I don’t get a lot of action though.
Button makes a call and small blind folds. I decide to check, because I really want to double up here, and I don’t think he would call all in pre flop. I flop the nuts with an ace on the flop and to small cards.
I check it, and he bets 500. I think for a while and smooth call it. My hand is still the nuts on the turn, but some flush and straight draws are possible. I check it again, and he bets 500 once again.
I make a click raise to try to provoke him into a bluff. But he doesn’t take the bait, and I take the pot down. I now have 5900.
The hand right after this I get a tough decision.
I get AQ in the small blind, and my first thought is that I have to push almost no matter what.
UTG limps, and then there’s a click raise to 1000. I really don’t like this situation, and I think it over for a long time. My conclusion is that I can hardly dominate both players, so I decide to fold. They end up all in pre flop with 66 and 1010. Turns out it was a good thing I folded as a 6 shows on the flop. But that was definitely a hand I could have played with my short stack.
Third playable hand in a row – I get 1010 on the button. There’s one call, so with almost 1500 in the pot, I think it’s obvious to move all in. I pick up the pot and I now have 7300.
I now get moved to another table.
We are 28 players left and I’m number 19. Chip leader has 60000. On the button I get J10 suited, and as everybody folds to me, I choose to try to steal the blinds. I push my 6800 chips, but get a call from BB. He has 4500 chips, so I have him covered. He shows A8. Flop 78K – turn 7 – river J. Beautiful river and I’m in the game again with 13000. Number 12/26.
I begin to pick up some hands and manage to win some blinds with AJ and twice with AQ.
Then I get QQ in late position. Blinds are 750-1500, so I raise it to 4500. Button moves all in with 5000 chips, so an easy call. He has A8. He hits the ace on the flop, but a pretty lady hits the turn, and he is drawing dead. I now have 23000 chips.
Blinds  30… It’s getting very expensive to see a flop, and very nice to take any pot now. With 8-6 in the small blind and a call from the button I pay 1500 to see the flop. BB checks and the flop is 775. I’m first to act, and move instant all in. Both players fold and I get a sweet pot and reach 30000 chips.
Finale table!
The very first hand I get on the final table is AK in early position.
Since I’ve just got 10 big blinds, I push all in pre flop and everybody folds to the chip leader in BB. He thinks for about 2 seconds and calls with A10. A bold call, but he had 120000 chips, so I guess you could defend that call. Luckily no 10’s show on the board and I get a very nice double up. I’m now second in chips with my 60000 and things start to look very good.
I get 66 and raise it from middle position. The player after me moves all in, and the chip leader reraises all in. Obviously I have to fold my 6’s. They show QQ and JJ, and the chip leader gets lucky with a flush on one of his jacks. 9 players left and my stack is 50000. In my small blind I get KQ suited, and the BB has 10000 chips. Everybody folds over to me, so I have to push all in. Being committed BB calls with J4. A 4 on the flop and another one on the turn give him the double up, and I’m now just below 40000.
A round with cold cards, and I am getting closer and closer to 30000 chips again, so I figure I have to make a move soon.
I pick up the speed limit 55 – UTG limps 4000 with 20000 left. Hoping that he will fold, I move all in. There’s still a good chance that it’s a coin flip if he calls. This is exactly what I get. He shows J10 and hits the jack on the turn. It’s an annoying hand to loose, because I don’t like the play from the other guy. If he wants to play J10 UTG he should move all in instead of limping for a fifth of his stack. But that’s poker. I now have 8000 left, and look at KQ suited on the next hand. Though there’s a guy with only 2000 chips, I decide to move in anyway. I’m not interested in the 8th place. Little did I know that another guy picked up kings, and he eliminates me in the 9th place. 30 dollars paid for the effort. A poor comfort. But still an okay result overall.
