mountains of chips

Another win tonight in the Monday game! It was particularly a fun tournament to play for me, since I was an early chip leader and hung on to a large stack throughout the entire game.

It all began in one key pot. Blinds were in the first level, $0.05/$0.10 (It was a short-handed tournament and there were six total players). Lee limped one off the button. Looking at the queen-ten offsuit, I limped the button. Andrew completed the small blind and Chris checked in the big blind.

The flop came down four of diamonds, queen of hearts, five of diamonds. I had flopped top pair with no real kicker to speak of. Still, the action had been limped preflop and there was a pretty good chance I had it on the flop. Andrew and Chris both checked it over to Lee who fired $0.30 into the pot. Wanting to thin the field, as well as try to get a better read on Lee's hand, I raised it up to a dollar straight. The blinds both folded, and Lee raised me to $3.75 on top. Now it was time for me to do some thinking.

The board allowed for straight and flush draws, and it wasn't entirely unlikely that Lee held something like ace-x of diamonds, maybe a suited wheel draw or something like that. I didn't think it was likely he had a better queen than me, unless it was queen-jack (though he might've raised that preflop, too). I figure with AQ or KQ he would've raised. So, the only hands that really make sense here are trip fours, trip fives, a nut flush draw (possibly with a straight draw), or a worse queen than me with a flush draw.

Deciding that I was likely to be ahead, even despite my mediocre kicker, I put all of my chips in the middle, making the total bet $8.80. Lee made the call and showed queen-eight of diamonds. The turn came 6 of hearts, the river a deuce of clubs, and I doubled up early. Interestingly enough, we were almost exactly even money on the flop. According to the CardPlayer.com odds calculator, we were both 46.67% to win and 6.67% to tie.

After that pot, which was of course well within the rebuy period, I went on to win several more big ones. In one pot, Lee raised all-in preflop with ace-jack, only to run into my pocket kings. When the flop was dealt, the ace was the first card off (the door card), but I spiked my king, leaving Lee drawing very slim with two cards left to go.

Meanwhile, we were still at $0.05/$0.10. Andrew had rebought a few times and was on ultra-tilt, shoving all-in in three consecutive pots, having lost about half his stack. I was dealt pocket sevens on the button and decided to limp it after everyone folded it to me. Andrew pushed all his chips in the middle, for $5.30 total. Chris folded the big blind. I knew I was getting essentially even money on a call, since the raise was so much more than the pot. However, my hand rated to be good in this spot given all of Andrew's reckless shoving. I called and he turned over the ace-six. Again, a flop came which both gave my opponent their pair of aces and gave me my set of trips: The board came queen, ace, seven five, eight, and I took his stack.

The rest of the tournament went well, and I don't think I misplayed anything too serious. In reality, I know I outplayed my opponents in several spots, including the heads-up match between Eric and I, which started somewhat evenly in chips. I'm glad to have picked up another win and extended my lead. A points update follows:

Me 139
Chip 108
Chris 102
Lee 96
Marc 84
Dale 70
Jake 68
Eric 67
Lori 60
Andrew 57