The warming-up was already good last time during the $2 tourney, but the real match round, the $5 tournament was a big succes: I finished in fourth place, cashing $42.75. With this cash out, I can at least run break even in my series of sixteen tournaments on Poker Stars. My excellent result was mainly due to my super tight aggressive play.

I was happy to double up already very early in the tournament, after just a few hands:

I think I play this hand by the book. I flop top two and it’s immediately clear to me that my opponent also has a good hand, top pair, two pair or the nut flush draw and I extract the maximum value. Then I was carddead for a while and I observed a lot of retarded moves at the table (call an all-in preflop with Q8 off, pay somebody till the river with toppair on a board full of draws,…). Then it was my moment to receive my portion of donkament chips:

This guy doesn’t give me credit for a hand, during a period I hardly played a hand. I don’t get it anyway why people can call an all-in with KQ: what can you beat, really? Then I was carddead for a very long period and I was able to steal a few pots because of my tight image. However I was a few places below the bubble all the time. But then I received another donkament and was able to reach the money and even the final table. I didn’t receive a lot of quality hands, but there was a lot of action on the table, with people quickly disappearing. With six people left I won an important pot, knocking out an opponent:

I was a little scared when he picked up a flush draw on the turn, but everything turned out as it should be. Another one went home and then (when i was third in chips) I reraised someone all-in with KdQd but the other guy happened to have Aces which I couldn’t beat. Anyway, this cash out gave me confidence again.

My thirteenth tournament, with a $5+.5 buy-in, was a pretty funny one . I lost a big chunk of my stack thanks to a misclick, then doubled up thanks to this same misclick and subsequently lost almost all my chips again on a serious misread.

It all started in the second blind level, I was about 500 chips up and I wanted to bet 115 chips on the flop after hitting top pair (pot was about 175). Instead my finger slips over to the ‘6′ and suddenly there were 1156 chips of me in the middle . Worst thing is: a player behind me instantly shoves all-in for 1050 chips more . I decided not to go for it with of course some amazed reactions in the chat^^ . But this retarded move paid off two hands later:

So this guy calls my all-in with A high and is crushed like hell, havin only two outs to beat my AK suited. He would certainly never have called if I didn’t make that retarded move earlier. After being moved to another table I lost almost my whole stack on the next hand:

Now I put this guy on two high cards, like AQ, AJ suited or something. That’s why I reraise but he makes a small reraise over the top. I call and after catching an OESD on the turn I’m not going anywhere of course. Well he díd have two high cards, but they were paired… Finished in 66th place, would like to finish in the money again…

That about says it all: played another $2+.2 tournament a few hours ago and finished in 21st place after some interesting (to say the least) situations.

I’m beginning to learn some specific skills that are required in such tournaments and one important lesson is to try to play a lot of hands when the blinds are still low. So did I, for example:

I even get the button here with my 63 suited. Flop is a welcome surprise and I bet this flop: I’m in last position so people will think easily that I’m trying to steal this one. It obviously works against this guy and he even tries to bluff me off my hand. Notice there’s no value in raising the river here: a bluff won’t call me here, only a hand that beats me. Then I took a small pot with AK before I received a gift in this hand:

For some reason this guy thinks he must shove here against a raise with his KQ off and helped me building up a decent stack. But then I was carddead for a really long period before I lost a big pot with KQ myself: I raised it up preflop and a shortstack shoved with TT. I lost the flip and became a shortstack myself. I doubled up again with QQ against JJ but when the blinds increased, I was becoming short again towards the bubble. That’s when I was eliminated:

I think my only mistake is being made preflop: I should just shove all-in there instead of raising it three times the big blind. Anyway, I shove with a flushdraw and a gutshot but instead my opponent gets runner runner quads…

Well, the most important thing is that I finally reached the money again, in a $2+.2 tournament. I even sat down on the final table. For like five seconds. However, I made the magnificent $5,4 in ninth place.

I started the tournament with a long period of being carddead. Luckily, this isn’t lethal (at all) in the beginning of a (deepstack) tournament. I took a small pot with AJ, but THEN began my good run. First, I was sponsored by a delicious donkament:

Now as I wrote earlier , getting minraised on the flop is always suspicious and could be a sign of somebody having flopped a set. But this time I just felt my opponent didn’t and it wasn’t likely he would have flopped two pair on this board so I just shoved. One minute later:

Now I think I play this hand perfectly by the book. My small raise gets reraised with a small amount and most of the times this is a move made by AK: just create an heads-up situation (in position). That’s why I shove immediately with my kings: he will probably call here but he won’t if he doesn’t catch anything on the flop. So I deserve that great pot .

In the period towards the bubble I took some important pots with QQ (raised it preflop, represented a big hand on a AKx flop) and I finally reached the money again. We were down to ten players when I got the QQ again:

Of course I get called by a reasonably good ace in this phase. But while our showdown was proceeding, the table filled up with four other players: I had just reached the final table…

I played my first $2+,2 multi-table sng with 90 players and I was able to finish in sixth place, which was rewarded with $9,45, so I’m happy with this start . I’m especially happy with the way the tournament was played: there is more room for plays than in regular sng’s.

What helped me a lot was an early double-up during the first blind level: as a result I was really deepstack now and was able to play some quality poker. This is how I doubled:

It’s always nice to receive such presents in a tournament . After that hand I took a small pot with AJ suited on the flop (raised it preflop, flopped nut flushdraw) and got a little frustrated because I would have flopped a set like four or five times with my folded rags… My stack expanded another time when I noticed a familiar online phenomenon: the player on the big blind was on sit-out and somebody was trying to steal his (precious) blind for like the third time. I reraised him with 78 offsuit and was not happy with his call but the board brought me a full house^^.

In the period towards the bubble I was carddead for a long time but I was able to reach the money and the final table. I was shortstack but survived a couple of other players before I moved with 74:

So by winning that pot I stayed a little bit longer but I was eliminated a few minutes later when I moved with A6 and was called by AK. However, I’m happy with my cash-out!