Multi Table Tournament Takedown

Waiting for a $15+1 NL Tourney to start, I bought in to a $10+1 2-table SNG. Ended up busting out of the $15+1 on a open-end straight draw with three-way all-in against a single pair and two pair... I'd been ground down to about half my stack (after raising and folding a few pots with strong draws but not catching anything) and made the calculated decision to move in, knowing I needed to double up now (or tripple up as the case may have been) to make any effort at cutting through the 1600+ player field. I was in last position, and faced a raise and re-raise that offered me 2-1 pot odds - way too attractive for a flopped OESD, but no help came and I busted out about 1241st out of 1610 entrants

But the two-table SNG played out much better. Doubled up 10 hands in, to take the chip lead. Hand history posted as Comment #1. Next hand of note... As quoted by my roommate watching me play "I don't know about the queens, but I think the seven is high." "Behold, the power of quads" in Comment #2. Sat well above the rest of the field most of the way through the SNG. Never even needed any major suckouts. I did push another player all-in holding a double belly-buster straight draw (two cards would fill in the straight, thus giving me the equivilant of an OESD) and was called by middle pair top kicker, but i had fourteen outs (both of my cards were overcards to his middle pair) and managed to fill-in the straight on the river to knock him out. I certainly don't look at fourteen outs as a suckout, but my esteemed oponent might not see things the same way. Hand history posted as Comment #3.

Still held the chip lead as we consolodated to the final table, and fluctuated with another player for 1st and 2nd for a while. Knocked out the #9 player with suited connectors (Doyle would be proud), posted as Comment #4. I was sitting second in chips when it dropped down to seven players as the former 2nd in chips had dragged a couple big pots. When it was down to the final five, I fluctuated a little, losing a few big pots on massive draws that didn't come through. In the best example, I lost about big chunk of my stack raising another player all-in with a fourflush + open-end straight draw + an overcard for eighteen outs against his single pair, meaning I should win that hand more than 62% of the time, yet none of the eighteen outs showed up and I was down to fourth in chips for a few hands.

But with three players left I had recovered very nicely, doubling through several times to build up to a monster 10-1 chip lead on the field by knocking out the #5 and #4 players, and easily took the tournament down for the $80 payout. That helps the SNG results more than a little... Unfortunately the tournament table closed automatically a few minutes after it was over, and I wasn't able to pull the last few hand histories.

Took a break to watch 24 off the tivo, and then came back to two more games - busted out of another $10+1 2-table in the bottom third, bluffing like I had a completed flush when I only had TPTK - was suprised to see him call my all-in with "only" the straight when the flush card came, but he thought a while, called and I was out early.

Then sat a $5+1 three-table: just could not catch any cards at all. Best hand was pocket tens - semi-bluffed a flop of Axx and took down a small pot for my only win so far. Was sitting at 1/3 the average stack when we consolodated to two tables. Table was passive enough to limp a lot of marginal hands even from early position (A2d for example) for 1/10th my stack, and I'd flop things like a three-flush and a gutshot with that hand, but couldn't ever see enough cards to complete any draws. Was reduced to shortstack overall with eighteen players left after passing through the blinds, left with T370. Called the BB of T100 in middle position with A8c, hoping to get a couple extra callers then flop a flushdraw (rather than raise and only get one caller with a solid hand - marginal decision i know, but I felt justified based on the passivity of the table). Pushed my last T270 in to the T200 pot when the flop was Axx and was called by the BB with ATh - kicker played, and i was out 18th. Still, $28 buyin to SNGs today and $80 payout for +$52 for the SNG results (+$36 to the total bankroll if you take out the $15+1 tournament loss).