Friday night $10+1 MTT

Worked late tonight, but made it home just in time for the Friday night tournament sweeps. Since its been a while since I've done one of these, here's play-by-play format for the nightly $10+1 MTT. 2379 Entrants to the nightly $10+1 MTT. $23,790 prize pool, with top 220 pay. Started at 7:30pm our time

7:35pm - K5s in the big blind catches a fourflush on the flop, and the pot is passively built up by myself and three opponents. I catch the flush on the river, and check, looking to check-raise hoping that there's someone with a much smaller flush. Instead its checked around, and I drag a ~T600 pot to jump to ~T1600.

7:38pm - My starting table has decided that every pot is going to be a family pot. With these kind of implied odds, i'm looking for some good suited connectors or pocket pairs I can limp for set value. I'm dealt QJh in late position, and limp after four limpers in front. Eight people see the flop, which comes down Ah5h8s. Its potted and called in front of me, I call as well and three of us see the turn. The turn brings the Qc. I check, one opponent bets small and the other pushes for about 2/3rds my stack. I think for a while and push over the top to shut out the other opponent - I think I've got at least 17 outs if I'm not facing a set or a common card and possibly more if I'm up against a pair. The cards turn over and I'm up against bottom two and indeed holding seventeen outs for the river. I catch an ace to pair the board (giving me a bigger two pair over his "three pair") and am up to T2440.

8:10pm - QQ in the big blind. Its min-raised to 60 by UTG. Another person calls. I pop it to 150 - probably not enough, but I dislike the UTG minraise and have a feeling I'm up against a hand, and I go with it. Both call. Flop comes 68T with two hearts, I check, the UTG min-raiser makes a 1/2 pot bet and the other player calls. I think for a beat and fold my overpair, alarms going off in my head. The hand goes to showdown, with the UTG min-raiser placing milking bets all the way out. Turns out the UTG minraiser had 88 for a set, the other player had JTo for top pair. Perhaps a larger pre-flop raise might have gotten 88 to fold, but it was still a decent laydown on the flop. 1508 players left, I'm at T2290. Average is T1587.

8:18pm - J8o from the BB, seven people to the flop. I catch a jack as top pair on the rainbow flop but check into the big field. A nine drops on the turn (now two clubs) and one player in late position makes a weak bet. The button calls, and I call. Based on the passivity I've seen at this table so far, its extremly likely my hand is best right now. The river brings an offsuit blank, again I check and its another 1/3 pot bet, call, and I call. my jacks drag a T580 pot and I'm up to T2680. 1360 left, T1851 average. Passive play there, letting my opponents build a pot for me, but it worked out OK. Blinds jump to 25/50 in just a second, so people should start to drop more quickly.

8:27pm - AJ in third position. Occasionally this is a fold in early position to a full table, but our table has been passive and the big blind is a short stack with under T400. A player in middle position pushes for T235 more, its folded back to me and I call. I'm dominating KJs, and I flop two pair for good measure. Up to T3140, average is T2014, 1183 players remaining.

8:32pm - minraised to T100 in early position, a caller behind. I'm in the small blind with AJo and call for another 75. Big blind also calls, getting great odds. I flop a gutshot with two overs, but lay it down to a pot-sized bet. After I did it, I didn't like calling here out of position with a marginal hand, probably should have laid it down even though it was only a slight percentage of my stack. Too hard to play AJ out of position, as I'm really only looking to make TPTK by hitting the jack Three hands later we hit first break. I'm down to T2990, average is T2206. 1078 players remaining. Immediately following the break, when the blinds jump to 50/100, is the most critical juncture to start accumulating chips in these low-buyin large field tournaments. The short stacks are going to start bleeding off chips in desparation mode, and the players who can vaccuum up those chips are the ones who will make the money. Now is the time for smart, focused, positional agression.

8:55pm - Blinds jump to 75/150 and I'm hit with the Big Blind first hand of the new level. Didn't get to play a hand in 50/100 - People opening the pot before it got to me every time, and no hands playable to a re-raise - and not even the sort of hands that I like to make a move with at this stage. Running through the blinds drops me down to T2690, below the average (of T3130) for the first time in the tournament. 762 players remain.

9:00pm - A blind steal goes horribly awry, but ends up dragging me a serious pot. I'm in the cutoff with 52s and since I literally haven't played a hand at this table in 30-minutes, I open with a standard raise. The big blind calls. Gulp. He checks, I fire a slightly-more-than half-pot-sized raise with absolutely nothing, and he quick-calls. Double gulp. The turn brings me an OESD, he checks and I think about semi-bluffing here, but I'm afraid I'm up against a hand so I elect to take the free card to try to improve for free. The river pairs the turn. He checks again, and instinctually I push the rest of my chips in. He thinks for a second and folds. Whew. Hand history posted as Comment #1 for posterity. Up to T3775, average is T3566, 668 players remain.

9:08pm - player two to my right just won a huge pot to jump to #2 in chips with +T15k. Better to my right than immediately to my left, as at least I should still have some steal opportunities.

9:10pm - Next hand after making the above entry, I get bumped from our table to much more favorable position, with two players at half-average to my left. Just as I'm giving thanks to the Poker Gods, they reward me in my first hand by sending pocket kings my way. First big pocket pair of the night. I'm in early position, and open for a standard 3x raise - get re-raised all-in by a big stack in middle position, and I insta-call. He turns over AKo, and I dodge an ace to double up big time. Welcome to the table sir. Now up to T7100, 550 players remain with an average of T4349. Time to start some serious chip accumulation.

9:22pm - questionable play by yours truly. I'm in the big blind with AJo. Small stack moves all-in for 955. Late position player calls, for half their stack. Small blind calls. I'm getting better than 3-1 and make the call. AKx flops, I bet enough to put the other small stack in, who calls, and the other player folds. The second small stack holds AK and I'm I dropped to ~T4200.

9:28pm - an early position player limps, i'm in late position with A9o and try to make a move, making a standard 3xBB+1BB raise. The limper pushes over the top, and I reluctantly fold. Down to T3185.

9:29pm - two limpers in front, and I elect to limp pocket dueces. A short-stacked player behind pushes - with whats in the pot, I put him on overcards and with the dead money thats in there I'm certainly getting great odds to coinflip if my read is correct. I call for most of my stack, taking the intentional coinflip, and he turns over A5o - I dodge his six outs and jump to T5966.

9:34pm - dealt two beautiful kings in the big blind. Get a early position limper, and the small blind makes a standard raise. Perfect. I pop it just a little more than 2x his raise - he pushes, and I instacall. AK against my KK once again. Second verse, same as the first, and I'm over T13k. Table gets busted two hands later.

9:40pm - second break. I'm at T13,282. Average is T6895, 345 players remaining. I'm chipleader at my table by a mere 1000 chips. Interlude: In the background, I bust out of the $20+2 $40k Guaranteed in the first 100 people, when two players limp, I complete from the SB with AQ and the BB checks. Flop comes AJ4-rainbow. Early position limper overbets the pot, i just call expecting he's got a weak ace or possibly even a jack. A blank hits the turn and he pushes, and I donk off my stack with AQ against his AK. I didn't expect someone to limp AK and then play it that way on the flop, but he did, and he extracted my chips with ease.

9:56pm - bounced to a new table, where I'm only fourth in chips - two of my opponents here are over T20k, one of those is close to T30k. On the bright side, opportunities to double through I guess. A few blind steals from late position have grown my stack slightly to T13.7k, average is 8496 among the 280 remaining players. Three minutes later, the blinds jump to 300/600 and players start dropping like flies. Depending on the stall rate, we should be ITM shortly.

10:09pm - One of the bigstacks makes a open min-raise from early position, the other big stack calls. I'm in middle position with Aces (first rockets of the night for yours truly) and I go to 3X their minraise. Both bigstacks call. Not what I wanted to see, as this could be a losing proposition. Flop comes TT3 rainbow so I'm either golden or way behind. Its checked to me, I value bet 1/3 the pot (about 1/3 my remaining stack) and both opponents fold. I jump up just beyond T20k, third in chips at the table.

10:15pm - The bubble breaks. I'm just under T21k. Average is 11k among the 220 remaining players who are all in the money.

10:17pm - I just flat-out take away a decent pot with nothing but overcards by representing a set, to jump over T26k. I'm playing for the final table. 193 players remaining, average is T12k. Posted as Comment #6.

10:22pm - Blinds are 400/800, the two bigstacks who are in the blinds. I pop it to T1800 from middle position with JKo, the bigstack small blind calls. King on the flop, a half-pot bet takes it down and I jump to T29k.

10:27pm - Table breaks, I get bounced only two tables up which means I'll get broken again soon, but I'm the chipleader at this table when I sit down. Not much value in image plays, but I can make a couple stupid moves and it shouldn't hurt me for long. 165 players remain, T14k average, I'm sitting at T28k.

10:40pm - in consecutive hands, the player to my immediate right and two to my left both win big pots to jump over T60k each - looking at the lobby they're third and fourth in chips overall. Lucky this is busting next, so I hold on for an orbit and then I'm jumped to table #2. I'm just over T28k, average is T19k with 125 remaining.

10:42pm - Blinds are 500/1000. Shania goes up, chipstack goes down. Steal attempt from the SB with J9o gets shown down when I put the BB all-in for T6k more and he calls with KQo and wins unimproved. I thought he had enough chips to not quite be so desparate, but I know how good any two facecards can look if you've been quite card dead. I drop to just over T20k, 120 remaining and average stack about to catch me at T19k. Its final table or bust from here, as the payout only jumps +$100 at 30 remaining and +$200 in for tenth. I've made more than that playing SNGs in the background: its about making the final table, in position to make a run for top three. We hit the second break a few hands later (3:15 in) and after we're back, blinds jump to 750/1500 with 115 remaining. I'm right at average with T20k.

10:52pm - well, from here on out its a freeroll. I minraise UTG with pocket fives - probably a bad move to beginwith, but lets see what happens. I'm raised to 5500 (2500 to me, with 10750 in the pot - i've got to call) by middle position. Flop comes down QQ2 with two hearts. I check, going for the check-raise as I put my opponent on AK and I think I'm likely best. He bets the minimum, 1500 in to a ~13k pot. I check-raise as planned, putting in about 40% of my chips with a raise to 6600. He comes over the top, and I still feel i'm being pushed by big cards and I call. He turns over aces, and I river a five. Major suckout posted as Comment #7. I jump to T43k. My only suckout so far, but it was a brutal one for my opponent.

11:02pm - AKd goes three-way to the flop and comes KQ5 rainbow. One player moves in, the other folds, I call. He's got K6o and I jump over T50k. 90 players left, average is T27k.

11:11pm - A shortstack open-limps Aces UTG. I push over the top with 88s preflop and drop down to T45k. I manage to steal my way back to T48k in the same orbit though

11:16pm - One limper in front, i call from the small blind with 8Td and we go to a flop. Flop of 972-rainbow is perfect, giving me an open-end straight. I min-bet as a blocking bet, the former big-blind comes over the top, and I jump over T70k.

11:22pm - KK in the cutoff, I min-raise and am called by the big blind, the only player who has me covered. Flop comes QQ5. He checks, I make a small bet, he min-raises to T10k. I think for just a second and push. He calls, with Q2o, and I'm out in 67th place with a payday of $45.20. I'm not sure if I could have gotten away from that hand. A frustrating finish - I could have made a standard raise instead of a min-raise, but I thought I might be able to induce a resteal from the small blind, who'd shown a tendancy to resteal (he'd pushed over my last steal attempt three hands earlier). I think I play that the same way postflop though - I guess I could have re-raised for part of my stack and laid it down if he pushed, but I imagine my kings are good there way too often to make a habit of that in a large field $10+1 MTT...

80% ITM and 96%+ ROI on the $33 SNGs in the background was much more profitable (to the tune of ~$70/hour), but I still feel good about the finish. Still waded my way through 2300+ entrants with only one suckout and solid play along the way. And if those kings are good, I'm in a great position to run to the final table for more serious money.