One of My Best Bluffs Ever

After taking the afternoon off yesterday I started off online playing two Step 1's and finishing 7th in both of them. I really had the urge to go play live. I stepped out the door at 11:55 and was able to get to Tampa Bay Downs to register for their Noon tournament.

The tournament is a $40 buy-in no juice tourney. You start with 2000 in chips and I think the levels were only 10 minutes (maybe 15). I lasted until the 200/400/25 level when I finally busted. I pretty much didn't get any cards and had to pick my spots to stay alive.

While deciding on whether or not to play the 1:30 tournament (which didn't start until 2:00) I signed up to play 1/2 NL and 2/4 limit. I was called first for the 2/4 and sat at a new table. In the first lap UTG I get A,A and raise it up. This is limit so SIX other people called. Flop comes 8,7,2 rainbow. I lead out and about 100 people call. Turn is a 5. I lead again and 3 people call. River is a 6.I check fold to the UTG+1 bet and the other two call. UTG+1 shows 10d4d for the idiot end of the straight which is good. The other two flopped a set of 8's and a set of 2's. WTF is this dude calling a raise with 10d4d after UTG raises. It was sooooted I guess. After playing another 30 minutes or so I decide to take my $65 loss and sign up for the tournament.

The tournament has a $65 buy-in with 4k in starting chips and 20 minute levels. There were 35-40 entrants. The structure is slow in the beginning and speeds up at the end. When the tourney starts there is only 6 people at our table. In the first level (25/50) I get 5s4s in the BB and call a raise to 150. Flop comes 5,4,2s. I lead out for 350 and get 2 callers. The turn is the 3s. I now have top two which is probably no good, a straight draw (maybe to chop) and the flush draw. I check, UTG bets 375, MP calls and I decide to call. The river is a beautiful looking 5. I check, UTG shoves for 1400, MP folds and I instacall. He actually had nothing and I was now on a stack of around 7000 early.

When I get a stack early in these tourneys I splash around a lot in late position and try to take pots away on the flop or the turn. I was able to build up to 12,000 at the 150/300 level when perhaps my greatest bluff ever happened. Here are the players in the hand:

Me - Cutoff with 12k
Button - Girl who is a good player with 12k
MP Raiser - Average player with around 6k.

The MP raises it up to 800 and I look down at Kd2d and decide to play it. The button calls and we take the flop 3 handed. Flop comes QcQs9s. MP checks and I throw in a bet of 1200. The button calls and the MP folds. I really think the button is calling with a flush draw here. The turn is about the worst card in the deck when a 10s rolls off. I check and the button bets 1500. Her bet seemed kinda odd to me and I am not sure where she is at. I decide to raise it to 3600 and she calls. OK I am prettu sure she does not have a flush or a Q since I think she would have come over the top. Maybe she has a boat and is trapping. The river is an off-suit baby. I decide to bet our for 2700. I'm trying to make it look like a value bet. If I lose the pot I have around 10bb's and am not totally dead. She doesn't think for too long and mucks. Since showing bluffs is good for the game I flip over my cards and the whole table is just floored. She said later that she had As9x. I guess she had the perfect hand to run a bluff on.

With that pot I was able to have enough chips to coast to the final table where it paid top 5. I never really hand many hands with action at the final table. I had A,A one in the 400/800/75 level and raised to 2000 with one caller. a bet out on the ragged flop took it down. With the blinds at 500/1000/100 I was really short down to around 9k when in 3 straight hands I get A,K A,10 and A,k again. Standard raises win all three and now I have a decent stack again. When there are 7 left we all agree that when we get down to 6 we will all throw in $10 so 6th gets their money back. I go completely card dead hand have to room to make a move. With the blinds at 2000/4000 I call someones shove of 4300 when I have 9000 (2nd shortest at the table). I have k,10 and he has 5,2. He hits two pair and I am all but done. I bust out on the bubble in 6th shortly after that and get my money back.

I can't complain though. The last two times I have played that tourney I have final tabled with a lot of chips entering the final table play.