Disappointed but happy at the same time...

Today I played my first live tournament for more than $5. It was a $200 + $25 NL Holdem tourney with a $100 add on or rebuy. I decided not to waste anytime and I added on at the start of the tourney. Surprisingly, I was the only person out of the 48 entrants that chose to do this. Eventually, everyone ended up adding on the 3,000 chips which was the same as what we started with. They decided they were going to payout 6 places with first place being around $5,000. So I started the tourney with 6,000 chips, 3,000 more than anyone else...

My first table was crazy! I had a psycho aggressive Native American on my left who was 21 years old, a 35 year old black guy on my right (who lost out of the tourney after rebuying in less than 10 hands), and the rest were a bunch of guys in their 50's or higher. I won a nice pot with KK early without having to show it down. I was up to about 8K in chips when I was dealt 99 in MP. There was one limper and I decided to raise 4X. Button called, limper called. Flop Qc 4s 4c. I bet 3/4 of the pot, button calls, limper folds. I think to myself, "old guy, probably flush draw." Turn 5d. Pot is 1,500 and he has 2,000 left so I put him all in and he auto calls with QQ. Oops. River 9 just to laugh in my face. So I was down to about 4K in chips and still fine... My table is the first to break and I get moved to a table where there is no really big stack. I steal blinds and not much went on for the next hour before the break. A few a my friends came to root me on and we went out to eat during the hour break. I had 5,500 in chips with the blinds going to be 100/200. I needed to make a move. Shortly after the break my table was broken again. I was moved to the table with the biggest hee haw (we’ll call him Donkey) in the tourney on my right and two tight olds guys on my left. The old guy on my left was the casino owner who was fairly tight and was short stacked the whole time. The old guy two seats to my left (I'm guessing he was at least 80 years old so we’ll call him 80 year old) was the chip leader by far in the tourney. He loved to limp and then take down pots (usually because he was hitting the nuts every time). His chip stack was getting ginormous. So with 27 or so people left, I was still sitting around 5,500 in chips when I picked up 99 in the BB (blinds were 150/300). Cutoff, with about 4,000 in chips, pushed all in and I decided to call because I am starting to get desperate and there is a good chance I have the best hand. He flips over QJ. Flop XXQ. I’m crippled. Turn J. Nice life dealer. River NINE! I can’t believe I peeled that off. I NEVER DO THAT TO PEOPLE! So I’m sitting there with a slightly under average 11,000 in chips. I’m in decent shape now.

As we continue play, I get to talking with the casino owner on my left and he says that his son is sitting across the table from us. He also said that his son is a professional poker player. I think nothing of it and continue play. Let’s call them son and father for the future. I also found out there were 5 to 10 "pros" in the field, but I've never heard of them.

As we get down to two tables, I start picking up some big starting hands. I steal blinds and get up to about 14,000 in chips when I pick up AA on the button (blinds 300/600). Son limps UTG (I do not think that he is a very good player because of all the limping he does with his big stack). Anyway, I raise it up 2,000. Father, out of the SB, flat calls! Then son calls. Flop XXX. They check, I bet, they fold, and I take down a nice pot (once again not showing down my hand). Son gets knocked out by Donkey in a huge pot soon after.

A few hands later, I have AQd in EP and I raise my standard raise. Button, who I considered the best player at the table other than me (we’ll call him Decent), pushed me all. I decided that my tourney was not going to end here, so I laid it down and he showed AQo. Oh well, I’m still alive and kicking.

A couple hands later, I pick up AKh in MP. I raise standard and son flat calls out of the SB. Flop comes As Jd 10h. He checks I bet ¾ pot. He starts putting on a 3 minute show of agony. I am trying to decide whether he is acting or if I really have the best hand. After he just calls, I decided that I had the best hand unless any scary cards come. Turn Qh, giving me the nuts for the moment and the royal flush draw. He checks and I decide to check behind him. After looking back at this, I probably should’ve bet since he could’ve had J10 and I gave him a chance to boat up. River, the blankest of blanks, a 2c. He checks, I decide to bet almost all of my chips. I did this so it looked like I could get away from it if I was raised. He looks at me and angrily mucks his hand. The whole table starts saying “The kid just played you like a chump.” I started becoming known as the young kid who has skills. All the dealers were all impressed with my play and started cheering me on when they were on their breaks. The tourney director, who dealt when I played 10/20 at this same casino on Thursday, was my biggest fan. She told me that she’d give me $20 if I knocked out Decent. I agreed to the bounty and Decent and I continued to joke about it the rest of the tourney.

Anyway I was up around 23K in chips after that hand and I was still seeing good starting hands. I picked up AK suited the very next hand and stole blinds. A few hands later, I pick up AA on the cutoff (Decent’s BB). I raised my standard raise and the old guys fold over to Decent. I was just praying that he pick up a mediocre hand so that he could push on me because he was dying to go over the top of me once. He stares at me once with a fishy look before he looks down at his cards. He mucks and turns his 8 10 off over in disgust. He tells me that he was going to push on me with anything decent there. I then decide to show my AA so that everyone knows I am not raising with garbage every hand. So I didn’t get action, but at least I got some respect this hand that might’ve helped me in the future.

People start getting eliminating and I am sitting fine. There are 13 left and we are now 6 handed at my table. Decent was moved to the other table, so it was just me, Father, 80 year old, two other old guys, and Donkey. Since Father and 80 year old were tight, I raised every button where it was folded to me and they never defended their blinds. The game was getting easy.

I raised their button with nothing and stole. Next hand in the cutoff, I raised with nothing and stole. Next hand, I raised with 79s and stole. Then all of a sudden I was under the gun and I look down at KK. This was such a perfect spot because I had just raised the last three hands. The old guys were getting pissed…

With KK UTG, I standard raise and 80 year old calls. Flop comes Q57 rainbow. Beautiful. I knew that 80 year old was going to at least call, so I bet the pot. Sure enough, he calls. Turn 4, still rainbow. I bet big again and he calls. He was definitely in check call mode, so I knew he had a Q, probably QJ or Q10. River 6 making the board Q4567, kind of a scary card, but I wasn’t too worried. I decided to check and he decided to throw the rest of his chips in (which wasn’t that much) so I called. He flips over Q9 and I rake in the biggest pot of the tourney while knocking out 80 year old. I am now second in chips in the tourney, only behind Donkey on my right.

We get to the final table and I am still second in chips. Decent is short stacked in seat 1, another 80 year old is in seat 3, I am now in seat 4, Father is in seat 6, in seats 7 and 8 are two guys who are around 23 years old, and Donkey is in seat 9. Since 6 people are paid and I am big stacked, I was going to pick some good spots to steal because the blinds and antes were getting big and I am second in chips.

So we start playing nine handed and two guys get knocked out really fast. Then Donkey limps UTG with KQo (blinds 500/1000 antes 100) and the button picks up AQ and pushes for 18000 more. Donkey thinks for a while and of course calls because he is a donkey. He actually lost this hand though. Sorry that is an unneeded hand to mention but I just want to emphasize how much this guy sucks. Donkey still leads the tourney though in chips after this hand.

We are then seven handed at the bubble and I pick up 82o UTG. Fold Right? Wrong. I standard raise it (all of my standard raises were only like 2.5 times the BB because I was always able to steal for cheap, so why not?). Everyone folds to SB, Decent, who is the short stack. He thinks long and hard and finally mucks. BB folds, and I take down the pot with 82o. I live for this.

A few hands later, I am the cutoff and I pick up AJo (blinds 1000/2000 antes 200). Donkey limps UTG, Decent limps next to him, and I raise it to 9000. I really wanted them to fold but of course I knew that Donkey would call, but I still had position on him. He says out loud how he is so sick of all my raising and he is going to have to see a flop with his rags. He called and the flop was K94, yuck. I bet 11000 and he pushes all in on me because his 92 suited (that’s what I put him on anyway) hit second pair. I had to fold and was a little upset that he hit that flop. I absolutely KNOW he did, he is not capable of making that play with nothing. I was still sitting fine however, probably 5th in chips.

Soon after, Decent was knocked out as the bubble boy. However, I did not knock him out so I did not collect my $20. Oh well haha. After he got knocked out, they we had two small blinds and a big blind. Everyone folded to the button who was also a SB (blinds 1000/2000 antes 200). Button calls, I have Q10c so I call, and BB checks. Flop Ac 2s 4c. I check, BB checks, button bets 10,000 into a 7200 pot. This is a suspiciously huge bet, so I push all in on him for another 30,000. I did not think he had an Ace and could call, but if he did, I would still have a lot of outs. BB folds, and button calls and flips over A8. Turn Jd, giving me a gutty along with my flush draw. River X. I get knocked out of the tourney in 6th place for a whopping $620. Six and a half hours of tourney play for a net profit of $295. booo.

I am really disappointed because I was completely dominating the final table before that AJo hand. I was the best player there by far and I had the chips to take complete control. Throughout the whole tourney, no one ever went over the top of me without AQ or AK. I know this because I only twice did someone ever reraise me preflop and those two hands are the ones they showed.

There are also some positives as I look back. My last hand was the ONLY time throughout the whole tourney that I was all in. Another plus was that I was only in ONE coinflip situation and that is when my 99 held up against that guy’s QJ on the XXQJ9 board. My two 99’s and the final Q10c were the ONLY THREE HANDS in the tourney that I was showed other than my AA after stealing. I felt my reads we exceptional for my first live tourney aside from the 99 versus QQ boat early on. Overall, I am disappointed but excited at the same time because I know that I can play live now and that I still can improve a lot. My biggest accomplishment today was the compliments I received throughout the tourney. I received them because of my poker skills as well as my politeness. Those compliments made me feel a lot better after the small profit. I thank God for giving me the chance to play and do well in that tourney today.