MATH Win - The Gory Details (1/78)

First thing to note is that I really have no idea what I am doing playing a 6-max tournament. These things are usually way too aggressive for me and it was quite evident early on that I was not sure what to do. But let's start all the way back at the beginning of the day shall we?

I decided that if I was going to play in the MATH I had to win a token. I could buy in directly but I wanted a token because it would boost my confidence. So I tried a turbo tier 1. I found iam23skidoo at my first table. Poor guy threw out his back (again) and was home on meds. I got called down by K9 unimproved against my quads. Seriously:



Things didn't go very well after that and I lost a couple of tier 1's and a 4-person heads-up. I was about to give up on the idea when I read that Hoy changed the format to 6-max but gave it one more shot and took one down when my opponent bet into the nuts:



I still was unsure of whether or not to play and decided to see how I run in the $75 token frenzy. I won one of these last week and figured it would be something to do until the MATH started. It started out well when I doubled up on the third hand against a TPTK donkey:



But then I gave it all back when Presto was obviously gold for someone else:



So with mixed feeling I sat down to play the MATH. My strategy early on was to stay out of big pots and try to play in position. I was starting to spew chips and made a nice play against Alan when the board ended up 9s8s4hTs3s and I held Kh5h. Blinds were 30/60 and I raised from the button to 210 and Alan re-raised from the BB to 660. I decided to make a loose call and see what happens. We both checked the flop and when the third spade arrived on the turn and he checked I decided to take a shot and went with a strange bet amount that would look like a value bet of 360 into the 1350 pot. He called and we saw a 4th spade on the river. He checked again and I went with another seemingly low value bet of 620 into the 2070 pot. He thought long and hard there and eventually gave it up. I was back to around my starting stack.

I made a sick call against PresidentDave who was the big stack bully at our table to double up. With the blinds at 40/80 I found QdJd UTG and raised to 260. a104l9 called on the button and Dave called from the SB. The flop was Q64 all hearts and I led out with a bet of 680 into the 860 pot. Wes folded and Dave raised it to 2900 which seemed odd. The only thing I could think of was that he was trying to push me out of the hand, perhaps with a strong draw. There was no way he was protecting a made hand there. I shoved for 1000 more and he thought about it a bit and called:



That double up was just what I needed. I missed a great opportunity to knock out two people but there was no way I could play this hand pre-flop:



I actually folded there in the BB to a 3xBB raise from Alan that was called by Leftylu in the SB. I should have called for pot odds sake but I figured I would only get in trouble with a hand like that.

I (semi-)bluffed Alan again a few hands later. With the blinds now at 50/100 I raised it to 300 from UTG+1 holding 88 and he called on the button. The flop was 7cHcJd and I bet out 200 into the 750 pot. He called and we both checked the 5h on the turn. The Qc arrived on the river completing a club flush and I bet 740 into the 1150 pot and he folded after thinking about it again:



I had a nice chip stack at this point and dialed up my aggression. I usually stay away from blind battles but an opportunity presented itself a few hands later. With the blinds still at 50/100 I find the hammer in the SB and raise it to 300. Jamyhawk calls from the BB and we see a flop of 937 rainbow. I bet out 400 into the 600 pot pot and he min-raised me to 800. I re-raised it to 1500 and he called. A second 9, which was the second spade came on the turn and I bet 1100 into the now nice pot of 3600. He folded and I showed my hammer. That one was dedicated to hammer-playing Hoy:



Jamy had run his Queens into Alan's Jacks earlier only to find a 2-outer on the turn. So when he got low he pushed with Jacks and I called with A5o and hit my own 3-outer to knock him out. It was a blinds situation again and I had over 12K in chips to his 1.5K so when I called and he raised to 640 I was putting him all-in no matter what:



Here are a couple of other hands that had I played I would have knocked out 2 people. But I didn't:



I actually limped after Schaubs raised pre-flop, but folded when dfense072 raised behind me to put Schaubs all-in.



Alan got some revenge when he flat called my raise holding Aces and then doubled up on a TT2 flop when all I had was a pair of 9s. That was not good. I knew he had to be very strong there and I fell for the trap.

I took Wes out with a 2 outer:



Leftylu limped his SB with Aces against my mighty 54o in the BB. The flop was a beautimous 633 with two hearts and he led out for 600 into the 750 pot. I made a loose call and got filled my straight on the turn when 7s arrived. It was a well concealed straight and when he led out for 900 into the 1950 pot I raised to 2300 and he called. I hated to see another 6 on the river so when he checked I just checked behind and took down a big pot:



I stayed very quiet for a long time after that, but then I got to play another hammer from the BB with the blinds at 300/600/75. PirateLawyer (not sure of the link here) raised UTG+1 to 1450 like he had been doing a lot since arriving at our table and cmitch called. It was only another 800 or so to call into a 4K pot so I was getting 5-to-1 odds and made the call. The flop was A97 rainbow and we all checked. The turn was an innocent 5c and I led out for 2600 into the 5100 pot. Lawyer folded but cmitch just smooth called. I was pretty much done with the hand until the river brought a 2s to give me two pair. I bet 2700 into the 10K pot and cmitch raised it to 7200 which I called to take down a massive 25K pot:



When we drew close to the bubble action screeched to halt. It was very slow going with very few pots being played. And then the final table bubble was even slower. I think we played for almost an hour this way. Eventually something had to give. I stayed very patient and rarely made any moves.

We had been 4 handed at our table for a long time and I got 88 in the SB with blinds at 500/100/125 and Numbono min-raised on the button and I called. The flop was K88 - DQB!!! Check-check-check-check and the river is an Ace. I decided to try to get some value and bet the pot for 5500 and he called:



A few hands later he jammed from the button with AJo and I called with 97s. I am not sure I love this call, but I would rather call with 97s than with ATo at this point and figured I had two live cards and a flush potential. J9x flop and I double him up. I doubled up a lot of shortie shoves on the way and this was one of them.

I doubled him up again about an orbit later when I raised QJo from the button and he jammed with ATo and neither of us improved. So now I had shown some questionable hands and my range was wider than it actually was. The very next hand I get Aces and raise UTG to 4800 (blinds are 600/1200/125). This was the third time I got Aces and I never got any action with them because they were always UTG. This time cmitch shoved about 20K from the BB and I called and took him out:



Finally at the final table I was in pretty good shape and decided to take it slow and see what happens. I folded two hands that I could have played against short stacks that would have ended up well for me:




Right before riggstad eliminated twoblackaces I managed to double him up:



Then after playing for a long time I got into a critical hand with riggs again. With blinds at 1500/3000/400 it folds to me in the SB and I complete. Riggs checks his option and we see a flop of 238 with two clubs. I'm not going crazy here just yet. We both check and the turn completes my well disguised straight with a 6h. I bet the pot 7600 and riggs raises it to 30K. I have the nuts and there is no way I am laying this down even if he has a draw to a higher straight or a flush. Only thing that can happen here is a chop. SO I jam the rest of my stack in for a total of about 45K and he calls drawing dead:



That hand brought my stack to nearly 100K. I usually hate blind battles but this one went pretty well and I think allowed me to win the tournament.

3 hands later I get AQo in the BB and Surflexus raises from the button to 10.5K. I re-raise to 35K which is almost 2/3 of his stack and he shoves with QTo. It's only 11K more to call so I do and manage to dodge some outs:



I usually worry about surf because he is a very solid player and I tend to stay out of his way. But about an 10 hands before this went down he pulled a similar move on twoblackaces with T8s and got lucky. There is no way I am folding AQo 4-handed anyway, but I was still surprised that he would move all-in after my re-raise.

After that hand the chip count was 144K for me, 54K Numbono and 35K for riggs. I raised riggs' BB and he jammed with JJ. I only had K6s but figured it was worth the call. I guess it's kind of a loose call here but I had him outchipped about 5-to-1 and could afford it. I made two pair on the flop and took him out in third:



I started heads-up with 186K to 48K advantage. We only played 5 hands when I got 33 on the button and raised pot. He jammed and I figured it was a good time to race so I called and he showed Queens. Magic 2-outer for me on the flop and I took down my first MATH (and first blogger event that I can recall):



First place was $617 and a seat at the TOC. It took me an hour to wind down before I could actually fall asleep. All sorts of thoughts were racing through my head. Was I that lucky? Did I play well?

I woke up this morning and checked out some stats. First I wanted to see how many pocket pairs I got:



I got Aces and Kings 3 times and Queens twice. The only time I got any action on any of them was when I knocked cmitch out against his Jacks.

This one is even better. I got the hammer 8 times! I made more with the hammer than any of the pocket pairs (except for the final Aces hand):



I guess The Hammer Rules!

Thanks for everyone who railed and encouraged me throughout the tournament. We got some more cries of "Destiny" from the rail last night which was hilarious. I was supposed to win the Mook but instead won the MATH. I guess now I have to go win the Mook tomorrow night?