2 9 9

That number you see in big bold letters up there is the amount of people that kept me from the Main Event. As i said in the previous post, it is one of my dreams to play in this tournament. When i got my computer loaded up and saw the amount of people that i was going to have to run through, i almost withdrew. Seeing how the odds were going to be better on Full Tilts seat guarantee tournament i was going to play there. Then i decided, you know what, im stayin on stars no matter how many people sign up. I know the structure 10x better, the players 10x more, and im 10x more comfortable. You have to face obstacles on your way to your dreams, and this was mine.

It started with Lee Jones - Poker Room Manager giving us a nice little message.



Before i start this, i want to talk a little bit about my gameplan. I didn't want to play big pots unless i was 99.99999% sure i had the best hand. There is no reason to mix it up early when i dont need to be. A lot of people had a set number of chips they wanted to get. This wasnt the case for me. I just wanted them all. The more chips i can get a hold of the better. The chip count goal is a little off because it depends on when you get a hold of that number. If i get 50k in chips in the first 3 hours and then keep folding, chances are im going to get blinded out. As you'll see i make a couple of lay downs, where if it was a cash tournament i woiuld have pushed over the top or called. Comments are great so leave plenty!

It was great to play in the biggest satellite in history, but it wasn't going to be fun running through the 7300+ people. So without further interuption, i give you the 150 seat guaranteed tournament history of trixter23.

4:38 - Im in the sb and pick up Ac Qc. There are a few limpers ahead of me, so instead of makin a raise i just complete from the sb.

Flop - 9d 4h Qs

Hero - Bets 60
Villain 1 - Calls 60
Villain 2 - Calls 60

Turn - 9d 4h Qs [As ]

Hero - Bets 85
Villain 1 - Calls 85
Villain 2 - Calls 85

River - 9d 4h Qs As [4d]

Hero - Bets 100
Villain 1 - Folds
Villain 2 - Calls 100

trixter23: shows [Ac Qc] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
DarthJ7: mucks hand
Seat 8: DarthJ7 mucked [Jd Qd]

4:42 - Get dealt KK and raise it up and everyone folds.

4:48 - Everyone folds to the sb and he completes, i check and we see a flop.

Hero - 10d 7d

Flop - 3d 7c Kc

Hero - Bets 20
Villain - Folds

Blinds go up to 15/30

4:58 - Folded to me in the cutoff and i hold Ah 8h and make a raise.

Hero raises 60 to 90
Villain calls 75

Flop - Kh 4c 6s

Hero - Bets 120
Villain - Folds

Half way through first level - 6889 of 7377 left.
I have $2925 chips which is good for 1947 of 6889.

5:08 - Get dealt KK again. I'm in the big blind and actually was more worried about the flat caller from the sb, so i re-pop and they both fold.

Button - Raises to 90
SB - Calls 90
Hero - Raises to 230 to 320
Button - Folds
SB - Folds

Blinds go up to 25/50

5:21 - Get dealt AK UTG, make a standard 3x raise to 150, UTG+2 (who is a new player to the table) re-pops me with a 4x raise and after a few seconds i fold and he shows KK. Which boosted my confidence. Never show your cards unless you have to.

Hero - Raises 100 to 150
Villain - Raises 450 to 600
Hero - Folds
Villain shows [Ks Kd] (a pair of Kings)

5:21 - Dealt Jc 8c in the big blind. Everyone folds to the sb and he completes and we see a flop. Again i probably should have made more off him but if he has spades im done, so i was making very small bets so i could get away from the hand later. I was very surprised to see what he mucked.

Flop - 7s 9s 10s

Villain - Checks
Hero - Bets 100
Villain - Calls 100

Turn - 7s 9s 10s [4d]

Villain - Checks
Hero - Bets 100
Villain - Calls 100

River - 7s 9s 10s 4d [Jh]

Villain - Checks
Hero - Bets 100
Villain - Calls 100
Seat 3: Fantini21 (small blind) mucked [Tc Qh]

5:22 - Dealt 77 in the sb, i make it 150 to go and the bb folds.

First break - 1 hour mark
avg stack - 3030 my stack - 3220
5974 of 7377 left.
im 2152 of that 5974.
5740 left to go.

Blinds go up to 50/100

5:40 - Very interesting hand. Villain 1 wins me a nice side pot when he limps and brings the guy next to him into the pot. Plus, looking back, its a good thing Villain 1 didnt have that many chips.

Dealt to Hero: QQ

Villain 1: calls 100
Villain 2: calls 100
Hero: raises 300 to 400
Villain 3: folds
Villain 1: calls 185 and is all-in
Villain 2: calls 300

Flop - 5d 9c 7d

Hero - Bets 750
Villain 2 - Calls 750

Turn - 5d 9c 7d [5h]

Hero - bets 2020 and is all-in
Villain 2 - Folds

River - 5d 9c 7d 5h [Td]

Hero: shows [Qd Qs] (two pair, Queens and Fives)
Hero collected 1730 from side pot
Villain 1: shows [Ks Kd] (two pair, Kings and Fives)
Villain 1 collected 955 from main pot

5:46 - Get TT and limp. bb makes it 700 to go and i fold. - he shows JJ. After a 7x raise, unless i flop a set i cant continue the hand. So i fold and it was the correct fold.

5:47 - I get KK and raise it to 350 and everyone folds - stack at T3800.

5:56 - Ausing the guy in the bb yet again. This guy is a goldmine. Everyone folds to the sb yet again who completes. This time if i hit, i take him to the bank.

Dealt to Hero [Ah 3h]

Flop: 2h Ac 4d

Villain 1: checks
Hero: Bets 200
Villain 1: calls 200

Turn: 2h Ac 4d [7s]

Villain 1: checks
Hero: Bets 300
Villain 1: calls 300

River: 2h Ac 4d 7s [9d]

Villain 1: checks
Hero: Bets 500
Villain 1: Folds
Hero collects 1200 from pot

Blinds go up to 75/150
my stack T4200
avg stack T3625
4966 players of 7377
im 1592 of that 4966

6:18 - dealt AK on the button. I see tons of people do this and im not sure why. Maybe if you were in EP and actually had a hand, this would have raised a red flag for me and im not sure if i would have called. This guys image was horrible as i saw him as a gold mine. Lucko always talks about telling a consistent story and this guy didnt do it. When he calls from the cutoff it screams, I want to play my hand, but it's just not quite good enough to raise with it. I think i beat him into the pot when he pushed.

Villain: calls 150
Hero: raises 300 to 450
sb: folds
bb: folds
Villain: raises 1660 to 2110 and is all in
Hero: calls 1660

Hero shows As Kh

Villain shows Ac Jh

Flop: 5c 3c 2d
Turn: 3h
River: Tc

Hero collects T4445 from pot and my stack is now at $6010.

6:22 - I get a walk in my bb, awesome

Blinds go up to 100/200
avg stack is 4808, my stack is 6010
3819 of 7377 and i rank 1074
3585 to go

6:31 - I pick up AA in mid to late position. UTG Raises and i repop, he calls and we see a flop.

Villain: raises 400 to 600
Hero: raises 1000 to 1600
Villain: calls 1000

Flop: Js 4s Th

Villain checks
Hero bets 2500
Villain folds

Hero collects 3500 from pot

2nd break.
avg stack is 5558 i have 7010
3199 left and im 747 out of that group.
2965 left to go.

Blinds go up to 100/200 Ante 10

6:53 - dealt AK and raise from EP and everyone folds.

7:00 - dealt AK in the BB, folds to sb who completes, i raise and he folds like a little girl. Stack $7120.

7:03 - dealt AK in cutoff, a raise comes from UTG, i flat call, and fold to a bet on a horrible flop.

UTG raises 400 to 600
Hero calls 600.

Flop: 8s 9h 4h

UTG bets 800
Hero folds - Stack $6480

7:07 - Get a walk in my bb - Stack at $6520

7:09 - Loosening up a little bit, i get dealt 9T in the cutoff and make it 600 to go, and everyone folds. Stack at $6890

blinds go up to 150/300 Ante 15

7:18 - Dealt TT UTG+1 and make it 900 to go and everyone folds. Stack at $6815.

7:19 - get a free pass in the bb. Stack at $7010.

7:22 - Neat little hand. Cutoff makes it 1200 to go and i re pop to 3000.

Hero: Q Q

Villain: raises 900 to 1200
Hero: raises 1800 to 3000

Villain: "whens the last time you raised? lol"
Hero: "about 4 minutes ago"
Villain: folds
Villain: "I had a big hand to.

Stack at $8660

7:23 - Raise with AK and everyone folds. Stack at $9250

Blinds go up to 200/400 Ante 20

7:30 - This was one of many big hands i had throught the night. This guy raises 7x the blind from UTG+1. When i usually see overbets like this, it means this guy doesnt want to see a flop and wants to take the pot down now. He could have a mid pp like 66-JJ, which im a favorite over. He doesn't have AA or KK or he wouldnt be raising that much, because he would want action. After about 30 seconds off my time bank i come over the top and go all in. Looking back again, i realize how big of a decision this is, i forgot he had so many chips. If i lose this hand my tourney is pretty much over.

Seat 4: Hero (8675 in chips)
Seat 1: Villain (7394 in chips)

Villain: raises 2400 to 2800
Hero: raises 5855 to 8655 and is all-in
Villain: calls 4574 and is all-in

Hero: QQ
Villain: AK

Flop: 7h 2c Js
Turn: Jh
River: 6c

Stack is now at $16,809

7:47 - dealt KK and raise it up and everyone folds. Stack at $15,199

Break time - 3rd break.
1556 of 7377 left.
im 421 of 1556.
avg stack is 11852 and im at 14749.
1322 to go.

Blinds go up to 300/600 ante 30

8:00pm - raise from cutoff+1 and get re raised all in and have to fold. I figure ive been showing down good hands, i should take advantage of that and try and start stealing some pots.

Dealt: Ad 3d

Hero: raises 1200 to 1800
Villain: raises 5579 to 7379 and is all-in.
Hero: folds.

Stack at $12,499

8:11 - call an all in with AQ and chop the pot. I called with AQ because he had 7 bb's left and could be pushing with anything. my stack at the time was a meager $10,609. You have to pick up all the dead money you can to be good for later. I almost hit the spades.

Villain raises 4165 to 4765 and is all-in
Hero: calls 4465

Flop: 4h Ks 2d
Turn: Qh
River: Kh

8:15 - get dealt As Ts, raise it up, 1 caller and we go to the flop. I make a continuation bet and take the pot.

Hero raises 1200 to 1800
Villain: calls 1800

Flop: 6s 3s Jc

Hero: bets 2400
Villain: Folds

Stack at $13,804

8:17 - Another nice little hand. Get dealt KK for the 4234th time this tourney. I didn't want to see an ace flop and have to fold so i push all in over the top and he calls.

Villain raises 1800 to 2400
Hero raises 11,374 and is all-in
Villain calls 8107 and is all-in

Flop: Kc Ac 9d
Turn: 7h
River: Ah

Hero shows KK a full house, Kings full of Aces
Villain shows 88 for two pair, Aces and Eights.

Stack is now at $24,850

8:22 - get a walk in my bb and stack is now at $24,531

8:24 - raise from the CO with Kc 4h to steal and i get re popped and have to fold. Stack at $22,011

Blinds have increased to 400/800 Ante 40

8:26 - This is a very cool hand. I love post-flop play with deepstacks and being able to maneuver and go with your reads. This is just the case with this hand. This guy told me he was weak all around.

Dealt to Hero: Ah Kd

Hero: raises 1600 to 2400
Villain 1: calls 2400
BB: calls 1600

Flop: 8s 8c 4c

BB: bets 1600
Hero: calls 1600
Villain: folds

I make a little different play here and flat call his bet. There are a couple reasons why i made this play. 1) By flat calling, hopefully it scared him a little bit. I'm in position and i want to keep the pressure on him and decide how/if to bet. 2) No matter what card comes, he is going to dictate what i do on the turn. If he makes the same 1600 chip bet, i raise. If he goes lower, i raise. If he goes higher, well it depends on how high. 3) He bet 1600 chips into a 7200 chip pot or so which is extremely weak.

Turn: Js

BB: bets 800
Hero: raises 4000 to 4800
BB folds

Hero collects 12,760 from pot
Stack is now at $30k

It's hands like those that make a difference. In satellites everything is almost all pre flop play. I would have loved to play more suited connectors and such in position but it just wasnt the case tonight. If you would raise, no one would flat call, they would come over the top for all their chips. So you were forced to play premium hands.

8:32 - raise on the button with KQ and get re popped all in and i fold.

Hero: raises 1600 to 2400
Villain: raises 10640 to 13040 and is all-in
Hero folds

Stack $26,011

8:35 - Another huge hand. Again im happy these guys didn't have more chips or i would have some decisions to make. I was a little worried after i re raised when Villain 2 went all in also. I made it clear i wanted to be heads up with Villain 1 and i had a hand. I think he could have gotten away from Queens here, but he chose this spot.

Villain 1: raises 4362 to 5162 and is all-in
Hero: raises 4838 to 10000
Villain 2: calls 2213 and is all-in

Villain 1 shows Th Th
Hero shows Ah Kh
Villain 2 shows Qd Qh

Flop: 9s As 8c
Turn: 4s
River: 3s

Hero collects 14097 from pot
Stack is now at $35k.

Blinds increase to 500/1000 Ante 50

8:53 - raise it up with A8s and steal blinds. Stack at $29,406. I didn't play any hands for a while and was getting blinded down.

8:55 - I got moved to a new table and my image is clear again. I wanted to stay at that table because i knew i was going to get respect with my raises and get people to lay down hands. When i moved to this one i had to build a new one. I think i made the right plays here, but who knows. How would you guys have played these next few hands?

Seat 6: Hero (29356 in chips)
Seat 8: Villain (23176 in chips)

Dealt: Tc Ts
Hero(UTG): raises 2000 to 3000
Villain: raises 20,126 to 23126 and is all-in

I think i have to fold here. I mean i dont know how this guy plays at all. It's pretty much for my tourney life and i cant put him on a hand. I believe it was a good move. Stack is now at $26,256

8:53 - i get 77 and raise and everyone folds. Stack at $26506

4th break.
my stack is at $26,456
avg stack is $26,122
706 of 7377 left and im 280th.
472 to go.

Blinds go up to 600/1200 Ante 60

9:13 - I fold to an all in, in the BB. Even though its a short stack, i cant call this. I'm not getting odds to call and im dead to 3 outs if that. He does have 11 bb's and still has room to maneuver. So again i think this is the right play.

Seat 6: Hero (23936 in chips)
Seat 7: Villain (13890 in chips)

Hero has Ah Td

Villain raises 12630 to 13830 and is all in
Hero folds from the bb

9:19 - This was just bad luck. I am greatful i actually ran into a hand then a bad beat. My table image here is that i keep folding to re raises. I decide to take a stand here. I can't keep folding to re raises. I'm getting about 2.1-1 on my money and am only a big dog to an over pair. I usually dont play anything UTG unless its AA KK or QQ, but i was getting desperate. How would you have played this?

Seat 2: Villain (13504 in chips)
Seat 6: Hero ( 21656 in chips)

Hero: raises 2400 to 3600
Villain: raises 8344 to 13444 and is all in
Hero: calls 9844

Hero shows As Qh
Villain shows Qd Qs

Flop: Js Kh 4d
Turn: 3h
River: Kc

Sometime later - I was crippled and passed an orbit waiting for a hand. I pick up 33 utg and go all in.

Hero: raises 6952 to 8152 and is all in
BB: calls 6952

Hero shows 33
BB shows AK

Flops: 6c 6c 8s
Turn: Kd
River: 7h


And just like that, it was over. Before the AQ hand that crippled me i hadn't lost a hand all tournament and being 8 for 8 when i went to a showdown. I think i played pretty well. I should be happy that i ran through almost 7000 people to get where i was. I played to the best of my ability and thats all i can ask for. I wish everyone the best of luck that qualified, and i'll see you in vegas.