50 Rebuy Tournament

£50 rebuy, 75 runners . £11,200 pool.PL Holdem.

This tourney is hr and half of rebuys with blinds starting at 50/100 and going up to 100/200 by end of break. Starting stack is 2,000.
40 mins or so , i havent played a hand, and pick up 10 10. A loose, wild young chinese guy raises in early to around 450, and i move all in for my extra 1200 or so. He calls rather unhappily saying " Ok , i give you 1,000 " in process. He flips over AJos, and i win the race taking me to around 3500 or so.
30 mins pass, and again i havent played many hands, folding KJos,ATos and A7s to raises before i act. Then I get AdQd, the same scenario- the chinese guy raises to around 1000 this time with blinds being 100/200. I move in and he calls bit quicker this time which is worrying. But its okay, he flips over 7 7. This time he wins , and i rebuy . I dont do anything silly get my stack up to around 2,800 just before add on , and then i add on leaving me with 4,800 at end of first break. Which is neither good nor horrific. I think in the break that i need to be at around 7,500 withing 40 mins but no pressure lol. My record lately in rebuys is very poor considering i set high targets for myself-4 attempts , 0 cashes :( .

I return from the break in good spirits , and within 10 mins pick up AKos, I opt to limp utg - hoping for a raise ( AKos is beauty for me) and get taht raise from the wild asian lad whom i played with a few times at this casino.He's very chatty and often moaning, he bets the pot whichs is around 2900 i think, and i move in. He says "do i look scared?" and calls with A A . No wonder you ain't scared mate you are holding AA!!! I am getting on my coat and ready to leave turning back to look at the flop, QhTh3s. I have AdKh,he has AsAc. Turn 4h, now i need a Jack or Heart to win, river falls 6h. I can't believe it and sit down raking in a 10,000 pot and still glowing from my outdraw. Just to let you know how much of an outdraw it was, i was 10% to win that pot.15 mins pass, and i pick up AA in sb, 2 limpers . I opt to raise to 2,000 which is just shy of the pot, probably around 4/5 of the pot. An experienced but loose man in mid calls leaving himself 1200 ( odd really ) and when the flop falls Q103, i put him in - he calls anyway with 77.No help on turn or river and I am up to around 16,500.
I am one of the chip leaders now on the table and playing quite tight but agressive when i am playing.I pick uo 7d9d, and raise to 3000 i think with blinds at 600/1200. A short stack is all in on sb , and the bb calls the extra 1800. Flop falls 3d 4 d 7s. He bets out 6,000. He has plenty in reserve- I announce all in with my top pair and flush draw - and he thinks and passes .The other guy turns over AQos, and when i make my flush on turn he is drawing dead.My 2nd death tonight and another nice pot, taking me over 22,000 now. I pick up 77 in late, raise to 2900, bb calls and flop falls A J 2. He checks, i bet 2000 and he min raises - I opt to pass and lose my first pot in long while lol.
2 or 3 short stacks on table and field is decreasing faster, I pick up A10 s in sb, and move in against the short stack who has only 1300 left, he says "bullying eh?" and knows he has to call- turning over Qs4s. Flop falls 4 7 8 ( 2 spades) putting me well behind, turn 6, river 9. I make my straight and add to my body count , not a huge pot but nice to kill off another opponent.

Soon after the table gets broken up and we are down to the final 2 tables. I am sitting on around 30,000 in chips and only seen one big pair. So all is well.I immediately get to work raising pots with K6os in mid, A5os in late to a limper who thinks for a millenia and passes ,and 29s in late to noyone in the pot. They obviously dont want to be the next guy out and mixing with one of the chip leaders on the table is dangerous - plus i think my youthful look makes them think i am less likely to bluff. After around an hour or so of grinding out pots and a number of eliminations we are down to 11 players, 2 tables one of 5 the other of 6 playing hand for hand. I am dealt JJ , and an early pos guy raises the pot to 10,500. I think for a minute or so and ask for chip count , he has 19,000 more which would leave me 5,500 or so with blinds at 1500/3000 if i were to lose the pot in an all in. I know the guy well on the table, he's not afraid to gamble- I seen him all in with hands like ATos and TT.Not monster hands, I decide to narrow down his hands - I think for him to raise the pot indicates he aint passing his hand which to me indicates strength - Hes not cunning enough to set a play and limp with AA or KK - i believe he would raise the pot with these. I decide that theres a 25% chance I have much stronger in that he has smaller pair or very weak Ace (which is v unlikely) , 50% chance that we are racing to AKos,AQos etc. And 25% chance that he has higher pair(QQ-AA) making me huge underdog .I decided to fold, not to cheerfully i might i add. Soon after I pick up KcQc, and utg is all in for the bb, i complete the bb and the BB checks. Flop falls 8c9c4s, I check, he raises 10,000. I think to myself, i have 2 overs , a backdoor straight draw and a flush draw - I probably unwisely ask the dealer " if i lose this pot and so does the short stack, do i get 10th place ?" He says yes, and i opt to move all in. He makes a convicted good with 78os, I knew he had top pair or the 8 and hoped he did'nt have a K or Q.Turn comes a 3c , giving me the winning hand.


Final table - 65,000 in chips with blinds going up to 2000,4000.Returning from the break I take a look at the stacks and notice I am in pretty sound shape.450,000 chips in play which means average is 45,000. Anyway 5 hands into final table and i get dealt KJos in early, I elect to raise up to 12,000 , the dealer moves in for 21,000 meaning 9k back on me. I notice I am getting around 5-1 on my money and call, I am pleased to see he has AQos, knowing im only 40% underdog , but unfortunately lose . Now I am sittin on around 42,000.Blinds move up to 3k/6k and I am getting short stacked, one or 2 have died and I am now among the short stacks. I pick up a pot when i move in with KJos, and they all pass. Then again with J2 when in bb and I make mid pair on turn against a limper. And move in a 3rd time with AKos from the sb, when the chip leader limps in late. He passes . I eliminate the shortest stack when I push him in from the sb with my QKos , he knows he has to call and does so with 46 os and I win another pot. Then I rest some old demons by eliminating the guy who I laid my JJ to , when I make a cracking call with A8os when he is all in for 20,000 - 1/3 of my stack he had 580s .


Down to 5 handed I steal a few blinds and talk amounts of cutting a deal, I am in 2nd position with 99,000 when they agree and ask me whether I would accept a £1800 5 way split. I realise that the blinds are going to go up to 6k/12k next hand and that one lost pot would result in my exit. Payouts would be £4.3k,£2.2k,£1.2k,£800,£560 were we not to deal - I decide that taking the 1800 is the safe option - I came 2nd in chips and had only 1/4 of chips in play and it would only be worthwhile if i came 1st in my opinion which is risky, i could even come 5th and only walk away with £560.


So generally a good tourney, played my heart out. Got fortunate early on but showed that I didnt need luck when I put pressure on my final tables and am very pleased about coming in 2nd overall. I got some nice compliments from my fellow opponents and hopefully will make another final table soon.