Yet more PokerNews material, an interview with Portland player Robert Brewer.

Any Oregon/Washington folks who are WSOP-bound and interested in people knowing how well you’re doing, keep me updated and I’ll be posting news here on NW players. I have a media pass for the WSOP, and when I get down there, I hope to provide a sort of live update clearinghouse for anyone who wants to participate.

I hadn’t played on America’s Card Room, though a number of people had recommended it, but I thought I’d take a whack at their FREEBUY series running this week. Nearly 60 guaranteed prize pool events with no cost for the initial buy-in, but small charges for rebuys and add-ons. Not that I was going to do either of those things.

I lasted all of thirty hands in #4, a $5K guarantee that I entered late. About the same in the $500 guarantee #8. In #12 (another $5K) I made it up to 35 hands, probably because I got aces twice. #17 was less than 20 hands, despite starting at the very beginning of the game. #19 was 2 hands, though I will say that was a set over set loss. #20, a $5K, sort of made up for it. Not a big payday, but I’m happy with the results.

America’s Cardroom FREEBUY Super Series #20 $5K NLHE

Hand 5 [9c 9d] BB T1,000 25/50
UTG2 raises to 150, BTN 3-bets to 350, I call, and UTG2 calls. The flop is [4d 2h 5d] and I shove. UTG2 folds, BTN calls with 1,275 behind. He has [7s 8s], the rest of the board runs out [qh ks] and I win.

Hand 11 [js 9d] BTN T2,110 30/60
I open to 180 and get called by BB. We check the board down [qh 5h 3d qs 3h], he opens [9h jc] and we split the pot.

Hand 14 [7c 7d] HJ T2,125 30/60
We’re seven-handed. I open to 180 and BTN calls. I c-bet 275 on the [jd 5s 8c] flopped get a call. [9c] gives me the ass-end of the  jack-high gunshot straight draw. I really need a six here. I check-fold to an all-in from BTN that would have put me all-in.

Hand 15 [jd kc] UTG T1,670 30/60
Open to 180 and everyone folds.

Hand 28 [ad 7d] UTG2 T1,560 40/80
I open to 240 and BTN calls. The flop is [td 2d 3h], I check-shove after BTN (same player who shoved on my in Hand 14) bets 300 and he folds.

Hand 34 [jc jd] CO T2,030 50/100/10
UTG1 limps and I raise to 650. My nemesis (currently BB) calls. The flop is [5h 4c 8d], he shoves, and I think my jacks are good, so I call. He has [ac 7c] for an over card, a gut-shot, and a backdoor flush, but there’s [ks] on the turn and [2c] on the river. so I double.

Hand 37 [kd kc] UTG1 T4,250 50/100/10
I open to 300 and get a call from BTN and BB. The flop is an unfortunate [9c ah 4s]. I c-bet 500, BTN calls, and I check fold to a bet on the [6h] turn.

Hand 42 [as qd] CO T3,250 50/100/10
UTG2 limps in and I raise to 400. BB and UTG2 call me. The flop is [9d jd 5d], and with the queen, I think I might be good. They check it to me, I shove 2.8K into 1.3K, and they fold.

Hand 43 [jd jh] T2,505 50/100/10HJ
UTG limps, I raise to 1K, UTG shoves for a total of 1,655, and I call. He has [qs ks], the board shows [kc 3s 6h 3h 8c] and he wins.

Hand 50 [9c 7c] SB T2,265 75/150/15
Action folds to me and I go all-in, since BB has only 715 behind his blind. He folds.

Hand 57 [ts tc] CO T2,300 100/200/20
Right around this point, I had to go pick my wife up from work early. I felt no remorse abandoning a freeroll, and figured if I was still in when I got back, I’d still be in. Otherwise I probably would have played this hand.

Hand 72 [6s js] UTG T1,275 125/250/25
My absence had coincided with the hourly break, so I didn’t miss as many hands as all that, but with only 11BB when I left, I did lose a substantial portion of my chips. No mind. This was the first hand after I got back, I was about to eat the blinds, so I shoved my 5BB. HJ re-shoved, and the BB got all-in, as well. The board ran out [kd 8d qd td 9s], nobody had a diamond, and my straight took the main pot. The largest stack with [ah qh] lost the most, and BB’s [kh qs] took a side pot for about a third of the chips he put in.

Hand 78 [qd 8d] UTG2 T3,685 150/300/30
UTG had a stack of 5.5K and limped in. I shoved for 12BB and the only call was from UTG. He had [3s 3h], I made a flush draw on the flop, a gut-shot on the turn, and a pair of eights on the river and took in 8K.

Hand 82 [ad kd] BTN T7,460 150/300/30
Everyone folds to me, I raise to 900, and the blinds fold.

Hand 83 [as ac] CO T8,120 150/300/30
HJ goes all-in for 2,655 and I re-raise all-in. He has [qd qc], the board is [kd 7c 3h kh 3d] and I win.

Hand 84 [ks ts] HJ T11,435 150/300/30
UTG min-raises, getting called by UTG2, me, CO, and BB. The flop is [4c kh jh], gets checked to me, and I bet 2K, two-thirds the pot. CO calls, and UTG shoves for just 243 more, with UTG2 getting out of the way. I call, and so does CO. We both check the [js] on the turn, but I go all-in on the [kd] river, hoping to essentially wipe out CO if he can call with a jack. He folds, though, BB has [9h qd] and I take the whole pot.

Hand 92 [ad ah] HJ T17,911 175/350/35
I open to 1,050 and everyone folds. Still, good to have aces twice in ten hands.

Hand 99 [js kc] CO T17,816 200/400/40
I open to 1,200 and everyone folds.

Hand 110 [td qs] UTG T17,551 225/450/45
My opening raise is to 1,350. BTN re-raises to 3,150, the blinds get out of the way, and I call. [kc 4c 2s] on the flop, I don’t think I’m going anywhere there and check-fold to a bet.

Hand 111 [9d tc] BB T14,356  225/450/45
UTG min-raises and gets called by BTN and SB. I come along and see a flop of [6d qd 2s], then check-fold to a c-bet and call.

Hand 123 [ac ah] UTG T11,531 275/550/55
Sort of ridiculous. My third pocket pair of aces in 40 hands. Online poker is rigged! I bet 1,650, the BB goes all-in for 2,530, and I call. He has [6c 5c], the board is [qd qc 4s 3h 5s] and I have to admit I sweated a bit on the river, even though I had him well-covered.

Hand 125 [5h ah] BTN T14,446 275/550/55
I raise 3x and the blinds fold. By the way, if you wonder how I ended up on the button after only two hands, I can say that it wasn’t because of a table change. There appears to be a glitch in the ACR software when a player is knocked out of the small blind. I went from UTG on hand 123 to SB on hand 124, skipping BB.

Hand 128 [9h jh] UTG2 T15,546 275/550/55
I raise to 1,650, getting a call from UTG3. [kc 2d 3s] on the flop, and I fail to c-bet. I get [jc] on the turn and check it, then bet 1,540 on the [8s] river. UTG3 calls with the Mutant Jack [ad jd].

Hand 130 [qs ah] UTG T12,241 300/600/60
I 3x to 1.8K and everyone folds.

Hand 134 [6c ac] HJ T13,981 300/600/60
Raise and everyone folds.

Hand 136 [qh ts] UTG3 T15,301 300/600/60
UTG raises to 1,800, I call. The flop is [4d 4s tc] and I shove over a c-bet of 2,400 to get a fold.

Hand 144 [jh 9h] HJ T19,456 325/650/65
UTG1 limps, I raise to 2.6K, and everyone folds.

Hand 150 [6h ah] SB T22,241 350/700/70
Everyone folds to me, I raise to 2,100, and BB folds.

Hand 160 [td jh] CO T21,561 400/800/80
UTG2 limps, I limp (uncharacteristically), and BB checks. The flop is [4s ks 5h]. Everyone checks. [kd] on the turn, UTG2 bets 1,600, and I fold.

Hand 163 [td jd] UTG1 T20,521 400/800/80
I raise and everyone folds.

Hand 164 [as 5s] UTG T22,361 400/800/80
I min-raise for some reason and get min-re-raised from the big stack at the table in HJ. I call and we see a flop of [jh 7c 8s] Then I check-fold to a bet of 1,600.

Hand 165 [2c 4c] BB T19,881 500/1K/100
Action folds to SB who min-raises me from a stack of 12.5K. I call, thinking of PokerGrump‘s penchant for the deuce-four, and the flop is [4h 8d 4d]. I raise SB’s bet of 2.5K to 7K to make sure there’s no flush draws, and he folds.

Hand 166 [jh ad] SB T25,131 500/1K/100
UTG1 puts in more than half his stack with a raise to 3K. The big stack in UTG2 does that cute little min-re-raise thing and makes it 5K. I feel like all these chips are mine, and shove for 25K. UTG1 goes all-in, UTG2 folds, and I’m up against [ah td]. The board is [kc 9h kd 3h 6c]. Probably not going to get away with that again.

Hand 167 [ad ac] BTN T37,166 500/1K/100
On average you get a pair of aces every 221 hands. This is the fourth time I’ve had them in 167 hands. That’s more than five times as often as average. HJ limps in, CO shoves for 7.9K, and I shove 37K. The blinds and HJ drop out, CO has [as 9h] and I make a full house by the turn.

Hand 176 [th qc] BTN T46,096 600/1.2K/120
Action folds to me, I raise 3x, blinds fold.

Hand 178 [as 2s] HJ T48,736 600/1.2K/120
I open to 3.6K and the guy who used to min-3-bet calls from BB. The flop is [ac 2h 4c]. He check-calls my 5K bet. I put him all-in on the [5c] turn and he folds.

Hand 180 [kh 7h] UTG2 T58,776 600/1.2K/120
I open to 3.6K, BB calls with 10.9K behind. The flop is [6h 2c 9d] and we both check. [2s] on the turn, he bets 4.8K and there’s just nothing there for me, so I fold.

Hand 191 [7s 7c] UTG T51,936 750/1.5K/150
This never happens in my live games. Not to me, at least. I open to 4.5K as the table leader. Mr. min-3bet calls from HJ and we’re HU to the [7d 2s 7h] flop. He’s been aggressive all along, and but he’s managed to recover from a couple of major set-back and has about 26K behind. I check my quads to see what he want to do. He checks, and the turn is [jd]. I fishily bet 3K into a pot of 12.6K, and he calls. [qc] on the turn. I make a half-pot bet of 9K and he calls!  Unfortunately, this not being Bovada, I don’t get to see his cards.

Hand 207 [Ks tc] UTG T68,766 900/1.8K/180
I pop it up to 5.4K and everyone folds.

Hand 210 [8d 8c] BTN T69,846 900/1.8K/180
UTG and UTG1 limp in, I raise to 7.2K, and they both call. The flop is [6s ad 3s] and I know I’m done. UTG goes all-in, UTG1 (the min-3-better) only has 1.4 left, so he calls. I fold. It’s [kh as] for the big stack versus [qc kc] for the 3-better, who’s finally gone.

Hand 211 [jc 9c] CO T62,466 900/1.8K/180
A super-big hand. I raise to 5.4K and BTN calls. Both blinds fold. The flop is [kc qs 5c], giving me a gut-shot straight flush draw, among other things. I have almost 59K left; BTN has just over 17K. I make a teeny bet of 1.8K and get the expected shove, which I call. [ts] on the turn fills in my straight, and I beat his [as ac]. This, children, is why you should 3-bet those things.

Hand 222 [qc th] UTG1 T84,156 1K/2K/200
New table as we’ve gotten into or close to the money at this point. Not a lot of money, but money, nonetheless. I open to 6K and get called by SB who has 34K behind. We check the flop, then he goes all-in on the turn with the board reading [3c kh 5s 9c] and I don’t feel like risking half my stack on a gut-shot, so I fold.

Hand 229 [jh ks] UTG3 T73,636 1.2K/2.4K/240
I call a min-raise from one of the big stacks, in UTG1 then the other big stack, in HJ, bounces up to 12K. UTG1 folds, I call, The flop is [3h ac ts], we both check to the [8s] turn, he bets 11.5K on the turn and that’s as far as I want to go.

Hand 234 [ts qc] SB T57,376 1.5K/3K/300
When action folded to BTN and he shoved 32K in, it just didn’t seem right. I had him covered by 25K and BB only had another 16K, so I wasn’t going out if I made a mis-read or got unlucky. Fortunately, neither of those were the case. BTN had [qs 4s], the board ran out [5c jd 3s qd 6s]—all of the low kicker queen combos except the one he had—and I knocked him out.

Hand 240 [qs js] BTN T85,612 1.5K/3K/300
HJ limped in, I raised to 9K, and everyone folded.

Hand 252 [td 8d] UTG1 T86,312 1.75K/3.5K/350
I open to 10.5K, BTN goes all-in for 78K, and everyone else folds.

Hand 257 [th ad] UTG3 T68,412 2K/4K/400
I make it 12K, the big stack in SB calls and the flop is [ts qc 3s]. He uses my fishy bet trap, betting 4K into a 31K pot and I go all in against his [kh kd] to get knocked out.

Only 16% VPIP, this game, though it seemed like I played a lot of hands. I made pre-flop raises with more than 12% of the hands I was dealt (both those figures include the period when I was away from the table). I went to showdown with 35% of the hands I played, and I won 80% of my showdowns.

257 hands. Four-and-a-half hours. 72nd of 4,692 entries, with 823 rebuys and 73 add ons. 

Bovada $7,500 NLHE

I finally cashed in some player points and got a ticket for the nightly $7,500 with 10K in chips and 10-minute levels, then went on a sort of deep run.

Hand 7 [kc qd] HJ T9,840 40/80
Action folded around to me and I raised to 240, then called a re-raise from CO to 720. The flop was [kd 3c ad] and the ace probably saved me, because I check-folded to a bet of 960. CO had [kh ks].

Hand 11 [7c kc] UTG T9,120 40/80
I raised to 240 and got a call from BTN (with [6h 2h]), I checked what was a pretty good flop of [ac 2c qd], he puts out an oddly-small bet of 207, and I call, hitting my nut flush on the [qc] turn. I check again and he bets 1,014 off a stack of about 11K. I call, the [8c] river changes nothing and he folds to a bet of 2,000.

Hand 12 [4h 7h] BB T10,701 50/100
UTG1 min-raises and we’re heads-up to a [6h 9h 3c] flop. I’m ahead in equity on this flop against most hands—even good starting hands—and against UTG1’s [ks kc] I’m about dead even, so I call another 200. The turn goes the wrong direction with a [2c]. Another 600 into the pot. I check-fold to a bet of 500 on the [as] river.

Hand 13 [6h ac] SB T9,701 50/100
I open to 300 and BB folds.

Hand 15 [ad 8h] CO T9,801 50/100
I call UTG1’s raise to 300 along with UTG3, then we fold to a c-bet of 500 on a [4c qc ks] flop. UTG1 had [8d qd], UTG3 had [ah 6h].

Hand 22 [ts qs] SB T9,351 75/150
UTG1 limps in with [5h 6h] and UTG3 goes to 750 with [ks ad]. I call and UTG1 comes along. I get middle pair and a gut-shot on the [kh tc 9s] flop and call 1,800, then fold to a 6K bet on the [6d] turn.

Hand 24 [ad js] CO T6,801 75/150
My open to 450 takes the pot down.

Hand 29 [ks qs] UTG T7,026 100/200
I open to 600 and get a call from [6s 6h] in UTG3. He folds to an 800 c-bet on the [8h qc jc] flop.

Hand 30 [8s qs]  BB T7,926 100/200
I get a walk.

Hand 38 [js th] UTG T7,926 100/200
I open to 600 and SB calls with [4s 2s]. He hits bottom pair on the [6c 4h 9d] flop and check-calls 800, then folds to a semi-bluff of 2K on the [8c] turn.

Hand 39 [kx 2s] BB T9,526 100/200
Another walk.

Hand 42 [7h 7c] CO T9,526 125/250/25
I open to 750 and win the blinds and antes.

Hand 44 [7s 7h] UTG2 T10,051 125/250/25
Finally over starting stack again! I raise to 750 and CO calls with [ks 9s]. We both check down until the board reads [ts td 8h qs kh], and I check-fold to a 1K river bet. Back under starting stack.

Hand 45 [8d 7d] UTG1 T9,276 125/250/25
I open to 750, UTG2 raises [9h 9s] to 2,500, then HJ shoves [kh qd] for 11.3K, leaving 1 behind. I fold and UTG2 shoves over the top. The nines win with two pair.

Hand 46 [ah ac] UTG T8,501 125/250/25
I raise to 750 and everyone folds. I can’t get as much with aces as nines can win!

Hand 47 [jh th] BB T9,051 125/250/25
BTN limps in with [4c 5c] and I raise to 750. He calls, and the flop is [qc 7h td]. We both check the [kc] turn, he calls 1,000, and we check the [4h] river. I win a showdown to put me over starting stack.

Hand 53 [ad jd] UTG2 T10,841 150/300/30
The Mutant Jack is back! I raise to 900 and get a call from BB, holding [4s 5c]. [ac qh  7d] on the flop and he check-folds to a bet of 1,100.

Hand 62 [ks 9s] UTG1 T11.2K 200/400/40
I raise to 1,200 and get called by BB with [as 9c]. He folds to a c-bet of 1,600 on a [5s qd jd] flop.

Hand 66 [kh qs] BTN T12.1K 250/500/50
UTG2 limps with [qd jh] and I raise to 1,500, which he calls. The flop is pretty good for him: [kd 3d 8d], and he check-calls 2K. [4s] on the turn and he folds to an all-in bet of 8.6K from me.

Hand 68 [kc ts] CO T16.6K 250/500/50
Table change on the last hand. UTG1 raises to 1,200, I call, both the blinds call. [4d 3h 7c] flop, the blinds check and UTG1 shoves 6.1K with [qx qd] to take the hand. The blinds had [jc 8c] and  [3d 4h], respectively.

Hand 69 [jd ks] HJ T15.4K 250/500/50
UTG2 limps in and I raise to 1,500. We see the flop HU: [jc kh td]. I bet 2K and he folds [3d 3s].

Hand 70 [kc ac] UTG2 T18K 300/600/30
I open to 1,800 and get a call from CO with [qh ks]. I c-bet 3K on the [4d th 6c] flop and he folds.

Hand 73 [jc qd] BB T21K 300/600/60
I call a min-raise from HJ and flop [7c ts 8d]. I call another 1,200 to see the [kc] on the turn, and 2,400 to get my straight with the [9c] river. I bet 5K and he folds [ah as].

Hand 74 [as 8s] SB T26.1K 300/600/60
BB and I call a raise to 1.3K by CO, who has [7s td]. He flops middle pair on the [7h 9s 2c] board, I get out of the way to a bet of 1.7K, then he hits pay dirt when he bets trips after the [7c] turn. BB had [jd th] for the gut-shot.

Hand 85 [js td] CO T22.8K 400/800/80
Action folds to me, I raise to 2.4K, BB calls with [5c 5d], and I bluff him off his hand with a c-bet of 3K on the [as 7d 3d] flop.

Hand 89 [as qs] UTG1 T26K 400/800/80
I raise to 2.4K and everyone folds.

Hand 99 [ts jd] BB T25.7K 500/1K/100
BTN raises to 2,225 and gets called by both blinds. He has [ad 8c], SB has [3s ah]. The flop is [5d jc ac] and SB bets his ace about 1/7 the pot: 1K. I call with middle pair and BTN is in with his better ace. [7d] on the turn. Checked to BTN, who bets 4.2K. SB calls and I get out. [9s] river, they both check and BTN wins.

Hand 101 [as ks] BTN T21.8K 500/1K/100
UTG1 goes all in w [ac 7c] for 12.8K and i re-shove. I have both blinds covered by a few thousand, and thy fold. The board runs out [kh 2s tc 9s 6d] and I win. BB might be kicking himself for not calling with [js qs] and the nuts.

Hand 106 [kd td] BB T36.3K 600/1.2K/120
UTG2 opens to 3.6K with [ah ts], getting calls from SB ([8d 7d]) and myself. The flop is [ac 2d 3h], both blinds check, UTG2 bets 7.2K and we blinds fold.

Hand 107 [9s as] SB T32.5K 600/1.2K/120
UTG3 raises [ad 7h] to 2.4K and HJ calls with[4d 4s]. I call. We see a flop of [6c jd jh], HJ bets 3.2K on the flop and takes it down.

Hand 114 [th kd] UTG T29.3K 600/1.2K/120
I open to 3.6K and everyone folds.

Hand 124 [js jd] BB T28.9K 800/1.6K/160
I’m in seat 8. Table chip leader is UTG in 9 with 113.7K. UTG2 (seat 2) has 86K, CO (seat 5) has 65.2K. The rest of us are between 6BB (BTN) and 23BB, so there are potential shoving stacks as well as some big players who could do real damage to one of the larger stacks in the tournament. UTG min-raises to 3.2K with the old [2c 4c] and I call. The flop is [9d 5d 3h], so he’s flopped the open-ended straight draw and bets 4.8K. I shove 25.5K and he calls, the board rolls out [8s] and [kd] and I double up.

Hand 129 [as 4s] UTG3 T58.3K 1K/2K/200
I open to 6K and get respect. UTG1, with just 4.5BB folded [ac 5c].

Hand 135 [kd qc] BTN T58.9K 1K/2K/200
I open to 6K, BB shoves 28.2K. I call, he has [9s 9c] and the board runs out [td qd ah 5s ac].

Hand 138  [8d qd] UTG3 89.3K 1K/2K/200
I raise to 6K, BB calls with [qs ts], and he folds to my c-bet of 6500, about a quarter of his stack.

Hand 140 [td 8d] UTG1 T97.7K 1,250/2,500/250
I open to 7.5K and go to the flop HU with UTG3, who has [kc qs]. He flops the joint with [jc ts 9s], and goes along for my 10K c-bet. I’m lucky not to make my lower straight on the [9d] turn, check, then fold to his bet of 12.5K.

Hand 154 [9h kh] CO T68.2K 1.5K/3K/300
UTG3 raises 3x with [jd 9d], I call, and BB comes along with [6d ah]. Flop is [5s 9s 3c], UTG3 bets 18K. I have him covered by 18K and shove for 58.9K. BB folds, UTG3 calls, and the rest of the board has [4h 7h], which would have given BB—who started the hand with 102.2K—the winning straight.

Hand 165 [ac 8c] UTG 139.1K 2.5K/5K/500
I open to 15K and immediately fold to a 95K all-in from UTG1, who has [qd qc].

Hand 167 [7s ad] SB T118.1K  2.5K/5K/500
Action folds around to me. BB has 3K more than me. I shove, he folds [6d ah].

Hand 168 [9s 9d] BTN T127.1K 2.5K/5K/500
Everyone folds to CO, who shoves 24.4K with [2c 2h]. I shove to isolate. BB has one of CO’s outs ([2d 7c]). HJ folded [ts 2s], so he’s drawing very slim. BB folds [8h 5c]. The board runs out [5c kh 3c 5d as]. UTG2 folded [ad 6d] off a stack of 221.1K. If BB—the table leader with 227K—had felt adventurous, he would have knocked both of us out with trip fives.

Hand 177 [qh ks] BTN T149.5K 3K/6K/600
CO opens all-in with 79.3K (a little over 13BB). It’s more than half my stack, but I call. He has [ah 7s], the board runs [4h 7c 6s ac 3d] and he makes two pair—more than he needs to win.

Hand 180 [3h ah] CO T68.3K 3K/6K/600
First hand at a new table. HJ limps in and I shove. He folds [jd 8d].

Hand 188 [8s qs] CO T65.2K 3.5K/7K/700
UTG3 limps in, I shove. He folds [td ks].

Hand 194 [qd kd] SB T76.5K 4K/8K/800
UTG min-raises [qh jc] off a stack of 80K. UTG1 has 286.5K and calls with [9d td]. I shove, UTG goes all-in, and UTG1 folds. The board is [2s 7s 4s 9s qc] and, remarkably, UTG doesn’t have a spade, so I more than double with the king kicker. He’s all-in for the big blind on the next hand.

Hand 197 [6d ad] HJ T180.2K 4K/8K/800
Got so incredibly lucky here. UTG1 raises to 19.8K from a stack of 236.5K. I call. The flop is [ac as 7c]. He bets 22.4K, I shove for 159.6K, and he calls. With [ah kh]. Turn is [ks]. I’m dead. River is [kd]. Everybody loves a chop pot.

Hand 198 [qd kc] UTG3 T188.6K 4K/8K/800
UTG1 shoves a little over 3BB. I call, along with BTN. We check the board down: [3c 7s 2d ac 7c]. UTG1 has a pair, with [ts 8s], BTN has [ah qc] and wins the pot with two pair.

Hand 209 [ad 3d] UTG T138.8K 5K/10K/1K
I open to 30K, BB calls with [8d jd]. Flop is [4c 9d ah] and I shove. He folds.

Hand 214 [3c ac] UTG3 T156.8K 6K/12K/1.2K
I open to 36K and everyone folds (including SB with [as 8h]).

Hand 226 [qc td] BB T126.4K 8K/16K/1.6K
A table change that hit me with two big blinds on consecutive hands took a chunk out of my stack. I finally got a little back with a walk.

Hand 241 [qc qd] UTG T116.4K 10K/20K/2K
A long hand drought at a crucial point—we’ve been in the money for a while—finally breaks. I shove my 5.5BB and get called by the mega-stack with 1.29M in the BB. He has the Mutant Jack. It looks like it’s a winner, with an ace on the [6h ah 2h] flop. The [6c] turn does me no good, but [8h] on the river makes a flush and I double up.

Hand 242 [jh js] BB T256.8K 10K/20K/2K
Elation is short-lived. CO goes all-in with [ad 5d] for 79.3K, I call, and he doubles up for me with trips on a board of [9d ac qh ah 3d].

Hand 243 [7h as] SB T177.5K 10K/20K/2K
BTN limps with [2s 6s] (and 1.15M). I say the hell with that and shove. BB folds [qh 4d] and BTN folds when action’s back to him.

Hand 245 [9s 9c] CO T231.5K 10K/20K/2K
Normally, I’d play this hand, but UTG2 shoved for 176.6K, I was intent to ladder up, and I made a good fold, because he had [td th].

Hand 246 [td ts] HJ T229.5K 12.5K/25K/2.5K
My turn for the tens. UTG3 has 1.18M and raises [kd 4h] to 50K. I shove, everyone folds, and I take it.

Hand 258 [qh kc] UTG T272K 12.5K/25K/2.5K
I shove and take it. [jh ad] folds out of SB, even though he’s got me covered. Stacks at the table range from 171K to 1.3M, with the median at 373K.

Hand 259 [ks jc] BB T327K 12.5K/25K/2.5K
BTN limps with [ah kh] (429.7K), SB raises [ad 4h] to 75K (1.28M), and I come along, with BTN calling. The flop is [5s ac th], SB bets 122.5K, I fold, then SB folds to an all-in bet from BTN.

Hand 264 [9c ts] UTG T222.5K 15K/30K/3K
I jam everything in and BTN calls with only 91K and [4d 4s]. The board is [kc 2h td 3h ah] and I make a pair. Both the other fours were dead.

Hand 267 [qs ad] BTN T322.5K 15K/30K/3K
The table has only 6 players, we’re down to 19 players in the tournament. Seat 1 has 1.04M, I’ve got the button in seat 2. Seat 4 has 392.2K, seat 6 has 1.04M, seat 8 is table chip leader with 1.55M, and seat 9 has a respectable 564K. UTG (seat 8) opened to 68K, UTG2 called the raise, and I shoved for less than 11BB. UTG calls we’re HU to the flop. [5d 4d 8h] on the flop is safe enough, but he spikes a [tc] on the turn and the [9d] river is no help.

My VPIP was 20%; I raised 13% of my hands pre-flop. This game, only 26% of the hands I played went to showdown; I won 71% of the showdowns.

267 hands, Four hours and fifty-five minutes. 18th of 1,165 entries. +747% ROI over standard entry cost, entry into this tournament for me was via ticket.