Man this will take me forever to write. But this is my biggest cash in a tournament to date (bar the WSOP package). You ready? HEEEEEEEEEEEERE WE GO!

10/20 blinds (for the first 2 hours of the tourney, I was away and my brother filled in my shoes and played)

4th hand, two limpers, I (brother) raise to 100 on the button with , the SB reraises to 300, all muck I call. flop is , pair + gutshot + floosh draw.
SB overbets 980 into like a 650 pot, I raise to 2240, flat call. turn , SB bets 1k, I raise all in to 2340, call and he shows . River card: and folks we just build a massive chip stack.

Only significant hand of the round.

15/30 level with 9600 chips.

3 folds and I limp with . MP raises to 120, the BB and SB calls and I call. Flop and it checks around, turn , two checks to me and I bet 320 looking to steal the razor calls DOH! River so so beautiful, but I did bet a little too much by going 1200 into the 1120 pot and he mucked.

Donked some chips in this hand. Three folds, a flat call and a raise to 120. I call from the BB with . Flop , I check to the razor who bets the weird amount of 144, I call. turn , I lead out and bet 450, call. river , I bet 1200 and he calls with AQ, ugh! A bigger bet and he'd have folded I reckon.

25/50 level with 8216 in chips.

Two folds, I limp with 33, 2 other limps, SB completes and BB checks. Flop . Checks to the end who bets 300, 2 folds I raise to 800, call. Turn , I bet 1300 and he folds, probably should have milked it for some more, maybe a bet of 900 would have been called.

Brother made a nice read on this one, huge kudos.
One fold I have and raise to 150, one fold and a call, rest muck. Flop , I bet 250, call. Turn , I bet 400, call again. River , I check, he bets his last 1880 and I beat him into the pot and he shows me 88.

3 folds, a call, fold, I raise to 200 with . only the limper calls. Flop , he leads out for 400, I raise to 1100, muck.

2 folds, I raise to 200 with , the BB calls. Flop . check check (if it were me I'm normally just betting). Turn , check, I bet 500, flat call. River , check check, he shows KJ and I take it down.

4 folds, call, I complete with and BB checks. Flop , check check check. Turn , check check, LP bets 200, I call. River , I check he bets 450 and I just call, he shows T6o and I take the pot. I rushed into the room while my brother was playing, basically had no idea what went on in the hand and told him to just flat call. If I knew he was any kind of donk, I'm raising that river, sorry bro.

UTG calls, 2 folds, I raise to 200 with , limper calls. Flop . Check, I bet 450, call. Turn , check I bet 1k, fold. I know this is only a small hand, but who likes checking that turn to induce a bluff on the river with a missed draw or a 77/88/99 kind of hand?

50/100 - I have 15,071

Im UTG with and raise to 300, all muck to the BB who calls. Flop , check, I bet 450, call. Hmm doesn't look good... Turn , Check, I asked him to check while watching since we picked up a draw to a str8 or a boat and didn't want to get check raised, so check. river , he bets 1200 and I fold.

4 folds, MP raises to 450, I'm in the BB with , reraise to 1500, pass.

75/150 - I have 14141

Lost a bundle on this one, my stack, 14441, his stack: 12536.

2 limpers, SB completes I check with my trashy until the flop hits , I bet 300 into a 600 pot, get raised to 1050 and I flat call. Turn , probably the worst card in the deck for me, but I check call a 1950 bet. River , I WANT a cheap showdown so I bet 1800, but he raises me all in and am forced to muck, he shows JT. The two mistakes in the hand were calling the turn and leading on the river.

One fold, EP limps, rest fold to me on the button I have and raise to 600, limper calls. Flop is And the limper check folds to a 1k bet.

100/200 - I have 10,016 (YES these are 30 min blinds, and I haven't been playing many hands)

All fold to me in the CO and raise to 800 with , the SB and BB call, ugh but I take the pot down with a 1200 bet on a flop of

EP limps, 3 folds, MP limps, SB completes, I sense weakness and raise to 1400 with , all muck.

EP limps, I'm next and raise to 800 with , MP calls and the limper calls. Flop , check, I bet 1800, fold, call. Turn , check, he has 4500 left, decide to set him in, he calls with JT, river is a 9 and win a nice pot.

Could and SHOULD have milked more from this pot
EP raises to 600 I flat call with MP calls, flop , Ep bets 800 I flat call, MP raises to 2400, EP fold. Now I should have flat called, maybe lead the turn or check raise that turn. But i reraised it to 4600 and he mucked, DAMN!

100/200 25 ante - started level with 22920 chips.

Folds to me in the SB and raise to 800 with , call. Flop I bet 1200 and he mucks

2 folds to me and open raise with 2 more folds and LP reraises to 1400, all fold back to me and I flat call. Flop I decide to find out if he repopped with AK, I bet 1500 and he mucks.

All fold to me in the SB and make it 1k to go with and get called. Flop is I bet 1600 and a muck.

I think I took the raising the limpers play a bit too far, I have 28k in my stack.
After 2 people limped, the SB completes and I make it 1800 with the almighty , limpers call, SB mucks. Flop , I bet 3500 and BOTH guys call. Ok now I'm done with the hand. Turn Check Check, guy bets 7400, I pass, and he gets called. River Check, bet of 6400 and a call, bettor has 66 loser has AJ!

4 ppl fold, I open raise with , get called by an LP. flop is and I take it down with a 1500 bet.

200/400 level 25 ante - I have 24320 chips.

All fold to me on the button and make it 1600 to go with the supermighty , get called by the SB. flop , and he folds to my 2400 bet.

4 folds to me, I open raise with and take it down uncontested.

All fold to me in the SB, I try to change things up a little and limp with , Flop I try the mini steal with a 750 bet and get called. Turn Prolly coulda saved chips and just check folded, but I bet 1500 and get called again. River and I check fold to his 1200 milking bet.

There are times in a tournament, where you need to not only sense weakness in an opponent, but also ACT on it. Now I was saying this to the people that were watching me play. I seriously don't know where I've gotten this added controlled aggression to my game lately and this tournament really showed that I was able to pull off the huge powerplay with ABSOLUTELY nothing.

All fold to my button and raise to 1600 with the BB calls we see a flop of , and it goes check check. Turn he bets 400, I raise him to 2k, and he quickly calls. River , again he bets 400. He is nowhere near pot commited as he started the hand with almost 16k in chips. I decide to go all in, and he mucks.

That play right there, I'd have NEVER done a month ago.

300/600 50 antes - I have 28095

About 10 hands into the level I decide to mix it up some. I open raise UTG with and fold to a push.

The very next hand, they all fold to the SB who pushes for 4350, it's 3750 to me. With a 25k stack, easy call with 99 right? He shows JTh and the board bricks out for him.

4 folds to me, I raise to 1800 with TT, CO pushes for 12610, with my stack at 30k, I decide to find a better spot.

5 folds to me and I open raise with to 1800 and they all muck.

4 folds to me, I open raise to 1800 with and I take it down.

All fold to the SB who raises to 2k, I reraise to 6k with 88 and he mucks.

400/800 50 ante - I have 28795

2 limpers, SB completes and I check with . Flop , I figure, only way I'm getting action is with an Ace, I bet 3200, but they all muck.

After 4 folds, I open raise with and I take it.

All fold to me in the SB, I raise to 2400 with and win it uncontested.

2 folds to me, I open raise to 2400 with and they all fold like tents.

5 folds to me, I raise with and get called by the BB. Flop is and he folds after I bet 3200.

CO limps, SB calls 400 I check with , the flop is , check, I bet 1600 and fold to a push of 12486.

600/1200 75 ante - I have 32295

1 limper, I complete with and the BB checks. The flop is , I bet 2400, limper calls. Turn and it goes check check. River we check again and I take it down after he shows JTo, heeeeeeee haw

2 folds to me, I raise with and take it down.

Next hand 1 fold to me, I raise with and again take it down after showing.

Now thats a topic I'd like you to comment on, whether to show hands or not. Personally, I like showing a good hand some of the time. Why? Because I don't want people to think I'm out of line. Once you get that with people at the table you're done. What that means though is that you'll probably get action on your big hands, but your open raises with marginal hands will get called down when your main objective is to steal blinds, which becomes so important during these stages.

3 folds to me, I raise to 3600 with and get called by the BB. Flop and take it down when he check folds to my 5k bet.

800/1600 75 ante - I have 38295

About 7 hands in I open raise to 4800 after 4 folds with and take it down.

2 hands later, 2 people fold to me, I raise to 4800 with and they all muck. I show

About 25 hands go by with me not playing a pot.
Then after 3 folds there is a raise to 4800,4 more people fold, I move all in for 34995 with and he folds. He had 143k in chips to start the hand.

Ten hands later 5 people fold, I open raise to 4800 with and they fold.

1k/2k 100 ante - I have 37245

approx. ten more hands later 2 people fold, there is an open raise to 6k, I'm next to act, move in with and take it down.

About 9 hands later there is one fold, I open raise to 6k with and fold to a push of a guy that has 43k, I had slightly less chips.

another round goes by. With 33k in chips I'm not THAT desperate, but there is a lot of money to be had preflop, close to 4k. Cue the monster hand.

All fold to me on the button I push with and get called by the BB and almost puke when he turns over KK, until I see a flop is , turn river . Don't cha love poker?

3 hands later, 2 folds to me I raise to 6k with and win.

TJ Cloutier talks about how there are times where the timing of a hand can swing the balance of a table.
all fold to me in the SB I make it 8k with and get called. My eyes bug out when the Flop is . I do what I'm supposed to do and bet 10k, how the hell's he ever gonna think I'm on a 6? He raises me to 20k. Now I've got about 54k behind. I call and gonna push any turn card. My eyes almost fall out of my head when the comes and get beaten into the pot with my all in bet, until he shows me , river is a meaningless 4 and I'm now a chip powerhouse with 129720.

2 folds to me, I raise to 6k with and they muck.

5 people fold to me, I raise to 8k with and fold to a push.

1500/3000 150 ante - I have 126950

We are now 6 handed, all fold to me in the SB, I raise to 12k with , BB calls. Flop . I check, he bets 8k and folds to me 24k bet.

Here is a hand that was posted earlier on..... I still don't know if he would have called a push on the river. I will post it here again and tell me what you think.

(copied)
This is REALLY late into the deep stacks tournament, only 16 or so left. This hand has been hotly debated on my river action
NOW, before you guys comment and see the final hands, say to yourself what you would do in my position, Thanks

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t3000 (6 handed)

SB (t167690)
BB (t152099)
UTG (t81971)
MP (t106448)
Hero (t144100)
Button (t68413)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , .
2 folds, Hero raises to t9000, 2 folds, BB calls t6000.

Flop: (t15750) , , (2 players)
BB bets t9000, Hero calls t9000.

Turn: (t33750) (2 players)
BB bets t15000, Hero calls t15000.

River: (t63750) (2 players)
BB bets t30000, Hero calls t30000.

Final Pot: t123750

Results in white below:
BB has 9c Ad (straight, five high).
Hero has Qc Ac (flush, ace high).
Outcome: Hero wins t123750.

Few hands later, 3 folds, I raise on the button to 9k with and fold to a push. I have about 200k in chips.

All fold to the SB who raises to 9k. I have and reraise to 27k, he folds.

6 handed still, I raise from 2nd position with and they all fold.

12-14 hands later, I raise to 9k with , they all fold and I show.

UTG limps, button limps, SB folds and I check with . Board reads when it got checked the whole way. The button had 44 and UTG limped with A9.

All fold to the SB who completes. I check with and we now have a blind battle.
Flop SB bets 4k I raise to 12k, call. Turn , do I have horseshoes up my arse or what? He bets 16k, I flat call. River he checks, and folds when I try to milk 10k from him.

blinds 2k/4k, ante 200

I have 237k in chips and raise in 2nd position to 12k with , SB pushes all in for 44k and I think it's a pretty easy call, he shows and I win when the board reads . I now have 287k in chips and am the chipleader with 11 or so left.

FINAL TABLE:

I open raise from 2nd position with to 12l, flat called by an MP. Flop , I bet 20k and he mucks.

One round later I raise from 2nd position with to 12k, Button and BB (298k) call. Flop . Check, I bet 24k, fold, and get check raised to 56k. Decision time, gotta either repop or fold. Decide I have the best hand and reraise to 125k, he folds. I'm putting him on AT/KT.

All fold to me in the SB, I complete 2k with . Flop and win with an 8k bet.

4 people fold, I raise to 12k with , the BB (87624) calls. I have 367k. Flop , he bets 16k, looks like a probe bet, I bet all in and he mucks.

3k/6k 300 ante - I have 398k

2 folds, a min raise, flat call on the button and I call 6k with . Flop , check check check. Turn , why not represent the 5? I bet 25k, get raised to 78k and muck.

7 people left. I have 344k, leader has 389k. All fold to me on the button and raise with , fold to a push of 100k.

All fold to the SB who completes and I check my option with . Flop . He bets 7500, WEAAAAAAAK! I raise to 22k and he mucks.

UTG limps, I raise to 24k with . Flop and muck to an 18k bet. Just had the sense there was extreme strength there.

UTG I get I raise to 18k and they all muck.

4k/8k, 400 ante - I have 301k.

Folds to me on the button and I raise to 24k with , then fold to a reraise to 80k.

2 folds, I raise to 24k with but sadly get no action.

EP limps, I limp with , SB checks. Flop . Check, EP bets 32k and we all pass. Lesson: beware the limper

down to 240k. 2 limpers, I raise to 40k with and I take it down.

12 hands later I raise to 24k on the button with and win.

2 folds I raise to 24k with and take it down.

6 players left, 6k/12k, ante 600 - I have 240k

Folds to me on the button, I raise with to 36k and fold to a push of 200k from one of the blinds.

about 23 hands later, I only have about 120k, 2 people limp for 12k, I push all in on the button with and they all muck, I win a 57k pot uncontested.

CO raises to 36k, I'm in the BB with , I have 163k chips before this hand, he has 203k, I move all in, he makes a reluctant call with..... , now it's up to the poker Gods and they love me as the flop is , the turn seals the deal when the shows up and now I have 334k.

5 handed now, folds to me on the button, with 3-7k in chips I raise to 36k with and fold to an all in push, he shows AK.

4 handed. Have 248k, 2 folds, SB completes I check with , flop is , he bets 24k, test time, I raise to 65k and he mucks.

5 hands later, UTG min raises to 24k, I reraise to 60k with two red kings and get no action.

Folded to me in the SB, Complete with and BB checks. Flop and he folds to my 18k bet.

I'm still last in chips, but not far behind.

Finally, the hand that cracks me. I either, wanted to make a play, wanted to go heads up vs. two overs, lost my mind and should have been more patient, or all of the above.
Chip stacks, me 268k, SB 453k, BB 530k, UTG 368k. Fold, I move all in for 267k with and get called by the SB who has , the board bricks out and I finish in fourth place for a total prize of 2596.

I'm a little disappointed, but when it was 5 handed I couldn't find a hand to play with. and these guys were super super aggressive with raises and reraises preflop so I just had to bide my time. To the crew that watched me and supported me throughout, you guys rule and even though I was letdown by my loss, man....... WHAT A F.UCKIN WILD RIDE THAT WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments or questions on ANY of the hands are much much appreciated. You've been a wonderful audience.

James Suh

,
James,

congrats on your 4th place!!

I dont know why but i just cant get in the money in MTT. I really enjoy them but there is always a bozo who outdraw me. I havent layed too many tourneys, just party and prima freerolls and the nearest I´ve ever been to the money is 31st out of 2440 when 30 got paid .

It seems that you are quite good at these tourneys and i´d like to know if there is any book that describes the strategy you follow on them.

Kenny seems to be very good at them and he recommended NL Championship HE, from Cloutier. I havent bought it but I have plans to do it.

Congrats again! Good payday!

Hey, thank for the compliments.

Freerolls are really a crapshoot and in my opinion aren't really a great indicator if you are a good tournament player.

I highly highly recommend Cloutier/McEvoy, as well as HoH (Harrington on Holdem) volumes 1 and 2. They really helped me shape my game and hopefully they accomplish the same for you, good luck.