This mornings $10+1 LHE on Stars

[Tiburon]

I played in this morning's Limit Tourney, and took a chop in the final 3. I had a big chiplead and ended up chopping for $424.50. By the time support got to the table to enforce the deal we had made, I was down to 3rd place, and I had to fight for it, but the chop got done appropriately.



Report:

Level 1: 20/40 blinds:
10:05am (T1320): I take a couple hits early folding to raises and re-raises when my hands miss the board. Hands like ATs, AKo just missed and I ate a little chip loss.

Level 2: 30/60 blinds:
10:18am (T860): My AJ runs into JJ. Bad news. I'm way closer to the bottom of the leaderboard than the top.

10:24am (T785): Yay! A pot win! A small win, but it equals the number of showdown wins I had last tourney.

Level 3: 50/100 blinds:
10:34am (T1170): My A9s flops two pair and holds up. There may be life!

10:36am (T1635): I get KJs in the BB, flop the open ended and river the straight. No resistance, so sure, I'll lead. A nice pot win for me, and...

Level 4: 100/200 blinds:
10:45am (T2170): AQ wins me an uncontested pot on the flop. Rollin'!

I take a couple small hits, until---

Level 5: 150/300 blinds:
11:11am (T2020): Rockets on the button. One caller to my pre-flop raise. I flop the set with a 6-A-9 rainbow. I lead out (after his check) and get called. The turn card fills me up, I check it. Damnit---I missed a bet. The river brings an 8. He leads, I raise, he folds. I have to show it. Yay me!

I stay pretty much out of the way, folding and playing tight until:

Level 6: 200/400 blinds:
11:22am (T2695): I look down to see 2 red nines. I open raise in LP after two limpers. I get re-raised by the BB, and call, just me and him to the flop. I flop the set with a 9-7-T board (2 clubs). He leads into me and I raise him, fearing a flush or straight draw. He calls. The river puts the King of clubs on the board (3 clubs). I get nervous here, especially when he leads out with a 400 chip bet. I flat call him. Then, the beautiful King of diamonds falls on the river. He leads, I raise him, he re-raises me (??--I'm worried about KK here, but he could have hit a flush and I could just go crazy here.), then I re-raised him, going all-in. He shows AKo, and MHIG. I drag the T3195 pot.

Level 7: 300/600 blinds:
11:36 am (T4390): My AKo wins a pot on the flop uncontested after someone calls my pre-flop raise then bails on my lead out.

11:45 am (T4390): Mostly all blind play until my 88 runs into a turned flush.

11:46 am (T2890): KQo in EP. I open-raise with it (just to vary things up), and flop top two. It holds up for a nice pot. Another player flopped a flush draw and missed all the way to the river.

11:47 am (T7390): Next hand--rockets. My rockets hold and I take down ANOTHER great pot. I had T10540 in chips, and I'm think ing--"Hey, maybe I can make the money here."

Level 8: 400/800 blinds:
11:52 am (T8317): Rockets again. They hold again, and I eliminate a player in the process. Some more blind play until this gem of a hand that hurt so bad, I had to post it's full history:

11:56 am (T9617):
PokerStars Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind t400 (8 handed)

CO (t6939)
Button (t3119)
SB (t11350)
BB (t13710)
UTG (t13700)
UTG+1 (t2510)
MP1 (t6027)
Hero (t9617)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with , .
UTG calls, 2 folds, Hero raises, 4 folds, UTG calls.

Flop: (5.50 SB, t2200) , , (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets, UTG calls.

Turn: (3.75 BB, t3000) (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets, UTG calls.

River: (5.75 BB, t4600) (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets, UTG calls.

Final Pot: 7.75 BB (t6200)

Results in white below:
UTG has Td Qh (straight, ace high).
Hero has As Tc (one pair, aces).
Outcome: UTG wins 7.75 BB (t6200).

I paired my ace on the turn, and he called 800 chips with Th, Qc to hit a gutter. He was down the whole way, and hit a 4-outer. Punk.

12:04pm (T5817): Revenge is mine. Rockets in the small blind. They hold up again for a great pot win.

Level 9: 600/1200 blinds:
12:14pm (T9817): QJs UTG (I know, I know). I flop top pair, and I show aggression all the way to the river where my opponent gives up the hand. He asked me if I had rockets again. I told him no. He tilted real good.

From that point, I was only involved in blind play, not really gaining or losing a lot until these back-to-back hands:

Level 11: 1200/2400 blinds:
12:53pm (T9412): Q7s in the BB. I limp with the SB who redefines LAGgy play, and I miss the flop. He'll bet with anything, so I call. A queen falls on the turn. He bets, I raise, he calls. Another queen on the river, I go all-in and take down the pot uncontested. Yes, you heard that right. He walked away from a T16800 pot so he wouldn't call T1012 on the river.
12:54pm (T17812): AJo in the SB. I flat call, flop an ace, and win another pot.

Level 12: 1600/3200 blinds:
12:56pm (T26212): Pocket 3's UTG. The way this table is, I call with them. Another lag raises another T330 and is all-in, so I call that. Flop the set, turn the boat. Capped betting on the river. My 3's full beats his Q6o for trips. I now have T52072, and hold the chip lead!
1:04pm (T51272): QJs in the BB. I re-raise with it to isolate a player successfully. He's the small stack at the table with just 10 players left in the tourney. I flop a gutshot with a backdoor flush draw, lead out, and he mucks his pocket 7's.

Blind play (and hand-for-hand) continues until:

Level 13: 2000/4000 blinds:
1:18pm (T64872): QQ in the small blind wins me a T10000 pot uncontested on the flop.

1:21pm (T74872): KK in the big blind next orbit. I 3-bet pre-flop, 3-bet the flop (5-9-8, all hearts, with me holding the King of hearts), and lead out with a caller on the turn and the river. MHIG, and I win T25000.

A lot of folding on the flop as we reach the final table, and I build a chip stack (shown above) to over T150K. I offer a deal starting at the 5-handed point. Everyone wouldn't accept until we got 3-handed. I was getting low on chips (dropped to 3rd), when we finalized the deal and chopped the pot evenly for a nice profit on the tourney. I ended up finishinig 3rd, but got better than 2nd place money with the even chop. I felt like I played well, and overall, my first MTT final table was a success.

[Twelver]

Congrats Tib...well done

[tommyhawk]

Well done

Why did not you all " sit out". That is the normal procedure and then wait on support to arrive.
This could have cost ya.

Tommmyhawk.

[Tiburon]

We ended up figuring it out with support's help. They arranged for the even chop agreed to earlier in chat.

I had never final tabled an online MTT, so I didn't know about the idea of just sitting out.

Live and learn.