With a 10k starting stack and blinds starting at 25/50 I always expected the play to be very cagey at the start, and it certainly was. An hour in and we only saw the river two or three times.

I managed to chip up a decent amount in the first two big hands of the tournament. Firstly I opened AA in second position to 300 @ 50/100. Bo, on the button called.

Flop 4 6 T rainbow.

I led for 400 and he made it 1k.

At this point I’m putting him on a pocket pair, or the ten, perhaps AT or JT. I’m obviously hoping he hasn’t flopped the set, but I’m not worried too much about that. If I raise here, I chase out all the hands I have beat, and lose value, so I elected to flat call.

Turn J

This wasn’t the greatest card in the deck, as he could easily have called my preflop raise with JT. If I bet on this street I don’t see him calling with much I have beat. He will probably fold a mid pair, and have trouble continuing with AT. Therefore I checked in order to let him take another stab with the hands in his range that I beat.

He bet 1k again. When he made this bet, I was pretty sure I was good, as I really felt that if he had a set on the flop this J would have scared him with there now being a straight and flush draw out there, and I thought he would seek to protect his hand some more. There was no point in me raising at this point, so I flat called again.

River 7

After the turn I had re-assessed his range and had him pretty firmly on 55, 77-99, so again I didn’t love this turn, but I obviously can’t be too worried either. If I bet, he folds everything but a set, so I checked again, looking for him to make an ill-advised river bluff. He checked behind, tabled 55 and I scooped the pot.

With the blinds at 100/200, Barbara limped in utg. She hadn’t done this before and had hardly played any hands, so I really didn’t know what she could have. Illia, to her immediate left bumped it to 700. He had been very active; I looked down at AQ on the button and with about 13k in front of me (and him) and made the call. Barbara folded.

Flop A K 7 with 2 diamonds.

He led for 1.2k.

I called for pot control and to under-rep my hand slightly. If I raise here I should chase out all the hands I beat, so there is no value in that.

Turn 5

He leads into me again for 2.5k.

At this point I wasn’t 100% sure I was good, and was also conscious of the fact that I may have to call another barrel on the river. However, I really didn’t think he would treble barrel with air, so I felt I could call the turn and re-assess on the river.

River 2

He led again for 2.5k

I called pretty quickly, the size of the bet indicated to me that I was good, and that he likely had a weaker ace, AJ probably. He flipped AT and I won the pot. His bet on the river was a strange one, as I wouldn’t call with anything that he beat and I would never fold a stronger hand than his, but sometimes people don’t know why they are betting and just do it because they feel they should.

There were no other hands of note after this for quite some time. 2 players were eliminated and despite having nothing to do with either elimination I was sitting nicely in 2nd place only a few chips short of the lead. The blinds had risen and an ante had been introduced, which I took as my cue to up the pace a little. I began to raise a really wide range, knowing that my opponents would not play back at me without a hand. In this period I chipped up considerably without a showdown.

When the blinds hit 400/800 with a 100 ante things got a bit trickier. The two shorter stacks to my left both had under 10 bbs, so I could no longer raise/fold. It folded to me on the button, I had JTs, and I moved in. Marky held AA in the sb and doubled up, although I did flop a flush draw.

After this setback I stole a few more pots and moved in twice on Petteri’s raises and was back to where I was before the JTs hand. The blinds were now at 600/1200 with a 100 ante. Marky’s double meant I could now afford to raise/fold again, but Barbara was getting so short I figured she would look me up at one point.

I raised the button with KT and she was all in for a few hundred more, with A7s and she held. Once again she had a difficult stack for me to raise at, with 7 bbs or so. I decided that my best bet was to go after Petteri instead, and I began to flat call his raises in position to take pots off him on the flop. This tactic worked in a couple of hands and I regained the chip lead again. Then came the crucial hand of the tournament.

Petteri mini raised on the button to 2.4k. Meaning there was now 4.6k in the middle. He had about 16k in total. I held 22 in the sb, and moved in on him. This was the third time I had moved in on him preflop, and in hindsight my holding of 22 was pretty irrelevant, as if he calls I’m crushed, and I would probably have a better chance with a hand like T9s. He called with QQ and held.

We spoke about the hand after the tournament and he said to me that he had decided to open less because I was giving him a hard time. The problem was that he had only just decided this, so I hadn’t had time to notice the difference. I figured that he would stop raising my bb, but would still go after the other two. I also figured that I could get him to lay down every thing but premiums as he was in 2nd place, and wouldn’t want to blow his chances.

The very next hand I picked up KT on the button. I had 5 bbs and moved in. Barbara called with AQ and that was that. I lingered long enough in my seat in the forlorn hope that I somehow had her covered, but predictably I didn’t and I was sent to the rail.

In the immediate aftermath a couple of people questioned my aggression, as I knew they would. In my busto interview the girl alluded to this as well, and I have no doubt that the television director/commentator will portray me as a maniac, and say from their results orientated pedestal “Stewart was too aggressive tonight, proved by his exit.” The fact of the matter is that I went there with a game plan to put pressure on people, which is exactly what I did. 4 handed, players picked up hands against me, without those hands they wouldn’t have been able to call, and their stacks would have dwindled to the point where even if they did double through me it wouldn’t hurt me.

Marky got heads up with 14k, ie under 10bbs, he doubled with 66 against T7, then lost with KJ to 44. Had he won the 2nd hand he would have had 50k to Petteri’s 10k, but he only wins both of those hands about 25% of the time, and even then it’s not over. My point is, I wanted it to be all over by heads up, I felt my opponents would want to hang on to get to heads up, and that the chips would be easier to pick up before then. If I had held on and relied on cards, I could easily have been in a spot where I was heads up, but I would have been relying on a lot of luck to get back in it, I preferred to gamble before then, and that was my downfall.

Petteri’s 44 held against Marky’s KJ and he took home the $285k. He played a very good game and thoroughly deserved the win. The whole weekend was a great experience and I can’t thank Pokerroom enough for the promotion. Back to the grind now I guess.