The morning after - Part 1

Well I crashed last night...slept and slept hard!

So here's more detail about the day. We started with 12 of us at two tables of 6. I started the day with 35,000 in chips. Short-stacked compared to people but not compared to the blinds which were 800 - 1,600 with 200 ante.

Well the other table was an all-in fest. Within 38 minutes we lost 3 players - 2 at the other table and the short stack at our table. Down to 9 and the final table. I had built my chips up slightly to 38,000 which considering we were playing 5 handed for awhile and the blinds were coming around quickly was not bad.

We headed over to the final table with four big stacks, one short stack, and four mediums (including me). I anticipated Seat 9 to be the guy to drive the action - he likes to play a lot of hands and puts pressure on the table. Seat 2 who was 2nd chip leader is a total math player - he has charts, percentages, etc.... Seat 3 - had a goodly amount of chips - i would call him tight aggressive - solid player. Seat 4 is solid and cagey - i wanted to avoid him cause we're pals - unless i had a huge hand. Seat 5 I had no idea on - he was a bit short-stacked. - Seat 7 -I had no great read on but I felt this player liked to push a bit light at times - a bit overly aggressive at the wrong time - but not sure. Seat 8 shorty-shorter-son on the stack - looking for a moment to put it in. and Seat 1 was our chip leader - good solid player - knows when to be aggressive and when to slow down.

A strong table - but not one that had me scared to play - I felt confident and calm.

ok - so nothing to exciting for the first while - i manage to keep up a bit - the table is playing quite tight. I would say for the most part the table played tight. Eventually seat 8 makes his move and he is eliminated and we are down to 8. I am still not getting any cards really but managed to steal a blind or two. That said I am getting low in chips - down to about 28Gs when this hand comes along.

I am under the gun - first to act preflop and i look down to 66. The table is playing tight so I decide to raise hoping to take the blinds and antes. With blinds at 1,000/2000 i raise to 5000. It is folded around to the small blind - my buddy in seat 4. He is also now short-stacked. He thinks and thinks and then goes all-in. Now referring back to my earlier comment you'll note i said i did not want to play seat 4 unless i had a big hand...

So here comes my explanation of either the best call i made or the stupidest call i could make...

• we've got 9,800 in the pot already - blinds/antes and my raise
  
• he moves all in for roughly 23,000
• so we now have 33,000 in the pot and it is 18000 more for me to call - almost 2-1 on my money
• he is short and his range of hands are wide at this point
• he also could be playing me - cause he thinks I'll fold against him unless I have premium hands. i am not sure what he is thinking about raising me all-in since i did raise UTG which means i likely have a good hand. So i think about his range and figure he could have a big Ace - (but then if he did i don't think he would have thought as long as he did before pushing) then i think maybe it's an bigger pair than mine - which again i don't think he would have taken as long with deciding - so then i start thinking maybe it's a weak A ... and i move into the place of deciding if now is the time to race...
• i am short stacked too - i am getting a reasonable price on my money
• i am not playing for 6th I am playing for 1st...
• so i call his all in
• my 66 against his 55 - YES! Sweet!

my hand holds up - i almost double up and have some chips and room to breathe and we're down to 7 players. YAY! (I am sure i will hear back in Calgary how bad a call i made...but at least i did have some thought behind it - might have been bad thinking but...)

away we go... a deal is made that we will give the 7th place finisher $1500 from the prize pool so everyone gets something.

A few hands later - i finally get AA - i raise to 5000 - seat 9 re-raises me to 15000 - he has about 30,000 left behind - - i think about it - and decide it makes no sense to smooth call him as i don't think i'll get any more chips from him unless he hits the flop hard - maybe too hard and crack me...so i push - happy either way if he folds or calls...he calls KJ vs AA - i hold up and we're all in the money. phew....

more later.....