Tourney What??

That's right, I played in a real honest-to-goodness tourney. I happen to be in Atlanta, far from the dual-monitor, PT3 stats-assisted comfort of home, burning away hours in a hotel room while the wife engages in various bridesmaid activities whose details I am happy to know nothing about. This means I have a rare large block of time in which to fit some decent sized tourneys.

I only fired up 3 tourneys - a $22 buy-in, $5K guarantee on Stars, which I was running well in until I ran KK into AA vs. one of the few bigger stacks at my table. Then I started a $13 90-man turbo/kill tourney, and I somehow pulled out the miracle:

I had to make a pretty big comeback from being the shortest stack left with around 14 left, and then when we got down to 3-handed, I had 34K up against 100K and 134K. But I'm most proud of the 2 big heads-up hands that allowed me to finish the deal.

My opponent was a complete aggro-monkey, who knew very little more than to shove or otherwise overcommit himself. I picked up on this early, when he would shove his stack PF nearly every time that I just called out of the SB. I was patiently waiting my turn when the following hand came up:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 2,000/4,000 Blinds, 500 Ante, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
Hero (BB): 103,962
SB: 166,038
Pre-Flop: (7,000) A 2 dealt to Hero (BB)
SB calls 2,000, Hero raises to 13,000, SB calls 9,000

Since villian has been raising big or shoving, I'm slightly concerned that he may be trapping with a real hand, but since I've been waiting patiently for something as good as an A, I have to raise while I'm pretty sure to be well ahead.

Flop: (27,000) K 2 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets 132,000, Hero calls 90,462 and is All-In

I connect in a pretty small way, so I'm happy to have it check through. If I c-bet, he may make some sort of aggro-shove, but by checking, his aggro-shove looks even more bluffy, whereas a shove over my c-bet may be a value move. Even though I suspect a bluff, this is a really thin spot, since he will clearly have decent equity with 2 overs, even if he has air. But against a total aggro-monkey like this guy, I have to take my chances in a thin spot.

Turn: (207,924) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (207,924) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 207,924 Pot
Hero showed A 2 (three of a kind, Twos) and WON 207,924 (+103,962 NET)
SB showed T 9 (a pair of Twos) and LOST (-103,962 NET)

So that turned out beautifully, and I was prepared to settle in and wait for another spot to catch him overplaying something bad or marginal. This happened only 3 hands later...

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 2,000/4,000 Blinds, 500 Ante, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
Hero (SB): 200,924
BB: 69,076
Pre-Flop: (7,000) 5 7 dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero calls 2,000, BB checks

Flop: (9,000) 7 A 9 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

No need to fire here and get myself into a marginal spot with bottom pair.

Turn: (9,000) 2 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (9,000) 9 (2 Players)
BB bets 64,576 and is All-In, Hero calls 64,576

Given how aggro this guy has been playing, there's virtually no hand that he is holding here that he wouldn't have either shoved pre-flop or shoved on the flop. This is pretty close to a guaranteed bluff.

Results: 138,152 Pot
Hero showed 5 7 (two pair, Nines and Sevens) and WON 138,152 (+69,076 NET)
BB showed T 6 (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-69,076 NET)

And like that, I scored a $288 win (plus 10 knockouts for $20!).

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the 3rd tourney. I'm currently playing in a $10, $4K guarantee rebuy PLO tourney, I've already made the cash, and I'm sitting 5th with 11 runners left.