Tournament #89

OK, another shot after the super-fast exit in the last one.

Nice start, picking up A/Q in the BB with 2 callers. Flop is Q/7/7 with 2 spades. A third never comes, though, and the guy chasing the flush helps me win an $800 pot, pushing me to $1900 right away. Card dead ever since, blinded down to $1790. They're dropping like flies and we're down to 19 players - and I still have won a hand since the very first. 3/3 in the BB, 4 callers. Flop is Q/3/5, so I toss in $200, raised to $400, I re-raise all-in for $1500 - called. Guy has Q/9. Turn is a 9, river another 5, double up to $3400. Promptly drop $600 of that on A/K suited that goes nowhere, down to $2800, 9th of 18. Called an all-in of $700 with K/K, other guy had 8/7. Flop had an 8 but he got no more help, so home he went, me up to $3400, 6th of 15. Uncalled raises with A/A and Q/Q and I'm up to $3800. K/Q small pushes me to $4400. A/10 helps me bust a short stack and pushes me to $5200. Flop an ace-high flush with A/Q and win a $2700 pot to go to $6900, 4th of 12. Small pot with Q/4 and I'm up to $7800, 4th of 11. Flop 2-pair with K/7, win $1300 pot, move to $8200. A couple misses, including a bad fold of K/4, and I'm down to $7000 but we're at the final table, me in 5th! Lost someone on the first hand, down to 8. Back in a positive direction after several blinds gone with A/7 suited that turned into a pair. At $7400 now, still 5th of 8. Short stack gone, we're in the money! Another guy gone, down to 6. Blinded down to $4700, just hanging around now as blinds are $300/600. Thanks to a couple of dumb bluffs by big stacks, the short guys have now doubled and I'm nearly last. All-in for $4600 with Q/Q, called by shorter stack. He's got A/K suited. Flop is 3/10/10. Turn is Q - full house baby! I'm up to $9100, he's gone. 5 guys left. Another guy gone on a horrible bluff, down to 4. Sitting on $6200 after a couple rounds of blinds, just looking for an all-in now, but 7/3, 7/2, and 9/7 ain't cutting it. 2 rounds of blinds, down to $3400. Steal a pot with a bluff, move to $3800. All-in for $3800 with A/Q, uncalled, move to $5800. Another $2700 pot with 4/3 on a flop of A/A/4 and I'm up to $7200. Short stack gone with A/K, down to 3! Huge #2 stack goes all-in with 2 pair vs a straight and gets busted. We're heads-up!!! Managed to get from $2000 up to $8000 at one point but just never got quite enough cards to make it competitive. Still, 2nd place after being short for a looong time is just fine by me. The evening ended up a profitable one, so that's even better.

FINISH: 2nd place
PAYOUT: $2.41
PROFIT: $2.16
BANKROLL: $67.58