First MTT Cash

Last night I played in a $1 multi table tournament on Poker Champs, small stakes I know but I was really just there for some experience (my MTT history has been less than great).

Going into the final break I was in outright last place, I hadn’t really played that many hands but my stack had been whittled away to below 1K and with the average around 3-4K I was thinking it would be another early exit.

After the break though things started to turn around, it started with a bit of luck:

On the button I was dealt:

and with only one caller around to me I raised up 3XBB (about half my stack at this point), the blinds folded and the limper called to see a flop:

My opponent min bets and I decide it’s time to push all-in for my remaining chips. He calls and flips over:

Damn! I show him my tens and we see the turn:

I breathe for the first time since going all in and pray for a kind river:

Very lucky, I double through and am no longer in last place. Over the course of the next hour or so I steal a few blinds and win a few pots without showdown with some reasonable hands (mostly top pair). Finally just before the second break I catch a nut straight on the turn heads up against an opponent who caught a smaller straight, we end up all-in and into the break I’m sitting on 6K of chips (about average).

Down to the final two tables things are getting very tight and the blinds are starting to kill people off, I get dealt some reasonable cards during this period (AKs, QQ and KQo are three hands that won me a little cash) and into the final table I’m sitting on around 10K and looking quite well placed.

Then, with 8 remaining stupidity strikes. I’m dealt the following in middle position:

and I min raise (the BB is 1600 at this point so my raise pushes it up to a reasonable 3200), everyone folds except for the big blind (1st position player) who calls. We see a flop:

My opponent min bets and I raise, he then raises all-in.

I think you know what happens next but let me justify myself a little by saying I’d seen this player use his big stack to push people out of large pots with nothing more than a bluff.

I call.

He flips over:

He’d hit a set and I was in big trouble, just to rub some salt into my wounds the turn brings him quads:

I’m drawing dead and exit the tournament in 8th place, in the money but absolutely kicking myself for playing that hand so badly.

In the end it was nice to finally play well enough to make a final table, I think I’m starting to realise what’s required to make it deeper into these tournaments. So disappointing though to go out in 8th on a hand like that when I had really set myself up for having a go at first.

At least I can say I went out to quads .