The Ultimate Battle

My Opponent, A Little Savier Than Luther Van Damme

The first part of the tournament started off very well for me as I accumulated many chips and hit on the hands I needed to.  Unfortunately the second part of the tournament would not be so easy.

Lou started three handed play a distant third in chips (about 3,000 of the 30,000 chips in play) but skillfully managed his short stack pushing his chips in against us and taking down pot after pot to stack himself up to about 6,500 chips.

My first major showdown with Lou came when I limped in from the button (should have raised) with K-9 of Clubs and Lou went all-in from the big blind.  After seriously pondering a call (counting my chips to where I’d sit if I lost and even getting an approximate chip count from Charles) I folded and showed my hand.  To my relief Lou showed K-10 and would have had me dominated in a showdown.

The second major showdown with Lou started innocuously with me limping on the button with 9-8 off-suit (a better hand to see a flop cheaply) and Lou checking his option from the big blind.  The flop went 8-Q-K and after Lou checked I bet 1,000 chips and Lou flat called.  Action hit after a blank turn as when Lou checked again I bet 2,000 (believing my 8’s to be good and Lou to be on a draw) and he raised all-in.

At that point I figured that I was beaten but felt the pot odds to be good enough that I called another 2,300 chips in a pot of around 10,000 chips.  Lou had trapped me and flipped over K-8 for two pair (having me beat before the river) after I called and my previously strong chip stack (about 12,000) had been severely hit.

Luckily for my nerves and composure we had a five minute break right after this key hand that cut my chip stack in half.  However, things were not meant to be as this next hand will show.

In the very next hand I saw A-7 and pushed my remaining chips in (about 5,000, approximately five time the big blind) hoping to start rebuilding my stack.  Unfortunately Lou woke up with A-Q and immediately called.  To rub salt in the wounds a Q hit on the flop and I was a goner once an A hit the turn (giving Lou an unbeatable two pair).

With blinds high and the chip stacks low relative to them it is not a huge surprise to go from strong chip position to out so quickly and not necessarily on a bad play (I could saved that last 2,300 on the first hand but felt pot committed and had a faint hope that Lou may be pushing with a draw).

A Couple Other Key Hands

They Helped Me Knock Out Two Players, but not Lou

Though I outlined the main story above there I want to highlight a couple of other hands (one good, one bad) during the action as one showed why I got to be in good chip position and why I could rise that position to heads-up action.

First off the hand I still regret is folding an ace on the button and watching an un-raised hand see two aces hit the flop.  Though I would not have won many chips in the end I got overly cautious there and left a few thousand chips on the table.

The one hand I played very skillfully is limping with aces on the button and taking a couple thousand chips from Lou (back when he did not have many left).  In fact I was probably unlucky to not have gotten all of Lou’s chips after he hit top pair on the flop and bet a third of his chips before I re-raised him all-in (proving how crafty of a player Lou turned out to be).

Summary

I think I played pretty well though I got overly cautious three handed trying to avoid losing a big hand (which ended up happening).  A major challenge in poker comes from managing a big stack in short handed play, especially when blinds increase and get to be higher and higher.

The hand I just outlined earlier with my pocket aces probably deserved to cash in more and unfortunately Lou had excellent poker savvy and was able to put things together on a hand I played very deceivingly (at least in theory).

The other big stack Charles played cautiously in his own right and I was able to bluff him off of small pots on a couple of occasions.  However, he watched as what appeared like an innocent hand turned out to be my undoing and cashed out for finishing in the top two (unfortunately for me third paid the same as last, zilch).