Sunday, March 07, 2010

First Big Sunday Tourney

So today I finally find myself with an opportunity to play in one of the "Big Sunday" tournaments. Usually I'm either busy enough, planning to play basketball in the evening, or not willing to stay up late enough, but today's the day to win 5 figures.

I registered late after playing the 30k Guarantee earlier today. After having an above average stack early, I took a couple of bad beats on my way out the door. Set under set to make my stack less than playable, then ironically the same guy called my >10BB open jam w/AQ at the 75/150 level w/A4, and I couldn't recover from the K4J flop.

So, saying I'd play the 1/4 Million if I busted from that tourney within the late registration, in the 1/4 Million I am. A whole minute late. :-)

2:31 CST - Win my first hand sitting down, raising w/35o & scooping the blinds. Up 30 chips! ;-) Now to settle in & hopefully find my groove.

2:48 - Up to 3445 after calling a 3x raise from button w/89s, flop As9Xs, calling a flop bet, then betting the turn & drawing a fold. Avg @ 3318

2:55 - First break. 3345 w/avg @ 3476. 10151 out of more than 32k & growing. Gonna crack a Boulevard Wheat.

3:10 - Baby's awake. Gonna make it a little tougher to play & blog.

3:14 - Down to 2800 after losing some betting an open-ender & getting jammed on, then open-raising w/KJo on the button & whiffing the A-high flop.

3:23 - Blinds getting worth scoping @ 75/150. I'm doing just that. 3125

3:30 - Hour in the books. 35898 in the tourney. 12797/22698 w/3537. Avg 4793.

3:42 - Nothing happening. Down to 2587 w/blinds @ 125/250/25. Jam or fold mode & blinds approaching. Folded JJ earlier to an UTG raise. Wondering if that was a mistake.

3:48 - Managed a double-up. Open jammed 1987 w/A5s in MP and got called by AK clubs. Board comes 764s6s5 TYVM! Just lost a little back raising w/KQ and not having the chips to back it up when I missed the board. 3575 avg 6869, blinds @ 150/300/25.

3:55 - Break time. Through the blinds w/3075. 14408 left.

4:10 - That's it. Jammed my stack UTG w/QhK and got called by BB w/A5c and board comes Ah9h6JhQ. Had flush & straight outs by turn but don't get there. Sometimes I just don't get the winning plays in these tourneys. How does a guy call there w/A5 for 1/3 of his stack?

So that was a very underwhelming first go-around in a big Sunday tourney. Pretty standard for me. Can't say I'd play it a whole lot different, except to play that JJ, given it was the best hand I got the whole time. Awesome. Hopefully I can play one of these again sometime in the next 5 years.