Tournament Rush and a Donkey Move

Wow, how about this one. I never finished an on-line tourney and still placed in the money, despite pulling one of the worst Donkey moves imaginable.

It was a little $11 buy-in NLHE on Party Poker. 3000 starting chips and a 15-minute blind structure, my favorite structure. It has deep enough starting stacks with a blind structure to allow you time to play, and make it less of a skeet shoot. I thought I’d have plenty of time, since there were less than 1000 players (990).

Well, I start card dead, with the first table just going zonkers with all sorts of wild, crazy betting. No one is really getting anywhere… the chips are flying around the table but it’s just going in circles. So I’m folding and folding and getting a good eyeful at everybody’s antics.

At the send of the second level I wake up in the SB with AK. A late player puts in a small raise. I go over the top with a bigger raise. Everybody folds to the original raiser and he goes all in.

Aw, hell. It’s too early in the tournament to risk my tournament life on AK. Normally I chuck this bubby out. But while I’d watched this yahoo bet awfully aggressive, he did slow play KK once before. I figure him on a small pair or more likely an Ace. If it’s the small pair I’m a small dog, but if an Ace I’m a big gorilla. Finally, he has a slightly smaller stack than mine, so even if I lose I’d be crippled but still alive. After some thought I decide to go with my read. Sure enough, my foe shows AJ. He has no luck on the board so he’s gone and I take a big pot on my first hand played, thank you very much.

Then it’s back to card dead. I play a few more hands, but I’m either raised and reraised out, or miss my flop and have to chuck. My stack whittles down until I’m back to about 3200.

When just before the first break I just get sick. I call a small raise from a middle position player when I’m on the button with AJ diamonds. The flop shows a beautiful Ace. He checks, I check, the turn comes a blank. He bets big, I go over the top and, of course, he goes all in. He’s a smaller stack so I decide the pot odds are there. I call, he shows KK, and is gone when the river draws another blank.

Next hand I have KcTc. UTG puts in a minimum raise and three players call, including me. Flop is KT4 rainbow. UTG goes all in, I call. He shows AA and my stack is growing.

Two hands later I have AA. I bet my standard raise of three times the BB. Button and BB call. Flop comes A74 Rainbow. Everybody checks. Turn comes a K. BB bets, I raise, Button folds and BB goes all in. SWEET! When I call he shows Ac7c and is gone.

When the BB comes around to me, three call and I check K6. Flop comes 6KK and I’m glad the others can’t see my face. UTG bets and everybody folds to me. I call. Turn is a blank. UTG bets and I call. River is another blank and UTG bets and I raise, putting him all in. He calls and shows KJ, he’s gone.

In one circuit I’ve gone from even-steven to 58,000 in chips and the tournament leader. From there I become big gorilla and started leaning on everybody. So far I’ve played, good aggressive poker, letting the opportunities come to me. I’m on overdrive and blowing through everybody.

Then I do my stupid thing of the tournament.

I’ve been leaning hard on everybody anytime I have a playable pocket. In middle position I get Ac7c with one limper in front of me. Normally I’d either check this of just fold, but I’m playing my rush and my stack and type in a bet. I meant to bet 2600 but when I blink there are 26,000 chips out. I’d rushed and typed too many zeros! Now this I hated. Now comes my real big mistake:

I’m always chatty when I play, making comments, wisecracking about how bad my play is and congratulating others on their play and their hands. I can’t resist so I type: “Ooops! Sorry, I typed one too many 0’s!!!”

How stupid is that? Now everybody knows I don’t have a really strong hand. I always have a policy of not letting anybody know what I’m doing. I never flash cards before I muck or talk about what cards I had. Now during a hand I tell people I’m open game.

Of course, that is a big enough bet that anybody calling is going all in, so when I realize my mistake I hoped that it wouldn’t hurt. The second biggest stack has 25,000 chips and he thinks long and hard in the SB. Finally, he calls. He shows AQ and I’m cursing myself for my idiocy.

Then four clubs shoot out on the board and my Ace-high flush knocks him out. That was one I definitely didn’t deserve. First I made a stupid bet, then I advertised it to the entire table, and only luck and my stack size saved me. I decided to screw it down and play some sensible poker so I don’t really fool the pooch.

I’m doing fine, but the tournament has gone about two and a half hours when my wife calls with a problem. I have to go. At the time I’m in the top five in chips, a bit over 100,000 with 75 players left and everybody in the money. So I have to go and eventually I’d be blinded out.

I’ll have to check today to see what I placed and what money I made. Still, it was a nice run. The key to remember is that I didn’t let myself get involved in all the stupid betting going on. I hunkered down and was patient until my opportunity came. Then when it came I drove it through into overdrive.

I just need to remember to keep my mouth shut if I pull a Donkey.
It would have been nice to see how deep I could have gone, though. Next time.