Snap it babee.
Played the two tournaments I said I was going to yesterday.
Tournament 1 ended after a couple of hours. Basically was quite card dead, made a couple of bluffs here and there to keep my stack stable at the starting stack of 7k, but first hand back after the first break I look down at QQ. I raised to 600 at 100/200 and the button shoved for 5k. He hadn't been especially tight or anything and it seemed a pretty straightforward call. He had KK and I dropped to 2k. Couple of hands later in my BB. I had A9o and the button raised, small blind called, I shoved. Button iso-raised and he had A6. River was a 6.
Tournament 2 went far better. The first action I had was when I raised UTG with AQo, and was immediately 3bet by UTG+1. Everyone else folded and I did as well after some thinking. He flips up QQ and I pat myself on the back. I was then moved table and remained fairly quiet, but the QQ guy moved with me. I got my chips off him with added interest when I defended my BB from his MP raise with 75hh and turned the nut straight. I did make a mistake on the river though. I check called the flop and turn was check check. I checked river when I should have bet and he checked back, but he had been fairly happy to bet-check-bet most of the hands he'd been to showdown with (a lot considering we'd only been playing for 45 mins).
Fairly shortly after that a huge hand occurred. At 50/100 I raised to 300 w/ JJ in MP and got a call from a relatively tight lady in the BB. The flop came JsQsAc. She checked and I bet 550, which she promptly raised to 1600. I thought for a while about the best way to proceed with the hand and decided just to call. The turn was an offsuit 8 which theoretically shouldn't change anything and again she checked to me. I bet 2150 and she tank shoved. This really threw me a bit. I'd discounted AA/QQ/AK from her range as I thought she would have 3bet me pre. So either she has two pair or some kind of weird combo draw or something? I was a bit confused and had almost talked myself into thinking she had KT, but even if she did I wasn't dead so I called and she showed AK. River blanked and I doubled to about 19k. After I laid fairly low. I had become quite friendly with the only other good player at the table in the previous tournament (incidentally he was the one who knocked me out of that) and we shared notes and impressions of our table. We were opposite ends of the table so it was a pretty good spot for us.
After that I chipped up with a few hands. I raised A9o from the h/j 7 handed and got a call from the Harry Hill lookalike fish. Flop came 9QK all spades, and I had the ace of spades. He min bets every street and the Js comes on the river. I raise his bet to like 2k which was more than the pot and he called with 64ss. After that not too much happened and I again moved table when we got down to 18. At my new tables I didn't play a hand for 3 orbits or so as I was being dealt trash, but it also allowed me to get some reads on the guys at my table. Soon enough we got 6 handed at our table, by which time the blinds are 400/800. A few times one or two guys limped into my big blind and I managed to squeeze them out to gain like 2k a time. Eventually two of limpers called my me when I squeezed for the 4th time or so. QQ guy who has followed me yet again limps for 800 as does the small blind. I think I made it about 2.8k to go with 55 and they both called. Flop came 27Q rainbow and after the small blind checked I fired out for 5.5k and they both folded. Also during this period I managed to dodge a shorter stack's AA with KQo. It folded to me in the small blind and I limped it. He hadn't been terribly active and shipped it in for 12k. I think at this point I had 28k or thereabouts and I folded as he just seemed quite strong. He asked me what I had and said "nice dodge" or something. I was like "yeah obv you have aces, that's what they all say" until he flipped them over.
Lastly at this table, I broke the bubble. I still have about 28k and this horrible man opposite me who had been quite nasty and unpleasant raised to 4.2k at 600/1200 from UTG. I looked down at AKhh and shipped it in from the h/j. (AA guy) Button seems rather unhappy and tank folds. Everyone else folds and it comes back to the nasty man. He tries to stare me down and gets a blank stare back. He then asks me if I want a call. I say I don't really mind what he does. He tank calls with QQ. Board comes 5hJhAdTh2c and I move to the final table as the chip leader with about 45k (there are exactly 200k chips in play) though not before receiving a lecture on how badly I played the hand. After checking out everyone else's stacks it became apparent that the guy in 2nd place was to my direct left. It didn't stop me raising 3 hands in a row with 43cc, JJ, and A9o before getting a walk in the big blind. I stayed active for a couple of orbits receiving a couple more walks, and during this time we lost one.
A little while later it folded to me on the button and I had JTo. I made a raise to 4k (blinds 800/1.6k/100) and the small blind called. This was the first time one of my raises had been called so I didn't think he would be messing about. The flop comes JT7 with two spades. He insta shoves and I obv snap called. He shows KQo and so he's not in great shape as he doesn't have his overs to pair unless he makes some kind of unlikely better two pair. Before the flop is dealt I asked for a count on his stack. It turns out he has 35k. I started the hand with 55k and so if my hand holds I will have 45% of the chips in play 9 handed. Turn is the 6s which isn't great as he has the Ks. River was a dreaded ace. In the next couple of orbits I shoved 5 times or so as people just didn't want to call without huge pairs. Eventually I get AQ in my BB and a guy shoves for about 20k. Again seems like a pretty standard call as the blinds are 1000/2000/200. He had KK and I didn't bink. Little after that I shoved 97cc and was called by the BB with JT. Neither of us improved and I busted in a very disappointing 7th. I've talked about having bad luck at final tables before, and for a while I really thought this one was going to be different.