I ran quite deep in a live tourney, and a bunch of TPE boys had share in me so I'm writing a report on it for them+anyone who is interested.
got to the casino abut 1 1/2 hours before the start thanks to me being a cheapo and getting flights on the day. Walked round the pokies to remind myself why casinos can be so depressing. I had a pretty weak loose/tight table. with 2 pretty obviously competent players, both clearly knew each other and were openly talking about markup and whether or not buying a piece of a friend was worth it. other players at the table said a few phrases each that made me determine that none of them were going to give me any trouble. Met a really nice guy named Aaron, who after a casual discussion about which energy drinks were best proceeded to send me about 5 drinks throughout the day, even after table changes and out right refused to let me buy him one in return.
the competent players are on my direct right (Good Reg 2) and about 4 seats to my right (Good Reg 1). GR1 has already doubled up via flatting a min 3bet, flopping a pair +gutter, getting there on turn, and r/c the effective nuts v an overpair that is dead. he has also shown down that he is isoing as wide as 67s v EP limps.
im on the button and there is a habitual limper at 25/50 we are 15k eff, GR1 isolated him to 225, random fish flats and i look down at K10o on the button, I decide this is going to be a hard hand to flat profitably and probably a good bluff candidate given its blocker/high card and slightly connected value. I 3bet to 625 and the SB cold calls, and GR1 think for a bit and calls, and the other flatter folds.
we see a flop 3 way and it is K67r, given SB range i think its entirely possible that KJ/KQs/AK are all in her range (she is a 35 yo polynesian woman, pretty clearly been playing multiple events from the convos at table), and I think that GR1 seems aggressive enough to try blow me off some SDV with a decent frequency and I'm WA/WB a bit. so when checked to me I check back. Turn is a 2 (4 suit board), SB checks and looks very disinterested, GR1 bets 850 into around 1900, I think for a second and call. river is a 9, GR1 quickly bets 3300 into 3600. I think it through and find it hard to find value hands that bet that big given my weak percieved range of QQ/JJ, hands like 67s/87s/22/77/66 are all entirely possible, but seem unlikely given his sizing. I decide to call and he shows AQs and is surprised/annoyed that I 3bet him light and won a reasonable pot off of him.
At this point GR2 and GR1 probably change my tag from random quiet guy to vaguely competent.
Im up to 18k at 25/50.
Shortly after our table gets broken and we move to another soft table, with 3 guys openly discussing strategy and trips to Vegas/Aussie Millions, Im a little worried I may have gotten a terrible table draw until I hear some things to make me feel better. I have direct position on GR2, and a new player OKR is on his right. Iv been playing pretty snug until im in the SB, folds to OKR who opens, to 325 at 75/150 (I still have around 18k and have both players covered but still around 90-100bb eff), GR2 3bets him to 850, and I cold 4bet to 1725 with K6dd. OKR folds, GR2 calls, flop is 226ss and i cbet 1600 and take it down.
next hand of note is shortly after im down to 18k without showdown after opening pots and either Cbet/giving up or c/f, I have 3bet GR2 about 4 times now and have flatted a number of his opens, He opens from the CO to 800 at 200/400 (18k eff), I 3bet to 2000 (Iv been sizing up since he constantly flats me) with AK, he immediately 4bets to 6k, I think its less likely that he has the top of his range given his sizing and expect him to have air with some freq, however I think flatting becomes incredibly tough given the SPR it creates. I 5bet jam, he calls and flips KK. Ace in the window for a big double up, I think I ran into it, he seems to think i played it awful.
Few hands later I have KJs in Mp facing an unknown open from someone i have seen play many hands,he probably has may 13k behind at 200/400 and he opens to 1000. I flat, everyone else folds. He cbets 1200 on a J47r board (I have BDFD), I call and he doubles a completely blank turn very quickly, I fold.
I open AQo from UTG, at the 300/600 level for 1250, UTG+2 who has previously limp/folded UTG with his 16bb stack (now down to 14.5bb) shoves on me, folds back to me and I think about it and fold. He shows JJ and proclaims its only a shove cause he is so short, which makes me happy with the fold if thats the bottom of his range.
Table breaks and im moved to another table, at this point antes are starting to kick in, they go up every 3 levels, so for the first of the 3 levels they make up a substantially bigger preflop pot. we are at 500/1000 and the ante kicks in, I have a pretty soft table with direct position on a (i want to say greek) middle aged man who smells kinda bad. There is also a bad reg on the opposite end of the table, and a few whales aswell. No really interesting hands except I opened and cbet and 3bet my stack up to 70k extremely quickly, notable lols included a guy showing AQ when i 3bet him BU v SB and convincing him i had AK. I found 'reading poker tells' by Zachary Elwood pretty useful in that I could open from EP with reckless disregard since all bar 1 person looked at their cards before action reached them, so i opened alot of trash and got through and folded AJ pre from MP when “Spazz Fish” literally started staring at everyones stacks and looked way more interested, he showed down QQ.
after this I lose a few pots, and open AK only to have to give up or fold post. A new old woman who is scared shitless is moved into the BB with 11bb at 700/1400 so i shove from the SB with ATC, she tanks for an age and calls with KQo and my 35o doesnt get there. I open JJ a few hands later from UTG and get 3bet by the Bad Reg who is about 35bb eff, he initially misses my open and makes his sizing smaller than a legal bet, but dealer lets him take it back and resize it. i flat his small 3bet and he over shoves a 10/7/6 board. I fold and he shows KK.
At this point im down to about 32k at 700/1400 100. I open to 3k from the button with QJdd SPAZZ fish from earlier 3bets me to 7k, he has showndown A8/A9 in 3bet pots. I call, flop comes AsKd7d, he cbets about 10k into 16k and I jam on him. he tanks for about 7 minutes and folds, I show my hand, everyone thinks im nuts and doesnt want to play hands with me. I get a few more opens through to get to the final table with 66k.
Final table the get the worlds worst table draw, on my direct left is GR1 who has a massive chip lead after winning a 4 way all in for heap and heaps of chips. blinds are at 1000/2000, i have about 80k I open AA from the HJ and GR1 3bets me to 8800, i 4bet him to 21k he flats. I cbet a 10109ss board to 20k into 50k, he calls and i jam a 2r turn and he folds. chipping me up substantially, he keeps putting people to the test for heaps of chips.
Everyone bar me and GR1 want to put 100 in each for the bubble boy, He says he isnt interested, I say the same a bit more politely. thankfully he disagrees first so i just say me too and everyone is far angrier with him than.
3 hands later the 2nd chip leader opens to 5k from MP, he is old and a nice guy so probably wont give me a hell of alot of resistance, I 3bet him with A3o from the button to 13k. he flats, I cbet a 762board to 14k, he flats. turn is a 5 and i check back pretty much giving up and assuming he has an overpair close to 100%. river is an Ace, he bets 16k, I call and he shows KK and everyone thinks im even crazier.
I then 3bet 99 v a Co opener with 12bb trying to get it in, (he was the Bad reg mentioned earlier and i was pretty confident he wasnt slowplaying. he tank called and tank donk shoved a 237 board, I snapped and he showed 55. turn was a 6 giving him 4 more outs but i faded the river to make him the bubble boy.
Iv got work now but Ill write up the ITM action when i get back, i probably played a bunch of hands badly so any input would be appreciated.