Play a Tournament With Me

Bellagio in Las Vegas has been holding no-limit hold'em tournaments at 5 p.m. every Friday for more than a year now. On a recent Friday, I won a satellite for this tournament and entered it for the first time. When we were down to three players in the satellite, I was the short stack. I had only $1,000 in chips and the other two players had about $7,000 each. The blinds were $100-$200. The other two players were playing very conservatively, waiting for me to bust out. In these satellites, the last two players each win a $540 seat in the tournament plus $30 cash. All they had to do was wait for me to get blinded out and they would win seats. However, I would not go away. My plan was: Attack! Attack! Attack! Practically every chance I got, I raised all in. They didn't call any of these raises until the last hand. I had built my chips up to $3,200 and was in the big blind with pocket kings. One of the players raised to $800, so I reraised all in. He folded. After several more rounds, I became the chip leader with $7,000. On the final hand, the blinds had just increased to $500-$1,000. We each had $5,000 in chips and I was on the button. I went all in with J-10 and the small blind called me with A-Q. A jack came on the flop, and a 10 on the river, so I won a seat in the tournament along with the remaining player.

About 10 minutes into the tournament, I played my first hand. The blinds were $25-$50, and I raised to $150 from under the gun with pocket tens. Everyone folded except the button, who reraised to $425. I called, and was pleasantly surprised when I saw the flop (10-3-3). I had flopped a full house, and checked. The button, with pocket aces, bet $700. I immediately shoved my chips all in ($2,000). He called without hesitation, and I doubled up.

After a while, I was moved to another table. The blinds were $50-$100, and I was in the big blind with A-K and $4,000 in chips. A player in late position raised it to $600, and the button reraised all in to $1,600. I called, and the original raiser called with just an additional $600. The original raiser had A-6, and the reraiser had pocket tens. An ace came on the flop, so I busted both of them. We started with 42 players at 5 p.m. and were down to the final table (10 players) at 8 p.m.

I was seated to the immediate left of the chip leader ($17,000). At that point, I had $7,000. The blinds were $100-$200 when the chip leader on my right raised it to $800 from late position. I went all in from the button with pocket nines. The blinds folded, and he called with A-K. The board came all low cards, so now I was the chip leader with $15,000.

We played 10-handed for an hour before a player was eliminated. With the blinds at $200-$400, I raised from late position to $1,200 with pocket kings. The button reraised to $3,000 with pocket jacks. The blinds folded, so I went all in. She called with her remaining $3,000. She received no help from the board, so I busted her out.

The player on my right kept raising from late position. On numerous occasions I made big reraises, and he always folded. On most of these occasions, I always seemed to have A-K or A-Q. When we were down to seven players, we played for more than two hours before a player was eliminated. We all stated that we had never seen that happen before.

When we were down to six players, a player received a 20-minute penalty for reraising me and exposing his hand before I called. When he returned after the penalty time, I was in the big blind with pocket aces. At that time I had almost half the chips on the table ($40,000 out of $82,000). He went all in ($2,800) with pocket deuces. Everyone else folded, and I of course called with my aces. All the other players were pulling for me, because once this player was eliminated, we were in the money (five places). He caught a deuce on the river, which gave him three deuces, and we all screamed in horror. However, he was eliminated a few hands later by another player.

With four players left, the blinds were $1,000-$2,000 and I raised to $5,000. The button reraised all in to $8,000. The big blind called, and I called. The reraiser had pocket kings, the big blind A-Q, and my hand was J-10. The flop came K-Q-9 (two clubs). I had flopped the nuts, a straight. The big blind went all in with his remaining chips (about $7,000). I called, of course, and the board paired nines on the turn. The reraiser had made a full house, but I won the side pot and busted out the big blind with my straight. We played a few more hands, and then we made a deal. I had $47,000 in chips, second place had $22,000, and third place had $13,000. It was certainly nice to be the winner the first time that I played this tournament. Good luck at your next tournament.