Freeroll Win #11 - The Big One

Christmas comes early

The focus this weekend was gonna be the BPT Event #7. I got myself all psyched... well rested... when I get an e-mail from raketherake.com. Since I had joined ukbetting last month under RTR, I qualify for their private £2,500 freeroll which starts 1.5hrs before the BPT event. Perfect... a prep freeroll.

There were only 23 entrants, and the top three paid out: £1250, £750, and £500. So this was more like a 3-table SnG and not so much a MTT.

Key Hands

41. With AQo, I donkey call all-in to the big stack's 3xBB raise preflop. He has 88, I flop the Q and double up. Now with T2830, I'm the early chip leader.

72. Win T675 when I reraised a EP 3XBB raise with rockets and take the pot preflop, I showed.

9 hands later, we're at the final table of 10. My nickname at UKB is hupone and I'm sitting pretty comfortable in 4th place.

Seat 1: ukcoco (3890 in chips)
Seat 2: BOOOO (395 in chips)
Seat 3: Insomnia (3350 in chips)
Seat 4: Latios (1805 in chips)
Seat 5: inner (3270 in chips)
Seat 6: MrMagoo (590 in chips)
Seat 7: hupone (3130 in chips)
Seat 8: morejack (2640 in chips)
Seat 9: julia88 (1560 in chips)
Seat 10: GrimTim (2370 in chips)

I don't see a flop for 24 hands... couldn't steal or even defend my blinds. My best play was laying off playing KQo MP when an EP bet 4xBB with 77 to be called all-in by the button's rockets; there was even a K on the flop.

I was then able to hold my own and take 5 sets of blinds over the next 27 hands all with preflop raises. So after hand 123, with the blinds at 150/300, I was barely in third with 5 left:

Seat 1: ukcoco (6850 in chips)
Seat 5: inner (2000 in chips)
Seat 7: hupone (2630 in chips)
Seat 8: morejack (9470 in chips)
Seat 9: julia88 (2050 in chips)

Lucky for us three short stacks, the two big stacks were not aggressive enough. (I guess the huge jump from nothing to £500 for third place kept everyone honest)

126. My second lucky hand of the tourny. The table folds to me in the SB. The chip leader is the BB. So holding Q5o, I push like a donkey. With hindsight, I should remember that I've donked out multiple times doing this move. Consider what a big stack would call me with? Obviously with a made or very strong hand. I do get called by pocket 4s. I catch my 6-outer 5 on the flop and even the Q on the river and I double up to a more solid 3rd place.

By hand 144, eighteen hands later, I was only able to take the blinds twice more. We're now down to 4 but I'm the short stack.

Seat 1: ukcoco (7175 in chips)
Seat 7: hupone (2485 in chips)
Seat 8: morejack (10365 in chips)
Seat 9: julia88 (2975 in chips)

It's also 1.5hrs into the tourny and my computer screens start to fill up. Both the BPT Event#7 and bet365's weekly 5K freerolls start!

152. With the blinds 300/600 ante 75, I'm down to T1460, one orbit's worth of chips. Next lowest stack has T2550 so a whole orbit of safety ahead of me. I'm in the SB with AJs and min raise, keeping T185 in reserve (haha). The big stacked BB easily calls for 600 and the flop is a dangerous JT9. BB calls my TPTK push with 86o... runner 4s don't make his straight and I double up back into 3rd.

153. Very next hand, UTG second stack min raises and I push with ATs. The blinds fold and UTG calls with A6s and I'm way ahead. The flop is T22 and just like that I'm in second place.

Seat 1: ukcoco (3905 in chips)
Seat 7: hupone (7190 in chips)
Seat 8: morejack (10105 in chips)
Seat 9: julia88 (1800 in chips)

On hand 157, the small stack gets knocked out and I've already guaranteed my biggest freeroll payout ever.

162. I'm in the BB with ATo. The biggest stack on the button pushes with JJ. I called and the beautiful flop is AK8. No J appears and I'm now the chip leader after the 3-outer.

Seat 1: ukcoco (4580 in chips)
Seat 7: hupone (12205 in chips)
Seat 8: morejack (6215 in chips)

I had AKs the next hand and won with just a min raise. The former chip leader is on tilt and pushes with Q7o on the following hand and gets crippled by Seat 1's pocket 4s that trip up on the flop.

165. Next hand, I finish him off with KK when he pushes his 1K stack on the button with 99. I just made another £250 and after congratulating each other, villian and I are heads up.

Seat 1: ukcoco (8710 in chips)
Seat 7: hupone (14290 in chips)

Heads up lasted 23 hands. I take the first 8 of 13 hands then this happens:

179. Hold'em NL (400/800) - 2006/12/16 - 20:16:45 (UK)

Table "1" Seat 1 is the button.
Seat 1: ukcoco (5285 in chips)
Seat 7: hupone (17715 in chips)
ukcoco: posts the ante 100
hupone: posts the ante 100
ukcoco: posts small blind 400
hupone: posts big blind 800
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to hupone [Qd Qc]
ukcoco: raises to 1600
hupone: raises to 2400
ukcoco: raises to 5185 and is all-in
hupone: calls 2785
----- FLOP ----- [8d 7c 5c]
----- TURN ----- [8d 7c 5c][9h]
----- RIVER ----- [8d 7c 5c 9h][5d]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
ukcoco: shows [5h As] (Three of a kind, Fives, Ace high)
hupone: shows [Qd Qc] (Two Pairs, Queens and Fives, Nine high)
ukcoco collected 10570 from Main pot

I get 4-outed and fall behind. Villian goes on a mini-tear and takes the next 4 hands as well... So from 3:1 up in chips and one card away from victory, I'm now 2:1 behind in chips.

Seat 1: ukcoco (15770 in chips)
Seat 7: hupone (7230 in chips)

184. In the SB with pocket 2s, I bet and get called. Flop is 642. I bet and villian pushes with J6o. Turn is a 6. He made his set but I have a boat and momentum swings back my way.

187. Penultimate hand, villian raises from the SB and I call with K5o. My dream £500 flop of K58 appears so I show weakness by making a min bet... it gets called.

Turn is the nut K.... I check... 1600 is bet, I call.

River is a safe 2... I bet 2400, raised to 4800, I call.

Villian had... unlucky rockets!

188. Since I only called the river raise in my excitement, my opponent still has T40 left. This final hand just puts an exclamation mark on the rush I was on. His AQ flops KQ9. Lucky for me, I had 99.

Voila. I win £1250. With today's exchange rate, that's US$2440.84, my biggest score to date by far.

Like a multi-table SnG, it took just 1h50mins to play.

So for the win, I risked my tourny life four times in 165 hands, not including heads up play or positional all-in steals/bets. I was behind three of those times and caught two 6-outers and one 3-outer to win and double up each time. The only time I was sucked out on was during heads up and I had over a 3:1 chip advantage.

My medium and small pocket pairs never hit a set until I catch it twice in my last 5 hands.