Just 12 people and it was Roman's b-day so it should be a fun night. To my left was Roman, to his left was his wife, then the comedic dude whose name I don't know, then Eric, then Leti and finally, immediately to my right, a guy I did not know who was also fun. I was in fine form, keeping everyone laughing.
Everyone was limping so I limped along with them. Played a lot of hands. This is good for me and I finally figured out why. When I am in a lot of hands with people I am better at figuring out how they play. I was reading them pretty well, too. Got up to about 4K, down to about 2, back up...I was yo-yoing a lot. And having a great time, I might add. Finally there was a hand I got out of early and the two dudes whose names I did not know got involved in a HUGE hand. Guy to my right won with a stone cold bluff where he fooled his opponent into thinking he had the straight when he actually only had a pair of 5s and a busted straight draw. Of course, his opponent had represented trips Aces and only had a pair...but that was a huge hand.
Now, you would think that would get us to thinking he was a major bluffer. And at first I did. However...something clued me in and I laid down 2 or 3 hands where he would have beaten me and I think he legitimately mis-read his hand...I don't think he meant to bluff.
Meanwhile, I had pocket 7s, limped with everyone from the small blind, hit a set, took them for a ride and took down a nice pot to build back up to 3200. Blinds were 150/300. On the next hand I was the button and Roman's wife (Amanda) was in for half on the big blind. Everyone limped. I looked down at 4/7 and said, "Ah, I will just give her more chips to play with" fully intending to fold to any bet. Flop came King, 4, 7. 2 pair. Roman raised 300. I put him on King/rag. Leti raised to 600. I put her on King...something. I thought about re-raising but did not want to scare them off. Turn was a 7. I had a boat. Roman and Leti both checked...I raised 1000. They both called. River was a 4. 2 boats :-) They both checked, I went all in for 1300 more. They both called. I flipped up my doubel boat and raked the massive side pot (over 10,000). Then Amanda flipped up...the 7. She had the big boat as well, we just gave her the entire side pot.
At that point we combined to the final table. I had a slight chip lead. I played a bit conservatively, raising to 3 times the blinds with pockets, winning them, raising the next hand, winning it, raising and losing the next one, then sitting out a few hands. I took out Amanda. 7 left.
The dude now 2 spots to my left was quite annoying. And wild. With blinds of 4 and 800 I raised to 2400 with A/Q. Everyone folded except him in the big blind. He called. Flop came out 9 high. He raised 2000. I did not believe he had hit and called. He had a pattern of position betting and betting when it seemed unlikely nobody else had hit, even if he himself hadn't. That fed my belief. Turn was a blank. He went all in. I might have him covered...it would be close...but basically I would be calling with Ace High. I thought he might have a small piece...maybe A/9? Maybe nothing, but certainly no better than a pair. I probably would have outs. I thought about it a long time but folded. In his typical jerk-off fashion he flung his cards wildly across the table (he was so careless with his folds that he once "folded" the discard pile onto Eric's live cards in a HUGE pot that, we being friendly, we let Eric get his cards and eventually split the pot; several other times his flung cards escaped the table or landed on other people's cards.) and I saw he had the 8/9 off-suit...so yeah, he had me beat. Tough fold and one that hurt financially...I was down to about 6K after having been the chip lead.
"That'll stop the 2400s" he said. "Sure will," I replied, "Now it is pretty much all in or fold."
Next hand under the gun I picked up K/Q. 6 handed that is pretty strong. I went all-in.They folded around to Eric who called. "Good call" said jerk-boy, "he is steaming. Here comes the 2/7." I laughed and so did Leti and Roman. "Doesn't know me too well, does he?" I asked in general.
Uh-oh...Eric had A/K. I had him covered by about 3K but it was looking grim...until the flop came K/Q/rag. Turn was a Queen and Eric was gone and I was healthy.
A couple hands later got involved with the joik. He was small blind, I was big, he just completed the bet and I checked. Flop paired my 5. He raised. I called. Something about his raise...no. Something not right. Turn paired the board. River was a blank. We had both checked the turn and he raised the river. I went into the tank. I had 2 pair, King kicker. Finally I called him...and he had a pair of 4s. I had him. He could not believe I had called him with just 5s but I had the correct read.
Gave up a couple hands to all-in raises by the guy to Roman's left, got down to about 5K. Roman was lower but survived 4 all-ins to become chip lead. I stold a few blinds with all-in raises, got to about 10. Leti went out. down to 4 of us.
At one point they folded to me in the small blind, I completed and Roman checked. Flop brought 2 3s. We both checked. I felt like I could take the pot down with a bet, but hesitated. Turn was a 3. He was done with the hand but again I did not raise. River was...wait for it...a 3. The board gave us quads...and the ten on the board was higher than the 8 in my hand (I had 8/5 suited). But his queen was higher yet so I lost a hand where I had quads....
Jerk-boy was down to about 2500. I got it all in with him and put him out. Down to 3.
Finally Roman folded, quiet guy raised to 6000, I had the cowboys, raised all-in, he called, I had him covered. He had A/10 of spades. No Ace came and he was gone...it was Roman and I heads up. Woo-hoo!
By this time I had a dominating chip lead and basically ground away at Roman, raising 2K every time he checked until finally I took it down when I paired Aces.
I won! Woo-hoo!
And basically it had to do with the 2 hands where I got huge chunks with sub-par hands (pocket 7s, 4/7) and hit the flop hard. That gave me the chips to be a threat at the final table, take a couple hits without being out of it. Playing more hands was also key in helping me make solid, solid reads all night. I called a lot of hands correctly. I missed a few, but I did not miss any important ones. For example, on one hand I had J/10. Board came K/J/Q. Roman checked, I raised. Roman called. Turn was a blank. I raised. He called. River was a King, he checked, and I checked behind him. "Why did you check?" he asked. "Because I can't beat your kings" I replied and sure enough, he had trip Kings. That would have hurt had I raised. So I got away with a few, got lucky against Eric, and went home happy.
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