Back on the board finally!

I finally managed to cash in a MTT tonight after quite awhile without much of anything. I guess I haven't been playing a ton of them, but even when I did, I just was either not focused and made a dumb play that cost me, or I just took some ridiculous beat that put me out or crippled me. Today went much better though.

Played a normal $20 MTT on GamingClub tonight. 47 total entries, and only 5 spots paid.

Payouts looked something like
1st. $375
2nd. $225
3rd. $150
4th. $110
5th. $75

Well, I got started off well, when I had 10-10 and called a button raise. Flop was 848 and I check raised the preflop raiser and he folded and got a few hundred off the bat. Managed to stay in the top 15 or so for the rest of the tourney. Unfortunately never hit any real big hands and got a lead or anything. Actually by the time we were near the final table, I was one of the short stacks. But being the short stack wasn't as bad as it appeared. Only compared to others. Because I still had enough chips to play a bit without too much danger. Something like 4k in chips with blinds at 100/200. Pretty good for one of the short stacks.

Well I made the final table without a ton of risk. Although I definitely added in some of my new tactics learned from "Harrington On Hold'Em vol. 2". Which was a great book. Maybe I'll make another post about the book. But here's an example of what I mean. As the short stack, I had about 10 rounds I could play without going broke. But once you get to 5 or less you need to start pushing and stealing blinds or doubling up... depending if you get called. The key for me was doing it with as good a hand as I could find, and against opponents who could be hurt if they lost a showdown with my stack. So I never got called. Which is exactly what you want. It kept me alive long enough to double up at the final table.

From that point on I just stuck around, hoping others would bust out, cause only 5 get paid. But when I had a good hand, I pushed it super hard. I figured I either had to double up or steal the blinds. No giving chances for anyone to hit a good flop against me. Well it worked, I stole enough to build slowly, then people started busting out. Finally got into the top 5 and it was all gravy from there on. Well, I felt much more comfortable shorthanded. I could get a good feel for the players and adjust accordingly. All of them were quite good actually. Which surprisingly helped. Because I knew some of my steals would work better. Not that I needed to steal a ton, but once we got down to 4 handed it became more important. Although I really didn't do it with any bad cards. I usually got something decent enough once every round or two to keep my head above water. Then I managed to bust the 4th place player and took the chip lead. Which was pretty amazing, because I was the shortstack the whole time 4 handed. So from that point on I just leaned on people enough to keep my stack healthy, but was not calling any all-ins with mediocre cards. I had a good stack and I'm not giving it up unless I have a real good hand to risk it with.

Finally got heads-up and I had about a 2-1 chip disadvantage. Plus the other player was pretty good. 3 handed he was real close to busting and doubled up and went on a tear to get the lead. Well, he wouldn't let me double up when I did hit anything, which is exactly the way I would play with a lead. So finally I hit middle pair, and I was trying to trap, because I figured I was ahead since he limped in on the button. Well, we came alive on the turn, getting all-in. And it turns out he was slowplaying top pair against me too, and he hit a straight on the river just incase.

So I took 2nd. Which I'm happy with. Because as you know, it's been awhile since I had any cash at all. But to get 2nd was very nice, especially because I was the shortstack at the final table most of the time, and just stuck around and picked all the right spots. I love when it works out the way you want it to. Maybe Harrington's book re-focused me. In fact it's hard to say it didn't. Because things were much more clear and relaxed for me today. Sometimes I am antsy and anxious in tournaments. Acting like I need some huge lead to do anything. But I proved to myself again tonight that it's just not the case. Hopefully this can keep up.