Grinner

This morning I lost four straight sitngoes, playing horribly and getting not a sniff of luck. But last night I won a ticket to a ten-dollar tourney by winning a three-er, so I got into a 52-man tourney.

On the first hand, I took a risk. I had limped with QJs and the button raised to 50. I called that and so did three or four others. The flop came A98 with two of my suit. It was checked to the raiser, who bet. I put him on an ace, and just pushed. I'm representing a strong hand, so I'm hoping for a fold, but if called, I have thirteen outs to beat top pair. The raiser called and showed A9. I rivered the flush, which was a cue for a ton of shit from the raiser.

But dude, I said, raising that shit so little is going to get you callers and my play on the flop is fine. The raiser didn't agree but that's his prerogative. I thought it was worth some risk to get doubled, otherwise I would never have limped QJs in the first place.

So I had a stack and then didn't pick up a hand right to the bubble. By the time we were down to 16 players, I was down to 14th place and desperate. I found ways to chip up, and survived to 11th, with ten getting paid. In one spot, I folded AKs to an allin, which is ultratight but this was my first 10er ever and I wanted to make the cash at least. Finally, the bubble burst and I doubled my stack when KQ called my push with AK and neither of us improved. I took more chips when AT was called by KT and neither helped.

I played tight, allowing the desperate players to fall by the wayside, getting more and more excited as my position improved. I got it in with a big hand and doubled again, so that I was over 20,000 and second of three. I played cagily, looking to chip up where I could, but mostly getting battered by the big stack. The other two players were keener to tangle, and one was beaten down but not out. I finished him with a push that he called light.

Heads up, I was nervous. I had a chip lead but it wasn't huge. I came out firing, and took down a decent pot, giving me a decent lead. A couple of hands later, I woke up with AT and raised. He called. The flop came 543 and I pushed, hoping to fold out a draw or worst case, get called by high cards. He called and showed K6, but he didn't help. AND I WON!!

I will win again, I hope, and I win sngs often, so I'm used to coming out on top, but this is the first time I've won an MTT. Even better, I never had to rely on luck, never going in behind. I just picked my spots and won the pots that were mine to win.