Another close finish!

So far this year I have been running stone cold in both online and the Pond. After the Oceania Snooker Championship, I rushed back to Melbourne to play in the Sook Deepstack series. There were 2 tournaments I want to play, unfortunately I can managed to play in one of them. In the team event, the Master decided to be stingy and kept all his poker secret to himself. All of the sudden Superman can't play on that night, so I were left alone. In the next day (Monday night), Superman decided to play in the terminator, hopefully going 1 place better than last time. As usual, I had 1/3 of him. This time he played like a spastic and busted out after the first break.

Tuesday night was my turn. $220 PLO, double chance with 10k stack in total. Due to the fact after Sydney, I am cash strapped, as well as running cold. I decided to sell the Master 30% of my stake. Blinds start off 25/50, and I cashed in my re-buy card. In PLO, you need a stack. In position, I can control the pot, use my stack and play 4 fold poker. Small field, with only 101 players. Final table pays. In the first 2 levels, I managed to build my stack from 10k up to like 17k, without much showdown. Just before the first break on the button I got 2345. Blinds were 50/100, I called. Flop K 2 5. All checked to me and I bet $600. UTG checked raised to $1800. All folded and I called with my bottom 2 + open ended. Turn blanked. UTG fired $2400, I put him on either top 2 or a set. I got outs and called. River 4, stucked with bottom 3 pairs. He value bet $3k and I mucked instantly. So on the break, I had like 13k in chips.

After the break, blinds 75/150, I dealt 9 10 J Q UTG. I mini-raise to $300, got 3 callers. Flop 7 8 Q with 2 clubs, I had no clubs in my hand. I decided to bet pot and see whats going on. Flush draw won't go away, and any set or 2 pair will either shove or all. No the guy next to me, shoved all-in for $4k+. All fold, easy call for me. He turned over 2 pair. Turn nothing and river 10. Stack close to $20k.

Making a lot of small bets here and there in position. Won a lot of small pots on the flop uncontested. Then I managed to bust a guy with medium stack in BB. Limp pot in BB got 3 4 7 K. I checked my option, flop 2 5 6 with 2 spades. I flopped with nut with higher straight draw but no flush draw. With like $1400 in the middle, I bet $900 and see whats going on. All folded to the CO and he mini-raised to $1800. All folded to me, I had 3 things in mind. Either he had a set, or flush draw or 34. Instead of jamming the pot, I asked him how much he had behind. He had like 9k+. So I mini-raised him to $3300. Hes not shoving without the nuts straight. Now he jammed, and I shoved instantly. He turned over A 3 4 6, with no spades. Turn gave me a diamond draw and river 3. I won with a higher straight. Now stack close to $35k.

I slowly built up my stack close to 40k and took a minor hit. First in UTG + 2, I dealt 7733. Blinds 150/300. Instead of limping, I decided to raise to $750. Standard 2 and a 1/2 BB. These small pairs play badly OOP and against a lot of limpers. Either I won't have top set, or I there will be a lot of draws out there with 7 on the board. I try to mini the field, and now only both blinds called. Flop 5 7 10 with 2 spades. Flop middle set and most likely in front. With a lot of draw out there, pot control is the key. The last thing I want will be a race. Need to use my position to my advantage. All checked to me and I bet $1200 on the flop. Both blinds called. Turn another 10. Now both blinds checked once again. I bet $3k. This time only SB called. River J with no spade. SB checked for the third time. I was thinking either he missed all his draws or he was trapping. I decided to check. I showed 77, but he had 10 5. Lost min in there.

I have gone quiet in the next level. stack about $30k. Now blinds 500/1000. CO raised to $3k, in BB I dealt AQ108. Flop 8 9 J with 2 hearts, but I had the Ah only. I checked my nut straight expect him to bet. Now he bet $6k. With 25k behind me, time to roll. I shoved and he folded. Then made a huge bluff against the same guy with A 10 10 8. I raised to $2500 pre flop. Flop Q 3 3 , I bet $5k and he called. Turn 5 went check/check. River 7. I tossed in $10k and he mucked.

Now blinds $1k/$2k. Dealt A 2 2 6 with As 2s. In the CO I raised to $5k, only the BB called. Flop A K 5. I bet $7k on the flop and he called. Turn 2, went check/check. River 8. BB tossed in $15k. I knew he had no Ace. Hes a tight NLH player, try to shove his stack in with any AK, AQ, and bet the flop with any Ace. The way the hand played out, he had no A. Only worry he might fluke some kind of 2 pair. But since a tight player won't bet river with middle 2 pairs, so i assumed he either slow-playing a set or miss draw. I called and he had 8 10 J Q. I won a good size pot with 1 pair A with no kicker.

Now blinds $2k/$4k, many short stack are in all-in mode. I have like $75k in front of me. Lost 3 hands, double up mushroom in the process, but managed to win it bck thru aggression pre-flop. Then this hand came up. Had AKQ8 with Qs8s in BB. All folded to SB, and he raised to $12k. I called. Flop Ah 5s 7s. I got AK with Q high flush draw. He checked to me, and I bet $15k, he called. Turn another 7. He checked and I bet $22k, leaving $24k behind, and now he shoved, had me covered. I made a very tight fold, figuring it definitely a cooler. AK with higher flush draw, or AA or A 7 all within his range. Stack $24k.

Didn't play a hand in the next round, now stack $19k. Dealt KKJ9 ds. I shoved it preflop and got 2 callers. Flop K x x with 2 hearts. Turn another hearts. River paired the board and I triple up with Kings full. Stack back to $50K.

Things start turning around, I stole a couple set of blinds, and limp in position, bet with nothing on the flop and took it down. Then had 5 7 9 J in SB. Blinds 3k/6k. MP limp, I called. Flop 2 6 8, I checked my straight wrap, and MP bet $10k, I called. BB folded. Turn 4, I check once again, and mow he bet $25k, I shoved and he folded. Now over $110k in chips. I kept my aggression pre-flop against several players in BB whom just want to make the bubble. Then against bigger stack in BB, I simply limp and play flops with them. Now 10 players left, I were about 2nd in chips. Stack about $150k. In the CO, I dealt JJ 10 5 ds. With blinds 4k/8k, I raised to $20k pre-flop. Button called and blinds fold. Button had like $130k+ and 3rd in chips. Flop J 7 2 rainbow. Seriously I didn't want to play any pot against him OOP. Too many easy money out there, no point risking it right now. I flop top set, and no obviously draw out there. I bet the pot, and try to end it right there. Now he re-raised me all-in and I snap called. He had 8 9 10 Q for an inside wrap, but I had 1 blocker. So 8 outs for him but I had re-draw to boat. Turn x river another 7 and I won a monster pot. Now stack over $300k.

Also in the final table was the guy who defeat Superman in last year Sook terminator, as Superman finished 2nd. Blinds 5k/10k. This time he shoved all-in pre-flop for $34k, all folded to me and I snap call with J Q 10 3. He had something like A 6 8 8. He hit the 8 on the flop and I hit the 3. Turn blank and river another 3. So I seek some revenge for Superman. I also bust out another guy who look a bit like Van Marcus. He is a tough player. He shoved with QQKx and I called with AKxx. Flop AA 6 and he left with 2 outs. With 6 players remaining, I left great. All the major threats were gone and with a massive chip lead, I felt I can win it all.

Now things start getting more interesting. Blinds 10k/20k and playing 5 handed. Called a raised in BB for $70k with 4567. Flop A K 10. Folded instantly, as he showed AA. I sort of maintaining my stack about $250k. Now blinds 15k/30k. Lost $100k to him with KJJ5 ds. I were in BB, and he open shoved with A 10 77 ds. You gotta love those idiots try to shove all-in pre-flop in PLO. I have seen him survived 5 times already with his mushroom stack and he never died. This time I called, figuring he might be on a steal. I took my time and made the call. You gotta love the speech he gave me when we turned our cards over.

" Oh! I have an Ace, but you don't!"
"Oh! I had you covered in clubs "
"Oh! My hand is double sthooted!"
"You had a pair of Jacks, why you take so long for calling?"

Shut the fuck up! Are we playing in FullRig while they play 10 Aces with 20 cards of the same suite? What are JJ beating in PLO? None of my flush outs were nuts. I would be a flip with AK10, I would be massive dog if he had higher pair with higher flush draw. I also a dog if he had AKQ. Please do us yourself a huge favor. Please shut up and stop insulting your own intelligent. I didn't do much but just humbly replied, " I am still learning the game. You must be good making this far to the final table, surviving 5 all-ins in the process!" He hit 7 on the flop and held up.

Then in SB, with blinds 40k/ 80k, I shoved with AK95, putting the old fart all-in, and he called with A Q 9 7. Flop 8 10 3, turn 4, river J. Not much pre-flop, slight dog on the flop even I were in front. 60/40 fav on the turn but river sucks! In the next hand I just shoved with 7 8 9 Q ds with my mushroom stack, and lost! So I finished 3rd, for something less than $3k. Right now my record in any kind of Omaha tournament at the Pond stands at:

Played: 8
Cashed: 5 times
Final table: 3 times
Best finished: 3rd

I played brilliant last night. I felt comfortable. My read was good. Somehow, once again you can't beat a lucktard in any sort of poker. I shipped the Master's share this morning. At the same time I know why the Master is by far more superior than me. At the Pond, fishes will ship their money into your stack, but the Master do it in the next level. All the fish will still ship their money towards to the Master, but the Master no need to be at the table. He can do it in his comfort at his own home. Sleeping middle of the night and still achieve financial enlightenment. Clearing all the debts along with gaining new poker mojos, while without putting a cent in, is certainly the way to go. Now I know apart from crafting a meta-game, there are still a lot more to learn from him! Hoefully one day he can help me creating a Masterpiece!