Well, I had the honor or playing three mentionable hands today, resulting in a slightly quicker exit than in my previous four tournaments thus far.  The first hand developed when it folded around to me in the small blind and I raised a J,9 to 175.  The big blind quickly called and the flop came Qd,8h,5d.  I bet my gutshot 250 and my opponent quickly called again.  The turn brought the Qh.  I decided that I thought my opponent most likely held either an 8 or a 5 because I thought he’d raise me on the flop with a flush draw (and possibly a queen).  Therefore, since a J,T, and 9 are likely outs if I got called I decided to double barrel with a bet of 650.  My opponent called without much thought.  The river was a 3d.  I thought about giving up on the pot, but I really thought it was very unlikely that he had the flush or the trip queens because I would think that he would try to protect/push me out of the hand before the river with both of those hands, so I decided it was time for the triple barrel, even though it was still early in the tournament.  I did this for several reasons: first, I thought he would now have to fold anything other than trips, a boat, or a flush.  Second, I was pretty certain that I didn’t think he had one of those hands.  Third, I didn’t want to check and give him the pot with a mediocre hand because that would build his confidence and momentum starting the day and he’d have position on me the rest of the day.  Forth, I decided that even if I was wrong it would still be okay because it would give me a great table image to get paid off with for a while.  Therefore, I decided to throw out 1,650 and was insta-called by a Q,T.

 

Oh well, no biggie, I still have 7,000.

 

Later I raised second position with 3,3 and got called by the big blind.  I felt I had a strong read on this particular opponent, even this early.  The flop came K,Q,5 and I threw out 250.  He called after a think and the turn was a 6.  He checked and I still had him as weak, so I decided to throw out 525 and he folded.

 

A round later I raised under the gun with 7s,6s and was called by both the button and the big blind.  The flop was Jd,7c,6d.  I fired 525, the button folded and the big blind quickly raised to 1275.  At this point I decided that he likely had a big draw because I thought it was unlikely that he would flat call my preflop raise with J,7 or J,6 or J,J.  There’s a slight possibility that he called me with 7,7 or 6,6, but I think I’d just have to chalk that up to a cooler if that turned out to be the case.  I ruled out a jack trying to find out where he’s at because my opponent was out of position and he could easily be called by many hands that don’t necessarily have him beat, thus he’d gain no information with a raise.  I thought he was most likely to hold a flush draw and a pair, a flush draw and a straight draw, or a flush draw and an over card.  I thought a naked flush draw would likely either raise me bigger or flat call and play the hand slower.  After making my read I looked at chip stacks and thought the correct play was to flat call and either raise him all-in on the turn or price him out if he checked it to me.  I called and the turn was the Qs.  Perfect card.  A card in the 8 through T range would be a little worrisome because he could easily hit a higher two pair or his straight.  This, however was the perfect card because, as I noted earlier I didn’t think he’d raise me that small on the flop with a hand like J,Q.  He bet 1,800 and I had an easy decision– move all-in.  My raise was 4,200 more and there was 4,825 in the pot.  Therefore, he’s getting a little over 2:1 to call, which is great because he either has to make a bad call or a good fold and I win a nice sized pot.  It turns out he called the 4,200 with Ad,Kd.  Wow, I didn’t put him on that strong of a hand because he didn’t squeeze preflop, but nonetheless, he still only has 11 outs (or 22% chance to win).  Unfortunately, the river brought the 9d, sending me packing after only a few rounds.  Oh well, I felt great about the few hands I did play and I’m feeling really confident for my next tournament. Off to the pool! Paul