Ok, so I came into the day thinking that most of the players were going to over-value their hands, bluff a lot, and refuse to lay down.  That is exactly what happened.  Here is a run down of some of the hands throughout the day.

Starting stack:  $10,000

Levels:  1 hour

Blinds:  25/50

Not much happened in this level.  I didn’t see many hands and wanted to play fairly tight at first to see which players were making what moves.

 

Blinds:  50/100

My open was usually a 3x raise, though I like to vary it occasionally.  One pot came up where UTG woman who looked like she had no clue how to play limped.  I limped in middle position with a K,T.  The cutoff, button, and both blinds limped as well.  Flop was T, 8, 6.  Both blinds checked and the woman bet 200.  I decided to raise to 400 to get it head up between the two of us and to find out if I had the best hand.  Everyone folded to her, and she made a fairly quick call.  At this point I had her on a T,9 or J,T or Q,T.  The turn brought a beautiful Tc (putting two clubs on the board).  She now bet 500 into me.  I thought about it for a while and decided to flat call.  I could have raised here, but I didn’t want the river to bring a scare card and then have her bet huge.  I thought if I controlled the pot size I’d know where I was at throughout the whole hand.  The river was the Ac.  She bet 500 again and now I make it 1,300.  She thought for a minute or two and then called with the J,T.  I definitely could have gotten more out of her, but I also might have either lost my stack or been bluffed out of the pot had I raised on the turn and been wrong about what she had.

 

A while later I limped with K,J.  Middle position, the button, and both blinds came in as well.  Flop was Kc, Qs, 9c.  Pretty scary flop, I could very easily get raised and be put in an awkward spot if I put in a bet.  I think the best play here is to check and see what develops.  It checked around to the button, who made it 200. The small blind quickly called and I made it 750 to go.  I like making a big raise here to let people know that you have a hand, be it a big draw or two pair, set, etc.  I could be on a bluff, but this early in the tournament not many people are going to go nuts without the goods….that is unless you are a European player.  Both players folded and I’m cruisin up to 14,000 now.

 

Blinds:  100/200

Not many hands of note in this level.  Mainly just opening the pot and taking it down with a continuation bet.

 

Blinds:  150/300

I was expecting the blinds to go from 100/200 to 100/200/50 ante.  This added level through a little kink in my plans because I had been setting up a very tight, aggressive table image so that I could open it up when the antes hit.  I decided to play pretty tight this level because I’d be risking 800 to win 450 and usually you want to be risking about 125% of the reward at most to make stealing worth it (at least in my opinion).

 

However, in this spot I couldn’t help myself, as I had noticed that the player in seat one was limping with terrible hands and raising big with good hands.  He limped in early position, as did three other players.  I decided I would raise any two in the small blind because it was the first squeeze I’d made all day and there was over 800 just sitting out there.  I made it 900 to go and the first limper called to my surprise and everyone else folded.  He only had 3,100 starting the hand, so I was very confused as to what he had.  Why wouldn’t he just push all-in?  The flop came Q, T, 8 and I put him in for his last 2,200 and he insta-called.  He apparently decided to slow play his J, 9 offsuit and wait until he flopped the nuts to commit the rest of his chips.  What a joke….  This pot was devastating not only to lose 3,100, but more so because of my blown table image.  I’d spent the last four hours building a solid image that no one at the table wanted to screw with and now I’d have to tighten things up a bit, just when the antes started hitting.

 

One other hand of note occurred when I opened for 900 in second position with A,K, and fourth position called.  The small blind raised to 2,500, which was a very small raise.  I thought he had to have a big overpair because nothing else made sense.  A,K and A,Q type hands would have raised a lot more, especially out of position.  I didn’t think his range was that big either, as this was the first time this player had made a re-raise preflop.  I finally decided to just fold because I didn’t know if I wanted to flop a pair or not.  If I flopped a pair of kings or aces it would be just about impossible to fold given the pot size and if my read was right, he could easily have A,A or K,K.  Long story short, I folded and forth position called.  Flop was Q, J, 6 and the small blind fired out 2,500 again.  Fourth position folded his A,K in disgust and the small blind showed off his trip jacks.  I didn’t think he’d re-raise me in this spot with J,J – I thought Q,Q-A,A was his range, but even so I like my fold.

 

Blinds:  150/300/25 ante

The table broke and I was moved to another table with a few tight players to my left and a couple aggressive Scandinavian players to my right.  A pretty ideal situation in most circumstances, other than the fact that the best hand I saw for the rest of the day was an A,J UTG.

 

Blinds:  200/400/50 ante

After folding for about an hour I decided that getting blinded out of this tournament would not be my fate.  It was time to bring out the any two cards style (ATC).  I hate playing this style, but sometimes it is necessary in order to maintain a respectable stack when the blinds are eating you alive.  We are paying 1050 a round and I only have 12,000 at this point.  Not a desperate stack by any means, but also not really sitting pretty.  Every time I raise I’m risking 1,300 to pick up the 1,050, which is decent equity, but if two or three raises get re-raised, I’ll be in dire straits.  For the next two hours I’m just picking which pots I want to raise based on feel.  I usually decide before I look at my cards and usually only if it’s been folded to me.  An exception to that rule is if the Scandinavian player two to my right raised in late position I would re-raise him every third or fourth time or so just to keep him honest, because let’s not kid ourselves, he was raising every single time it was folded to him so he usually had absolutely nothing.

 

Blinds:  300/600/75 ante

Now I’m risking 2,000 to pick up 1,575.  Not great equity, but I really don’t have much choice.  Raising less just encourages people to call or re-raise and I can’t let that thought enter their minds.  I want to force people to pick up a hand in order to re-raise me.  That extra 200 or 300 goes a long way in the psychological department when you are sitting at the table (at least for me).  The day ended after this level, and I was able to cling on with 12,500 chips.  I was extremely happy with how I played and tomorrow will be one of the hardest days to survive that I’ve faced thus far.  I’m going to have to play awesome poker and get incredibly luck at the same time.  Wish me luck!