Sunday results: Tourney and Heads-up

Oaks
$225 buy-in
131 players NL poker

I took the first round off to get some lunch. The next two rounds went well, and I was up to about $8,000 from the starting $5,000. I wasn't getting premium hands but finding opportunities to play--you know--maybe I should call them "Negreanu" hands--since they are two cards which might end up being something. You know 5-3, 9-8, etc. The implied odds were good and yes, I even was willing to call small raises.

For the fourth round, a new dealer sat down and proceeded to give me A-K twice, A-Q, J-J--and all turned out to be losers. The pocket Jacks hand was tough. A tight player in early position put in a three time raise. I had position and called. My stack was still big enough, not to have to push. The flop came all rags. My opponent pushed all-in, slightly over-betting the flop.

Here we go again...this reminded me of the day before. I studied my opponent for some clue. He looked up at me and did not quickly look away. I find that if players look at you, and quickly look away in that situation, they have A-K. This guy did not, so I put him on a premium pair. Given that tell and his being so tight for the past 90 minutes, I folded.

He proudly showed pocket Aces.

I was back down to $4,000.

As the blinds increased and my stack slowly declined, I was planning to move all-in with my no-look blind steal. However, the problem was that other players were getting desperate and pushing in before me.

I was now down to $2,400 and we were down to 60 players. The blinds were $150-$300 plus $75 ante, and they about to double. I was on the button. The player under the gun moved all-in for $8,000. I found A-6. In this situation, I have to move all-in and play the weak Ace. After I moved all-in, so did the small blind. The first opponent had Kings, and the next one had K-Q. I hit the Ace on the turn.

With about $8,000, and on the next hand I was dealt pocket 10's. A player with about $2,000 moved all-in, and the next guy called--the guy with pocket Aces from earlier. This player had been hitting so many big pairs--he had already been dealt pocket Aces twice, pocket Kings twice, and pocket Queens once--and had about $15,000.

Again, he is a tight player who had been getting great cards way too often. I figured he either had a medium strength hand or setting a trap with pocket Aces. I dismissed the Aces since he had already been dealt that hand twice. I decided to get him off his hand by moving all in. To my surprise, the big blind called all-in. And, yeah, that same player had pocket Aces AGAIN!

We went to the flop. My 10's against 4's, A's and K-Q. The flop came with Ace and two rags--but they were all hearts! I was the only one with a heart! But, no hearts after the flop, and I was on my home.

Full Tilt Heads-up
I bought into the $1-$2 NL cash game--heads-up again--for $150.

It's amazing how many tables there are with just one player. And each one of those players is at multiple heads-up games. Anyway, I sat down to play some guy with an aggressive name. I can''t recall it now.

The first hand he raised, and I folded.
The next hand, I raised, he re-raised, and I folded.
The next hand, he raised and I folded.
The next hand, I called and he raised, and I folded.
The next hand he raised, and I was not going to fold again! Yes, I had awful cards but at some point, you have to take a stand. And, this time I had something....

I had A-5 and I called. The flop came Ace high. I check called his 3/4th size bet.
The turn was another rag. I check raised all-in his 3/4 high size bet. He insta-called and showed A-K. Oh, well...the river was a 5! The spoils of playing online poker:)

We played another 5 minutes--and it was normal play--maybe he did have a few strong hands from the start. I left ahead $139.