..No points for second place

Tonight, after watching 'Poker After Dark', I decided to play my favorite $30 sng on stars. I also decided to multi-task and play a $25 turbo sng. The turbo went fast and I was going well until I picked up QQ. Here's how it played out...I ran into a cooler! This guy raised it up in position which I perceived as a weaker hand than my queens. In this particular case, he had the goods. Here's how it played out:

Seat 2: tl (2870 in chips)
Seat 3: shanu208 (3860 in chips)
Seat 6: bigtime4k (3385 in chips)
Seat 7: andre006 (2030 in chips)
Seat 8: cobnib (1355 in chips)
tl: posts small blind 100
shanu208: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tl [Qh Qd]
bigtime4k: raises 300 to 500
andre006: folds
cobnib: folds
tl: raises 900 to 1400
shanu208: folds
bigtime4k: raises 1985 to 3385 and is all-in
tl: calls 1470 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [7h 8d 5s]
*** TURN *** [7h 8d 5s] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [7h 8d 5s 2d] [3d]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
tl: shows [Qh Qd] (a pair of Queens)
bigtime4k: shows [Kh Kd] (a pair of Kings)

bigtime4k collected 5940 from pot

Honestly, I'm not sure how I could get out of this pot. After my re-raise, half of my chips were in. I think I had committed myself to this pot now.

So that was it on the turbo for the night. I did much better in the non-turbo $30 sng. I took down second although I was a huge chip leader very early in the tournament. Even on the bubble, I had over half the chips in play but unfortunate hands, I took down second. No points for second place (...a line from Top Gun - a long time favorite movie of mine.)

However, here's a few key hands that led me to the early huge chip leader:

1. My AsJs vs. AT and KK:

Seat 1: AndUran (470 in chips)
Seat 2: tl (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: hit16catch5 (1480 in chips)
Seat 4: Da Baron (1340 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 5: gamblor333 (1800 in chips)
Seat 6: biz71 (2560 in chips)
Seat 7: OSUGreg1983 (1470 in chips)
Seat 8: Morrocca (1410 in chips)
Seat 9: shoeshiner (1480 in chips)
shoeshiner: posts small blind 10
AndUran: posts big blind 20

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tl [Js As]
tl: raises 40 to 60
hit16catch5: folds
Da Baron: folds
gamblor333: raises 60 to 120
biz71: calls 120
OSUGreg1983: folds
Morrocca: folds
shoeshiner: folds
AndUran: folds tl: calls 60
*** FLOP ***
[Tc 8s 2s]

tl: checks
gamblor333: bets 400
Da Baron is connected
Da Baron has returned
biz71: raises 2040 to 2440 and is all-in
tl: calls 1370 and is all-in
gamblor333: calls 1280 and is all-in

*** TURN *** [Tc 8s 2s] [5s]

*** RIVER *** [Tc 8s 2s 5s] [Qc]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
gamblor333: shows [Ks Kh] (a pair of Kings)
biz71: shows [Ts Ac] (a pair of Tens)
gamblor333 collected 620 from side pot
tl: shows [Js As] (a flush, Ace high)

tl collected 4500 from main pot

The flop was huge. I had a great draw but had to seriously consider my outs. Obviously I had 9 outs to fill my flush but I also figured hitting an Ace would also be a winner. The way they were betting seemed to indicate JJ, QQ or KK type of all in. Although the guy with KK only bet 400. So 3 more outs, I had a total of 12 with 2 cards to come. So roughly 45% to catch my card and win. With the pot so big, thanks to biz71, I had great pot odds. So after a long deliberation, I made the call. gamblor333 surprisingly also called with his KK after I called the all in. I'm not saying I'd definitely fold the KK but I'd consider someone having trips....especially a check caller for an all-in.

2. A few hands later, I'm the SB with Th3h. I flopped a flush showing the Ah and the Jh. I bet into the pot with my flush and then all hell broke loose. Some guy raises it to $450. Another guy calls and goes all-in in the process. I figured if one of them is on a nut flush draw, I was going to make them pay by re-raising all-in to isolate. That didn't happen though. The raiser also went all-in. They both show J7 - bottom two pair. Good thing they were blocking each other from out-drawing my flush. Here's there breakdown:

Seat 1: AndUran (440 in chips)
Seat 2: tl (4480 in chips)
Seat 3: hit16catch5 (1280 in chips)
Seat 4: Da Baron (580 in chips)
Seat 5: gamblor333 (620 in chips)
Seat 6: biz71 (1750 in chips)
Seat 7: OSUGreg1983 (1470 in chips)
Seat 8: Morrocca (1410 in chips)
Seat 9: shoeshiner (1470 in chips)
tl: posts small blind
15hit16catch5: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to tl [3h Th]
Da Baron: folds
gamblor333: calls
30biz71: calls 30
OSUGreg1983: folds
Morrocca: folds
shoeshiner: folds
AndUran: calls 30
tl: calls 15
hit16catch5: checks

*** FLOP ***
[Jh 7h Ah]

tl:bets 60
hit16catch5: folds
gamblor333: calls 60
biz71: raises 390 to 450
AndUran: calls 410 and is all-in
tl: raises 4000 to 4450 and is all-in
gamblor333: folds
biz71: calls 1270 and is all-in

*** TURN *** [Jh 7h Ah] [8c]

*** RIVER *** [Jh 7h Ah 8c] [2d]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

tl: shows [3h Th] (a flush, Ace high)
biz71: shows [Js 7s] (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
tl collected 2620 from side pot
AndUran: shows [7c Jd] (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
tl collected 1440 from main pot

That hand catapulted me into a huge chip leader with blinds still at $15/$30.

Many hands later, we were about 5 handed and I pick up pocket Kings. This guy shoeshiner decides to raise it with K8o. I'm not sure why but when I'm faced with a raise with a monster hand like KK, I'm raising. I re-raise his $150 to $250. Everyone folds, and we're heads up. The flop comes out and we both hit the K. Bad card for him, great card for me. He checks, I check. A blank turns - shoeshiner probe bets with $400. Little did I realize he made two pair now. However, I still conceal my hand by just calling. The river shows the Ah which would complete a flush draw but I doubt that is the case here. I figure he's committed too much $$ and he's going all in. He does and I show him the bad news:

Seat 2: tl (6808 in chips)
Seat 3: hit16catch5 (1410 in chips)
Seat 7: OSUGreg1983 (2222 in chips)
Seat 8: Morrocca (1885 in chips)
Seat 9: shoeshiner (1175 in chips)
shoeshiner: posts small blind 25
tl: posts big blind 50

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tl [Kc Ks]
hit16catch5: folds
OSUGreg1983: folds
Morrocca: folds
shoeshiner: raises 100 to 150
tl: raises 100 to 250
shoeshiner: calls 100

*** FLOP ***
[Tc 3h Kh]

shoeshiner: checks
tl: checks

*** TURN *** [Tc 3h Kh] [8s]

shoeshiner: bets 400
tl: calls 400

*** RIVER *** [Tc 3h Kh 8s] [Ah]

shoeshiner: bets 525 and is all-in

tl: calls 525

*** SHOW DOWN ***
shoeshiner: shows [8h Kd] (two pair, Kings and Eights)
tl: shows [Kc Ks] (three of a kind, Kings)
tl collected 2350 from pot

However, all these chips only got my a second place. Here's the final hand:

Seat 2: tl (4386 in chips)
Seat 3: hit16catch5 (9114 in chips)
tl: posts the ante 25
hit16catch5: posts the ante 25

tl: posts small blind 100
hit16catch5: posts big blind 200

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tl [8d Kc]
tl: raises 400 to 600
hit16catch5: raises 800 to 1400

tl: calls 800

*** FLOP ***
[4d 8h 4h]

hit16catch5: bets 2400

tl: raises 561 to 2961 and is all-in
hit16catch5: calls 561

*** TURN *** [4d 8h 4h] [As]
*** RIVER *** [4d 8h 4h As] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***

hit16catch5: shows [Qh Qd] (two pair, Queens and Fours)
tl: shows [8d Kc] (two pair, Eights and Fours)

hit16catch5 collected 8772 from pot

So I had K8 heads up which is a pretty decent hand. Any K is pretty good heads up. Definitely worth raising. He re-raised to 1400. So I put him on a better hand. Probably an Ax suited or AK down to AT. The flop came out, 484. I hit my 8 and was fairly certain that if I was up against AK or AQ, I have the best hand right now. "hitcatch" bets 2400 into the 2800 pot. I felt that he missed with his high cards and was trying to push me off my 2 pair. I raise him back all in and he called with QQ. Too tough for me to make that kind of a read. I think it's equivalent to ask him to fold QQ to think I had 88 and flopped a boat.

Having a high pocket pair head's up is too good of a hand. The deck is practically crippled and I would have to hit a great flop like flopping a straight or flush.

Anyway, my winning streak continues for now.

It's late now. Gotta wake up early and workout.