A Hoy of a time was had by all

It's Monday, so that means it's time for another crack at the Hoy! 27 runners make it out this time; top 3 places pay. I'm gearing up for the exciting BBTwo season (for details see the announcement by Al.)

I always like a deepstack tournament. It gives me the oppportunity to be patient, room to make some moves and try to make some monster draws to drag down some monster pots if the stars align properly.

Unfortunately, aside from irritating the host with some jack-eight magic where I outdrew Hoy's 86 by turning top pair on a 632 flop and having the chutzpah to value-bet the river and weathering some good-natured abuse from the table who couldn't believe I played garbage hands early in a tournament, I found myself short-stacked, sitting with just half a starting stack, relatively early on when I ran second-best hands into pocket aces twice in short succession.

Other early highlights included:

running AQ into AQ on an AK5 flop and chopping the pot;

sniffing out a Hammer play and spanking it into oblivion;

drawing my own AA and getting no action on a 3x BB preflop raise;

drawing Presto and pocket eights and likewise gettting no action.

Then I get moved to a new table where my paltry stack is sandwiched between two large stacks. Still, I remind myself that I have a lot of room to play when compared to the blinds, so I hunker down and wait for spots to gamble. The tournament chipleader reaches an absurd 30K in chips as he felts several players in short order. I cower in fear. I start squeezing and re-stealing like mad to chip up as best I can.

I draw KK and, on cue, get no action.

I manage to eliminate a shorty when surflexus jams with a bare queen-high flush draw and I'm priced in to call with AQ.

This gives me some breathing room and I start to gain some momentum, playing careful small pot poker and mixing in some well-timed bluffs that work flawlessly.

We reach the final table and I'm still short-stacked but have a fighting chance to reach the top 3. I win a key race with a small pocket pair of fours against KQ and reach a high-water mark of nearly 10K in chips.

Sadly, I bust out in sixth place when I make a move with 67 of spades on a J74 flop with two of my suit against the chipleader by coming over the top of his c-bet. He insta-calls with TPTK, which holds up. IGHN.

All in all, I'm pleased with two consecutive final tables in the blogger tourneysphere. Hopefully a cash is right around the corner.