FCPC Deepstack Mini-Report

Finished in third place in the 16-player deepstack field at the FCPC.

I was able to patiently wait things out in the mid-to-late stages of the tournament as we neared the bubble as I was the chipleader with over a quarter of the chips in play (my highwater mark was about 115K). I had relentlessly chipped up in the early-to-middle stages of the tournament by nut-peddling big draws that hit and value-betting some good hands in position against some players who couldn't release top pair. I even managed to bust this shorty when my A9s held up vs. A5o.

Sadly as we got down to five-handed and the cash bubble, I finally woke up with a premium hand (QQ) on the button and 3-bet Simon allin. He instacalled with aces, of course, and I lost half my stack and was down to 50K.

From there I struggled and scuffled as the blinds and antes had risen to such a level that a lot of play had been taken away and I was stuck playing jam or fold poker as the stacks were no longer very deep. I was able to outlast Schaubs after he doubled me up when I shoved my KJs on the button and he called with AT; I outflopped him with a king in the door vs. his middle pair of tens and turned trips. Ryan later found himself down to only 3 big bets just after the cash bubble broke and he jammed and I woke up in the small blind with aces. He flopped a huge draw with his low suited connectors but blanked out. I hoped that would start a comeback for me to get to headsup, but Simon eliminated me in third place when he called my BB raise with K6s with 97s (I had his suit) and he called my allin c-bet (which was roughly pot-sized) on the 763 flop. He rivered a straight as I failed to improve. Simon went on to eliminate Ryan's friend Paul to win, so he put my chips to good use.

Fun times, and I liked how I played. I was very patient with the big stack and never got out of line or put myself in bad spots. The AA vs. QQ hand was a setup that I can't really get away from; c'est la vie. There's always next time!