Complete Mookie recap

I do seem to do this too often: build a monster stack, flame out short of a win.

That being said, here's how history repeated itself.

I lose about 10% of my starting stack in the first level. I recover nicely by getting top-pair hands to pay me off when I make a disguised straight and trip deuces in two nice pots, as well as taking down a nice pot with KK. This put me at 5K in chip, which had me comfortably covering everyone at my starting table.

As Hoy has discussed on his blog, we then came to your garden-variety setup hand where he folded 33 after a ton of preflop action that saw me lose a big pot:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds, 8 Players

MP1: 1,360
Hero (MP2): 5,005
CO: 2,890
BTN: 2,785
SB: 2,810
BB: 1,850
UTG: 3,625
UTG+1: 3,675

Pre-Flop: (75) K K dealt to Hero (MP2)
3 folds, Hero raises to 150, CO calls 150, 2 folds, BB raises to 400, Hero raises to 1,375, CO folds, BB raises to 1,850 and is All-In, Hero calls 475

Flop: (3,875) J 4 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (3,875) 4 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (3,875) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 3,875 Pot
Hero showed K K (two pair, Kings and Fours) and LOST (-1,850 NET)
BB showed A A (two pair, Aces and Fours) and WON 3,875 (+2,025 NET)

So that sets me back to a bit more than a starting stack. All my early chipping up was wiped out. Time to get grinding away again.

Before I can do that I badly misplay AQ and spew off a few more chips, just to make it easier on myself. Fortunately for me, I am the beneficiary of a courtesy doubleup from the Gnome, who was trying to focus on the blogger cash game and apparently had had a bit too much to drink ...

Now that I've got my stack back to healthy I mix it up a little with a light 3-bet preflop with middle pocket pair and chip up with an automatic c-bet that meets no resistance. Then I steal another pot with jackace unimproved.

I give some of it back when I manage to lose the minimum with 99 vs. QQ on a scary board:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 60/120 Blinds, 8 Players

MP2: 2,205
Hero (CO): 6,280
BTN: 4,355
SB: 7,907
BB: 9,040
UTG: 4,960
UTG+1: 5,690
MP1: 2,913

Pre-Flop: (120) 9 9 dealt to Hero (CO)
4 folds, Hero raises to 360, BTN raises to 1,200, Hero calls 840

Flop: (2,520) K 8 8 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (2,520) J (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (2,520) J (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Results: 2,520 Pot
Hero mucked 9 9 (two pair, Jacks and Nines) and LOST (-1,200 NET)
BTN showed Q Q (two pair, Queens and Jacks) and WON 2,520 (+1,320 NET)

Then I manage to get on the other side of a dominating PP vs. PP (TT vs. 99) situation and hold up. I get KK(#3, insert Astin joke here) and get no action. I bust Alan when his crippled stack (he ran KK into AA just like I did) can't improve vs. my AKs.

And then I catapult to the chiplead when someone floats me and makes a hand at precisely the wrong time:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 80/160 Blinds, 8 Players

Hero (UTG): 9,105
UTG+1: 6,155
MP1: 4,720
MP2: 5,227
CO: 8,600
BTN: 9,760
SB: 7,011
BB: 2,313

Pre-Flop: (240) 9 9 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 320, UTG+1 folds, BTN raises to 800, Hero calls 480

Flop: (1,840) 4 4 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 1,120, Hero calls 1,120

Turn: (4,080) A (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (4,080) 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets 1,960, BTN raises to 7,840 and is All-In, Hero calls 5,225 and is All-In

Results: 18,450 Pot
Hero showed 9 9 (a full house, Nines full of Fours) and WON 18,450 (+9,345 NET)
BTN showed K J (a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-9,105 NET)

All of which led me to the top of the leaderboard:

Right after the break at a new table, I finally bust Mookie for the first time ever in a classic race with a twist:

Yep, the ol' two-outer on the turn to recapture the lead.

Then I get caught making a positional raise with my big stack ... of course, I would have gotten there ... but Bayne and Columbo quite properly priced me out of seeing a showdown.

I grind back up for a while and then manage my only suckout of the tournament, cracking JJ with 88:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 200/400 Blinds, 50 Ante, 6 Players

MP: 4,017
Hero (CO): 23,365
BTN: 10,578
SB: 12,660
BB: 3,980
UTG: 11,025

Pre-Flop: (900) 8 8 dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, MP raises to 3,967 and is All-In, Hero raises to 7,534, 3 folds

Flop: (8,834) K K 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (8,834) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (8,834) 4 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 8,834 Pot
MP showed J J (two pair, Kings and Jacks) and LOST (-4,017 NET)
Hero showed 8 8 (a full house, Eights full of Kings) and WON 8,834 (+4,817 NET)

Which was obviously a welcome result.

I then make some laydowns, get played back at preflop and have to fold to some 3-bets. I bust a shorty, I double up a shorty, and see-saw at the 20K chip mark for a while. I dip down to 15K and into second place, but then the new chipleader demonstrates what not to do with a big ace:

... which is to make a move when I don't think you have it: he opened, I 3-bet, he flat-called and shoved the flop. All of a sudden, I rocketed up above 30K in chips, which is where I would stay going into the final table. Sadly, once we reached the final table I went completely card dead and watched as LJ seized a comfortable chip lead over me and decided to take K-high to the felt.

And IGHN in 4th place.

Still, it was a very fun tournament and I always enjoy playing with Don and LJ and Mookie and the gang.