It All Comes Together

Finally.

For once, I played well for an entire tournament, and was rewarded with a win.  The occasion was the nine player SFPT August Part 2 get-together, aka the February Makeup Tournament.  I feel like I played well because I was very consistent; not once was I all-in and at-risk in a spot where I didn't have a heavy advantage.  Each of those spots resulted in opponent folds, so really I was never truly at risk.

Prior to heads-up, two hands stood out.  The first was a four-way pot with Tom, Oscar, and Matt, with Tom at risk pre-flop.  After the river I held a flush, and an all-in shove got Oscar and Matt to muck.  When I showed my flush, Tom mucked as well, and I earned my first of two knockouts on the night.

The second hand came down to Matt, Tom, and I.  I limped pre-flop with 2/2, and caught trips on a 2/8/9 board.  I didn't hesitate a moment in shoving all-in, leading to two almost instant folds.  When Matt commented "I think I had you beat", I decided to tell him what I had.  Matt's a good player, and I feel that by sharing hands, we can work on strategy together to our mutual benefit.  When I whispered "twos", he exclaimed, "wow, ballsy!".  Maybe it was, but it worked.  In fact, I'm hoping it really was "ballsy", because that means I'm taking chances.

The last hand of the night is where I got some payback from the poker gods after the previous SFPT tournament.  Oscar and I had gone back and forth for several hands, with the chip lead changing at least three times in that time.  On the last hand of the night, Oscar was short-stacked and shoved with A/K off.  I snap-called with A/9 hearts.  There were no hearts on the flop and the turn was likewise a dud, but I spiked a river 9 to take the victory.

10k update: 3 hours home game, 125.75 total home game, 232.50 total hours
Bracelet Hunting: $45 added, $50 total, $950 to go