Amazing Night

I guess I shouldn't title this "Amazing Night" because I didn't really win very much money tonight but I had some amazing hands. I'm still playing in the WSOP steps tourneys on PokerStars and I played in a Step 3 tourney tonight. I ended up winning it but that is an understatement.

I completely blew away the rest of the table. I wish I could claim it was all skill but I was really getting great cards and getting lucky. My luck started in level 2 (15/30 blinds) when everyone folded to me on the button. I had A9o and made the standard raise to 90. The small blind reraised me to 240 and I folded.

That doesn't really show any luck but I think it led to what happened on the very next hand. I was in the cutoff with 77 and it was folded to me again. Once again I made the standard raise to 90 and the button and big blind both called. The flop came down 6s 9h 7d and I bet 180 into a 285 pot. The button folded and the big blind called. The turn brought the 3s and I bet 360 into the 645 pot. The big blind check-raised me all-in for another 925.

I suspected he had an 8 and a flush draw and was trying to push me off the hand but I guess he could've had the straight already or a set also. I had to call and he turned over Kh Jh. He was drawing dead. He put his whole stack in on a complete bluff. Why? I'm only guessing it's because he saw the previous hand and thought I could be pushed off my hand.

That gave me the chip lead. Then in level 4 (50/100 blinds) I was dealt QQ in the small blind. An early position player made the standard raise to 300 and the player next to him called. Everyone else folded to me. I thought about just calling but then I'd be pretty scared if an Ace or King came on the flop. Since I was the chip leader I decided to reraise all-in. Both players had decent stacks and could fold and still have a chance at winning.

The original raiser thought for a long time and I was happy that I had made the all-in reraise. I'm guessing he had AK or maybe a medium pocket pair but I won't know since he folded. The other caller thought for a while too and eventually called with Ad Tc. I'm guessing he hoped I had a middle pair or he was just in the mood to gamble. No matter since the board brought no help to him and I jumped to a huge lead.

After that I started getting really lucky. I knocked out a player with QQ against my AJ when an Ace came on the river. Later I flopped 2 pair when I had T8 in the big blind and 2 players limped pre-flop. The flop also had an Ace and one of the original limpers called my bets on the flop and turn but then folded on the river.

In level 7 (150/300 blinds plus 25 ante) we were down to 3 players - the top 2 move on to Step 4. I was in the big blind with AJ and the small blind raised to 900 leaving him about 700 in his stack. I reraised him all-in and he surprisingly folded. I don't get that at all since he was left with basically nothing and he was getting the right odds to call with any 2 cards.

The luck lasted on the last hand when I was on the button with J7. The big blind was the super short stack who folded on the previously described hand and I made a minimum raise which was enough to put him all-in. I made the min raise because I was hoping the other player would call also and then the 2 of us would have a better chance of knocking the short stack out.

Unfortunately the other player folded and the short stack turned over KJ. I was in bad shape until the flop brought a 7 and the river brought another 7. Obviously I wasn't going to be in bad shape for the tourney but at least for that hand. I now have 3 tickets to Step 4 so hopefully I will be reporting some good results from those tourneys soon.

The luck didn't end there though. I started playing some cash games on FullTilt and ended up getting dealt quads twice. Both times I flopped a set and turned the four-of-a-kind and won some decent sized pots. I also caught a lucky turn card to give me a set of sevens over another player's flopped set of deuces. That player was seriously bad though so I was going to get his money on other hands even if I hadn't turned that set of sevens.

With all of this luck, I should probably still be playing instead of writing this but I wanted to stop for the night and watch some training videos on PokerSavvyPlus.com. I started a trial subscription on there and hopefully it'll open up some ideas to me.