My 15 Most Memorable Poker Hands (Part 1)

I recently decided to make a countdown list of the most memorable 15 hands that I have played to this point. The criteria to what makes a hand memorable is extremely vague; it just needs to be a hand that sticks in my memory for one reason or another. The hand might have been an important turning point in a tournament, a hand that I thought I played very well, a crushing loss, or obviously a big win. If nothing else, I hope that it makes for an interesting read!

Hand #15 - Pocket rockets! - Around New Year's of 2006 - $1 MTT - PokerStars

After watching ESPN coverage of the WSOP in 2003, 2004 and 2005, I was itching to figure out how to play No Limit Hold 'em. I started playing play money on Party Poker, and my Brother-in-law finally got the nerve to deposit some money to play for real. He was really enjoying it, and I wanted to play for real money as well. My Dad had spoken to my Uncle Mick, who was a recreational grinder, and he recommended that we buy-in to PokerStars instead. My Dad put some money on PokerStars and called me to come over for his first tournament, a $1 MTT. He wanted me to play it, so I sat in while he watched and we mulled over decisions together. This is actually not legal to do (as we found out much later), but since neither of us had ever played a hand of real money poker online, and I hadn't even created an account yet, we figured that it was fine.

I don't remember any exact details of the tournament itself, but I think it had around 1500 players. I actually had done alright and had some chips with around 300 players left or so. I was dealt A♠ A♦ and I raised it up. I was a total novice and so I don't remember chipstacks or the blind level, but I do remember that I was called by two players. The flop came A♥ 5♠ 3♠ and I checked to slowplay. The player two to my left bet and the other player folded. I called and the turn was the 5♣. Awesome! A full house, so an unlikely straight or rivered flush can't win. I checked again, and he checked behind. The river was the 9♦ and I bet. The villain raised and I re-raised all-in with the nut full house on the A-5-3-5-9 board. The villain called with 5♥ 5♦ for quads to knock me out of the tournament. Though this hand may not seem that interesting, it is memorable for me because it was my first real money MTT, and I remember sitting and wondering how anyone makes it to the end of a tournament when it's so easy to run into a monster hand.

Hand #14 - My first big money cash - 5/26/2007 - $10 Deep Stack MTT - PokerStars

Back when I had free time, I used to love playing the $10 Deep Stack tournaments on PokerStars. They started at 9:00 AM on Saturdays and Sundays. Players started with 5,000 chips, blinds started at 10/20 and went up every 30 minutes. The tournaments usually drew somewhere around 1,000 runners and took about 12 hours to complete. They also only paid about 10% of the field, so the money bubble would usually take about six hours to burst.

This was my third Deep Stack and I had cashed in all three. The tournament drew 903 runners (81 paid), and we were down to the final 11. 11th and 10th were paid $90.31 and 1st was around $2,000. The chip stacks at my table were as follows: Raven93 - 537,418 (47BBs), Joriz - 505,040 (42BBs), cbond016 (me) - 448,510 (37BBs), smoker1984 - 287,656 (24BBs), Fishizzle - 281,447 (23BBs), and BriNkS DuDe - 227,594 (19BBs). There had not been much action since going down to 12 players remaining, as most players were trying to make it to the final table. The blinds were 6,000/12,000 w/ a 600 ante.

BriNkS DuDe was UTG and he raised 4X to 48,000. I was on the button with A♦ K♥ and I called. With my current experience level, this would be an easy jam, but I had only been playing poker for a little over a year, and I was afraid to gamble half of my stack all at once and maybe miss the final table. The blinds folded and we saw a flop of K♠ 5♣ 4♦. BriNkS led out for 36,000, and I raised to 108,000. I expected him to fold, and when he jammed all-in for 70,994 more I almost had a panic attack! This was not the stage of the tournament where anyone was making crazy plays, so his shove almost had to be for value. I looked to see if I could find a fold, but I knew that I just had to make the call. BriNkS showed K♣ T♦, for top pair with an inferior kicker. I held my breath as the turn and river came J♠ 3♠, and I had scored the KO to bring my chip stack to 696,504 on the final table bubble! We ended up chopping 5 ways for $880, which was a huge boost to my $200 bankroll!

Hand 13 - Bizarre Line - 4/21/2019 - $10 Turbo MTT - Ignition

In preparation for playing the Big 50 at the 2019 WSOP, I ramped up my poker activities and buy-in level. Then I went on a heater. I had just finished 3rd in a $3 Super Turbo MTT for $79.53 (only other tournament of the evening) and I was starting to get short in the mid-stages of a $10 Turbo (665 runners), with 26,900 chips at the 1,000/2,000/200 level. The player in the HJ seat raised to 4,000 out of his 22,150 stack. I was in the BB with 8♠ 7♦ and made the call for 2,000 more. The flop came 6♠ 2♠ 2♦, and I checked, planning to fold to his bet. But the villain checked behind and the T♠ came on the turn. I checked, and the villain checked it back again. Weird. The river was the unlikely 9♣ to give me a straight. I bet 3,333, and to my surprise the villain jammed for 17,950 total. The only hand that made any real sense to me was a 6-6 that he flopped a boat with and decided to slowplay. However, when I river an unlikely straight with that table action, my opponent is just going to have to show me the winning hand, and I'll chalk it up to a cooler. So I called and the villain showed K♣ Q♣ for a horrifically played bluff to bust in 220th place. This boosted my stack to 51,250, which allowed me to make a serious deep run in the tournament (more on that later).

My 15 Most Memorable Poker Hands (Part 2)

Hand #12 - "I just flopped quads!" - 5/25/2009 - $2 MTT - PokerStars

After a long day at work, my buddy A.J. talked me into getting into the $2 MTT that he was already registered for. Seven hours later, out of a field of 2,187, I arrived at the final table. I was 8th in chips, but quickly found a triple-up when my K-K held up against J-J and 9-9, in a 3-way preflop all-in. A few hands later, I called two small all-ins w/ 10-9 from the BB and scored a double KO against 9-9 and A-J, when I found a 10 on the flop.

I was second in chips with 5 remaining when this hand came about. My opponent, DougdaHorse had been the chipleader, forever it seemed. I had been on his table since there were over 100 players left, and he had been a total maniac, calling shoves with hands like K-4 and running like a god. I was IMing with A.J. who had busted a while earlier and we were marveling at Doug's heater. With two tables remaining, Doug even typed "Man, I am so drunk right now", which explained a lot.

Anyway, the blinds were at 15,000/30,000/3,000 and I raised to 90,000 of out my roughly 800,000 stack with 8♠ 8♦ UTG. DougdaHorse 3-bet to 200,000 from the BU and I decided to call. The flop came a delicious J♥ 8♥ 8♣, and I excitedly typed "I just flopped quads!" to A.J, while triple checking that I was typing into the IM, and not into table chat. I checked, Doug bet 100,000, and I called. The turn was the 5♦, and I checked again. Doug bet 150,000, and I called again. The river was the A♣, and I shoved my remaining 350,000 all-in, hoping Doug caught the ace. He called and showed A♠ T♦, which crippled him down under 200,000 chips and gave me a giant chiplead. Doug would be the next one out, while I went on to chop with another player heads-up for $617.83!

Hand #11 - The one that started it all - 2/11/2007 - $10 Deep Stack MTT - PokerStars

I became aware of the Deep Stack tournaments on PokerStars around the holidays in 2006, and I was itching to play in one. Problem was that my bankroll was sitting at around $40, and I would be putting a quarter of it on the line in one tournament. I finally decided screw it, and that I could replenish such a small bankroll if I needed to. So it was that on a Sunday in mid-February, I finally took my shot. I loved the tournament from the word go. The slow pace allowed for a lot more psychology and reading of tendencies than a typical tournament. My stack had actually stayed pretty static throughout the early stages, though I had mainly fluctuated between 8,000 and 18,000 chips. I once exceeded 21,000 after doubling up with Q-Q against A-K all-in preflop, but I had dropped back down to 12,118 chips when this critical hand occurred.

We were almost halfway through the fifth hour of the tournament, which had 1,144 runners and paid 99. There were probably about 150 players remaining and the blinds were 300/600/50. I raised to 1,800 from the CO holding A♥ 7♠ and Ruthlesxxx (75,664 chips) called from the BB. The flop came 7♦ 6♥ 5♦ and my opponent checked. I bet 3,000 with top pair, hoping to take it down right there, but Ruthlesxxx check-raised to 7,200. It was a trap that I fell right into, as I 3-bet all-in on the hopes that my opponent only had a draw. He called the 3,068 more and showed 7♣ 6♦ for top two pair. I was drawing very thin, but I got bailed out by the deck when the turn and river came A♠ 3♦ to give me a superior two pair. I doubled up to 24,886 chips, and ended up making a deep run in the tournament. Eventually I would shove J♠ J♥ in a 3-way all-in on a flop of 6♥ 6♣ 3♣. My opponents had A♣ Q♣ and A♦ 3♦. Unfortunately the board ran out K♣ A♥ to give gerdeper's A♣ Q♣ a flush and I was eliminated in 32nd place for $40.04. But without that experience in late stage play, I doubt that I would have been capable of the deep runs that followed it.

Hand #10 - Almost tilt - 5/26/2007 - $10 Deep Stack MTT - PokerStars

Returning to my third Deep Stack tournament (my 2nd place finish), to a point late in the eighth hour of play. There were around 20 players remaining. The blinds were at 3000/6000/300, and I was sitting on a stack of 186,192 chips (31BBs). The player in the cutoff, okynot, shoved all-in for 84,674 chips, and I woke up with K♠ K♣ on the button. I re-shoved all-in, everyone else folded, and okynot showed A♣ K♦. I was thinking "No ace, no ace, no ace" as the board rolled off J♥ 9♠ 6♥ 4♦ A♥. I felt physically ill when the river hit, and my head actually hit my desk as I sagged in dejection.

Before I had any time to recover, the next hand was already being dealt. My stack was down to 101,218 chips, which felt like a micro-stack compared to where I had been and where I thought I should be now. I was dealt A♦ Q♥ and raised to 18,000 from the cutoff. Rik Wets (243,362 chips) on the button and Azzes (205,432) in the BB both called. The flop came Q♣ T♥ 5♠ and Azzes checked. Having flopped top pair, and with my still swimming from the previous hand, I bet 24,000. Rik called. Then Azzes jammed all-in, easily covering my last 58,918. I would have called anyway, but it was a sign of the tilt that I was on that I clicked call without even considering the decision. Rik folded, and Azzes showed K♥ Q♠, for top pair with a worse kicker. The board ran out T♦ J♥ and I more than doubled up to 248,936 chips, second biggest on my table! As mentioned before, I rode this momentum to a 2nd place finish. Azzes would go out in 18th, I would bust Rik Wets in 14th (A-J > K-T, all-in preflop), and okynot was eliminated in 10th place.

My 15 Most Memorable Poker Hands (Part 3)

Hand #9 - The Sickest of Suckouts - $2 MTT

Back in 2010, I was riding a frozen wave of cards. Anytime my opponents needed a miracle card in a huge confrontation, they got it. If I had the 2nd nuts, they had the nuts. This led to some intense tilt on my part, which definitely affected my play. I started calling in spots where I knew I was beat just to see how I got "screwed over" this time. I had to take a couple of months away from poker to get my mind back into a good spot again.

The brutalness finally culminated in this doozy of a hand. I had actually started red hot in this tournament, busting three players in the first 20 minutes and increasing my chips from the 1,500 starting stack to just over 10,000. Though I was in the top 10 of a 1000+ player tournament, a player with more chips than me (~11,000) was then seated two to my left. On his first BB, I was on the button and raised to 150 (blinds were 25/50) with T♠ T♥. He called and then shockingly jammed in his entire stack on a flop of T♣ 6♥ 3♦! He was risking about 10,000 chips to win the 325 chips in the pot. I had flopped the absolute nuts and had the easiest call ever. The villain unbelievably showed 7♦ 7♣, which was drawing virtually dead (3%). The turn and river then came 4♦ 5♠ to give the villain a straight and eliminate me from the tournament. I sat in shock for a few seconds, and then for the first and only moment in my life, I punched my monitor.

Hand #8 - Easy Jam - 5/26/2007 - $10 Deep Stack MTT - PokerStars

This hand occurred very early in the third Deep Stack tournament, where I finished 2nd out of 903 runners. It was in fact, the final hand of the second hour of the tournament. I had been playing far too loosely in the early stages and I had burned up some chips. I had regained some of them, but I was still sitting on a stack of 4,205 chips with the blinds at 50/100.

A player in the HJ seat, gjd02 (5,015 chips) raised 7X to 700 chips, and it folded to me in the BB with K♠ K♣. Normally, I would be looking to put in a smallish 3-bet here, to build the pot and keep my opponent on the hook. But when gjd02 made such a large raise, it made his hand look like a very good, but vulnerable hand. He had not gotten out of line this way to this point, so he didn't appear to be a maniac that just raises to whatever. So what would he raise that much with? If he had aces, he would raise smaller to entice some action. I put him on J-J, with a possibility of Q-Q or T-T. With this range, a small re-raise might only allow him to get away on a dangerous flop, so I just pushed all-in, expecting to be called pretty quickly by a hand that I had crushed. The villain actually took a few seconds to call, but call he did, and he showed 9♦ 9♣, which was weaker than I expected. The board ran out Q♣ 3♦ 2♦ A♠ 6♥, and I scored a crucial early double up to 8,460 chips. I got hot from here on, as a half hour later my stack was up to 18,495 and moving upwards!

Hand #7 - Best River in the Deck - 5/30/2019 - $500 Big 50 - 2019 WSOP Event #3

Last summer I was able to play Event #3 at the 2019 WSOP, the Big 50! To celebrate their 50th anniversary, the WSOP held this tournament with 50,000 starting chips and 50 minute levels. About one hour into the tournament, with the blinds at 150/300/300 (BB ante) I was dealt T♦ T♣ UTG+1, and I raised to 900 out of my 51,800 chip stack. Four players called me, the LJ, HJ, CO, and SB). With that number of opponents, I was unlikely to put any more chips into that pot unless I got a really favorable flop.

The flop came Q♠ T♠ 8♠, which was both exciting (flopped a set!) and horrifying (flushes, straights, and draws abound!). After the SB checked, I decided to bet 3,000 into the 5,100 chip pot to charge the draws and get some information on where I was at in the hand. We had not seen a bet that big in the tournament to this point, but it felt necessary with such a big hand on such a wet board. A set is a great hand, but it shrinks up a lot on that kind of board. The LJ folded, but the HJ raised to 6,000. It folded to me and I went into the think tank. The HJ was in his late 50s or 60s and he had limped into about 40% of the pots at the table so far. He had shown no aggression to this point at all. My feeling of the situation was that he probably plays any ace, any suited hand, most connectors, and high cards. I was actually pretty sure that he called with some suited junk and flopped the flush on me. Only 3,000 more into a pot of 14,100 is a good price though, so I called to try to make my full house.

The turn was the 2♥ and I checked to my opponent. He thought for only a few seconds and tossed in another 6,000 chips. Now this was getting serious. With one card to come, I had 10 outs to a full house or quads, and there was a small chance that my opponent was value betting something like a Q-T or semi-bluffing a hand like A♠ Xx (though he seemed like the type to check the nut flush draw there). The pot was 17,100 before his bet, so I needed to call 6,000 into a pot of 23,100. That only requires a 21% chance to win to make calling correct. I am 23% likely to win there if he has the flush, and an outright favorite if he does not have the flush, so it is a pretty easy call.

The dealer then burned and placed the 2♣ on the river, which is one of the prettiest cards I have ever seen. How to play my full house? I could lead out with a bet to make sure of getting more chips into the pot. That is probably what I would do against a savvy player. A good player would recognize the danger the board pairing presents and may check behind, even with a flush. I had to have a big hand to be calling big bets at this early stage after all. But my opponent did not seem to be a particularly thinking player, so I decided to check-raise the river. The villain obliged and bet 10,000 chips after my check. I feigned thinking for 30 seconds or so and then moved all-in for what turned out to be 17,000 more on top. My opponent threw up his hands in frustration, looked resigned, and called with K♠ 5♠, confirming my read. He was out of the tournament and I was now sitting on 95,000 chips, just an hour into the tournament!

My 15 Most Memorable Poker Hands (Part 4)

Hand #6 - To Gamble, or Not to Gamble? - 4/21/2019 - $10 Turbo MTT - Ignition

This hand is from the same $10 Turbo MTT as Hand #13. It is the second hand of the final table. The seats and chipstacks were as follows:
UTG (Player 291) - 404,928           (6.7BBs)
UTG+1 (Player 36) - 524,136         (8.7BBs)
UTG+2 (Player 50) - 1,312,380      (21.9BBs)
LJ - (Player 107) - 420,432             (7.0BBs)
HJ - (Player 200) - 265,094             (4.4BBs)
CO - (Player 420) - 929,278           (15.5BBs)
BU - (Player 356) - 139,918           (2.3BBs)
SB - (Me, Player 242) - 645,019   (10.8BBs)
BB - (Player 112) - 1,738,815        (29.0BBs)

The blinds were 30,000/60,000/6,000. So, as is typical for a turbo tournament, the stacks were extremely short and the players should be playing aggressively. However, as a counterpoint to that, the payout jumps were fairly large, giving some value to patience.
1st place - $1,085.05
2nd place - $797.50
3rd place - $606.10
4th place - $462.55
5th place - $325.38
6th place - $261.58
7th place - $197.78
8th place - $133.98
9th place - $90.91

Anyway, player 36 moved all-in for 518,136 chips, and everyone has folded to me in the SB. I had been dealt J♥ J♣ and I had a big decision on my hands. I currently sat 4th in chips, and losing this hand would put me on the short stack, where I would be likely to finish in the bottom couple of places. Winning would put me closer to the leaders, but still only 3rd in chips with the table leader on my left. Additionally, I had just passed through the blinds, meaning that other players would likely be busting before I needed to make any further moves. All of these factors led me to seriously consider folding my jacks and try to wait some short stacks out.

That being said, J-J is just too far ahead of the villain's range to justify folding. Even giving him a tight range of {22+, A8s+, ATo+, KJs+, KQo, QJs}, pocket jacks have 63% equity. And if I'm folding in this spot, I'm practically guaranteeing a 6th place finish or thereabouts. Yes, I may bust in 9th place, but I need to give myself a real chance of making the top three, or even winning the whole damn thing!

After all of this deliberation, I called, the villain showed A♥ Q♣, and we were off to the races. The board came J♠ 6♦ 5♥ 9♥ 7♦ to give me a winning set. Player 36 was eliminated in 9th place, and my chipstack grew to 1,271,155. I would go on to win the tournament and the $1,085 prize!

Hand #5 - Am I Good Enough? - 7/1/2011 - $125 Nightly MTT - Orleans Casino, Las Vegas

In 2011, I had the amazing opportunity to deal at the 2011 WSOP in Las Vegas. It was eight weeks of nonstop poker, and it was incredible! During my time there, I had the opportunity to play a lot of the local tournaments like the Wednesday night HORSE at Green Valley Ranch and the nightly $75 entry tournament ($125 on Fridays) at the Orleans. The Orleans tournament had a good long structure without being too high of a buy-in. I played in it 5 times, chopping once for $405, so I essentially broke even.

My parents came to visit near the end of the series and my Dad and I went to the Orleans to play in the nightly tournament. It was a Friday, so the buy-in was $125. Early in the tournament, I was sitting on 12,925 chips (slightly up from the starting stack of 12,500), and I was dealt 6♥ 6♣ UTG. The blinds were 100/200 and I raised to 475 chips. Three players called, including both blinds. The flop came Q♣ 6♠ 4♥ and the blinds checked to me. I bet 1,150 into the 1,900 chip pot, and only the SB called. The turn was the 8♥ and the SB checked again. I bet 2,300, and he called again. The river came the 2♦ and the SB jammed his remaining 5,900 chips into the pot. I was definitely surprised by his all-in and I sat back to think. We hadn't been at the table for long, but my impression of the SB was that he was a competent player. I had shown strength throughout the hand, and he still shoved in on me. So he wasn't expecting me to fold; he was expecting me to call.

So what could he have? He called from the SB, knowing already that the pot would be multiway. He then check-called the flop and turn. He would raise the flop with a strong queen or two pair, and he would have raised preflop with a big pair. And I don't think he shoves the river with a queen. A set of fours that he slowplayed was possible, but I felt like he would likely check-raise the turn with that hand. I spent about two minutes mulling my decision, which feels like an eternity at the table. A draw seemed like the most likely holding, and when I looked at the flop, both 7-5 and 5-3 flopped a straight draw. Unfortunately, BOTH of those draws got there.

Honestly, I was pretty convinced that I was beat, but I said out loud, "I'm just not good enough to fold this" as I tossed in my call. The SB showed 7♣ 5♣ for a turned straight, which decimated my stack and left me with only 3,100 chips. I would hang around for quite a while afterwards, but I never got back to a healthy chipstack, and I was eliminated in the middle stages of the tournament. My Dad would go on to bubble the tournament (finished 20th, and the tournament paid 18), so we both went home disappointed.

Hand #4 - Semi-bluffing Maniac - 3/24/2007 - $10 Deep Stack MTT - PokerStars

After cashing in my first Deep Stack tournament, I couldn't wait to play in another. Six weeks later, I finally had the opportunity. 951 players entered the tournament with 81 being paid. We had just made the money late in the sixth hour when this hand came up. With the blinds at 800/1600/75, I had 71,338 chips, good for 44BBs.

I was dealt J♥ T♥ in the CO seat and raised 3X to 4,800 chips. Falcon_CMH (189,904) was on the button and min 3-bet to 8,000. Being completely priced in, I called. My plan to tread carefully went out the window after the flop came K♣ Q♠ 6♦. I checked with my up-and-down straight draw and Falcon bet 10,600. Falcon was been aggressive to this point, so I decided to check-raise in the hopes of taking the pot down right there. I raised to 30,400, but Falcon called. The turn was the 4♠, and I realized that my only chance to win this pot and avoid losing over half of my stack was to shove my last 32,863 all-in right now. If he called, I could still catch an ace or a nine to win, but if I checked, Falcon would probably jam and force me to fold. Falcon went into his timebank, and I was sweating bullets. He finally folded and I boosted my stack to 112,738 chips! I would eventually lose a coin flip with A-T against 8-8 to bust in 20th place for $52.30.

My 15 Most Memorable Poker Hands (Part 5)

Hand #3 - Quick Change of Plans - 5/30/2019 - $500 Big 50 - 2019 WSOP Event #3

Right before the last break of Day 1 of the Big 50, I doubled a player up to drop my stack under 40,000 chips. I had recovered, winning some small pots to build my stack back up to 91,000 right before this critical hand occurred. We were early in Level 11, where the blinds were 2,000/3,000/3,000 BB ante.

I had played with the player immediately on my left all day long, and he was a very solid player. He played with a tight aggressive style indicative of someone with a lot of poker experience. He was UTG and raised to 8,000 chips. I wasn't really interested in tangling with him, but I looked down at 5♠ 5♦ in the BB, and I had to call for 5,000 more. The flop came 7♠ 5♣ 2♠, and I checked, while trying to hold in my excitement at flopping a set. He thought for a few seconds and bet 10,000 chips. I knew that I was calling immediately, but I feigned thinking for 20 seconds or so before calling.

The turn was the 2♦ to give me a full house. I again feigned thinking for a few seconds before checking, hoping for a bet from my opponent, so that I could raise and then bomb the river. My opponent thought for another 20 seconds or so, and then accommodated my wishes by betting 16,000 chips. Then, likely because of the tension and excitement that I was feeling, I let out an audible sigh that I instantly regretted. The old, "Oh no, woe is me, I raise" is always a monster hand, and my opponent seemed far too observant to fall for it. I knew that I must come up with a new plan immediately, so I sat and stared at him for almost a minute before tossing in the chips to call.

The river was the 3♣, which should not have changed anything. I felt betting would still sound off too many alarms, so I thought for 15 seconds or so and checked a third time. I was sitting there silently screaming at him to bet and I decided to try to stare him down as he mulled his decision. Usually, if a player is staring you down, he is hoping to to look intimidating to dissuade you from betting, and I hoped and believed that my opponent knew that and would read me as weak. Finally, after about two minutes of deliberation, my opponent said "All-in". I said call (a little too loudly) and flipped my hand up immediately. Afterwards, I felt a little bad about how exultant I must have sounded and looked, but there was no malice there. I was just excited. My opponent saw my hand, closed his eyes, exhaled in disappointment, and tossed his cards into the muck face down. He told me afterwards that he had a big hand (which I interpreted as a big pair), which I think is likely true. The monster pot boosted my stack to 181,000 and crippled a very good opponent in the process!

Hand #2 - Why Did it Have to be Jacks? - 5/26/2007 - $10 Deep Stack MTT - PokerStars

Around the midpoint of Level 8 (later half of the fourth hour) of my third Deep Stack, there were about 120 players or so remaining out of 903 runners (81 would be paid). I had been on the same table for almost two hours, and I was familiar with most of the players. The one exception was Azzes, who had moved to the table about fifteen minutes prior to this hand. He had been aggressive, but not wild.

With the blinds at 200/400/25, my stack was 23,912 (59BBs), third largest at the table. Azzes (32,897 chips) raised to 1,200 from the HJ and No Limit NL (26,245) called from the CO. I was in the BB with J♦ J♣, and I had a decision on my hands. Do I call or 3-bet? Being out of position after the flop against two good players sounded like a difficult spot, so I decided to 3-bet to 4,000 chips. I was hoping for both players to just fold (I should have raised more), but Azzes shocked me by shoving all-in! The CO folded, leaving me in a nasty spot. I had 19,887 chips left (Azzes had me covered) if I folded, which was still a very healthy stack. But the pot had 29,512 chips, so if I called and won my stack would be 49,399 chips. I only needed 40.2% equity to make calling correct, but if I lost the pot I was out of the tournament.

I burned through most of my time bank trying to decide what to do. Azzes was unlikely to be bluffing in this spot, though it was possible. In these Deep Stack tournaments, big preflop moves are less prevalent than they are in typical tournaments because there is far more time to acquire chips. Therefore, big moves are more likely to be big hands. I felt that I was in bad shape against A-A, K-K, or Q-Q most of the time, and even if he was getting out of line with A-K or A-Q, I was still only a coinflip for my tournament life. I typed into the chatbox "one time. I'll fold J J. next time I call", and then I folded. I wanted to make that comment to hopefully keep Azzes from deciding to try and run me over later in the tournament.

I thought that I was going to stress out about folding this hand afterwards, like I had missed a chance to get a big stack, but actually it felt kind of empowering. Like I wasn't obligated to go busto just because I had been dealt a big pair. I definitely felt that it was my best single decision of the tournament, and one of the reasons that I was able to finish in 2nd place.

Hand #1 - Is Everyone Losing Their Mind? - 8/9/2008 - $10 Deep Stack MTT - PokerStars

Fifteen months after my Deep Stack final table I entered yet another one. I had cashed in four of the five that I had entered, so I had plenty of confidence. I also got ahold of a lot chips early, with over 21,000 chips at the 50/100 level, so that didn't hurt. After that hot start, I treaded water for a couple hours. Around the three and a half hour point (3rd hand of Level 8) came this doozy of a hand.

With the blinds at 150/300/25, I had 25,821 chips, good for 86BBs. After three folds, mjs361 (4,689 chips) raised to 900 from the LJ seat. Immediately to his left, kellyjr (10,203 chips) 3-bet to 2,100 from the HJ. I was on the button with Q♠ Q♥. In a normal tournament, I would just jam all-in here and expect to have a net positive expectation in the hand. But as I have stated earlier, players are more careful with their chips before the flop in Deep Stack tournaments, so I decided to tread more carefully and only call against the preflop 3-bet.

Then, much to my surprise, Bemesis (21,995 chips) in the BB cold 4-bet to 5,400! I don't think this raise can be anything other than a monster hand. Both of the other players, mjs361 and kellyjr, then jammed all-in! Now the action was back on me. Actually, my decision was not all that difficult. I knew that my hand might be best once in a blue moon, but at least one of these guys had to have me beat the vast majority of the time. And my money was on Bemesis. But I had never folded a hand as strong as Q-Q preflop before, so it took me a minute to convince myself to just click the fold button

Finally, I did fold. Then, I saw why everyone was losing their mind. The first raiser and short stack, mjs held K♠ K♦. kellyjr, the 3-bettor (and 5-bet shover) had J♥ J♦. And Bemesis, the 4-bettor, had A♥ A♣. I felt like kellyjr may have been able to get away as well, but as it was, everyone had a monster. Of course the board ran out 9♥ 7♠ 4♥ 7♣ J♠, and kellyjr won the giant pot with the worst hand. At least the river was a jack and not a queen.

Unlike the last hand, this hand was not part of an amazing tournament run, as I ran pretty poorly and crashed out about 45 minutes later. First I lost a preflop all-in coinflip A-K < Q-Q for half of my chips. Then I lost a bit more when my J-J got beat by a flush (I folded the river). Then I got the rest of my chips in w/ A-6 on a board of A-A-K-5, but my opponent held A-T. The river was no help and I was out in 246th place, out of 1,097.