ON THE BUTTON: Show Me the Money

I finally outdonkeyed them all. I only wish Mr. Calvin Ayre was there to put the Bodog bracelet on my wrist after beating a field of 455 players.

Nov. 2, 2006

By Nick Lanteri
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

My motto for online poker is, “low risk, high reward,” and it paid off in a big way on Oct. 22 in Bodog’s $4,500 guaranteed tournament, a $10+1 buy-in event. First place that Saturday night earned me $1,130. I’ve navigated through a lot of big fields and made a lot of final tables both at online and land-based casinos during the past three years, but this was the first time where it all came together for me at the very end. And of course it didn’t come without a few incredibly lucky moments down the stretch, including the suck out of my life.

I finally got heads-up around 5:20 a.m. against a tough player with the screen name dayzdnconfused, a 34-year-old from Kentucky named Simon, who played great poker at this final table and put himself into position to win the tournament. He had more than a 4.5-to-1 lead in chips to start heads-up play. However, the cards wouldn’t allow him to finish me off after I was all-in as his A-Q was outflopped by my K-10. Later, my 7-7 flopped a set against his K-Q to give me the chip lead for the first time. I was dealt pocket aces on the very next hand, and he put all his money in and my hand held up against his K-6.

As you will see below, I have detailed every key hand from start to finish, because it is important to understand the effectiveness of building a chip stack in the first hour of these multi-tournaments when blinds are low, with very loose play before the flop in order to snap off opponents’ big hands. And later on when the blinds start to get high to switch gears and play a tight game, but continuing to be very aggressive when dealt good starting hands.

The following is a look in real time at some of the key hands that helped Nick along the way. The tournament began at 1 a.m. EST and lasted until 5:34 a.m. The numbers in parentheses represent Nick's starting chip count followed by the ending chip count after the hand was over. Also included are hand numbers for verification, so you can search the hand details for yourself. Nick's screen name is naldnj94. Feel free to send Nick feedback on any hands that were played (or on any other issues in poker), and Bodog Nation will publish your comments along with Nick's response in a future mailbag.

HAND NUMBER - 410366330

1:03 a.m. - I am dealt Q,Q ($1,470/2,945) and the blinds are at 5/10. I get pocket queens dealt in the small blind on just the fourth hand of the tournament. There is a raise to $35, then a re-raise to $60 by ddavid12, who is holding pocket 10s. I re-raise it pre-flop to 205, and only ddavid12 calls. I bet out $275 after a rainbow flop of 2,5,9. ddavid12 pushes all-in for $1,200. I call the all-in, don’t get unlucky on the turn or river, and get my first double up very early in the tournament.

HAND NUMBER - 410378109

1:13 a.m. - I hold 9c,4c (3,180/3,520). Level two, blinds are now at 10/20. I continue to limp in every hand, and this time is no exception as the flop is rags. We’re five players to the flop in an unraised pot, and the flop is 2c,4h,9h, which gives me the top two pair on the board. Papeetee in the small blind has 9,5 in the hole and he bets out $60, I pop it up to $140, and Papeetee calls the raise. The turn is a Qs and is checked to me. I bet $120 and Papeetee calls. The river is a Kc, we both check and I win a nice-sized pot ($620).

HAND NUMBER - 410415386

1:46 a.m. - I hold Q,Q (4,400/7,360). The blinds are level three at 20/40. First position calls, second position raises to $120, third position calls $120, fourth folds, then I make it $340 to go. Everyone folds to chipstack515, who calls $40 in first position, and now re-raises to $520 with Kh,10h (donkey alert). It folds to me and I just call with two players to the flop, which is Jc,8h,Qc. I have flopped a set of Queens. Chipstack515 immediately pushes all-in for $2,035, and of course I call, but chipstack515 has eight outs with an open-ended straight draw. He then picks up a flush draw and many more outs when the turn is a 6h. Now any 9 or Ace on the river, or any heart that doesn’t pair the board will beat me and cripple my chip stack. The river card is a harmless 7c.

HAND NUMBER - 410427521

1:58 a.m. - I hold A,A (6,970/9,940). The blinds are level five at 30/60 with two minutes left before the first break. I wake up with pocket aces in early/second position. Limp Alert! Cvccc calls $60 in first position and I smooth call in second position because there has been a lot of pre-flop raising at this table. Sure enough, 13mayo13 raises to $120 in third position, Glyphbane calls in middle position, rc1313 calls on the button, the blinds fold, then cvccc calls the $60 and the action is back to me. After limping, I now pop it to $680, and 13mayo13 immediately calls, followed by Glyphbane, who decides to push all-in for his last $1,200 (with 8s,10s, ugh). I call $580 more and so does 13mayo13. The flop is 9c,10h,2h and I go all-in as fast as I can, hoping 13mayo13 will get the hint that I’m holding aces. 13mayo13 folds, and it’s just me and Glyphbane, who has five outs but once again I do not get unlucky as the board shows 9-10-2-2-7 and my pocket aces hold up. Though it’s dangerous to limp in early position with pocket aces, I increased my chip stack by 40 percent.

HAND NUMBER - 410500401

3:13 a.m. - I hold 9,9 ($14,045/$23,870) with level 11, blinds at 200/400, and a $50 ante. After an hour of staying out of trouble but winning enough small pots to continue building my chip stack, I am dealt pocket 9s and I just call in middle position. Four players to the flop, which comes 9h,8s,7h giving me a set of 9s on what is a scary flop. Poutso, who started the hand with $8,000, is in the small blind and bets out $1,520 into a $2,050 pot. My next move is an easy decision for me because I can’t fold this hand and I sure can’t slowplay it in case he is on a draw, so I push all-in. Poutso calls holding 7,8 (bottom two pairs), which couldn’t be better for me, and the board ends up 9-8-7-3-6 and I win the pot.

HAND NUMBER - 410563952

4:37 a.m. - Twelve players are left.

I hold 10d,Kd ($22,970/$48,640) with level 17 blinds at 1,500/3,000, and $300 ante. We need three more players out to get to the final table, and I am tired and nodding off from all the stallers. I am now well below the chip-stack average, which is around $55,000. For the first time since we made the money (45 players cashed) I am all-in with K-10 suited on the button after it folds to me. BreadWinner (chip count of just 23,000) is in the big blind and he is taking a long time to decide. He gets close to timing out and I am feeling safe until he calls with A-8 offsuit. This is the first time all night I’m all-in with the worst hand, but I’m only a slight dog (45 percent against 55 percent). Luckily, I outflop BreadWinner when the flop comes rainbow 10,3,9 and the turn and river are no help to my opponent, who only has $235 left and is busted a few hands later.

HAND NUMBER - 410565150

4:39 a.m. - Getriveredof10 is all-in pre-flop for $9,230 with A-8 suited and both getriveredof10 and BreadWinner are knocked out on same hand when LoganLeroy ($40,000 chips) calls with K,J offsuit and wins the pot on a board of K-Q-J-6-3. The double knockout finally gets us to the final table with just eight players remaining.

HAND NUMBER - 410568255

4:43 a.m. - xXshagXx was the first one out at the final table when he overplayed his 7,7. Remember, the biggest payouts come at the final table and that is where you must be willing to lay hands down, such as low or middle pocket pairs.

After two more players busted out, I was left severely short-stacked.

Obviously, it was going to take a miracle or two for me to win this tournament, being on such a short stack with five players left. And, for me, a miracle is exactly what happened:

HAND NUMBER - 410577191

4:58 a.m. - Blinds at 3,000/6,000. I’m first to act with 10-8 suited, so I push all-in for $27,840, but both the big stacks call in the blinds. It doesn’t look good after a flop of Q-3-K, and it looks even worse when icon2 bets out $42,000. He’s got K-J for top pair, and I’m typing "gg everyone" in the chat field. But the turn is an 8, and the river is an 8! Wow, a suckout that even Aaron Kanter would be proud of! I now have $84,000 when I should have been out fifth and collected $277. It would be 11 minutes until another player busted out.

HAND NUMBER - 410583420

5:09 a.m. (BUST OUT No. 4) - Blinds at 4,000/8,000. I pick up A-6 at a short table in first position and only raise once over the blind (had I pushed all-in here, I never would have won this tournament). Dayzdnconfused, holding Q-Q, just smooth calls. Fourunder333, in the small blind, calls off $12,000 more with 7-10 suited. Icon2, now the short stack, is all-in in the big blind, which will create sidepot action. The flop is 10-10-Q, giving dayzdnconfused a boat, queens full. He bets out $50,000, I fold, and fourunder333 raises it to $100,000. Dayzdnconfused re-raises all-in and wins a massive pot of more than $300,000.

HAND NUMBER - 410586091

5:14 a.m. - RobAg pushes all-in for $33,000 with Ad,6d but is called by dayzdnconfused, who has his opponent dominated with Ah,8d. A board of 7h,10h,2h,2d,Qh gives dayzdnconfused a heart flush and RobAg is out in fourth place for more than $300.

HAND NUMBER - 410586687

5:15 a.m. - Three players are left, dayzdnconfused has the chip lead at $407,000; fourunder333 has $150,000 and naldnj94 has $124,000. Blinds are at 6,000/12,000 with $1,200 antes. In the blinds dayzdnconfused is holding 9,Q and fourunder333 is holding 9,10. After a small raise, they see a flop of 5-5-A and they both check it. The turn is a Q, but dayzdnconfused checks his Queen, and fourunder333 tries to buy the pot by pushing all-in for 113,000. Dayzdnconfused calls immediately and he knocks out fourunder333 in third place. Fourunder333 collects $470.

HEADS-UP PLAY

It doesn’t look good for me when we start heads-up because dayzdnconfused owns a 4.5-to-1 lead in chips.

Dayzdnconfused: $559,060

Naldnj94: $123,440

HAND NO. 7 HEADS-UP (410590689)

5:23 a.m. - I double up from $109,040 to $218,080 after I am dealt 10,K offsuit. My opponent is crafty and just limps in with A,Q. I raise the bet to about three times the blind, and dayzdnconfused re-raises me all-in. I call and see the bad news, but at least I have two live cards. The board comes 7-K-8-9-4 and I have still have a chance.

HAND NO. 31 HEADS-UP (410594892)

5:33 a.m. - I’m down to $188,000 in chips when I get 7,7 with the blinds at 8,000/16,000. I’m first to act and so I raise the bet four times the big blind, and my opponent re-raises all-in. “It’s a race,” I think to myself, and I call. My opponent has K,Q suited spades. A 7-high flop gives me a set and I go up to $365,000 chips, handing me the lead for the first time in our heads-up match.

HAND NO. 32 HEADS-UP (410595213)

5:34 a.m. - The very next hand I pick up pocket Aces! What an easy game. My opponent raises it up, and I decide to just push all-in because it is very, very late, or early when you consider that the sun was starting to rise. dayzdnconfused calls with K-6 offsuit, and he is drawing dead on the river on a board of Q-4-2-10-9. Show me the money!

SWEET IRONY

Winning a tournament with pocket aces couldn’t be sweeter for me because I’ve been losing in cash games and live tournaments since the summer with "the rockets". Oh, I also lost with Aces full of queens in a Bodog Poker multi-tournament on Oct. 14 to a royal flush! Go to Account & Preference, and do a search on hand number 401104417. See for yourself, being Bodog Nation's poker columnist doesn't give me any breaks at the table.

PHOTO: Nick Lanteri at his computer where he won $1,130 in a late night Bodog Poker tournament. (Photo courtesy of the writer)

Nick Lanteri is a freelance writer based in Long Island, N.Y.