Final Table

So last night didn't really feel like playing cash games so I loaded up a small buy in donkament ($2+.25, lol). Recently I have been trying to focus on playing more agro in mtt's. I have always had good results in mtt's but often have an average or lower chip stack as things start getting deep. Last night I really tried to isolate bad players and just be aggressive.

Well, I made it to the final table 6th in chips and played well. During the tournament I never got my money in behind and twice lost enormous pots as a 2:1 favorite but because I had been playing agro and building my stack I was able to absorb the hits.

We got down to 3 people, I had 175k in the SB. BB had 180k and button had 365k. Button folds and I look down at Q5o. Yes it's a bad hand but blinds are 3k/6k, BB was weak and had been folding a lot, both preflop and flop. I raise to 15450 which had been my standard raise. Deep in mtt's you just don't need to raise more than 2.5 BB's. The BB called and the flop came 55A. Obviously great for me. I lead 13500 into about 31k for a couple reasons. If he has an A I want value and by betting so small, it looks weak and I may be able to get him to do something stupid. The BB reraises to 35k. I call and check a turn 8. At this point I have put in a third of my stack and I'm trying to figure out how to get the rest in. I think he will bet here often after reraising the flop. He fires 25k into almost a 100k pot. I decide his most likely holding is some sort of weak A and since he has committed so much already, he will call a shove. So, I shove and he snap calls. I was right, he had a weak A. Unfortunately it was A5, he flopped a boat. COOLER!

They ended up only playing about 3 hands HU and it was over. I feel I played well, would have been nice to win that pot and have the chip lead essentially HU. I have yet to win a big mtt online although I have finished 2nd and 3rd multiple times. My time will come I guess. Good news is I won a couple of my buy ins back from my downswing. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.