World Heads Up Poker Championship 2005

Just won a seat to the World Heads Up Poker Championship 2005 at Stans Poker via a freeroll. WOOOOOOOHOO!

Before the tourney began I felt very confident, Zen and the Art of Poker has really helped me get my poker back on track.

Built my stack up early then had to start again from scratch after my opponent called my bluff. KEY HAND 1: I managed to triple up when I was dealt Aces on the SB. The button went all in, I called and the cut-off, who was also in the pot, called too.

I noticed "lynx500" at my table playing pretty good and I was keeping a close eye on him. When we got to the final table I was one of the big stacks and so was lynx500. The other dangerous oppenents were "shergar01" and "I_hate_river".

When we got to the first break on the final table, I was looking to clear my head but I was playing another tourney so I didn't quite manage to do that. Ended up playing abysmally up to the next break and resulting in me being short stacked 4-handed. KEY HAND 2: was when I called shergar01's all in with KJo. My first instinct was to fold, but I had him covered and decided to take a shot hoping I had at least two overcards. I really wanted to take it down to 3 handed asap. The plan backfired since he had KK and now I was in danger of going out 4th.

Thankfully, the break came at just the right time and I was able to regain my "Zen".

Nursed my short stack back to a reasonable level mainly thanks to KEY HAND 3: when I tripled up with AK v QQ v AK(who folded on the flop) and at one point we all had about the same stack. When "I_hate_river" was knocked out in 4th place and it became 3 handed I felt I had an edge.

My BB was respected by shergar01 sitting directly to my right for a few orbits and his stack started to dwindle. Unfortunately, he then went on a rush where he won a lot of pots consecutively and his stack was almost back up to my level. During that time I wisely folded KJ and A7 to his all in raises. KEY HAND 4: folding that A7 was critical since I was in the BB and he raised all in from the SB. I mucked after thinking for a while during which time I almost called. I didn't and he showed AJ. The mistake I made in KEY HAND 2 really helped me to focus on putting my chips in better spots.

Making great laydowns is all well and good, but I knew I had to put a stop to his run... in KEY HAND 5: he raised my BB for the 3rd consecutive time. I look down to find 73os and reraised more than half his stack.....he folded! Phew! I showed to rattle him a bit.

That move was the turning point. shergar01 busted out next and it was now heads up between me and lynx500 who had a slightly chip advantage. I had picked up that he was calling slighty too much but it had been working for him throughout the tournament. Heads up though, I was able to use this against him and I built a 2:1 chip lead.

My strategy in order to bust him was to build a big pot and get him to call me all the way down. In KEY HAND 6: lynx500 raised the min on the SB I called with Q2s. I hit top pair and a flush draw. I bet he calls. I hit my flush on the turn and make quite a large bet- he calls. River is a blank, but by now he is almost pot committed. I am pretty sure he will call any bet at this point and rather than making a smaller bet to make 100% sure I am called - I bet enuff to bust him. He calls with his top pair and I can't believe I have won! :)


World Heads Up Freeroll Results.

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