Sunday satellites. Feelin good.

I played in two $13 DS satellites to the Pokerstars $500 month end tourney tonite. First one I busted on the first table fairly early which was too bad because I went on a roller coaster ride at the the end. From $1000 in chips to over $4000 and the chip lead and then two tough beats all in preflop the last being AK vs A8 and suddenly I was out. But I really felt if I had won that hand I very well could have won the table going away. I had them making bad calls. Oh well. The second satellite was a dream, it really started to click for me and I had the big breakthru. My play was solid. I waited for my opportunities and struck. Built small chip leads and by the time I got heads up I was about even with my opponent.
To be honest I made a very marginal call to get to heads up in the end of the three handed session that had gone on for awhile. However it had become a real push fest and both I and the other short stackboth only had about 2400 chips with 300/600 blinds and 5 minute levels. It was getting ugly fast. So when I picked up K9 in the BB I was ready to push in. The short stack pushed for me and I called. He showed J6o and the board blanked.

So when I got heads up I wanted to slow down the pace a bit. With about 6000 in chips it was time to make min raises and try to steal pots without committing all of it. The strategy paid off quicker than I could have hoped for as it took just 4 hands. The final hand of the table really was a dream hand. My opponent calls the BB and I check my hand 24o!!! Wow a free flop. Wouldnt you know it the board comes K 2 2. Fantastic flop for me. I couldnt believe it. As I was acting first I quickly checked. The quick check without hesitation is key here. I dont want him seeing me 'think' . I want to play very weak. If I hesitate it could be a tell that I have something I'm slowplaying. Which of course I am. But I don't want to throw out that tell. There arn't many tells in online poker but hesitation especially in headsup play definately can be. my opponent bets the minimum $600 and I smooth call him. Now this is where I'm really proud of the way I played the hand. The 6c drops on the turn. And I check again. This time with only the slightest hesitation. Probably imperceptible and he bets $1200. Now hes stuck in $2400 of his stack or about about 40%. He could still get away on the river so I now I really hesitate and 'think' and min raise him another $1200 and he just calls! My hesitation is just for effect. There is no way I want him getting away. I put him on either a big K and he is trying to string me along too or a pocket pair bigger than a 6. At least I'm hoping for that. The river is great for that scenario as it comes 7d and the board is K 2 2 6 7. Instead of checking the river I push the remaining 1800 chips in front of me and he is just allin when he calls. He shows his Pocket Jacks and that is that. So instead of pushing me off my big blind preflop which of course I would have folded he fell into a huge trap that really he could have mucked when the King flopped. By getting him to commit chips first on the flop and turn I was able to get him allin on the river with my trip deuces. By that time he really couldnt get away from the hand as there were way too many chips in the pot.....

As for the seat to the $500 Sunday tourney. Forget it. I withdrew from it for the $530 in tourney money instead. Once my $T bankroll is more robust then maybe I will think about playing in them. Until then not a chance. That's it for now. DonJ