Timor83 wins nearly $600!

He finished second in a tournament on PartyPoker and defeated 913 opponents. Find out more about our Gold member and how he did throughout the tournament.

Puschkin81: Congratulations Timor83 for finishing 2nd and winning $594.75! Could you please introduce yourself?
Timor83: I'm a 24 year old political sciences student from Belgium. Some would describe me as an eternal student which is exaggerated but not entirely incorrect, because I already did information sciences as well and going to take up economics next year. I'm just too lazy to get a job, I guess 😉 . I like to hang out with friends at a bar, going out, fitness and soccer. And playing poker, of course.

Puschkin81: I studied political science as well and I won't tell you when I finished 😉 How long have you been a member of PokerStrategy?
Timor83: I've been a member since June. Without wanting to suck up, I can really guarantee to beginners here that studying the articles and posting hands improves your game a whole lot. Still, I'd like to see some more tournament-oriented stuff, but I heard it's on his way. I'm looking forward to it, because there are still some leaks in my tournament-game.

Puschkin81: Thanks for sucking up! 😀 No, seriously: I totally I agree with you that studying the articles and posting hands improves your game a lot. Which tournament did you play?
Timor83: I played the 6$ Regular at Partypoker with 915 entrants, with about 4500$ in the prize pool.

Puschkin81: Sounds like a long journey. You won $594.75. How does it feel to finish second in this tournament?
Timor83: It feels quite good, because at that moment I had lost about 500$ in cash games the last 2 days, after a huge upswing which made me burst through 2 limits in 3 weeks. More than the money (which was also nice, of course) I needed the affirmation that I was actually not only getting lucky, but also good enough to consistently beat the game.

Puschkin81: What about Lady Luck in this tournament?
Timor83: I indeed got lucky a few times, which is always necessary if you want to finish high in a tournament, but all in all, I think I played my best tournament until now. I've played a lot of them, but it's the first time I actually win a significant prize. Usually I get kicked out before the real prizes get distributed. Finally getting somewhere was really self-fulfilling.

Puschkin81: How did you do throughout the tournament. Can you describe some decisive hands?
Timor83: I started of excellent, quintripling (or whatever that's called) up with KK and AA within the first 10 hands through some fishy but very aggressive players who called all-ins pre flop with AQ and 77.
After that, I had to sit out a long stretch of trash hands, until a game where I was in the BB and flopped top & bottom pair, but someone reraised me all in with his middle pair. I called, but of course the guy makes his higher two pair on the turn and it brought me to half my original stack, just about average. I struggled to keep even with the increasing blinds in the next 2 hours to come, and I was nearly shortstacked (12BB's) when a decisive hand appeared to me, which launched for a streak of good cards and good flops. I raised in late position with KQ, and I get a call from the BB. I hit a K on the flop together with 2 low cards, so I bet, and my opponent check-raises all in. I call of course (it wasn't really that much anyway), he shows his pocket 99 and I doubled up. I'm still wondering: what was this guy thinking?
Anyway, that brought me back to a healthy stack, and things only got better when I got moved to a table where I had nearly everyone covered.

Puschkin81: Which tactic did you have when you reached the final table?
Timor83: When I reached the final table, I was about 4th or 5th in stack size. I've been at a lot of final tables at 11$ Party SnG's with 50 players, so you might think that I'd be confident about my game, but I found myself quite nervous when so much money was at stake. Still, I played normally tight aggressive: never called raises with marginal hands, stole some blinds when the oppurtunity arose, and fortunately, the cards were cooperating when I did get a call. I'm usually quite aggressive at a final table when I'm first in, because I really like to win and not just finish 5th or 4th.
I find that many players cramp up in this stage, especially the average stacks, so targetting them is a good formula for succes. Also, I almost never limp unless I'm really big stacked. Limping signifies weakness, and you're bound to be sure someone is coming after you with a raise, which puts you in the defense. I had the luck that my raises were respected because every time I went to a showdown, I actually had the best hand, so I exploited that. I pulled up to 2nd stack.

Puschkin81: Well done. What did you do with that big stack?
Timor83: Then, perhaps the most decisive and strangest thing happened: The big stack, who still had doubled my chip count, started calling my raises. Perhaps he felt that his huge chiplead was at stake when I kept increasing my chip count at this pace. It turned out very bad for him.
I raised with an A9 from late position after a limper, the big stack in the BB called, and the limper called. Flop came: AAJ I made a standard continuation bet because there were 2 diamonds and a straight draw possible, big stack called and limper folded. The turn brought 2. Big stack checks, I bet again. He miniraises me, and I call. The river 6 made a diamond flush possible. The big stack lead out for a near pot sized bet, about half my stack! Though I really couldn't fold here, I was almost going to. After all, what could he have that could justify this betting pattern? Could it be possible that he had an Ace with a better kicker, a flush, or even a full house? After a long period of thinking (thank god for time banks :-)) I decided to call. The miniraise on the turn ruled out the flush, and if he had a full house, c'est la vie. However, he turned over a stone cold bluff, J7.
It made him nearly shortstacked and put me in a huge chip lead. Everyone at the table was stunned with what happened, including me. 5 hands later he moved all in with some trashy hand, and got knocked out 8th or so.

Puschkin81: You are a luckbox 😀 because in this spot you only beat a bluff and a weaker ace which didn't hit the kicker for a full house. But as you said before: Sometimes you have to get lucky 😉 What was going on after this key hand and the crazy guy finished 8th?
Timor83: I could relax and pick my spots. I had nearly 70BB's in my stack, so no need to get involved illegitimately between the all in wars of the shorter stacks. Eventually, when we were down to 3, I noticed that the shortstack made all in resteals quite often, making him pull back gradually. As a big stack, I couldn't let that happen. So one hand, I looked at A6 on the button and raised 3xBB, already anticipating that the shortstack would move all in. He did, and I called. He showed T4 and my Ace high hand held up, so I went heads up having a moderately big lead, about 1.5:1.

Puschkin81: How was the heads-up play? And what about the final hand?
Timor83: The final hand was rather unlucky. My opponent and I were about equal in chip size, him having a slight advantage, though he was not really aggressive and a little predictable. Me on the other hand, I'm usually quite aggressive, especially in position. Cards didn't really matter that much at that point to me, I played my opponent's hands.
My opponent completed his SB, and me, playing my usual game, looked at a fine 79 and raised it up to 3xBB, because usually when he limped, it meant exactly what it seemed like, a moderately weak hand. My opponent called, and the flop came 7, 3, 7. Jackpot! I made a standard continuation bet, and to my surprise, my opponent reraises. Probably he thought that the flop couldn't have helped me. I moved all in. He called, showing TT. Nice! I could see myself already winning the pot and the tournament, but the turn card showed T for a winning full house. Sick, yes, but getting so lucky prior in the tournament made me relativate the whole thing immediately. It were, after all (partially) the cards that brought me to 2nd place. So, I took a beer to celebrate.

PokerStrategy: Thank you very much Timor83 and congratulations again for winning $594.75!

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