400 + Rebuy FPP Sunday Millions Satellite--OMG

[lwestatbus]

I just finished up a 400 FPP + Rebuy Sunday Millions Satellite and feel like I've been through the wringer--rode hard and put up wet--pick any folksy saying you want.

I'm pretty new to tournaments (at least in terms of number played) but this was like nothing I'd ever seen. I knew it was a rebuy and had read someone's (Harrington's) strategies on rebuying. But I didn't realize it was an unlimited rebuy or what the implications of that were.

The first hour, when the rebuy was in effect was amazing. All-In-Bust-Out-Rebuy was the order of the day. There would be three people all in and one would have NOTHING, one with something like pocket tens, and the other with something like KJ offsuit. Over and over. The pots were huge.

I THINK I finally figured out what was going on. People with a lot of FPP to burn were playing slot-machine poker attempting to position themselves with big chip stacks for the second hour--after the rebuy period was over. But the play was absolutely wild. But is really sharpened my senses also.*

I realized three things once I saw all the rebuys.

1. You didn't know how many chips someone had 'back' because you had no idea how many FPP they had and were willing to commit to the tourny.

2. Crafting a bet of the right size was meaningless. You could flop top pair good kicker and normally think I'm going to bet enough to take this guy off of whatever draw he has. But that didn't work here because the chips in front of a player weren't all he was playing with.

3. The value of your solid hands went up. I minraised with pocket AA, got two all-ins behind me (A-J and Ten-9 offsuit) and won a big pot and then called two all ins with AK suited for my second.

The end of the first hour only had about 20 of the original 100 players out of the tournament but 157 rebuys in the prize pool. I was actually in respectable chip position with about twice the average by virtue of two hands that I played 'normally' and won with.

Play after the first break was actually pretty reasonable for a while. There was one guy at our table whose only play was all in (I busted him later)but most was understandable.

Thiw wasn't listed as a turbo tournament (I don't think) but the blinds and antes went up fast. Play became much more wild as we got to 30 players (with 9 seats available). I was amazed at how many all in moves players with huge chip stacks were making until I saw how fast the blinds went up in the last part of the first hour. Lots of all ins from short stacks but that was pretty 'normal'.

That's it on how this tournament surprised me. The rest is just a brief recap of how I did.

I played conservatively after the first break and ended up in a situation where my chips had worn down but I had KQ suited with two all ins in front of me so I called (QQ and TT) and flopped a King that held up. The next hand gave me pocket aces and a lot of action that made me the chip leader pretty late in the tournament. I then got sucked into a pot with A9 offsuit in the big blind and a modest raise in front of me. I flopped an Ace but villain had pocket jacks and flopped a set. I called his all in and was down to an M of 2. Uh, oh. This was, I think, my biggest donk play of the tourny. I didn't NEED to be in that pot and there were a LOT of hands that could beat me.

By now we're down to under 20 players but my survival was in serious doubt. My first time in the blinds I had NOTHING and huge bets in front of me. OK, this is it--all in with any reasonable hand--but NO reasonable hands. Fold-Fold-Fold and I'm back in the big blind with 63 suited and only the small blind back and an all in in front of me. What the Hell--call and make trip sixes. I then doubled up again and then, as we were getting down into the 12 player range had a run of cards that was amazing. I became very aggressive, had the advantage of having stacks close to my (modest) stack to my left and was able to bully them and also busted a couple of people who called with Ax that didn't hold up.

Anyway, I ended up busting the last guy on the bubble and ended up in 3d chip position.

* One interesting thing about this particular tourny was that it was the first time I've been able to play a tournament in the morning instead of late at night. I could really tell the difference in my ability to focus and analyze.

[crack]

TLDR