Curtom takes 3rd in Pokerstars $5.50 (360 player) Tournament

My hot streak continues as I made another Final Table yesterday. My play has been great and my hands are holding up and that is the key. No new changes to my game or anything but the tweaks I made a while back remain in place and very effective.

This tourney started with me doubling up on a flush. After that it was pretty much every time I got my chips in I was doubling up. One guy re-raised me pre-flop while I was holding [A][A] and he had [7][7] and was not about to fold. You gotta love that. These might have been the easiest chips I have ever won to get to a Final Table.

lol

Seriously, the last eighteen players were tough and one in particular was very frustrating because he was both aggressive and sitting to my left. He finally got busted a little later on by the eventual winner. Other than him I pretty much had everyone at my Final Table pegged and they responded accordingly. I kept my stack up by stealing a lot of blinds and abandoned pots.

The last three players were very good. We all had a very good read on each other so no one got too out of line. Finally, with about $110k left I picked up [9][9] in the Big Blind. The button raised me three times. I re-raised all in. I had him covered and he is holding [A][Q].

The flop comes [A][Q][x] [x] [x]

That was the end of me or so I thought. I still had 17k left and mounted a come back up to $120k and back into second place. A few more hands transpired and I pick up [6][6] on the button and raise when the action folds to me. I get re-raised all in by [K][Q] and I insta-called.

I know I gotta win a big race at some point so why not now? If this hand holds I am in excellent chip shape against the chip leader heads-up. I played it to win it!

The flop came [X][X][Q] [X][X]

Off to the rail I go. Overall, I played the tourney well and was rewarded for it. One more race would have helped but that’s how it goes. No regrets.