best. game. ever.

I just won a 50K SnG and it feels like the WSOP.

Going in I felt like my biggest challenge at the high buy-in tables was that I was playing so tight that I was ending up short-stacked once I made the final table. It put me in good position to cash but not to win. I played a lot more hands this time out, and once I got to the final table in second place, I was able to use my chip advantage to win a lot of pots preflop with crap cards. It was a really tight table and I was often able to push everyone out by raising one bet, plus I didn't lose much when someone did have a hand.

The tide really turned on the following hand. I want to preserve this one for the ages:

PokerStars Game #2406921258: Tournament #11661971, Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2005/08/23 - 19:15:18 (ET)
Table '11661971 2' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: jaelpa (3760 in chips)
Seat 3: mentalmadnes (2925 in chips)
Seat 5: mathers (4565 in chips)
Seat 8: JeffRose (15355 in chips)
Seat 9: BubbaPearse (13895 in chips)
jaelpa: posts the ante 50
mentalmadnes: posts the ante 50
mathers: posts the ante 50
JeffRose: posts the ante 50
BubbaPearse: posts the ante 50
BubbaPearse: posts small blind 300
jaelpa: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JeffRose [Jc Qc]
mentalmadnes: folds
mathers: folds
JeffRose: calls 600
BubbaPearse: calls 300
jaelpa: checks
*** FLOP *** [Kc Tc Ac]

(Fireworks start going off in my head. I must extract as many chips as possible, like water from a rock. Slow play is called for.)

BubbaPearse: checks
jaelpa: checks
JeffRose: checks
*** TURN *** [Kc Tc Ac] [Ad]
BubbaPearse: bets 600

(We've got a live one! Let's see if we can reel him in.)

jaelpa: folds
JeffRose: raises 600 to 1200
BubbaPearse: calls 600

(So far, so good.)

*** RIVER *** [Kc Tc Ac Ad] [Js]
BubbaPearse: checks

(How much will he call?)

JeffRose: bets 1200
BubbaPearse: calls 1200

(Sweet.)

*** SHOW DOWN ***
JeffRose: shows [Jc Qc] (a Royal Flush)
BubbaPearse: shows [Ts Jd] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
JeffRose collected 6850 from pot
jaelpa said, "vnh"
BubbaPearse said, "ha"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6850 | Rake 0
Board [Kc Tc Ac Ad Js]
Seat 2: jaelpa (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 3: mentalmadnes folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: mathers folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: JeffRose (button) showed [Jc Qc] and won (6850) with a Royal Flush
Seat 9: BubbaPearse (small blind) showed [Ts Jd] and lost with two pair, Aces and Jacks

I never had a Royal Flush before! Even with wild cards in home games. If you have the opportunity I highly recommend it.

I took a couple of big pots from the same guy and started manhandling the four remaining players with my chip lead - raising almost everything preflop. Busted two guys in a row and had a 10:1 lead over the last one standing. It took seven hands to take him out.

For all of the notes I take, I haven't really been referring to them much. A couple of times tonight I made mental notes about betting patterns and used them to my advantage later. Occasionally I will get into a situation where I need to make a decision for all of my chips and I certainly appreciate having something to go on. Tonight, I was pretty much playing by gut feel. I was in the zone.

Current balance: 618,585. I will now play 1,933 300+20 tournaments in a row. :)