More Day 1

100/200 25 ante 4550 in chips

I began this level trying to be somewhat tight, but no where near as tight as in the 100/200 no ante level. I was still eyeing the next level as my huge gear change. However, I did want to get up to bare minimum 7K on this level so I would have a little wiggle room for the 200/400 level.

1) HJ 99, I raise to 500, seat 10 in the BB calls
T84, check I bet 700 he calls
A, check I bet 1200 he calls, this was the perfect card to fire again because he may fold a better hand than mine now. Once he called I was not "bluffing" again
8, check check (what an awful river card), however he refuses to turn over his cards and says "any pair is good," I was very relieved to take this one down. Had I lost I would have been down to just over 2K, but with the win I jumped up to 7200

I fold the next 20 hands
2) CO 55, Edler UTG limp, I limp as do both blinds
Q44, checks to me, I bet 500 and all fold
3) next hand HJ JJ, Carlos and seat 3 both limp (chronic limpers), I raise to 900 all fold (7900)
4) BUT A7d, raise to 500 blinds fold
5) CO T6d, 1 limper, I limp (loosely), SB (very tight) raises to 1100 and all fold

I ended this level at 7500 and I only played 5 hands the entire level winning 4 of them, I established a nice tight image, and despite my chip count, I was looking very forward to the next level. Bill Edler got eliminated on the last hand of the level which also paved the way for me. I planned on coming in to the 200/400 level in gear 4 or 5. It was my do or die time.

200/400 50 ante 7500 in chips

1) UTG KJd, I raise to 1100, seat 10 calls from the HJ
(AJ5h) check check, I shutdown on this flop unless something changes drastically because seat 10 wasn't going anywhere w/ alot of hands
Kh, check check
x, check check, he wins with 9(9h), I may have been able to take this one down at some point, but against this guy it was not a guarantee by any means.
2) next hand BB J7, Carlos limps in HJ, SB completes, I check
AJ6, check I bet 700 all fold
3) next hand SB 43d, Carlos limps, seat 3 limps, I raise to 2K, only Carlos calls (he had done this some already and folded the flop if didn't hit anything) he has about same as me left (4500)
(93s)2d, I shove he gives a disgusted look and folds. This hand was classic Carlos, limp call (or fold) almost a third of his stack and fold on the flop. It was a risky but calculated play that shot me up to over 10K. I wasn't going to shove any flop against him. Some I would check because I know he isn't betting with air behind me. If he then checked behind, i would probably shove most turns at that point.
4) MP A9, raise to 1100, very loose 10 seat in SB calls
632, check, I bet 1200, he folds - 12,300
5) UTG KK, I raise to 1100, tight BB calls,
(AJh)x, check, I bet 1200 and he folds - 13,700

Chad 'LilHoldem' Batista sits down in seat 9 with @ 30K in chips for the recently eliminated Bill Edler. I was not happy to see this because I felt it would completely change the dynamics of the table and my ability to control it.

6) SB AA (2nd hand after Chad sits down), UTG, 2nd, and Chad in 3rd all limp, I raise to 2800 to try to look like a squeeze in the hopes Chad might try to make a move if the UTG or 2nd have nothing. However, everyone folded - 16,000

Chad loses a 35K pot and is now down to 8K (sweet!!!)

7) MP AQs, Carlos limps UTG, I raise to 1500, he just calls leaving himself 1800
852, he checks, I decide to shove him in because I actually have a decent amt of fold equity against him here as strange as that may sound. He definitely doesn't know what a stop 'n' go is.
However, he calls with a very upset look on his face with......................AKd?!?!?! He takes down the pot after completely "outplaying" me by getting me to shove with the inferior hand :) - 12K
8)SB 54, UTG and Carlos limp, I complete, and BB checks
K(QJd) checks around
7d I bet 1200 only UTG calls (he was fairly tight), I bet because I thought I could easily take it down. When the UTG called I was definitely double barreling it as long as no diamond came on the river
4 I bet 3000 he insta folds
9) BUT QT (next hand), I raise to 1100, BB calls (same guy from last hand)
Q54, check check
9d, 2nd diamond, he leads for 1400, I call
2d, check check, he shows JT and I take it down - 17,500 I maybe should have bet the river, but I felt there wasn't alot of value and if he had two pair he wasn't folding
10) HJ 66, Carlos limps, I limp (Chad in BB), BUT raises to 2K and all fold
11) UTG KJc, I raise to 1100, Chad pushes for 4850, it folds back to me. I am pretty sure I am calling but I ask for a count. I know Chad usually isn't very light in this situation, but he has been tilting big time so I open his range up a tad. I have to call 3750 and the pot is 3300. I make the semi reluctant must call. He has AQ and the board runs out AK6TQ. My rivered straight takes it down - 22,700

Unfortunately our table now breaks. I made the most out of it though and got myself back into the tourney.

12) SB 33, 2 limpers, I complete
986, checks to button, he bets and all fold
13) MP AK, I raise to 1100 and all fold on the last hand of the level

I will give you the seating arrangement in the next post. I end this level at 22,500. I won 9 of the 13 hands I played, and tripled up during the level. I couldn't have hoped for much more.

On to the countdown of the Indiana Main Event "Best" Hands. Here comes the wildly anticipated top 10:

In at #10: This occurred on Day 2 with about 14-16 or so players remaining. We were playing the 1000/2000 300 ante level. The CO raised to 6K. I had played with this guy from late on day 1 all the way through to this point. On day 1 he did little if any reraising, and seemed to not make many big plays. It folds to the BB. This guy was bad. He will be in some of my other top hands, and was a guy I was trying to trap as much as possible for a big pot. However, up to this point he didn't bludgeon much preflop; it was all post. He shoves for around 40K. Before the chips even get pushed in, the CO has snap called about 40% of his chips off. The BB flips over 98h and must have been thinking he needed to hit something decent, but the cutoff proudly flips over 22!!!!! What a "brilliant" "tough" call he made. Unfortnately for him, he is actually a slight dog. Once the 8 hit on the flop it was all but over. He lost the rest off his chips a couple hands later on a semi decent move that didn't work out. All in all, he went from his avg chip stack of 100k to out in a matter of half a round.

In at #9: Like one of yesterday's hands, this one involves both players making poor plays. The surprising thing here - one of the players is Bill Edler. On the last hand of the 100/200 25 ante level, it folds to Bill in the CO and he shoves for 5K. That's right, he shoved for 25 BB's. The BB was sitting on around 35K and instacalled. The hands: Bill KJ, BB 33. Bill lost the race and probably immediately left town for his next tourney.