November was a crap month for me online. My bankroll which had been up over $600 earlier in the year had plateaued for a while and was now dwindling ever lower. When looking at my OPR stats, they weren't that different to my good months, the only things were that I wasn't getting quite the same late % and wasn't getting the same number of wins. I had just one win in October and none in November.
Thankfully, the drought broke for me last week when I won a 45 man game. It was only a $1 buy-in so the cash pay-out wasn't that great but it was a win nonetheless and it was nice to win a heads-up battle again. Not just that, this win was special for the way it happened.
At level 9 with the blinds at 300/600 my stack had dwindled down to just 1800 and basically on life-support. Our table was down to just 5 players and we had a chip-monster who was basically just doing as he wished. He limped from early position, I had ace queen and shoved and with his stack he had no problem calling, turning over 7, 8 suited. He flopped a flush draw, I thankfully found an ace on the turn and just had to fade another diamond on the river which I did. I didn't know it at the time but this monster would be where all my chips would come from.
I survived through to the final table but had just 5 big blinds and there was just one stack shorter than mine. I needed to make top 7 to get paid and if I didn't get a hand quickly I had no shot of winning and I would have to just focus on cashing. I was however completely card-dead and rarely saw picture cards let alone something I could push or even take in to a race vs a raise. My stack was gradually disappearing so with jack ten off under-the-gun I had to push all-in and hope for the best.
My "push" (which was only just more than the big blind) got isolated and then further isolated. I was racing against king jack off and pocket aces ... uh oh. My prayer got answered tho when I hit a gutshot straight draw on the river and more than tripled up.
From there, I continued to get dealt nothing but happily watched on as players fell by the wayside. Down to just 4 players left and my stack was again on life-support and I was eventually forced all-in on the big blind with 2 5 suited ... groan. The chip-monster from earlier in the tournament had 4 times more chips than anyone else at the table, isolated with queen jack off and I was lucky enough to flop two pair and survive.
Shortly after, I called an all-in with ace jack off and the big stack came along for the ride. The initial all-in turned over pocket 7's, the big stack had ace ten, I flopped two pair which was better than the big-stacks two pair and the 7's were eliminated and we were down to just 3 players. I OPR'd the big-stacks form and frankly he was a donkey so I felt confident that if I could get a hand or two he would chip me up.
I got dealt ace king, raised all-in and wasn't surprised to see the big-stack call me but was surprised when he turned over pocket jacks. Classic race scenario but thankfully I flopped a king and held on for the win which got me level in chips with the player in second. A few hands later the big-stack sucked out on him with 5 7 off against pocket 8's and we were heads up. To say that I was in trouble would be an understatement as the chip count was him 59,370 me with 8,130. I needed hands and I needed them quick.
I got a suited ace first hand, had to push and did. I got called by rubbish, flopped two pair and quickly doubled up. Shortly after, he raised solidly from the small blind and I had re-shoved with ace ten off. He called turning over queen 4 suited and I flopped a ten, held up and doubled up again to now be level. It was also good to see what he was raising with and saw that he was doing it light so I knew I could shove any 1/2 decent hand and get paid off.
After I folded a few hands either on the flop or pre, I took a stand with ace 4 off and held up against his king 9 and now had a more than 2.5 chip advantage. From there, I got queens and won a raised pot and then trapped him with kings and the game was over.
I was pumped to get the win and even more pumped to fight back from the depths so many times and take down the victory. There's nothing I hate more than losing to a bad player heads-up so it was nice to get the win despite facing a huge chip deficit at the start of the battle. Sure, I had plenty of luck along the way ... but frankly, its about time.
The win drought is over and I look forward to having a few more in the very near future.
