Home Game: Brunson FTW!!

Eight entrants in Friday's homegame. I'm in it for the POY race - I can make more $ in an hour or two at a weak PLO table (glad I rediscovered that thought) - so I'm here to try and get the W.

I draw a pretty good seat. To my right is a loose/passive player who literally is in pajama pants and said that he was going to turn in for the night but at the last minute decided to come. I know exactly what he's going to do and I'm going to stay out of his way. To my left is a loose/passive calling-station. Nos 2, 3, and 4 to my left are probably the three best players here (present company excluded?) and I like being in front of them and getting to dictate the action with some strong raises.

One problem - I didn't get all that much to play. In the first rotation, I pick up AA in the big blind. Five limpers and it comes to me.

Now, I had three thoughts headed into this night.
a) Wait for a safe turn. Too many times last month I flopped a strong hand, bet out, and scared everyone away. I'd like to try to lure others in with the second best hand against a monster. Also, too many times I build a pot on the flop with a good hand and get called or raised by a better hand. Tonight - I want to feel things out a little longer.
b) Play a big hand "loudly". This is to capitalize on my image. I want to pick up a monster - a set, for example - and talk about it like a monster. I'm quiet in this game, and that's known, and I think I'll set up future opportunities to steal some things.
c) Play a big hand "tricky". I want to slow-play a big hand in an awkward situation, trying to elicit some oohs and aahs when it gets showed down.

Back to the hand, the AA is my opportunity to play it tricky. A big raise with 5 limpers screams AA, KK or AK and I'll probably take down just the blinds. So I check my option. Flop is K-high, rainbow and probably as good as I can hope for. I lead out to see where things stand, and the one caller is a player who would call w/ a K in his hand or a decent draw...raise with anything better than a pair...and fold with squat. I know how he plays, so when he calls and all others fold, I know exactly where I stand. He calls on the turn as well and when the spade draw gets there, it goes check-check and I take down a pot.

And that's about it for the first three hours. Seriously, I might have gotten over 10k chips (we have 7k per player) and never got far below 7k if at all. I tried running one bluff and got it picked off - probably got away as cheaply as I could. Luckboxed one hand where I held 85(BB) on an 8-high flop, then turned and rivered 5s to get a boat which was well ahead of Q8 (or something like it).

Basically, I treaded water as we got down to four remaining.

It was time to kick it up a notch, but as it got to four-handed, the opportunity never arose. When the LAG who had 1/2 the chips in play crashed and burned in 4th, it was now time. The guy four to my left was still around, with a stack like mine, and another good player who started two to my right - now one to my right - was the chip leader with probably 2/3 of the chips in play.

No calling stations left here, so I go on a shoving spree, albeit with a pretty good series of starting hands, and get back into it. Soon, with JQo in my hand, I check my option and see a J34 flop. I bet out, the other short-stack shoves and I call. He has nothing but a paired 3 and now it's heads up. With the steals and with this elimination, I probably have 1/3 to 2/5 of the chips in play. Still need some help.

Heads up, there's more stealing from me, little if any back at me, and after a dozen or so hands, we're about even. Then the deciding hand. I see a freebie with the Brunson (T2) and the flop is T82 with two diamonds. I bet it and my opponent shoves. I instacall and he's got the flush draw. Just need to fade a diamond...'til a 10 shows up on the turn. This gives me about 52k of the 56k chips in play, and I win w/ 10-high on the next hand.

I was patient, I was aggressive when I had to be, and I was lucky to not get unlucky in all that shoving or in the fewer times where I was up against a drawing hand.

Never really got to test the "wait for a safe turn" premise - perhaps next time.
Never really got to test the "play a big hand loudly" premise. I'm still intrigued by that one in this particular environment.