Neil's Home Game

Played our home game last night at Cousin Neil’s house. Felt I played well, most of the night. I took third in the first Sit-N-Go, with 2 bounties earned. Still was disappointing being I had a ton of chips early and felt I would take first down in this one. In the 2nd one I was pretty much card dead for most of it, but I hung in there. I got 1 bounty when I shoved my K-10 of hearts into an A-J-4 flop with 2 big hearts! There were 5 people in the pot but after my shove I got one caller by A-8 off. A three of hearts on the turn sealed the hand for me. So we got down to 4 people on the bubble and I started chipping up, by stealing here and there. Everyone was playing super tight and I got myself up to 2nd in chips. Then the fatal bust out hand happened to me. On the button I got dealt A-9 off, I had 10,500 chips with the blinds at 1-2K. So I decided they were playing so tight that I would just open shove and be happy picking up 30% for my stack. The small blind folded and my cousin Tony, the chip leader by around 5K went into the tank. After 3 minutes he decides to gamble with me by calling off 70% of his stack with A-J off. It holds up and I am the bubble boy. I don’t like his call here at all. There weren’t many hands I hold that he is ahead of. My range, at this point was any pair and A-9+. So he’s ahead if I have A-9 or A-10. Crushed if I have A-Q or A-K. In a coin flip if I have pocket tens or lower. In really bad shape if I have pocket Jacks or higher. Plus if he loses this hand he is crippled and will most likely bubble. On the plus side for him, if he knocks me out he gets my bounty and they are all in the money. In this one hand his call was right being I had 1 of 2 hands he dominated. In the long run this call is way –EV. I will push there in the same situation on the bubble everytime, keep making that call. I will make a ton of money in this situation over time. Only 2 more weeks until I go to the WSOP! The wife and I are both excited to take out shot at glory, fame, and a lot of money! Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables. Tony