Six grueling hours. Relentless aggression, patience, educated bluffs, lucky coinflips, big moves and big laydowns. A field of 515 players and a bloody mess of a battlefield. Now finally, our hero stares across the table at his archnemesis, the two of them the only ones still standing.
His significant chip lead earlier at the final table, which allowed him to be an indiscriminate hyper-aggressive bully, had been worn down; for our villian was no pushover. With 2.5M chips in play and 20k/40k blinds +4k antes, every hand was a battle of wills that swung the pendulum of fate.
Grimacing with a fat cuban in his mouth, our hero looks down at his hand. Pocket kings! This was the motherload. The final battle for the difference between a $25k first finish and a $15k second finish had gone on too long, and he knew that this had to be it. Finishing off his fourth ale, he barks, "Hey, drink wench, fetch me another," and considers his options...
Getting all the chips in the middle and ending the tournament was the goal. Make a huge raise and build up the pot? No, no... our villain was not a coward but he certainly wasn't stupid either, we mustn't scare him off a mediocre holding. Shall just call and try to trap him? That would be suspicious too. Our hero never makes the timid and passive move of simply completing the small blind and this would certainly give away the strength of his hand.
He elects to make a small raise to 86000, slightly over the min raise and less than his average raises, giving our villain an irresistible 2:1 pot odds to call. Call he does, and hero closes his eyes and prays he doesn't see an ace on the flop, which would throw a wrench in his otherwise perfect plan. He slowly opens his eyes and looks at the board - J64 rainbow.
He smiles to himself, knowing he is now a huge favorite. He pushes forward a standard continuation bet for 100000 chips, around 60% of the pot and hopes villain caught a part of that flop or has some kind of draw or overcards for him to want to stay in the hand. Much to hero's delight, villain re-raises 300000! Hero immediately click-raises back at villain, hoping to entice him further into his trap.
Villain announces, "Enough of this tomfoolery! All in!" and pushes the rest of his chips into the middle. Hero smiles coyly, his plan having come to fruition. He calls and turns over his KK and villain dejectedly shows J7s for top pair. Two cards to come - barring another jack, a seven, or two running spades, hero was likely to win as a solid 75% favorite.
The turn and river both brought blanks, and it was finally all over. The day is saved, the maws of hell closed forevermore and the choir of angels overhead ringing throughout the land.
