Getting Closer, Feeling Optimistic
(Note: if you want a reference to poker lingo, click here.)
Day 1
Things are looking up for me in poker. I played in a multi-day tournament at the Wynn on Monday. I'd been running badly most of the day. Late in the day, I finally got pocket As. One short stack shoved. I shoved. And a very big stack shoved. That made me a bit nervous. Having pocket As against one player puts me at a big advantage. Against two players, my advantage drops significantly. One player had pocket Ks, the other had pocket Qs, so I was in good shape, but anything can happen. My odds of winning were about 67%, meaning I had a 1 out of 3 chance of losing. You can see in the picture above what did happen. I couldn’t ask for anything better. This gave me one of the largest stacks in the tournament.
Then I lost a big pot with AJ vs. AK and immediately won a big pot with AK vs. A3. Balance? Justice? Good luck?
Then a very weird thing happened. I got dealt A♥J♥. I raised pre-flop. One player called. She had been playing well all day. The flop was 4♥6♥9♥. I had flopped the nuts: an ace-high flush! I bet a small amount and she called. The turn was 10♣. I still had the nuts. She bet. I raised big, just in case she had two pair, to keep her from getting a full house. She called. She actually tried to shove, but she said "shove" after she had pushed in the chips for a call, so the dealer said no. In poker, you have to either push in the correct amount of chips or, before you push in the chips, announce your bet. So she was held to just calling my bet. The river was 7♠, so I still had the nuts. I shoved. I knew she had wanted to shove previously, probably as a bluff, but I expected her to fold this time. Instead, she called with 10 6 for two pair. I was suddenly the chip leader at the table and possibly in the entire tournament.
There were 19 players left, and 13 would be in the money and go to Day 2 on Wednesday.
As we approached midnight, I started getting very tired. I usually have the energy to keep playing nonstop for hours—people have remarked about this to me, even how younger players tire before I do—but I had been playing for 12 hours straight. I usually don’t even tire until I get home and drop into bed, and even then my brain is often still going full speed and I need to unwind in front of some mindless TV show. But this time, I was getting weary and impatient and just wanted to go home. We were playing down to 12.5% of the entries, and people were just not busting out very quickly.
I was running well, though. I got pocket 10s and the board ran out 67A89. I just told myself to focus and hope that we’d get to the end of Day 1 soon.
Despite being exhausted, I was gaining chips, and finally at 11 minutes before 1 AM, the money bubble broke and I was actually on the right side of it. I was in the money and going on to Day 2 on Wednesday along with 12 other players. And I had one of the top stacks.
Day 2
Multi-day tournaments usually have multiple Day 1s (Day 1 A, Day 1B, etc.). This allows more people to get into the tournament. This tournament had Day 1A on Monday when I played and where 13 people made it to Day 2. Then Day 1B was on Tuesday, where another 24 people made it to Day 2 for a total of 37 players on Day 2.
I got to the Wynn just as play was starting. I got dealt A♥9♣. I did a min raise from $8K to $16K and got two callers including the table chip leader (I was second in chips at the table). The flop was K♥Q♥6♥ giving me the nut flush draw. I checked. The second player checked. The chip leader bet $20K. I called. The other player folded. The turn was A♠, giving me a pair of aces and still the nut flush draw. I bet $20K. The other player folded. I was suddenly the table chip leader.
But then things turned bad for me. I kept getting dealt great cards; middle pairs, good aces, suited connectors. I kept getting big draws on the flops, so that kept me in each hand, but unfortunately, I never got the cards I needed and had to often fold on the river. After multiple hands like this over about an hour, my stack got very low. It was disappointing, but it happens in poker: going from largest stack to smallest stack very quickly if the cards run bad. There just wasn’t much I could do except be patient, play well, and hope my luck changed.
Finally, I got dealt a great hand: pocket Js. A short stack shoved. I called. He had AK and caught an A. I was then VERY short.
I eventually shoved with K♦Q♦. I got called by a player with A♣9♥. The board ran out 3♣J♥A♦4♥8♣. I busted out at number 23 out of 298 entries.
I had a decent cash once again. I can’t feel too bad because poker is suddenly fun again. I’m not cashing in each tournament, and I haven’t won a tournament in a while, but I’m profitable, the cards seem to be random again, and I feel that I’m playing my best. I’m optimistic that a WSOP winner’s bracelet could be mine. The WSOP starts in late May. It’s not one tournament but a whole series of tournaments that last through mid-July. I feel like things are going my way, I’m playing well, and enjoying it like I did years ago. I’m hoping that this will be my year to get that elusive bracelet and make a name for myself among the greats in poker.