Poker Crisis Averted (again)
Day 1
Every so often I go through an extended run of bad cards, bad luck, and bad beats. I question whether I should be playing poker. I enjoy it, but I can spend hours at the table and money from my bank account without seeing any success. I've recently gone through another streak of losses including busting on or near the bubble in three different major tournaments in three weeks (the bubble is the last person NOT to get paid).
On Monday, I entered a 2-day tournament at the Venetian and... almost every hand went my way. Sometimes my luck does turn positive, I guess. I amassed a huge stack. For most of the tournament, it seemed I couldn't lose. I knocked 5 or 6 players out, of course getting their stacks.
I was jet-lagged after returning from a week on the East Coast on Sunday and didn't sleep much Sunday night. The bubble lasted for about 2 hours until 1:30 AM (i.e., no one busted out while we all competed to be in the money). I was exhausted and had to focus extra carefully to avoid making a mistake.
Only at the end did I start losing some hands. I ended in the money, with one of the largest stacks in the tournament--nearly twice the average--and made it to Day 2 on Wednesday.
Day 2
On day 2, I reached the first break. I was stacking up slowly and then the player to my left started raising every time I bet. Sometimes I folded, a couple times I called but got a bad flop and he kept betting, so I had to fold. My stack was OK, but much smaller.
There were 34 players left when I won a big pot and got up to average stack.
There were 27 players left, which meant we crossed into a bigger payment.
There were 24 players left, so I made the next pay jump.
For the next hour or more, I ran card dead.
Believe it or not, I won a big hand with 10 high. I missed a flush but after I showed my hand, the other player folded without showing his. Maybe he had a smaller flush draw? I announced that I had 10-high (a bad habit of mine because I’ve seen players fold better hands when they misread their opponent’s hand), so if he was listening, he knew I only had 10 high.
I next won a big hand with A high. I had AK. He didn't show, but I'm guessing he had AQ, AJ, or A10.
I won a nice hand and got almost back to average stack.
There were 20 players left. I made another money jump. More importantly, I got pocket As and got another player to shove after the K-high flop. I called, beat his pair of Ks, and doubled up! I had a very nice stack again.
I had over $1.1 million in chips. (I’ll remind my fans that this is fake tournament money. I don’t really have over $1 million.)
There were 18 players left: two tables.
I started running card dead again. I won a hand once in a while, so my stack remained just above $1 million, but that's a relatively smaller stack as the blinds went up.
We went on break. There were 10 players left. I wasn’t getting any playable cards, so the blinds were eating into my stack. I had one of the smallest stacks in the tournament. Statistically, I should start getting great cards about then. Right? Any mathematicians out there who can verify this? 😉
I made final table! I knocked out the one stack shorter than me!
Wow, a 3-way shove and 2 players got knocked out. There were 7 left. I survived just by remaining under the radar.
I shoved with AQ, got called by KJ. The turn card was a K. I busted out at #7. A very nice run, and I made some good money. I feel like my poker career/hobby/obsession is once again justified.