The Road to Redemption
Day 1
I played in a tournament at the Venetian this week. I was getting good cards, playing loose, and stacking up. Then I took two or three risks that didn't pay off and my stack got a little low. Then I ran card dead for an hour, and my stack got lower. I got pocket Qs under the gun and raised from $500 to $1200. A big stack called and a stack about my size shoved. I shoved. The big stack thought for a while, then called. The short stack had AK. The big stack had pocket 10s. I had to avoid an A, K, or 10. I had a bad feeling, but then... The flop was the 3 cards on the right in the picture above!
I got 64 in the big blind for $600. One player raised to $1600. Three players called, so I figured, "What the heck," and I called. The flop was 44Q. One player bet $4K. I hesitated, then called. Another player called. The remaining players folded. The next card was A. We all checked. The last card was 9. I bet $6K and both players called. I showed my trip 4s and they both folded. I won a big pot. They call that the "big blind special" when the player in the big blind has a lousy hand, but the size of the pot makes it worthwhile to stay in, and he gets lucky.
I got pocket 8s in the small blind. I raised. The big blind reraised. He was short stacked, so I shoved, hoping he didn’t want to risk his tournament life, but he had pocket As. He called my shove, won, and took half my stack.
I got pocket Qs. One player raised. I reraised. He called. The flop was 62K. I bet. He shoved with a big stack. I called. He had pocket 2s. I busted out.
I bought back in. I got pocket Qs on my first hand. One player raised from $1K to $2K. I reraised to $4.5K. He called. The board ran out K89J3. He had KJ. I lost a lot of chips. Argghhh!!!
I was short stacked with pocket 5s under the gun. I shoved. Two players called. I flopped a set and rivered a full house, and this time it held. I tripled up!
I started to win hands. My stack is up to average.
I folded a hand and announced, "It's about time for pocket As." The next hand, I got... A♣A♠! I did a small raise. Another player reraised. I thought for a while and raised him. He shoved. Everyone else folded. I called. He said, "You got your pocket As?" He had A♥K♦. The A♦ came on the flop but also two hearts. A third heart came on the turn, but I avoided a heart on the river to double up! I had a very nice stack.
I got pocket 9s. A short stack shoved. I called. A bigger stack shoved after me. I had more chips than him. I wanted to call, but thought about it and folded. The short stack had AQ. The bigger stack had QQ. A Q came on the flop. I would have lost to both of them, so it's a good thing I folded.
23 players were left. 11 get paid and go to Day 2. My stack was fair. Not great, not terrible.
I got K♣10♣ in the big blind. One very aggressive player raised. I called. The flop was Q♣J♦8♣. I had an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw. He bet very big. I called. The turn was a 3♦. We both checked. The river was 4♥. I checked. He bet. I had to fold. My stack was low.
I had about 9 big blinds. I got AK. A player raised. I shoved. He called. He had 67 suited. Neither of us got anything so my AK held up, and I doubled up. My stack was still shorter than I'd have liked, but playable.
19 players were left.
My A♣2♣ won a nice 4-way pot when I got an A on the flop.
16 players were left.
I got AK twice in a row. The first time, there was a 3-way shove. I lost the main pot but won the side pot, so I broke even. The next time, I shoved and was called by pocket 9s. There was an A on the flop, so I felt good until the board ran out all spades. Since neither of us had a spade, we chopped.
15 players were left.
Whew! I had pocket 10s. I raised from $4K to $15K pre-flop. The big blind, with a monster stack, called me. The flop was 489. I shoved. He thought about it for a while then called with 64. The board ran out K8. I doubled up and had a great stack!
14 players were left.
I was winning hands and stacking up!
12 players left. My stack was above average.
I was wrong. Two players had busted out simultaneously from two different tables. Only 11 players were left. I made Day 2 with an above average stack!
Day 2
I started out winning the first four hands hand I played. I got dealt K♠J♠. Two low spades came on the flop. The third came on the river, giving me a big flush. The other player and I had both checked the flop and the turn. On the river he bet big. There were two 6s on the board, so I was a little worried about him having a full house, but my stack was large, so I called. He showed pocket 2s for two pair, and I scooped up the chips!
61 players were left. I had an above average stack.
I was getting decent cards, playing well, and stacking up. This was going well so far.
I won a very big pot. I was in the big blind with 9♦10♥. One player raised from $8K to $17K. Everyone else folded. I called. The flop was 3♦J♦Q♥, giving me an open-ended straight draw. I checked. He checked. The next card was 8♦, giving me the nut straight but a possible flush for the other player. I bet $20K. He raised to $60K. I figured he might have had a set or two pair or a small flush. If he had a big flush, he would probably have called my bet to keep me in the hand. I had a bigger stack than him, so I called. The river was 6♦. I figured I had lost because he only needed any diamond to win. I checked. He checked. I turned over my straight, and... he folded!
At the first break, there were 45 players left. My stack was still above average. Some days I feel I'm playing well but getting bad cards. Other days I feel I'm playing poorly but getting good cards. Today I felt I was playing well and getting good cards.
I had J9 on the button. Everyone folded around. The big blind was short-stacked and liked to shove. I limped in. The small blind and big blind called. The flop was KQ 10. Only one hand beat me, AJ, and if either of them had it, they would have reraised pre-flop. Both players checked. I made a small bet, $25K, hoping to encourage the aggressive player. The small blind folded. Sure enough, the big blind bet $70K, half his stack. I shoved. He folded.
41 players were left. I was approaching $1M in chips.
All the shorter stacks at the table were shoving pre-flop. They were not tiny stacks, so I thought it was foolish, but then I could only play big pairs or big As.
A player sat down to my right. I thought his stack was fair--a little less than mine--until I realized that wasn't a big stack of yellow $1,000 chips but orange $25,000 chips. Yikes! It's tough being colorblind sometimes.
At the second break, 33 players were left. I lost a big pot but then won a big pot. My stack was still above average.
I got J♦Q♦. The monster stack to my right raised under the gun. I called. The big blind called. The flop was 8♦7♣Q♠. The short stack shoved. The monster stack folded. I called. He showed Q9. Two more diamonds came, giving me a flush. My stack was then at almost $1.2 M.
I got pocket Js. The giant stack raised. I reraised. He called. The flop was 23J. I checked. He bet. I called. The turn was 7. He bet. I called. The river was A. I bet; he folded. I may have been the tournament chip leader at that point.
Three tables (27 players) were left. Then two tables (18 players) were left.
I was no longer getting playable hands, but I could wait patiently.
As my stack got smaller, I needed some luck!
I got KQ in the small blind. Everyone else folded. I called, knowing the big blind would raise. He did. I shoved. He surprised me when he called. He had A8. I got a K on the river to double up!
Final Table
I made final table! There were 9 players left. But I was short stacked.
My first hand, I shoved with AK. I got called by AA. I busted at #9.
I hadn’t won, but I had the longest run in a long time and made a nice profit. Maybe I’m finally on the road to redemption in poker.