Things started out good enough. On about hand #15 I was in an early position and looked down at pocket rockets. I limped for $50 (we were at 25-50 blinds) hoping to get some action for my aces. There was another call behind me and then the button upped it to $300, a slight overbet. Both blinds folded and I took a while before popping it up to $500. At this point, I think the button should have put me on a real monster -- I had made a weak move and then re-raised. No way I make that move with anything less than Aces, Kings, or maybe A-K. Especially that early in the tournament, you'd have to be crazy to risk a huge chunk of your stack on a hand with a Queen or worse in it.
So, this I-think-I-know-how-to-play fool comes back at me, all-in. I was stunned. He had already lost about $700 chips from his starting stack of $3000 but it was not like he would be in huge trouble even if he lost this hand. I said to him, "you must have aces too" and I turned over my cards saying, "I call."
The doofus had kings. My aces held up and I was up around $5500 in chips after less than 30 minutes of play. Sweet!! I told the king-fool that I was sorry and everyone at the table told him there was no way to get away from his hand, but once he had left the room several players at the table spoke up and said he was an idiot. They all put me on aces in that position.
So, I was thinking this was going to be my day. I had chipped up into a dominant position very quickly. I resolved to play fairly tight and not get too loose with my newfound stack. It turned out that I did not have much of a choice.
I had to play tight because I caught nothing for the next 2 hours. I mean nothing. If I ever saw an ace or a king it was in an early position and there was a 3 or a 7 or something lame next to it. I was adamant that I would not get impatient so I just kept on folding. It also helped that I was at a table to with excellent players and I was nervous about making any moves on these guys. Though I did not know their names, two of them were wearing shirts that indicated they were sponsored by established poker websites and several of the players were talking about all the tournaments they had entered. These guys were pros and the online reporters kept on circling our table to note their play. I finally asked the one who looked really familliar what his name was and he told me. It was Steve Paul-Ambrose. He won a WPT event last year and has like $2 million in career tournament winnings. Yikes.
So, I just kept on folding, nursing my stack and trying to just capture blinds when I could. The lack of cards was driving me insane. I managed to tread water at between $5k and $6k in chips for the most part at the field shrunk. we had started with 2450 players in the tournament and it got down to 1000 or so after only 3 hours.
At this point, I had enough of a tight image that I was able to chip up a bit with some simple raises. I got to about $7000 in chips and they broke our table. While I was sad to see all the cultivating of my tight image go out the window, I was glad to be away from Ambrose and the other pros. Just my luck, I got sat at a table with Scott Sitron (a prominent internet pro who had just finished 20th in the $1500 NLH event a couple days ago) and...
...DAVID SINGER!!
For those of you who do not know him, David Singer is one of the top pros on the planet. Bluff Magazine and ESPN have him rated as the #3 player in the world right now. He won a bracelet at the $1500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event a few weeks ago and already has 4 cashes in this year's World Series so far. He was in the seat directly to my right and he was pretty short-stacked with just around $2000 in chips and we were at the point where the blinds were $100-200 and there was a $25 ante. He needed to make a move. If he went all-in, I might have a chance to knock him out. WOW!
I had only been at the table for about 6 hands when Singer pushed all-in from a mid-late position. I looked down at 9-7 and just could not bring myself to call him. He got a caller from the big-blind who turned over K-Q. Singer said, "oops" and showed an unsuited 10-2. "Doyle would be proud," I said to him and he smiled (Doyle Brunson won the Main Event at the World Series twice with a 10-2 and that hand is known as a Doyle Brunson). Moments later he was gone. My only lasting impression of him was that he wears a lot of big silver rings and he smelled kinda nice to sit next to because he was sucking on lots of breath mints. That's sorta wierd of me to notice, I guess, but -- well -- it is what I noticed.
Ok, back to my adventure. I am sitting here with a little less than $6500 in chips when I find a suited Q-J of clubs from late position. The action folded around to me and I made a standard raise of $700 (with the antes and blinds in the pot, we were starting every hand with $550 in chips in the middle). The small blind came back at me all-in for $1300 more. I had a real decision.
Now, I knew I was almost certainly behind in the hand. I put him on a medium pocket pair like 8s, 9s, or 10s, or maybe A-K or A-Q. If he had a monster like kings, queens, or aces then he calls there and waits for me to make a continuation bet before pushing -- at least that is how I figured the hand. I looked at the pot-- there was $2550 in there and it would cost me $1300 more to call it. I was getting 2-for-1 on my money. Again, I knew I was behind and I took a long time to make my decision, but I put the $1300 in to make the call. The better players at the table, including Scott Sitron, agreed with my call. I was praying that I had 2 live cards as my pot-odds would be quite good in that situation but he turned over an unsuited A-Q. I told the table I was praying for him to have A-K and several folks laughed.
The flop came 10-9-4 (no clubs) giving me an open-ended straight draw. The guy sitting to my left was rooting for me and said, "come on straight!" He had no idea what he was wishing for.
The turn brought a Jack, putting me waaay ahead. "I need an ace!" my opponent said. Sitron said, "or a king," just as a king fell on the river giving him a straight. I had been standing and I fell back in my chair. What a punch in the gut. I tried to perk up, knowing I had gotten my money in behind so I guess I did not deserve to win anyway, but it still stung a lot. I was down to slightly more than $4000 in chips, below the chip average for the first time all day and my lowest level since my success with the aces early on.
Still, I had enough to not be at all desperate. A few hands later I caught an unsuited A-J and raised to $600. Someone came over the top for $1000 more and I folded. A short time later I caught another A-J and raised again, this time to $700. But he button raised me $1200 and I again folded. Maybe I should have looked someone up, but I did not feel like making a stand with an unsuited A-J that could have been dominated. Heck, even if I caught an ace on the flop, how do I bet that hand against what could easily have been an A-Q or big slick? I probably was playing it too tight... I dunno.
Now my stack was getting really small. I was down to about $2500 in chips when I looked down at K-J of spades. I raised to $700 again from late position and got called by the big blind. The flop came K-8-3 (one spade) and the big blind checked. I checked too, trying to trap, and the turn brought a 5 of clubs (the 8 was a club too). The blind checked again and I pushed all-in for my final $1500 or so chips. I was worried he might have an ace and I did not want him to catch one on the river. I also was worried about giving him a free flush card if he was holding clubs. He took a little while before calling and turned over K-Q. Yikes, I was outkicked!! I had to have a jack on the river but got no such luck as there was another 8. I was out.
I am not certain, but I think I came in about 800th place out of 2450. Again, a good result, but not the money.
It was a very frustrating day. There is only so much you can do when you simply do not get any cards. Maybe getting a big stack early had been a bad thing as it might have made me too conservative as I protected it. I am not sure.
Ahhh well. It was fun, even if it was disappointing. I continue to learn more about all this and expect to get better. I'll be back!!!
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