Yes, I managed to run good in a tournament for once! Not a bad tournament to find the run good in either ... the $1500 HORSE at the WSOP. 827 players entered & I managed to finish in 23rd place, taking home a little over $5200 (after the IRS/US Treasury took their cut) for my three days (well two days & about 20 minutes) at the tables.
I got off to a decent start, building my 4500 starting stack to 5500 by the first break & dropped slightly to 4800 at the dinner break. Post-dinner was horrible for me & I sunk to just 900 at the final break for the day & was pretty much ready to write the tournament off completely. I had a quick chat with Chuck & Joe of http://deucescracked.com who were at a table in the Poker Kitchen & told them of my plight - I almost told them to hold the seat for me because I would be back soon ... but didn't.
The first critical hand for me was the first back from the break. I have only 900 left & we're playing 400/800 Razz. Thankfully I have a 3 as my door card & there is only one other card below a 9 showing (one player has an ace). I look down & see 22 in the hole ... not exactly the A2 or A4 I was hoping for, but with only one other low card I decided that this was the hand ... make or break time! I complete the bet to 400 & the ace calls. Fourth street sees me catch a 6 & the ace catches a 9. I have the lead & bet my last 400 (though I don't make any indication that it is my last chips, nor do I announce that I am all-in) & my opponent insta-folds! Double-up for me! Of course I managed to go on a massive run & built my stack up to a high point of around 13k before losing a few pots just before the end of play to finish at 8900 for the day.
Day two saw me get off to a good start, with my initial table (with Jason Mercier) being the first to break. The second table was good for me, before moving again, where I settled in, stuck between Yuval Bronstein (on my right) & Brandon Cantu (on my left). I managed to keep my stack around the 20k mark for most of the day before winning a big (30k+) pot against Bronstein in Razz, where my 75 improved to a 65 on 7th street to beat out his 75 that he made on 7th street. That got me near the 50k mark, where I stayed for much of the middle part of the day. I picked up a few big pots later in the day which took me over the 100k mark & I was doing great until my table broke.
At the next table (where I remained for the rest of the day) I started well enough, but made a few mistakes (the biggest was thinking I was playing Stud8 when we were still on Stud Hi & I called down an opponent thinking I was drawing to a 6-low, only to make a pair of kings on the river & pay him off in a 15k+ pot) & lost some big hands (the biggest being a 3-way holdem hand where I had top 2 pair & was called down by a player who had flopped a flush draw & made it on the river, with the other player also staying in the hand until the river, for a 50k+ pot) before I found myself at critical hand #2.
By this stage I was getting short on chips (around 30k) & the limits were now 4k/8k. I was BB in the holdem round when it was folded to the button who raised. I called with J9o & saw a flop of AT9, giving me bottom pair. Although it was not an ideal flop, I did have a pair & the button would likely bet the flop trying to represent the ace. As expected, I checked, the button bet & I check-raised (the button was also very short & I only just had him covered), only for the button to respond with a 3-bet. Thinking positively (or perhaps over-optimistically), I surmised that although I was most likely behind now, there were a number of good turn cards that could come for me (I had the Jc to go with the 9c & Tc on the flop to give me a three-card straight flush draw), so I decided to call & see what came on the turn ... BINK! 9 on the turn! I bet both the turn & river (and was called down) & showed my winning J9o, much to the disgust of my opponent, who said he had AJ & I had caught a 2-outer. I guess you just have to run well to make it deep in these things after all!
Anyway, Al Barbieri (who went on to finish 2nd) joined the table late in the day & he managed to run like God (or at least a very fast Kenyan) & collected a large portion of chips on the table, making whatever hand he needed to to win the pot ... including a few from me & I was left with 52,500 at the end of the day.
Day 3 saw a tough table (though with only 3 tables, all were tough). I was seated between Robert Mizrachi (to my right) & defending champ James Van Alstyne (to my left), with overnight chip leader & eventual winner Konstantin Puchkov sitting to his left. The day started with Holdem & I didn't make it out of the round. With levels of 6k/12k I didn't have much room to move & had to find a way to get chips & get chips quickly! First hand of the day sees me pick up A6cc UTG+1 & I decide to raise, only to be 3-bet by Van Alstyne. I decide to call & see the flop before deciding if this is going to be the hand or not & see a not-so-friendly flop of KQ4 & I check-fold to Van Alstyne's bet. When I was BB it folded around to Robert Mizrachi, who raised. I looked down at KQo & 3-bet, knowing I was not folding, regardless of the flop. Thankfully the flop was KJ6 & what was left of my stack found its way into the middle, with Mizrachi tabling J8o for middle pair. He missed & I even managed to hit a queen on the river to make sure of the double-up & I was back to 50k. I then got involved in another hand when in the small blind! A late-position player raised & I looked down at A9ss & made it 3 bets. The raiser called & I bet both the flop & turn before check-calling on the river on a board of 742J3, to be shown 87 for flopped top pair ... and I was back to being the short stack once again! My final hand came when it was folded to me in the cutoff & I looked down at Q8 of diamonds. This would be it ... I raised & the big stack in the small blind asked how much I had behind (which is either a really bad or really good question to hear, depending on the response) & proceeded to re-raise (not the response I was looking for). I re-raised all-in & found out I was in horrible shape against his AQ of clubs. Of course the flop made my predicament worse, falling KQ7 with 2 clubs, meaning I had only 2 outs to survive. I missed my 8 & my opponent found the final nail on the river with a club & I left to get my payout in 23rd place.
Of course the taxman got a decent chunk of my prizemoney (why Australia & America don't have a tax treaty to avoid this situation is beyond me!), but I left with a little over $5200 for my efforts, which was quite a change from the day 1 bustout I was expecting!
Afterwards I went to Aria to play some $1/3NL (in the absence of any mixed or limit games running) & managed to find an awkward spot to lose my stack. I had $107 to start the hand & looked down at AA UTG & raised to $10 ... standard so far. Of course it then proceeded call, fold, call, call, call, etc around the table & there were 8 people to the flop!! Now I have some idea of how Barry Greenstein felt on High Stakes Poker! Anyway, the flop came down 9s8s5c ... not an ideal flop for aces (though I did have the ace of spades) when facing 7 opponents. My dilemma was made worse by the small blind, who lead out for $20, which the big blind called. What to do in this spot? I was really unsure & eventually decided to just call the $20. Everyone else at the table folded & we went to the turn to see the Jc. Again not an ideal card, but it was checked to me, so I put my remaining $77 in the middle ... and the SB went into the tank ... and eventually called. This then got the BB thinking ... but he eventually called as well! Looks like it was either a triple-up or bustout for me ... and then the river 9h appeared. Both players checked, so I was hopeful. The small blind turned over T5ss for bottom pair & a missed straight & flush draws. The BB turned over T9o, for three 9s (flopped top pair & missed straight draw), which was more than enough to beat out my aces up ... oh well ...
Tim Duckworth, from http://pokernews.com & http://www.tiltedbehaviour.com/ had dropped by earlier in the evening & asked about mixed games in Las Vegas & said he was going to try to get a $4/8 HORSE game going (if not already) at the Venetian. After the disappointment of having my aces cracked ... and a meal at Subway ... I headed for the Venetian & joined the HORSE game after a shortish wait & took a seat next to Tim. Also in the game was Heath Chick & some other PokerNews people & after roughly 6 hours at the table, the game broke, with a tick in the small win column for me.
Today I played a tournament at Caesars Palace ... a 'Turbo Double Stack' event, where you started with 30k in chips, with 20 minute levels. I started well, but eventually picked some bad spots to bet & raise before the blinds became enormous. Of course I was crippled when my 76 was run down on a 997 flop where the money got all-in, with my opponents J8o finding an 8 on the turn. I then took my final stand with AJo, only to run into A8 suited, who flopped top pair before I bricked out, to finish in around 100th place out of the 178 or so starters they had for the event. Although it wasn't horrible, I doubt I'll be back there for tournaments while I'm in town.
Next on the agenda: More cash games & some laundry ... oh fun!
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