The Final Table

I took another shot at a big no limit hold 'em tournament in the middle of 2006. The buy in was a bit more than I was used to, but I liked the structure better. I got off to a bad start and had lost 75% of my starting chips after getting flushed on a pot where I held top two pair. I didn't let the suck out bother me as I managed to pick up A-Q and steal some blinds and limps and then I doubled through a few hands later with A-10 against A-8 when I made two pair on the turn. I picked up my aggression just a tad as we got deeper in the tournament, I was cruising along with an average stack or a slightly below average stack when I picked up 3-3 in middle position. I made my standard raise of about three times the big blind. This raise had won me several small pots at this point in the tournament. I was surprised when another player moved all in for about 10 times what I had bet. I read him as having A-K. If he had a big pair, I didn't think he would bet as much as he did. While I hate calling off all of my chips with a small pair, I knew I had the best hand. I also knew that I needed to do something to accumulate chips if I wanted any chance of even cashing in this event. I called. I was right.

I didn't like the flop. My opponent held Ac-Kc. The flop came Qc-10c-x. I went from being a small favorite before the flop to an under dog on the flop. Any club, jack, ace or king and I was done. My threes held up. I was now in a good chip position and managed to catch the small blind stealing with Q-10 when I held A-Q. After winning that pot, I was at a comfortable chip level, but I knew that there was still lots of work to do. As we got near the bubble, play tightened up, as it normally does. I picked up a couple of small pots with out much resistance and held my chip stack steady. The bubble finally burst and I was glad to have made it in the money. Going from 18 players down to 9 took a while. Every time a short stack made a stand, they managed to double up. I folded that same 3-3 when another player reraised me. She later told me that she held K-K. I said I folded 9-9 (you always have to be playing poker). I raised with K-Q and folded when another player moved all in on me again. I later picked up A-A and caught a player stealing with J-10 and won a big pot. I stole a pot after a player limped with A-10 and I raised with Q-J. I was taking advantage of my table image to win these pots. I also got involved in a 3 way all in pot with A-K. My two opponents held A-K and A-Q. The A-K held up and I chopped a decent pot. After my stacking taking some big swings, we were down to about 14 players. I went card dead as we went from 14 down to 10. Going into the final table, I was short stacked. My plan was to push at the first sign of a good hand. The blinds and antes were worth stealing at this stage of the tournament. However, someone else managed to get all in before I did and the final table was set for the next day.

We bagged our chips after playing for 12 hours. I was dead tired. I was also excited to know that I was at the final table and still had a chance to win it all. I knew it was a long shot, but it was a shot none the less. I got back to the casino the next afternoon. I was willing to agree to a deal of some kind as I would make more than 9th place money in any scenario proposed. A deal didn't happen, so we played on. My plan was to push all in on my first hand. I figured I didn't have much to lose and I was playing to win it. While I wasn't going to look, I looked anyway and saw Ac-4c. That was good enough to go all in with. I took down the blinds and antes. Two hands later I picked up K-Q under the gun. I raised all in again. I had one player reraise all in behind me. I didn't like that. I also didn't like when a third player called the bet. I was even more worried when a fourth player was contemplating calling as well. This player finally folded his 10-10. I was up against A-A and A-K as I suspected. My K-Q didn't hit and I was out in 9th. It was a great experience and a nice cash too (small 4 figures). I know I didn't have to push with K-Q, but I was playing to win, not to move up the ladder.