Going to the Main Event (in 09)

S0me friends of mine put together a WSOP wanna-be contest and I decided to give it a try. The basics are this:
-1 tournament each month for 12 months at $110 buy-in and 1 wildcard tournament
-27 people commit to playing in every single tournament (or sending a sub)
-1/2 the money is paid out to each tournament's top 5 players
-1/2 the money is pooled for prizes based on total points after all tournaments
-prizes include WSOP packages: 1 ME seat and travel money and 4 $1500 seats plus travel money
-WSOP players will split winnings from the WSOP events (above the original buy-in amount) 50/50. 50% to player and 50% divided to 26 other tournament participants

I figured I am not going to buy in the Main Event. I may satellite in, but even then, I might take the cash if I could. This WSOP WB contest will force me to play if I win the seat. Conversely, if I don't win, it gives me some more people to follow closely (other than the bloggers I plan to follow this year).

I was concerned about playing a tournament each month and only being able to cash out half the winnings. If I don't finish with one of the prizes, then I wasted my buy-ins for tournaments with 1/2 the payouts I should be getting. But ultimately, I am a gambler and decided that I am going to win a WSOP seat. So I decided to play.

The intangibles are that I know a lot of the players and it will be fun. I usually can hold my own with them so have a decent shot of getting a lot of points. My goal is to win 2 of the 13 tournaments (the 13th is a wildcard tournament played the same day as the 12 tournament), and have all my buy-in's paid with my winnings. We will see.

So last night was the first one: I played pretty basic poker. Very positional, steals (no re-steals), and TAG. I had one huge pot just after we condensed down to two tables.

I'm dealt A6 in the BB. It folds around to the cutoff who is a new guy to my table. I have no idea who he is but he has a HUGE stack in front of him. He puts in a 3x BB open raise. The button (another new guy from the other table with a medium stack) calls and I decide to call with Ace rag. I probably should fold with the button calling, but I figured that gave me better odds to call (3-1) and I could get ahead with any Ace if these two guys have the wide range I think they do.

Flop comes AJ3 rainbow. I decide to raise and find out where I am. I put in a 90% pot bet and get called by the cutoff. Button folds.

Turn brings a 3. I bet 1/2 pot. He instantly shoves. Now I tank. For a long time. I'm thinking of the hands that re-raise my flop bet: AK, AQ, AJ, A3, JJ, or 33. He could be on a draw, but I'm not believing a shove to risk 3/4 of his stack would be wise this early in the tournament. He could even have a 3 in his hand which would make sense for him calling the flop bet, but that was a lot of chips to call for 2 outs. If I was in his position, with Ace rag I would shove. I convince myself that he is on an A10, A9 or some other Ace rag and I can't fold a split pot. I call and he shows:

K3

Damn! I hate when aggressive players get paid off -unless it's me.
As all of the air is leaving my body, the dealer flips the river over to reveal the Ace of clubs, giving me Aces-full and I double up. This was a HUGE hand that gave me $11,000 in chips when the average stack was $3500 (info courtesy of Tournament Director). SUCK OUT FOR ME! BOOOOOM!

I rode that stack of chips to the final table. A few steals, a few won pots and I finish the tournament in 3rd place. I was seriously card dead over the last hour of play. The eventual winner who sat to my immediate left was a card rack. He got pocket Kings 3 times at the final table, AK, AQ, KQ, and KJ. He also took players out with 47, J9 and eventually won the tournament with 68 sooted against QJ off. Congratulations Mr. Wallace for 1st and to Mrs. Loveless for 2nd.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. I'll keep you posted to see if I am going to the ME next year for free!

Check out WilWonka's site for other "better to be lucky than good" hands.

Until then, stay patient...