I AM GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES OF POKER! It has been a crazy 48 hours. Here goes...
It was about 4:00 AM or so Friday night / Saturday morning when, on Royal Vegas, I saw a satellite to a tourney for a qualifier for the World series of poker with about 30 people or so entered so I figured "Hey, I'm not tired, what the heck" so I entered. Two and a half hours later, I was in. The cards were coming and the setup of the satellite was very conducive of playing a tight, solid starting hand style of poker. Sometimes, not everybody gets that. Time after time people kept trying to "get cute" with hand that I had flopped a set or two pair, or had their hand dominated. To the best of my memory, I think I got pocket aces 4 times and won with them all four times. They doubled me up 2 of those times and tripled me up 1 of those times. Aces speak, that’s all I can say. So, with not to much trouble, I was on to the Saturday satellite...
380 people. 7 spots to the series. I can't explain it, but I was ready. This was probably going to be my only shot in the next few months to do it, so I had to make it count. Funny thing is, I got to the computer a little late because I had to take engagement pictures earlier in the afternoon. Big thanks to one of my good friends for playing the first few hands for me and getting my stack from 1,500 to 2,300 in like 5 or 6 hands before I even sat down. So I sat down, and I am going to try and detail some of the key hands of the tournament. I know it is a big jump, but the best I can do I play check is start when my stack was up to 46, 118.16. There are some key hands I can remember before that though. Here goes...
At level one with my stack somewhere around 2,500 or so I picked up QQ in middle position and made a pretty big raise to around 750 or so. Troy54, a guy who I had played with in the previous satellite, smooth called from the SB or BB, I can't remember. I had a pretty good idea about how this guy had been playing, so I was happy to see the call and put him on an ace right away. The flop came 5-5-5. Great flop for me, to say the least. He had AJo and I can't remember exactly how the betting went, but I went up to around 4,400 or so after that hand. The next big hand I remember was the last hand of round one when I found 66 in late position and made a raise of about 3x the BB and the BB went all in. It was about 800 more to call, and I remember having about 5,100 or so in my stack so I decided to race and call. He showed AJo and I won the race moving me up to 7,190 at the break, good for 5th or so. The biggest part of the next level I remember was getting QQ 2 or 3 times, and AK 2 or 3 times and just cruising. I was in 1st when my stack was about 12,500 or so and and there was about 150 people left. The next biggest hand I remember was probably the biggest mistake of the whole tournament.
I was at about 21,900 or so and in about 2nd or 3rd and someone named Bendel with about 15, 500 got moved to my right. It was weird cause that made 4 of the top 10 stacks at the same table, all of the top 3 were there. About 2 or 3 hands after he sat down, I picked up 77 and made a raise after he had limped. One of the blinds called, so did Bendel and we went to the flop. It was something like X Kh Jh. It was a bad flop for me, but it was checked to me. I love betting in this spot, trying to represent AK so I fired a big bet, like 1,600 or so, trying to take it down. Bendel called. Something like the Qh came on the turn, and my brained started glitching. He thought and checked, and I fired again like 4,800, now trying to make it look like I had the flush. I know, I know, a bad move to say the least. Well he thought and just called again. The river was a blank, and (I think) he checked, and I bet again, and he waited like 29 seconds before moving all in. I folded and saved face and lost a 16,000 or so pot. I was down to about 10,000 or so. Man, what a bad hand. What was I thinking??? I got up and walked around a little to shake it off. I was still above average, so even though it was a big hit, I was still "ok". Gladly, I got moved to a new table and hit a great rush of cards. I picked up AQo, AK, AK, and KK in 4 hands!!! After that, I was right back up to 21,000 or so.
At about 4 table left or so, I was still around 21,000 and at, by far, the table with the smallest stacks remaining. I remember this part of the tournament is where I really started doing some blind stealing. It seemed like no one wanted to see a flop. I was moving steady and moved up to about where I can verify every hand, at 46K or so. With the blinds at
3,000/6,000 and my stack sitting at 58K, the following hand came up, and boy did it hurt...
Oxygen63 made a raise to 12,000 in middle position and I looked at AsKs in the SB. I decided to raise about the rest of his stack, re raising 37.5oo. He thought about it and went all in and I quickly called. I was elated when he show AQo! What a great spot! The flop came 5h-10h-3h, and he had the Qh! OH NO! NOT NOW! NO! NO! The turn was a 5c. YES! YES! NO HEART! NO QUEEN! NO HEART! NO QUEEN! The river was a KING...OF HEARTS!!!!! NO! NO! NO! NO! I was crippled. I had lost a 102K pot and was down to 10K, good for 18th out of 18. I was as good as dead. Then, Lady luck came, oh boy did it ever...
I moved all in with K6o and the guy right behind me went all in right away too. I was as good as dead when he showed AK. The board came 8-7-10-8....6!!!!!! I WAS ALIVE!!! Maybe the saying should go you die by the river, you live by the river. I went all in again on the next hand, give the extreme tight play with Ac2c and picked up the blinds. I was back up to 38K after that. A few hands later, the blinds went up to 4k/8k and I picked up 2 blinds in a row with K10 and Ac3c, moving me up to about 57K. The next big hand I played was a few rounds later, and I got real lucky again, and this time, it was against Mr. AQ off suit!!!!
Oxygen63, the guy that rivered his 12 outer on me earlier, made a raise to 16K, and I picked up 66 in the BB. I thought he was weak so I thought about it for a while and pushed all in for 69K more with 66. He thought and called with JJ. OH NO! WHAT HAD I DONE! 6! 6! 6! 6! Come on 6! The flop came 9-7-4 and the turn came...a 6! YES! YES! "What goes around, comes around" I thought. That had me sitting at about 123,000. YES! Man, I was so pumped. There were around 11 people left. All I had to do was hang on. Every hand was all pre flop. NO ONE wanted to play a pot. Pretty standard stuff for the end of a satellite, I guess. One more out and we were there. All I have to do is get 7th, and I am going to the Series? Are you kidding me??? Little did I know, I would need lady luck again!
I had just gotten caught on a steal when the small stack moved in on me for 31K and I had to fold 10d9d. So down to 80K I picked up AsKs on the very next hand! I kept thinking about how Norman Chad always says the Ace of spades is the prettiest card in the deck. I wanted to push it for sure, cause I knew it was going to take people picking up premium hands to get us to 7, and this was one of them. I moved all in UTG and Mada1970, a guy who had been so close to being gone for a long time now, called for his 31K with 55! 55! What?!?! O well, lets race. COME ON ACE! KING! The flop came 4-3-10. UGLY! JUST UGLY! The turn was a Q, and the river was... A JACK!!! I HAD HIT THE BELLY BUSTER STRAIGHT!!!! O wow! 9 people left. "My work here is done" I thought. No more racing for me! A little while later, we were down to 8. ONE MORE! ONE MORE! COME ON BABY! Man, I was just barely hanging on, I was like 7th out of 8. In the big blind, down to like 69K or so I picked up AhQh and the button raised about 2X the BB. I thought, and I remembered David Williams saying at the WSOP with 10 people left and he held the same hand, AQ, "If I am suppose to be 10th, I'm suppose to be 10th...all-in! I thought it was time. So I did it. I moved in. But boy, did I want him to fold! So I kept typing in the chat box, "Call...Call...Call...Call...Call." He thought the whole time...AND FOLDED!!!!! YES!!!! YES!!!! A few hands later, the small stack was all-in a called by 3 people and it was over. I started going crazy. I ran into the other room where my roommates and my fiancé who were watching on a computer in the other room, and we went crazy. Did I get lucky a few times? Sure I did. Did I get unlucky a few times? Sure I did but it didn't matter now. I did it!
I still can't believe it. I am 21 (sure to be almost the youngest player in the field cause I turned 21 in February), about to get married this summer, and playing in the main event at the World Series of poker. Life doesn't get much better than this. Look out Daniel! Look out Vegas! Here I come...
Let me know what you think, and I am sorry for the long post.
nbliss16