We had 41 players for our Saturday night tournament. Many of them showed up on time. And by On Time, I mean exactly at 8pm. So it took some extra time to buy everyone in and get the extra chips distributed. But we had "Shuffle Up & Deal" by 8:15 with 28 players at four tables. With all four tables now open, I just had to fill them up with the late stragglers, which doesn't take much effort for this TD.
So I was able to actually play a little poker in the beginning levels. Overall, it went well. My stack had started to dwindle towards "Short" when I hit a set against someone who check-raised me with just Top Pair and a lousy kicker. That easy double-up got me back in the game. I had just over 14k at the first break, thanks to eliminating a player JJ vs TT for about 4000.
Things kept going rather smoothly. I knocked out a short stack or two to get me up to the 20k-25k mark. I hung around there for a while. I wasn't getting great cards, but I was able to steal enough to maintain my stack. I even pulled of a few bluffs during the night.
As we got closer to the Final Table, I knocked out another player to get me up to around 50k. (55 vs two players with overcards, and they missed.) And then a big hand happened.
I think one early player either made a small raise or just limped. Colin, one of the best and most experienced players, 3-bet from Mid position to 10k. I'm on the Button, and I do my little "Prayer to the Poker Gods" thing before I look at my cards. Well, they listened this time, as I look down at two black Aces. If I put the 4-bet in here, it will scream AA to Colin. So I try to get that "Crap, I've got JJ" look on my face, and just call the 10k, with around 40k behind. I'm willing to gamble in this spot to win a monster pot. One of the Blinds moves All-In for around 14k. The first raiser also goes All-In for around the same amount. Colin wants to know if he can re-pop it, but he knows that he can't because they didn't shove in for enough. He calls, and so do I. Flop came Q high and dry. He checks, and I shove. This really confused him, but he folds since he's got a pair smaller then the Q. I show my AA, and both of the All-Ins turn over T9o. They do pick up a Gutshot on the Turn, but my AA hold up for a very big pot.
That hand got us to the Final Table, and I have the chip lead of 89k out of 325k in total chips. That is the good news. The Bad News is that my seat draw sucked. Colin is now on my direct Left, and another quality experienced player (HipHop) is right after him. This will make stealing and making moves much more difficult. Fortunately, I don't need to make any moves for a while.
And I didn't do anything but A-B-C poker for a level or two. By the time we got to the Bubble (5 got paid), I was still the Chip Leader with 70-75k. But the other stacks were not that far behind me, and there was nobody holding on for dear life. Play really ground to a very slow pace. Usually a single raise, and all fold, or just a Walk.
During this Bubble stage, it folded around to me in the SB. Colin and I had only a few Blind v Blind situations so far, with no big pots yet. Both of us tend to be Small Ballers, and we were playing these situations that way. I looked down at A3o, and decided to make a move. I just limped in, with the intention of shoving All-In if he raised his BB. He did raise, and I did shove. He thought for a while, saying, "I don't think I can fold this," which scared the crap out of me. But eventually he folded and showed his AJ. I carefully showed just my Ace, and he now seemed convinced that I had tried to trap with AK, which is something that I would do in that spot (see AA earlier). Later on in the evening, he asked me what I had, and I told him the truth. He was not amused.
Eventually, HipHop was our Bubble Boy, and Colin finished in 4th. This left myself, Linda (an fairly tight, but experienced lady), and Terry C (the Host's best buddy, who is a Level 1 player). The chips were fairly even, but Terry was the Chip Leader. I'm fairly confident of the Win at this point. Two hands later, I was extremely confident of the Win, thanks to Linda's AQ running into my AK in a nasty cooler. This gave me the chip lead heading to Heads-Up, roughly 190k-135k.
Terry wanted to Chop, and go play Cash. I had no interest in that for a few reasons. First, we were only a little ways into the 3k/6k level, so we has some play left. Second, I'm a much better player than he is. If we play this out ten times, I'll probably win 7 or 8 of them. Lastly, and most importantly to me, I really wanted this win. As I've mentioned before, I've only won one CPMG tournament over 30 players. This is a giant thorn in my side now, and some players can't believe it when I tell them. This would be the largest CPMG field that I've ever defeated. Plus, I have yet to score a victory this season. (29 tournaments so far)
Well, this was turning out to be one of the 2 or 3 that he would win. He was getting all the cards. My chip lead lasted about two hands. He kept winning most of the pots. No big pots, but the small and medium pots were starting to add up. Taking 6k-20k out of my stack at time was getting on my nerve. I decided to go into ultra Small Ball mode, and quit raising preflop just to stop the bleeding, and outplay him post-flop.
I'm not sure if it would have worked, because, out of the blue, he asked, "You want to Chop?"
"Even money?", I asked cautiously.
"Sure."
Well, the current chip count was roughly 75k-250k. The end of the Level was only a few minutes away, and we'd be going to 4k/8k. At that level, I would have to start shoving All-In to get back into this match. If it had been anything that gave me 2nd place money, I would have said No. But an even-money chop was just too good of an equity advantage to ignore.
Since the payouts were $480 & $310, we chopped at $395 each. I'm not happy about it, but I just couldn't say No to the offer.
In the last two weeks, I've cashed for $672 of profit between both tournaments, and I'm not happy with either one of them.
Oh yeah, I'm a Poker Player.
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