Jimcs50
06-26-2007, 02:56 PM
I am back. Here is my account of my tourney experience in an abridged version for those of you who are in to poker.
My tourney had a huge record field in a non main event event. There were 2778 players entered, including almost every pro you can think of. I sat 3 feet away from Joe Hashem who was at the table right next to me, and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson(finished in 31st place) was on the table on the other side of mine. Jesus was reading a book at the table, I guess he was bored. :)Hashem lasted 2 hrs and 10 mins, Phil Helmuth last 4 hrs, and I lasted 5 hrs 50 mins, just short of the 6th session, so it follows that Jimcs50> Hashem and Helmuth. :smokin :) Helmuth had one of his famous blowups when he went out. He had his pockets kings cracked when he went all in and a guy with pocket 8s called him. The guy caught another 8 on the turn and Phil proceeded to go into a rant about what kind of idiot player would call an all in with pocket 8s...blah blah blah. :lol I was card dead but kept alive by winning a few pots with so so hands and semi bluffs that made the other player fold.
Starting with 3000 chips and blinds at 25 and 50, you can not sit around and wait for great hands too much, because the blinds are such a huge percentage of your stack. That said, I could not even try to do anything at all for the first hour, because I did not get 2 face cards or suited connectors or pocket pairs for the first 25 hands(Must have had K,Q,J-2,3,4 or 8,7-2,3 fifteen times), I finally got a decent hand on the button with A-10 u in the 2nd session. I was lulled to sleep with getting horrible cards, so my mind wandered a bit, and I did not notice that the player under the gun in seat 1(I was in seat 9, so I could not see him all that well since he was hiding behind the dealer somewhat) had raised, and I thought I was only one in the hand except the blinds, so I announced a raise and threw in 200 chips, but since he had already raised to 400, I was commited to raise his 400 and had to put in another 350 chips. :oops He saw that I was hesitant, so right after I put in the extra chips he then went all in. :bang I could not risk my tourney life with my hand against a player that raised in that early position, so I had to fold. I just pissed off 550 chips. :bang He was nice enough to show his pocket jacks, so it was a good lay down as I knew he had either JJ, or QQ. Had I seen that he raised I might have called because I had position and if any ace or king flopped, I could have either won the pot or stolen it.
I kept my head above water with 2 all ins that I won, so by the end of the 5th session, I had 2200 chips. The blinds were 150-300 and the antes were 25, so I was getting desperate. I caught my 2nd pocket pair 7-7 in the cut off and when the player in 4th position raised to 900, I went all in. There was 1600 in the pot because of his 900 and the blinds and antes, so when he called I had a chance to get to 5200 chips, which would have bought me some more time and allowed me to be a little creative and maybe get my stack moving in the right direction. He had AK so we had a classic race situation. The flop drew him a blank, so did the turn....I held my breath but was feeling giddy because I had him down to a 12% chance of winning to my 88%......then a freaking king came on the river.
I took the beat like a man, congratulated him and shook hands with some of the guys that I was friendy with, and slinked out down the walk of shame. :depressed
The good news is I won some money in cash games the rest of the weekend.
All in All I had a great time, learned a lot and am now hooked of the World Series of Poker, so will make this an annual trip. :elephant
My tourney had a huge record field in a non main event event. There were 2778 players entered, including almost every pro you can think of. I sat 3 feet away from Joe Hashem who was at the table right next to me, and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson(finished in 31st place) was on the table on the other side of mine. Jesus was reading a book at the table, I guess he was bored. :)Hashem lasted 2 hrs and 10 mins, Phil Helmuth last 4 hrs, and I lasted 5 hrs 50 mins, just short of the 6th session, so it follows that Jimcs50> Hashem and Helmuth. :smokin :) Helmuth had one of his famous blowups when he went out. He had his pockets kings cracked when he went all in and a guy with pocket 8s called him. The guy caught another 8 on the turn and Phil proceeded to go into a rant about what kind of idiot player would call an all in with pocket 8s...blah blah blah. :lol I was card dead but kept alive by winning a few pots with so so hands and semi bluffs that made the other player fold.
Starting with 3000 chips and blinds at 25 and 50, you can not sit around and wait for great hands too much, because the blinds are such a huge percentage of your stack. That said, I could not even try to do anything at all for the first hour, because I did not get 2 face cards or suited connectors or pocket pairs for the first 25 hands(Must have had K,Q,J-2,3,4 or 8,7-2,3 fifteen times), I finally got a decent hand on the button with A-10 u in the 2nd session. I was lulled to sleep with getting horrible cards, so my mind wandered a bit, and I did not notice that the player under the gun in seat 1(I was in seat 9, so I could not see him all that well since he was hiding behind the dealer somewhat) had raised, and I thought I was only one in the hand except the blinds, so I announced a raise and threw in 200 chips, but since he had already raised to 400, I was commited to raise his 400 and had to put in another 350 chips. :oops He saw that I was hesitant, so right after I put in the extra chips he then went all in. :bang I could not risk my tourney life with my hand against a player that raised in that early position, so I had to fold. I just pissed off 550 chips. :bang He was nice enough to show his pocket jacks, so it was a good lay down as I knew he had either JJ, or QQ. Had I seen that he raised I might have called because I had position and if any ace or king flopped, I could have either won the pot or stolen it.
I kept my head above water with 2 all ins that I won, so by the end of the 5th session, I had 2200 chips. The blinds were 150-300 and the antes were 25, so I was getting desperate. I caught my 2nd pocket pair 7-7 in the cut off and when the player in 4th position raised to 900, I went all in. There was 1600 in the pot because of his 900 and the blinds and antes, so when he called I had a chance to get to 5200 chips, which would have bought me some more time and allowed me to be a little creative and maybe get my stack moving in the right direction. He had AK so we had a classic race situation. The flop drew him a blank, so did the turn....I held my breath but was feeling giddy because I had him down to a 12% chance of winning to my 88%......then a freaking king came on the river.
I took the beat like a man, congratulated him and shook hands with some of the guys that I was friendy with, and slinked out down the walk of shame. :depressed
The good news is I won some money in cash games the rest of the weekend.
All in All I had a great time, learned a lot and am now hooked of the World Series of Poker, so will make this an annual trip. :elephant