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Wow, sorry this is so long, but if you like poker, it is worth a read, I think
I just got back from Vegas last night.
I played in the $1500 buy-in event #39 which started Saturday at 12 pm. I went with two buddies who also entered. We got to Vegas Friday morning and we went directly to The Rio and signed up for a Satelite to try to win some tokens($500) so we could get into the tourney at a discount. I played 3 single table $275 buy-in tourneys. The winner gets three tokens and $120 cash. The first tourney, we got down to 3 of us and we chopped and gave the chip leader the $120 and me and the other guy got one token each. I lost the next satelite and chopped the 3rd one with one guy in the 3rd, with me getting 2 tokens and the cash and he getting the one token, because I had him 2-1 in chips. So now I had my 3 tokens to get into the big tourney for only about $700....so things were looking great.
There were 2750 players entered including almost every top pro. 270 players get paid which was about $2800 for the last place finisher.
I have to say that I played my best poker ever.
I started out losing 1/3 of my starting 3000 chips in my first handto the player on my right when I finially folded(after thinking for 2 minutes)after the river when I knew that I was beat. He told me that he would tell me what he had when we changed tables or if he or I got eliminated. (He got eliminated 2 hrs later and he told me what he had which was the exact hand that I had him on, so I knew that I was playing great at that point).
I slowly made my chips back throughout the first 3 hrs and by the time my table broke and I went to a new table at 4:30, I had my stack up to about 5000 chips, which was just slightly less than the average chip stack.
I made a great call for all my chips in the next 2 hrs to get my stack up to 11,000 chips. We then went into the main room(the one you see on tv) I doubled up again at the expense of the table chip leader with the greatest call of my life, considering what was at stake.
The hand:
150-300 blinds $25 anties
I am in the big blind with 8-6, the chip leader limps in the cutoff and the action is folded to me and I check.
Flop: 2 2 8 (two spades)
Great for me! I bet 1000 chips, chip leader calls. a 3 h comes on the turn. I bet 3000 chips, he calls. A 10 of clubs comes on the river.
I check, he goes all in. I start thinking out loud. I told him he could not have a 2 because had he had an ace(only card that plays with a 2 at this point) , he would have raised in the cutoff. Only a 10 beats me, and the only hand that I could see him having with his calls is a 10 of spades with an ace, king, queen, or jack of spades. Un-likely
I put him on a busted flush draw and that he was trying to steal on the river.
I call, he mucks.
I now have 24,000 chips, twice the average stack.
Our table breaks.
My new table has no big stacks, in fact, when I arrive, one player announces "Big stack coming in" Good news for me.
There are now only 650 players left.
I lose a pretty good hand before the dinner break at 7:00 and go down 21,000 chips.
I come back at 8:30 and I get no hands for an hour and 2 other players catch me in chips and 3 players bust out. The good news is, Evelyn Ng sits down in seat 2(I am in seat 5) She is smokin hot
Blinds are 600-1200 and anties are 100.
I am on the button and the action folds to me, I look down at KJ spades, which is great for me at this point with only the blinds to act after me and 2800 in the pot. I raise to 3600, small blind fold, but the BB who has my size stack raises it to 10,000. I had been stealing from him for the last hr when his stack was low, but he tripled up a few minutes prior and now was a force to be reckoned with. There is about 16000 in the pot, so I have to call because I was getting over 2-1 odds and there is a chance that he was making a play, because he was getting tired of me pushing him around prior to this, so I call.
Flop:
Jd 8s 5s
Top pair, 2nd nut flush draw, could not have been much better for me.
BB goes all in. I think for a minute, and decide that even if he has aces, I am slight favorite, I call.
He turns over QJ
The table goes bananas, all telling me that I made a nice call. I am already envisioning myself at the Final table on ESPN with all of you guys watching me win my first bracelet.
the turn is a blank
He has only 2 outs, because the queen od spades gives me the flush....he is a 20-1 underdog with only 2 outs.
The river:
Qd
He had 200 more chips that I, I was out.
Holy Mother of God, how can lfe be so cruel??? I played the best poker of my life, made every right decision, and to have it all end with a miracle river, just punched me right in the nads.
Had he not hit the 2 outter, I would have had 46.000 chips, which at the time was in 3rd place out of the last 340 players. I would have cruised into the money, and maybe, just maybe won the whole damn thing.
The good news, I won enough money in cash games the rest of the weekend to come home with $1000 more than I left with.
Also, I was playing at a table on Sat night when someone at Imperial Palace hit the bad beat jackpot which was $110,000. those two players get 30% and 20% and every player at a cash game table in the 6 casinos that were in the consortium got the rest. I got $260.The hand was quad 9s beaten by a 9 high straight flush.
Anyhoo, I am still a bit down, but I am proud of myself for playing great and getting all my money in with the best hand.......so it goes.
Wow, sorry this is so long, but if you like poker, it is worth a read, I think
Sometimes you can play the right way and still lose, its why they call it gambling. Sucks though, but im sure it was an experience. For all us non richers that will never do it hahah sorry had to!!
Great story Jim. Sorry that you didn't win it all, Poker Rocky style, but there's always next year. That would have been the balls if you had made it on ESPN rocking a Spurstalk shirt.
You were on your game. Great calls, to get sucked out with a 2 outer is brutal.
Here's to you Jim!
Wow, I'm not even a huge poker fan and I found that story interesting.
Hey, at least you got the opportunity to be in that situation.
Consider yourself blessed.
I'd hit it.
you suck.......
"Don't you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy . . . she'll beat you if she's able."
Read it all. Sounds like you made some good plays. The good news is that if you keep making the calls you made in that tournament, eventually you'll find yourself among the elite poker players.
Don't agonize over it too much, man. You did EVERYTHING you could and had absolutely no control over that no-out hand the guy pulled on you. If you played a hand or made a bad call then you could be really pissed.
I'm thinking about doing it next year. It sounds like a lot of fun. Perhaps I'll see you on the table across from me.
A song for all the bad beats taken by The Eagles.
Man! So close.
Sounds like an awesome experience.
I'd hit it.
Leave it to tlong to look at the one good thing about my story.
BTW, that pic does not do her justice.
Here is a better one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Ng
Wow, Desperado, by the Eagles....I did not even realize that. I used to love that song.......till just now.
Read it all. Sounds like you made some good plays. The good news is that if you keep making the calls you made in that tournament, eventually you'll find yourself among the elite poker players.
Don't agonize over it too much, man. You did EVERYTHING you could and had absolutely no control over that no-out hand the guy pulled on you. If you played a hand or made a bad call then you could be really pissed.
I'm thinking about doing it next year. It sounds like a lot of fun. Perhaps I'll see you on the table across from me.
That would be cool, but if you go, let's go the same time...I usually go for the same 1500 tourney in June tourney 38 or 39 usually.
Did you see any famous poker players?
I would gladly poke her.
An aside, my 2 buddies got busted out in 2nd and 3rd session. The one (Brad) that got eliminated early got on a bad table with a bunch of wild internet players who played kamikaze poker. He was sitting to the right of Alex Jacob who was not playing like that, but the action was 25-50 blinds, then some er makes it 800-1000 every time, so Brad could not make any calls to see flops without getting a premium hand first, which he really never got and when he tried to get into a pot, the guy would push all in after the flop, so he was screwed pretty much....bad luck. He finally called an all-in preflop with AK suited against a mid pair, and did not catch...
Sounds like Tim Donaghy was the dealer, got your hopes up and then had to make The Man happy.
Sweet story. I'm a noob poker player myself.
Who won it anyways? Been a fan of Daniel Negranue (spelling) myself.
And I wouldn't touch that chick at all. Yuuuckkky.
Yes, I saw quite a few. Humberto"The Shark is coming" Brenes, and Greg Raymer in the hallway, and I got a picture of Joe Hashem. Barry Greenstein, Scotty Nguyen and Eric Lingren were sitting at tables all around me towards the end there. Johnny Chan got eliminated in first 5 minutes I hear.
David Woo
He was never the same since Matt Damon bluffed him out of a pot.
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