The Fish is In

The best hand I had yesterday in the super was ace-jack suited, and I never had opportunities to steal. The one time I considered a reraise with king-jack suited my opponent politely showed me pocket queens. I finally made a desperation push for four big blinds with jack-ten suited under the gun. Tuan Le called with pocket eights on the button, made a full house, and won.

I went back to the room and slept for a couple hours before returning for the nightly 1k event. The tension was thick in the Fontana Lounge as the super was down to about 80 players (with 51 getting seats), several one-table 3k sats were running, and the nightly tournament was over capacity and had more than 50 alternates.

When I got there both the Gambler and the Fish had average to below average stacks. I waited on the rail (possibly the best rail in the world, complete with couches) talking to an adult film producer until a seat opened up in the 1k. I folded for a couple rounds until picking up pocket fives in late position and calling a 4x big blind raise. That alone was a questionable decision with my stack size but I was just dying to see a flop in position and 55 was the biggest hand I'd had all day. The old man to my left also called the raise and the flop came JT6 with a flush draw and everyone checked. The turn was a J and again the preflop raiser checked to me. I made a small bet and the old man called after a ten second think. The river was a 4 and I checked. The old man quickly went all in for about the size of the pot and I immediately called. The old man turned over ace-queen of clubs and I doubled up.

Meanwhile the super was in gut-check mode and both the Gambler and the Fish had perilous stack sizes. I talked to them on a break with about 55 left with neither assured of getting a seat but neither in full desperation mode. A few minutes later I was sitting at my table in the 1k and the Gambler came up to me sporting a wan smile I know all too well. He had been forced to gamble with 87 in the big blind and lost to A3 in a make or break pot for the seat.

Two minutes after that the Fish came up to my table and said "UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE." I leapt out of my seat yelping "NO NO NO" but he broke into the famous Paul Wasicka grin and told me he was now in the safe zone and a seat was locked up. Five minutes later it was official.

Thereafter I played a loose-aggressive style that saw my chips constantly rising (reraising a huge stack with aces and winning on the flop) and falling (calling a Steve Dannenmann button raise with 87, then getting bluffed after I bet the turn on a QQJK board). With 30 players left playing seven-handed I picked up queens in third position after UTG wildly made it 8 big blinds to go. I immediately pushed for 12 big blinds and watched in disgust as the small blind instantly announced "I'm all in too." The speed and confidence of his actions could mean only one thing and I knew it was time to win a 4 to 1 shot. UTG folded his jacks, the board bricked out, and I walked back to the Gold Coast.

The Fish is playing in heat one today with instructions not to go broke in the day with the lowest importance : excitement ratio in the poker tournament calendar. I fly back to Colorado tomorrow at noon.

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Yesterday: -3660

YTD: 80,629