Goodnight Moon

I got knocked out today shortly after the dinner break but who cares! The Fish has over 300k, PiMaster has over 100k, and I have 5% of each!

The truth is I am devastated. I wanted to make a deep run in this tournament so badly and I really felt I would do it. I came back from the short stack so many times eventually I started believing it was my destiny to claw for days before finally hitting a huge rush and making the final table. Obviously I've busted out of a lot of tournaments and been really disappointed each time, but this one is special and it's so disappointing to see that final river card and know you're not going to be the world champion this year.

Hands:

My first table was an excellent table, with weakling short stacks to my left and unimpressive medium stacks to my right, but I knew we would break soon.

250-500 blinds, 50 ante.

A Scandinavian I could already tell was aggressive raised in the cutoff and the very shortstacked button called all in. I pushed in for about 8x the raise with JJ in the SB and the Scandinavian folded. The short stack had pocket threes and I won a solid pot.

An orbit later the Scandinavian limped on the button and the SB completed. I made a large raise with pocket threes in the BB and the Scandinavian called. The small blind got out of the way, the flop came Kh7h4h or something and I bet, luckily he folded. This was definitely one of those "the most aggressive player wins the pot in hold em" moments.

I raised in fairly late position with JTo and the short stacked SB called. The flop came K76 with two hearts and we both checked. The turn was a Q and he bet 2000. I put him in for about 9k more. He put his chips in really fast and I felt nauseous, but not as nauseous as he did when an ace hit the river. There are thousands of guys telling stories like that right now, and I guess I'm one of them, sort of.

A bit after that the table broke and I got moved to a much different table. There was a guy with close to 200k playing pretty wildly, limping into a ton of pots, and immediately calling large raises. Kenny Robbins, a young player I played with last year in the main event, was two to my left with a pretty decent stack. Based on what I saw last year Robbins was not a good player, but he is quite aggressive and I knew his position could present a problem for me.

300-600 blinds, 75 ante.

The huge stack limps and I limp behind with Ac7c. Robbins limped, the small blind limped, the big blind checked, and the flop came 9c5s4c. It was checked to me and I bet 2000. Robbins made it 10,000 and everyone folded to me. I was almost certain he had a big draw and went into deep thought about his specific hand possibilities and my percentages against them. I felt the most likely hands were 5c6c, 5c3c, 5c2c, 3c2c, Kc5c, in that order. Right when he raised it I knew he was probably weak (did not have a set) but would call if I pushed in. I was a little bit worried about bottom two pair and a tiny bit worried about the set, but I really felt confident he had a huge draw and because I held the Ac and 7c (both big semibluff cards he might have if I did not), I thought he had the 5c along with another one. It just seemed he was totally willing to get the money in and like I said, I knew he was calling if I pushed. I finally decided to toss it but after thinking the hand through, and especially after I talked to him at the break and he told me he had "two overs and a flush draw", I think I made a poor laydown. I mean obviously I did considering he had two overs and a flush draw, a hand I had absolutely crushed. This was probably my biggest mistake of the day, and shows my true weakness: an unwillingness to gamble. Until I am willing to really get in there and gamble, I am not going to be a top tournament player.

The huge stack limped and I just limped with AK. An orbit before he had limped and I had raised him with AK, he had called and I had won the pot with a bet on the AJT flop. I figured if I raised him again I would probably need to flop a hand to win the pot, or face the prospect of calling postflop overbets with ace high. But mainly I was just limping to trap Robbins or someone else, so they would raise and I would move in. Robbins considered, but folded, and then the button just quietly announced that he was going all-in and put seventeen and a half thousand in the pot. Everyone quickly folded to me. This sort of crazy bet from an unknown player is often ace-king, and sometimes it's a pair. There's always the chance that it's a worse ace or a berzerko bet with a suited connector or whatever. After counting my chips I found I would have 9,500 left if I called and lost. I announced the call and turned over my AK. I was thrilled to see him turn over AQ. There was around 37k in the pot and if I won it I'd be over 46k with a chance to trap the huge stack or Robbins and really get something going. Sadly the flop came QQ6 and I was decimated. That was definitely one of the most devastating hands I've ever played.

I doubled up with AQs against the huge stack's J8s not too much later to get back in the game. Then this hand came up:

400-800 blinds, 100 ante. Four guys limp to my big blind and I check with T6 offsuit. The flop comes QT6, the first flop of the tournament I really hit (except for an unwanted set of aces on day one). I check and for the first time since I've been at the table, it checks around. The turn was a disgusting ace putting two flush draws on board, and I cautiously checked. The first limper checked and the second limper fired 3500. The huge stack then called and so did the small blind. I then went deep into thought about what people had and what I should do about it. At first I was pretty worried the bettor might have KJ, but then I thought back to the flop and remembered that he immediately checked, seemingly disinterested in the pot. So I thought he probably didn't have KJ, and the other guys definitely didn't look like they had the nuts. In fact it looked like the other guys didn't have much at all, so I was really only worried about the bettor. I kept thinking back to his complete disinterest on the flop and decided to go all-in for my 18k. To my shock and horror, the first limper then started studying. At that moment I thought I was a goner. He was a fairly cautious, short-stacked player and for him to have checked twice and now be considering the all-in with nothing invested he probably had the dreaded KJ. After some thought though he showed his cards to the rail (A6) and folded. The other guys quickly folded too and I picked up a much-needed pot to almost double and hit the dinner break with 31k.

500-1000 blinds, 200 ante.

Two orbits after dinner and down to 25k, I picked up TT in the small blind and made it 4k. The big blind was a 22 year old player named Ryan who goes by "youngluck" online. Ryan actually went to dinner with us and so I had gotten to know him by this point. I knew him to be an aggressive, fearless player and also a blind battler. He knew me to be a tight player. So I was a bit surprised when he quickly shoved all-in after my raise. I thought for a while. I just hate calling off all my chips unless I know I'm ahead. I knew he did not have kings or aces based on his quick all-in and body language. I also knew he had some sort of good hand based on everything else. That could mean any pair, AK, AQ, AJ, maybe ATs. Eventually I called and I was perturbed to see his KQo. I felt I had been playing solid enough to discourage this sort of wild all-in from a hand as poor as KQ, even blind-on-blind. Anyways I lost the race and that was the end of my 2006 World Series of Poker, at least as far as playing goes.