A Tale of Two Tournaments...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In respect to Charles Dickens that is how I would describe the past weekend in Las Vegas. I started out on Thursday the 28th which is my birthday and go to the MGM about 10:30. Headed straight to the poker room and waited to sit in on 1-2NL game. Sat down and bought in for $100 and eventually doubled up when I flopped 2 pair and got called by a self-described donkey. He flopped bottom pair and was open-ended. NBA then showed up and we headed to the Rio.

I bought into my first SNG satellite for $225. Winner gets 2000 in tourney chips and $120 in cash. I dominated my table flopping a full house, the nut flush, making quads and another full house. I am then heads up in the lead with 7100 to 2900. I offer my opponent a deal paying in $250 + the $120 and give me 2k in chips. He declined. I then offered him 1 chip ($500) and then I get 3 chips and the $120. He declined and said lets play for it. We started playing and he soon took a chip lead of about 6500-3500. He wanted to make a deal then and I said no. I then doubled up with AK vs. A4 and we were back to where we started. We got back down close to even (I'm up 5300-4600) and he says you want to chop it evenly. I said fine you take 2 chips and I 2 chips and the $120 in cash. Since I was up I should get something. He said no and the very next hand he goes all in from the SB. I look down and see AJ and immediately call him. He has K7. The flop comes AKx and I hold on to win. I then register for the 2k event and am stoked that I basically got in for $105.

Friday comes and I take my seat at table 37 seat Seat #1 which I hate. Directly across from me in seat 4 is David Singer coming off his 2nd consecutive 50k horse final table. He was very nice and we chatted it up for the first few hours we were together. During the first level, I became short stack after flopping a straight with 109 (board 876) only for the turn and the river to bring 66. I had to fold to a crazy Asian lady (CAL) who went all in. I am now down to 1600 of my original 4k starting chips. Then it is folded to me and I raise in LP with KJo. CAL calls me from SB and we see a flop of QJx with 2 diamonds. I have 1300 and make a mistake of just betting 500 (NBA was right in saying just should have pushed all in). CAL quickly puts me in and after a few seconds I call mainly because I was frustrated, not because I necessarily thought I was ahead (Bad thing to do and I need to work on that) and she flips over 75 of diamonds. I hold up and double up. I then play a pot heads up with Singer and he takes about 700 from me. About an orbit later I again am in LP and raise with A9. CAL once again calls from SB and I decide that if an Ace hits, I will check raise the CAL because I know she will bet. Ace hits the flop and I check. She instantly goes all in and I instantly think because she did it so fast she doesn't have an ace. I have the dealer count out the chips and I have her out chipped by 900. I call and she flips over 1010. I double up to 7k and am now for the first time above starting stack. I then move to a new table with no known pros. A few guys are long time grinders but everyone else looks very green to me.

At this time, I quickly figure out the donkeys and build up a solid image. About an hour at that table a pro moves there and he is really good. I try to stay away from him as much as possible but we did end up in some pots because I always seem to pick up hands in his blind. At about 6:00 a young Asian kid comes to my table. I will refer to him as the Aggro Asian Kid (AAK). He has a ton of chips and seems very aggressive. Not playing many pots but when he does he plays them fast. He check raised me and the pro off of one pot where I'm sure he flopped trip 8's when I flopped top pair. I soon build up my stack to a peak of 17.5k and then down to around 16k when this hand happens. I look down UTG with JJ. Blinds at 300-600 with 75 ante and I make it 2100 to go. AAK raises to 5k and it folds to me and I know he has a big ace. I decide to call to see a flop. There is 11675 in the pot. I decide if no paint, I'm pushing all in. Flop comes 9 high and I go all in for 11.5k. AAK grimaces and I know I have the best hand. He ponders for almost 2 minutes and then turns to me and says "I'm going to try and get lucky on you" and says "I call." He turns over AJ and he is down to 3 outs. Turn is a blank and the river is an ACE. The table lets out an audible gasp and I turn and briefly walk away in disbelief. I come back and 3 guys come up to me and shake my hand and the table praises my play. The pro who I know by face but not by name says I played really solid which meant a lot because I really respected his game.

I left sicked to my stomach and go to meet NBA who had busted out earlier and was playing a satellite. I have taken many bad beats and had bad luck but this one hurt, still hurts and always will hurt. If the guy was a donkey and made the call I'd be like ok you are an idiot but this kid was solid and I just don't get his call. If I won that pot, I would have had over 34k in chips, top 10% in chips and a definite cash barring something drastic. I finished somewhere between 480-485 out of 2038 players. Top 198 got paid. That river card cost me a minimum of 4k. I was playing the best poker of my life and to exit like that just makes me sick.

Next morning I wake up not wanting anything to do with poker as I wasn't over the beat. We had planned to play the Venetian Deep Stack tourney. I wasn't in the mood to play but agreed to go. I played in a $120 satellite and finished 10th when my AK lost to a river flush. I then bought in directly for $540 and started the tourney with 10k in chips. I was out 30-35 minutes into tourney when I knew I was beat and continued playing a pot with a guy I knew had AA or KK. For whatever reason I went all in with JJ on the turn and he called and had KK. I don't know why I did what I did but was never feeling it at that tourney and never should have played.

That evening after winning and losing some prop bets to NBA at GameWorks, I went to MGM for some live 1-2NL. I bought in for $200 and was up to about $275 after the first hour. I was then down to $235 when this hand happened. I limped in MP with J10. The SB (A solid player) make sit $12 to go. I call the $10 and we see a flop of J103. He leads out for $20 and I min raise to $40. He then goes all in for all his chips and has me easily out chipped. I call thinking he has AA, KK, or QQ and he turns over JJ for top set. About a $500 pot I lost. That was the last poker I played. JJ did me no good this past weekend.

Still a great time hanging with NBA and playing in the WSOP. I felt like I could hang with the people in that tournament. Granted a lot of donkeys but I did play with some top talent and held my own.

Finally I pay tribute to Tao of Poker himself Dr. Pauly with my segment of Last Pro I Pissed Next To...
1. Joe Seebok