I think I have lived a full life for my tender (30) years. I’ve fallen in love, I’ve travelled to beautiful places, I have delighted in spiritually fulfilled moments and yet I think that, so far, 25/26 December 2005 has to go down as the best single day of my life so far. It is my pleasure to share some of the reasons why in this blog…
On Sunday 25 December, I met up with my close family for lunch. Having already lined up a couple of juicy online poker tournaments to play in, I decide to kick back and enjoy the afternoon playing at my parents’ house happy to have a few spectators for company.
The first of the tournaments was the Xmas special on Ladbrokes Poker. It cost $500 to enter and they added $5,000 to the prize pool. It attracted 45 runners and offered an $11,000 first prize.
Leading the way
With 14 runners left I was leading the way with over 19,000 chips. I limped in first position for 600 and the player on the button (one of the other chip leaders) pushed all in for 14,000. I called and he flipped over 9-9. The board came down 8-7-6-5-2 and my big stack was crippled. But I remained positive and determined and battled my way onto the final table, albeit as one of the shorter stacks. From there on in, I made some great reads and was fortunate to time any ‘moves’ just right.
I entered heads up play with a 60-40 chip advantage which soon became 80-20. Even after losing a big pot with A-9 vs K-Q, I continued to chip away and after an hour-long heads-up battle and a total of 5 hours play, at 8.30pm, I emerged victorious.
I was delighted with my performance and the juicy prize and was somewhat delirious from the incredible high that comes from winning any tournament outright. But I wasn’t ready to pack it in for the day because the second tournament I had picked out was starting just an hour later, a $500 freezeout on PokerStars with 1,876 runners and $100,000 added. Prizes were being paid down to 405 and the first prize was a huge $170,000.
Two hours in and I was almost out. Having taken a couple of beats and then waited patiently for a hand I was down to 800 (from a starting stack of 2,500). With blinds at 100-200 and a running ante of 25 I desperately needed to double up. An uncontested all-in bought me a few more chips. Finally I picked up a hand with J-J in first position. I moved in for 1,100 but was quickly called by Q-Q. The board bought me a miracle: K-10-9-7-8.
Moving in
About a round later I had progressed further and was up to almost 4,000. With three limpers, I decided not to raise with K-Q in the big blind. The flop came down Q-9-3, I checked and the first limper bet out 600 into the 1,000 pot. All passed to me. Whilst it was no certainty I was ahead, the player in question had played a lot of pots and he only had another 1,200 back so he could not knock me out. I moved in and he called with A-A. When the river bought a miracle Queen, I started to get quite excited. Not only was I back from the brink with a decent sized stack, but I was also enjoying the kind of fortune that is normally reserved for my opponents!
Two hours of solid poker later, just before 1.30am, I had made the money. The average stack size was 12,000 and I had around 15,000. There were still another 405 opponents to defeat but I was sensing that something special may be in the offing and had now been joined by a live audience consisting of my dad, my brother-in-law and one of my best friends, ‘Siccy’ (somewhat of a lucky charm – see previous blog).
At about 2am, with 20,000 in chips and the blinds at 500-1000, I picked up A-A for the first time. One of the short stacks moved in for 4,500 and I just called, hoping to trap one of the other players. Sure enough, the small blind called as well as the flop came down A-7-5. The small blind checked and so did I. The turn was a 9 and now he led out for 6,000, I raised to 12,000, he moved in and I called down his A-Q. With almost 50,000 chips in the middle both my opponents were drawing dead and for the first time in the tournament I had a dominating stack to play with.
Testing times
But the next two hours were to prove the most testing. At the worst possible time, with blind increases becoming increasingly penal I went card dead. Into the last 100 and my stack had become worryingly frail. I was down to 35,000 with blinds at 3000-6000 and antes at 300. On the positive side I was keeping a level head, and having been on the same table for several hours, I had built up a very solid table image and a very good knowledge of all my opponents.
To my right was a very aggressive player called Serb2127 and for the third time in five rounds, he raised from the button on my small blind. I found A-8 and thought I was probably in front and so I called all in. He exposed K-9 and my A-8 held up. A few rounds later though and still card dead, I was back down to 50,000 with the blinds now 4,000-8,000. Again, it was ‘Serb’ I clashed with but this time I was behind. He raised my button, I moved in with K-Q and he called with A-8, the flop came down J-10-4 and the turn card was a magic Ace.
With 110,000 I was back in business. Down to 30 players, I stepped up a gear, swiftly increasing my stack up to 150,000. Finally, I found a hand and with K-K in first position. I made it 40,000 to go. The button, with a similar sized stack to me, moved in and I called down his AK. My KK held up and now I was one of the chip leaders. Down to 20, and with enough chips to start opening up, I stepped up a couple of gears and for the next hour I dominated the table. By the time the final table started at around 4.30am, with a total of 4.7 million chips in play, I was marginal chip leader with 760,000.
I was in the zone, and the final table went smoothly. I played tight-aggressive and my chips were never at risk. Down to four, I won a big pot with 9-9 vs A-J and, down to three, I was chip leader with just over 2.2 million vs 1.7 million and 750,000. We stopped the game to discuss business and we agreed to do a deal based on chip count. I locked up $127,000, second in chips (serb2127 – see above) locked up $108,000 and third in chips secured $83,000. We played off for the remaining $10,000.
A huge pay-day
Right then and there, I knew that I was going to enjoy a huge pay-day and the hugs and the high-fives went up all around the room. Overjoyed, I managed to refocus on the task in hand, reminding myself that $10,000 is still a lot of money and that I needed to convert my chip-lead into a victory.
Three minutes and 10 hands later I knocked out the third-placed opponent to take a huge chip lead. After a further five minutes and 12 hands, at 6.05am (UK time), with 75% of the chips I called Serb2127 all in after the flop as a marginal favourite (56%) and won the remaining $10k. For more details of how the winning hand was played out see http://www.pokerhand.org/?203726.
A few days later, I am still in a state of euphoria. It is a life-changing win for me and I genuinely feel blessed by the experience and the fortune I enjoyed. I can only hope that 2006 brings more of the same…
Happy New Year!
Til next time
thekid08
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