I was going to write about the wild and wooly Saturday night I had at the poker table (Saturday because I had something come up on my usual poker-playing Friday night), a 6 hours at a $6/$12 limit table that played like a $1/$2 table with 4 or 5 players routinely in a showdown and with suckouts galore, a 6 hours that saw me with a net loss of $2 mainly because I got hungry and bought dinner, a 6 hours that saw me get pocket aces or kings not once, get AK offsuit 4 times with improvement not once, and get pocket queens that went to a cap pre-flop, a straight draw with a cap after the flop, a third diamond on the river, and me still winning the pot, a $370 monster.
Then Sunday happened.
My regular card club began a new tournament series a few weeks ago, their own Player of the Year series with alternating limit and no-limit Sunday afternoon tournaments. With softball season (Sunday games) and holiday weekend trips done for awhile, I wanted to give this a try, especially as it had a relatively low buy-in and rebuy rate.
This week was the limit tournament, where I feel a bit more comfortable than no-limit.
Early on I had a very aggressive player across the table, one who raised frequently pre-flop. He was building a bit of a stack and I was getting nothing really playable, so I pretty much shut down for a bit, deciding to bide my time. That was a good strategy; I didn’t get my first playable hand until the second round (20-minute rounds) and made it hold up. I could not worry about blinds going up for awhile and went back into waiting for good hands.
It was all the way into the 6th round when a hand came along that really boosted my place in the tournament. I had an OK stack, about the middle of the table. We still had 5 or 6 tables going, playing $200/$400 with blinds of $100 and $200.
I was in middle position with one caller and I found KJ offsuit. I decided to try a little push as I was being really quiet at the table. I raised and got 4 callers and found a miracle on the flop: both a king and a jack.
From here my memory gets a bit fuzzy: I don’t remember the betting pattern at this point, whether I was bet into and raised again, whether I was bet into and smooth called to induce more action, or was first to bet and either bet out or checked to keep people in.
What I do remember is that the player who was raising often stayed with me to the end, even though another king came on the turn, and when I bet he mucked, so I didn’t have to show my kings full.
For most of the rest of the way I kept a decent-sized stack. Making the occasional aggressive play and usually having it pay off. I showed down very, very few hands and ended up not only making the final table but having a slight chip lead. I was feeling pretty heady at this point, although I was a bit worried too because the leader in the Player of the Year standings was also there and two seats to my left.
My first hand at the final table was pocket tens. I raised, got a caller, and when the flop showed 2 overcards I tried to represent strength with a bet, go raised, and folded. That strategy took a good third of my chips.
I pulled back and let some of the other players knock each other out, and when it got down to 5 or 6 players, everyone started playing really close to the vest. It wasn’t uncommon to see everyone fold to a raise. I got a bit fortunate in that I got a couple of decent hands either weak aces or two Broadway cards and was able to grab blinds at a rate faster than they were being taken away.
And then suddenly I was one of the final three. I got a medium ace, pushed it against what turned out to be a weaker ace and had it hold up to bust out the third-place finisher.
The last player was a very nice gentleman who I’d sat next to at my first table. He had been on my immediate right and I could tell he was a solid player; early on he was playing good hands and building up a good stack. We had talked before about my limited poker experience and he seemed a really nice person, although a very good competitor at the table.
We discussed for a few moments whether we should play it out or make a deal. I had close to 2/3 of the chips in play. He said it mattered not to him at all. I was worried that he’d play well and take me out, but I also wanted the real-live heads-up experience, and we ended up playing it out.
He raised right off the bat on the first heads-up hand and with (I think) a jack high, I folded. I got an ace next, raised, and he folded. I got an ace again, raised, and he folded. There was a little more back and forth and I got a few more chips, then I got the key hand: a pocket pair, sevens.
I raised, he re-raised, I re-raised back, and he called. The flop brought three overcards, including and ace and an eight. He had just a bit more than one small bet left, which he bet, and I put him all-in.
He turned over an ace and an eight. I just groaned inwardly and said “nice hand,” fully expecting to lose the hand and give him the chip lead.
What I didn’t notice was that there were also two clubs in the flop, and one of my sevens was a club. In full had defeat mode, ready to go at it again with a weakened stack, I didn’t notice at first that the turn card came up a club.
And so did the river.
The dealer began pushing the stack of chips in my direction and I took a fresh look at the cards on the board, then at my turned-up cards. And I finally saw it.
And to be honest, I first felt not joy or even amazement, but sorry foe the guy (whose name I didn’t even think to get) who I beat. I mean, he was a very nice, very classy person. He played the hand very, very well (I did too, I think) and to take a beat like that, well, some might say it’s just not fair. I know objectively that “that’s poker,” but it still didn’t seem “right.”
And then….
I won my very first tournament!!!
Woo hoo!
Well, I’m really not that excitable. Not really excitable at all. I didn’t jump for joy, scream, or anything.
We took a nice photo together, shaking hands. I watched the first-place money being counted out for me.
$5000.
Wow.
As I am wont to do, while I was also feeling utterly giddy inside, I also pondered a bit, putting this into perspective. While I was besting a field of 83 players for a top prize of $5000, a sizable chunk of the more than 5600 entries in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker were playing at the very same time just a few hundred miles away for a top prize of $7.5 million.
Still, July 10, 2005 will be a milestone in my poker career and my life, my very first tournament win.
Monday morning, I’m back to me regular job. But in the back of my mind, I’m looking forward to the next time I can sit down with cards, chips, and the green felt.