It was a good way to start the week: Win the Monday tournament at Artichoke Joe’s.
I would have been happy to chop at the final table, as is common. I made it to the final table with about a middle-of-the-road chip stack. The chip leader was on my immediate right, and the next biggest stack was on my immediate left. (The leader had gotten incredibly lucky to accumulate most of his chips.) Neither one wanted to chop, and there were a couple of very short stacks at the table.
But my patience paid off, patience that a long-gone player claimed would cost me success in this tournament. The chip leader was still trying to be aggressive a few hands in when I found pocket queens and made it 3 bets. I was called-all-in by the big blind, and the initial raiser called. I was very happy to see a flop of A-Q-8, as was the big blind who had A-8. The original raiser bet out, and I of course raised. He called, and eventually called my river all-in bet and showed Q-J. The was a big chip up.
We had knocked out a few smaller stacks and down to 5, but the two who had had the biggest stacks to start the table still didn’t want to chop, and neither did another player who had chipped up some as well. Again, the player on my right raised, and I found AQ and 3-bet, trying to get it heads up. Interestingly, the player to my left cold-called, and the original raiser went all-in with less than a full bet, which we called. The flop came A-A-x. I bet out, and the player on my left raised, which put me all-in. He had JJ, and I more than tripled up.
What was wild became downright bizarre at the end. I was a huge chip leader at the point, with more than 60K in tournament chips. Second place had about 10K, and third place had less than a thousand, with blinds at 5K and 10K. The second place person offered to just pay off the first, second, and third place monies as the chips stood, which I was more than happy to do. (I was prepared to offer a chop that had me take most of the first-place money.) But the third place player didn’t want to do it, even though she was big blind (and all-in) the next hand, which (a) the other player folded, and (b) I was able to see for free and won. The second place guy made the same offer, and I gladly accepted. So for the first time, I took home full first place money without any sort of chop or deal, a nice payday of $1150.
Like I said, a nice way to start the week.