My Poker Comeback and E.B.'s Disaster

Today I have two more stories worth mentioning for my recent trip to Vegas. The first is a poker story. On Monday Jake, Brian and I made our way to the MGM poker room to play in a $125 no limit hold 'em tournament. The poker room was dead and only 22 people ended up playing, which according to the staff was a very low turn out even for a Monday (there had been 63 players the night before).

We started with 3,000 chips, blinds of 25/50 and 30 minute limits with Brian and Jake at the same table. I spent the early rounds chatting with two British guys who were about my age and folding almost all of my hands. As a whole the field was weak and inexperienced.

Jake was eliminated about an hour and a half into the tournament and as we combined into one table I was just shy of an average chip stack while Brian had somewhat more than average. They were paying 4 places so I liked the chances of at least one of us making it to the money. Brian quickly won a huge pot and found himself in great shape, but after a few mistakes and a little bad luck he went out 6th.

Meanwhile I'd been able to steal the blinds a few times, but hadn't really picked up a real hand and found myself severly short stacked. At the start of the 7th level the blinds jumped from 400/800 with a 100 chip ante to 800/1600 with a 200 chip ante. This is a ridiculous jump at this stage and only in a total bullshit tournament like this would a blind increase like this fly.

When this big jump happend we'd just come back from a break, were playing 5 handed and I was the short stack with 4000 chips. I threw out my 200 ante and planned on moving all in with almost anything. The 4 remaining players were playing super tight trying to make the money and the player in the big blind (we'll call him Captain Red Shirt) was a poor enough player that I thought he might fold to what amounted to a minimum raise. Sadly I looked down at 5 3 off suit and decided I'd go with whatever I got in the big blind.

In the big blind I almost caught a big break. After the other players folded, the guy in the small blind, the poorly skilled Captain Red Shirt, spent about 20 seconds looking at his cards like one was a deuce and the other was a zero. He was in a spot where given our realative stacks and the situation he should have raised with 100% of hands instantly. I was thinking, "Fold, fold, fold it you jerk! Folding, folding is the play that will work!"

The player two to my left (we'll call him Mellow Yellow) was also running low on chips with a little over 4000 and I thought if I could make it throught the blinds I might be able to out last him. The Captain was uninfluenced by my psychic suggestions and instead of folding he just called. I looked down at 6 9 which I thought might be the best hand, but I decided to look at the flop before commiting the last of my chips. Unfortunately the flop came down K J J and my opponent bet like he hit something. While I was planning on betting if it got to me I couldn't call with 6 9.

I resolved to call with anything in the small blind since I'd have half of my already meager stack committed to the pot. But, when everyone but Mellow Yellow called in front of me and I looked down at 7 4 I decided to let them take the flop along with the big blind. I was hoping that two of the three players would make big hands and one would go broke, putting me in the money. Of course Red Shirt bet and the other two folded.

Now I was down to 800 with 45,200 chips split up among my opponents with every hand costing me 200. My next hand was 7 2 and I folded. The hand after the Red Shirt came in for a raise and I folded J 4. The next one was 8 5 and I decided to give everyone else one more chance to do something stupid and wait until the last possible hand to go all in. So I was all in on the next hand for 200 chips (1/15th of what I'd started with and 1/46th of the average stack) and in the big blind spot.

I frowned when I saw the player on the button (he doesn't get a name) come into the pot along with Red Shirt in the small blind. I looked down at k 5 of clubs and was happy to see a flop of 7 7 3 with two clubs. To my total shock and surprise Captain Red Shirt bet enough to put the player on the button all in. This is a spot where unless one player flops a monster hand, both players will check all the way in an effort to eliminate the short stack (me) and get them both into the money. I was even more surprised to see the player on the button call! Now if I could manage to make the best hand AND have Red Shirt some how beat the player on the button, I'd make the money. I knew my chances were slim since all I had was king high, but at least I had a chance.

I was shocked (shocked!) to see Red Shirt (who had been the one betting) turn over 9 10 (no pair, no draw) and the other player show A 3 (a pair of 3's). The turn card was literally the best card in the deck, the 9 of clubs! Now I had a flush, AND the player with the most chips had the second best hand. The river was a blank and I was in the money!

After winning that pot I had 1,000 chips and after putting 200 in for the ante and 800 for the small blind I was all in again. I picked up A 2, the best hand I'd seen in a while and crossed my fingers. After taking the flop three way, Red Shirt bet and the other player folded. The board was 9 7 5 with 2 spades and even though I didn't have anything, I thought ace high might be good. I was sad to see that Red Shirt had J 5 of spades meaning I'd need a non spade ace to win. I was standing up to go when a red 6 came on the turn and a red 8 came on the river making a straight on the board. Now I was up to 1600.

On the next hand we got the confrontation you've all been waiting to hear about. The clash of the titans. Mellow Yellow picked up pocket 9's and went broke when Captain Red Shirt made a pair of J's after starting with K J. This moved me into 3rd place. I managed to run my stack up to over 5,000, but went broke in a hand which has since left my memory.

The difference between 5th and 3rd was $440 and the whole thing left me with a good feeling. They say all you need is a chip and a chair to make a comeback in a tournament and this tournamnet was proof of that concept.

The bad news is, I've now spent too much time writing about myself and you'll have to wait until tomorrow or the next day to hear about E.B.'s disaster. It is much more dramatic, both in terms of dollar amount (roughly 11.36 times as dramatic) and unusual nature.