ThePokerResource.net: A Rounder’s blog

2006 LAPC, NL-Hold’em Championship (Feb. 16-21): Day 4

For those of you that know me well, I don’t look forward to writing blogs about busting out of major tournaments. It has been over 9 days since I busted out, and I apologize for this lag. I guess you can say I’m finally over the tournament and all the decisions I made on that day.

We are down to 27 players, and the gap from 27 to 18 is small in prize money. I have JC Tran to my immediate right, so I am excited to have position on him for a change. I want to find a good spot to double up and get some chips…which never happens. I blind down to about 120k and start to feel some anxiety. I move in on JC Tran with JJ after he raises, and he folds. I raise a few pots and here and there, winning the blinds and antes. I pick up JJ again UTG, raise, and get no callers.  I move in again on JC with 66 after he raises, and he deliberates, then folds. Man, I think he is getting tired of me. I raise UTG with A8 after just looking at the Ace. JC defends his BB, and the flop comes Q 8 2, with two diamonds. He checks, I bet about a third of the pot, and he calls. I put him on 910, J10, J9…a hand like that.  So what does the turn come? A jack. He checks and I quickly check. The river pairs deuces, he checks and I check too. If I put more thought into it, he must also have an 8, which he did. But I check, and my kicker wins a good pot. I’m up to 350k, and now more excited.

We break down to two tables and we are now 18-handed. It takes over an hour to bust one player at this level. The blinds are 8-16k, with a 2k ante. I don’t manage to win any hands, but don’t play a hand either. I am hovering around 320k and have yet to win a pot with two tables left. I am getting so frustrated. I look down at Ad 10s off in early position (actually the two hole) and deliberate for 3 seconds before folding. John Gale with about 550k raises to 60k from middle to late position. The SB calls (fish) and they see it heads up. I cringe when the flop comes 1062 with two diamonds. The SB bets 60k, and John raises it to 180k. At this point, I am thinking I wish I had raised this pot. If John can beat top pair, top kicker here, then take the money. The SB calls. The turn pairs 6s with the 6 of diamonds. The SB checks, John moves in for 300k and the SB calls. Q10 off for John, and 2 5s for the SB (with the 5 of diamonds). So it bricks on the river and John just stacked a million+ pot with Q10. I am really feeling sick. I could’ve easily doubled up to over 650k if I weren’t so early in with A10. Man, I just can’t catch a break.  

The next hand I pick up AQd UTG and raise to 60k. John Gale, still stacking his huge pot, looks at me and re-raises 96k more. Now, I know for certain he has a huge hand. A lot of signs point to this: 1) He just stacked a huge pot. 2) I have yet to play a hand on this table. 3) His small raise is begging for me to call. (He actually wanted to make it 100k more, but he had a 1k chip in his stack of 5ks.) At this point, I am really burning. I put him on KK. I do the math: 57k (dead money) + my 60k +60k +96K = 273k. I have to call 96k to win 369k, so I am getting 2.8 to 1 on my money. In a cash game this is a clear call. Mathematically, AQd vs KK is only a 7-3 dog. But this isn’t a cash game. The problem here is if I call the 96k raise and miss on the flop, I will only have 145k left. I would have to post my BB and SB, plus the antes, which would leave me with about 100k on the button. However, if I fold, I could still move in on a raise and get them to fold with 240k, and I would have 200k on the button. I agonized for about 2 minutes. The sick thing is that if I had about 30k more in chips, I make the call because I would then have about 140k if I lose the pot. Do you guys realize after 4 days of poker how little 30k is in chips in the whole scheme of the tournament? It’s basically one more steal, or two more steals and picking up the blinds. I am really disparaged here. I reluctantly fold. So John shows me two kings and I sigh. So what do I do? I get a warning for reaching into the muck and looking at the flop. What do I see? The ace of spades. Now I am really shaken up. I mean, the one thing I really needed to account for is that John is not capable of folding to my last 140k if I flop an ace. He would’ve called me with 2 kings. So realistically, I am getting almost 6-1 on my money. Amazing what my last two hands could’ve done for me. Man oh man…I wish I could catch a break.  This pretty much sums of my last two days here. Clawing, scratching, and barely staying alive.

I blind down for the whole next round, losing 60k of my 240k stack, and I am down to 180k. I am UTG, and look at KJc. I think for about 20 seconds and push all-in.  Everyone folds to the button, the same guy with 55 earlier, and he calls me with AQc. I am actually happy that I have two live cards. This is it: My whole tournament…my chance at 2.4 million on a hand where I am a little worse than 3-2 underdog. So the flop comes all small, and I am running out of cards. The turn bricks off, and the river…comes Paint, yes…no, it’s a queen, and I’m out.

All and all, I must say that the LAPC was a good experience for me. I made some money and had a few shots at some real big money. If I could play the day over again, obviously, knowing the ace on the flop, I call with the AQd. I actually asked a lot of people and got mixed answers. David Pham said fold, until I told him the average chip stack at that stage was about 700k, which he then said to go for it. I say, “well, calling isn’t bad either.” He said “no, what if the ace comes on the turn or river?” I still don’t agree with pushing it in. I mean, if a King flops, I can get off my hand on the flop. I made a read, and I am comfortable with it.

I talked to Nam Le, and he said, “Kelly, there comes a point in the tournament where you just have to win ‘that’ hand. That hand for you was the AQd. Seriously, what’s the difference between 240k and 135k in chips? I mean, it’s not much when people have millions. In order for you to win, you need to get lucky.”  Wow, that put some perspective into the whole scheme. I mean, here I am playing for 4 days, trying to wait, and wait…and get my money in real good. But sometimes you just run out of time. If the hand dealt to me is AQd, and I have to win that hand, I should’ve maybe called, or just pushed pre-flop. But it’s so brutal when you know he has KK, and you are pretty far behind. I really don’t know about the correct decision there. What I do know is that since these tourneys are so top heavy, you have to take risks, and take a shot to win them. Luck plays a tremendous part in these things. I do understand that. I just hate getting it in with the worst of it.

OK, I rambled enough.  Until next time,

KK