I gotta tell someone -- I made it to the WSOP

[magithighs]

Thanks for asking -- it's quite a story (from my perspective!)

I played in the Pokerstars $3 tourney on Thursday night. There were around 200 players and two seats to the 650 tourney. Didn't rebuy once and added on at the first break. They key for me was not being too greedy on hands like KK and AA. I had one coin flip which i won in the middle of the tournament. Final table I just picked on the lowest chip person and used the guy to my right to help out. That guy was mallman a good predictable (from my vantage point) player. I knew he had the same goal. So, when he was in a steal position I stayed away and I moved in when he didn't and kept the pressure on the low stacks. I made it to the top two (top chip count), and I'm in for the Sunday tourney.

So, I'm thinking Sunday's a perfect day to play. With it being Easter and all, I'm thinking the pros will be having family time and it'll be an easier lineup. So, I'm checking out the line up about 1/2 hour before the game starts and I spot reloadthis (layne flack) in the line up. L8r I find out the Bellagio is closed and their regulars are online. Yikes, so much for my thought that it would be an easier day.

I'm keeping an eye on Layne while I'm playing and we are on par in chip count and successfully making it through the midpoint. At a key point he makes a 4X raise and two seats to his left a guy goes all in. He calls and risks half his stack. Layne flips over TT and the other guy has 99. Now, I'm hoping Layne doesn't get to my table as he's got a decent size stack.

Low and behold he gets to my table when we're down to two tables. Yikes, he's two to my right and I'm sandwiched between two huge stacks (little more than double my stack and triple Layne's). I'm henpecked. A key hand, Layne raises 4X and with a big pocket I go with 8 or 10X and layne folds. Again, the key for me on Sunday was not trying to win the tourney with one hand like AA or KK and being satisfied with building my stack.

A key mistake just about put me out. It only took six hours, but I got greedy. I called a small pre-flop raise with pocket 9's and didn't go all-in when I hit the set on the flop. I put in a sizeable bet on the turn. Anti-hero goes all in on the river and flips over the str8. Ouch, now I have a little over 2K in chips with the average around 25K and I'm in 12'th spot out of 12 with 9 going to WSOP.

Wouldn't you know it --- the very next hand I get the rockets and limp. The SB limps and calls my all in desparation bet and pays me off. A twenty minute break comes and I've got two hands before the 1.2 K blind hits me. I get QT of spades on the first hand and push in. The small blind calls me and flips over A9. It could be worse, and then the flop brings a 9. Ouch, it is worse. I start chanting, QT, QT, QT. The turn brings a T and then a brick hits the river. Yes! A couple of blind steals and I'm back in!

Then it's survival mode for me. We're now down to ten players (9 go to WSOP) and I'm watching the other table and there's two lower stacks. I can't believe I did this. UTG makes a 4X raise and I fold, yes I fold AK in the SB. Not sure I've ever done that, but the Tommy Angelo story of folding aces preflop inspired me (see his web site www.tiltless.com (not titless btw)). Basically, I knew UTG would call my all-in raise and at best I would have a coin flip and at worst I would be a dog. I came this far and by golly I wasn't going down on a coin-flip. The blinds were just way too easy to steal (it was like an 80% succes ratio on the steals).

So, I hung on and made it in as the 7'th place in chip count.

[symphonic]

I think you could make it up to tommy by wearing a www.tommyangelo.com tshirt [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[PokerBabe(aka)]

"My main goal is to play good and really enjoy the ride. Is that what LGPG means -- live good, play good?"


LGPG is the PokerBabe's motto and stands for "Look Good, Play Good". I love your interpretation of LG as "Live Good". Cute. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

LGPG

Babe [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]