Freerolling in the Bahamas, Part 3
After we got up from our long day of travel, we made our way down to the casino to register for the poker tournament. We registered and got a T-shirt, a hat, and a pen. They said that they were expecting about 200 people for the tournament. We also received a copy of the rules and blind structure. The rules are the pretty much TDA rules, so there were no surprises. We ran into several people last night who were playing in the tournament as well. Most were pretty cool, but there were a few arrogant schmucks.
The final structure looks like this:
25 minute blinds
T10,000 starting stack (I think - there was no indication of the starting stack in the papers we got)
Play starts at 6:00pm and goes for three hours today. Tomorrow we start at noon and go until 4pm at which time there is a 30 minute break. The final table starts at 4:30 in the poker room.
Prizes are as follows:
- $10,000 cash + $1000 lodging allowance + championship bracelet ($10,000 value) + WPT Battle for the Season Pass Entry ($4200 value)
- $5000 cash + Championship ring ($4000 value) + World Poker Showdown Bahamas Main Event Entry ($2500 value)
- $2500 cash + Championship Ring ($4000 value)
- $1500 cash
- $1000 cash
- $600 cash
- $500 cash
- $400 cash
- $300 cash
- $200 cash
When 5:30 rolled around, Donna and I made our way to the Salon. We found our tables and got settled in. The tournament started with 100/100 blinds. An announcement also said that they planned to play 6 levels or down to 100 people.
I scoped out the table. My initial reads said that there were 4 good players (including me). It was not more than 10 minutes into the tournment when I picked up this hand in the cutoff:
A person from early position made it T500 to go. I called. Everybody else folds. The flops comes:
The guy in seat #4 (who raised preflop) bets out T500. I really need to find out where I am, so I raise it up to T1500. He smooth calls. I think he has a Queen, but is unsure of his kicker. I do not like mine either. A Jack kicker is not exactly a hand I do not want to go to the mat with. The turn is:
This gives me a flush draw in addition to the top pair (with a crappy kicker). Seat #4 checks. I make another probe bet of T1000. He calls. I do not like my hand anymore. The river is:
This card is definitley good news. It gives me the second-nuts. Seat #4 immediately goes all-in. Wow - was he playing AQ or does he have the king-high flush? He cannot have KJ of spades because I hold the Jack of Spades…. I put him on two pair and make the call. He flips over:
I bust the first person in the tournment! Way cool.
For the first two levels, I got hit over the head with the deck. I could do no wrong. It was a pretty good feeling. We played 4 levels and then took a break. At that time, Donna had T6000 in chips and I had T47,500.
Not more than 10 minutes after the break, Donna came over and tapped me on the shoulder. She was out. As for me, I did not get any cards to play in the next two levels. We played down to 100 people, then the tournament was stopped until the next day. I ended with T42,900 chips. We started with 213 people, meaning the average chip stack has about doubled to T20,000. I have twice the average stack, so I am in healthy shape.
Tomorrow we start at noon sharp with the blinds at 1000/2000.
More updates tomorrow!