WPT Battle for the Season Pass III - Day 6
Note: I am writing things as the come to mind. Please excuse any typos and grammatical errors! I will proof the entry later.
Today we begin the bust-out tournament. They offer this “second chance” tournament to all people who have busted out of the main tournament, hence the name “bust-out tournament”. This tournament is more accelerated though. You start with T10,000 chips, and the levels are only 30 minutes long.
I made my way to the casino and received my seating assignment. I look over, and there is Crispin Leyser in seat #1. The chips were distributed and the cards were in the air. I had a few decent hands in the first level and was able to build my chipstack to T15,000. I then lost a few hands and was back to T10,000. I oscillated between T10,000 and T15,000 for most of the first two levels. After that, I went absolutely card cold. Whenever I got a playable hand, I opened for a raise. I was then re-raised by a player in position, and a lot of times, there was a three-bet. I had to lay the cards down. I was getting pretty low in chips. My stack approached T5000 - Yikes!
Our table was broken, and wouldn’t you know it - I was brought right into the big blind. At my new table was professional Jules Leyser (wife of Crispin). On my first hand at the new table, there was a raise from MP. I looked down and saw
It was the best hand I had seen in 3 hours. I reraised all-in. The guy thought about folding, but after some thought, called and showed
My JJ held and I doubled up to about T10,000. Whew - now I had a few chips to play with. Two hands later, I am on the button with:
It is folded to me, so I raise to T1700. The SB shoves all in for T3800. I have to call T2100 more. I am getting about 2.5:1 on my money. Not too bad if I have live cards. I decide to play and call his all-in. He shows
We are in a coin-flip situation. When the board comes
4-7-7-7-J, I take him out and add to my chipstack.
I went card cold again for awhile when I found myself in this hand. I was in the BB and it was folded to the SB, who completes. I look down at:
I think about raising, but decided to see a free flop. The flop comes
The SB leads out for T5000. I have the nut-flush draw, plus 3 aces as outs if he has top pair. That gives me 12 outs. I decide to make a move and I push all-in for T26,000 making him think about HIS tournament life (I had him covered by T5200). He calls and shows 8-3 for 2 pair! I only have 9 outs. The turn and river come
I double the small blind up and I only have T5200 left. I need to move with any 2 reasonable cards.
My prayers are answered a few hands later when I pick up
in the cutoff. It is folded to me and its a no-brainer push. I go all-in. The button folds, and professional Jules Leyser ponders. She finally calls. the BB then is in a quandary. He wants to call, but after much thought, he folds. Jules shows
When the board comes A-7-4-3-K, my AQo holds and I double up again. This hand turned out to be turning point #1 for me in the tournament. The BB folded pocket 3-3 and would have turned a set. This would have knocked me out of the tournament. Instead, I am alive and kicking again.
I picked up a few pots here and there and built my stack back to about T40,000. The next big hand I am in is when I am in the BB. A player from EP player goes all-in. A person in MP goes all-in for less. I am in the BB for T1600, and it is T6400 to call the biggest stack. I peek down at A8s and decide that for 3:1 odds, I am going with the A8s. The EP players shows 85o and the MP player shows KQo.
The flop comes A-A-2. Cool! I flop trip Aces. My joy was short lived when the turn and river comes J-T for 2 perfect runner cards to make the straight. UGH - what a terrible beat.
Our table was broken and we were down to 36 people (163 started). I was quiet and had very few playable hands, but people kept falling. Soon there were 27, then 18. When we were down to two tables, I was seated with WPT World Poker Finals champion Mike Vela. The tournament was to be played to the end of level level 16 (8 hours) and then break for the evening. Again, unfortunately, I was VERY card cold. I would kill to see any face card - but alas, one never came. At the end of level 16, we were down to 12 players, and I had T30,000 chips. The average stack was T90,000. I was the tournament SHORT stack. I did make it to day two, with 11 others.
The top 6 places pay in this tournament. I am by far the longest shot to cash. I need to move with any facecard that I see tomorrow. Wish me luck!