"I Think I'll Just be Happy to Finish Better Than I Did Before"

And I did.

I finished the tournament last night somewhere between 30th and 40th place out of 125 people. Definitely a much better finish than last time.

Even though I didn't finish in the money - only 23 spots were paid - I can honestly look back and say that I played a solid game. There's only one hand I'm second-guessing, and that was when I picked up A-9o and I was first to act. I folded because we were still playing a full table and there were too many possibilities for raises or many callers. Turns out I would have had two pair on the flop and would have made a full house by the river. But such things happen, and I'm ok with my decision.

I made it to level 7, when I realized the blinds (which weren't posted - there were only little slips of paper with the blind levels by the dealer seats) were $500/$1000 with $100 antes. I had about $3300 in chips and it was all-in or fold. I picked up pocket 7s and went all-in. I had one caller, who ended up flipping over pocket 9s. She hit a set on the flop, and I was severely crippled. I had $900 left. Looks like it was all-in or fold again. I got K-9o and pushed my chips in. There were three callers, but there was side-pot action going on. Never good. The flop came out K-J-rag and I was fairly confident I had the best hand. One of the guys in the pot bet. Maybe my Kings aren't so good after all. When the turn came out a 9, I was thinking I'd be granted a little bit longer on my life support, but the river came out a J. I just knew the origninal bettor had a J. Why the hell he'd be making a bet like that on middle pair I don't know, but whatever. So he hit his set and my two pair left me in the dust. Oh well. I can just take consolation with the fact that I got my money in the pot with the best starting hand at least.

Dave, on the other hand, did extremely well. He made it to the final table with a teeny tiny stack of $3000. Interestingly enough, there were three people with smaller stacks. But given the blinds were $5000/$10000 with antes of $1000, I thought he was pretty much screwed. He folded one hand, and luckily, two people went out. The second hand, he got a 4-6o, realized he couldn't play much longer, and put all his chips in. He got several callers.

He pulled out a straight!

So he was back in some money - not much, but enough to last a little longer. The very next hand, he went all-in again with a Q-9o. He pulled out another straight. At this point, various people around the table were ooohing and aaahing, and he looked at me like, "Holy Shit!. After that, he called someone else's all-in because he picked up pocket aces. He didn't win the hand, but I asked him if his ass hurt from magically pulling all these hands out of there. As it turned out, he made it down to the final two. He picked up pocket aces again!, and in a move of strategic brilliance, just called the big blind. The other guy took it as weakness and pushed all-in. Oh yea, baby, Dave called and his aces held up. At this point, Dave had gone from a itty bitty little stack to dead even with the other guy at the table.

I was talking to someone else, but then I heard Dave say, How much is the payout? He was asking because the other guy asked if he wanted to chop the pot. First place would have been around $1400, while second would pay out $700. So, instead of maybe finishing second, they chopped the pot. Dave came home with $1000, after tipping the dealers. Not bad for a $50 buy-in. I'm thrilled at his finish. Couldn't have been better.

We're playing another tournament next week - one of the local fire companies is hosting it. I'm sure there will be a lot of people - hopefully I can play another solid game, but this time finish even better!