So I played well but the blinds and antes were getting so high and my chips were low enoigh after a few tough handle that a little bit of gambling became necessary. I finished at 130th which I believe will pay about $3500 (but the line to collect was too long so I’ll do hat later).
More later.
I start the Main Event tomorrow.
Just a quick update. Today’s tournament started officially with 2,693 players. Typically prize winnings start in the top 10%. I finished the day with just below average chips and 225 players left. That means this is my first “cash” in a World Series of Poker event.
We start again tomorrow at 2pm and play down to 9 players, I believe.
The buy in was $1,500 and the minimum prize is $2.700.
More tomorrow (it’s 1am here).
OK. Who knows if I’ll cash in this event or not, but posting with good news rather than bad feels much better.
The event I’m playing today started with 2,700 people at noon. We started with 3,000 in chips each (not related to the entry fee). I had a few bad hands early and was down to 1,100 in chips after 2 hours. Each level lasts 1 hour and we break after every 2 levels. Coming back from the first break I knew I had to make some big moves or else I’d be out for sure. Finally three hands in a row felt right and I was comfortable again to sit back and play patient poker.
I think I was all-in 6 or 8 times by dinner break. The most dramatic was a hand where someone raised big before it was my turn. I looked down at two red queens. I wanted to raise just over 3 times the amount of his bet. But that was more than 1/3 of my whole stack. So I pushed all-in. He called and showed A-K. Just steer clear of any A or K and I’d be ok. The flop came K-7-3 with two hearts. OUCH! Come on queen! The turn was a small heart. OK – give me one of the remaining 2 queens (for three of a kind) or remining 9 hearts (for a flush). Another heart came on the turn. I almost doubled my chip count and knocked that guy out. It wasone of the few times I’ve yelld outloud in a tournament from the excitement. Yay. Oh yeah.
I’m now just finishing dinner of sushi and edamame. Dinner break lasts from 7 – 8:30. I have just over 20,000 in chips now. Above average but not by a ton. Some where around 500-600 players are left, I believe. We play tonight 4 more levels.
Here’s to the luck of the cards.
