The Toughest Day of the Year

Ask any serious poker player, they will all tell you that the day you bust out of the Main Event is the toughest day of the year. You just can't imagine the excitement of 6,500 players all trying to chase down their dream of being World Champion. To watch it disappear with the turn of a card can kind of get you down. Luckily for me, MJ was in Vegas with me. Unluckily for MJ, MJ was in Vegas with me. She did a great job of cheering me up (can anyone say the Bellagio Buffet?). Now, the day after, I am in a very good mood and ready to get back to real life.

I'll cover my bustout hand. I had Qh9h and was 3rd to act with a stack of 30k. I raised to 1,300 mainly because I hadn't played but 2 hands in my first hour (it stinks not having chips) and Qh9h is a really sneaky hand if you hit it right. I thought I had a "tight", conservative image until I got 4 callers. I was very pleased to see a 2hJhQd flop. Check, I bet 3,500, fold, fold, SHOVE FOR 27,000!!!!. Everyone else turbo folded, I am sick to my stomach. This spot was just like an earlier WSOP preliminary event when the guy was supposed to make a reasonable raise and then let ME push all-in. I've not got a 23,500 call to get up to a 62,000 chip stack - above average, finally! I was sooooo confused becauge I've got one of the only reasonable hands that would shove on that board. I thought 22, KK maybe, but more likely something like Ah7h or even KhTh. After some debate, I decided that I just couldn't fold here. You always have to have a hand like this work out in order to get a nice stack, and I was a decent 60/40 favorite against a lot of hands and 50/50 up against most hands. I called. The whole table gasped when they saw my opponent turn over QsTs. We were all floored as to why a guy would put in 60BB's with this hand. I could easily have AA, KK, or even AQ. This guy was trying to commit poker suicide. One problem, his 10 kicker beat my 9 kicker. Sharing the Q actually brought my hand down to a 51% favorite. Mathematically, I had the best chance of winning the hand, but I was still behind. The turn was a K and the river was a blank. Good game, good luck, maybe next year. Unorthodox players can be difficult to play against.

The whole series has kind of been this way. I just haven't been able to gain any traction (except the one tourney that I made the "hero call" to bust out). It's been fun and I can't wait till next year.

Look out summer - here I come!!!