Deep Run, No Cigar

Well, I finally did it - I played my first tournament of my summer WSOP trip. Our team has really done well all summer, and I definitely was ready to hit the felt and follow in their footsteps.

Today I played the $260 6 max “$50k in a day” in the Goliath series at Planet Hollywood. There were 440 entrants, and, on one bullet, I survived until finally relenting after ten hours in 22nd place.

I definitely ran well today, which obviously felt great. I picked up KK for a nice pot around the money bubble that held against AQ, I flopped a set of 4’s on an AA47 board a little earlier in the day to pad my stack, and I even ran down a straight with 89 of hearts against JJ after the money bubble busted. I was playing solid, tight aggressive play, and I had just under average after losing a flip with a short stack holding KT v their 99 with 23 remaining.

I say all that to remind you, and myself, that the “last hand” you play (crippled me, although not my very last hand) is not always if ever the most important hand you play during the day. Long form tournaments are a marathon, and, a stumble is a stumble. When you stumble late though, the money in the pot just is typically way bigger.

I look at AK of spades (I mean, our group is Fade The Spades…serendipity?), and I raise from the small blind against one limper to 3.5x. I had a fairly tight image, so for sure I was expecting to get it heads up. But, with the BB ante format, the BB decided to come along which incentivized the limper to do the same. Perhaps a size up there would be in order.

Flop - Q95 rainbow. It’s a dry-ish board to be sure. I’ve essentially resigned to the fact that I most likely got out-flopped at this point by a Q and I’m out of position but…check check check.

Turn is the Ace ball. Now, there is AcQc on the board. I check, the BB bets, fold, and back to me. I check raise here for a considerable portion. Why exactly? Not sure. Another mistake. A call would most likely be better. Anyway, the guy then shoves about 80% of my stack and I call it off. He tables 55 and I’m drawing dead.

So, what I’m saying here is - I didn’t take some ridiculous bad beat. I didn’t get bluffed. I got trapped, yes, but I also know I’m good enough to make that fold. What hand am I even beating there? Not many.

I made other mistakes during the day to be sure, but this one was costly, and I was sent to the rail 2 hands later.

I think 2 things are important in poker in terms of self-evaluation - being honest with yourself about getting out-played and honest with yourself about making a mistake. Sure, sometimes it’s a massive cooler. But it’s not always just bad luck that will bust you, even though that’s always a convenient excuse.

I’m proud of the deep run and the cash. I played well overall. Now, it’s time for the real reason I’m here - bracelet hunting. Let’s play good and run better.

#teamfade

- Colton