Well, it turned out the irritating verbal free rolling I've been doing on this blog, in chat and in e-mails (saying I wasn't likely to win a seat) did it's job - I won the seat.
It all boiled down to staying frosty, making reads and getting lucky. I was especially lucky that the two other contenders in FlatWorld (my online World Series of Poker League) couldn't get anything going to save their lives, and were short stacked as the "improvement bubble" (the levels they would have to achieve to gain any more points) approached.
In the end, they both had to make desperate moves, and they both fell short. So neither had improved their scores. One was tied with me, the other a single point ahead. With 6 players left, it was up to me to move up one spot on the ladder to tie for the seat, and two spots to clinch it.
Early on I had gotten a generous double up from one of the better players in the league, our lone remaining female player, when I raised her big blind - I was in the small blind. I had done this to her twice before, once with AK and the second time with Kings. Both times she had folded. This time, I had aces - she re raised and I insta shoved with a massive overbet of my entire stack, hoping to make it look like a ridiculous bluff (that I have on tilted occasions before, done in this league). She didn't think but a few seconds before calling off with AQ. A queen came on the turn but the river was a glorious case Ace.
I used my big stack to steal, fairly relentlessly - and accumulate and pad my lead. Once the two contenders were gone I was really glad that I had some ammo to at least keep my head above water as the blinds got more serious.
Then, player number six had busted, and shortly thereafter so did player five. I had locked it up. Or had I? Slightly ahead of me in chips was Miles, the very same player we had sent to the WSOP two years before. Turns out, if I busted out next AND he took first place in this tournament, we would be tied for the seat. It wasn't over yet.
I would love to give more details on the hand that eliminated him, as well as specific info on earlier hands in this tournament - but suffice it to say, the emotions that overcame me when Miles did bust (I do dimly recall that he got unlucky) have smeared my memory into a hazy fog. I was actually quite emotional, tears welled up as I realized that come the last weekend in June, I would be playing in the big dance.
I had come so close the previous year, and the year before that. While not technically in second place in 2010, I felt as though I had fallen just short - when my cowboys got two outed by Sigfried and Roy. And I believe I actually was just behind Miles in 2009. This time, it was I who was able to come from behind and lock it up.
Easy game.
Funny enough though, I had just played in a Hollywood park evening tournament before Monday nights online showdown - and I had done rather well.
With 7 tables, I got smacked in the face with the deck more than a few times and got paid on monster hands. (Aces held up in a three way pot pre-flop, my K10 filled up on the turn against a flopped broadway straight, etc.) I then coasted to the final table, playing small ball and accumulating more and more from the passive targets I had selected. I wouldn't say I was a table bully, my VPIP (money Voluntarily Put In the Pot) was only probably around 20% after I had gained my mountain of chips. But the blinds and antes were so big, that every "small" pot I won was significant. Almost all of these wins were pre-flop and also a few on c-bets on favorable boards. If tried to go after medium stacks, but I pre-planned and was ready to get away against any big stacks or call against mini-stacks if I did get involved with them.
Finally, it was five handed and I had about a 4 to 1 chip lead against everyone else. There was not one HPC regular in the bunch, so I was feeling great. UTG folded, I was in the next spot and looked down at queens and popped it. The button folded, the small blind who had a tiny stack, shoved. The big blind who had the largest stack besides mine also insta-shoved. I had him covered by quite a bit, but I still wasn't happy. I knew I was likely behind or against AK in the best case scenario, and if I lost we would be likely chopping. (Because there were no regulars at the table, no one had brought up the idea of a chop yet. I had stayed silent on it, though I'm usually the first to make mention). I called. The SB had A10, the BB had Aces.
Queen on the flop, easy game.
The two remaining stacks were both way short. One turned to the other and said "Well, do you want to give him first and you and I split 2nd and 3rd?" The recreational player digested this, and then quickly agreed. I took it down for the first time at Hollywood Park. First place was $1370.
So really, I had enough money to play in the WSOP if I wanted. I thought about it for awhile, mentioned it to the wife who was elated at my win (she thought I should keep the money and use it for something practical, like couches or some shit, JK sweetie) but she agreed that it was sensible for me to use it to fund my buy-ins in all the little tournaments I had planned for the weekend. I would be free rolling at the Aria, Venetian, etc. I was on cloud 9.
I have no doubt that my victory at HPC boosted my confidence greatly for the following Monday night - feel good, run good = play good in teh pokerz.
So my plan between now and the WSOP is to try and play live once a week at HPC. I know I've sworn off evening tournaments during the week, but HPC recently moved the starting time up 45 minutes earlier to 6:30. I will have to make an effort to get down there when my work is light and nothing big is coming up the next day. I'll also likely do a Sunday 10K guarantee at some point. I feel good at a live table in a card room, I'd love to get to a point where I feel great. I know I'll be nervous as hell in the Rio regardless, but the more live hands I can get in between now and then, even if I reduce the butterflies only a little bit, it will be worth it.
As for my strategery, I've pretty much gone over that in the below post towards the end. But I still have an open mind. Any of you Flatliners who read this want to chime in on how I should approach the World Series, I would greatly appreciate it.
Initially in FlatWorld the idea was to get enough for a $1500 event seat. We fell short of that amount by a couple hundred, so I was going to just play in the 1K, the same event as Cali. Just today I've had two Flatliners chip in to buy shares outright, so I'm less than a hundred away from the $1500 mark. I think I will go ahead and foot the extra few bucks and enter the larger buy in event. Last year, the same 1500 event had almost a thousand fewer runners and yet still had a bigger prize pool than the corresponding 1K. Plus the 1500 gives me 4500 starting chips instead of the 1K's 3000.
I will be tweeting the hell out of my experience - and most of all, win or lose or whatever - I will put having fun and savoring the journey at the top of my list of priorities. This will likely be a once in a life time occurrence, I plan to make the most of it.
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