As I am barely awake and know I'll be able to offer no formal and well-written tourney report after the game, we'll write this as we go. That means spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, tense mistakes, and probably a few lies. However, it will reveal nearly every hand I played and the monkey-brain dialogue that happened in my head as I mashed the buttons. Edit: As it turns out, I won the thing, so this goes all the way to the final hand. That's two stops on the tour for me so far. And I ended up heads up against the first champion.
Instant tourney report:
First hand for me: 44 against CJ . Face cards paint the board, including two aces. Ceej starts betting, I start folding. Wish I would remember how to fold before playing...
88 in the small blind. It's raised to me, but not big, so, I call. Nobody is betting the K or blanks on the board. Not even me. Raiser folds after checked to river. Liebot bets and I call $100 bet to see his pocket nines. I already know I'm calling too much and not raising enough. I need therapy.
A few hands later I fold 33 in early position. I don't have the will. Hdouble raises my blind and I fold a little Ace.
I'm already down to $510 chips. How embarassing.
Hdouble just raised my big blind, a middle Ace. Now I know I'm a wuss. Fold.
Uh-oh. her comes 44 on the button. I think I only see the blinds in, so I raise it up. Turns out pdooley is hiding under the chat box. He calls me. An ace hit the board. I checked, just as hdouble offers, "Go get him Otis." Pdooley bets and I do all I can do. Check-raise, baby. The check-raised scared him off. Thank goodness.
Next hand is KK. Medium raise with no callers. Irg.
KQo. I raise it up and get two callers. Hdouble folds after the flop shows a Q. Htlead called me all the way to the river and nearly doubled me up. Thank you!
Next up...big slick. I've got position on Hdouble, but
Uh-oh...AA in the small blind. Medium raise from Hdouble. I've just called him a bully and come back over the top of him. He calls. I'm all-in to him, he shows tens and an expletive or two. It's at this point I try to remember who I bounced with Aces in the last event.
So, now I'm in second place. Apparently bad blood is killing table one. Do I sit back now and wait for a bit or be a bully?
I'm looking at AT in the big blind. I folded to three all-ins. Turns out AT woulda won. On a happy note, Up For Poker founder Ceej just tripled up. Had I called, I woulda been rich, and he woulda been out.
Oh, no. AA Again. Nice sized pot, didn't have to show and no time to write about it, becuase here's...
QQ---call two all in bets...must've had aces or low pairs because my queens held up to shove up to $3200 in chips.
Iggy shows up about the time we get moved and consolidated to two tables. We're down to 16 from 30. I have no confidence I can make this stack last until the money. The payout is really top heavy, only paying three out of 30. I was hoping for a top five payout.
Now the cards are cold. A8 suited, but UTG. Fold it. No need to start wasting chips now. I'm concerning myself too much with figuring out where to put the chat box so it won't obstruct...
damnit...
Iggy is all in on KT. I call with A7s, he makes trips and offers me a "Better lucky than good." Bah.
But KQs on the next hand from small blind plus a bet on the flop makes boy genius lay down and gives me a $750 pot...
Then the next hand, I put liebot all-in. I have AQ. I don't know what he had, but I made a runner runner straight for the win.
Alright...breath time. I fold JT three times in four hands.
And I'm still on the damned chip leader. Bad blood is killing table one. And, sadly, I note Ceej got bounced in 15th.
I should note while I'm folding that I realize I'm getting really good cards and no small amount of luck.
Alright, enough. Moving on.
I have a weakness. That is, pissing away perfectly good chips when I have a great stack. I'm vowing not to do that this time. Rule #1: Do not double up Iggy again.
Bad move....I'm already starting. I steal rasie from the SB gets a call form BG. My Q7o doesn't pair. I weakly...such a wuss...check. BG bets out and I fold, giving him the table lead.
Oh, this is horrible.
I just flopped a boat with my A5s. Decker's betting, I'm calling. I finally put him all-in. Unless Decker has two Aces...which he doesn't. He's out and I'm the chip leader.
Two hands later, I've got Iggy and Boy Genius folding to my pocket threes. I limped in under the small bind with them. That boat must've scared them.
Okay, break time. And you know what? I have Guinness in the fridge. Normally wouldn't on a Sunday night, but what the hell. In honor of Iggy.
Okay...a few hands and we're at the final table.
Looks like bad blood and boy genius are the two tough guys right now. Let's lay down this middle ace and see how the table shakes out.
Shoot...77 UTG...and I raise. Damn it. Logan is all in. This is what I'm talking about. I can ride this damned stack to the money if I want. Right? Fold. He probably just had overcards, but I'm a wuss. Shoulda called. Woulda been the right move.
Now I'm just playing scared. People are doubling up all around me and I'm not even taking time to sip this Guinness.
AQo...maybe the riase was too big. Nobody wants to play. I guess that's really what I wanted.
ATs in the big blind and no callers. Good, I didn't want to play that hand anyway. Seven players left, top three get paid.
KJs under the gun. I raise the minimum and get no callers.
K5s in the big blind. bad blood makes it $800 more to go and I don't feel like tangling with him. Word on the street is, he's hirsute.
QJo in the small blind with no callers. I raise it up and Iggy damns me. Says I ain't got it. I'll let him decide what I had.
AJo on the button. I raise the minimum. Iggy is all in. I make my Ace on the river. iggy's out.
next hand. 88...I raise the minimum. logan wants to play. Oh, my. That's a set of eights I have now. logan is all in and I am the chip leader again.
I need to breathe. This drinking, poker playing, and blogging at once is something else.
A9 on the button. Raise, no callers.
One more player until we're in the money.
A2o. I folded to the genius's raise.
But I raise mene gene...with A9o. He calls then goes all in on a K high flop. I think he's drawing for the clubs, but now I hate my hand.
Back in the saddle for AT on the next hand. I raise and get no callers.
A7s in the big blind. I fold to Mene Gene's all in raise. I'm not ready yet.
A8s and I limp from small blinud. Gene is all in and claims AK when I fold.
These middle aces are killing me.
Pair of nines in the big blind. I put him on a steal and call his AJo. Boy genius makes his ace. I'm no longer the chip leader.
Whew. I just made a set of jacks on the river on an all-in bet. It was either that or the bubble. Genius is non-plussed. I am the chip leader again.
QQ...this could be dangerous. Nope. We're in the money. Just bounced bad blood.
Pause...no more hands until the final hand for me. I gotta pay attention.
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Whew. How about that?
As it turned out, the winner of the WPBT I (Mene Gene) and the winner of the WPBT II (that's me) ended up heads up for the final of WPBT III.
I had Aces on the final hand (for the third time in the tournament). Gene musta had something good. Aces held up for me for the win.
While that hand was an easy way to finish, the key hand (as far as I'm concerned) happened three hands earlier when I held J7 of spades in the big blind. Gene raised, I called. The flop paired my seven and put two spades son the board (7c, Ks, 9s). I check-raised Gene. I had bottom pair and the flush draw. I was hoping he'd fold right there. Later he would say that's where he should've folded, too. He knew it.
Still, the turn was of no help to me it at all. Another nine, a diamond. Still, I bet enough to put Gene all in. if he had a K or a nine, I was going to be hurting. Gene made the laydown and I was able to coast until the Aces.
Alright. Now I'm tired and stink of Guinness.
Congrats to Boy Genius, and Gene for making the money and to Gene for making such a great comback. Genius was right. Gene has a great shorthanded game.
So, when is the next one?