My tournament in Las Vegas

Here is a report on the tournament I entered whilst in Las Vegas.

I played at the Aladdin where the tournaments were $50 for 1000 chips plus an optional add-on of a further 1000 for just $10. 44 players entered and the top 6 got paid.

I started slowly as I struggled to get any hands. In fact bizarrely in the first orbit I was dealt K7 5 times!!! I tried to play 99 and 88 but missed the flop and folded to bets. Then I moved tables.

With blinds at 50/100, I had about 1050 in chips. I had A9 one before the cutoff. A player in MP1 just called, I called, and so did a couple of others. Flop was A9x. The BB bet 300, MP1 called. I pushed all-in. Everyone folded to MP1. He looked over at me, and I just looked down trying to pretend to be weak. He called with amazingly K5. He called an all-in with King high!! What an idiot! I doubled up to around 2800 in chips with my 2 pair.

My chips once again frittered away. $500 was taken when I called a pre-flop raise with KQ, but a big stack pushed all-in. I folded. He had AA.

Then first hand after the break, with blinds up to 200/400 I pushed with AT. I got called by QT and doubled up again. Shortly after this we were moved to the final table.

By the time we got to the final table, blinds were 300/600 and I had about 3000 in chips. I was seriously short stacked and needed a miracle. We were down to 10 players, and only 6 get paid. I got the miracle. In one hand, 4 players all pushed all-in. The big stack at the table won the hand with JJ and knocked 3 players out in one go. We were down to 7 players. I only needed 1 more to go out, but I was still very short.

A few hands later, a player in EP made a raise. I looked down to see TT. I had to push all-in as I probably wouldn't get another hand like this for a while. My opponent called and showed T8. I doubled up again. Blinds were now getting high. I pushed a couple more times with QJ and AJ and won the blinds. In another hand, I called a player's raise with KJ. Flop came down K high. I pushed all my chips in. He folded. I was up to around 12,000 in chips and could sit back. I was no longer the short stack.

This tactic worked as 3 more players went out.

My tournament ended when we were down to 4 players. I was back to being the shortest stack at the table. I pushed with AT and got a quick call. I knew I was in trouble. My opponent showed JJ. Flop was JQQ. A King on the river made my straight, but I couldn't beat his flopped full house. I was out in 4th for a nice payout of $246. What a nice birthday present!

A nice story to finish with - when the tournament started, I told everyone at the table that it was my birthday. One loud American latched onto this and proceeded to tell everyone he met this. When I got to the final table, I had developed my own fan club all rooting for me to win. That was a nice feeling.