9:32 to go…

Hand #2- The button raised my BB and I called with Qd 4d. The flop came 10d-9s-6d. I checked and sensed that my opponent flopped something. Normally I’d just call here, but I went for the rookie play and check-raised committing myself to the pot. I was up against Q-J! I missed my flush and my opponent hit a Jack on the river. Those two pots cost me over 12,000 a piece and I was now on the felt with just 5,000 left. If I’ve learned anything about tournament poker at all it is that there is no need to get desperate with a short stack. I’ve come back from worse situations before and am extremely comfortable playing with a short stack. Most people assume, “Oh that Danny, he either gets big chips or he’s out early. Kid can’t play a short stack.” IMHO that is the furthest thing from the truth. I personally feel like I know how to bounce back in a hurry from short stack situations. *************************************************************** So with just 9:32 left to play in the evening I sat with about 13,000 and was looking to double up or get on a flight back to see my fiance Lori and my dog Mushu (notice the order, had I put Mushu first I’d be in the doghouse!) Todd Brunson raises next to the button to 2500. I pick up AK of clubs on the button and moved it all in. Todd called with 10-10 and immediately started yelling at the the top of his lungs,”TEN, TEN, TEN!!!!” The flop came A-6-2 and once again Todd yelled,”TEEEEEEEEN!” He was clearly having fun with it so I joined in on the silliness, “ACE!!! ACE!!!” I won that pot, then picked up an ante and was up to 30,000 and feeling great about being back in the tournament. A few hands later Todd limped in for 800, and with KK I raised it to 2400. The button, an extremely careful player made it 9000 to go. I honestly didn’t like the situation. Todd folded, and I noticed that I had my tight friend covered. “All in” was quickly followed by “I call”.
“You got aces right, I knew it.”
“Yup, that’s what I got.” So I lost the hand but didn’t realize that it was costlier than I thought. My opponent had 22,000 and I was down to 8000 again. Oh yuck. So with the clock running down to less than a minute two big stacks got involved in a pot. I was like, “Ok let’s go boys, let’s get one more in.” We barely beat the buzzer and I looked down at KK again! From first position Todd made it 2600 and I decided to just call and see if I could get some more action. The big blind pondered, and finally he went all in for an additional 2200. Todd called which opened up the betting for me, “I’m all in too”. Todd turns over A-9 and the BB turned over A-Q. Sweet, I couldn’t be in a better spot here. I dodge those bullets and get back to 22,000. So in the last 9:32 I went from 13,000 to 30,000, 30,000 down to 8,000 and then all the way back up to 22,000. Whoever said poker doesn’t take a solid set of nerves! What a mind screw that last 10 minutes was… wow. So now it’s down to about 170 players and I’m stoked to be in the hunt. Notable chip counts: Scotty Nguyen 110,000
Gavin Smith 100,000
Erick Lindgren 60,000
Todd Brunson 50,000
JC Tran 125,000 (great young player)
Erik Seidel 109,000
Thor Hansen 116,000
Toto Leonidas 74,000
Allen Cunningham 84,000 Notable exits:
Phil Ivey
John Juanda (yeah!!!) just kidding John
Jennifer Harman
Howard Lederer]]>