It was quite the ride. I won some big pots and lost some big pots, but was never in grave danger of going broke until there were 10 players left.
Previously, with 12 players left I didn’t play a hand for four full rounds. Typically, at a 6 handed table I’d play at least 2 hands per round. I just didn’t get any good situations and I wasn’t about to push it.
It saw my stack dip to just under 200,000 for the 10 handed final table. The very first hand I played at the final table, Chad Brown made it 17,000 from late position. I was on the button with 88 and Chad was one of the shorter stacks, but I decided to see a flop first before committing to the hand. Also, I didn’t want to risk running into a monster hand if one of the blinds woke up with something big.
The flop came 10c 9d 2c and Chad bet 19,000. He only had 57,000 more after that so I was faced with a pretty tough decision. I could literally consider either folding, calling, or raising.
Something about his bet seemed as though he has something strong. Whether that was a draw or a hand I wasn’t sure yet.
After a long pause I called the 19,000. The turn came the 3d and Chad moved in with no hesitation. I looked over at him, and he really didn’t look nervous at all. It felt to me that I walked into an over pair.
I folded the hand and feel like I many have saved myself 57,000 by playing the hand this way. Either that, or I got bluffed pretty badly!
The loss of that pot put me at the bottom of the totem pole with 140,000. I tried to inch my way back into contention and was able to pick up a pot and get back to about 170,000.
Then, the very next hand I raised from middle position with Q-10. The binds were 4000-8000 with a 1000 ante and I decided to make it 20,000, just like I did the last hand.
The big blind, a 27 year old “whiz kid” named Brandon Adams started at me intently when I raised, and defended his big blind.
The flop came Qh 8d 4h. Brandon checked, and I made a “weak” bet of 20,000 in the hopes that I might get Brandon to bluff at the pot. Brandon IMMEDIATELY fired out an all in raise and so while I got him to do what I was hoping for, I was now considering folding???
I talked my way through the hand, “There are two hands that worry me… K-Q worries me. Hey, even Q-J worries me.”
My whole tournament was on the line and I really couldn’t beat much. So I went back into my “hand history” that I have logged in my brain and remember that Brandon bluffed me off a pot earlier in the day with 22 on an A 8 J 5 Q board. He showed the bluff, and it totally changed my read on him.
I had him pegged as a “clean cut” straight shooter. That hand let me know that he had a lot of guts, and certainly didn’t need to have a hand to make a play at me.
I looked over at him and finally said, “I just don’t believe you got it man,” and called with my tournament life at stake. He had Q-7! I won that pot and was at my high point of 350,000+.
A few hands later the tightest player at the table went all in under the gun for 46,000. I was in the big blind for 8000 with the Ad 5d.
I had to call 38,000 more to win 68,000, or not quite 2-1 which I felt I needed to have to make the call. Finally, though, I realized that he might just be getting desperate and had to factor in the fact that he may even have king high.
I called, and he turned over K-7! The flop was 10s 4d 2s, the turn was a 2, and the river was a King! The King of diamonds 🙂
I ended the day in second chip position with 410,000 and will have immediate position on the chip leader who has 480,000.
Tomorrow’s final table starts at 2:00pm “Tunica time” and after the tournament I’ll be packing my bags and heading to the next stop: the Borgata in Atlantic City.
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The guys over at FCP have decided to do a promotion relating to my results in this event. I’ll just copy and paste the promotion below. If you don’t like free money, stop reading here.
FCP Money Added Tourney to Share in Daniel’s Success
We thought we would let the FCP poker players share in Daniel’s success in Tunica and also have a rooting interest in how well Daniel does so we’re going to have a $10 + $1 MTT on Sat Feb 4th in the Evening EST. We’ll decide on the exact start time in the next day or so.
The twist in this tournament is that the better Daniel does the more money that FCP will be adding to the tournament.
9th $1000
8th $1250
7th $1500
6th $1750
5th $2000
4th $2250
3rd $2500
2nd $3000
1st $5000
So if Daniel wins on Friday FCP will be adding $5,000 to the prize pool.
This tournament will only be able to be played through Full Contact Poker and will present a great value to all of the real money FCP players or those looking for an excuse to make their first deposit and play at FCP.
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Well, the day started out the same as every tournament had been starting for me- with me missing monster draws! Up against Alan Goering I had Ac Q clubs and the board was Qd 2c 3d 4c. I missed that pot and lost the pot to Alan’s trip deuces. I thought to myself, “Here we go again. Time to check flight times out of Tunica so I can get some food somewhere.” Seriously, the food here has to be the absolute worst I’ve ever seen. It’s on par with being isolated in a prison camp and being forced to munch on cockroaches and rats. Good preparation for Survivor, but not my idea of a nutritious meal. Each year Memphis and Houston are neck and neck for the most unhealthy cities in America and I can see why. Frankly, I really feel deeply sorry for some of the locals here. Many of them grew up with an unhealthy diet and because of the limited choices, it makes it even more difficult to maintain a healthy weight. When I see people walking around that are 200 pounds overweight it hurts my heart. I can only imagine how much harder their lives must be when simply
You ever been in a tournament where absolutely nothing seems to be going your way? Man, that’s how things went for me in the Aussie Millions. I was trying my absolute hardest, made all of the right moves, but never had a chance. I didn’t get dealt any premium hands really, aside from AK once, AQ twice, 66 twice, 55 once, and 22. The key hand I lost was against the table’s resident maniac and it went like this: A player limps under the gun, one more player limps, and I limp from the button with Q-J, both blinds are in there as well. The flop comes Jd 8h 6d. It’s checked to the first limper who bets 300 into a 500 dollar pot. I felt like I wanted to get some information about the strength of the limpers hand, so I made it 900. The “maniac” in the big blind called as did the limper. The turn came the Qs, and the maniac fired out 2000. When the limper folded, I considered raising but realized that since I actually put the maniac on a draw, that 9-10 was a legitimate possibility. I wasn’t about to go broke on the hand, so I just called. The river came a 6, pairing the board, and the maniac checked over to me. I was certain he didn’t have AA or KK, or a full house. He “could” have the straight, but I thought it was more likely that he may have hit the Q with a hand like Q-10 or Q-9. I thought about checking it down, but ultimately figured that it would be a weakish play. I bet 3000 for value and the maniac called. He did have the straight and I’d lost half my stack by that point. The next key hand I played, I feel like I played brilliantly. Short on chips I limped with 22 for 200. A player in late position raised it to 800 and it was back to me heads up. I had a great deal of information on this player. He never raised from early position, limping even with AA, but from late position frequently raised with ace high type hands (A-K through A-9). I was rather confident based on the way he made the bet that he didn’t have a big pair, or even a mddle pair for that matter. Rather than gamble on a coin flip, though, I figured I would see a flop first before making my move. The flop came 6-8-9 and I checked to gather more information. My opponent bet 1200 and then gave away the biggest tell of weakness I’d seen in a long, long time. At that point I was pretty certain that my 22 were good, and I was also pretty certain that if I raised him my last 2050 that he would call me. So, I just called the 1200. The turn came a 5, putting a four card straight out there, and after a very long hesitation to make sure my read was accurate, I moved all in for 2050. He says to me, “I don’t think you’ve got it,” which worried me ever so slightly. He finally decided to call the 2050 with… A-J! Here was my chance to double up and get back in the game. The river 7 made it a split pot. Later, in the big blind for 200 I called 300 more with 8-10 of diamonds heads up against Tony Bloom. The flop came 10-6c-5c and I checked to Tony who bet 1200. I had close to 5000 and moved it all in. Tony quickly called and turned over Kc Qc for two over cards and a flush draw. The turn was a Q, and the river was the 2c for overkill. I was out, and was just sick about it. I made some excellent reads and felt like I really had my A game working. I just got no help from the deck at all. Anytime I made a hand, someone flopped a better one, it was totally frustrating, but that’s just how poker works sometimes. *************************************************************** I am going to stick around for a couple more days and watch some of the Australian Open. Andy Roddick got tickets for me and David to sit in his box for his first round match against Michael Lammer (Swi), while James Blake drew Jose Acuasuso (Arg). I met James yesterday morning when I was having breakfast with Kirk Morrison. He seemed like a really cool dude and I mentioned to him that he got an honorable mention in my blog. Actually, when I was getting up from the table I knocked my chair over near Blake
When I was checking in at the airport in LA I saw David Williams there and was on the same flight. We ended up being able to shuffle our seats around and have a chance to sit together. After check-in, we were supposed to get in a line to put our bags on the security belt. Then, when they take your bags you are supposed to wait in another line until they tell you that you can go. Why? You are asking the wrong guy. So I watch the guy put my bag back there, but notice that everyone else