Reversal of Fortunes

Galina, The Donkey House's mirthful dealer made it a point to remind us that our side of the Poker Table (seats 7, 8, & 9) were playing so boringly. Amanda and I probably played 1 or 2 hands in the first level while Jason perhaps one of the most colorful and impatient live players to ever play in KPT and TDH, was shockingly patient. He struggled quite a bit because unlike playing online, you half to keep track of the pot-size yourself. There was not the easy auto-muck or auto-call buttons either which seemed to throw him. It was such an odd tournament to begin with anyway. The action was so lopsided it seemed only half of the table was playing and our side seemed to have been reduced to spectating. But what was probably even more odd was the fact that there was no ALL-IN situations through the entirety of the first two levels and halfway through the third level. The tournament was going no where, fast!

I assured Galina, though, that it matters not what you do in the beginning of a tournament. What matters is how things work-out towards the late stages. How poker players handles slow nights or a fast starts for that matter dictates a lot of things. This game is called No-Limit, isn't it? You could lose everything -just like that!-... It's a little tough not having a lot of chips to play with. But in the early stages of a tourney, especially when blinds are still relatively cheap, large or small-stacked, i think you have to be comfortable either way. Not to criticize Jason so much but he almost obsessively counted his chips and worried a lot about being relatively shortest stacked. 'I'm short-stacked" he kept muttering to himself. Although he still had over 1700 in chips with the blinds at 25-50. Yeah can you say a little too worrisome? I tend to think that kind of awareness is self-deprecating, don't ya think?

Let me put it another way. Myself, Amanda, and Jason had a little more than half of Scott's chip-stack despite arriving 58 minutes late-- two hands before the last hand of the rebuy period... But, who says life is fair?...... About an hour later i found myself ALL-IN with a pair of 6's against Mr. fashionably late himself who had an Ace King offsuit. You can't really like just a pair of 6's when everything is on the line. In certain nights however, when nothing seems to be going your way, any pair is good enough (Or you work with what you've got...). And this night, my side of the table shared nothing but folding most of our hole cards. More importantly though, Amanda, Jason, and I made no ill-advised moves throughout the tournament... I would survive the ALL-IN.

Amanda's fortunes would eventually turn later on that evening. And when it did, it really turned! She became a tremendous chip leader. So much so that a chop-chop when it was finally down to three players was out of the question. Perhaps the most important knock-out of the night was Mark's somewhat spectacular fall against the amazing Amanda. He was then the co-chip-leader and bully for the better part of the Tournament when he became victim of a runner-runner flush after flopping the top pair. It was a galloping start for Mark too, chatting through hands and even trying to incite action for himself (and others). But when he was gone, his night ended just as fast as its galloping start... That hand was the beginning of the end for all of us because Amanda would not falter. It was practically over! In fact she would wind up knocking out 7 of the 9 players in the final table. I made work of the other two, Mr. Fashionably late and Mr. Online player Jason.

When it mattered most it was Amanda and I that remained (Nols finished in third place). How about that Galina?! She won every hand but three during the heads-up battle (We played about 10). One when i had a pair of Queens and the other two "King and Q's", all of which she did not bother limping in from the small blind despite a tremendous lead.

Posted by: Tournament Director
Saturday, December 08, 2007