#415 - OK, There Was a Consolation Prize

Don’t listen to me for too long when I complain about my tournament misery. At noon today (Arizona Time), I played in the $150 + $13 NLHE tournament, the $40,000 Guarantee. On Sundays, it draws a big field and today was no exception: 882 entries, a prize pool of over $123,000.

I was sailing along pretty well when I busted out of the FTOPS Main Event - though not so well that I considered it compensation for my losses or my rotten luck in the FTOPS. I now stand corrected.

I was frontrunning from the time we were 20 from the money. Everyone tightened up, it was a great table dynamic, and I stole my way toward the top of the leaderboard. I was never lower than fourth in chips from the time we made it into the money (81 players) and was first most of the time. At the final table, I don’t think I was ever lower than second.

I did very well in races, and won the last hand with Q-6 against Q-7 (though I had a 10-to-1 chip lead when I put my opponent all-in). But  mostly, my good luck was that I didn’t get unlucky. I didn’t lose any big races and I didn’t get any of my big hands beaten after the chips were in. And geez, did I ever steal a lot.

So I can live with sucking in FTOPS events, at least until FTOPS IX. But that’s gonna be different ….