The Golden Ticket

Its good to dream .. but, even better, when u get your shot.

Was busy on Friday, so, my last chance saloon, at winning a satellite to get into he main event, of the WPT, was on Saturday .. for which, 102 people entered.

Really card dead early on, but, made a crucial call, with J♠, J♣, against an early position raiser, who I put on A, K, or A ,Q which proved 100% correct, and was able to isolate, and push-all in pre-flop .. and then not get outdrawn on.

These are the vagaries of tourny poker .. u have to correctly assimilate what someone has, and then, win your 65/35 races .. even 80/20 races, when, as we know, 4/1 chances, hit occasionally.

Once the re-buy period ends, play gets more sensible .. and its a period I can attack .. as fish dont want to go home, and protect their marginal hands, too much.

The whole session .. I saw pocket A/A once .. all folded-to-my-pre-flop raise, and pocket Jacks, maybe 3 times.

As we have said before, its not always the cards .. its pure position, being able to fold, to a raise, when someone really means it, and aggression.

I am not short on the aggression .. which, confuses a lot of people, as .. older people, have a stero-type as mild ..

Down to 3 tables .. I have maybe 25k, from a starting stack of 8k, and I can see a few monster stacks around .. of maybe .. 150k, so, as  there are 2 golden tickets, and 3 silver ones (2x$3500 for main event, 3x$1100 for 6 max), I have a lot of work.

Not really doing much, we get down to 2 tables, and have some really weak/tight players to my immediate right, who are getting blinded away. I continue this pressure, re-raising their limps .. and, invariably, they either fold, or call the raise, then fold to a c-bet, once they miss the flop ..

With 16 players left, I get A♠,3♦, in later position, so, raise .. and get pushed all-in, by a shortish stack .. maybe 7k. I feel I am commited,so, call the all-in, and he flips A♦, 9♠  and board comes :

A♣, 7♠, Q♦, J♣, so, am praying for a card higher than a 9, for a split, when a beutiful 3♠, comes on the river, for me to scoop the lot .. giving me, 45k.

This is just starting to be a workable stack, 14 players left, thou the blinds were already 1000/2000 .. crazy how fast the tourney is run.

The 2 guys to my right, are forced all-in, from my raise with another monster A♦, 6♠, but, by some miracle, there holdings of K♦, J♥, and 7♦, 9♦ dont improve, and I knock 2 more out, moving my stack to 65k.

With this momentum, and a final table .. I get a very decent table draw .. a great chinese player - Leo, is to my left .. but, he has 35k in chips, and I feel can neutralise him.

There are 2 monster stacks, of 150k, but, one is an 'unlucky' player, who always bemoans his luck, and I can probably talk him off hands, as I know his game v well, and an Indian guy, I have never seen before, but, seems to play v tight.

I get a really decent hand, - A♣, 5♣ .. in the small blind, and push .. to be called by pocket 2's ..and the flop of A♥, 5♥, 6♦, is pretty safe. Luckily, no 2, comes .. and I double up .. now, 70k chips .. and u can see, players are starting to get worried, as I am extremely active, when in position.

Almost next hand, I get pocket 3's .. and .. 2 callers. It turns out, one had pocket 10's, the other A,Q, but, no one hit .. if the 3 had come .. etc . but, the loss wasnt substantial.

We are now down to 6, and Leo gets knocked out, playing K♦,Q♠, to another players A♦, J♦ .. and a flush came.

So, we all have a ticket .. !! now, its just about the color.