My First Final Table at This Year’s WSOP

Well on only my third event this year I made the final table of the 2500 buy-in half Omaha 8 or better/half stud 8 or better event.  I love all 8 or better games so felt like this would be a strong event for me.  I have still been sick but I am such a mental sicko that I could pass up a day of the WSOP so I have been playing despite my not feeling well.  Maybe I should play sick more often because the event went really well for me and I came in 3rd place!

Normally I would be really unhappy with 3rd place but in this case I was low chips so often throughout the tournament that the mere fact I made the final table at all was a miracle.  Early on day two I got knocked down to 3700 in chips at the 1K2K level when my A245 on fourth street failed to improve to get any of the pot from 2 tens.  I somehow managed to quadruple up when I put in my last remaining chips with split deuces with an 8 and only made deuces and threes when the other guy was showing open 8′s and the other opponent had JJ.  Somehow they didn’t improve and I got back up to 16K.

The whole tournament was really that kind of struggle for me.  I felt like I made very few no brainer hands and managed to eek out a weird win with some weird two pair right when I needed to over and over again.  Right before we got down to 8 players I won a couple of hands that got me to second in chips behind Tom Schneider.  The problem was Tom had more than double what I had.  The good news?  I would be to Tom’s left at the final table.

Frankly, the blinds were so damn high at the final table that I feel like it was a bit of a luckfest.  I really take no responsibility for coming in third in terms of my own skill and I take no blame for not being able to get past 3rd to 2nd or first.  By the time we were 4 handed we were playing 20K 40K and the average stack was only about 380K or so which meant no one had more than one bad hand in their stack.  That means that you just really couldn’t lose a hand or you would be dead. 

Chris Ferguson had about the same chips as me and got crippled by one hand then was out 4th.  Then at three handed we played the stud 8 round and I played the whole half hour with only one playable hand.  I was low card more than my share and generally had Q9 in the whole.  I got dealt zero pairs and only one hand with three to a low which I had to fold on 4th street when my opponent hit a 3 to his 2 and I hit a K to my A27.  After folding he showed me A234…bleh.  Because of that I anted down to 200K which is awful for me because I hate anteing myself away.  But I seriously did not have anything to even try to get involved with. I twas a pretty frustrating feeling knowing I was essentially anteing my tournament way and I felt very handcuffed.

So when we went on to Omaha I was below 200K playing 20/40K.  I lost a hand hand with two pair and a low to Ed who made a better low and a flush and that was pretty much it for me.  I was crippled and lost the next hand I got involved with.

Oh well.  I am very happy with the way I played.  It was a tough final table.  Everyone was playing very well and congratulations to Tom Schneider who won it.  He had the chip lead the whole day and was catching some pretty amazing cards and playing well.  That is a lethal combination and he deserved to win the bracelet. Me?  I am happy with 3rd.  I feel I played well and really toughed it out through a tournament that I was pretty card dead during.  That is a pretty good feeling.