WPT QUALIFIER

I was one of 79 looking for a spot on Team PokerRoom for the December event at Bellagio. We began with $2500 and 10/20 blinds with 15-minute levels. I was ready to be aggressive early on, but the cards did not comply. I want the cards to coordinate in some way, but I was getting dealt nothing but high/low offsuit or low/low. I maintained my stack through the first level, and was happy I did when my first good hand came: AA. I got all in against a short stack whose 44 could not catch up. This put me over four thousand, and above average.

My next good hand was JJ. I called in what would become a multi-way pot. The flop came T97 with two diamonds. That's one of those spiteful flops that only gets worse as new cards are exposed. There was a bet from the small blind, so I put in a big pot-sized-plus raise to get him off his pair/straight draw. He countered all-in. Oh boy. I should have folded. I called, since I had a gutshot, a backdoor flush draw, and a chance I held the best hand. He held 97 for two pair. He played it perfectly, trying to decide it on the flop, just as I was trying to do. I was pulling for a J, 8, or ten, but caught nothing. Now I was down to $1200, half my starting stack.

The next hand I played, I called a raise from an aggressive player, with KQ. The flop offered me two pair and I checked behind him to give his aggression the chance to bet the turn. He obeyed, and I raised him. We ended up all in at the river and I took down the hand to double up to $2400 - back to baseline.

I raised in early position with AQs. There were no less than three callers and a flop of KQ9. I shut down and checked. It checked around. The turn was a J and I saved my money. Again it checked around. The river was a K and I thought I might have the best hand. I bet a measly $200 and found one caller, but no ten. He probably had QJ. This brought me up to my peak of a Van Halenesque $5150, good for 7th place. Things were looking up following the jacks debacle.

Soon after came aces again on the big blind. With two players in the pot, I put in a pot-plus raise. I should have just gone all in to avoid going broke with bad position, but I was the big stack of the three, so I didn't mind somebody getting uppity. Both players called and the flop came 865. Another lovely flop. I decided I would go all in with my aces, but I didn't want to push all in as that might be perceived as weakness, which could invite a call from someone capable of sucking out on me. I overbet the pot, which was basically offering an all-in confrontation without the perceived desperation. One player took me up on it as he had hit a set with pocket fives. Aargh. Back down under $1500. At the one hour break I was 53 of 60.

Coming off the break with blinds of 75/150, I was feeling a bit desperate to double up. When it folded around to me, I put in a 3X raise with AJ, keeping $981 in reserve. Again, I wanted to show strength, not desperation, so I made a bet that could be interpreted as courting a caller. I was raised by a known champion, and I figured my AJ was not good, so I laid it down.

Even more desperate, as the blinds approached, I pushed all in from under the gun with K7 offsuit and thankfully found no callers. The very next hand I got aces for the third time. The champion cold called in first position with me on the big blind. There was a raise before it got to me. I thought for a moment then pushed all in. This time I didn't mind if pushing was interpreted as desperation. The champion reraised all in to get the shorter stack off his hand. I ended up playing against 99 and my bullets held up to get me back over $2500.

At this point, I changed tables, making me the second low stack at the table despite being 33 of 51 overall. With blinds at 100/200, I overcalled a call, and then came a $700 raise. When another player called the $900, I decided to take a big risk and call as well. No set, no bet. The flop was jack-high nonsense, but I couldn't get involved. The other two players duked it out and the raiser's AA took out the shorter stack's TT. I was down to a Rushesque $2112.

At $2412, I had to make a big decision. I held JJ and there was a raise before me from a bigger stack. Folding is not really an option, so my options were calling to see a flop, or raising all in to get heads up or win it outright. I chose to push. He thought a bit, but in the end decided to call with AK - not at all a bad play with the bigger stack. The board came A82KA and I was out in 40th place. I'm not unhappy with how I played. The only bad decision I made was calling the all in with my jacks early on. It would be jacks that ultimately took me out, but I think raising all in was the move to make. We were in first and second position. If I had flat called and another player got involved, then I would have really been in a pickle. There was a decent chance he would fold to my all-in bet, or show an underpair. Even the AK was an underdog to my pair, so I will remember my demise as getting my money in with the best of it. I suppose folding was technically an option, but I think that would have been a bit passive so far from the payout bubble. I'd rather die with my boots on than get blinded off.