When we restarted at 2pm on Sunday, the casino had relocated the last 43 players to a quiet room off the main floor, and the stage was set for some serious poker.
During level ten, I had a tough decision to make. I was holding KQ on a Kxx flop when my opponent raised all-in in front of me. I thought about this one long and hard before (reluctantly) deciding to lay it down. I read him as a solid player and figured there was an even chance he was ahead of me. I decided I didn`t need to take that risk at this stage of the game.
During level twelve, pocket sevens doubled me up when my opponent`s AK failed to improve. Then, during level fifteen, I used a straight to bust an opponent whose pocket Aces must have looked like gold to him. Got to feel for the poor guy. Approaching the money in a big tourney after a day and a half of play, it really sucks to bust out with Aces.
When the final table began, about 8.30pm, average stack was 120k and I had 170k. However, big blind was 10k, meaning that we were effectively all short-stacked. In the light of that, you can appreciate how strong the standard of play was when I tell you it took nearly four hours more of moving chips to and fro before we were done.
During level eighteen, I lost a big chunk of my stack when my pocket tens failed to hold against AQ, all-in preflop, but I doubled up again shortly after with my K7 against pocket threes, King on the flop.
The atmosphere in the room was tense now. The word had obviously spread around the casino and an audience had drifted into our room to rail. Every showdown brought them crowding closer to share the drama, and each elimination was greeted with cheers and congratulations to the player on his winnings.
During level twenty, I won a big pot when my AJ dominated AT, which failed to improve. Then I won again when my KK held against AQ. Unusually, that KK was my best hand during the whole two days of play. I was never dealt Aces even once during the hundreds of
hands played.
As mentioned earlier ITT, I was heavily outchipped when we got down to headsup but succeeded in making a game of it for a while. In the final hand, we were all-in preflop with AJ for me and 66 for my opponent. A third 6 on the board put the outcome beyond doubt.
Standing around chatting afterwards, one of the railers asked me if I was a full-time player.
“No, mate”, I said, “I have a day job. I just play poker evenings and weekends.”
“You are wasting your talent”, he said, “I watched you play that final table and, if I could play poker like you, I`d turn pro in a heartbeat.”
Hmm. Not just yet, I think, but maybe I`ll take early retirement in a few years and then we`ll see.