“Lucky Bastard”
Diary of a Poker Enthusiast/Addict...
Day 3
At the end of yesterdays play, Mark and I retired to Shutters bar in the hotel for a post match post-mortem of the days shenanigans. We decided that the only way to go from here was up up up. The strategy we settled on was that I should play solid hands and get my chips in clean to steal some blinds or double up. Once I had built my stack back up I could revert to playing my conventional game. I slept soundly within this knowledge to awake in a particularly peculiar and extraordinarily buoyant good mood. Bouncing round the bedroom in between the various admin tasks that precede the ‘Green Mile’ walk to the Amazon Room and Day 3 of the 2008 World Series of Poker - World Championship $ 10,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em(Event 54)...
Having no down side risk and being expected to exit the tournament within the first ten minutes of Day 3 seemed to have a relaxing effect on me and I sat down at the table and was able to chat jovially and joke with my fellow competitors. Once underway I managed to get my chips in and push the Big Blind off his hand, this brought me up just shy of 13,000 chips.
A short while later I was all-in with A8 off-suit(o/s)against a pair of fours. After four blanks I beseeched any deity within earshot to "river me" and duly received my ace on the river. Now with over 30,000 chips I sat tight for a while and then elected to play KdQd in third position. Min raising I got a call from the guy whose big blind I had stolen earlier. He had position on me and I made a continuation bet of 6,800 on a seven high rainbow flop containing one diamond. He put me all-in and I put him on at least a medium ace or a small pair so I laid my hand down.
The next had I played from the small blind was folded to the button who made his standard 4,800 raise. He had been quite busy raising two-three hands per round. We had not discussed this scenario the previous evening and I put him on a wide range of hands so when I saw pocket nines I decided to shove my remaining 20,000 to join the 800 small blind. He tabled pocket kings and the flop, turn and river did not improve my holding so I was walking...
