$6,000 Win!

Wow, my biggest poker score to date. Quick background - 16 guys put together a WSOP group, where we had a series of tournaments leading up to the final last Saturday, where the winner would get $12,000 for the WSOP main event, and the 2nd place finisher would get $4,000, with the idea of that going towards one of the prelim events.

We started the final with 2 tables of 8 people, with the average chip stack of approx. 10,000 and blinds at 25/50, so there was a lot of play. I hit the nut flush on the river early on a guy that flopped trips, flopped a boat with pocket 9s with my opponent flopping trips, hit a set of 2s, 3s and 4s and quickly found myself with 25,000 chips. With 5 players left on the other table, and 6 on ours, I got it all-in blind vs. blind with AQss against AJcc, and even though there was a J in the door, I ended up with a flush on the river.

I entered the final table 1st in chips with 35,000 chips. There was one other player with about 30,000 and nobody else had more than 17,000. There were 3 very short stacks, which we got rid of in 2 orbits. We get down to 5 players, and then the action started.

By this time, the player to my right was the chip leader with about 60,000 chips, I had 45,000, and the other stacks were 28k, 22k and 10k. Two of the shorter stack got it all-in preflop with QQ vs. 33, with the shorter stack having 33. Of course, a 3 of the river was a disaster for the other player, who went out on the very next hand with K9 vs. KJ. Down to 4 players, Luis the chip leader gets it all in with top pair vs. an OESFD, with his top pair holding. We are down to 3 with Luis having 100,000 chips, 40,000 for me and 20,000 for 3rd place.

It worked out well for me, because the short stack was on my left, so whenever Luis would fold the button, I would move all in with almost any two cards and the player would fold. At this point, blinds were 1k/2k, so each hand hurt the short stack a lot.

He was down to about 14k, and I had about 44-45k, and we got it all in, I had KQ, he has 63dd. Of course, he flops a flush and that was that... On to the next few hands where either Luis or I was raising, and the short stack was folding.

About 4 hands later, short stack limps, and Luis checks. Fireworks then ensue on a KQ9 flop, where the short stack has Q9 and Luis has KQ. Perfect scenario for me! KQ holds and I am heads-up.

First order of business was a deal, and we agreed that 2nd place would be $6k and $10k for first. Heads-up didn't take long, as I was outchipped 3-1, and we got it all in preflop with my KJ vs. his A7. Ace on the flop, and it was over.

Am I disappointed that I didn't win? Sure. But I will take the $6,000. A sweet amount for second place.

So, I finally have a live bankroll to play with. Hopefully we will be playing some more tournaments soon. And, I will be getting some more online to play some SCOOP tournaments and the MiniFTOPS.

Good luck to everyone, and thanks to all those for their congrats.

Cheers,

Ryan