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So Close To The WPT Championship
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Author: Marc Weinberg
And yet so far, at least that's my personal story after my quest to qualify online via satellites for the WPT Championship next month at the Bellagio fell agonizingly short.
I've played excellent poker all week long, concentrating exclusively on no limit hold'em cash games. I've played at $4-$4 and $6-$6 tables all week where the max buy-ins are $400 and $600 respectively. From Friday to Sunday I was up $1500 and feeling frisky enough to buy in for a WPT Championship satellite. The online qualifier would cost me just under $700 in the entry fee but the poker room guarateed 1 seat for every 45 entrants, and when you consider that seat is worth $27,000 I figured it was money well spent.
There are two bad feelings you will experience in tournament poker. The first is getting knocked out early. You feel shame, a need to explain to everyone else that you really a very good poker player, that this sort of thing hardly ever happens to you. It's the impotent fizzle, and worth avoiding if possible. It doesn't compare to being knocked out on the bubble, however. That's a feeling of rage and frustration. That's when you look for a wall and smack it with your head.
If you're knocked out in-between you're just a number, thanks for playing and don't worry about it too much. It wasn't your day. But getting to the bubble means it could have easily been your day.
Needless to say I was knocked out on the bubble and while 2 online players get to rub shoulders with the world's best in Vegas I have only a story about how I came 4th and got nothing.
Okay, so I'm still up $800 for the weekend, and that's something but I knew I was beaten in the hand and couldn't get away from it. The kind of intermediate mistake I like to point out to others.
I was on the button with AK diamonds. I put in a sizeable raise but the small blind called. He was a solid but unspectacular player. Then the big blind called as well. Got to hate that, especially when you are the short-stack in the bubble.
The flop came Kh - 7d - 9d. Checked to me and I bet a little less than the pot. My mindset here was that I welcomed a call, I was in fact fishing for a call. My hand was strong and could get even stronger. Then the small blind surprised me by raising all-in. The big blind folded.
Two thoughts flashed through my mind: 1. He has a set of 7s or 9s. And 2. I cannot get away from this hand because of all my draws. I called. He turned over 77. The turn was a...9 - game over, now where's the nearest wall?
I have one more chance to win a seat at the WPT Championship, and that's at Full Tilt tomorrow (March 28). $235 is the entry fee for this one and the chances are up to 1 in 135. Let you know if I win...
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