Morning.
Day 2 was one of the most exhilarating & exciting days I've ever had in poker, maybe because I went on a bit of a heater & had so much action. And maybe I got a little over-excited due to that & played too many hands. The exit was so disappointing, but I'd been all-in and been called several times, so I suppose one was bound to go against me eventually.
I was bitterly disappointed, & that walk back along the Strip in blistering heat was not much fun. No different to anyone ever who bust a Tourney though, it's the nature of the game. Think it's OK to have a 10 minute curly lip & then move on.
My first table was just perfect, we were all short, most had around 50,000. (I began with 31,000). Proper card rush, & it's very very easy to play a short stack. In the first orbit I was all-in 3 times, two chops, each for a small profit (half of the blinds & ante), plus a SCOOP to bust the only player shorter than me. Got to around 60,000 then the table broke. Bugger.
My new table was a different kettle of fish altogether, the table was groaning with the weight of chips. Nice people though, all warm & chatty, & no bad blood or Serious Heads.
Took a few pots, blinded off a bit, then a key hand came up & we went three way.
I don't recall the suits, & nobody was on the flush draw, but I had.....
And we saw this flop of dreams...
Flops don't come better. It was all a bit cagey, obviously.
Eventually, on the River, we lose the third player & me & Billy Big Stack get all-in. No sooner had the dealer said "turn 'em over" than Big Stack says "chop it up" (we both had a wheel by then) but he had not realised I had the 7 high straight as well, so I got three quarters of a decent pot.
This took me over 100,000 for the first time. At this stage there were 190 players left from around 770 entries, so 100,000 was as near as damn average stack. Now I'm starting to dream....
A key hand then went off which was the turning point.
I flopped the stone cold nuts & nut flush redraw on this flop....
(I'm holding K-Q-10-9-X with nut spades).
We are heads up & I check to let my man bet, & he made it 20,000.
No free cards in Omaha? Nope, but after a lengthy dwell, I decided this was the time to gamble, so I just called.
The turn came a low, & I don't want him hitting his low, so I move all-in & he quickly calls. He had A-10, a bad spade draw, & two random low cards. The board runs out low low & we end up chopping it.
This hand upset me considerably, as I was certain I had butchered it, & the chance to go to above average. After some thought though, in fact, although it WAS a mistake, it made no difference.
Why a mistake? Well, having thought it through, the ONLY safe card was a 9. I don't know his hand at this point but any broadway card may give him the same straight, any pair up I'm not going to like, & any low cards are potentially good for him. In fact, he had A-Q-10-3-5 for flopped two pair & broadway gutterball plus back door straight. So yes, I should have moved all-in on the flop, but I doubt it made any difference. (He was playing 400,000+ so an easy call).
That seemed to make a turning point & I lost every hand after that, dribbling from 100,000+ to around 40,000. We were still about 30 spots off the money, so I can't fold to the money. So I upped the aggro & got a couple of bets through. I visited the well once too often though, getting a caller with a nice low hand in which I flopped two pair on a 2-3-5 flop. He had the A-4 though, so I was drawing real thin even to chop. Bugger.
Not sure where I finished, but it was roughly 140th of 771, with 116 paid, or something like that.
On reflection, there's a bunch of coulda, woulda shoulda, but in fact I don't think I did too much wrong other than lack of aggression on Day 1, & I certainly had a ball. That Tourney is just SO good.
Give me 10 minutes & then I'll try & reply to the other posts now.