Reaching a Poker Milestone

Every time I am in Las Vegas, I make sure to play at least one poker tournament at the Sahara. This is where I played in my first poker tournament four and a half years ago. The buy-in is cheap, the structure is fair, and the tournaments are usually filled with good players.

Last night, I played in the 11:00 p.m. tournament. Even though we are not staying at the Sahara, going over there to play in the tournament is like coming home, someplace that has become so familiar and comforting that it feels like I belong there. Despite that, I have never made the final table at the Sahara. I've come tantalizingly close a number of times, but never quite made it over the hump.

Until last night, or rather I should say, this morning. I started off well, playing my usual game, not entering a whole lot of pots, waiting for good starting hands. When I did enter the pot, I played aggressively. At the first break, I had built my stack from four thousand chips to fifteen thousand. I didn't even bother to do a re-buy.

As the game wore on, I would move down in chips and then come up with a big hand to stay afloat. With the blinds at 400/800, I limped in with KQ offsuit. No one raised. The flop came KQ7, rainbow. One guy bet out 2000 chips, I raised when it got to me. Everyone else folded, he re-raised me all in, and I called. This guy inexplicably had K4, obviously thinking he had the nuts (the best hand). Wrong. I knocked him out and doubled my stack.

Much later in the tournament, there was about 14 players left, and I was scuffling not to get knocked out. I looked down at KJ suited in hearts. The player to the right of me went all-in. It was the best starting hand I had seen in a while, so I did the same thing. The big stack at the table, a complete donkey who went all in with any two cards, also went all in. The guy to the right of me had K10, and the donkey had Q10. No queen or 10 showed up, so I won a huge pot and tripled up.

From there, I managed to hold on until the decent cards stopped coming and I began to get blinded out. My last stand was pathetic as I was forced to go all in with only a 45 suited. Not surprisingly, I lost (to only a 10-5) and I got knocked out in 6th place. It was 3:50 a.m. You know you've done well and earned respect when you make a final table, get knocked out, and the other players shake your hand as you get up to leave. I didn't feel bad whatsoever when I got knocked out. I would have loved to win the whole thing, but it was just not going to happen. I felt triumphant, satisfied, and very, very tired.

The irony of this whole thing is that right now, they are playing the World Series of Poker down the street at the Rio. My game has gotten so good and my confidence is so high right now that I wish I had the opportunity to play there this year, I really think I could have done well. I long to get back to the WSOP, and it has become my dream and my goal. Oh well, maybe next year.

For today, I find great comfort in the fact that, after many, many attempts, I have finally made a final table at the Sahara. Yeah, baby!!!