On day 4 we set up in a different ballroom to play Texas Hold'em and on the very first hand I raised then 4bet ATo from the button for Hoyt's stack from the BB and he thought a long time before folding. Once we got down to 18 we redrew and I got the worst seat in the room with eventual 5th-place finisher and then chipleader Ryan Hughes to my direct left.
The guy is a very tough poker tournament player and is constantly applying pressure. I kind of sat on my hands and decided I was only going to put chips in the pot preflop for value. I opened 6 pots in an hour or so and Hughes called once and 3bet 5 times. The first two times he 3bet I had two kings and 4bet. He folded to both. Later, I opened two black queens from the cutoff and he flatted the button. Flop JhTh5d. I bet 22000, he made it 52000, and I made it 157000 of my 757,000. He thought and called.
Turn was an awful 7h, but Hughes had been maniacal that I told myself I was going broke on the hand. He checked though and then checked behind when the 5h came on the end as I'm pretty sure he had an idea that my plan throughout the tournament was to bluffcatch/checkraise rivers against him. I was shown Q8hh and breathed a sigh of relief.
The last hand before break with 12 left, I won a pretty amazing pot to double through Hughes. I opened UTG 6 handed with AdJc to 15k and Hughes made it 40k behind me. I made it 116k and was fully prepared to call off my last 400k if he moved in. He called. Flop QdTs5d. I checked and Hughes quickly bet 160k or something. I fully expected him to call, so I had a big decision as to whether he was on a draw or not. I decided he was, moved in, and he called with J9cc for an open-ended and was dead to a 9 or an 8.
It came T then 2 and I doubled to 1.05 million. I climbed to chiplead with 8 players left with about 1.5 million in chips and 6 making the TV table. I then lost a massive pot to double Allen Carter in a 3way 3-bet pot where I had 55 vs his 22 on A42 and missed to slip all the way to 350k. I immediately won a pot off a tough young player named Pat Mahoney with AK vs his AQ on KQ272 to climb back to half a million and rallied to make the TV final table with 665k when we lost Tuscaloosa native, BJ MacBrayer on the TV final table bubble.
Twenty friends and family came down to watch my final table, which is something for which I'm incredibly grateful. I'm very lucky to have so many great people in my life. The final table got off to a good start as I busted Ryan Hughes with JT vs his 74 blind vs blind on a J94 board. I then went up and down after playing a couple pots with Kuzmin. The kid was insane and 3bet me 4 consecutive times from the BB when I opened the button!
Once I called with two sixes and sadly he checkfolded after a K96 flop. I then ran a pretty huge bluff against him that will make TV. On the 4th time he 3bet my button open from the BB I decided to call with K2ss because we were so deep. I was certain he would jam if I 4bet. Flop JJT. He bet 70k into like 190 and I decided to make it 170k. He called. Turn 7x. He checked and I bet 225k leaving myself around half a million. He thought 20 seconds and folded and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was 2nd of 4 in chips when a big pot came up.
I opened KdKc from the cutoff and Carter flatted the button and Kuzmin called from the BB. Flop T94 all hearts. I bet 62000 and Carter called and Kuzmin folded. Turn 2d or something. I bet 145k and he called. River gross Ac. I checked and Carter bet full pot, half a million. It's such a good spot for Carter to bluff with something like QhJc, and I was almost certain from my history with him and the way he put chips in the pot that he did not flop a flush.
I had him polarized to AT or a bluff, and I made what is probably a pretty awful call still. I was shown AT. Carter rudely asked me something like "I guess I got there on the river huh?" immediately following the hand. I ignore the question and then ignored Mahoney when he followed by asking me an equally rude "Big pair, Shannon?" I don't think I'm being over-sensitive here, and let this hopefully be a lesson to people who play poker. When you beat a man out of a pot just collect the chips and don't make any comments.
I nitted it up for a long time because the stacks were awkward, but then I doubled through Carter with 99 vs 88 and Leif Force with AQ vs A9 in a 15 minute span to climb back to 2nd of 4 in chips.
Shortly after a break, I came back and played a huge pot with Kuzmin. He opened to 50k at 10/20 from the button and I decided to defend with A6dd from the BB. Flop JdTd5c. The line is simple here given the stacks, bet/3bet all-in, and that's just what I did when he raised my 77k to 250k. He quickcalled with red kings, a hand I was fine with seeing as I had about 43% equity in the pot. Sadly, I missed though and was down to a few hundred thousand. I moved in a few times successfully before shoving J7o into Carter's QJo bvb and missing to finish 4th for $145,000.
Tournament poker is a very funny business, as the ups and downs are pretty insane, especially when playing mostly big buy-in live tournaments. $145,000 isn't a life-changing score by any means especially when I was quickly stuck $65,000 on the year. It is what it is though, although it hurts to have left $450,000 on the table with first place getting .6 million.
I'm proud of myself for battling though, as its easy to really lose confidence after losing a lot of money in tournaments consecutively (albeit a very small sample size). I'm very grateful to be in the business as I really enjoy what I do. As it stands, I plan on playing a ton of live tournaments through the end of the 2011 WSOP in July. For the most part, I have a net-worth figure that I want to reach, and I'm kinda gonna work hard to get there before taking a break.
I continually wrestle with whether I want to spend my time traveling to poker tournaments as opposed to doing other things and hobbies that I would probably enjoy. I'm in a very unique situation at 25 in that I don't really have to work often and could really do some amazing things, but I also want to try to make a lot of money while the business is still good. I'll try to decide that as I move forward this year.
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