Revival
by Staff
Howdy folks.
It's been a while since I've blogged. [ED NOTE: Lefty last blogged Jan. 12, 2004.] I've seen my fair share of bad beats and suckouts over the last few weeks, only finding success in my weekly poker night at home [ED NOTE: I think he only plays against his new wife and their cats.]
Online poker was growing VERY frustrating, to a point that I considered throwing in the towel. The great thing about poker is... one night can change everything.
After quite a few disappointments, particularly during the WPBT events [ED NOTE: Pauly sucked out on my brother when his Presto beat Lefty's pocket Tens.], I decided to "hang'em up" for a bit.
As a regular reader of this blog, I've enjoyed reading the success stories of my fellow bloggers [ED NOTE: He must be writing about Otis and GRob.], but deep down inside (and I'm not afraid to admit it) I resented it.
I asked the age old question, "Why not me?".
Okay, hold on... I don't want to get ahead of myself. So as not to wrongly encourage anyone to quickly scroll down through the backstory to see the end result of my late night tourney, I will tell you now, the end result is far from as grand as some of the current post's outcomes.
Last nght, I got my first glimpse of the answer to that very question.
It started at about 12am when I was looking to get my the-night-before-my-day-off poker fix. I checked Poker Stars and couldn't find a freeroll (yep... that's what I've been reduced to...) but came up empty. On a whim, I checked over at UB, only to find a mysterious $15 in my account.
MY EYES LIT UP!
I quickly immersed myself into a $5, 6 person SNG. I cut down 2 of my opponents in the first 20 minutes with rockets and cowboys... I could already see this would be a good night. It only took 34 minutes to reach heads up. I battled back and forth for the next 20 minutes as my opponent and I unwillingly handed each other the chip lead flop after flop. The end came when I went all in with J/9 suited and he called with A/8 suited. The flop opened a straight draw and I filled it on the river.... TAKEDOWN. 27 bucks into my account.
Following my predictable pattern of poker self-destruction, I quickly looked for another way to lose that money back. There was a $5, $1k guarantee tourney filling up, so I registered.
I hung around, mostly playing Yahoo Canasta (too bad I can't win money on that!), waiting for the start... finally, it came.
The first few hours are pretty much a blur. I played fairly tight, chasing only a few of my standard chase hands: The Hammer, of course, Smokey and the Bandit (10/4 suited), and Dolly Parton (9/5 suited).
*Please don't ask me why...*
What I do remember, is knocking out the 21st player, thrusting all of us remaining into the money.
A few uneventful hands transpired, until my A/J suited both paired on the flop, resulting in the removal of the 11th place player, sending my fellow tablemates to the FINAL TABLE.
At this point, I felt invincible. I was catching the cards, getting the great starting hands, muscling the fish out [ED NOTE: Lefty has been known to be a little fishy himself]. A few close hands were solidified by 5th street, until there were only 2. I had an 80k chip lead and the confidence I only felt sitting at a table where I could stare into my opponents eyes.
It came down to one hand. We working our way back to about even... here it is...
My hand: 10/J suited
His hand: A/9 suited
Flop: 10d/Qc/4s
4th Street: 10s
River: Kh
Trip 10's takes him down... my payout: $270. Not too shabby.
Needless to say, I've rediscovered the itch. So if anyone's looking for me, I'll be on UB, trying to give it back [ED NOTE: I would encourage everyone to reload in UB and look for Lefty! Oh, and congrats, my brother!!]
