WPT Qualifier At Bay 101 - The Results

Today I played some 6-12 before the 8:45am tournament. I made a whole $20.

The tournament though, was a $125 buy in, with 110 entrants. 1st and 2nd would gain entrance into thier WPT main event in March. The other top 15 or so would gain take home cash.

We all started with 1000 chips, and the blinds began at 25-25, going up every 20 minutes. Perfect. Exactly how I like it. Chill, and wait for the good cards to come.

At the 45minute mark I caught A-A, and some guy ahead of me had already bet 600. I hesitated, and waited a while, to make it seem like a tough decision, but then carefully stacked it all-in. He thought for a while, and eventually caved. Dam. I guess 600 plus the blinds, will be ok.
Later, I'm holding an A-J, it's me and another guy after a hefty 300 pre-flop bet. The board goes K-Q-10. I flopped the straight! I bet 200, in a "I'm buying it, kinda way." He goes all in. I call. He holds a friggin A-Q. Then the turn gives him a jack for a straight also. Dam. I guess splitting the blinds will be ok.

For the last hand before the 1 hour break, I catch a King-high flush. This is normally a great hand. Instead I see a huge chunk of change lost when I was beat not only by a full boat, but also by four of a kind. Jimminy Christmas, I thought, for lack of another foul-language outpouring.
An hour and a half into it, I'm down to 800. Half the table has moved into the multiples of thousands range, and the blinds are soon to be 200-400. It's time to make a move.

Three of us call 400 to go. I have A-10 suited in clubs. The flop-ola is Qclubs-8clubs-9diamonds. I act first. I pretend to think about betting (I have the nut flush draw, an inside straight draw, and an ace for an over card) and instead, power check. Dude next to me immediately bets 200. The other guy ponders the reality of life, for an eternity, and then moves all in. I have to call. I have only 400 left, and I have a 3-1 chance to draw the ace high flush, and a shot at other potentially win-able hands. I call, putting myself all in.

Dude next to me calls. For an opportunity to go way up in chips, I liked my chances. IN the end however, no other club showed up, nor did an ace.

Big tourney victory will have to wait another day.

I'm am now in Capitola, to meet up with my cousin Sage. Then, it's northward.