The Ocean's 13 Suckout Special

I played in the Ocean's 13 Darfur Charity tournament today. I had a good time and contributed three buy-ins and an add-on to the cause. For a good length of time, I played at the same table as Team PokerStars member Bill Chen. He pushed a lot preflop during the re-buy period, but then tightened up considerably after that.

I didn't get a lot of cards to play, and didn't play the ones I got all that well. Still, I managed to stay alive for quite a long while, outlasting some other blogger luminaries who no doubt played better than I did but got unlucky. I saw Dr. Pauly get busted out when his all-in with A6 got called by A2, and his opponent rivered a deuce to send him to the rail. Brutal.

Here is the hand that kept me alive much longer than I should have survived:

PokerStars Game #10134981363: Tournament #49933520, $10+$0 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2007/05/27 - 17:50:30 (ET)
Table '49933520 82' 9-max
Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: yestbay1 (8770 in chips)
Seat 2: mar22 (12000 in chips)
Seat 3: MrCitnatra (45485 in chips)
Seat 4: guelo (21780 in chips)
Seat 5: Garthmeister (36043 in chips)
Seat 6: The Dad (19160 in chips)
Seat 7: Peppe10 (23835 in chips)
Seat 8: Rooney23 (23540 in chips)
Seat 9: skyhawk42 (1110 in chips)
yestbay1: posts the ante 50
mar22: posts the ante 50
MrCitnatra: posts the ante 50
guelo: posts the ante 50
Garthmeister: posts the ante 50
The Dad: posts the ante 50
Peppe10: posts the ante 50
Rooney23: posts the ante 50
skyhawk42: posts the ante 50
yestbay1: posts small blind 300
mar22: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [Ks Kh]
MrCitnatra: folds
guelo: folds
Garthmeister: folds
The Dad: folds
Peppe10: folds
Rooney23: raises 600 to 1200
skyhawk42: folds
yestbay1: raises 1800 to 3000
mar22: folds
Rooney23: raises 1800 to 4800
goleafsgo96 [observer] said, "lets go burlington"
yestbay1: raises 1800 to 6600
Rooney23: raises 16890 to 23490 and is all-in
yestbay1: calls 2120 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Th Ts 9d]
Garthmeister said, "Erk"
*** TURN *** [Th Ts 9d] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [Th Ts 9d Kd] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
yestbay1: shows [Ks Kh] (a full house, Kings full of Tens)
Rooney23: shows [As Ah] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
HermWarfare [observer] said, "wow"
change1OO [observer] said, "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
yestbay1 collected 18490 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 18490 Rake 0
Board [Th Ts 9d Kd 7d]
Seat 1: yestbay1 (small blind) showed [Ks Kh] and won (18490) with a full house, Kings full of Tens
Seat 2: mar22 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: MrCitnatra folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: guelo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Garthmeister folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: The Dad folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Peppe10 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Rooney23 showed [As Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 9: skyhawk42 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
......
yestbay1 said, "yippee"
......
AlCantHang [observer] said, "score"

I almost pushed right away when the preflop bet came to me, but I wanted to keep someone in the pot with me (hopefully only one person). Of course, I was ready to put all my chips in and actually thought I was doing that on my second raise. I should have smelled the AA when he didn't raise me all-in immediately, but it wouldn't have mattered; I could not fold that hand with an M as low as mine at the time.

My thanks to the railbirds for their cheers. I only wish I could have made those chips stand up, but even taking that pot I was way below average and wasn't getting much in the way of hands to play with. I busted about 30 minutes later when I pushed with 55 only to be called by KK. No suckout for me on that one, and I finished in 111th place. Still, not bad out of 744 runners. I would have had to make it to 18th to win one of the prizes, but I still feel pretty good about where I ended up.

I know I am playing weak-tighter than is optimal, and it's a tough habit that I need to work on breaking. I do one hell of a lot better when I get a decent chip stack and can make moves with less fear (don't we all?), but I need to do better when my stack is shorter.

As I type this, Garthmeister is 12th in chips with 45 still playing. I hope he hangs in there and takes it all down!