I would win every one of these. — Phil Hellmuth
First things first: With 5 days in Sin City I can’t do any justice by trying to cover everything in one post so this will be a multi-part trip report written over several days as I get some time.
For Part I, I figured I would go with the obvious highlight of the trip for me which was the Aladdin Classic and my freakish first place finish.
I went to this WPBT event with one goal in mind: DO NOT GO OUT IN FIRST PLACE! After my idiotic performance in Dec, my fragile ego couldn’t take another six months of ribbing from pulling a double-Gigli. Until someone was kind enough to take the distinction of first out from me I was playing tighter than drum. I figured after that I was on a freeroll. In fact, my first dumb mistake came shortly after someone took the Gigli. I picked up AQ in EP and raised. Lance re-raised and . . . I called. Now, I know Lance and play in his infamous home game so I know Lance is capable of re-raising with a wide range of hands here so I was hoping to catch a piece of the flop and then come out firing. Instead the flop came rags and I checked and Lance eagerly pushed more chips into the pot. I put him on JJ or TT so I folded and he showed QQ.
That little brain-freeze clipped me a bit and it didn’t take long for the clipping combined wiht rapidly escalating blinds and a cold deck to put me into seriously wounded status. But, whoever first said that you have to get lucky a few times to win a tournament was certainly acting as my patron saint because when I got short stacked I went in with QJ and got called by AA. A queen hit on the flop and her sister hit on the turn and I was somehow back in the game.
Now having already avoided a last place finish and with a second wind I was just trying to hang on long enough to make a respectiable showing. I figured if I went out in 30th or better out of 71 I was good. But then the man who would become my nemesis, Joaquin “The Rooster” Ochoa, decided to put me in his crosshairs. Unfortunately for him, I had enough chips that I could make a good dent in his stack if he came after me with anything but the nuts. I’m a firm believer that there’s nothing more dangerous than a guy with nothing to loose and I tried to make that point in several pots where I made no secret of the fact I was willing to put all my chips in the pot if he wanted to dance. But for all the banter back and forth we never really got into a big hand. We had a good time trash talking each other though so no matter what happend this was someone I was going to hoist a few drinks with after the tourney.
While all this is going on I’m completely oblivious to the fact that we’ve narrowed the field to two tables. Two tables!!!! I actually had a chance to coast into the final table if I could stay ahead of the punishing blinds. And if I got really, really, really, really lucky I might even make it into the money (the touney paid 8 places).
A few stolen pots here and there and next thing you know they’re seating us at the final table. Before I can fully appreciate it, we’re down to 5 players! I was far from the big stack but like previously with Joaquin, I’m trying to make it known that any pot I get involved with, all my money is going in the middle so whoever wants to come after me better be willing to either go broke or end up seriously crippled if I suck out on them. Speaking of suckouts . . .
Mr. Subliminal caught me with A4s against his JJ. Now, I would have been happy to hit an ace but instead I pulled KQJT giving me a straight. Mr. Subliminal was very cool about it though and awarded me a bounty and a reading of something he had prepared before the match in the event he got sucked out on. Funny stuff. I’ll post it when I get a chance.
Now I had chips and I was actually in the running to win. I don’t think I actually realized that I actually had a shot until CJ and I got heads up. I don’t remember if I’ve ever played with CJ before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Fortunately for me, my new guilty pleasure has been playing heads up SnG’s on FullTilt so I feel I was a little more prepared for the changed dynamic than CJ was. CJ played strong but if I had to put my finger on the one mistake he made it was not adjusting to the heads up play quickly enough. He tightened up at the very beginning which gave me all the opening I needed to steal enough chips to become dangerous. Once he adjusted I tried to shift gears again to keep him guessing but in the end it came down to your typical no pair against no pair, all-in hand and I happened to get lucky. Had CJ’s hand held up I think it would have changed the dynamic of the game considerably and he would have been right back in the game. Heads up momentum can change very quickly and I’m just glad I caught lucky or CJ could have easily have come back to win.
I gotta say though, man is it draining. I was mentally spent after that game and it took a few tequila shots before it even sank in.
More ramblings about the blogger weekend in Vegas as I get time.
. . . to be continued.
Bill! Those were my aces you cracked – and that hand sent me reeling. It was the first hand I’d lost all day where I was the favorite. I figured at that point you were bound to end up heads-up. You were willing to die, and for that you lived – congrats, my man!
Well done, Bill! I enjoyed playing with you.
If there wasn’t luck involved…. you’d have finished 3rd. See my blog for what really happened.
Billy Legend!
It was tense on the rail, even with all the booze in my bloodstream. I can only imagine what you–and CJ–were feeling.
Great job.
It was great fun playing with you Bill. And I greatly enjoy heads up, so I was very prepared. In fact, I was hoping that my heads up play would give me an advantage, but I now know we were similarly prepared.
In heads up, I think I won two pots… both when I sensed just a little weakness (one was a limp call, the other was a check post-flop). On every other hand, I had rags and really didn’t feel like giving chips away at that point.
My plan was to get my money in the pot when I was ahead. With the blinds so high, that was my only hope. When I saw my first Ace, I took my chance and had my shot. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big favorite, and you got your king.
It was a blast!!!!!!!
The Man.
The Myth.
The Legend.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Bill Rini.
Cheers.
What can I say. You scared the crap out of me the whole game. I figured if anyone was willing to go for broke it was you. I seen it in your soul…ala Phil H. I had some good hands but couldn’t pull the trigger. As the saying goes, “it’s hard to pull the trigger when a man whose not scared to die is looking you in the eyes”. You played super well short stacked Bill. I don’t think you touched on how you were lowest on chips at our table for some time. Great play and cracking A’s is always fun…poor Spaceman.
After seeing you shoot dice, I’d take up Professional Craps shooting if I were you 🙂
It was a pleasure meeting you this weekend, can’t wait till next time!!
I had a great time sitting next to you…..I hope we’ll meet up again next time I’m there.