First Big Win

Sure, it may not be that big of a win to everyone, but after 6 hours of play and 13 cans of Coke, I cleared a field of 2382 players to take first place in the Party Poker $40k Guaranteed NL Hold'em tournament last night, for a prize far larger than any I've won so far.

Man, what a rush. Going to bed was impossible, and even now at work I'm functioning off the high as if I'd had a full nights sleep instead of the three hours I spent laying in bed trying to stop thinking about it.

We cut a deal at the end, with 5 players remaining. I had 35.6% of the chips in play, and using the "auto chop by chips" option, my cut came out to $6,728.08. If we were to play it out, first would have paid $10k, second $5k, and 3rd through fifth obviously less. The other 4 players agreed, and my bankroll is now considerably bigger than it was this time yesterday.

I'd like to say that I was playing really well, but there was some serious luck involved. For instance, I was the large stack going into the fourth hour of play, and remained so due to being dealt pocket Aces twice, and pocket Kings six fucking times.

Yes, that's 8 pocket Ks or better in one hour.

And not only did they all got action, all but one held up. The one that didn't hold up was against a stack so short he'd have been blinded out in two orbits anyhow.

How did I get to be the big stack going into the fourth hour? I raised UTG with pocket 3s, and some tourist smooth calls me with pocket As from the button, and immediately raised me allin on a rainbow flop of 732. So funny

I did eventually get to display some skill at the final table. I was 6th stack coming onto it, and quickly took charge, making some amazing calls on two key bluffs which would have killed me if I had been wrong... but I wasn't.

Not a bad return on $22.

-Tommy