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The
success of the World Poker Tour on television has had
far reaching implications – in the explosion of the
game’s popularity in Scandinavian countries (and the
entire globe, for that matter), in the massive player
fields and prize pools that are now de rigueur, and in
the very fact that just about everybody and their
grandmother now plays Texas Hold’Em. In my neck of the
woods, the WPT has inspired the Beach Poker Tour, a
monthly freeze-out tournament with a bigger buy-in and
better chip structure than our usual home game.
The
Beach Poker Tour, or BPT, is named after the Beaches, a
neighbourhood in the east end of Toronto where my
friends and I live. The buy-in is $50 and the starting
chip stack is $25,000. The blinds start at $100-$200,
increasing every 20 minutes. This sounds like a lot of
play, but if you don’t build chips early the blinds
will take a toll. The games are generally made up of
friends, or friends of friends, but anybody is welcome.
If you have $50 and a heartbeat you’re good by me. The
fields generally hover between 15 and 20 runners.
At
the time of this writing, there have been 6 events. The
first 5 didn’t exactly go as well as planned for me on
a personal level. Here’s a quick recap:
BPT 1
- I worked my starting stack up to $33,000 and was
cruising until I got it all in with 4 5 off on a flop of
A 4 5 rainbow. My opponent held A J and I was in good
position to get near the top of the leader board. Of
course the J came on the turn, and I was now a short
stack. I never recovered.
BPT 2
– I was experimenting with a new level of aggression
and never found my rhythm. In one big hand I overplayed
my 10 8 (with 10 being the high card on the board)
against Q 10, and I was soon one of the first people
out.
BPT 3
– I finally had a cash in this one, finishing 4th
for a $50 profit. In a key hand with 5 players to go, my
88 held up against AK and I had a real shot at winning.
But then I got completely hammered and ran a stupid
bluff against the chip leader. He made an easy call and
it was lights out.
BPT 4
– I never got above the starting amount and I went out
fairly early, around 11th. Short stacked, I
moved all in with KQ and got called by a loose player
with A 7. The board bricked out and it was time to hit
the beer.
BPT 5
– Probably my worst performance to date. I was
severely hung over and just couldn’t find my focus. I
stuck around until the final table and went out 7th,
but I was never a factor. The end came when my AK
didn’t improve against 10 10.
So,
when BPT 6 came around, I was primed to show better. I
was hosting it in my own backyard, and I couldn’t help
but feel luck might be on my side. At 4 o’clock, with
a cooler full of beer, the cards got in the air. The
field was 17 strong and I drew a good starting table,
with a loose, foolish player on my right and the
tightest rock you’ve ever seen on my left. I went down
to $21,000 within the first few hands, but that was the
lowest I got all day.
Early
on, I got to see a ton of cheap hands in position with
junkish hands, and I took down a number of small pots by
betting when opponents checked around. This kept me
afloat. Then, I won a big pot with 88 when I flopped a
set, and another when my AJ connected with a J high
flop, and all of a sudden I was over $45,000. I was in
the middle of the pack, and the final table would be
coming together soon. We all know anything can happen at
that point.
After
a couple of quick bust outs, the final table came
together. Unfortunately I had gone card dead, and the
blinds were starting to get big. When the blinds hit
$3,000 - $6,000 I only had about $30,000 left. I was
definitely short stacked and it was time to start moving
in, as stealing blinds was now absolutely critical for
survival. I moved in with A 8 and got no callers, but I
was still under huge pressure. Luck, however, proved to
be with me on this evening, and I soon won a couple of
miracle hands.
The
first occurred with 5 runners left, when it folded
around to me in the small blind (3,000). I looked down
at 10 6 off, and decided to steal the big blind’s
$6,000. He was tight and I knew he could only call my
all in with a big hand. When he instantly called I knew
I was in trouble, and he confidently flipped up AK.
Fortunately, AK is one of the few big hands 10 6 is in
decent shape against, and I was drawing live. I hit a 6
on the flop and dodged the rest, doubling up to $56,000.
The
second turned out to be the most memorable hand of my
life to date. With 4 left (the top 3 spots got paid,
with $450 for 1st, $250 for 2nd,
and $150 for 3rd) and the blinds at $4,000 -
$8,000, I was down to $45,000. I looked down at K9 of
spades and decided to move in. Getting instantly called
in 2 spots was not good, and I feared the worst. The big
stack turned up 77 and the small stack (I had him barely
covered) turned up AQ, and neither had a spade. Wow! I
was over 33% to win this hand, basically dead even with
the other 2 hands. When the flop came small with 2
spades, I was a 54% favourite and I felt a rush of
adrenaline like you wouldn’t believe. At this point
the dealer started turning over the cards excruciatingly
slow, and it was almost unbearable. I wanted to reach
across the table and shake him into action! The turn was
a blank, but then the river… the 8 of spades! The
beautiful 8 of spades, the most beautiful card I have
ever seen! I yelled “yeahhhh” into the night, so
loud it felt like the entire world heard it. I felt like
Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction when she gets an adrenaline
shot to the heart, and I was in the money with chips.
What could be better than that?
After
that miracle spade I was basically on a freeroll, and I
had about as much fun as I have ever had at the table.
When it was three-handed the 2 big stacks got it all in,
and I slid into heads up play for the title. I was
outchipped about 5 to 1, but my opponent was visibly
hammered and I knew I could double through. My first
double up came when I held J 8 on a flop of J 8 3 and he
had 8 3! He was now drawing dead to a 3 that never came.
Double up number 2 when I flopped trip 9’s with my 9
3, only to have my opponent put me all in when a 6 hit
on the turn. What’s going on here? I suppose he could
have had 6 6 in the hole, but your auntie could have
balls too. I called and he turned over K 6. K 6! Are you
kidding? This time he was drawing completely dead! I now
had over a 10 to 1 chip lead and could taste victory.
The
end came a few hands later when I pushed him all in with
A J and hit an A right out of the window. Booyah! It was
all over. I was $450 richer, but more importantly I had
gotten the BPT title I so badly wanted. This may seem
like small potatoes to some, but we all have to start
somewhere. I know how good it felt to taste victory on
this day, and I can’t wait to do it again.
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