My First Event

Howdy gang. I know I haven't posted in a while, but there is a very good reason. I just didn't feel like it. But, since I'm in Vegas for the WSOP I thought I'd ramble on about some of the events I've been playing in case anyone cares. My first event was the $1500 No-limit Shootout which took place on Friday June 17th. For those of you who don't know, a shootout is a sit-n-go/single table satellite format tourney where to advance you must win your table. The only player I recognized at my table was Mickey Appleman who has a number of WSOP bracelets. We all started with 1500 worth of chips and when play began 3 people at our table had not shown up. Blinds started at 25 and 25. My first hand was 4d 6d on the button and I raised to 75 after one person had limped from middle position. The BB and the limper called. Both players checked a flop of Q J 7 so I threw out a bet of 150. The BB called and the other player folded. When another Q hit the turn the BB bet 250 into me. I didn't feel he was very strong but I didn't feel like going broke on the first hand of the WSOP for me so I folded. The next hand I limped in with Qd Td from the cut-off and 6 of us took a flop of Q T 2. One player in middle position bet 100 chips and I raised to 300. I think there were 2 clubs on board so I wasn't thrilled about letting too many players see the turn cheaply. Only the original better called. When a 4 of hearts hit the turn he checked to me and I bet 500. He folded and I was now second in chips at the table. Of course I get QQ the very next hand and I decided to just limp because I was a little wary of the UTG player who limped also. The flop of A A K didn't really help my hand much so I check-folded. The next hand I got QQ again and decided to raise to 100. At this point I was wondering if I was ever going to sit out a hand. The cut-off raised it to 350 and I just called. My thinking was that I was so aggresive that my man would call an all-in with AK which is what I put him on. I decided to let him bluff at me if he missed the flop. Of course the flop came K 8 6 so I went ahead and checked. He bet 200 into a 750 pot which seemed awfully small. Please call Matt! I decided to wait for a better spot and folded. I was down to about 1300 in chips after the first 4 hands of the tournament. I really slowed down after that and picked my spots. Mickey Appleman was directly to my left so I didn't get too out of line. I managed to get my stack up to about 1900 with 6 players remaining at the table when I got involved in a big hand. The blinds were 50-100 and I had As 8s in the cut-off. I made it 300 to go and the BB called. The BB had by far the most chips at the table. He probably had 6000 while the next closest player had maybe 2800. The flop came 9s 7s 3d. The BB checked to me. I decided that I wanted to take the pot there so I made it 500 to go. The BB then moved all-in like a shot. I counted out that I only had 1100 chips left which would go into a pot of 3850. I only needed to win the hand 29% of the time to make this a profitable call. More importantly, this is a winner take all table. I knew (obviously) that I was behind with just an over and the nut flush draw but if I fold here I have 1100 chips and just as important - the chip leader has 7000! I didn't think too much before I threw the rest of my chips in. The BB turned over pocket 9's and I was in worse shape than I could have ever thought possible. The turn and river brought no help so I went to the rail (translation: strip club). If I had to do it all over again the only thing I'd do different is that I'd get my final chips in a little bit faster. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose - that's poker. I'll post about the $2,500 limit event when I feel like it.