Poker Tourney!!!!

So Friday night Bo, Mark and I headed down to Parker to play in a poker tourney that was supporting the Parker Sky Sox baseball teams. Basically we would donate a certain amount of money (50,100,150) and get a different amount of starting chips based off of the donation we made, and half the total money raised would go to the teams and the other half was for the tournament pot. There was 123 entrants into the tourney and the top 10 spots would pay out.

All 3 of us donated $100 which meant that we started out with 6,000 in chips. We were all seated at the 1st table and sat next to each other which was ok. I had seat 10 which is one of my favorite seat positions, it gives me a great view of the cards so far this tourney was off to a GREAT start!!!
Our dealer showed up about 5 minutes late, the other tables had started and we were dealerless, but this actually worked out good for us, once he got set and divied up the chips we started playing.

Most of the people at the table weren't that good, so early on I considered Bo and I favorites to take this table down. After a few hands we learned quickly that there was another really good player at the table, we got to talking to him (Joe) and quickly realized that the 3 of us would definitely survive the table. I played pretty tight at first, only playing very good starting hands, getting a feel for the table, learned that a few people at the other end would call any bet with any hands, this information was very valuable.

I won a few pots here and there and built up my stack to around 10,000 chips. The best hand happened when I got AJ off suit and just called the blind, no one raised and on the flop there was an Ace. The action was checked to me and I went all in instantly (knowing that one of the weak players behind me would call) sure enough, I get the player I expected to call, what I didn't expect was the hand he called with, K7, there was a J on the turn and I took down that pot and had 20,000 in chips.

After a few rounds and couple breaks they split up our table, I had about 16,000 in chips and was moved to table 7 with John (the guy we met at our table) and Bo went to table 4. John and I were decent sized stacks at the new table and it took a while to get used to the new players and figure out how they played. At this point there were 3 tables (30 players) left and I was feeling very good about my chances of winning this thing!!
I had one a few pots and had 28,000 in chips when the best hand of the night for me happened.

I was the first one to act (after the blinds) and had 55, I tripled the blind and had an all in behind me and a caller of the all in, so the action was back to me, I went all in over the top and the 3rd person called. The guy after me showed AK, the other one showed QQ, I was definitely behind but had a good feeling about the hand. Sure enough, the flop was A57, I flopped my set!!!! an 8 on the turn didn't help anyone else and there was an A on the river which gave the AK a false hope that he'd won (he had a set, I had a full house!!) After I collected that pot I was over 100,000 in chips and was the chip leader for a while.

Bo went out in 23rd place and we ended up condensing down to 2 tables, I was still over the 120,000 chip mark and looking good. We decided at the table that the bubble position (11th place finisher) we'd all contribute $10 so that way they'd at least get something for not making the final table. About 5 minutes after we agreed to and collected the money for that, they had all 11 of us left at the same table. Once the 11th place person was out all the rest of us were guaranteed at least $100!!! I played ok, but the combination of the blinds getting higher and the inclusion of the Ante made it tough, I didn't get many good cards the rest of the way and ended up finishing in 7th place, which I was very proud of!! I won $200 (basically $300 since my donation is a credit on the taxes :-)

I was very pleased with finishing 7th, I played very well in this tourney and it gave me a lot of confidence that this is something that I will be able to do consistently and hopefully for my profession in the very near future :-)