The other night I was playing at PokerStars when the little tournament announcement came across the chat box. It was for a 1000FPP entry qualifier to the WPT event in the Bahamas.
I havent played a tournament in quite a while, but I also have more FPPs than I can spend, so I thought "what the hell" and I signed up. The top 9 got an entry into the finals.
I was doing ok when I was in the BB with [4h]. The flop came [4c][2c]. UTG had limped as did MP. I bet pot and got called by UTG. The turn was the . I checked, he bet close to pot and I check raised him BIG. He called.
I forget what the river was but I put him all in and he called with [Tc] and I busted him.
That put me in about 10th place. The very next hand MP limps. I think the blinds were 50/100. I raised to 400 with [9s] and he called. The flop was [6s][7h]. I bet pot and he called. The turn was the . I put him all in and he called with [8d]. The river was another ace and I busted him.
I was now in 1st place with about 60 left. I stole some blinds and reraised some raisers winning pot uncontested. I was never lower than 3rd place for quite a while when all of the sudden my internet connection went down. I have broadband. It never goes down. The blinds were around 150/300. I was in good shape but no way I could fold to the money. There were still about 35 people left. I tried eveything to get it back up. About 10 minutes later it suddenly came back up. I log back in and the computer is beeping at me because its my turn. Im down to 5700 and there were 28 people left. The timer is counting down as my time runs out. Im sitting there with [Qd]. One guy with only 1400 had limped in for 300. I raised to 1200 but he and the blinds folded (I noticed there was also an ante now so it was a decent pot).
I tried a few more steals had to give up when I got reraised. When it was down to 13 people, I was in 10th place. I had about 5000 and raised to 1200 on the button with Td]. The SB was a short tack with 2000. He raised all in and I called. He had [7c] and it held up unimproved so now I was the short stack.
I was stuggling just to stay alive for a few more bust outs but I only had about 3000. The blinds were 300/600 with a 50 ante.
I went all in with [9h] and stole the blinds and antes. A couple hands later I got A9 again and went all in. I got called by anothe bubble boy on the BB with AK. I rivered a 9 and was now in pretty good shape. There were now 3 guys safely below me with only 2 more spots to the money. When the last guy busted out I was in 7th place.
I limped a grand total of 1 time the entire tournment and that was with [Ks]. There wasnt a raise and I took it down when I bet a [7c][7s] flop.
So now Im qualified to play the finals on Sunday. The top 4 places get an $8000 entry into the WPT Bahamas event. $2000 in Hotel Accomodations and $1000 cash. This one will be much tougher though. There will be about 250 and only 4 people win the prize.