The Return of Bubble Boy

I made my way out to Benson on Saturday to try my luck in the $500 buy-in tournament they hold every 2-3 months. As you may recall, during the last tournament they held a couple months back I ended up on the bubble (10th) after, as usual, getting all my chips in with the best hand. It’s nice to know that in this ever-changing world of ours, there are still a few things you can always count on: Death, Taxes, and the Benson Suckout (much like the PKR Suckout, but exponentially more painful).

As far as the tournament structure goes, I don’t remember the exact number, but I think there were 90+ entries. The $500 buy-in gets you $4,000 in chips, and you can rebuy ($300 for $3,000 in chips) right away, or anytime your stack falls below $4,000 during the first five levels (20 minutes each). After the rebuy period, all players then have the option of purchasing an additional $6,000 in chips for $400. Unless you have accumulated a very large stack, this is usually a good purchase. Levels move to 30 minutes after the rebuy period. They’re paying nine places - first place is around $30K and I think ninth is a bit more than $2K.

As is normally my strategy for tourneys like this, I played tight-aggressive poker for the first several hours or so. There’s usually no need to try any elaborate traps during the rebuy period. You might as well just bet and raise with your good hands, because there will normally be one or two donkeys who will go along for the ride. The blinds are insignificant by comparison, so it doesn’t make sense to do much stealing early on. There will be plenty of time for stealing once the blinds get up there, and once I’ve established a tight table image.

I picked up a few hands, got some action, and built my stack up to around $16K by the end of the rebuy period. After filling my clip with the $6K from the add-on, I was ready for the real battle to begin. I continued to build up my stack, and was in pretty good shape (well over the average) when the inevitable suckouts began. The first was against Chris B, when he pushes in with 8-8 from middle position. I’m in late position with K-K, call of course, and we see a flop of 8-6-6. Lovely... Not only do I lose a good portion of my stack, but one of the best players in the tourney gets new life after having one foot out the door.

I went back to work building my stack back up, but once I did, here comes suckout #2. Action folds around to the button who pushes in with a short stack. I’m in the big blind with A-9 and make the call. He turns over A-5, and makes a straight when the board shows 3-4-6-7. Beautiful…

I shook off the hit and started rebuilding again. I knocked a few players out along the way, each time going in with the best hand and having it actually hold up (so that’s what it feels like…). I did have a couple interesting hands along the way. After one of my tables broke, I ended up sitting to the left of “Crazy Mike,” the guy who knocked me out of the last tournament by sucking out with nine-high. A guy in middle position makes a standard raise, Mike calls from the small blind, and I call from the big blind with 6h-7h. The flop comes K-6-2, all spades, and it checks around. The turn brings a 3x, and again it checks around. At this point I’m almost certain I have the best hand, though in retrospect I probably should’ve made a feeler bet on the turn. The river brings another K, and Mike loudly announces a bet of $10K, almost twice the size of the pot. This has “bluff” written all over it. It’s close to half my stack to make the call, but I just about beat him in the pot. The other guy folds, I turn up my 6, and Mike announces “Ace-high, nice call.” Though it hardly made us even after that last suckout, he never made another bluff when I was in a pot with him.

After a while, we were down to 11 players (two tables – ours had 6 players), and I was in good shape with around $125K in chips (I think average was about $105K). Then came the crippler. Blinds at this point are $3,000/6,000, with a $500 ante. I’m on the button with K-Q and make a standard raise to $18K. The big blind moves all-in for another $50K or so on top. I’m getting not quite 2:1 on my money, but more importantly, I think this kid’s making a move. After thinking for a moment I trust my instincts and make the call, and he turns over 6d-4d. This kid just played 10 hours of poker, is almost in the money, and puts it all at risk with six-high. After one diamond comes on the flop, I figure I go from a 2:1 favorite to a 6:1 dog. When the turn brought another diamond, I’m all but drawing dead. And, of course, the third one on the river is the nail in the coffin. Nice hand, kid. How proud you must be…

So now I’m officially one of the short stacks. A few hands later, a lady in late position makes a standard raise. This was an interesting woman - she raised every ace and any two face cards she got. She had got very lucky a few times earlier, and had amassed a fairly big stack. It was almost as if someone coached her to raise with any good blackjack hand (anything adding up to 20 or 21). It folds to me in the big blind, and I look down at Ac-Jc. I figure it’s about 80% I’m ahead right now, so I re-raise all-in. She calls, I turn my cards up, and she seems genuinely surprised as she says “Wow, your hand is way better than mine.” She turns up K-10os. Again I’m close to a 2:1 favorite, but I told her she would win for two reasons: 1) She’s in against me, and 2) She has the worst hand. Sure enough, a 10 comes on the turn, and I’m out the door in 11th place. To this day, despite ever-growing and overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Charles still swears I’m a lucky player…

Much like the last Benson tournament, it would have been easy to go into the deep-freeze once I had $125K and just coast into the money, but that’s not my goal. My goal is to win, and in order to do that, you have to end up with every chip on the table. Of course it’s disappointing to again play all day and leave with nothing, but there are very few hands in the tournament that I’d go back and play differently. Poker, like life, is almost unfair by nature. Of the four all-in suckouts described above, three of my opponents made the final table (including Chris B, who is truly descended from leprechauns – the suckout against me was just the first of several…).

I left feeling like a baseball player who went 0-5 at the plate after hitting five screeching line-drives right at someone, only to watch a player on the other team go 3-4 with two infield hits and a broken-bat blooper over first base. Frank R. and I were talking before the tournament, and I said “I don’t know where I’ll finish, but I can promise you I’ll have the best hand when the chips get in.” This was the case every time but once, when early on I raise in late position with A-Q, and a short-stack pushes in for not much more with A-K, and his hand holds up. Though I made no money, I again left with additional experience, and the added confidence of knowing I outplayed most of the remaining players. At the end of the day, that’s all you can do – the rest is up to luck, fate, and vengeful poker gods… :-)

See ya at the tables…
Rick