King of Vegas!

Played five tournaments. Made two final tables with one win at Aladdin.

The first tournament I played in this weekend was at Aladdin, Saturday at noon. It was a $110 buy-in with no rebuys. 80 players competed for the $8000 prize pool. Aladdin paid the top 9 players. After about 3 1/2 hrs of play, I cruised into the final table as the chip leader.

One player takes a horrible beat at the final table after flopping a set. the guy who ended up taking second place in the tourney caught a runner-runner boat with A-10 against him. Lucky MOFO. But, after the bad beat, the other player still had a few chips and started to rally. he finally died in 5th.

When it got down to 4 players we talked about a four way chop of the prize pool but, there was one short stack at the table. I was about even in chips with the other three players so we played a few more hands. The player who disagreed to the four way chop, ended up going out 4th. That always seems to happen. The greedy one goes out next.

We agreed to chop the remaining prize pool between three players. It guaranteed each of us $1750. This was higher than what 2nd place was going to pay ($1450) and at this point, anything can happen.

So, we went on to play for the prestigous "Tournament Winner" card protector. This is something we all wanted to take home badly.

A few hands into three way play, i look down at pocket 2's on the button. the blinds are 1000/2000 at this point. i raise it up to 5000 and get call from the big blind. flop comes,

A-2-10 rainbow

BB checks, and I move all in. The lady sitting in the BB thinks for a while and says "well this is probably a bad call" and calls. she shows K-Q for an inside straight draw. no Jack comes. instead another 2 hits the river.

QUADZILLA !

Now we're heads up. I've got more chips than the other player but, he's been pretty aggressive throughout the tournament. So, i decide not to just try and run him over. He likes to gamble. My plan is to push in with any Ace or King and any pocket pair.

We trade a few small pots for about 10 minutes then, i look down at 5-5 on the button. I raise "all-in". he calls instantly and shows 6-6.

DAMN IT.

He catches another 6 on the flop for a set and stands on top of his chair declaring he's the "champion of the world!". i'm laughing my ass off as i remind him, i still have some chips. he gets off his chair and says "it has to be over. i already stood on top of my chair". i said "it's almost over". I knew i was going to have to get real lucky to take this down. I only had about 15k left in chips and the blinds were 1500/3000.

I go on to double-up three times while trading some blinds back and forth. Then, i catch A-J raise all in, he calls with KQ. Neither of us improve and he's down to a few chips.

He moves in three times in a row afterwards, i call with anything trying to finish him off and instead I double him up three times.

then, the final hand. i look down at J-3 off suit in the BB, he raises all in. i hesitate for a minute. if i double him up one more time, he'll have a shot at getting back in this but, he pushed in the last three hands with mediocre crap. His crap was just slightly better than mine each time. I decide to call.

flop comes.....Q-3-3

it's over....finally. i take all the chips. he's a real good sport and comes over to congratulate me. it was a pretty long battle heads up. i asked the tournament director if the heads up play usually goes this long and he says "it never goes that long. it's usually over in a few hands".

anyway, it was a good start to the trip. the next morning i play in two tourmaments and make a final table at Imperial Palace but, go out 9th after running into pocket Aces twice. I cash only $120 there.

in cash games i broke about even. i lost $400 friday night at MGM. won $200 at Caesar's. up $55 at Harrahs and won $160 at Aladdin before Monday's tournament.

hopefully, my tournament luck will continue on Saturday at Ocean's 11.