No Miracle at the Falls

Day two of a tournament is so cool. Everyone who comes back to play is a survivor and a "winner", and the cameraderie is palpable.

As I suspected, I was the absolute lowest qualifier, and would have to shove all in with almost any cards in the beginning.

The stars were giving off lots of good signs though. First good omen was when I was given the dealer's button to start the day. This meant I would not have to post blinds for a whole orbit. Still, with antes at $300 and blinds a $800/$1,600 I could not be choosy with my hand selection.

Second good omen was the very first hand I picked up premium cards with AK offsuit. All folded to me, and I shoved all in of course. Both the small and the big blinds called me. They then checked down the flop, turn, and river. The board was an unfortunate 88JJ4 - the two pairs negating the advantage my king kicker had for my Ace.

This meant instead of quadrupling my stack on the very first hand, I "only" doubled up. Still, a very good start - bit sort of like doubling down and getting a 21 at Blackjack and finding out declarer matches your result.

The very next hand I picked up a pair of 5's one off the dealer button. Again, a very good scenario for me. I plan to shove and now my modest stack is big enough that I may not be an automatic call by the blinds.

However, the guy on my right raised. Hoping he had two picture cards, or connectors (but no pair unless it was lower) I raised all in.

Yes, every one else folded and he showed KQ offsuit - which was about as good as I could expect from my point of view.

The whole table was rooting for me as the flop yielded 993 and I was ahead with two pairs, on my way to a semi-playable stack.

But the next card was a dagger in my heart - a king; and for good measure, the death blow on the river (overkill - I was already beaten) was a queen. Off to the rail I went in 57th spot and to a round of applause from the fun bunch of players remaining in the room.

I decided to parlay my winnings at last night's funky Ultimate Poker table game into the Satellites for a last kick at qualifying for the $5,000 entry. That would be a story too !

Anyway, so far so good, and the Stage 3 satellite is starting shortly. The top two players will win their entry. Yes it's a turkey shoot but hell I really want to play in the main event - but I cannot justify yet buying an entry outright.