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Aruba - part 2

Well, I finally made it home after 13 days in poker paradise. Once again Ultimate bet put on a great show. Melissa and crew went over the top this year offering something for everyone. Well done!

Wednesday - Day 1b was my starting day for the main event. My table draw was fairly tough with online players, Cunningham, choppy, and broodog, all at the table. I started out fast winning a ton of small pots, building my stack to 18k early in the second level.

Everything seemed to be going my way and I was really positive that I would continue to build my stack, not taking many risks, taking advantage of the great structure. Then when it seemed I was in total control, I somehow lost it.

With 2 limpers ahead of me I limped from mid position with QK spades. The flop came KQ4 with 2 hearts. The action was checked to me and I led out about ¾   the pot (550ish) hoping to get raised. The under the gun limper   Matt "ch0ppy" Kay raised me to 1800.

This was a tough spot. Although I saw him limp with a few big hands earlier I didn't put him on QQ or KK considering I have 1 of each, and I thought he would probably want to trap me with such a big hand. What to do???

 The range of hands I had him on were, AK, AJ hearts, A10 hearts 44 and AA. He hadn't shown me in 4 hours that he would get out of line at all so I knew his hand was at minimum a huge draw. For whatever reason my gut told me he had limped with AA. I Re raised to 4400, and it didn't take him long to shove all in.  With this many chips in the middle I have to make the call. Matt flips over 44, and I am drawing to 4 outs and miss. The good news is I'm still left with 6800 chips and plenty of time. It didn't take me long to unload the rest, missing flops twice with AK, and missing 2 nut flush draws. Frustration finally set in. With 5 limpers in the pot for 150 each, I shove my last 2150 in the pot with KJ spades and instantly get called by the first limper holding A10 off. I guess my image was shot to get such a fast call here. Oh well it was off to the pool for some drinks.

A few hours later Cunningham busted out so we decided to have a drinking contest. I don't remember who won J.

Friday -  Phil's annual party!   His best Aruba party yet. Great music, food, and an amazing performance by Scott Ian, and his girlfriend Pearl. An unbelievable treat for all who were there. Can't wait until the album is released.

Saturday – Final table time. I went down to watch the final table, and did an hour or so off commentary on bluff radio with Nick, Annie, and h0.

The final table was nicely represented with 2 Oregonians, Jason Gray and Jordan Rich, both fantastic players. Congrats to the winner Travis Rice,  who played fantastic poker.

My favorite 07 Aruba moments came out of this final table. A huge shout out goes out to Madison's  own  Brad " theblackhat" Smithson who finished 3^rd.   Brad who I would have considered a "longshot" in this tournament due to his lack of live  tournament experience blew me away. He played rock solid poker the whole way and cashed in on a dream in his first Aruba appearance. When asked by a friend if they could stay an extra day or 2  if he finished top 3 , Brad said  " no way man, I gotta work Monday". You gotta love that!

Next up for me-

October – Some home time and a trip to Reno

November – A trip to Madison for  a Badgers / Packers weekend. My first trip to New Orleans for the WSOP circuit events.

December -  Bellagio, and holidays with  the family.

Stay tuned and good luck