Last Saturday was my third attempt at winning the WTSOP End-Of-The-Year Tournament and third time was truly a charm as I took the top prize of $1,500 and my name on the winner's plaque. I will forever be immortalized as the best of 2018.
My night started out with me being third in chips and I had a table draw that was the tougher of the two. My table consisted of Darrell, Randall, Mark T., Dennis, Andy, and Wes. I consider Andy to be the best in the entire group and I constantly have trouble playing against him. Luckily he hadn't played much at our tournament throughout the year and his starting chip stack was third lowest. Randall and Mark can be tough for different reasons, but I normally get the best of both of them. Darrell is a tough opponent because of his playing style. He is a tight player who doesn't relinquish many of his chips, so you have to play a very long game to get the better of him. Wes has no fear to make tough bluffs, but they are not at the most optimal moments. Of all my table opponents, Dennis was the only easy draw. The other table was made up of Troy, Danny, Michael, Matt D., Brandon C., and Scott, which would have been the preferred table. Troy is the only one I fear of that group.
Not too long into the tournament I had aces against Mark's kings. All the money went in the middle on the flop after I bet, he raised, and I re-raised pre-flop. My better hand held up. That had him on the ropes and I was in the chip lead at our table. After that hand I was never in fear of being short stacked. Later in the night, I rivered a full house, which also gave Andy the dummy straight (a straight where your cards make up the low end and there is a better straight available). What made this hand stand out from others wasn't my lucky final card to give me the better hand, but it was that I bet every street and made the most money possible from my opponent.
When we were down to our final five or six players I knocked nearly all of them out in a very quick fashion. It was mostly because I had the chip stack available to make the calls needed to eliminate my opponents and move up the pay chart. Most people call it being a chip bully.
With my $1,500 win Saturday night and another $340 of profit last night, I have started 2019 off very well and generated a nice little bankroll. I shouldn't get a big head though, since my bankroll started off this way early last year and one night completely wrecked it. Poker is not made up of many games with profits and losses, but instead it is one long continuous session. I cannot let a few good hours where I profited nearly $2,000 let me think I'm invincible. And neither should I let a single loss devastate me. That is part of my 2019 poker goals to be more stable in both my wins and losses. Take the lumps the same way I would the lucky streaks.
