Despite finishing in fifth place this year, you could consider how I did a success. I began the tournament right in the middle of the pack with $4,500 in chips. We had 13 players qualify, but Troy wasn't able to attend. Therefore, there were $54,000 in chips at play and I was sixth out of 12 players. Even though I didn't really move up the ranks that much, I would consider it a success because I never got above $5,000 in chips throughout the tournament.
Any time I would win a small pot, it would dwindle down back to where I started or even a little below. At one point I was even down to about $3,000 in chips while we were still at two tables.
The play was very different from the normal Thursday night tournament as there were no rebuys and everybody was playing extremely conservative. The only hand that got out of control between two large stacks was Randall and Danny, who were the two big stacks at the time. Randall had pocket aces and Danny flopped top pair and a flush draw. The money went into the middle and Danny wasn't able to hit a better hand on the turn or river. At that point it was Randall's tournament and we were all just playing for second place.
I was hoping to outlast Scott F., who was very close to me in chips as we were on life support at this point in the tournament. While in the big blind at the $400-800 level, I was left with $2,000 in chips. Scott, on my left, had called the blind and only had $2,200 remaining. Randall raised it up to an amount above both of our starting stacks and I looked down at 8-6 offsuit. Although I knew I was beat at the time by higher cards, I figured this was a good enough hand to try and double up (or even triple up if Scott came along as well). We did end up going to the flop three ways and I hit the six. However, that didn't hold up and Randall hit one of his high cards on the turn or river. Because I started with less chips than Scott, I ended up in 5th and he got 4th.
Had I known how things were going to work out, I could have folded pre-flop and I would have moved up a spot in the standings and made an extra $150. However, if Scott had won the hand and I was left with only $2,000 in the small blind, I most assuredly would have still finished in fifth and not have had a chance to get myself back in the game. Pretending that my 8-6 had won, my stack would then have been at $8,800 and Scott would have been out of the game. With four players left, my stack would still have been below the average ($13,500) and I would have still needed to be in the fold or go all in style of play, but I could have worked with what I had and possibly gotten back into it.
It is disappointing that I wasn't able to get my name on the plaque again and I have to wait another year for the next opportunity. I've made great strides in the last few years with increasing my win totals and hourly rate. So hopefully I can build on that success and become even better over the course of 2024.
