Year-End Weatherford Tournament Results

I didn't have the great results I'd hoped for, but I did end up making the money (although that wasn't that hard to do).

My starting chip stack was below average and despite winning a decent number of pots in the early rounds, I never could catch up to the average stack in the room.  Players dropped out rather quickly at the beginning of the tournament (which isn't that surprising since most of them rely on the re-buys to have success in the normal weekly game).  I did feel that my overall strategy and implementation of that strategy was good.  Really, the only mistake I made in the tournament was the last hand I played.

With 18 players starting in the tournament, we were down to the final 10 and with one more player to be knocked out we would combine to a final table of nine.  There was one player at our table who had nearly all the chips and the rest of us were trying to survive.  Unfortunately, a few of the other short stacks at the table were doubled up and I couldn't ever get a hand to take a chance with at doubling my stack.  So while the blinds continued to rise, my stack never really increased at the same level.

Luckily for me, a player with a really great hand ended up being cooled by the big stack at the table and was eliminated in tenth place.  So we then went to nine players at a single table.  This is where I messed up.  I was in the eighth spot at the table and wouldn't be a blind for another five hands when I was dealt A-7 suited.  The action had folded to me and with only two players to not have acted and the two blinds left, I decided to try and steal the blinds and survive another round.  I moved all in.  The player to my immediate left considered his chip stack, which wasn't much more than mine, and he eventually called with A-K offsuit (which I felt was a no-brainer, but he isn't a big gambler).  The other players folded and I ended up missing a flush draw that came out on the flop.  I did hit a seven on the turn, but he had already paired his king on the flop.

So I was out in ninth place and made $50.  I worked so hard to make the final table with my small chip stack and then when I finally did I risked everything with a marginal all-in hand in late position.  Maybe I am being results-oriented because my plan to steal the blinds wasn't a bad one since there weren't many people left to make a decision behind me.  However, I probably should have passed on this situation and waited for a slightly better hand to make a stand.  Especially since going through the blinds once wouldn't have been the end of my tournament, but it would have severely crippled me and made my stack meaningless.  Implementing the sit-and-wait strategy would only have helped if I got a better all-in hand in the next four (unlikely) or had folded long enough to wait out one or two more spots to make a little more money (also unlikely).

The results of the tournament were as follows:

Andy H. - 1st place

Paul M. - 2nd place

Wes M. - 3rd place

Scott F. - 4th place

Jason H. - 5th place

J.P. - 6th place

Darrel K. - 7th place

Dennis W. - 8th place

Matt C. - 9th place

Brandon H. 10th place

Jason S. - 11th place

Troy J. - 12th place

Michael B. - 13th place

Brandon C. - 14th place

Paul D. - 15th place

Danny S. - 16th place

Mark J. - 17th place

Randall W. - 18th place

I expect next year to do better as I will have gained more knowledge, refined my strategy, and increased my starting stack.  Unfortunately I have to wait about 11 months for that to happen.