I have a couple of days rest before I am back for Day 2b. In the cab to the Rio, I’m nervous. I’ve checked out the players I was drawn with on The Hendon Mob database and there are no frightening faces.  However the other players turn out to be irrelevant as my day is all about two hands which play themselves, one at the very beginning of the day and one at the very end. 

The first is my first Under the Gun hand (when I’m first to act) and I’m dealt JJ. Standard procedure is to take a deep breath and raise (which I do).  A Vietnamese guy two seats to my left just calls behind but the guy after him immediately goes all in for his last 8K (both Vietnam and I have around 60K).  I’m sure I have the All-in dominated but I have to worry about Vietnam behind me.  Would he limp in (just call) behind me with AA, KK or QQ?  Certainly not with KK or QQ but just maybe AA.  I would really like to push all-in to stop him drawing to AK or AQ.  I can’t risk it so I just call the 7K raise.  I nearly throw up when Vietnam pushes all-in behind and I’m forced to fold leaving 8K in the pot without seeing the flop. Imagine how I feel when a J falls on the flop and another on the river!  I would have won a 130k pot when the average stack was only 50k.  I would have had more than twice the next guy at the table, I would have, I would have.  Poker is the ultimate game of “I would haves…”!  To add insult to injury the tournament sponsor, Jack’s Jerky, is offering a year’s supply of beef jerky to anyone showing four jacks. (I have no idea how much a year’s supply of beef jerky is!) 

The second hand comes right at the end of the day.  I must have folded 120 hands in a row and am chewing my fingers with frustration. I’ve been blinded down to 35k after eight hours of garbage. Vietnam has dominated the table and plays fast and loose (exactly the right strategy with a big stack against tight, weak players).  Then I hit the nuts on the flop.  It’s 4-way action (four callers before the flop) including Vietnam, and I’m in the small blind.  I have 5-7 hearts. The flop comes 4-6-8, three different suits.  The poker gods have rewarded my patience. I check with three players behind, the Big Blind bets 3k (into the 6k pot) and the other two call behind. The perfect scenario.  I raise to 12k and am delighted when the original better sets me all in.  I call like a shot and am mentally stacking the chips as he turns over 6-8 for top two.  I’m around 80% to win. Then bam!  6 on the turn and I’m dead.

I’m in a bubble for the next 24 hours.  I always am after getting knocked out, whatever stage I reach.  It’s a horrible, lonely “what if”, Alice in Wonderland world.  But it’s over soon enough.  It’s a lot less painful to be knocked out with an outdraw than by making a mistake. I decamp to the cash games, plumped up by those who have, like me, taken early baths from the Big One.

Fourteen days after the rush of flying into Vegas, I have to endure the comedown of packing up my gear, removing what’s left from the safe and riding back to McCarran International. It feels like there’s a rain cloud above the taxi. It’s a long 358 days until next year’s Big One. Between now and then, I will be playing for Withnailspokerschool.com.

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