Tristan Must Wade Til Next Year was the title of an article on pocketfives explaining my bustout hand and Hans and Stu thought it was hilarious, so I decided to share it with everyone haha. It’s pretty disappointing when you go over to your friends house after you lose the biggest poker tournament in the world and he is laughing at you saying you must WADE TIL NEXT YEAR! (Thanks a lot Hans…) It’s alright though.

I played alright, I cant say I played great. One thing I discussed with all my friends who played already was the fact that you don’t have to bluff. These guys are very inexperienced for the most part in this tournament and they will give you their chips in spots where they shouldn’t even be involved in. So having said that, I decided to run a big bluff.

Two players from the table had already busted. One guy put in about 17k on a flop of T62dd with A4dd vs TT and the TT held up. I was so shocked the guy just moved in for 17k at 50/100 after facing a 3300 bet with just a flush draw. Another hand a guy put it in with AK on a KQJ9ccc board vs AKcc. The guy with AK no clubs bet 7k on the turn (into like a 5k pot) and called off his last 12k with AK drawing dead. Jeez.

So after seeing these players make some horrible plays, this hand comes up. I am up to about 23k in chips and the blinds are 50/100. I raise the hijack with AsKd and the cutoff calls, the sb calls, and the big blind who just knocked a player out earlier (the guy who had AKcc) raises to 1500. I think for about a minute, think about just mucking, but decide if I call I will probably be heads up with position and I can re-evaluate. His raise was pretty big and I didn’t think he would raise that much with such a strong hand like AA or KK. I figured he had JJ, QQ or AK and decided I can beat all those hands with position and call. The flop comes JTss7d and he leads for 3k. I decide to peel a card and see what he does, considering if he has AK he will have to check a bad turn. The turn is the 2d and he decided to check. I don’t think there is much value in me betting here or bluffing on this card, and I think if he had KK or AA the turn is a safe card for him to fire again, as most inexperienced players might bet again. I check as well and the river comes the 9s. Basically everything gets there on the river. I have the Ace of spades, an 8 makes a straight, QK makes a straight, and the flush gets there. He checks again and I think about what I should do. I wasn’t in the pot initially to bluff, but after he checked the turn and river I didn’t want to check and maybe split the pot with AK. I have the nut blocker and I decide to bet 7k, thinking he really cant call here since I have only shown down the nuts so far.

The guy goes into the tank and starts saying he knows I have it. Great. Of course I have it! He says he has a set and he starts thinking about it more. In reality a set here is the same as QQ, KK or AA because the hands I’m representing can all beat a set or just one pair, so that is irrelevant if he has a set or not. Apparently he didn’t know this and decided to call after thinking for a couple minutes. I said nice call, showed my hand, and he said Wow! Great bet. I almost folded!!! Almost doesn’t count in poker and he raked in the pot.

I went down to about 12k and was pretty sickened at this point. I had just gotten caught in a bluff for a big pot and I had discussed already NOT TO BLUFF! Oh well. I felt like at that given point in time I had to stab to win the pot, and I was wrong. It’s poker. I then lost two big pots to runner runner flushes who got there and was down to about 2400. This brought me back to my main event two years ago when I was down to 3k at 100/200 and panicked. I got up to 7k and then shoved 67o from the big blind after 8 people limped (to pick up the 2k dead out there or so with antes) and one limper had AK and called. That’s how I lost two years ago because I panicked and shoved in 7k at 100/200. That was horrible.

This year I decided to keep my composure and battle. At 100/200 UTG raised to 600 and got two callers. I made a comment that this might be my hand to shove in here with so much money in already and looked down at AA. Wow, what a gift! I shoved in for 1800 more and UTG reraised to 6k almost immediately. ****NOW Let me tell you guys something really quickly. THIS WHOLE TIME I HAVE BEEN IN VEGAS I HAVE NOT GOTTEN IT IN PREFLOP WITH AA AND WON! I have not coolered anyone AA vs AK or AA vs KK or anything like that, its been pretty sick. I have either never gotten action with AA preflop or I lost with it preflop.**** Anyways, it is isolated and UTG flips over…. AA! Wow, great we have the same hand! We end up chopping the pot and I go up to about 3k or so.

I grind and grind, I double up TT vs 99 and grind some more. I then get shortish again and get it in AJ vs 66 after 3 people limped and I shoved AJss in the sb at 150/300 for 3400 more and won the flip. I’m feeling good now I’m up to about 8k and then go back down to about 5k after this one guy couldn’t fold on an air flop to my reraise when I held AQss. He put me all in on the river and showed a card that didn’t connect, so that hand didnt make much sense and I’m not sure what the guy was doing, but he was trying to outplay me every hand I was in.

I got back up to about 9k and was feeling good since I had 30 bbs now approaching dinner break. I raise with A9dd to 800 at 150/300 and the button calls. The flop comes QQ8dd and I decide to bet 1200. He instantly makes it 3k. This guy got caught in a bluff earlier when he bet 3k and I decided to reshove my last 5450 thinking he can fold almost anything that’s not a Q. I shoved and he had QJ and I bricked. I turned the As and had 2 more extra outs going into the river but I didnt hit. That pot would of gotten me back to starting stack with refound life and I probably would of been able to make a good comeback but it wasn’t meant to be.

So that’s my main event this year. There were some other hands but I’m pretty disappointed. I had been playing awesome up until the main event and was really excited coming in but I blew it. I’m not sure how much longer I will be staying in Vegas. There are still some good tournaments going on in Vegas so I will see what I’m going to do. I am ready to head back home but I still want to win a big tournament while I have a chance to out here. I’m going to go to the gym and work out some stress. Good luck to everyone else who is still in the Main Event. Hopefully one of my friends I have a piece of can win it and save me haha.