Bodog's $25K 6-Max Tourney (Part 3 of 3)

I've made the money, so now it's not a question of "if," but of "how much." Doesn't take me too long to find out ...
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The Scariest Check Ever
Partially through the money stages, a huge hand comes along. There are about 30 players left. I’ve picked up nice pairs three hands in a row to move to 3rd chip position in the tournament. Pocket Queens, then pocket Jacks, then pocket 10s. Kinda weird, actually. Each of the hands held up or improved to win big pots, and my stack has grown to about 80,000.

Can you guess what my next hand is? Yep, pocket 9s. I’m under the gun, so I decide to limp in. It’s folded to the small blind, who raises a fair amount. The big blind folds, and I call. The flop comes 10-10-4, which is typically a good flop for my hand. The guy (think his screenname was Ray 427) checks to me. In the next three seconds, a surprising number of thoughts go through my head. First, I ask myself “What hand would he raise with before the flop, and then check on a flop like this?”

I rule out a pocket pair. With a pocket pair, he would probably bet strong to see how strong I was. If he checked with a pocket pair and I bet, there would be no way for him to put me on a hand. So either he’s completely missed the flop (he was just holding high cards), or he’s hit the flop hard and wants to trap me (he was holding high cards that included a 10). There was no way for me to know without betting. He might check the flop with either hand. As you can see, his check doesn’t exactly fill me with comfort and joy.

[In retrospect, if he were holding overcards (say, Ace-King) he might still bet there, just in case I had missed the flop as well. This didn’t occur to me at the time.]

My girlfriend has been watching over my shoulder most of the tournament, and I’ve been instructing her hand after hand – “In poker, you must be aggressive. You must be bold. You must be fearless.” It’s been working to this point. So I do it again … I pull the trigger. I flip the coin that he either has a 10 or just overcards. I attack, in defiance of the scariest check I’ve ever seen in my poker career.

I move all-in.

Of course, he has A-10. I pray hard for another 9 to hit, but to no avail. I’ve crippled myself in the tournament, down to ten big blinds or so. Oh well. Whenever you gamble, you eventually lose.

Finish him!
About a round of hands later, I push before the flop with pocket 6s. The same guy that crippled me with trip 10s calls me here with A-7 offsuit. Leaving no doubt, he hits both the Ace and the 7, and I am eliminated in 27th place. The good news is that 27th paid $50 more than 28th, so I made a tidy little profit by sticking around that much longer. I was out, but I was by no means down about it.

Final Thoughts
I had fun. The tournament was a roller-coaster ride, but I feel like I made a strong showing. I only had to get really lucky once, and that was a coin-flip situation. I feel a lot more confident about my tournament play, and with a bit more practice I’ll be ready to take on Billy’s WSOP qualifier. I can’t wait.