Continued from Part Two...
I didn't get much sleep the night before Day 4, and indeed hadn't had much sleep for the whole of the Main Event; I was trying to figure out the best way to approach playing down to the final. I had a quick swim that morning and then Neil and I headed to the Crown to find that the final three tables were being filmed in Studio 3 upstairs.
I decided that I was going to try and play a sensible game, certainly not aim to ladder up the places - indeed, the difference between 18th place and the first player out in 8th place on the final table was $60,000 and, after paying out my percentages and make-up, it would have worked out an extra $25,000 to myself, which at the risk of sounding arrogant, wasn't really a sum I was too concerned about given the work it took to get to this stage and the huge payouts up top. However, I felt that if I played a sensible game, with so many aggressive players surrounding me, I had a good shot at making the final table, which for many reasons would be well worth nitting up for. So that was my first goal of the day - make the final table, but be sure not to blind away to a bowl of basmati.
That all nearly went to pot in the first half hour of the day. Neil and I had discussed Cliff Lee, who was sat immediately to my right. He appeared to be a bit of a loose cannon and I think he had limp-called a huge all-in the night before with K-J off-suit versus A-3 and got there, so he wasn't the kind of player you wanted to try and bluff. With blinds at 6,000/12,000 and with a 2,000 ante, I raised under the gun with 4-4 to 28,000. All folded barring Lee in the big blind who flat-called.
The flop came A-T-8, and Lee led for 26,000, which obviously looked pretty weak. I raised to 100,000, and Lee called; telling me straight away he probably had a weak ace. He quickly checked when the 9d fell on the turn. I had to continue the charade and bet 150,000, which he once again snapped off, which got me feeling pretty sick. I had ballooned a pot unnecessarily with the person least likely to fold top pair to me, and was now sat with 660,000 to contest a pot that now had about 600,000 in the middle.
The river fell an absolute brick with the 5s; Lee checked. I knew shoving was my only option here, and that I would be giving Lee 2:1 on his money to make a call. I didn't feel he was too concerned about the pot odds and showing real strength was my only option. I also figured that if I checked behind, I would pretty much disable my chances at a decent shot at the final table. I announced “all in”, and, as calmly as I could, pushed my tournament life onto the front line, a sitting duck for Lee to pick off.
He immediately asked: “How much?” Again, I was absolutely sick to the stomach. How had I possibly got involved in such a huge pot against the person that was least likely to pass top pair, especially after he had invested so much into the pot already? I remember just being frozen in time, staring at Lee. I didn't want to lose his gaze. I just sat staring at him for what I think was five minutes. I think I counted four times that he nearly said: “Call”. He was muttering under his breath inaudibly, and then he looked at me and said, '”You have A-T. You can't just be relying on the king. You don't shove with just A-K; you have to be stronger. I'll pass, but I show.” He flashed me the ace as he mucked and I couldn't help but slam over the bluff, which I think helped the very next hand play out the way it did.
On the button, Chris Moorman raised to 30,000, Lee reraised from the small blind to 85,000 and I looked down to find A-A in the big. I didn't feel like Lee was steaming, and felt he certainly had a genuine hand, but, given what transpired the last hand, I felt he might decide to get stubborn with me, so I made an over-raise to 325,000. Moorman seemed to have a genuine hand too (for once!) but eventually passed. Lee, however, took a while before saying, “Are you serious? I have a hand to gamble with.” I said, “So do I.” He took a few more moments before declaring himself all in; I snapped and was more than happy to see him flip over A-K. The flop brought a bit of a sweat when it came king high, and the 9 on board seemed to sicken Moorman as he apparently passed pocket nines. The turn and river bricked and I went to nearly 2.5 million in chips, and Lee finished in 16th place.
Before I knew it we were drawing for seats and I found my way onto the feature table with Patrik Antonius and, to my immediate right, Sorel Mizzi. I lost a 500,000 pot to Sorel where I could have potentially gone broke when we got 10-handed. I called a 25,000 raise from him after finding 3-3 on the button and the flop came 7-8-3. He c-bet another 50,000 and I flat-called. I doubted he had a piece of the flop, but for some reason T-9 did briefly pop into my head, so I said to myself, ‘If the turn falls anything other than a 6 or a J, I would slam in a 500,000 raise to any bet on the turn.
The turn fell the 6h, now putting a flush draw out there. Mizzi bet 135,000, and, doubting he was holding the nuts, but aware that it was not unlikely in his range from the hijack, I flat-called. I didn't see how he could really barrel the river again without a hand; it was a pretty dry board. When he fired 316,000 on the river, I didn't like it but there were so many more hands that I could beat than I was losing to, so I snapped. He had T-9 of hearts, having turned the nut straight and picked up a gutshot straight-flush draw too.
Just as Sorel seemed to be picking up momentum, James Keys made an incredible call after calling down Sorel's preflop raise, flop and turn bet and river all-in with a pair of eights. After bleeding away a few more chips, Sorel got horrendously outdrawn after getting his money in on the turn with threes full on a board reading A-8-3-8 against Michael Ryan's A-K, and the river dropped another 8 to give Ryan a ‘Miracle On Fifth Street’, and bring us down to the final table.
I have to say, for the best part of the final table, I got dealt complete and utter trash. Any semi-playable hands were dealt to me under the gun, which rendered them virtually unplayable with such aggressive opponents behind me. I thought I'd play tight and pick my spots, hoping that at least two of the three main dangers would be eliminated (Keys, Moorman and Antonius), and then start getting a lot busier to take advantage of the tight image I had built. I was happy with the hands I chose to play, and the way I played them; but there was a key hand that could have been a real turning point for me.
In a five-way pot, holding K-Q of spades, the flop came 2-3-5, all spades, flopping me the second nut flush. First to act, I checked, and the action checked all the way round to David Gorr who fired out 250,000. I raised to 575,000; I had Gorr read spot on the whole of the final table - and knew he had, one thousand percent, either the bare ace of spades, or a flush. I wanted to get the money in on the flop there and then, and if he had actually flopped the nuts, then so be it.
He flat-called, and the turn was an ugly 9s. I checked and he shoved all in. At first I was a bit baffled as to why he would shove with the absolute nuts there, but then I remembered a hand early on at the start of the final table. He had flopped the nut flush and Antonius had paired up to make a house on the river. He kept saying how he should have shoved all in to 'protect his hand' (the nut flush?!) on the turn. I also saw him check behind the second nut flush on the river in a pot against Randy Dorfmann when it was obvious he wasn't being trapped by the nuts.
So, I assumed he had put me on a set. I passed, and he did indeed have the nut-flush, and he also went on to tell me exactly what I suspected: “I thought you had a set. I didn't want you to hit a house on me.” It's a shame, because he also made it clear he wasn't too afraid of the flush, so if he had hit the straight or an ace on the turn, he might have paid me off the last 850,000, which I was planning on jamming in should no spade appear.
I couldn't really get going after that hand, and running fairly short-stacked, I shoved an ace-high twice in a row, only to be called by James Keys with 7-7 when I held A-7 of diamonds. The flop gave me a ray of counterfeit-hope with Q-Q-J, but the turn and river didn't help my cause and I left the final table with nearly a quarter of a million dollars and just squeezed in a promotion to Black Belt.
Read Part Four...
Prologue
The English Gentleman
Back from the Dead