Time is on your side

We all were able to win our way into the main event at the Poker Classic thru the super satellites. Me, Bill, PaulS and Tex all were able to get in this way. The structure is simple, it is $40 buy in with a $10 entry fee. You can rebuy in the first three rounds whenever you get to $1000 in chips. You also start with $1000 in chips. So you can rebuy right off the bat and start with $2000. They would give out as many $1000 chips as they could collect in entries and re-buys. So if they had 46 people and collected $11,320, they would give out 11 $1000 chips and the remaing change to the bubble people.

In my tournament, I was the only one left from our crew. The final table was tough with a young girl from New Orleans named Gretchen as the chip leader. They were giving out 7 (Seven) chips, and the blinds were going up every 30 minutes. I was mid-stacked along with 5 other people with 1 or 2 short stacks. I believe the key to getting your chip in this game it to watch the clock and work the blinds. If you keep your eye on the clock and make sure you are in the small blind when the clock expires, you can gain an advantage.

At one point when we were down to nine, someone wanted them to turn off the clock on the TV so we could watch the world series. At that point I knew that I had an advantage as nobody was working the clock. After every hand, I would look at Jason and he would tell me how much time was left. I was the only one asking and noone else was paying attention.

Finally, I saw that that I was in the small blind with 5 minutes left and there were 2 players that were not going to make it another lap around the table. I had set this up with an awesome bluff where I went in the tank for several minutes, and then moved all in and everyone folded.

Now, I have to burn off 5 minutes. 3 players limp before me. I go in the tank...I am thinking...I am agonizing...I just can;t make up my mind. Finally after a minute or so someone says "Come on" man. I say, "Give me a break man, its either fold or I am all in". This got there attention. One of the shortstacked guys in seat 6 that was not going to make it even said "Give the man some time".

Finally, I muck with 45 sec left. 4 hands later seat 6 blinds out, and the 7 of us left got a chip, so remember that in tournaments, the clock can be your best friend.

Nothing valuable can be lost by taking your time
Abraham Lincoln