Finally...In the money in Tunica tourney

Decided to play in the $60.00 buy in tournament with $500.00 added at Sam's Town at 6:00pm, and I showed up just in time to get in as I had to work late at the office. I was able to win a couple of pots early, and decided to go to my room to get out of my work clothes and into something a little more comfortable. Touched base with Jonny ans Sam before I headed up to the room, and they were both doing OK in chips also. When I got back to the game, I got the typical hassling that comes along with coming back to the table..."Damn, he had to go to the phone booth and get in his superman outfit"...and "The transformation from a desk to the poker table"...etc. Oh well...It was all in good fun.

I think they had 5 tables, so there somewhere in between 40-50 players, and I was able to keep my stack healthy until we got down to 2 tables. I am in the top 5 in chips when I get in the following hand. I was in the BB with AhJh when I see that 3 medium stacks all jam in front of me. I counted out my chips, and I was getting 3-1 on my money. Even if I lost the hand, I would still have enough chips to fight with. Two hearts hit the flop, and on the turn appeared the sweet 3h. I rake the hug pot to put me as one of the chip leaders. I took a major hit when we were 7 handed where I lost a race with Big slick against pocket 7's. I went in to the clock mode now and only played premium hands and just sat tight as I worked the clock and my position. The blinds were raised twice on my button, and none of the players could see what I was doing. I took the blinds and antes in position both times. I think the dealer caught what I was doing as he kept seeing me glance at the clock when I was in "acting mode". We had 3 people left including me.

One was an older women who was a tourist from Florida. He husband was watching from the rail. They were cheering and carrying on...no worries. There was a older fellow that was nervous and fumbled with his chips alot. He was not a threat also. Then there was a young kid from Memphis that I think was just getting started playing seriously. I heard him talking earlier about cashing in the tournament there Monday. He was the chips leader, and the only one I was worried about.

The dealers starts making comments and whispering to the TD standing behind watching when I would go in the tank to work the clock. When the clock expired and I was again on the button, they started talking chop. I sat quietly while they did the math and so on, and It came out to $400.00 each on a straight split, but the newbie kid with the chip lead wanted to split per chip count. I would then get around $300.00. They all look at me and I shake my head no. I am not gonna say that I was not thinking about the past blogs here where I took some heat about chopping pots because I was. I was prepared to play it out and I think I could have won.

I stood up and said, "No offense to anyone here, but I think I am the best player at this table. I am confident in my heads up game, and I think I can win"..."If you guys want to chop I will go 4 ways even...but I am not taking a smaller cut". They huddled and agreed. I was sort of hoping they wouldn't so I would not have to write this in the blog and again take heat for chopping. I did what I think was best for my bankroll.

Getting pumped for Biloxi next week...

"Things go wrong. The odds catch up. Probability is like gravity: you cannot negotiate with gravity. One day... one day you should just cash out, you know? Just cash out and get out" Colin Farrell's character Sonny Crockett in "Miami Vice"