If Only . . .

The Tournament of Champions was held at the Cable Bridge last Sunday. I was defending champ. I almost made it to another final table and possible championship, going out 12th.

If only . . . I had made that call with A-K. I had about 21,000 in chips with 16 players left at 2 tables. One guy went all-in for 7,500 and the guy right next to him insta-called for 2,500. I looked down at A-K offsuit. I went into the tank. I immediately put the 2,500 chip guy on a pretty good-sized pocket pair. I thought the first guy might actually have the same hand as me or maybe A-Q because he had actually gone all-in earlier with an A-10 which is pretty weak. I finally decided that one of these guys might knock the other out and why should I get involved for one-third of my chips? The dealer saw what I threw away and I think he almost had heart failure.

I was backwards on the hands. The first guy had pocket jacks and the second guy only had K-9 of clubs. At that point however, I still believed it was a good laydown. Naturally, there was an ace on the flop and another one on the turn and I would have absolutely crushed both players and had another 10,000 plus the blinds and chips from the previous limpers. No one could believe I folded A-K until the dealer confirmed it. I just don't know. Even in hindsight I still think I was right to do so.

If only . . . I hadn't fallen in love with my pocket sevens. I raised before the flop. One guy called me. The flop was 10-5-9 rainbow and it didn't really scare me too much until the guy went all-in. I had him covered, but I definitely didn't think about this one long enough and I did call him. If he had an overpair to the board I was in big trouble and he did - pocket jacks. The turn was an 8, so then I was hoping he would hit his jack for a set or a 6 would come and give me a straight, but it was not to be. I really got crippled on this hand with only 12 players left and it was just plain stupid.

If only . . . I had waited. After the break with the blinds 500-1000 I only had 6,000 left. I was at the point where I had to go all-in or fold - nothing else. In the small blind I had K-5 diamonds and called. The flop had 4 diamonds and gave me a gutshot straight if I hit a jack. I pushed it all in the middle. The guy that had taken most of my chips when I had 7s earlier already had the low end of the straight. Even though it was one-third of his chips he called me anyway and his hand held up and I was out. I did not even need to put money in the pot with K-5 at that point because I had many more hands to look at before the blinds came my way again.

If only . . . I weren't my own worst enemy. I guess I'll just have to take the tournament next month. :)