I’m a little bruised and beat up, but after 10 hours of
play, I did survive. I made it through day 1 of the main event and ended with
147,000 chips, just above the average.
There were a lot of ups and downs along the way. Mostly downs to start
and then I caught stride and finished strong.
Orel was on my table to start and we competed in this
interesting hand. Playing 100-200 blinds, UG limped and so did he. I was in MP
with AA and raised it to 900 and we took the flop heads up. The flipper fell
K-6-4 two spades. He checks. I continue with an 1100 bet and he quickly raises
me to 5,000. We both started the hand with about our 30k starting stack. I
call. The turn is an off-suit Jack and he quickly shoves all-in! Wow!! To me it
looks like he has K-J or a flush draw and after I tank for a couple of minutes
I lay my aces down. He shows me 6-4 for two pair! Talk about a sinker!
I was able to get away from this hand because of my
knowledge of the player. I know Orel. He doesn’t like to put all his chips in
unless he feels like he’s got the best hand and wants to lock it up. He’s not a
huge donk-bet, semi-bluffer for all his chips either. So it was actually a
pretty easy lay-down. It was all for naught, however, as I lost all my chips to
him in another hand where I flopped top pair to his set and went with it.
This tournament allows re-entries, so I did. My first hand
at my new table I made a move, got caught and was right back in the re-entry
line again! My 3rd entry I lost with QQs to K8 when my opponent made
trip 8’s and again my stubbornness had me digging in my pocket to purchase
another golden ticket. With only 130 entrants this may not have been the most
profitable decision, but I was determined to win.
Determine means to make a choice, right? So the key question
is, was I determining to buy in again or was my need to win determining my
choice? If it was the latter then my ability to choose was being hindered by my
ambition to win. It’s a fine line competitive poker player’s walk and we should
check ourselves with these types of questions when situations like this come
up. I will tell you this, before I bought in again I took a break and walked
the ship!
One of the cool things I like to do on this ship is walk to
the very front of the boat and stand at the head (made famous in the movie
Titanic). Feeling the power of the ship break through the expanse of the open
ocean and forge through into the blackness of night is a very special feeling.
After careful consideration, I bought in again. We are now
down to 30 players remaining and will continue playing tonight when we get back
on board. Right now it’s time to go onshore and explore the fabulous island of
St. Marteen!
Enjoy the Journey!
Kenna James
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