The Weekend of No Regrets
St. Patricks Day Weekend, 2007

Man... let me tell you that this ride down to Iowa had some awesome scenery. It was so great and relaxing that it put me to sleep (lol). All I could think about was playing in this regional tournament and hopefully making it past the first day. I guess I was a bit nervous.

After we got to Tama, IA, the first thing we did was check into our "fantasy suites" hotel that (Jere)Miah got for us because the Casino hotel was booked solid. Luckily the "Caveman Suite" was booked so they had to give us regular rooms (lol).

After we got checked in, we made our way to the casino to fill out our registration sheets and draw random cards for our seating assignments. It was so random that Gunnar, Brian and myself all got seated at the same table and Charlie and Miah got seated at another. After securing our seats we left for a bit to find a bar. We needed a place to chill for a while so we had a couple beers to loosen up before heading back towards the casino.

The deal was that the top 20% from the first day advance to the main event on Sunday.

The cards were already in the air when we got to the poker room. We all took our seats and the only thing I could think about at first was staying out of hands with Gunnar and Brian.

Right away I play a hand where I flop top two pair and thought I was sitting pretty good. I bet the hand all the way to the river only to get raised by somebody who had flopped a set on me. This kinda sucked.

I sat around and made most of my money on that table by simply bluffing a lot. I was eventually moved to a table which suited my style better. After a short time at the new table, I won a pretty big pot with pocket kings and that put me at about 30k in chips.

After about a hour of winning small pots here and there, I see Miah walking in and out of all the tables. They decide to seat him right next to me.

Now for my favorite part of the tourney.

They moved over this guy to our table with a lot of chips. I could hear him bragging to the guy next to him about how they had to break his last table because he was knocking everyone out.

He sat down and immediately got the big blind and I raised with A-2 off suit, which he called. I was first to act so I bet to bluff the pot and he called again. The turn brought something like a queen and at that point I wasn't sure if I should bet it again... but I knew he didn't have it. I bet about 6,000 (the blinds were only in the hundreds) and it took him a little bit to call but he eventually did. The river card brought something like a jack or a ten.

I felt I needed to bet again because the pot was around 20k to 25k. I bet 10,500 and it took him several minutes to decide what to do. He really didnt want to fold because he wanted to see my hand which was the last hand before break... and everybody was still watching.

He folded and showed his AK. He wanted to see what I had so I showed him my cards... and he was pissed when I showed an ace high bluff with a 2 kicker. Miah was just as shocked as the rest of the table. I've never made anybody that mad before. Players were coming up to me during the break and telling me on how good that was.

Needless to say this guy was on tilt and ended up calling an all-in on the first hand after break. It took 10 minutes for him to decide to call and he lost with low pair on the board to the nut straight.

After that drama, I pretty much coasted from there on out... bluffing when I needed a few more chips. When we got down to approximately 40 people it got a little crazy. I was sure that if I stayed out of hands I was going to make it to the Top 37 and our whole table basically had the same plan. I think I even folded pocket jacks pre-flop at one point with no raises.

When we got down to hand-for-hand we knew it was going to be one of three short stacks who couldn't afford the blinds who would be the last elimination. Gunnar was one of these short stacks. All of the sudden we we heard "ALL-IN" and there was some controversy over something ... but I couldn't make out what it was because they wouldn't let us leave our seats. Once we heard all the cheering, we knew Gunnar was out.

The directors came around to check our ID's and record our information. We cruised out of there to go celebrate St. Patty's day at the wonderful BumbleBees bar.

I'm not sure if i'm supposed to put this in...but it was so much fun...
We started drinking as soon as we walked into the bar. I had a quick beer and 2 shots of whiskey right way. Before you know it I somehow talked the bartenders into letting me jump behind the bar so I can ring their tip bell. This was pretty fun because everyone at the bar started cheering "the bell" and they gave me another shot to take behind the bar with the bartenders. It's sad to say, but the bartenders were not the most sober people in the house. We all had a good time and after a few more beers it was time to go and prepare for the next day.

At 8:30 in the morning, Charlie made his best effort to wake me up and I was feeling less than wonderful when I woke up. We arrived at the casino in time to see where we were sitting and to grab some breakfast... which I really couldn't eat.

Once I sat down at the poker table it was all business... even though I could barely stay awake. I got pocket aces within the first hour and I meant to raise with them, but because I did not verbally declare the raise (threw in only one chip) it was ruled to only be a call. The whole table called and, lucky for me, I flopped a set without any draws. I checked the set and ended up winning a lot of money off of that hand.

I go to bluff the next hand by raising pre-flop with 9 5 off-suit. There were 3 callers and I ended up flopping a straight (which i thought was pretty funny) but I didn't get much out of that hand.

So after about 2 hours of no cards I look down and I have pocket kings... which looked pretty good to me. I was the first to act and made a little bit larger than average raise. The guy to my right re-raises. I looked at him and re-raised. Everybody else folded and then he went all-in. I look at his chip stack and he had me covered by about 300 in chips. I call.

Of course when he flips over his cards he has aces...which really sucked. All I could do was hope for the straight or hit a set. Of course the flop brought nothing. The turn and the river were no help either.

I would have to say that overall it was a very rewarding experience and I am looking forward to getting another chance to maybe try it again.