Day 6 Summary of Operation Crowdstaker
As the legend goes, Jack Strauss bet all his chips early in the 1982 World Series of Poker Main Event and was called by a better hand. As he got up to leave the table, he discovered a single chip hidden under his napkin on the table. Because he didn't announce all-in, the floor director allowed him to keep playing. With that single chip, he built a stack, and eventually went on to win the tournament, becoming the world champion.
After that, two things happened that forever changed history:
1) Napkins are no longer allowed on the table.
2) The saying "all you need is a chip and a chair" became a saying.
I'm telling you this story because it gives hope to people with one last chip. And that's how I feel now -- the guy with one last chip.
But yesterday morning, I felt the complete opposite. I started the day with 15,000 chips in the deepest tourney I ever played in. I was excited. Maybe too excited.
They predicted over 7000 entrants, and now, they're at over 10,000.
This was a monster tournament, and with the huge starting chip stack and deep blind structure, it was my best chance at winning big for you guys.
The tourney started great for me. My first table was soft, no pros I recognized, and I controlled it well. I played 80% of my hands and had everyone guessing. Built a 20,000c stack in 2 hours.
But then I was moved to a tougher table. I should have slowed down my wild play, but my momentum was on high gear, and I felt pressure to build my stack. I started bluffing in the wrong spots and calling with second best. By 4 hours in, I donked away half my chips to 10,000c.
Then i was moved again and the table was even tougher. Every time the weaker players got railed, the stronger players remained, making each hour tougher than the one before.
These two guys were solid, and I could tell they were online pros. I also recognized them, maybe from magazines, TV or some winner's photo. Does anyone recognize them at all? If you do, tell me their names. I'm curious to look them up.
6 hours in, I was down to 5000c, but with blinds at 100/200, I was still at 25bb which isn't such bad shape. I went into grind mode.
Then just before the third break, I found a good spot to raise with AK in mid/late position with no limpers. I was thinking of a standard raise, but chip leader (the pro in green) was in the big blind, and his calling range was big. I knew he'd call anything, and if my flop missed my AK, I'd be stuck with a tough decision. So I decided to go all-in and actually hoped he'd call. Lucky for me, he had a calling hand that I had dominated -- AQ. He called.
I took out my phone and was busy snapping a photo of both our hands on the table when the flop came. I was focusing on my iPhone screen so I didn't actually see the flop clearly, but when all the players at my table moaned, I knew I was beat. I thought maybe he hit his Q. It was worse. Flop was K J 10. Dude flopped broadway.
Oh well. Shit happens all the time. But this time, it just hurt a little bit more.
Now here's the situation.
The backer fund is at $0, and the total prize pool is at $2083. But with the World Series of Poker and the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza still running, the $2083 will be put back into the fund, keeping our original campaign alive. Playing for a spot in the WSOP Main Event, and a chance to win millions, is what this campaign has always been about.
So this is it. We're down to our last chip.
Today, I'll be going back to the Venetian where I won earlier this week, and put our remaining funds into the $300,000 guaranteed Venetian Deep Stack at noon.
Buy-in to this tournament is $2500, so as an added bonus to my backers, I will top up the fund to $2500 while all your percentages of winnings will stay the same.
This is our last chance. Sudden death overtime. Do or die.
Let's see if this 'chip and a chair' mumbo jumbo is true.
- Ian Tuason