This day is definitely one of the most important days of my career to date. With 32 players left in the main event in my hometown and i was one of the top 5 chip leaders, there was no doubt that i lost a little bit of sleep and had those sickening butterflies in my stomach all night and morning.
I went to breakfast with some friends and good friend Jonothan Karamalikis (Full Tilt Red Pro) just across the road from star city casino at about 11am. The place was so popular that we had to create our own table outside and a few of us unlucky ones had to sit directly in the sun. It was such a nice day outside without a cloud in sight, to be stuck inside all day is usually a shame to waste such beautiful weather. Not today though. I was keen to be in the casino for as long as possible.
Jono and i have been friends for a bit over a year now and we've been through some pretty sweet times together. He staked me for about 6 months or so and after starting really bad i ended up pulling through with flying colours by taking down some really good value tournaments. And vice versa, i have taken some percentage and/or swapped percentages with him in the past and he has done really well aswell. So it's no suprise to us both that we'd decided to swap some percentage in this tournament too as a little insurance bet and also for support to one another.
After breakfast we walked on over into star city and headed down into the sports theatre where the tournament is going to be held. The whole place was set up amazingly with a feature table that had cameras, bright lights and microphones to catch all the action, and that's when the nerves really catched on. My starting table was however not the feature table but instead the table below seated with players Eddy Sabat, Grant Levy and Mitchell Carle. While my table draw was good with most of the good players having short stacks my day still began terribly and pretty much continued terribly.
I was in alot of tough situations and everytime i was all-in i seemed to be behind or flipping then i'd lose. I like to believe that i am educated enough to get away from alot of those hands but with the pressure of so much at stake on my shoulders i definitely believe that i was a little trigger happy on the all-ins. I must admit i am still a little shocked from my disappointing finish in the FTOPS main event from a few weeks back and to be this close to a final table that big again i definitely believe that i choked pretty hard under the pressure. When anyone thought it would be an easy life to play tournament poker for a living and try and win hundreds of thousands of dollars.. they were wrong, so very wrong.
After i lost a massive pot with 99 against KK i was down to just 15 BBs and my tournament was near but over with my only decisions being to shove or fold then i was pretty calm. I grinded the short stack for a good 2 hours there and i doubled once but then could not get the ball rolling. I got involved in a 3-way all in with AQ up against A9 and 77 only to have some guy yell out that he folded an ace. Like, honestly i really don't wanna know that. There's nothing more than i hate a poker table then when people tell other people that they folded their outs when they are all-in and their tournament is at stake. We play tournaments for the buzz and hype of getting it all in and anxiously watching those 5 community cards peel across the table. So please people, if you aren't involved in the all-in then shut your mouth and just watch!
When i lost the all-in with my AQ i was down to 4 BBs and couldn't get it back up. I was out. 15th position. Cool. My words were very thin from that point on, i was so upset. I walked silently to the cashier to collect my money and i pretty much left the casino straight away. I drove straight home and layed on my bed with my life partner Laraine staring at the ceiling, all so reminiscent of my FTOPS finish. I couldn't believe it.
But after some time laying silently i started talking to my beloved Laraine and there's something about her and what she says that really comforts me and helps me through these tough times. She knows the right things to say and she re-assures me about all the good things to come and good things outside of poker that i should be happy about. I highly suggest that you all invest in one of these girlfriend thingys, they are great value :P .
After some time being upset and lifting my spirits we started getting ready and headed over to Alison's (my sister) house for her 30th birthday party. I think this is really good timing for me to have her party to go to straight after an unfortunate bust out. I can have a few drinks, celebrate with her and brothers were all there so we all had a great time just being brothers. The party definitely got my mind off things.
And so that was it, my 2010 live tournament schedule has finished off with a decent, yet disappointing, finish and now have nothing on the live circuit untill Aussie Millions in January 2011
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