It Feels Good to Be Back!

Finally. Finally, I get a chance to write more than a one-part column covering my tournament performance. Finally, the cards seem to be my friends again in these big tournaments, and everything seems to be coming together nicely.



The first three tournaments in 2006 couldn't have gone any worse, as I not once was able to make it out of the first day. Finally, on the second leg of the back-to-back tournaments in Tunica, at the World Series of Poker Circuit event, I made the final table in second chip position with $410,000.



The chip leader, Brian Lamkin, was seated directly to my right, which was a lucky break for me. Things went pretty smoothly for me as I won two layup pots. The first one came against Wendell Barnes. In that hand, Wendell raised my big blind and I reraised him with A-A. The flop came A-9-3, and I decided to slow-play the hand.



I checked, and Wendell bet $90,000. Not wanting to reveal the strength of my hand yet, I just called the bet. The turn was a 9, I checked once again, and Wendell fired it all in. I quickly called without giving him the Teddy KGB (in the movie Rounders) needle, and saw that he was drawing dead with A-3.



That gave me enough chips to tangle with Lamkin. A little while later, Lamkin made it $25,000 to go from the button. From the small blind, I reraised him to $100,000 with A-Q. Brian called, and the flop came A Q 4.



That looked like a gin flop for me, but much like I did against Wendell, I decided to slow-play it and see if Brian might bet. He checked.



The turn was the 6 and I decided to make a weak-looking bet of $100,000, hoping that Brian might think I was bluffing. He called rather quickly, and the river was the 5.



At this point, I actually had the chip lead already and noticed that Brian had approximately $370,000. If he had a calling hand, which seemed likely, I wanted to accomplish two things: get maximum value for my hand, and make sure I didn't bet him off the hand.



After a slight hesitation, I finally decided on $260,000. Brian went into the tank for quite a long time, which I thought was a pretty good sign. Finally, he called my bet and I turned up my top two pair, and put a stranglehold on the tournament. Brian said, "I didn't put you on anything nearly that good," and later told me that he made the call with pocket eights. I think it was a gutsy call. He went with his read, but unfortunately for him, his read was wrong.



Once we were down to threehanded, I was up against a guy named Kia, who had gotten the better of me throughout the tournament, and Bryant "BK" King. BK had a very sound strategy of making large reraises before the flop, but would then follow through on the flop.



He wasn't just randomly raising, mind you; he had K-K, 10-10, and A-K more times than I've ever seen before at a final table.



He'd been coming over the top of me quite a bit. I would generally call when in position, which I think frustrated him a little bit. His strengths were in his preflop play, and it was clear that he wanted to make his key decisions then.



It prompted him to make bigger and bigger reraises before the flop, hoping to get me out. Initially, he would reraise me $90,000, which became $115,000, and then finally became $200,000!



The following hand was the absolute key hand of the final table: With the blinds at $8,000-$16,000 and a $2,000 ante, I made it my standard $40,000 from the button with 6-6. BK announced raise, and grabbed a ton of chips, reraising me to $240,000.



It was a big reraise, but eventually I figured I'd be able to get the best of him after the flop. Up until then, the play had gone like this: I'd raise from the button, he'd reraise, I'd call, he'd go all in on the flop, and I'd fold. It was like a broken record!



This time, the flop came Q 4 3 and BK didn't hesitate long before betting $200,000. When he made the bet, I was looking right at him and could sense genuine fear. Not only did he look scared, but he also fumbled his chips and gave off another tell that I simply can't share with you.



The point is, as solid as I knew BK to play before the flop, I was certain that he wasn't holding K-Q, A-Q, Q-Q, K-K, or A-A. His range of hands could have been anything from 9-9 or 10-10 to A-K.



My fear at that point was that BK had committed himself to the pot. I asked him how much he had, and told him to count it. As he counted his chips out, it further confirmed for me that he was afraid I would play. He wanted me out for sure, but would he fold 9-9 or 10-10 if I raised? I wasn't certain.



The thing is, A-K was flashing in my mind over and over again. My gut was telling me that I needed to make this stand, so I finally said, "I'm moving you all in."



BK looked disgusted, and finally flipped his cards faceup into the muck – A-K! I then flipped over my 6-6, which was a controversial decision. It wasn't exactly a bluff, really, as I had the best hand, but I wanted to send a clear message to BK, letting him know that I was "inside his head."



I ended up getting heads up with BK and planned on carefully grinding him down. Johnny Grooms and company may have been ready to wrap things up quickly, but I was gearing up for a long heads-up battle.



That battle never materialized, though, and after eight hands of play heads up, it was all over. I was back in the winner's circle with a sense of relief. You would think it was utter joy, but frankly, it was more like, "Yes, I'm not jinxed! I really can win again!" It was a pretty awesome feeling whichever way you spin it.



You can read Daniel's blog or play with him online at http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/.