Bay 101’s Falling Star

Yes, it’s actually called the Bay 101 Shooting Star, not Falling Star, but falling better described the tournament for me this year. This was the first year that I failed to either double up or make day two of the main event. It’s my favorite event, too.

I didn’t suffer any horrible beats or anything; I just never could get any traction. Anytime I raised with a piece of garbage, I got three-bet, and if I had a hand, I got no action — with one exception; someone played with me once when I had pocket kings.

I raised from early position and got reraised by a player I perceived as being fairly tight/good, although I didn’t actually know him. I put him on a big pair or A-K, so I decided to try to lock him into the hand right there, and made it four bets. I decided that if he had aces, he was just gonna have to take all of my chips (and win a bounty). Here’s how it came down:

The blinds were 100-200 and I opened for a standard raise to 600. My opponent made it 1,800, and as I said, I wanted to marry him to this hand right away, so I bumped it up to 5,500. He called, and three rags fell. This was it, either he had a big pair along with me and I was going to double through him, or he had A-K and was probably going to get away from it.

I moved in for my remaining 11,000 or so, and this guy went into the tank. He finally laid it down without showing it. I think it was the A-K, although he may have made the laydown there with jacks or tens, or something; I guess I’ll never know.

I was moved to a new table a few hours after this, and it looked pretty snug except for one guy. He seemed pretty active and showed down some pretty bad hands, so I three-bet him a few times just to stay afloat. I still had gotten only the one pair of kings for the day.

This table also broke, and when I moved, I said a little thank you prayer. I knew several of the players at my new table, and by the looks of the hand that was in progress as I sat down, I was going to be happy to know the rest of them. There had been like four bets preflop, and they got all in when the flop came queen high. One player had pocket kings and the other had A-Q. An ace came on the river, and luckily, the guy who had called the fourth bet with A-Q was still alive.

As if I were blind and couldn’t see what had just happened, my buddy Mike Sexton (who also was at my new table) told me to buckle my seat belt. Mike had fewer chips than I did when I arrived, but in one round, he ran a molehill into a mountain (pocket aces vs. pocket kings didn’t hurt). I was hoping to do the same thing, and got a chance to get started right away.

A player in early position raised, and almost everyone called. I was in the small blind with the 7 6, so I quickly called, loving the action. I didn’t hate the flop, either, 10-8-2 with two diamonds, giving me gutshot and flush draws. I led right out into the field, for several reasons.

For one thing, hopefully (but unlikely), this flop missed everyone and I could take it down right here. Also, I wanted to make sure that a Q-J (the high end of the straight draw) didn’t get a free card to make our straight. Finally, I wanted to put pressure on a hand like A-8, as it would be hard to call with multiple players behind him yet to act.

Well, all of this wishful thinking went out the window when a guy moved all in. I don’t remember exact chip counts here, but I was committed, as the pot was so large at this time. I called, and he showed me a set of eights. This was not great news for me, as it killed a few of my outs and gave him a redraw if I hit my hand on the turn.

The turn didn’t bring my straight or flush, but did the next-best thing — gave me three more outs. It was a 4. Now, a 5 or a 9 would make my straight, and along with my flush draw, it brought my total number of outs up to 13 (it would have been 15 outs had he not had a set, but two of my diamonds paired the board, giving him a full house). The river was a blank, and I was on the next jet back to Vegas.

Hopefully, my karma bank is saving all of my good luck for the World Series, which is fast approaching, because lately, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. Gloom, despair and agony on me.” Yes, for those of you old enough and with a neck that’s red enough, I did just quote Hee Haw. WTF! White Trash Forever!

Todd Brunson has been a professional poker player for more than 20 years. While primarily a cash-game player, he still has managed to win 18 major tournaments, for more than $3.5 million. He has won one bracelet and cashed 25 times at the World Series of Poker. You can play with Todd online at DoylesRoom.com or live at his tournament, The Todd Brunson Montana Poker Challenge, in Bigfork, Montana. Check his website, ToddBrunson.com, for details.