On to Final Table of Bellagio 3000, Mike finishes 2nd in 2500

I am on to the final table of the 3000 dollar event. I'll be arriving sixth in chips of the 9 players with 66100. The average is 86000, and we'll play for a first prize of 155000 dollars. This tournament is a must win for me. I hafta prove to myself I can get it done. I enter the final table on a very sour note. I was playing some of my best poker of my life and took the chipleader to dinner with 82000 chips and 15 left. I came back from dinner and got smacked by the deck and was quickly up to 130000. Then, a yucky one came up. Six handed with 12 players left, I raised K7ss from the HJ to 4500. A British dude called in the SB, and the BB folded. The flop was a nice K76 with two clubs. The guy checked, I bet 7500, and after 10 seconds of thought he announced all-in for 56600. I don't recall saying "call" more quickly in my career. The guy showed me AK. The turn was a 5, so I needed to fade an Ace on the end. I did not do that, and I felt an incredible amount of pain as I shipped over a gigantic pot and was down to 56000 instead of having an insane 195000ish at 8/1600. I've been around long enough to know that this kinda stuff happens though, and I've certainly been on the right side of it a number of times. This will be another tough final table. The players (seat number listed first):

(3) John Kincaid...214700 chips

(2) Philip Curtis...148400

(8) Nam Le...89200

(5) Mindy Barker...71600

(6) Michael Smith...68000

(9) Me...66100

(4) Michael Mizrachi...49700

(1) Mario "pwnasaurus" Silvestri...41800

(7) David Sacksick...24700

Probably the craziest thing about this group of players is that it is a flashback to the 2006 Player of the Year race in which Mizrachi, Le and I were all in the hunt, with Mike winning of course. Nam played pretty perfectly all day. I cannot say enough about his game, as he is by far the best player at the table. I am very lucky to have position on him.

Some other thoughts:

The chipleader, Kincaid, is a talkative twenty-something with whom I remember playing a lot of Bellagio Cup prelims in 2006. He plays ok. Curtis is the English guy who sucked out on me. Mindy is an attractive girl in her 20s. I'm not sure what her story is, but it's obviously very rare to see attractive girls at the table with us. Mario "pwnasaurus" Silvestri is a long time friend of mine from way back in the PartyPoker days. He's been crushing for the last 3 years, and doesn't make many mistakes. He also has position on me. Finally, this guy Sacksick is an insane Frenchman. He's a total spew bluffbot, so we'll see if he keeps that up tomorrow. He's shortstacked.

The payouts:

1st...154960

2nd...76975

3rd...38490

4th...20980

5th...15745

6th...12245

7th...8745

8th...7000

9th...5600

One time please? I'm feeling really good about my game. Let's hope things work out.

In other news, Mike Katz had a great final table and finished 2nd to Billy Baxter for about 75000 dollars. Weeeeeeeeee. He narrowly missed winning a title in back to back Bellagio series, and he is playing as well as anyone right now. It's time for bed. Goodnight.

SS