I busted a braclet winner, beat a field of 400 and chopped 25k Guarantee 5 ways.

What a life we lead I just chopped the Golden Nuggets 25k Guarantee tournament. It was a long grind but I was able to fade a few cards in the right spot and get to the final table. Feels good to be the last one standing after a field of 400 people. I know it’s easy to say I played well, but I thought I had close to my A game. There is really only one hand that I wish I would have played differently and even that one turned into a chop. Along the way I got to bust a Bracelet winner sell some T-shirts and make friends. I was only in the tournament because I survived a weird all in very early when I called off with K-6 of diamonds on a As -5d 7d- 6h board. I hit the diamond on the river cause I’m a G like that and I was on my way.

You could say I’m kinda a reg at the Nugget, I like playing against their fields because they are usually soft, both in cash games and tournaments. This was not their usual field however as the 25k Guarantee bought some decent talent and many players that I had battled against for years.

Pro’s: Loved the location of the tournament, I’m a bit biased I know but the room was big and spacious.

Con’s: If your going to hold this on Football Saturday can I please get some T.V action. I’m guessing a few people have more than $125 on the games.

Structure: Not the greatest tournament structure, tournaments like the Orleans weekly still have way deeper structures. The 30 min round levels are pretty standard but they do start the ante’s correctly and place a well timed dinner break in.

Dealers: For the most part the dealers were good both the regular dealers and the temp dealers brought into the tournament, however I did see one massive dealer meltdown when he did not know how to add correctly to see if a the 3bet shove was enough to open back up a raise. The problem was compounded by the fact that it was when we were down to 3 tables, and it was in the later stages of the round. It easily sucked up half the round. He finally had to call the floor over, it was a mess.

Tom Mcevoy: He was the bracelet winner I was talking about early we battled both early in the tournament, and late. He moved to my table when the blinds were only about 400 - 800. He was on my right and I had him out chipped so he didn’t really mix it up with me except verbally to let me know that I only play for “fun” When we got down to two tables he was on my left and had a top 3 stack. I had to play tight as I figured he would play aggressive and try to use his stack to bully the others. He didn't though. When we got down to the final table I was on Tom’s left I was still a bit short stacked but he had been whittled down himself. We final got down to 6 players and by now the tables had turned. I was battling for the chip lead and Tom had let himself get dwindle under 5 BB’s. We finally got in all - in when he shipped from the button with Ad -6d and re-shipped from the SB with AQ off. I faded the 6 and busted the 4 time bracelet winner.

Best Fold: I don’t remember having to make any Hero folds the best one was when I had to fold A-J on a K- 7- 3-8 rainbow board after I put in %70 of my stack

Best Call: With the blinds about 1000 -2000 people begin to get aggressive and play intensified. A new group of players had joined my table younger and more seasoned they begin to raise the overall levels that you needed to play at. After an older guy limped from UTG +1 I raised to 4400 with 66. I had nearly 60k I was called by a LAG directly to my left. It was folded around to the BB who shipped for about 30k. The limper folded and it was back to me Taking into account both the demographic of my opponent. (Young - Asian - American from California) and the situation (Over 12k in the middle with only 1 raise) I ranged my opponent to have most likely two face cards or Ace anything. I re-shipped the guy behind folded. The kid turned over K-J the flop comes 10- Q -2, Pairs the board with 10 on the turn, so he is now officially drawing to the deck but blanks with 8h on the river.

Overall: Don’t get it twisted luck plays a huge role in winning or losing a tournament. I won not one but two races with 66’s. I was dealt aces in a span of 5 hands to buts a total of 3 players. But no one is ever winning or in my case chopping a live tournament with a field size of 400 people without displaying some skill. This was a good spring board and will hopefully propel me on my way to larger tournament wins in the future. For now I’m gonna take my newly won riches and head back to the cash games an