Holy fucking shit!

That's me at the top for a score of over $3900!!!

The funny thing was, it wasn't even that memorable of a tournament for most of its length. I hovered around the average chipstack for a very long time, then suddenly made a series of scores with about 20 people left. I was chip leader for a while and entered the FT at 2/9.

The FT was weird as hell, with it taking forever to get anywhere or eliminate anyone. I lost most of my stack from the BB with AQ, it was raised in EP and I decided I would just call. Flop came 288 with 2 diamonds (i had none). I checked to the raiser, a tight player who I felt played predictably. He bet 90k, which was about 2/3 of the pot and was in no way representatitve of a hand like 77, 99, TT, or JJ (which would push to protect). It felt like a lazy continuation bet and I pounced, pushing (he had roughly 180k more). He instacalled with KdQd. and a diamond hit the river.

From there I raced for my life with 9hTh against 88 and won, then with AK against 66 and won again, building me back up to a healthy stack. And then the weird stuff happened. People kept getting their money in with good hands and the good hands kept losing. I was as guilty of this as anyone. I had been catching a frozen wave of cards and was back down to desperation status (M=~7) and caught JQ offsuit from the button. Pushed, BB called with KQo. Flop came TKA. Heh. Then an equal stack pushed from the button to my BB, where I had TT. I called. He had AA. Flop came ten high. That eliminated him and would have left me impossibly short. Then I eliminated a short stack with AT against his TT. Three very bad beats with dominated hands, I felt a little donkish, but at least my plays were reasonable.

The blinds at Full Tilt tournaments increase with alarming rapidity, and the player on my right was taking full advantage of that, stealing at every opportunity (from the hands he showed down, he was catching cards, too). He knocked out a couple of players and was rolling, but I had built myself up to a good stack. I look at As Qc on the button. L-agg on my right raises it up, a huge over-raise to 300k or so, and I push for my 450k. He instacalls with JJ. Great. Another race for my life. The flop bricks, 2s 4s 8x. The turn brings the 3s, and I see my straight and flush outs. And the river is the 5s!!!!! Steel wheel baby! 5-high straight flush! Now that's a way to win.

That made me chip leader and only required one more big hand. We knock it down to 3-handed (finally) with the blinds at 30k-60k. I'm in the BB with 9s Js. The button limps, which is immediately suspicious. The SB (Mr L-agg) limps, and I check my option.

I am then quite glad that this isn't a live tournament because I think that jumping out of your chair and screaming "HOLY SHIT!" is a tell. The flop comes 7JJ. Trips! SB checks, I check, button checks. Well, shit. The river is a T, which seems fairly harmless, and the SB bets out, again overbetting for 300k. I push, and I have him covered. The button thinks forever and folds, later saying he folded AA. That surprised me. And the SB thinks for a bit and calls. He has 4To and is drawing dead.

I jump out of my chair. Don't even see the river. I now have an over 6-to-1 chip lead and it's heads-up against a tight player. I win two hands by buying the blinds and my lead is 10-to-1. He pushes in 2 big blinds and I autocall with K4 offsuit. He actually has a good hand, A7 offsuit. A seven hits the flop and I hunker down for some battle, but then a K hits the turn, giving him a spade draw. I flip. The river is a harmless red three and the virtual chips are pushed my way. Could hardly believe it. I double-check the 1st place prize, it's $3932.50. Ho. Lee. Shit.

The sick thing is I started the day with just about $100 or so in my full tilt account, and was fully prepared to go out with a bang. This was a $10+1 tourney with rebuys and the start didn't go so hot. I wound up rebuying like 9 times, and the add-on left me with about $3 in my Full Tilt account. Seriously. I figure, well, that's it, but then kept moving up in the tournament. I still didn't hit profitability until there were something like 18 people left, though (top 54 spots paid).

Of course, ~$4k isn't exactly life-changing money, but it's a hell of a score for a small-timer like me, and for someone whose job was recently misplaced (I have an interview set up for next Wednesday, crossing fingers), it's significant money.

The only real question now is, what the hell do I do with a $4k bankroll? Withdraw, or let it ride?

There's a question I'll have to ponder.