My Biggest Meltdown

I hosted a 10-player SNG on Friday, 8/31/18 and came in 3rd place — Mini Mike won and Jerry placed 2nd — so I had a bit of momentum for Julie’s $40/40/40 two days later.

There were 21 runners. 30 minute levels and I started with 25000 chips. My opening 7-handed table featured (to my left) Cheryl, Prowest, David Lee, Amy, Pyxis and Linda. My approach to this tournament was a bit different given the deep stacks and opportunity to rebuy.

25/50 - Pyxis raises to 150 and I call with 98o on the button. Cheryl and Prowest join the party from the blinds to see a a T 7 4 flop. Cheryl leads for 300, Prowest calls and I call. Turn [T 7 4]  6 completes my straight, but there are two flush possibilities. Cheryl checks, Prowest bets 700 and we both call. River [T 7 4 6] 4. Prowest bets 2000 and I call/muck when he shows 64 for a full house.

A bit later, I limp with 3d3c on the button and Prowest raises to 300 from the big blind.  I’m the only caller and we see a J 8 2 flop. Dave leads for 600 and I call, thinking he’s probably c-betting overcards. Turn [J 8 2] 7, putting three diamonds on the board. He bets 1100 and I call again with a baby flush draw. River [J 8 2 7] 3. He bets 1500 and I min-raise. He thinks for a while and calls and I show my set to drag the pot. I end the level with 29400.

50/100 - Linda raises to 300 and I call with JsTs. Prowest makes it 1100 and we both call. Flop is J X X. Prowest bets 2000 and I call. Turn [J X X] T. Dave check-calls 4000. River blank and Prowest check-folds to my 7000 bet. I end the level with 36225.

75/150 - Im on the button and raise to 525 with 65o. Prowest and Cheryl call from the blinds. Flop T 6 3, two hearts. I bet 1100 and Dave calls. Turn [T 6 3] 4h. I bet 2500 and Dave calls. River [T 6 3 4] 5 gives me two pair, albeit on a very wet board. Dave checks and I check behind. He shows 62o for rivered straight. I end the level with 32300.

100/200 - I raise to 600 with pocket sevens and Amy calls. Flop J J 5. I bet 1500 and she calls. Turn [J J 5] 7 fills me up. This time she leads for 3000 and I smooth call. River [J J 5 7] 8. Amy bets 4000 and I put her all in for about 15000 more. She calls with KJ and I knock her out of the tournament (she had previously rebought). I end the level with 58075.

Break - I paid the $40 to add on an additional 20000. I have 78075. 

150/300 - I win small pots with KK and QQ right after break, but end the level with ~79000.

200/400 - I raise to 1100 from the cutoff with 88. Cheryl is the only caller from the button and I check dark. Flop 994. Not a good flop to check dark on and she checks behind. Turn [9 9 4] Q. This time I bet 1600 and she calls. River [9 9 4 Q] 8 fills me up. There’s 5900 in the pot and I want Cheryl to think I’m trying to buy it, so I toss out 5500 and she calls/mucks when I show my full house.

During this level, Prowest and David Lee went crazy on a 9-high board with flush and straight possibilities. Prowest bet 3000 on the river and David instantly threw 20k into the pot. Dave thought about it a while before calling and they ended up chopping with J9 suited. This was a very strange hand. I felt David acted very impulsively on the river for most of his stack and Prowest made a good read/call for most of his. Neither player would have been able to rebuy or add on had they lost so this was an odd hand. I ended the level with 91000.


250/500 - I took ~8000 off Prowest with AK on a King-high board. A bit later, I took ~20000 off Pyxis with A7 when I flopped two-pair and she had AQ. I continued the heater by winning 4000 off Prowest (flopped a set of 7s) and ended the level with 116300. I was definitely running good.

300/600 - With 26 min left in the level, we combine to two tables of 9. Yoda, Robert Reddish and Caryn join the table. With a full table, I slow down a bit and end the level with 114200.

400/800 - Yoda and Pyxis limp in. From the cutoff, I look down at KK and raise to 3100. Both call and the flop is 9 7 5. The action checks around and I bet 6500. Yoda tosses three pink 5000 chips into the pot and Pyxis folds. Unfortunately, I didn’t take the time to think through the hand and immediately went all in. Yoda snap-called with a set of fives and I bricked the turn and river to take a massive hit. If I would have taken a moment to analyze the action, it’s pretty obvious that Yoda’s limp-call pre, followed by the raise on the flop means he likely has a set. I’m usually not too proud to fold Kings there, but instead I thought huge stack would be enough to get him to fold. I shipped him a total of 64100, which was another huge mistake on my part. I didn’t realize how much Meyer was sitting on and didn’t even bother to ask. After the hand, I’m down to 45800 and kicking myself for my terrible play.

Afew hands later, I raise to 2200 with AsJs.. Reddish goes all in for 11600 and 75-percent of the time this is an insta-fold for me given how deep we still were in the tournament. Instead, I’m tilting a bit and want to see if I can win back some of the chips I just lost. Reddish’s pocket Kings held and I’m down to ~33k, which is PLENTY given the stage of the tournament we are in. I’m not even the shortest stack at the table.

I get a text from Dana, who earlier in the week agreed to stay home all day with the kids to support my poker degeneracy - “all the kids ditched me”. Our youngest went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house while the older kids went to sleepovers with their friends. No kids? That’s something I didn’t realize would happen when I signed up for the tournament. If I knew that prior, I probably wouldn’t have even played.

We were approaching the dinner break, so I started playing even more reckless than I already had been. Either I was going to double up to a more comfortable chip position or bust out and spend a kid-less evening at home with my love.

I look down at two black nines the last hand before dinner break. Caryn raises 2800 and Cheryl and I call. Flop J 8 5. Caryn bets 5000 and I moved all in for 25000 more. She thinks for a minute before calling with AJ and I brick the turn and river to bust out of the tournament.

WHAT A DISASTROUS MELTDOWN! Probably my worst ever. Now that I’ve had a few days to think about this epic collapse, it all went downhill for me when Caryn, Meyer and Reddish joined the table. Funny enough, I donked off my chips to each of them. It was no surprise reading Julie’s results on the CPMG message board that Caryn won the tournament, Meyer finished 3rd and Reddish went deep as well. While I made the decision to play recklessly after getting Dana’s text, I could have easily come back from the hit I took against Yoda. It goes to show you how one impulsive decision without properly thinking through a hand can derail your entire tournament. It makes me appreciate the guys and gals who make deep runs in the WSOP Main Event even more, given how mentally sharp you have to be for 10-12 hours each day, for 7 days straight.