Recap of the Bahamas

Bahamas Day 2

Okay, so I limped into day 2 of the CPC with around $13,000 in chips. Having such a short stack is a huge disadvantage and really doesn't allow me to play the loose aggressive style of poker that I love to play. So everyone was re-seated and I sat down at my table with the 2nd shortest stack. I came out pretty slow, stealing blinds when I needed to and basically hanging around even for the day. After about an hour our table broke and I got moved to a really good table. The new players at my table were the weakest that I had played with so far. I started my new table hoping to double up quickly off a weak play that I knew would eventually come. There was one player in particular (let's call him Beginner Bill) who was showing down some hands that were a little more than questionable. He would re-raise preflop and eventually show down a hand like K 10 off suit. About 20 minutes after I start at my new table I find the hand I am looking for KK, unfortunatly I am in 2nd position, but I won't get too picky and just enjoy the Cowboys. The blinds at this point are $400/800 and I make a faily standard raise to $2,200. I definatly want action on this hand and am looking to double up through someone. It folds to Beginner Bill and he looks at his chips and eventually calls the raise. I wish i could have had someone re-raise me but it just didn't work out like that and everyone else folded leaving me and Bill heads up. The dealer flops down a beautiful 4 A 5 which is exactly not what I was hoping to see. I look up at Bill and see that his eyes have lit up a little and he looks down at his chips right after seeing the flop. This is definatly a tell that indicates he likes the flop and is wanting to bet. Discouraged but still alive I check and Bill reaches for $3,000 chips and throws them in the pot. I don't really have to think about it long and I toss mine in the muck pretty quickly. That pot drops me down to about $9,000 in chips and I am quickly approching emergency mode. A couple more rounds pass and My chip satck has increased a little bit due to smoe steals and I am sitting right around $11,000. The dealer throws me AQ off suit on the button and I start getting excited, I know it's bad when AQ off gets me excited. Anyways, Beginner Bill is in middle position and raises to $3,300, a bit larger than the standard raise. This is usually a sign that someone doesn't want a calla and has a medium strength hand. Analyze my chip stack and announce a re-raise of $4,500 more leaving me with around $3,500 behind me. I didn't push all in because I actually thought I wanted Bill to call because I though there was a very good chance he help a hand like AJ or KQ. Beginner Bill immediatly asks me how much I have left and after I tell him he announces that he's all in. Now I am sick but I don't really have a choice, I am pretty sure he's got me in trouble but am way to comitted to fold the hand. I shove my chips in the pot and he flips over AA and I am sent to the rail. The tournament was pretty cool because they filmed every all-in and did an exit interview with me. I'm sure none of it will make TV but it will give me some good experience for next time.

Overall the trip was a blast, I know the poker didn't go quite as I had planned but it rarely works out perfectly. I had a great time with my friends and made a few new friends as well. One in particular is a really good player who ended up getting 2nd in the tournament and should have won. His name is Shannon Shorr, he's from Alabama and he plays alot like I do. He also just got 4th in the Aussie Millions for almost a 1/4 Mill and I'm going to meet him over in Austria next week for the EWSOP. Hopefully I will outlast him this time and he'll get 2nd again. Overall the trip was a great experience with two of my really good friends and my older sister even came down for a couple days and cheered me on. I'm definatly going to have to qualify for another tournament at the Atlantis and go down there again.