Playing An Atlantic City Satellite

Ken Adams Nearly Hits It Big At A 'Mega-Satellite' Tourney

(CBS)  I ended Level Four with 30,500 chips, and was promptly moved to another new table, where I won all of the first four hands I played and finished the round with 44,500 — mostly as a result of a short-stacked player moving all in when I was dealt A-K in last position. I called and was pleased when he turned over the A-10 of diamonds. Neither of us improved, and he was eliminated. Happily I added his chips to my stack. Round Six had barely begun when I was moved again.

Five hours into the tournament I was dealt my first premium pair of the day — K-K. After a flurry of raises and re-raises, my lone opponent turned over the only hand I had to fear, namely A-A. Susie, the dealer, started to push him the pot. I objected, and told her “the odds are that he will indeed win the pot, but I am entitled to see five cards first”. She apologized profusely. She thought I had said “fold” when in fact I had said “call”. Everyone else (including the guy with aces) confirmed that I had called, so she picked up the deck and went ahead with the flop. BOOM — a king on the flop gave me the best hand. For the second time in an hour, I had caught one of two “outs” to beat A-A with a smaller pair. That officially makes August 27 the luckiest day of my tournament career. Never have I pulled that off before.

When that hand ended, and another stunned player had staggered away from the table trying to figure out how he had lost with the best starting hand in hold 'em, a new dealer sat down and dealt the next hand with a new deck. I nearly fell out of my chair when I peeked at my cards and saw the identical two black kings that had been so lucky for my on the previous hand! I raised and a player holding 8-8 re-raised all in. My kings held up, and I busted another player. At that point Level Six ended, and I had 87,250 chips with about half the field still remaining.

Then I went totally card dead. For several hours I did not pick up either a strong hand or a good bluffing opportunity. The only good news was that I got moved again, this time to Table 1. It was my fifth table of the day. But the cards had been kind, and the constant relocation had not hurt me. At least I would remain at Table 1 to the end.

I won a few and lost a few, while the blinds and antes ate away at my stack (and everyone else’s). I was down to 77,800 when Level Ten ended, but many of the players with smaller stacks had busted out and we were down to about nine tables (having started the day with 48 tables).

Again the blinds and antes increased. Now there were 9,500 chips in the pot at the start of each hand, and the smaller stacks were at risk of being decimated merely by having to fund the blinds and antes if they did not catch a winning hand or two. After spending about 19,000 in blinds and antes without being dealt a playable hand, I was fortunate to pick up A-K in last position. I raised and the big blind moved all in with A-10. I called and won, eliminating him and moving my stack back up to 80,000.

On the very next hand I picked up J-J in late position. I raised and the player on my left re-raised all in. He had more chips than me, so he was daring me to risk elimination if I called and lost. He had been doing that a lot, taking advantage of his huge stack as he was supposed to do. Most of the time when he did that the original raiser would fold rather than risk elimination. But a few times people called him, and he would turn over hands like 8-8 or A-K or A-J and even A-8 once. When he moved all in I was confident that I had the best hand. If I folded I would be in a position where I would have to take some chances in order to rebuild my stack. On the other hand, if I called and won I would have 160,000 and could afford to play very conservatively, letting other shorter stacks bust out.

In the end, I called, and he turned over A-Q. I pleaded for the dealer to bring low cards. The flop came 9-9-8, making me a big favorite. When another 8 came on 4th street I was one card away from victory. Only a queen or ace could beat me. The dealer burned and turned — an Ace! I screamed in disbelief. Like the players I had busted with my 9-9 and K-K, I was stunned. I didn’t want to believe I had been eliminated on the verge of victory. Eventually I staggered to my feet and headed for the exit. Instead of the road to glory, I found myself 10 minutes later on the road to the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

What can I say? I played well, got incredibly lucky twice, then got unlucky. That's the nature of this cruel game I love so much. It's a sickness, I guess.