SFPT 2014 Kicks Off

The 2014 SFPT season got underway last Friday, and my results were, of course, middling.  That seems to be my style.  I finished in fourth place of nine; as one might surmise, there was a balance of things that went right and wrong.  One hand was a double knockout to begin the season that was maybe the best hand I have ever played, and without a doubt one of the best in SFPT history.

Down to four players after the flop of 9h/3s/Ah and turn 4c, Corrye was first to act, and moved all-in for 16 and change.  I tanked for a long time by SFPT standards (close to two minutes) before deciding to call.  The decision to say “call” and not “all-in” would be important.

CJ was next and short-stacked; he snap-called for five and change.  Tom was the last player, and for some reason, wanted to get a count of his chips.  Perhaps he thought I said all-in when in fact I hadn’t.  In any event, his count took a while, leading Matt to pause the timer while the hand played out. 

After a couple minutes, someone clued in Tom that he didn’t need to count because I had only called, but most of the way done, he continued anyway, and it was determined that I had him covered by just over $1.  He decided to call Corrye as well, putting the same 16 and change into the pot.

Now, Corrye and CJ were committed, and Tom and I could have a side pot.  I had already decided my course of action: as soon as the river hit the felt, I moved all-in, hoping to get Tom to fold so even if I lost, I wouldn’t be crippled.

After much debate, that’s exactly what happened.  The rest of us flipped our cards, and I pumped my fist – not only did my two pair A-4 hold up, I had read both CJ (high card only) and Corrye (busted flush draw) perfectly.

Unfortunately, winning that big pot led me to take too many pre-flop chances when I shouldn't have, and I again found myself on the shorter end of the chip counts as the field dwindled.  In the midst of that pissing away of chips, there is one other hand I did play well: holding A/6 and with an ace on the board, I folded to Ray's river bet after figuring he had me out-kicked.  Holding a nine, he did.

So, good news and bad news, but not a terrible start to the year by any means.  I wasn't able to feed the Bracelet Hunting envelope at all (both BSOs I earned were losers), but my eight points under the new format put me in a tie for third place.

Time Played: 3.5 hours (142.5 home game hours, 254 total hours)