Big Win

(this is excerpted from a post I made on the darm.com forums)

Last night I tried one of the new 180 player SnG ($20+2) on Stars and got third (good for $428).

I had a short stack the whole time until the money and squeaked in, but was the big stack going to the final table. At the final table I lost some, hit a few big hands and got the big stack again, but three-handed just couldn't pull it out. Thanks to Brian for talking me through it on the phone and Rob for watching.

The sad part is, even though this is a huge win for me, I've been pretty disappointed all morning (it doesn't help that I was up late last night and didn't sleep too well -- some dreams about playing this poker tournament making me miss a flight somewhere to see a hockey game... ). I know you're all thinking: you made $400 -- buy a keg and celebrate!

To be completely honest I was a luckbox for most of the tourney, definitely made my share of mistakes, and should feel very fortunate to get 3rd and 20x my buy-in. I rarely play $20 tourneys online (this is the second multi, and the other 4 are one-table SnGs) so its even more fortunate I made the big score in a higher buy-in. But I'm still dissappointed -- I hate leaving that money on the table ($1k for first).

Anyway, I'll get over it

I can only imagine how Cloutier, Farha, Williams, or Dannenmann (who?) feel. Not only leaving millions on the table, but missing out on a bracelet? Such is poker. I'm sure Brian was feeling much the same after narrowly missing that PCA seat.

It was definitely a huge learning experience though -- and next time -- watch out!

FYI, these $20+2 tourneys are pretty soft (wild players though) and only run through the end of the week from 6 pm to 10 pm I think.