The Situation:
Tri-Weekly game at my local cardhouse. $40R with a $20 add-on. Last night's game had 78 players with just over $1,900 up top. 8 places paid.
Roughly 12 players left and your hero has flatlined. Rags every. Single. Hand. Embarrassingly, I had blinded down to a mere 280k at 30k/60k with a 60k bb ante. We lose a couple of players and get redrawn for the final table. I get seat 3. Big Blind. Great. The blinds have now hit 40k/80k w/80k bb ante. Rags again. I fold to a utg+1 opening raise. 160 of my 280k gone, just like that. At this point, I've accepted my fate of a likely min cash at best, stone bubble at worst. It's looking bleak. Now I'm in the SB. Rags again. Woof. Short stack jams in EP, big stack re jams. I contemplated a call for the lulz, but decided to take my free orbit and folded. There goes another 40k. 80k left. One lousy big blind remaining. Disgusting. Shorty busts. 9 left. Stone bubble. Someone proposes that we burst the bubble and pay 9th place. After some discussion, we collectively decided to trim $75 off 1st and 2nd place, awarding 9th place $150. Sweet. Now I'm guaranteed a small ROI. With no rebuys, I would turn my $60 into at least $150. Awesome! Considering I hadn't played a hand in almost 1.5 hours, and also considering that I had resigned myself to bubbling, I was okay with this. I look up at the clock and notice less than 1 minute remaining before the next break. My buddy, sitting in seat one says to me, "Time for a scum run!"
"scum run" - When a poker player has an incredibly small stack of chips and starts to run it up with a variety of less than stellar hands.
Example: "That guy had one foot out the door 'til he went on that scum run!"
I decided then and there that I wasn't sitting through a 15 minute break just to return to less than 1 BB. I was making a move before the break regardless of what my cards were.
Enter the Scum Run.
I get dealt Qh5h in MP and "rip it in" for my one bb. Folds to the BB who calls (checks lol) and rolls over Q3o. 3 in the window. Puke. 3hTs4s. Turn is a gorgeous 2h, giving me roughly 72 outs and the river was the 8h. Flush! I'm back to 280k! Dealer just starts the next hand before the timer goes off, sneaking in one last hand. I get dealt As3h. Less than 4 BBs, and Ace feels like the nuts, so when it's folded to me, I rip it in again. Folds to the button who re jams for more. Rut roh. The older gentlemen is a pretty solid reg, so I knew when he rejammed that I was in trouble. Surprisingly, he rolled over JdKd. I'm ahead, if only slightly. 8d9d6h. Oh boy. Tc on the turn. Christ. He's got half the deck now. River 8c. Ace high is good! Now I'm at a whopping 810k! Sweet!
I don't move during the break. I'm in awe that my former stack of one BB is now over 10 BBs. Granted, I'm still in trouble, but at least I've got a fighting chance now. With 9 players left, I'm now 7 of 9, but I've got all the momentum. First hand after break, I get AKo. I jam in EP, everyone folds and I add another 250k (blinds now 50k/100k/100k bb ante). 1.06m. Next hand 77. I rip again, everyone folds. 1.31m. Next hand AQs. I raise to 250k, short stack pushes for 380k, I call. He has AJo and I hold. 1.94m. Now I'm in cruise control after winning 5 consecutive hands and am only a few hundred thousand away from the chip lead!
What happened over the next 30 or so minutes was a blur as I was on such a heater that I couldn't take it all in. What I can tell you is that we went from 7 down to 3 real quick, and I knocked everyone out enroute to 3 handed. With 3 remaining, the shorty proposes a chop to which I politely decline (with an overwhelming chip lead and all the momentum, I couldn't accept an even 3-way chop).
I eliminated him next hand. My JJ held over his 55.
Now I'm heads up with about a 3:2 chip lead. I ask the guy if he wants to chop and he says no. Something about not getting out much and wanting to see a true winner. Fair enough.
HU lasted two hands. Hand 1, I raise J7s on the button to 2.5x, he jammed for a gagillion BBs and I folded. Seems this guy's version of playing it out was bingo. Very well. Next hand, he limps button and i check 63o in the bb. Flop 6d8d9c. Check check. Turn 3d. I bet 1/3, he flats. River Qd. Gross. I check and, once again, he rips it in for a gagillion times the amount of the pot. This had me puzzled. I figured he'd bet for value if he actually made a four-flush, or a straight with JT. The longer I thought, the more I thought he may have a busted straight with 7x. After much debate, I decided that he just didn't have it and made the hero call. He rolled over Kh3h for bottom pair. I won. 1st of 78 players for a cool $1,870. My 5th win/chop of 2024 in just 13 appearances. What. A. Run! The scummiest of scum runs!
TL;DR I won my weekly tournament after having just one BB with 9 players remaining.
Never give up, chippers!
Tri-Weekly game at my local cardhouse. $40R with a $20 add-on. Last night's game had 78 players with just over $1,900 up top. 8 places paid.
Roughly 12 players left and your hero has flatlined. Rags every. Single. Hand. Embarrassingly, I had blinded down to a mere 280k at 30k/60k with a 60k bb ante. We lose a couple of players and get redrawn for the final table. I get seat 3. Big Blind. Great. The blinds have now hit 40k/80k w/80k bb ante. Rags again. I fold to a utg+1 opening raise. 160 of my 280k gone, just like that. At this point, I've accepted my fate of a likely min cash at best, stone bubble at worst. It's looking bleak. Now I'm in the SB. Rags again. Woof. Short stack jams in EP, big stack re jams. I contemplated a call for the lulz, but decided to take my free orbit and folded. There goes another 40k. 80k left. One lousy big blind remaining. Disgusting. Shorty busts. 9 left. Stone bubble. Someone proposes that we burst the bubble and pay 9th place. After some discussion, we collectively decided to trim $75 off 1st and 2nd place, awarding 9th place $150. Sweet. Now I'm guaranteed a small ROI. With no rebuys, I would turn my $60 into at least $150. Awesome! Considering I hadn't played a hand in almost 1.5 hours, and also considering that I had resigned myself to bubbling, I was okay with this. I look up at the clock and notice less than 1 minute remaining before the next break. My buddy, sitting in seat one says to me, "Time for a scum run!"
"scum run" - When a poker player has an incredibly small stack of chips and starts to run it up with a variety of less than stellar hands.
Example: "That guy had one foot out the door 'til he went on that scum run!"
I decided then and there that I wasn't sitting through a 15 minute break just to return to less than 1 BB. I was making a move before the break regardless of what my cards were.
Enter the Scum Run.
I get dealt Qh5h in MP and "rip it in" for my one bb. Folds to the BB who calls (checks lol) and rolls over Q3o. 3 in the window. Puke. 3hTs4s. Turn is a gorgeous 2h, giving me roughly 72 outs and the river was the 8h. Flush! I'm back to 280k! Dealer just starts the next hand before the timer goes off, sneaking in one last hand. I get dealt As3h. Less than 4 BBs, and Ace feels like the nuts, so when it's folded to me, I rip it in again. Folds to the button who re jams for more. Rut roh. The older gentlemen is a pretty solid reg, so I knew when he rejammed that I was in trouble. Surprisingly, he rolled over JdKd. I'm ahead, if only slightly. 8d9d6h. Oh boy. Tc on the turn. Christ. He's got half the deck now. River 8c. Ace high is good! Now I'm at a whopping 810k! Sweet!
I don't move during the break. I'm in awe that my former stack of one BB is now over 10 BBs. Granted, I'm still in trouble, but at least I've got a fighting chance now. With 9 players left, I'm now 7 of 9, but I've got all the momentum. First hand after break, I get AKo. I jam in EP, everyone folds and I add another 250k (blinds now 50k/100k/100k bb ante). 1.06m. Next hand 77. I rip again, everyone folds. 1.31m. Next hand AQs. I raise to 250k, short stack pushes for 380k, I call. He has AJo and I hold. 1.94m. Now I'm in cruise control after winning 5 consecutive hands and am only a few hundred thousand away from the chip lead!
What happened over the next 30 or so minutes was a blur as I was on such a heater that I couldn't take it all in. What I can tell you is that we went from 7 down to 3 real quick, and I knocked everyone out enroute to 3 handed. With 3 remaining, the shorty proposes a chop to which I politely decline (with an overwhelming chip lead and all the momentum, I couldn't accept an even 3-way chop).
I eliminated him next hand. My JJ held over his 55.
Now I'm heads up with about a 3:2 chip lead. I ask the guy if he wants to chop and he says no. Something about not getting out much and wanting to see a true winner. Fair enough.
HU lasted two hands. Hand 1, I raise J7s on the button to 2.5x, he jammed for a gagillion BBs and I folded. Seems this guy's version of playing it out was bingo. Very well. Next hand, he limps button and i check 63o in the bb. Flop 6d8d9c. Check check. Turn 3d. I bet 1/3, he flats. River Qd. Gross. I check and, once again, he rips it in for a gagillion times the amount of the pot. This had me puzzled. I figured he'd bet for value if he actually made a four-flush, or a straight with JT. The longer I thought, the more I thought he may have a busted straight with 7x. After much debate, I decided that he just didn't have it and made the hero call. He rolled over Kh3h for bottom pair. I won. 1st of 78 players for a cool $1,870. My 5th win/chop of 2024 in just 13 appearances. What. A. Run! The scummiest of scum runs!
TL;DR I won my weekly tournament after having just one BB with 9 players remaining.
Never give up, chippers!
