When you die, if you go somewhere where they ask you a bunch of questions about your life and what you learned and all, I think a good way to get out of it is just to say, “No speaka English.” –Jack Handey

I happened to remember that Paradise was running a freeroll tourney and I made it home early enough to clear a little over $200 in cash games before the tournament started. They capped it at 2000 players and the top 100 players play Sunday, Aug 1 for a seat at the WPT Legends of Poker tourney at the Bike. Heck, I was planning on just being a spectator but I’ve actually got a chance to play (and they’re giving $2k cash for airfare and hotel . . . hmmm, I thik I can get to the Bike for under $2k)! Of course, there’s only one seat per 2000 players so the chances are pretty slim but hey, a shot is a shot, right?

Amazingly, this was the first multi-table where I’ve ever landed in the money. I had some amazing luck and a field of opponents only a freeroll can attract. I probably only played 10 hands out of the 128 it took to go from 2000 to 100. On my first two wins early in the tournament I flopped sets, checked the flop trying to get a bet into me, missed, pushed all in and got called both times.

With about 120 players left I started to get into a little trouble as the increasing blinds ate me up and I was starting to slip out of the money. I had AJs in the blind. I checked. Flop came up KQ6 with the K and 6 suited to my AJ. I’ve got the nut flush draw, the nut straight draw and an overcard to the board. All-in! Two players called me and even without hitting the flush card on the river I still had both players beat with the A on the turn.

That win put me a little over $20k and 65th out of 118 players. I just sat it out and didn’t play another hand unless I got a free ride in the blinds. Despite this brilliant strategy those last 18 players didn’t check out quickly enough and I found myself in trouble again. Blinds are $3k/$6k and I’m down to $11k with 5 players standing between me and a seat at the WPT tourney. Thankfully other players at my table were in worse shape than me but still ahead of the last 5 and they slow played every round. I took the last set of blinds which put me around $1400 in chips and 1 player left to knock out. The ante was $600 so I go into my last hand with $800 left. The last player busts out and all the short stacks push all-in so we can call it a night. Officially, I placed 95th but who cares?

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