The edge of the abyss

Tournament poker can sure take you on a wild ride. You can be teetering on the edge of the abyss, staring oblivion in the face, when suddenly a dispensation from the poker gods saves you, letting you live to fight on. At such times, you know it was was nothing you did which saved you; the odds were stacked against you, and by all rights you were history. Somehow, though, magically, improbably, you lived. This is precisely what happened to me on hand 30 of the lower stakes 8-game tournament I entered last night (I had to move down in stakes in order to ensure I didn't have to wait too long to start playing). At that point, we were playing limit 7 card stud. I was the short stack, and was pot committed by the time we got to sixth street. All I had at that point was a gutshot, and my only play was to call all in. Mirabile dictu, I hit my gutshot on the river, and that gave me a new lease on life. I ended up outlasting all the other players but one.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

  9000      1000           6       192     2    18900

delta: $8,900
8-game tournament balance: $498,900
balance: $9,896,670