Deep finish in FTOPS Event #1

Well...If you consider 140th place deep. But when there are over 5300 entrants and you play for 5 1/2 hours, it's pretty deep. I played solid poker with a fairly short stack for most of the tournament. I got ungodly lucky in a couple of different pots. Let's see....open shove with Js-8s and called by A-5 in the BB. Flop A-9-6. Turn-Q...River-10 for the straight. All-in preflop with Q-Q v. A-A and J-J. Flop....K-Q-J!!! Later, Menlo (TheGuru11), probably the best online player in the world, open shoves UTG for 12BB and I call with Q-Q on the button. He shows 4-4. Flop is 10-6-4. Turn is a QUEEN!!! River is ANOTHER QUEEN!!!

With 140 players left, I made a questionable move when I 4-bet with 10-10 from the SB. It made the original raiser think for about a minute and if he had folded, I would have beaten the other player's A-K. But alas, he called with Q-Q and I was done. I still had over 20BB before that hand so it was highly questionable.

I ended up cashing for $798. Months and months of deep finishes and close calls are frustrating without ever achieving that one "career-altering" score. I couldn't help but look at the Top 3 prizes last night that were all over $100,000. With 140 left, it's not out of the question to be at least looking at them. I cashed in the FT $11.5K last night as well so my game seems to be coming back around. Hard work and focus are always rewarded in the long run so I know my time is coming.

Thanks to RUBBAROSE, VIRGE, and SLICKWILLY37 for the late rail last night. My next big event should be FTOPS #9 on Sunday.

Thanks for reading,

W2D