We each started with 3000 chips. I won a small 160 chip pot on the first hand then proceeded to lose a 2640 chip pot. So after two hands I’m down 4240 to 1760. Not good. I won 13 of the next 19 hands but couldn’t get any closer than 2060 chips to his 3940. On the low end, I started two hands during that run with only 1100 chips.

My luck started to change on the 21st hand. I was down 1460 to 4540 and posted 30 for the small blind and he posted 60.

My hole cards:

I raised to 120 and he called.

The flop:

The betting was great for my set. He checked and I bet 60 – which was only a quarter of the pot. He raised 240, I raised 240, he raised 240, I raised 240, he raised 240, and finally I raised 80 to go all-in. He called and showed . So he has high pair but no draw.

The Turn: and the River: didn’t help him at all.

That hand got me back to nearly even at 2920 to 3080. But I couldn’t do anything with it and stayed behind for the next 9 hands. He built his lead back up to 4310 to 1690 at hand 30 – the second of my good hands and definately the best:

I was down 1690 to 4310 and posted 100 for the big blind.

My hole cards:

He called the big blind. With the blinds going up and my losing continuing (I was short stack for 30 straight hands) – I though I’d try and bluff out a quick pot so I raised 300. He called. So much for that.

The Flop:

So now I’m feeling a little better about the hand but I had shown some power with the big pre-flop raise. So I checked hoping for a big raise to my set. He checked. So much for that.

The Turn:

Ok – so this is good. I won the hand, I get the checkmark. But I need some chips and can’t bet. I check again and so does he.

The River:

I really liked the river card because it doesn’t appear to help me and it put three spades on the board. I have to try and get something out of this hand. I take a long time time and bet 500 into the 800 pot. He immediately puts me all-in for 790 more. Finally. I call and he showed a King high flush.

So I’m finally back on top 3380 to 2620 but by no means a big lead. We played two more hands and I won both. On the next hand (my third good hand) we started 4280 to 1720. I flopped 2h Kh and I raised his 100 big blind to 500. He went all-in and I called. He shows a Ts Ac. The flop is all red and all hearts and I win the hand and the tournament with a king high flush. Ironic.