The 2nd Annual Seven Deuce Day Tournament

There are 4 events that Team7Deuce makes a tradition, and the Seven Deuce Day Tournament is the only one that I would call a holiday. It was become tradition that every July 2nd, Team7Deuce don’s our team apparel and heads to a casino, to take our home game to the felt.

Last year’s tournament produced a single cash, as Andrew made a deep run and finished in the money. But this years Seven Deuce Day would produce two cashes, one a final table.

7 members of our group made it to the Bicycle Casino on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 for the 2nd Annual Seven Deuce Day tourney. Besides myself, Tim, Andrew, Jordan, Jay, Amber, and Chris were in attendance, and I think that we represented our group VERY well. The tournament started each player with 4,000 starting chips, and 20 minute levels, beginning at 25/25. 6 of us made it to the first break (which was 4 levels) with Jay making the first exit of our group slightly before the break.

And at the break, we actually were mostly just hanging in. Only Tim and Jordan were on the positive side of stacks, with Tim slightly over his starting stack, and Jordan chipping up to over 17k. I had played some really great poker in the first few levels to chip up to over 6k, but lost a big pot when I bluffed all in with 7-2os, and found one caller after the turn.

The hand played out (with 75-150 blinds) I raised from early position to 300, and found 3 callers. The flop came out 8-9-4 giving me a backdoor straight draw. I put my opponents on absolutely nothing having seen a few levels of play with each of them, and after the SB checked, I led out with 600. There was only one caller from the cutoff position, and we saw the turn of a rainbow T. I immediately moved my remaining 6k into the pot, and he made a quick call showing KJo. I praised him for his great read as the river fell blank with a 3, and he doubled his stack through me, as I dipped below 3k for the first time in the tournament. I had to question his logic by calling with K high, and a straight draw. He had said that he’d put me on AK, so I REALLY don’t get the call. But, he had the best hand. Although, I’d get the best of him in the end.

After the break, Chris would hit the rail quickly. I think I overheard him say that he was all in AT vs. AJ. That was enough to end his day about midway through the tournament. Amber would follow him shortly after that. My table broke with 8 tables remaining, and I was moved to seat 2 at Jordan’s table. I got lucky as my tournament life was spared and picked up some steam with an all in with 88 from early position. But I was called by KK and was in trouble. The Seven-Deuce magic kicked in though as an 8 hit the flop, and I sent my opponent to the rail while moving to around 10k by the time that I was pulled from that table to re-balance. With about 6 tables remaining, I saw that Jordan had hit the rail. He had just gone card dead, and the blinds and antes had just really eaten him alive.

Then, my big hand of the tournament came into play. I was playing very solid poker, and had chipped up to around 20k, when I woke up with AA in the SB. A middle position player (whom I’ve played with before and identified him as the most solid player at my table) limped in, and found a caller from the hi-jack seat. But the button looked down at his cards and immediately announced all in. I asked for a count, and it was just under 15k. I moved my 20k in, and the other two players folding (the one that I thought to be a good player showed A9os). When cards were turned up, the button seat showed Ks-Ts. I had him crushed with my Aces, until the flop came out K-T-K. The flopped boat was devastating because there was only 1 remaining Ace in the deck. But as fate would have it, Seven Deuce Day was going to be lucky as the turn was the last Ace in the deck, and my boat was better. The river was a J, and I moved to over 37k on that hand, and had a sizeable chip advantage at my table.

But things went south for me from that point, and I couldn’t catch any cards. I went card dead for about 90 minutes, until I busted. I was still healthy at the bubble with about 25k, and noticed that Andrew had gone out just before the bubble burst. He would hit the rail in 30th place, and only 27 players would get paid.

Things continued to head south for me as the blinds went to 2000-4000 with a 500 ante, and I had chipped down to about 14k. I was in the cutoff seat when I looked down at KQo and figured it was time to make a move. I pushed all in, and found a caller who tossed over AA, and my day was done in 15th place. I was very happy with the way that I’d played. I got unlucky once, and lucky once, and played great the remainder of the day. It was a good tournament.

The final player from our team still in the running was Tim, and he was also holding onto around 14k. He never really chipped up very big though, but somehow managed to survive a couple of all in’s shortstacked, and found his way to 1 table. With ten players remaining, about 1/3 of his stack was gone through when he went through the blinds without seeing a flop. Then he placed 2 of his remaining 3k into the ante from the button, and folded. It was a good thing too as it allowed him to move up one more spot. With 7 players remaining, Tim committed his last 1k chip into the ante as the Blinds were 5k-10k with a 2k ante. In a three way all in (Tim was one of them) two players were eliminated. Tim’s A6 would not hold, and he was eliminated in 7th place. This was Tim’s 3rd final table, and second in a row. A great performance by him.

I want to thank everyone on Team7Deuce that made the day so incredible. It was a very fun day of poker with some amazing representation by our group. I’m looking forward to the next event, and hopefully, the next tournament win.