Sixth of Forty

With just barely filling up the fourth table by the end of the re-buy hour, their were nearly a hundred re-buys in last night's tournament. That bumped up the measly prize pool to a fun to play for amount. It also helped to go over the amount advertised as the guarantee that the prize pool would be. The card club did not take a loss on this one. It also fueled the very loose play by my table mates. So how do you play when the table is extremely loose? Tight! Early on when they are raising ten to fifteen times the big blind pre-flop, I'd only call or re-raise with the best of hands. And while they are shooting for two pair with their picture card and a rag, I'll be going for the full house, the straight, or the nut flush. Needless to say that I folded a lot of hands pre-flop. It was fun causing several of the re-buys that first hour, and seeing some amazing hands too. I did get my comeuppance a time or two. Like when quad eights destroyed my straight, or when a straight flush on the river card torpedoed my set that became a full house on the turn. When we finally got down to the last ten players at the final table, I was almost the shortest stack of the bunch. The two stacks smaller than me went out in desperate attempts with ace-rag that ran into solid pairs. I was almost looking forward to eighth place prize money when an amazing event happened, two gentlemen with stacks across the table from me, with twenty times my chips each, both went all-in pre-flop, I folded on the button and the chip leader who was in the big blind called! The best part was that the chip leader knocked them both out in one hand and I coasted into sixth place a few hands later. After making one re-buy early, and buying an add-on during the first break, financially I broke even, but I had a good time and felt good playing.