$2500 6-handed limit hold'em, Day 2

My starting stack of 11,000 is not very much, but I was in trouble all day yesterday and am just going to try to play well and have fun. Most of the day I am short-stacked and facing elimination, but each time I go all in I win. It's fun being in the Amazon room, and I eye the final table area with growing hope as the day goes on. They pay 36 places, and normally play comes to a halt as the money bubble approaches. But with 39 left, 2 people bust on the same hand at our table and someone immediately afterward goes broke on the adjoining table. Everyone is momentarily confused, and the floor staff remarks that this is the fastest bubble they've ever seen! We're in the money now, all of us guaranteed at least $5,200.

Next hand I pick up K 10 and am three-bet by an aggressive Vietnamese woman. The flop comes J 10 4, turn a 3, and river a King. I actually thought I was ahead the whole time and the King makes me a little nervous, so I just call her on the end. She triumphantly turns over aces, and can't believe I didn't raise on the end. She glares and me and for the rest of the tournament talks like she's out to get me.

I'm moved to another table with yet another aggressive oriental woman, JJ Liu, with whom I have an extensive history. On the hand of the day, I raise with A 2 only to be re-raised by JJ Liu. The flop comes 7 7 4. I check, she bets, I call. The turn is a Queen. I check, she bets $8000. I have only $25,500 left, but I decide impulsively to check-raise her here, pushing $16,000 of my chips into the pot and leaving myself just barely enough for one more $8000 bet on the river. I am representing a huge hand here, a pair of Queens at least. JJ asks how many chips I have left, and pauses for a long time. She is talking to herself, trying to work out whether she could still have the best hand. Three, four, five minutes go by. I am trying to remain calm, but I know that she has the best hand, and if she calls or raises my tournament life is over. Finally she says, "I just don't think you'd risk your last chips without a real hand" and folds. I exhale a huge sigh of relief as the dealer pushes 60,000 in chips my way.

JJ really wants to know what I had. I tell her I can't tell her now, but will tell her when the tournament is over. She spends every free second staring at me, and gradually convinces herself that I have bluffed her.

Finally, another similar hand comes down against Ahn, the Vietnamese woman. In this hand, I call her button raise with J 9 out the big blind, and check-raise the A 8 7 flop. She re-raises and I call. The turn is a Jack, and I check-raise her again, leaving myself just 3 chips which I bet on the blank river. JJ is looking at me horrified, as the similarity in the action on this hand now and the hand I played against her now has her 100% convinced I bluffed her. Except for JJ, the entire table is convinced I have the nuts and for some reason I decided to show my meager two jacks. JJ is livid; fortunately, we are down to 27 players and redraw for seats.

My new table is tougher, and the chip leader to my right is an overweight 24 year old internet kid named Brian Meinders, who is brilliantly analyzing every hand. Three other internet turks and a 35-year old Russian complete the table. Brian is disappointed when he finds out the 35-year old is Russian. "Is Russia the new Finland?", I ask, referring to the influx of very talented Finns in the last five years. "Worse," says Brian. "They're all very, very good." Brian also says that at 24 he's not as sharp as he used to be, but that he's going to keep on raising until he's an old geezer getting check-raised by a bunch of kids. "Tell me about it," I say, and the table laughs.

Near the end of the night I get 10 10 on the button, 3-bet, and am check-raised on a K 5 2 flop. I have way to much of a shot to fold, so I call and call again on the turn before the river is the sweetest looking 10 spot I've ever seen. He bets, I raise, and he gets completely disgusted as he knows I must have beaten him. The next hand he puts his last chips in the pot with 6 6 against my A Q, and I spike a Queen on the turn. Just like that I'm up to 200,000, my high so far.

Unfortunately, I am whittled down a little and we end the night with 12 people left. I am in 11th place with 110,000. But since I've been playing short the whole tournament, it doesn't really bother me. We bag up our chips for Day 3, I rework my hotel and airline reservations, and leave the Amazon room about 3:45 a.m.