Well, I played!
I played well but I didn’t finish in first or in the money.
Aside from the top prize of high quality links worth up to $1,000,000, the next five positions paid a total of $5,000 which was offered by Full Tilt Poker.

Only 38 bloggers (a little surprised) showed up to play in the tournament so my odds were high to finish “in the money” but I just couldn’t pull it out. I was trying to win and represent the stock bogging community but came up short. Here’s a list to all the participants of the 2nd SEO Poker Tournament.

I was the chip leader early on as you can see in the screenshot above. We all started with a stack of 3,000 chips and I quickly placed an all-in bet against another blogger and won with a straight versus two pairs. He slow-played the two pairs and I completed my straight draw on the turn. I just called his bet after making my straight and then pushed all-in after the river, hoping he would call. He did and I was now the chip leader but it was early in the tournament as 94% of the players were still game.

After a few rounds of play, some juggling of the players to different tables and a player break, I found myself in fourth place with 9,000 chips. The leader had about 14,000 chips at this time but I was still in excellent shape.

With 15 players left, I was dealt A-9 off-suit and decided to call a small raise from the small blind. Lucky for me, 7-9-9 came on the flop and I was now tempted to slow play a very powerful trips hand with top kicker. I called another small raise from a player and looked towards the turn. An eight fell and the board now looked like this: 7-9-9-8

I was first to bet with a pot near 1,000 chips and blinds at 150 & 300 (my stack was near 8,000 chips and my opponent was near 7,000 if I remember correctly). I bet out with 1,200 chips and he raised, to my surprise. I now thought he was bluffing or had the nuts with a 10-J. I was already pot committed so I got pissed and pushed all-in with my three 9’s and was called. A queen flipped on the river and he won with a straight and I was devastated late in the tournament with 1,100 chips and large blinds (relative to my new short stack).

I should have never slow-played the flop and placed a large enough bet to make him fold his draw before the turn. Like trading, you must take what is yours and I didn’t and got caught the same way I caught a player earlier in the tournament. My thinking was to take a substantial win which translates into greed and I was taught a lesson. Greed is bad in poker and in trading.

After the huge loss, I pushed all-in the next three hands and doubled my stack to 2,300 chips but was still in bug trouble as the leaders were now above 20,000 chips. On my final all-in, I had K-Q and I was called by someone with K-J (both hands were off-suit). I was dominating this hand and had great hopes of doubling-up once again but the flop came and a JACK was the middle card. My tournament ended with the flip of two more cards and I finished in 12th place. Half-way to the money (sixth place paid $450 in cash).

Overall, it was fun but I felt I could have placed in the money and will once again look to learn from my slow-play of a hand that was mine prior to the turn. The problem is: I gave it away with a thought of greed!

Congratulations to dnic24 of the PokerOwnageDOTcom Poker Forum for winning the grand prize.