Fifteen Short

I missed the payout by fifteen places in a $5 MTT in the harshest of ways last night.

The tourney was in its second hour and I had been near the top of the list. There were over five hundred players and the top eighty were paid.

I was dealt a pair of kings so I raised it to make the callers call by putting an extra two times what the blinds were. Everyone folded apart from the big blind. He called.

The flop had two clubs but the cards were looking good. In layman's terms - no aces!

I made a small bet - he called.

The turn card came out and it didn't help either of us (assuming he was holding an ace). So I repeated the process.

I made another bet - he called.

The river was a king of clubs. I had made trips but I had a feeling my rival may have hit a flukey flush.

He checked. I sat there for a second and thought to myself 'he would have made a bet if he had hit a flush.' So I put three thousand chips down. Enough to knock him out and give me a good position on the players list.

He called and turned over a four and a six of clubs. His flush won.

I was appalled. Why the hell would he have called my initial raise when he had two small cards that were suited? In hindsight I should have made better bets on the turn and post-flop. Maybe he wouldn't have chased the flush.

I couldn't let up. though. I had to feed the pot because I was winning. Until the end.