POTD #64 A Chiplead Pot in the 2014 PCA Main Event

The Oldest Punt Thus Far

I had entered Day 4 of the 2014 PCA main event as one of the chip leaders. I was locked and loaded: I survived three days of poker and 900+ eliminations, I just needed to survive two more days of poker to secure a big payday. In 2014, big main events did not just provide you with a chance to win a lot of money, but a chance to satellite into another life; you could buy a house, or have a large enough bankroll to responsibly grind the circuit, or start a stable backing anyone with a pulse. The options were endless. I entered the day as a chip leader and wanted to end it as the chip leader. I was ready to play the best poker of my life and put my mark on the live tournament scene with my first big score.

When I look back at old hands for this blog, I am continually astonished at how bad my memory is. I usually remember an emotional detail about the hand, how I felt or how I vowed to never make a mistake like that again, but when I look up the details of the hand, I’m often way off. Let’s take today’s hand, for instance. In my mind I was the chip leader. Pokernews tells another story: I started the day 11/72 and was in a very good position, but I was still an underdog to even make the final table; I didn’t even have 2x the average stack. Of the 10 stacks larger than mine, only two made the final table, and they finished in 4th and 6th. The leaderboards in NLHE tournaments can get shaken up swiftly, but this is part of the grind. When you’re above average with 27 people left, you need to remind yourself not to get too high; you lose two flips and you might be out of the tournament. If you’re a short stack, turning that advice on its head might provide some solace: If you just win two flips, you’ll be one of the chip leaders. Just keep plugging away. Someone needs to walk away with the trophy; maybe it could even be you.

One person ahead of me on the leaderboard who final tabled the tournament was Madis Muur, the man who busted me in the early stages of Day 4. Perhaps that coloured my perception of how likely it was that a big stack with 70 left would have a big six figure score. I played a large pot versus him in the first ~15 minutes of day 4 and was sent packing, my dreams dashed. 11 years later I return to the hand to ask, could I have done anything differently?

Day 4 of 2014 PCA Main Event

We are In the Money with 72 remaining and an average stack of ~430k

It folds to me in the CO with A♦️Q♣️, I raise to 18k, Madis Muur three bets to 41k on the button, I call.

Flop (102k) A♣️Q♥️7♠️: I check, Madis bets 33k, I call

Turn (168k) 8♥️: I check, Madis bets 74k, I call

River (316k) 6♦️: I check Madis bets 202k, I shove for 600k total