I have really been wanting to crack one of these off ever since I started playing them regularly last September. There are two $1 versions of the same tournament every day that also have huge prizepools (my friend and I nicknamed them "The Mythical" and "Mythical Jr."), and it's a fast and loose structure, with lots of chips in play, and the opponents are not the high- and mid-stakes tournament experts I am often facing off against. It's basically just a lot of fun to go deep and pick up a stack in these things, and to actually outright win is disproportionately satisfying.
Below is a screenshot I took of my first ever 9-figure stack in a poker tournament, which I acquired after doubling with AA vs 88. Also note that Mr Swatch, who wound up taking second, is one of the original MTT players on Stars, and he said he thinks he won the first $109 turbo the site ever spread.
By the time we were down to two tables, I have to confess I was feeling the pressure. The $100K first prize (I had traded 35% with friends so actually stood to win a maximum of $65K) would have been significant money for me, and when it all came to an end, we were not playing very deep at all. I was 2/13 in chips and only had 20 big blinds.
With two tables left, I lost a pot with AK to QT that would have put me at 7M chips but instead left me with 3M or so. I then spiked the "heroic ace of justice" on the flop after getting it in with AK vs. KK, which brought my stack back up to a healthy at 5M chips.
The table draws were non-ideal, with all the relatively healthy 15-20 BB stacks at my table and several 10-12BB stacks on the other. With 13 players left in this spot, I am generally looking good to make the final table and have a great shot a the glory. Then the button opened (same guy who won QT over AK), and in that situation AQo was just too good of a hand to fold from the big blind (with 20BBs). I shoved, he called with TT, and it wound being a spot where I had to win a coinflip for a whole lot of equity. I finished 12th for (65% of) $9K.
It's as good an example of any of the vicissitudes of tournament poker, and I got a quick couple more (AKA "bad beat stories"):
Tonight, as Sunday was winding down, I was still in the Sunday 500 with three tables left and lost with AA to 99 for a 60BB pot. This is the second time that's happened in the same tournament since August. Last time if I remember right it was two tables left and my QQ lost to 77.
If it sounds like I'm complaining after having a profitable weekend, think of it more like...lamenting what coulda been.
***
The weird undercurrent to the past couple days is that I've been dealing with some fairly intense emotional stress. It's not the sort of stuff that I'm going to write about here, more the sort of stuff that causes me to lose hours sleep and much of my appetite.
Despite feeling like I could barely think or breath properly half the time, I was completely zoned in on poker. It's a phenomenon of some sort, or a developing theory maybe, but I have observed poker players who are experiencing extreme swings in their personal lives often get super-focused and manage to put up incredible results.
I remember a good friend who endured the devastating loss of a family member and went on to crush tournaments for the next week. I also remembered that Phil Ivey made the final table of a WPT event shortly after his father died.
I have nowhere else to go with that tangent for now, but, yeah, that was my weekend in online poker.