Here’s to turning the (final) tables in ’08

Despite my recent success at the poker tables, I have yet to achieve one of my goals: making a World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event final table.

I had hoped to finish last year on a solid note at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event at the Bellagio. Attracting 664 players with a buy-in of $15,000, this WPT event had the largest prize pool outside of the World Series of Poker Main Event and the WPT Championship Event.

After a rough Day 1, I chipped up nicely during Day 2. As we entered Day 3 with 152 players remaining, only 100 survivors would make the money. After two levels, we finally burst the money bubble, which guaranteed everyone at least $28,905.

Now I had my sights set on a potentially deep run in this event, hoping to make the final six. With 58 players left, I had gotten fairly short-stacked when the following hand decided my fate.

With blinds at 5,000 and 10,000, antes 1,000, I was sitting under the gun (the first seat after the big blind) and looked down to see Ah-Qh. Sitting on a comparatively short stack of 90,000 chips, I announced, “I’m all-in.”

As player after player mucked their hands, it momentarily looked as if I would pick up the blinds and antes uncontested. Unfortunately, the button seemed to like his hand and called my all-in bet.

After both blinds folded and I turned over my Ah-Qh, my opponent looked disgusted. As he flipped over Ac-Js, I could not have asked for a better situation. Going to the flop, I was a 72:22 favorite with a 6 percent chance of a split pot.

After the dealer revealed a flop of 8c-6d-4d, my odds increased to 84:12 with a 4 percent chance of a split pot. The news got better when poker professional Humberto Brenes stated that he had folded Q-J pre-flop, giving my opponent only two outs. Therefore, in actuality, I was an 87:9 favorite (4 percent chance of a split) with two cards to come.

Unfortunately, the poker gods are often blind to the odds, and the dealer turned one of my opponent’s outs - Jc. As the entire table gasped, I was now a 5:95 underdog since one of my queens was folded by Brenes.

When the dealer flipped over the 3h on the river, I was eliminated from the tournament in 58th place, 52 spots away from my objective.

Although I did not reach my goal in 2007, here’s hoping I’ll have better luck making a World Poker Tour final table this year.

E-mail Bernard Lee at BernardLeePoker@hotmail.com with any questions or comments. Lee finished 13th in the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event and has won the $5,000 No Limit Event (2006) and the $2,000 No Limit Event (2007) at the WPT World Poker Finals. He is also a columnist for the ESPN.com Poker Club Web site. Listen to Lee every Tuesday from 6-7 p.m., Thursday 9-10 p.m. and Saturday 10-11 p.m. on “The Bernard Lee Poker Show” on 1510 AM “The Zone.”

News Added: 13 January, 2008

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