My first major tournament and cash (APT Cebu 2010)

I thought I try my hand on tournament poker too. Mind you, I was still a fish then. But little did I know hahaha. But confident with my recent winnings in Macau and full time exploits in HK, I thought I was a pro.

Cebu is a nice place. But the tournament was held at the Shangrila on Mactan. Which is far away from everything else other than the airport. But it was still fun to go. Beautiful beaches, nice food, friendlier people compared to Manila, although I did get mobbed by a bunch of kids trying to steal my wallet and money.

First tournament I went out, second was the NLHE which I got called by a crazy Japanese player who hit the river and knocked me out. The third event I joined was the KO Bounty. I don't really remember the tournament much but I remembered a few key hands.

Sitting across me on our table was this massive chip leader. On his right was the famous Celina Lin, (Pokerstars Pro Asia). The chip leader must have knocked out like 20 people and had at least 15 times more chips than I did. One key hand he open raised 3x, I shoved my 20+bb stack into him with AKo. He tanked and then folded. Then he asked me if I would shove with AK, I just smiled but Celina said, of course! All poker players do that. Grrrr...Celina, why did you have to tell him that hahaha....

Then our table got broken up and it was down to two tables left. I got moved to a table full of what looked like young online grinders from either Australia or the US. Clearly they knew each other and were rooting for one another. One hand on the small blind I had like Ax I can't remember. I open raised and he shoved back on the big blind. I tank folded and showed my ace. He looked at me and said "bad fold" and showed A5o. Smartass.

2 hands later I had KQ of clubs. I think I made a fish play here because they were like how did I win blah blah...I can't really remember the hand but I think I called an all in preflop but flopped a flush draw and hit the river. He had Ace high.

Final table! Woohoo, my first ever final table and I was seated on Celina's right. She is quite a nice pro. Very friendly and accommodating. She had a great presence about her. Anyway 7 spots paid, still 9 of us. I was one of the short stacks. Oh by the way, the massive chip leader who folded to my shove bubbled. Well, he still made money with his 20+ KOs.

Finally I was ITM! (in the money) First ever cash, in an official tournament. Short stack and UTG, I don't know why i just min raise with K9 spades. This Aussie kid from the last table had Aces and min raised me. I didn't have much left so I shoved and we were heads up. Funny thing was I flopped a flush draw but missed. 7th place finish for USD 947. Not bad for my first cash and first major event.

Ahhh, sweet memories.