The Seat of Death

PJ Pockets $25 buy-in tournament, 30 seated with 9 alternates. I'm in the 5s at table 3. After a few inconsequential hands, the 4s goes all-in with AK versus a pocket pair and loses. They send in the first alternate, who posts his dead blinds, and then makes a 3x raise on his very first hand. I look down at Pocket Aces and re-raise. The limpers fold before the alternate goes all-in over the top of me. I call... it's AA versus KK. Two people out in two hands, from the same seat.

By the end of the 2nd level, two more alternates have taken that seat and been killed... and no one else originally seated at the table has busted out yet! There were no more alternates to fill the now infamous "Seat of Death" so things reverted to normal tournament seating. I get moved to table 1 and pick up a few pots to keep alive with an average chip stack. As more people bust out, I get moved back to my original seat at table 3. A hand later, the tournament director tells me he made a mistake and I have to move over 1 seat... into Seat 4! The others who had been at the table since the beginning say their goodbyes to me, "It was nice knowing you man...."

The seat lives up to its reputation as I bleed away a quarter of my stack when my good starting hands miss and someone else got aggressive before I could. I manage to keep alive before I get tapped out and moved over to table 2. I had survived the Seat of Death! But now I was short-stacked at my new table. I amazingly double up with an Ace high all-in; and then again when I'm heads-up and catch an Ace on the flop, then trap my opponent by checking through to the River and calling when he pushes with QQ.

It gets down to the final table and now I'm in 2nd or 3rd place, and when we draw for seats back at table 3, I say out loud, "No 4, no 4!" and of course, I draw the 4. Much laughter from the rest of the crowd, but little did they (or myself) know that it would be I that would have the last laugh! The 4s decided to do a complete 180 for the final table... it was tired of giving away chips and now wanted them all back.

My ass planted firmly in the Seat of Death, I take out 5 people at the final table.

A3s on the button and I come in with 2 short stacks, one of which had made a small raise and was now all-in. Flop comes 236. Other short-stack checks, I look over and asks how much he has left. I put him all-in for only about 1/5 of my stack. They show AT and KJ. Turn is an 8, River is a close-but-no-cigar Q and my pair of treys take out two people. "Gutsy move," I'm told. Not much later, my pocket Tens hold up against a smaller pair and some overcards and another two bite the dust.

I'm feared now, and proceed to make a nemesis in the 6s when I have 9Ts in the BB and the flop comes A25. The blinds are 400/800 and the SB is already all-in with only 300 left. I throw out a T1600 bet, figuring the 6s doesn't have an Ace as he was one who would raise with it pre-flop. He reluctantly calls. I catch a 9 on the Turn and throw out T2400.

The 6s hems and haws and counts his chips and looks at his cards. I'm holding my cards as if I'm ready to flip them over. "You'll get to see my cards, there's an all-in," I tell him. He finally sighs and flashes me A6 before he mucks. I chuckle and joke, "I had you outkicked," as I show him my 9, and then have to show the accompanying 10. He bangs the table as I rake in the side pot... SB had 25o and the river filled up his boat!

"That's the one and only time... you won't get so lucky next time," the 6s says. I think he's joking but when I look over at him, he's seriously pissed at me! He's in 2nd place behind me now, so I decide to stay out of any pots with him until I have a monster and then use his tilt to my advantage.

I limp in with the 9s holding KTh. Flop is all hearts and I check-call his All-in. Add another notch on the belt as my King-high flush beats his QJ flush! "Wow, I'm going to remember that hand for a long time," he says. I would too... that was a rough beat, especially one that takes you out on the bubble! The other two short stacks thank me for carrying them into the money... for one of them, it was his first live tourney.

I sit back and let the other three duke it out. The first-timer is happy with 4th place and $120 so he ends up giving his chips to the 3s, the one who was blinded all-in with 25o and tripled up on it. Armed with some chips now, the 3s actually whittles down my nemesis quite nicely, almost taking him out at one point! Unfortunately the River saves him, and a few hands later the villian makes a comeback and busts out the 3s, who leaves with about $180.

So we go into heads-up action pretty much even. A few hands back and forth, I see we might be going at it for awhile, and so I offer up a chop. It was close to $540 for first and $300 for second, so we would both take home about $400 (after dealer toke) and call it a day. He considered for a long while and finally agreed.

One the way to the cashier's cage, he told me he almost didn't want to split, that he was holding a grudge against me for making him toss his Ace. I told him there was no way he could have beat me. I was in the 4 seat. :)