And the result is…
| WRGPT | Year | Round | days | Pos | Prize* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 2005–6 | c | 89 | 559 | |
| 16 | 2006–7 | f | 199 | 49 | 29,000 |
| 17 | 2007–8 | c | 71 | 762 | |
| 18 | 2008–9 | f | 200 | 36 | 56,816 |
| 19 | 2009–10 | g | 211 | 25 | 58,522 |
* There are, of course, no actual prizes in WRGPT but the
Floorman does post a "here's what you would have won" each year.
The (non-)prizes seem to be a bit less than last year as there were
slightly fewer players. I'd have had to make it to 18th or higher
to receive any more virtual dollars.
So I didn't beat 
oldbloke's
16th place
from last year, but I did beat my previous best placement. I reached
the last three tables. I knocked out two players and mortally wounded a
third. There were 1016 starting players this year.
I was down to 55,900; ante was 6,000 and big blind was 40,000 and they
were due to go up today to 10K and 60K so even though I was dealer I
had a maximum of five hands left. I was dealt A/9 so although an early
player raised 120K I felt it was my last real chance, albeit a slim
one. In the event he had A/10 which was unfortunate (though still
leaves me a 1-in-3 chance of survival), and he caught a 10 on
the flop, which was doubly unfortunate. There were also an 8
and a 6 so I nearly caught a straight, but "nearly" doesn't
count in this game. :-)
The hand that really did for me, as
last year, was a pair of
jacks. A big-stack player before me raised 60K (where the big blind was 40K)
so I called, and then the dealer raised another 88K all-in and we both called.
After the flop we both just checked to the end — it's often considered
poor play to bet into a dry pot**. And when the cards were laid down on
the table, they were:
| imc | has: Js Jh (55%) |
| all-in player | has: Ad 5c (27%) |
| big stack | has: 9d 8d (18%) |
The percentages say I should have won this. If we'd been at a
real table when the flop of 6/4/K was dealt out the all-in player might
have stood up***. He might have sat down again when the next card was
a 7 though, and against all odds a 3 on the river completed
his straight.
This hand cut my stack down from 364K to 170K. I basically folded everything
after that and was just blinded down to nothing. Although I could have bet on
K/10 from mid-position a couple of hands later it would have been dubious
(although annoying because in the end BB walked it in that hand). I also
folded an A/4 which would definitely have lost to A/7 in the showdown,
an A/7 which would have lost to the player with the 6 to complete
a straight in the showdown, and an A/6 from under the gun where there was
no showdown but big-stack player went all-in so it was no better chance than
the hand I eventually went out on.
**When everyone has called an all-in player pre-flop, any bet post-flop
will start a new side-pot, which is called a dry pot because there wasn't any
money in it to begin with. The likely outcome of betting into it is that the
other player folds and so you don't win any money. In addition, if your hand
isn't good enough to beat the all-in player then making the other player fold
stops him from knocking the all-in player out,
and that would have benefitted you both in the long run. It's less of a no-no
when you have a strong hand. In the event, if I'd betted and the
other player had called (unlikely, given he missed the flop) then I'd have won
a bit of money back.
***To be pedantic, as there were two people still playing at that
point we wouldn't have been playing open hands so he'd have just sat and
waited.