Saturday October 11, 2003 at 3:30pm, I arrive at Sonoma Joe's. I picked up my seat card and paid the cashier $40 for the buy-in plus $5 for the rake. I was set to have fun, enjoy the evening, play as well as I could and make it to the final two tables. 4:00pm came and it was time for me to take my seat (seat 9, table 2). $40 dollars provided $1,000 in chips and $40 more would get us $1,500 more at anytime before the third round. As this being Texas Hold'em No-Limit, I opted to wait and play with my first $1,000. The first three rounds took a long time to near an end. Nearly and hour in and I had not won many pots and my chips only crested $1,100 one or two times. And shortly later, I busted. I had not played very well and I had not played bad, but I had made one or two mistakes that rid me of my chips. I truly considered not wasting another penny and keeping my $40 for some other present. But other players, who had already had to re-buy, egged me on and assumed I would of course take my second installment of $1,500. So with very little additional though I pulled the two folded twenty dollar bills from my left front pants pocket and hand them to the deal. She gave me a few chips totaling the proper sum and I was set to engage the table of ten again. Not long into my second serving I was dealt AQ of clubs. This was a terrific starting hand, yet two people in front of me had raise all-in. I considered my options and join them in this huge pot, figuring I would have the best hand. I did and the board gave me a set of Qs. This nice pot was mine and I enjoyed to the fullest, stacking them up in front of me. I had tripled up. I was somewhere around $4,500 now. This as I recall now, was a key hand in my tournament day, one that would propel me on to my best finish ever (previous best 18th out of 65).

Now shortly after this win, I looked up to notice two of my buddies standing in the foreground of the table, admiring my stack, with quite the grin on their faces. I played with such confidence in the light of my stack and the fresh arrival of support in the gallery. I was having fun and that was exactly what i set out to do. I won an number of pots, big and small as the table began to lose players. The second best thing to winning a tournament is knocking players out of them. I was reaping the benefits of players' desperate acts and my stack grew. At some point, not long after my friends, Dave and Dan, were seen. Dave came over to me and said, "Did you know that you have more chips then anyone in the tournament?" This I did not know, but I was pleasantly surprise to hear.

I continued to go into pots with the best hands, but from time to time, I would attempt to read a player and pick them off in their most desperate and weakest point. One player, who I had been watching through out the game, went all-in after the flop and when I had already had money in the big blind. The board was showing 27Q and I read he did not have any of those cards. I was holding a 26 of diamonds. A hand I would never play, except I already had money in the pot on the big blind. I looked at the player down the table, thought and decide that his all-in of $4,700 was worth my call with only a pair. We showed our hands and he was holding a A8 all black. I had guess right, yet people looked at me like I was crazy. The crowd squeezed closer to see. The Turn card was and 8, giving the other player a pair of 8s over my small pair of 2s. It was looking like I had made a bad call, but I did not mind. It was a value bet, I had the money to make it and I had read him right. The final card turned out to be a nice card for me, a 6 giving me two pair and the pot. The table and the crowd gave a collective "wow" and shook their heads at my called. My apparent luck stuck up many a conversation for the remainder of the tournament, yet I had a few more calls, that I would be even more proud of.

As the tournament lost players, seats became empty and were filled at my table. I later realized that my table was the featured table and I would not have to move my large stack of chips. Speaking of chips, I had a lot of fun stacking them. With each new pot I won, I would have to instrument a new design to best suit the number of chips. Again, I am a conservative player and conservative players keep a nice, neat stack. They also tend to count their chips to know exactly where they stood. I would undertake this project during hands I opted not to play and there were many. Dave later complained that he grown tired of stand and watching me fold, but it was okay. I agreed that it was a bit tiring, but resisting the urge to play weaker hands, kept me in the chip lead.

My experience in three previous tournaments, would be looked at as a loss of capital, but those session, all of which were smaller then this one, had equipment me with skill and knowledge, most particularly knowledge of specific players. I pay strict attention to players, how they play, even if I am not involved in the hand. One particular player of who I had played in a previous tournament, was moving over the top of me. A number of times, this day, he bet a larger number after I had beat. I folded nearly ever time, for I am a more conservative player and I am sure he knew this. So the situation came, late in the evening, where I was in the big blind and he, greedy for a pot went all-in. I thought, "that was totally unnecessary". I needed to make a stand with this guy. He had probably bought most of the pots and likely was not holding the best hand. The flop was 5JQ. I was looking at K5. I would never be playing this hand except, I was again in the big blind and I knew this player. I had the lowest pair, but what did he have. I thought for a while, as that is the style that my friends play with. I figured he did not have anything on the board. I had something on the board. It was worth it although, if I lose this hand it would surely hurt me. $14, 000 was the bet and I turned over my cards. He did the same and showed 44. My 55 was on top and the next two cards did not help him. The crowd and the table again was amazed. This time not so much at the poor hand I had played with, but for the call. They all wanted to know how I know. I am sure some thought it was dumb luck and probably though I deserved to lose it. But I knew that I had read him and read him right.

The tournament was down to two tables. That afternoon, Dave, while speaking to Dan and I wanted to place a bet that I would not make it to the final table. He withtracked his wager, after Dan did not want to go in on it. So he came over to me, now that I had made the final table and told me he was glade we hand not made that bet, with a smile. I sat back, expecting that my huge chip lead would withsustain me through to the final table. I resisted playing too many hands, at first, but so many opportunities confronted me. My chip lead grow even more. The final table was the same way. I was not attempting to play aggressive, but everyone at the table seem to expect me to, so I obliged. I won something like the first five pots at the final table. It was looking hopeless for the other players. Each remaining player trying their hardest to survive and move up a set in the winnings. I was more then happy, for I had secured a place in the winnings, a career first. I was thrilled. I waited for the table to be brought smaller by the dismissal of winners. I had no idea where I would finish, but I already felt like a winner. I was having fun, I was dominating, and there was hardly anyone that could threaten me. I did not think I was going to win the whole thing. I was merely just playing each hand and the final results would fend for themselves.

The last hand I want to tell you about is not a pot I won. There were three players remaining. One of them I had played on a previous day and the other reminded me of one of my uncles. The more intimidated of the two, not my uncle, had this going for him. I recalled he played well in another tournament and he had the biggest of the two stacks. He had not went over the top of me all day, until this one hand. He went all in. That was a big raise and demanded that i consider it. If I lost this pot, it could hurt my lead and really open up some holes. I considered how he had played with me this day. He had never done this before. So what hand would prompt this change. I could only think of AA or KK. I looked at my cards. Oh my goodness they were nice. I was holding AK. I had not gotten them all night and here I was with some poor fool all-in. I had a game plan for situations like this. I had seen professional players, like that brother and sister team of Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, lay down just such hands. They were players I admired and I knew i better. I throw open my hand and in the process said "no". The player went white at the sight of my cards. He had to be reminded by the other remaining player that I had said no and did not call. He was relieved. I later found out from the dealer that he was holding A4 of hearts and I would have been a huge favorite in that hand. But everyone I talked with after the tournament said good lay down, huge lay down. I liked it and it did not hurt me. That was the key. I later took that player out with me holding KK.

The final player had such a short stack, he wanted to cut a deal. I did not want to hear that, but when he offered me $1,000 and the original take being $1,100, I took it, with the little voice of David in my ear, saying "take it Trevor, take it". I would have been happy to continue playing, but being the champion of the tournament and the recipient of a $1,000 birthday present, made the conclusion of the night a good one.