Day 2

Chuck P. enters Day 2 of the tournament with 76k in chips. The field has been narrowed down to 54 players and only the top 30 will be in the money. A first place prize of 127,500 has everyone seeing stars. This tournament is the biggest to date in Colorado history. Blinds are at 1,500-3,000 with 500 antes and early on Chuck folds his first few hands. At the current levels, it will cost 9,500 every 10 hands. Chuck shoves all-in and is able to up his stack to 84,000. There are two big stacks at Chuck's table. 15 minutes later and we are at our first break of the day and only 40 players remain. 10 more to go before a payday. Play has slowed to a crawl as players are looking around waiting for short-stacks to be eliminated.

Back in Aurora, news trickles fast that Chuck is getting close to the money and all players at the Frontier Club (Chuck plays here a lot, I mean a lot) go into a frenzy over the news. The next 30 minutes, Chuck sees nothing in the way of premium cards and folds hand after hand. Chuck is now down to 65,000 and we're down to 35 players. This is slower than paint peeling off of the wall, another 30 pass and Chuck is able to pick up a pot to keep his stack at 30k but the blinds have risen to 2000-4000 with 1000 antes. The time is over for waiting on premo-hands, it's time to shove, all-in that is. Chuck continues to be patient, the crowd at Frontier ask me for updates and I walk outside to check my phone for updates. Down to 32 now, only 2 more and Chuck is not the shortest stack in the tournament. There are shorter-stacks and these players play the wait game as well. Who will last longer for the money? Will Chuck make it or will he be the bubble?

Again Chuck shoves all-in and is able to pick up a pot and maintain his stack around 24k. Blinds are now 2,500-5,000 / ?ante. Less than 10 times the big blind and the danger zone is approaching. A rash of short-stacks bust out and Poker Across America's Chuck P. has made it into the money and only 25 players remain. Chewey's prop bets are intact and Chuck could make the final table. Chewey has already won on one of his bets for the day, Thanks-Chuck! With blinds approaching astronomical levels, Chuck is in the small blind and has to move all-in for the last of his chips with A-10, not a bad hand at all. However, the big blind turns over A,J. Chuck will need that 10 to take the pt and prolong his quest for the final table. The board completely misses and Chuck is out in 19th place. News reaches the Frontier crowd and a loud round of praise is offered up by Chuck's fellow poker friends.

On behalf of the PAA team, Good Job and Congrats Chuck! one of the big pointers/lessons learned from this tournament include making sure that you act in turn and never fold/show your hand out of turn. Why? because you can get penalized and Chuck did get penalized by revealing QQ before an opponent finshed making his call. Chuck was so excited to see the call and his reaction was to quickly show his hand. As a result, Chuck had to sit out the next 10 hands and Chuck had to be blinded out for 5,000 in chips. Although, this was a blessing in that Chuck would not be eliminated in the next 10 hands; Chuck's momentum was clearly stopped and the once red-hot Chuck express was sent to the rail for 10 hands. Could Chuck have picked up more chips in the next 10 hands or could Chuck have went all-in and got sucked-out on? I don't know, but make sure YOU learn never to act out of turn and to act only when it's your turn- otherwise, you too will be sent to the rail. Another thing that is needed to be successful in tournament poker is patience. You can't play every hand and expect to make it deep because even the most aggressive players have to fold occasionally. Chuck did an excellent job of being patient throughout the Heartland Poker Tour events in Colorado. I'm pretty patient but Chuck is the most patient of our bunch. I leave you with this thought: you can't play every hand but you can't fold every hand. Poker is luck and skill, which are you?

Chewey will embark on his next trip to the Tunica, MS area Oct 21-22 for a few small tournaments/wedding, no- not Chewey's wedding, a friend's wedding...... Consider this a scrimmage trip for Chewey along with some much needed r & r.

See you at the tables,
Chewey