My deep (short-stacked) run in the MSPT

What an awesome week. Bryan and I truly had no idea what kind of turnout to expect at the Minnesota State Poker Tour event at Grand Casino Mille Lacs last week, because A.) our magazine is still relatively new (8 months), B.) the MSPT is still BRAND new (2nd event), and C.) the economy sucks, and not as many players are buying in for $250 and/or $1,100.

Well, the qualifier numbers at Mille Lacs wound up crushing the qualifier numbers from Canterbury in December, and it sounds like everybody loved the Main Event structure. Bryan and I are thrilled, because we obviously founded the MSPT, but hats off to the GC Mille Lacs tournament staff for running a great event. Once MSPT week begins, the casino runs the show, and there were hardly any hiccups last week.

Jeremy Dresch has now won three huge tournaments since October (two HPTs and an MSPT), as well as final table at the Fall Poker Classic Main Event. The dude is sick.

As Dresch and company redrew for final table seats, I couldn’t help stare at his massive stack. Some might call this “chip envy.”

Many of you who visit this website and read Minnesota Poker Magazine on a regular basis have probably seen Bryan and I out and about, covering tournaments and chatting with players. Bryan is obviously a fairly well-known player around Minnesota, because he used to play the local circuit regularly, as well as make trips to Vegas for tournaments. He also plays in most of the local $1k events.

I, on the other hand, have always been the “railbird” over the last few months. I’d been dying to finally dive into a big, live tournament and splash around, but with a small bankroll and millions of work-related things going on, I simply was never able to.

I’m sure a lot of local players probably didn’t even know I played poker!

I played a few HPT events back in 2006, and I’ve played a smattering of local tournaments at Canterbury, Running Aces, Northern Lights, GC Mille Lacs, etc. over the past few years. But I play almost primarily online. $30 and $50 sit ‘n go’s, to be exact (you can Sharkscope me for proof – “Phabulous” on Full Tilt).

After qualifying for the Main Event via $250 satellite on Valentine’s Day, I wound up with probably the best table draw in the entire room on day 1. There were 3-4 solid, tight players at the table, and 4-5 calling station-types. My plan was to feel things out for the first two levels, then start putting pressure on the tight players while pot-controlling the ’stations.

Of course, this plan completely blew up after about three hours, when I ran QQ into KK (folded on a dry, 9-high board), then AJ into AQ against one of the calling stations (on a dry, A-high board), and a couple other cooler-type spots.

I officially slipped under 10 big blinds for the first time around level 6 (300/600 w/ 75 ante), and at one point I was under the gun with $5,000 chips with the blinds at $600/$1200 and a $100 ante. I shoved blind, hoping for any semblance of fold equity, and somehow bought the blinds. On the next hand, I received a walk in the big blind. Two hands later, I was moved to a new table and doubled through Steve Buettner (finished 6th) just before the end of day 1 to FINALLY move above the starting stack of $15k for the first time all tournament (went into day 2 with like $25k).

On day 2, I wound up sitting with Mark Dunbar to my right and Bev Paulson (3rd place) and Tim Votava to my left for much of the day. John Morgan and Alec Anderson sat on the other end of the table. My plan was to 3-bet shove on Dunbar’s late position raises (likes to make a lot of cutoff/button raises) while I still had 15-18bb or so. I successfully re-stole once, but eventually dwindled down to 9 or 10bb again, thus leaving me with ZERO fold equity on a 3-bet all-in.

Anyhow, I somehow managed to work a stack that was anywhere between 5 and 10bb for approximately three hours on day one, and for four or five more hours on day two. The only time I got my money in bad (until the end) was right before level 11 (blinds about to be 1500/3000), when I shoved 16k w/ K5s. John Morgan looked me up with KJ, but I spiked a 5 to stay alive.

Ideally, I wanted to amass a larger stack so I could play a more “sophisticated” game. But that simply never happened.

I eventually grinded all the way down to the money bubble, then to 15th place, virtually never picking up any playable hands on day 2 (OK, I picked up AK once and KK, but bought the blinds both times). And I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I thought to myself, while nursing a short stack, “if action folds to me, I’m all in with any two cards,” only to have somebody open raise in front, then get snapped off by KK or AA to my left. Lucky.

My stack never grew beyond $35k, until the money bubble burst (I think I sniffed $45k for a couple hands w/ blinds at 3,000/6,000, but busted a few hands later). I think playing so many SNGs online definitely helped me play a short stack for so long. I feel like I have a really strong sense of “push/fold” poker, and where to draw the line in terms of fold equity.

Can’t wait for the next MSPT event at Running Aces…

Phil Mackey is a sports radio personality at 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. He's also the editor and publisher of Minnesota Poker Magazine, and the co-founder of the Minnesota State Poker Tour. Contact Phil at phil@mnpokermag.com