The Half Chip Comeback

Have you ever heard the saying, "All you need is a chip and a chair"? This saying pertains to poker and poker tournaments, suggesting that as long as you have a chip in front of you, anything is possible. We have all been the short or little stack at a tournament at one time or another and have come back to win it all.

I recently met a man who told me an amazing tournament story. We will call him "Mr. M" for privacy purposes. Mr. M was playing a $50.00+ $5.00 No Limit Hold Em re-buy event at a strip casino in Las Vegas. Hours into the tournament, with the blinds at $1000/$2000, Mr. M is faced with QQ while in the Big Blind. Three players limp in before it's his turn to bet, so he 3 bets it, and gets 1 caller. He is happy to see a flop of Q102 come off, and even happier to see his opponent raise all in before him. Mr. M quickly calls. They turn their cards up, his opponent is drawing with JK to an open ended straight (Mr. M is holding QQQ vs. his opponents 10JQK draw for an ace or a 9). A 7 on the turn almost ensures Mr. M's win. Yet the river brings a 9 off to make his opponent's straight draw and leave his QQQ dead in the water.

This beat left Mr. M with one 500 chip to be forced in on the small blind the very next hand. With the blinds still $1000/$2000, that's half of a chip! He is very disappointed to have lost the last hand, and now he is all in and staring down at 52 off suit! He collects his belongings and gets ready to leave the tournament. The flop comes off 552, to make him a full house out the gate. Needless to say he takes down the pot of 4k for his portion of being all in.

In the following round he waits a few hands and gets AK suited in later position, moving all in again pre-flop. A flop of KK gives him the win and now he has a stack to play with again. I cannot recap every single hand he won from there on out because there were many. Very soon he was chip leader. Mr. M made the final table and crushed the competition, just dominating his opponents with good play.

Mr. M went from having half of the small blind to taking home first place and a prize of $5,000. As always in poker, luck played a role for Mr. M when he was dealt the 52 and hit a full house on the flop, but after that his skill came back into play and he did the rest.

Having this happen is a poker player's pipe dream. I know that every time I am small stack at a tournament, I still have hope, as in the "chip and a chair" saying. Mr. M's story of coming back from nothing to win the whole enchilada reassures me that it CAN happen, and to never give up. Chan always says "This is no limit baby", and that it is. Anything can happen as long as you have chips (or a half chip) in front of you.

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