Joey imagined this was what it was like when a pilot dropped a bomb onto an enemy army.

 

 

Devastation, destruction, hundreds, thousands wiped out. Yet, all the pilot did was press a little button, just like when you switch on the radio. It turns out that mass destruction in poker can be just as easy as long as your opponents are weak, and you have a heavy bomb at your disposal, or in this case, a heavy chip stack.

 

 

8 players left.

 

 

7 players left.

 

 

6 players left.

 

The chip disparity between chip leader Joey and 2nd place was 4x. That meant his opponent needed to win 3 all-ins versus him to win. The way things were going today, 2nd place himself held no hope for that, not to mention the other players. It became a fight for silver and bronze.

 

Similar to how players are tentative during the bubble phase, there's usually a similar situation at final tables, albeit to a lesser degree. The culprit is the upward scaling of the typical payout structure in most tournaments. Customarily, the majority of winnings would be taken by the top positions with only breadcrumbs going to those who finished at the bottom of the money positions. This scale was usually even more drastic in smaller tournaments.

 

First place might win 25-50% of the entire prize pool. Second might win around half of that. Third might win about 2/3 of second, and the remaining prizes would similarly taper off. So there was a huge difference between finishing 9th and 5th, or 5th and 2nd. As a result, players played hesitantly in order to avoid getting knocked out. Rather than playing to win, most played not to lose. Against a behemoth like Joey, all they could do was get out of his way.

 

For Joey, it was shooting fish in a barrel. At this point, if anyone dared to play against him, he knew they had to have a real hand. Bluffing a stack that big was foolish. He had so many chips that he could easily afford to call them, even if he knew he couldn't win and his only interest was in seeing their cards; The cost to him was that negligible. Everyone had already been lapped by him and they knew it. They were just going through the motions now.

 

After some time, it was only him and one survivor. Joey still had a massive lead in chips, but he knew that in heads up, he still had to be cautious. It wasn't unheard of to see huge come from behind victories in these situations.

 

"All in."

 

"Call."

 

Joey flipped over [10♥ 10♣]. His opponent had [A♥ K♠]. It was a typical all-in hold 'em hand of a pair versus two overcards. This was a coinflip situation where the odds ran pretty close. Here, Joey was a 57% favorite. As the board ran out, it came low. His opponent didn't make a pair and Joey's tens held up. He won the tournament. 

 

Hooray. In small tournaments like this, there were no reporters, no photographers, and no champagne. The tournament director barely said a cursory "Congratulations" before walking Joey over to the cage to pick up his winnings: $500. It wasn't much, but it was his first tournament victory. For him, this was a big moment.

 

He looked at the cash in his hand and smiled because he knew his first big challenge had been cleared. He had taken one step onto the path of controlling his ability. Once he could fully control it, to manipulate it at will...

 

Joey shook his head. 'Who knows how long that'll take. Don't get ahead of yourself. Focus on what's directly in front for now.' He looked at the rest of the club. There were many cash games going now. 'Should I go play?' 

 

He reviewed his mental condition. Although he'd successfully gotten through the tournament, he still felt a bit tired. He knew that if he played, after an hour or two, he'd have to quit. It wasn't worth joining a new table and making the time investment to adjust, only to have to leave once he actually settled in.

 

In many respects, he was still the weak one when compared to everyone else. To the other players, the tournament was just a small warm up. After the tournament, they had no problem playing cash games the entire day. Some even played for days at a time without sleeping. Meanwhile, Joey had to work hard to avoid passing out during one small tournament. He wasn't upset though because he saw the potential of his ability. Now, it was just about working hard on improving the weaknesses.

 

It was time to go home. Joey went over and chatted with Andrew for a few minutes. Andrew was surprised that Joey had won, especially with what happened in the last tournament. However, he didn't know anything about Joey's condition so he just assumed he was sick last time. Winning one tournament doesn't mean much either. A real winner shows results consistently, winning month after month. In the short term, luck is king, but in the long term, skill is emperor.

 

Before leaving, Joey glimpsed at the 10-20 table. He wondered how long it would take for him to grow his bankroll to play there safely. He also noticed Ellie, with her conspicuous blue hair, crushing the game today.

 

She had the largest stack at the table, but just being the leader wasn't enough for her. She decided to stack the chips in the shape of an intricate Navy warship like they were Legos. When she was in a hand, she would even slide out a stack of chips from the front of the ship to the center of the table, like it was launching a torpedo into the pot.

 

'I guess you can be an artist at anything.' Joey still had a lot to learn about the art of poker, but right now he just wanted to go home and take a nap. Stepping outside, there was no snowstorm this time. Bright skies, shining sun, no clouds in sight except far off in the distance. His trip home was calm and enjoyable.

 

Man can't control the weather, only how he reacts to it. Whether rain or shine, as long as you keep walking to your destination, you'll eventually arrive where you need to be.