I’m having trouble finding the motivation to write much about it, but on Friday I experienced the bitter disappointment of finishing 24th in Wednesday’s $1500 Event at the World Series.  My hopes were sky high entering play that day.  Unfortunately, they were quickly dashed.

Late on Thursday, I held the chip lead with approximately 30 players left and quite deliberately and consciously decided to go into lockdown mode.  Alas, I was then dealt a series of strong hands.  I opened all of them and was three-bet each time.  When one player chose to three-bet me for the third consecutive time, I had seen enough.  I made an ego-driven four-bet jam with AQs and couldn’t suck out against QQ.  I therefore entered Day 3 only 10th out of 25 remaining players.

Still, I woke up on Friday feeling more than merely determined and hopeful.  I earnestly expected that I would play my best poker and proceed at least to the final table.  Finishing 24th did not seem like it was in the realm of possibility.  Things went badly from the start.  My stack blinded its way down to below average, at which point I made my move.

My bustout hand was played properly.  I lost a coin flip that was worth something like $80,000 in equity.  I was catatonic for the next 30 minutes–I collected approximately $18,000, but it may as well have been Monopoly money—the teller went through the painstaking process of counting out each and every bill in front of me, but my mind was elsewhere.  She could have shorted me ten dimes and I wouldn’t have known the difference.

Once some feeling came back I was absolutely despondent.  Getting into position to win a WSOP Event is beyond difficult.  It takes a great deal of luck and perseverance, this was my first true crack at a bracelet since 2007.  Watching this kind of opportunity go to waste is very painful.

One positive thing I took away from the experience was the discovery that I have quite a number of real friends in the poker community.  I was touched by the number of people who were earnestly rooting for me to win.  I had friends on the rail at various stages of the tournament, numerous well-wishers in the hallway on my breaks, and a couple of my best poker friends were even there to console me in the immediate aftermath of my bustout.

I had a great night out on Saturday.  I managed to experience about eight straight hours of quality house music, and I danced like a madman.  Catharsis.

I’m done with multitable tournaments until the 2010 WSOP Main Event and will head home on Wednesday morning.  I can honestly say that this trip home is the most highly anticipated one I’ve had in all five years I’ve been doing this.  I can’t wait to walk through my front door on Wednesday Night to receive a hug from Janeen and a full frontal assault from Ruthie.