Lone Rhino Snatches Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory in PokerStars WBCOOP 2008

Had a great run during yesterday’s WBCOOP 2008 NLHE Qualifier, but due to a sudden and unexpected case of the Dumb Ass, I busted out in 84th place – 12 spots from a qualifying ticket to the finals. (The top 72 made the cut.)

The tournament started with 559 total players. At my first table assignment, I had Bryan “The Icon” Micon seated to my left. Micon, 30, from Las Vegas, Nevada, is best known for a deep run in the 2006 WSOP Main Event where he entertained ESPN and the international viewing audience with an impromptu Michael Jackson “Thriller” dance after winning a large pot. He’s since gone on to earn over $250,000 in tournament play, and is one of the founders of NeverWinPoker.com a poker news and uncensored poker forum, complete with downloadable podcasts for your listening pleasure.

During the ninth hand (Level 1 – 10/20 blinds) Bryan woke up to find pocket aces (Ah Ac) and raised from middle position to 100. Three players called and the flop came Qs 6h 3h. The first two players checked and Micon bet 333. The bet of 333 causes one fold, one call and then a raise from the fourth player to 740. Micon calls the raise and the player next to him (holding 3d 3c) shoves for his remaining 1660. The player next to act shoves his remaining 1650 (he’s got Ad Qc) and Micon pushes in his stack of 1660. The Turn is a 2h and the River shows a Ts. Micon and the other guy lose to the set of threes and finish the tournament in 542nd and 543rd place respectively.

The Tao of Poker’s Dr. Pauly finished in 545th place and two of our own PokerNews bloggers, Davega and mguerrera finished in 327th and 364th position.

I played ABC poker for the first two hours, ending the first break in 65th place. With 265 left to go I was holding onto 30th place and from 172 players remaining until 123 were left I hovered between 30-40th place. At one point I luckboxed my way to 16th out of 120.

With over 19,000 in chips and the blinds and antes rising fast, the steals, re-steals and positional play began to dominate the action. At this point I could have folded my way into the top 72, but I stupidly dropped that idea.

And that’s when things started to go bad for Lone Rhino.

Stay tuned for more…