Well, I was hoping that anyone else who might have been there would chip in with the story of my first-round disaster in August, but I'll fire away anyway. This will sound like whining, but it's certainly
not intended as such.
An absolute avalanche of horrible cards. By hand 11 I'd won twice. Most were betting small (including me) so I wasn't in terrible shape. On my next-to-last button pass, betting last, I shoved enough out to become BR2 with a win and actually got a BJ. Then Lady Luck took another huge squat over me and everyone slowly passed me by.
Hand 20 (of 21) was another button-pass hand. I went all-in after everyone else bet small enough to allow me to go from Worst to First by a wee bit. This was the second hand of a "two-step exit", and of course Step 1 had gotten crushed. The reward for such bravado was 10-5 v. dealer Ace. Dealer didn't have the BJ, I take the hit and get a 5! Unfortunately, he did have a nine for the push and I'm still low man going into the final hand.
Last hand, two players in front of me bet huge, saving a little bit, so I held back one more chip than either of them and shoved out the rest. This gave me some hope as it was enough to be one of the three advancing players if I could get a half or full swing over a few folks (one guy was way out of reach). My hard 20 looked mighty good until I realized that two of my opponents got BJ and a hard 20. That was the end of me.
"Landlord" was at my table, it was rather enjoyable to listen to his non-stop chatter throughout the entire game. His cards weren't a whole lot better than mine, so he joined me in being sent to the rail. Also enjoyed playing against Helen Shipp, who
did advance (she got the BJ on the final hand).
All I can say is - some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant.
