Flopping quads works for me

There were 121 players (counting single re-entrants) who paid $160 to enter the Saturday $12,000 guaranteed tournament at the Horseshoe Tunica. This has 30-minute levels and a Patience Factor of more than 10, so a good tournament for a nit like me.

When there were eight of us left, we decided to chop (divide the prize money) for $1562 each. All of us had playable stacks, so the game would begin to devolve into a crap shoot -- who would get lucky at the right time. I was third in chips -- usually that's not the case -- so it felt good not to have to play short-stack ninja.

Cute hand: When the blinds were 4000/2000/400, it folded to me in the small blind. I bet 12,000, and a young guy called from the big blind. The flop was: ♥6 ♥2 ♦2. I bet a modest 10,000 and the young man called. The turn was the ♦J. I checked and the kid bet 20,000 and I called. The river was the ♠J and I led out for 25,000. The big blind went away and I turned over ♠2 ♣2 for the flopped quads. Oh, if he had only had a jack, I would have taken his stack. In retrospect, I should check the river and let him bet at it.

Funny story: At table 22 just next to mine, after about an hour of play, a player was knocked out. "Don't call out 'Seat open on 22' until I walk away," said the player. "It's too embarrassing."

"Okay, said the dealer," then yelled out: "Player down on 22!!"