It Gets Sick At The UFC Poker $4500 UFC 115 VIP Event Package

The Ultimate Fighting Championships may be known for its fighting, but they also have a poker room at UFC Poker. Nice thing about UFC Poker is that everything is for free. When you open an account, they give you points which you can play either in tournaments or ring games, and convert your points winnings to cash or to prizes. They have tourneys giving out BluRay DVD Players, Tapout gift certificates, Nintendo Wii, UFC DVD collections, and event tickets and a VIP package for UFC events.

One particular tournament UFC Poker hosted was a chance to win a $4500 VIP Event Package to the already sold out UFC 115: Franklin vs Liddell in Vancouver, Canada. Only first place will win the package which includes tickets to the UFC event, two nights hotel stay, and even a budget for a plane ride, depending on where you're coming from.

1949 players signed up for the event. 270 would be considered in the money and would earn points credited to their account. But, of course, the prize to play for would be the UFC 115 VIP Event package.

I joined the tournament and did pretty well. I got some lucky hands on my SB and BB that paid off well, including a 72 on my BB that flopped a full house, and a 68 diamonds that made straight flush to 9. My statistics were also pretty impressive, winning 68% on showdowns, and folding preflop 52% of the time. Tight, aggressive and getting paid when hitting it.

I was sitting on 50K+ in chips, ranked somewhere in 16th overall and a bit above the average, and the blinds at 800/1600 with antes of 200.

I raised from the button to 6K with AQ suited clubs, and the small stack BB pushed 12K all-in. I made the call, and he showed Q4off. I had him dominated. But the unkind flop flashed 244, giving him a set, and crippling my stack to around 40K. "Nice hand," I say. And to myself, I whisper - "Ill get you later." SICK!

The following hand I had KK at the cutoff with one caller before me, and I pushed all-in. SB folds, BB folds, and the one caller went into the tank and eventually called me with 27K in chips, probably thinking I was trying to make a play after losing the hand. He had K9 off. Obviously, I am a dominating favorite. The flop came KJ10, giving me a set against his top pair, and looking good. A 2 on the turn made me 90% to win it, but a Q on the river gave him a straight and put my chips to around 12K. "Nice hand," I say. But deep inside - SICK!

The next hand - and yes, these are all in succession. Two callers before me, and I'm sitting on black rocket AsAc and push all-in. This time I deserve to win. The table thinks I'm tilting. The BB calls and one caller before me calls. Flop comes Ks7dAh. With my set, I'm thinking triple up finally. BB makes a play and puts his remaining 9K in, and the other calls the pot odds. BB shows KcJh off and the other guy shows Ad3d. Turn 8d and river 2d. The ass-wipe with the Ad3d makes the nut flush. "Wow" is all I could say. SICK!

I bust out at 33rd, making around 3000+ points, but still SICK! Those are the hands that are supposed to make me win these tournaments.

Everyone at the table is just overwhelmed at how unlucky I was, losing all those chips in three hands with what was clearly the best hands preflop. All I can say is - SICK! I must've pissed off the poker gods for them to treat me that bad. But whatever.

I've already accepted that there are sick things in poker, and there are idiots who get lucky, and there are those of us who know better and have the composure to still be a gentleman at the table and say "nice hand" and "good game" and stay away from tilting. I leave the table calmly, wish luck to the other players, shake their hands, but maybe somewhere in the parking lot, I flick a finger to the sky.