Bracelet #2
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - Brandon Cantu
In a previous blog, I mentioned that my second place finish was not going to be the highlight of my 2009 World Series of Poker and greater things would be coming. Less than a week later, I was final tabling my second consecutive event and making a run at my 2009 goals; to secure sponsorship and to win a major tournament. This was my chance to build a legacy and to receive respect from my peers as a top-level player.
I will admit it right off the bat – PLO 8-or-better is not by best game. As a matter of fact, I needed to study the board for an extended period of time to see where I was at every once in a while. However, I know how to play the game and I was able to roll through this event in similar fashion to my Bay 101 WPT title. Though I consider myself very competitive, looking at the final table, Lee Watkinson and a French player, Mathieu Jacqmin, were clearly the best players. I don’t think that is very debatable.
I was feeling pretty good throughout the entire event. On Day 2, I was at $1 million in chips and had about 33% of the total chips in play. Going into the final table, I was still sitting in first place with $1.1 million in chips and was still pushing hard. At one point, I started to slide a bit.
I then switched gears and waited for premium hands and the right spots to press. With patience and some good play, I reached my second Heads-Up for a bracelet spot, in under a week. At this time, I knew I had to close.
Heads-up play started with Watkinson as massive chip leader. Lee had about $2.5 million to my $900k. I even got down to about $600k at one point. My strategy was to chip away, gain some momentum and work my way back into it. I slowly grew my stack to $1.5 million and from there I was ready for the kill. I WON. I ended up taking it down for my second WSOP bracelet!!! It couldn’t feel better. Money comes and goes, but bracelets can never be taken away from you.
I was surrounded by my great family and friends; Uncle Mike, Grandpa Ron, Esther Taylor, Gavin Smith, Devo, Rick Fuller and many more. Thanks to everyone for all the support.
Looking back, things worked out interestingly for me. Based on my experience and skills, I should have won Event #39 $1,500 NLH event and not the PLO 8-or-Better. Battling against Lee Watkinson, who is just an amazing player, in an event that I am not as strong in, was not the ideal situation. It all worked out though. Success can be measured in subjective levels. For me, it is not all about measuring final tables. Rather, it is calculated by setting my goals and subsequently focusing and working hard to achieve them.
I am playing well. I am feeling good. Life is pretty good right now.
Brandon Cantu
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Tags: Bracelet, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, WPT, WSOP
July 14th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Wow, way to go bro…loose call last year during the WSOP with the 10-5 off…LOL..nice playing to get another bracelet…I indeed will be there one day rest assured…