Wheeee….so Al is the first one of the broggers trying to send x bloggers to the WSOP 2007…I’m not signed up yet, as I’m waiting for the pw…if you’ve got a pokerblog and want to “donate” too…check out the details below and/or visit Al for more…

What can I say…an interesting session today. Battled with donks back and forth and they got the best of me most of the time. Lost two headsup matches – the usual. No need to play anymore HU for the day as I can’t catch a break to save my very soul. I play a little six handed SnG trying to blow off some steam. That works out pretty nicely, I get down to headsup, but I’m down 1:4 in chips. Thirty hands later I’m the winner. Wheee…a W.

After that, I jumped into a Triple Shootout to the sunday million. The first two tables are mostly a blur.

What stood out on the second table was my headsup opponent. He took out three players (including one that took out the first player), so we went into HU with me being at 1:3 in chips. He started to bleed chips though as I made one “great call” after the other and caught him bluffing and/or overplaying his hand time and time again. After a few short hands I was the chipleader. I had the chance to bust him when I moved in on him with A6 he calls with A4…chop…a few hands later I took him out though to advance to the finals.

Sitting at the final table I promised myself to not get involved unless I had a monster. I kept my promise for quite a long time until one player busted and I finally started to pick up some hands. I was still down to 1k in chips and as it’s a turbo it was make or break time. I moved in with 55 and the BB called me, after some deliberation, with QJo…alrighty…let’s not get unlucky here…5 on the flop…wheeee….so I double through and pick up some pots after that. Soon enough I’m the new chipleader and I try to knock out a shorty. I raise it preflop and instead of pushing, what I hoped he’d do, he calls half his stack…so he’s basically commited…hmm….I hold KsQs…flop comes down KJT rainbow…he pushes…now I’m sitting there with an open-ender and top pair and he could have any two…so I instacall….he shows? Q9o….well played sir, but wait, there are still cards to come. turn Q….river A…chop it…I’ll take that, but how come he flops the joint with a dominated hand there, damn it…that hand comes back to haunt me later on, don’t worry. I fold fold fold and the chopbox is picking up steam, he raises relentlessly and even when he get’s called he shows up with the best hand. Soon enough he’s the chipleader, there’s one shorter player and I’m in third. Then the hand comes up. Boy, I wish I would have just folded it, lol…then again…four-handed? Who am I kidding.

I look down at AKo in the BB and the chopbox comes in for the standard raise on the button. He got me covered by 14 chips…and I honestly think about pushing…but wait…why should I do that when there is one shorter player. Then again, only top two pay (third is bubble winning 2$ lol). Let’s just see a flop and see what happens. Flop comes down K98 with two clubs (I got the Ac). I think about it and there’s no way I think I’m behind here…if he got lucky (like he did on the hand against me and two hands later against another player K9 vs AK)…well..then at least I have a good rant on my hands. So I push and he insta-calls showing? 99…thank you very much…turn club..river blank and I’m out in fourth. So friggin sick. Yes, it’s a coinflip. Yes, I didn’t need to get involved (although with the 5min levels you gotta play some if you got some). So I’m still sitting here, puzzled. He makes a play from the button, so do I worry about a big hand here, not necessarily. I decide to make the call, leaving me slightly over 1.7k (blinds 100/200). I’m hitting the flop TPTK + backdoor flush draw. Should I check there? Now he pushes anyway so no way I’m getting away from that hand in that spot or am I supposed to believe that I’m behind against a button-standard-raise-range here? – I didn’t think so. So, was he lucky? Yes. Was I unlucky? Yes. Oh well…that’s the way it is. Story of my day. Played 204 hands of flawless poker, well, 203 if you discount the last hand and I’m sitting here with a bad taste in my mouth. (And yes, he won the ticket, surprise surprise) So sick, I could almost feel the T$ in my account. Damn! I hate it when stuff like this happens on the bubble…especially after kicking butt for 1.5hours and the chance to makes 215$ out of 2$ so close, so close and in such a tourney it’s not the money that stings (pretty obvious at a buyin of 2$), it’s the fact that you got so far and then crapped out of it. Sickening…feels like craping your pants right in front of the toilet door. I’m off to cry myself to sleep now…j/k…nn 😉

Started the poker day by playing some headsup, only three matches, two Ws. Tonight, I saw that Kat was hosting a nice donkfest, errm rebuy-tourney on FullTilt. The only problem, although it’s just a 1+1$ tourney, I’m busto at FullTilt. At least I was until tonight…redeposited some dough and off to the races.

The first table was the usual crazy ass rebuy style. Push push push. I did just that with any decent hand and it worked out pretty good. Although I had to rebuy after the first hand I played. AK vs small pair…K on the flop…but set for the opposition. After that I didn’t rebuy anymore…didn’t have to. So I didn’t make it quite to the top of the rebuy rank with a measly three rebuys (one to start with the double-stack and one after the AK hand).

The first hour is a blur, although I had some nice hands and got lucky sometimes too (especially in the A9 vs AJ hand…J on the flop…turn and river 9…wheee) – sorry Pokerwolf that you were my personal ATM early on. The sickest hand of the first hour was the following though – boy, never before did I wish to hold the hammer so badly 😉

At the first break I was sitting pretty, third in chips.

The second hour is a blur too, I didn’t take notes or anything, the only thing I remember though is that almost every other flop was a hammer flop (72x, 22x, 77x, 772, 722) – unreal, I’ve never before seen so many hammer flops in my life. I didn’t even need to mention that I didn’t have a hammer in any of those hands. One hand that sticks out was the following, money went in on the flop…so he was drawing slim to a queen or jack for the gutter ball…turn gutter ball:

After that I was able to recover pretty quickly, but just before the second break I managed to lose a coinflip AJ vs 44 to lose around 5k…so at the second break I was sitting in 9th (of 10) on a 7.5k stack…

The next minutes are all about steal, resteal and steal some more and we finally made it to the final table:

Two hands stick out in my mind on the final table…shortstacked mookie pushing in with 88…one raiser between me and him and I’m sitting there with JJ…two for one, cool…other player shows AA…no miracle for me…mookie busts out 9th and I’m down in chips again (although I’m still wondering how I didn’t go broke there).

Some steals and folds later and I look down at A10 on the button…one LP raiser preflop…and I decide to see a flop…it comes down 10 high and when he leads into me I thought: bs…so I push…wait…no, I misclick and only minraise leaving 1k behind…doesn’t matter though as he pushes over the top anyway…with the almighty powerful 96 s00ted for the four-flush…turn blank…river kills me…sigh…I guess I should have popped it preflop…then again…I can’t push all the time, just so that someone won’t get lucky on me 😉

Five final thoughts:

1. Why couldn’t it come heart heart one time if hearts need to come at all…I had the Ah damn it…

2. My read was correct…bs…didn’t hold up…all good and I guess it was payback as Pokerwolf was the one I sucked out on with the A9 vs AJ hand…so in the end it was the 1-1 for a draw..all good there…and at least he used the chips wisely to win the whole thing.

3. I’m really looking forward to see Waffles‘ recap, if he writes one, and what he’s got to say about his exit as bubble boy with yet another “beautiful” cold deck A7 vs AA…

4. Big shoutout to VinNay who single-handedly fueled our first table with a grand total of 18 rebuys. I guess his blog-addy runner-runner-rebuy is all too fitting 😉

5. Thanks again Kat for hosting, this was the best six bucks I’ve ever spent on 2.5h of pure donkerific poker fun 🙂

Today’s session had it all. From the unreal calls to the sickest beats, there was something for everyone. For once, although taking some sick beats, I still had the upper hand. Not bad…4-3 in the HU…sick sick sick exit in a one table SnG after laying down unreal hands…nice to see that there are three pairs 7 handed, especially nice to see that the best one didn’t win…lol…the usual…

After those SnGs, I took a shot at the new 16 player headsup ones. Nice format…basically win the first two and you’re ITM, win another one and you’re in the final…won the first three tables…lost the finals trip aces with a chance to boat up (12 outs) no g00t against third nut flush…oh well…I’m out…

…the ultimate donktastic payback, brought to you by dealers around the net. Coming to a table near you, soon!

*lol* Oh well…what can I say about today’s play, nothing much, same ol’ same ol’…at the usual donkey tables, the usual donkey play and the usual donk luck. Sometimes you sit there and ask yourself: Is this really it? Could this be all you’ll ever see? Then again you tell yourself that it’s part of the game and that longterm it won’t matter. It’s still tough though. The ultimate oxymoron of poker – short-term doesn’t matter. Well, it really doesn’t, but in a way it does.

I mean, it’s the way it is and I’m more and more at the point where I’m accepting it, it still stings though and in a way, without it, there wouldn’t be much to write about either. So, hey, happy go lucky donks, have fun…I’ll write about it and take my money back later…and then some. Thank you.

So…play a little this afternoon, won two headsup matches and got chased out of a shorthanded SnG by a runner runner flush with A4 s00ted despite preflop reraise, bet on the flop and on the turn. Oh well…at least he had 12 outs…and as usual runner runner goodness (TM) was there to save the day. All good, I’m still up a little…

Evening/night rolls around and it’s time to play the WWdN. Starting table is fine although I can’t catch anything. I drop a nice hammer from UTG and take down a nice pot after my flop bet. Then I run presto into AA…oh well presto can’t be gold everytime. I’m down to about 600 15 minutes in and I take a pot here and there, then double up with TPGK. I’m almost back at the starting stack when I catch some “nice hands” (AQ, AK, etc)…despite my standard preflop raises I always get at least one customer and sure as hell I can’t hit a flop. So I fold fold fold…down down down…shorty.

After the break I fold the SB and then push three hands in a row with AQ s00ted, A8o, and A9o…no customers…but at least I take down the blinds. Then I make a nice exit. I look down at Ah9h and decide not to push the one limper of the hand. Flop comes down jack high with two hearts…I check…he bets out, which represents one third of my remaining stack…so I decide to push…maybe he’ll lay it down….no such joy as he flopped TPGK with KJo…turn and river are blank…surprise surprise…and I exit in 30th place.

After that I should have called it a night, but I tried to get some more action. So, headsup it is. Match one…around fifty hands in…flop two pair…push…he got two overs and a runner runner flush draw…(is that even consider a real draw?! – lol, sure it is)…runner runner flush it is…cya.

Hmm…one more won’t hurt…I whip him around like a schoolboy and got him down to half his stack…he pushes preflop…I look down at two nines…call…flop all low…turn A…river unnecessary K…back to square one. I whip him around again and get him down to half the starting stack again…he wins some pots and we’re virtually even (me + 100 chips)…I raise preflop with A10 s00ted…he pushes…I call…he shows 77 for yet another flip….sevens hold up…surprise surprise…my exit comes a few hands later when the mighty A10 s00ted is no match for the even mightier A5 s00ted…how did it happen? You got one guess….awww…you already know the answer….runner runner baby! Nothing better than runner runner in the morning, runner runner in the evening….runner runner all night long…

So…I played some good poker today, made two mistakes (calling the rest of my chips off with KK when the lucksack turned three tens and calling all-in with 55 vs AA in the WWdN) and got unlucky here and there and everywhere…the usual. Stuck in the eternal circle of win some lose some, getting nowhere…I really need to get some more money online to take a shot at some of the bigger MTTs and/or some cashgames again as this whole SnG thing isn’t working for me, at least not atm…

Well, well, I didn’t feel like posting yesterday, so a big roundup today. Yesterday I got kicked in the junk, the usual, only won 1 out of 4 HU matches. These days I’m wondering: can I really win against donks without getting lucky? Or is it just the other way around: Can I really only win against donks without getting unlucky?

Who knows. As I said in one of my earlier posts this week, or was it at the end of last week, I wanted to go back and have a look at some of the matches to analyze my play. I didn’t dig too deep as it was pretty apparent that apart from the occasional slow play gone bad, which is sometimes necessary to get any chips in the middle, it’s not really “my fault”. I just got unlucky over and over again.

So, today I went at it again and the results were disheartening at least after the first two matches. The first two matches worked in my favour like a charm. I put the money in with the best and it held up. I took a break to get some fresh air nontheless and when I came back, shit hit the fan. First match after the break…I bet and bet and bet and he catches his two outer on the river. By that time it’s an insta-call for me as there’s too much money in the pot (and there’s not much point in folding down to less 200 chips). So the first L it is, surprise surprise. In the next match, my opponent doesn’t catch his two-outer on the river…no…he catches it on the turn after all the money went in. Nicely played sir. So I’m suddenly 2-2 and cursing my bad luck again. In the next match, it get’s even better. True, I broke one of the oldest “laws” (don’t go broke in an unraised pot), but should I really fear a monster here? No action preflop, I complete from the button with 75o…he checks. Flop comes down 3-K-5, he checks, I check…turn 5…now he wakes up and bets out small…I reraise him….he reraises me…now I’m trying to figure out what he could have…Kings? not really…3s…that could be a possibility..but I don’t think so…Kx…likely…5x…hmm…not all that likely…that would be another lovely case card on the turn there then. I push…he insta-calls with? 35…river 6 misses me oooooh so close….oh well…cold deck mountain…2-3.

After that I feel sick. Going 2-0 in the first run and now I’m stuck at 2-3. I feel like the Mavs in the 06 finals. Ouch. Next match…next bs…I value-bet my arse off and he calls like a champ, catching quads to beat my flush…trips to beat my two pair…and finally a flush to beat my set….nicely done, god damn it. 2-4.

After that, I felt even sicker. I decided to play two more and took them both down. Wheeeeeeeee. 4-4. I’ll leave it at that. Enough HU for the day, sick hands, sick results, treading water…paying rake like a champ. So, I fire up a Triple Shootout and the first table is a madhouse. One player shows bluff after bluff, but I don’t get involved with my monsters (62o, 38o, etc etc). Then my time comes and I connect with the board hard…and I get payed off. I’m the chipleader. Wheee….not for long. One player makes an, hmm how can I put it, interesting preflop call with 96 s000ted…one of his suit on the all overcard board is good enough to call my big bet….another one of his suit on the turn is good enough to call off the rest of his stack…well…another one of his suit on the river is enough to get the chips. VERY WELL played sir. Hat tip to the dealer. After that I’ve still got chips but run my AJ into AQ and that’s that.

Sick as I am, I play a little HORSE tourney. I don’t live to see the first HORSE though as people are running me down like crazy. Razz nearly broke me when a chasing donk caught three perfect cards on 5th-7th street…calling like a champ once again. I rebuild my stack in Stud, just to go busto in Stud8…well…four flush + 7 low draw on 5th street no g00t. Nice one dealer. Thanks for giving me a break, wait, not really. lol

So…finally…some fun times in the WWdN. I managed to make the best out of the few cards I was dealt. Played both the hammer and the velvet hammer (s00ted hammer) to perfection. Won two nice sized pots when my opponents laid it down on the river on scary looking boards. It really pays off to play the hammer like Aces or AK s00ted, depending on the situation 😉

Apart from those two hands, only four other stand out in the first hour. Kings…preflop raise…take down the blinds. JJ vs TT…reraise preflop takes it down…and AJ s00ted vs AQ s00ted…loses as expected. I’m stuck with just over 1200 chips there…one tricky play, which could have gone wrong – no doubt, works out beautifully and I’m heading into the break with slightly under 1.9k. What happened? I find AcKc in the SB and opt to limp along with the other two limpers. BB checks and we see a flop of AsXcXc…checks all around…turn is 10s…check..check…Kat bets out (Ace rag?!)…fold…I call…BB folds…river is a Xs…hmm…not quite what I wanted to see…oh well…I check…with every intention to check call…but Kat checks behind with Ace rag and I take it down…

After the break…I’m trying to see some flops cheaply, but I just can’t catch anything…not only do I fold fold fold, there’s not much of a decision to make either as I look at rag rag time and time again. Finally…really short…I look down at AQ…the first real hand since the break…one caller…shows A6 s00ted…board double pairs and I chop the pot. Wheeeee….damn it. Two or three hands later I’m forced to push in the BB with 35o (not much point in folding, which would put me down to 300 chips with the SB 100 in the next hand)….opponent shows Ace rag which is good enough to take it down…I exit in 21st place.

Oh well, nothing much I can do there, apart from sticking it in earlier…but tbh…even if I had done it, the result would have been the same (e.g. I hold A9 on the button, but a shorter player pushes…she’s been sitting there folding folding folding, so I’ve got a feeling that I’m dominated here and the caller infront of me doesn’t make me feel any better…I curse my decision once the board reads xx99…but I relax as the river brings the fourth heart to go with the shorties A10)…at least I had fun in the first hour with the hammer dropping and lively table chat…so I can’t fell bad about the WWdN. As for the day in total, just another day in low-limit junk-kick hell… 🙁

Well, played only two HU matches today and I’m starting to like it at the “new level” (I switched to the 10$ ones for now, until I get some under my belt and have a look closer look at those numbers, then it’s probably up one more level). Won both of those matches easily.

Tonight, it was time for the WWdN…due to whatever reason, it’s not the xyz invitational anymore, so I had to do with a description that I busted Wil last week. Fine with me, although I’m not InGoal, but Ingoal, ty 😉

The first table featured the blogfather himself and I had a hard time finding any playable hands. I folded into eternity for the first 30 minutes and when I tried to play a hand, well, in the words of tuff_fish “…ppl called me like crazy”.

So…besides folding, I played three noteworthy hands in the first hour. The first one was 99 vs 55 all-in preflop….someone raised preflop…I hoyed him back…he thought long and hard, stating that he thought his 55 was good, then pushed…my nines held up and I was up and running. Two hands later I find AQo…raise preflop…one caller…flop comes down ace high…I bet again…he folds…the third one was me holding AA in EP…I make it 4x…Iggy shoves…I call….he shows AJ…the rockets hold up. Nice…

So, after the first hour of played, things were looking up, but no all that long. Second hand after the break I find 88 in LP…button reraises me…I think hard…and I put him on A10-AJ here…so I push…insta-call…he shows AA…d’oh. A few hands later I find AQo…I pop it preflop, the same player that busted me last week (and who’s pretty short at that momemt) shoves…I call..he shows A10…nice…I see the ten in the window…then I realize that the JK is actually giving me the nuts…the turn J makes me sweat a little..but the river is kind…a nice little 3…so I’m back…fast forward a few orbits and I look down at 33 in the BB to a min-raise…hmm…could be AK…could be AA…let’s see a flop and try to hit the set…expensive at 400BB…but I’m half-way in…so let’s see it….flop 789…not what I wanted to see…check fold…I then donk off another portion of my stack…I look down at 66 UTG…normally I would pop it here…but I try to limp…flop comes down 3Q10 two hearts…he checks…I check…turn is 9h…he bets…I call…hmm….what was I thinking?…river…another low heart….he bets out small again…I make a crying call to see his 5h…he had Ks5h…damn…could I have played this hand any worse? Not really…first, pop it preflop and he most certainly goes away. Secondly fire on the flop…he most certainly goes away…thirdly…reraise on the turn…he most certainly goes away…that’s all.

So I’m getting desperately low in chips and just as the second break is about to roll around I’m dead last in chips…down to slightly below 400….damn. I look down at Ac3c UTG….I push…four callers….flopd Q3x…one guy bets out big…the others fold…he shows AQ…turn 3…boom headshot…I type in sorry and head into the second break…

As the blinds increase to 300/600 ante 50 after the break I’m not in that great a shape even after totally lucking out there. I fold Q8 in the BB and 35o in the SB…and i’m back to square one…with 1k…I wait until the blinds are about to hit me again to push in with the hammer…and looking at the screenshot now, still makes me laugh…what better way to exit than with the hammer rivering three deuces…but falling victim to flush over flush…lol…out in 16th….

Today was a rather slow day for me, nothing much going on, so time for some HU matches. Won 3 out of 4, easily. Some could have been much quicker (like 60 hands less), but people tend to suckout on me just as I’m about to finish them off. The record was a dude being down to 200…he doubled up…400…doubled up…800….doubled up 1600…yikes…now, even though he had the “better hand” two out of three times, I’m kind of entitled to win at least one there…lol…at least I felt like it. Oh well, beat him down again and finished him up.

After that, CC‘s thursday bash was about to start…now, I never played this one before as the starting time (without the DST) is too late, even for my crazy taste. A lot of familiar faces, kind of the smaller version of the WWdN, without all the n00bs…it was fun and I bounced all around the table, dropped a hammer or two…enjoyed myself. Only 15 runners meant that we were down to the final table just before the first break. At the final table two deciding hands came down.

I’m at the bottom of the pack and I look down at 99…the blinds are 75/150, one EP caller, I pop it to 600…button calls…BB calls…limper calls…not what I wanted to see…flop comes down 8 high…now my head screams push push push…then my head says…hmm…even if they’re all on overcards, you only got 1k behind and the pot is over 2k…so you’re laying someone 3:1 here…hmm…I check…and it’s checked around…turn J…now I know I’m screwed…I missed my chance to push on the flop…I guess, I could have taken it down…(the other hands were Js10s, KhQh, A10o)…oh well…down to 1k…grrr…slightly over an orbit later it’s time to exit…I look down at AKo…I push over the initial raiser…he calls…shows JJ…no help for me and I exit in 9th…oh well…not all that bad…I’m still wondering though what would have happened in the 99-hand if two things were different:

1. The caller on the button pushes over the top…I’m almost certain the other two will fold there with KQ and J10…I scoop the pot

2. I push on the flop…

Could have would have should have… 😉

Hehe…despite writing earlier on that I wasn’t going to play the WWdN, I did. I was still awake and felt like it, so why not?The tourney basically had everything. Joy and pain – the ultimate pain I might add, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I started the tourney out on a good note. The first big hand I played for all the marbles was 66 vs AK against Hoy…my sixes held up and I was up and running. The next big one was with 1010 against AQ…my opponent raised preflop…I reraised in position…he call…flop came 8-high with a pair, so I was positive I was ahead…he called nontheless, but luckily my hand held up. So I was sitting pretty and the rest of the first hour is a blurr…although there were two memorable occurances…I busted Wil…he was crippled by Mungo in a prior hand (see below…coolered KK vs AA) and he had to push with 250…someone behind him reraised…I put in the third race and we saw the flop headsup…my AK against his K2…my hand held up. The second memorable moment was a royal flush…

Within the next hour I witnessed all the joy and pain again…I folded hand after hand, picked up some pots with garbage…but mostly watched as cooler after cooler happened…KK vs AA again…QQ vs JJ…etc…it was carnage…then bubble time approached prior to the second break and I didn’t catch a hand…not a single one…I folded and folded and folded…we head into the second break and we’re still on the bubble…

The tourney continues after the break and the blinds are at 300/600 now…not a good thing if you’re looking at the stacks. I decide to make a move with the next good hand, if any. I get dealt AQ in the second hand after the break and make it 1800…one caller…hmm…not what I wanted…flop 776…hmmm…not really good…I put him on a pair here…I check…he pushes…oh well…there goes 1800….he shows 88…good fold. I’m down to slightly under 3k now and the blinds are about to hit me….74o in the BB…nice…fold…63o in the SB…hmm…nice…fold…

Oh well…so I’m sitting there with 14xx and I’m cursing my bad luck…then I look down at A10o…good enough to push…BB decides that 8xx more isn’t worth laying down A2o…oh well…2 on the flop…no ten for me on the turn…as it’s an Ace…river the case Ace…nice…so I’m the bubble boy with three aces…the same player that won the 88 vs AQ hand a few hands back raped me with Ace deucey…god damn it!!!

So…am I mad? Yes and no. I’m mad that I got unlucky on the bubble. Lost a flip and then got kicked in the junk by a dominated trash-hand …oh well…that’s the way it goes. The reason I said “..and no” is that I’m satisfied with my play, I made sound decisions, went in with the best and got unlucky…there are worse things than that…it still stinks though. At least the player that busted me, a fellow german whom I’ve never seen in the WWdN before, went on to finish 5th, so my chips were put to good use…I still would have enjoy it more to use them myself though…damn, poker stinks sometimes… 😉

Summary: Ultimate joy – winning some flips early on, playing good poker, earning name rights to the next WWdN (see above), seeing a royal flush again,…

Ultimate pain – getting sucked out on, on the bubble…

…aka how to get back from the road to insanity and turn 2$ into 215 (T)$ 🙂

Wow, after the last few weeks of ultimate bad luck, today was the quickest turnaround (money-wise) I’ve ever encountered. Oooooh what a rush. I’m still a little in shock. I started off by playing some PL 5-Card-Draw this morning. Back to basics, take a break from hold’em, plus it’s 6 handed (SnG), so it fits my style of tight-aggressiveness (basically start out with two pair/trips or better or a decent draw (OESD, OESD+Flushdraw, Flushdraw if it’s cheap early, etc), control the pot-size and fold when you think you’re beat). It worked out pretty nicely and I scored second. It should have been a W, but who cares? Should have, would have, could have is all hypothetical (when HU began I was 3:1 in chips, but I couldn’t finish him off after that, I had the chance once or twice, but he smelled that he was beat and got out with a few chips left; then he went on a total tear and I couldn’t do much about it…set over set…two pair over two pair etc and I had the worst of it).

Tonight, I started off with the same thing. PL 5-Card-Draw SnG. I did fairly well, despite not getting payed off with my monsters (pat nut flush etc). I had the best of it when a big pot came around and well…in the end it was a tough fight, but I had the best again (two pair over two pair). So a W it was and I was both relieved and energized, so I jumped into a triple shootout to the sunday million. It didn’t go all that well. No major suckouts or anything, it was just not going my way (draws not coming through etc). I thought about it and I decided to try another one…it was very slow to fill up, so I started to listen to the newest episode of Ante Up. Once the tourney began I paused and focused on playing the best I could. On table one, I was all-in one time with the best hand (coinflip 55 vs A6 and presto held up, what?! Yes, I won a coinflip right off the bat!)…so I was off to a good start. The rest of the first table is a blurr, I took it down.

After that I played the waiting game as there were still some tables going. After a while they were finally done and the second table was under way. I won some smaller pots early on, than lost some, than won some again. I just played a patient game and it was rewarded, boy was it rewarded. All the cards that I had been missing over the last few weeks came in, in a hurry. We are down to four handed and I went on a total tear. I had a hand-counted number of 4x AA and they all held up (I either won a small pot or busted someone)…and soon enough it was all said and done and I had won the second table, fittingly with the fourth pocket Aces of the night.

Then it was time for the waiting game again…two tables were still battling it out and I waited…after another 10 minutes the final table started and I was a little nervous. You know how all those thoughts come creepin into your mind once it’s crunch time? I shook it off though and started to fold, fold, fold, fold. After a few hands and the x-th button steal(-attempt) I finally called…a pretty loose call with Ks5s, but hey, he can’t have the nuts every hand. Flop comes down with two spades and he fires a continuation bet in. I call, hoping to see a third spade on the turn. Dealer turns…and it’s the most beautiful Ace of spades I’ve ever seen giving me the nut flush. He pays my bets off and I’m sitting pretty with over 3k. Nice! From the on I went into rock-solid mode again. KK UTG, raise…all-fold…yay…another big pair and it held up…the next few orbits are a blurr and once we’re down to three-handed (bubble-time) the action is fast and loose and I look down at one 63o, 48o, 93o after the other. So I fold fold fold, at least I’m not getting into trouble, except for the fact that I’m slowly getting short…then “THE” hand occurs…I have slightly under 2k…the other two splitting the remaining 7k among themselves get into a raise-war preflop…after the second reraise they’re all-in! I jump up from my seat and can’t believe my luck…there are three scenarios here:

1. Player 1 wins…and it’s over with

2. Player 2 wins…and Player 1 is crippled (400 chips)

3. Split pot and we’re back to square one…

I like my chances as they show 77 and TT…the tens hold up…scenario 1 it is…and it’s all over!!!!!!!!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! How much one win can mean, especially considering the circumstances. Man, I’m so relieved now and this is the first time in weeks that the “destined to be”-part wasn’t me “getting busted”, but me “taking it down” 🙂

So…I jumped into the sunday million tourney tab to have a look…

Good to see my name there up on the “big one” list, but I’m not all too crazy about playing it. First of all, the win (215(T)$) will be a nice compensation for the recent bad run and secondly, I don’t want to push the envelope here. Playing such a tourney with such an unreal amount of players isn’t for me, at least not now. How’s the old saying? “It takes more than one swallow to make a summer” – and I think that’s exactly what it is…one swallow along a big group of big Ls or the first step on the road to redemption. So…I unregistered pretty quickly and I’m looking forward to use the tourney dollars to fuel my “comeback run” at the SnG tables…wish me luck 🙂