Bubble at the MATH..AGAIN!! Off to Vegas Thursday night

Played a quick $8 SnG to win a token for the MATH, which I managed to win in my first shot. Put myself in with 54 runners at the last MATH of the BBT, and my last paid tournament of the series also, since I will be backing Wednesday night and flying out on Thursday night to play in Event #49 ($1,500 NLHE) at the WSOP. With any luck, I will still be in on Sunday evening, and thus miss the Big Game also, although I have my token just in case.
I played good strong poker in the MATH. I pushed some peeople off of hands with semi-bluffs in the mid-game, something I have been working on some lately. I never really got below my starting chip amount of 3000 until I went out, so I was very happy with my play. However I never got above 15,000, but mostly because I was watching Bayne hitting EVERYTHING last night. Havent seen the results but would be surprised if he didnt win the whole thing. Finally was pushed with Presto UTG, and was called by the button with 88, which he flopped an 8 to really just crush any chance for me. Party for everyone left, and me looking at the potential cash slipping out of my hand again. Oh well. No more online poker this week, looking forward to getting out the Vegas and playing the WSOP. Staying at the Stratosphere, but if anyone is going to be out there this weekend leave me a comment and maybe we can get together for a cash game or something since I will be there until Tuesday afternoon regardless of what happens.

Cold Decked and Out Played

Got cold decked when I got short of chips in the 500K, but the hand before got me as the guy slowplayed his pocket 9s when the flop came 972. I paired by Jack on the river, but was outplayed the whole way. I got pocket 9s the next hand, was called on my push by AK, and he flopped a King and it was all over. I was Gigli in the Riverchasers Horse, after battling back and have three 2s on 4th street of 7card stud, I kept betting into two guys checking, and the winner hits a flush with running cards. I was cold decked, I had a very good hand with a short stack, and at the point that he finally raises my bet on 7th street, his raise puts me all-in...why would I fold at that point with less then 200 chips and blinds at 100/200? I did play the daily double at 9:00. Got sucked out on in A, but rode some good cards and some good plays in B to a 40th place finish out of 900+ getting me back about $30 of the $50 in cash I had invested for the day. Point wise I am good with the BBT, so I will likely play the Mookie for the heck of it on Wednesday, and let my point standings work for me, as I will only have 19 events with 20 needed for a automatic invite.

Fifty-Fifty on Fult Tilt

Love this new tournament Full Tilt has started. $50 buy-in, $50,000 minimum payout. I was able to satellite in from a $8 tournament, taking some bad beats but holding on and doubling up twice around bubble time to move myself safely into the tournament.

The tournament itself had its share of donkeys. The first hour was donkeyfest, watching people going all-in with almost nothing. I survived that and went into the 2nd hour with 2,600 chips, and stayed about there most of the hour until this: Pocket 6s, blinds 100/200, I make it 400 and get two callers. Flop comes down 2d 6d 7s. Player to my right bets 600 of his 1100 left, so I make it 1200, get called by BOTH, putting them both all in. Player to my right literally has nothing, the player to my left turns over Ad 7d. How you put ALL you chips in with top pair and a flush draw in a $50 buy-in tournament is beyond me. Needless to say, a diamond fell on the river, and with the board not pairing, I get crippled down to 1100 myself. I managed to work it back up to 3500 in the third hour with some serious grinding, but with blinds at 300/600, and me being the short stack by FAR at my table, I eventually go to push or get blinded out, and my push didnt work. Not bad though, and definately a tournament I will look forward to playing again. Saw Hoy and Iak were in it also, have to check their blogs and see how they did.

Qualified for 500K on Full Tilt

Have been running good lately, and decided to use my $26 token to play in a qualifer for the 500K on Sunday. With 29 people playing it paid 3 seats plus $48 for 4th. Played good tight poker and easily made the final table, watching an idiot who actually played 2-4 unsuited All-In preflop against the chip leader. Chip leaders shows AA, and wouldnt you know the flop comes down 356, giving the donk a flopped straight. This idiot does this to a couple more people and somehow becomes the chip leader with 5 left. He then starts raising EVERY hand 3X the Big Blind, making it 1200-1800 each time. I call him out in the chat on it, and he puts in 1000 the next hand, I push and he calls and I double up. From then I would just play premium hands, and as we are down to 4, I get distracted by my wife at home, and I look up and suddenly there are only 3 players left. I have no idea what went down in the final hand, but I will be playing teh 500K on Sunday, so what do I care??

MIddle of the Pack in Riverchasers

Finished 16th out of 71 last night. Actually played good in the beginning, after not hitting anything the first 2 levels. Once the bubble hit I was dead last of 30 and managed to eventually double up several times from my 630 chips to over 5000. However with blinds at 500/1000, I was dealt AKo and pushed, was called by AJ. Of course the flop comes down KQ10. If I hadnt sucked out on so many people myself last night I would have been unhappy, but its just poker, and it happens. Playing some tonight, then off for the weekend to Pocono for the NASCAR race experience. Back on Monday for another run at the Hoy.

First Cash at the Hoy

Played the Hoy last night after a evening of frustrating beats, and the Hoy looked to start the same. Suddenly I hit a rush of cards, took out the 2nd player to go in the Hoy, and was up above 6,000 chips, where I stayed until I went out on my All-In at the end. Played good solid poker, stole some blinds when I was the large stack. Played the final table and cash bubbles very well, considering how I sometimes tend to get overly tight. Must have had AA 4 times, along with KK twice, QQ twice and JJ three times. Yet only got Big Slick one. Final result got me to third place, as a suckout fest at the end could have made anyone the eventual winner. I was so tired though, I couldnt even last through head up to see who won. Oh well. That gives me 16 events played in the BBT, plus hopefully will jump me into the Top 30 overall, so I should be able to qualify on points alone, and not have to worry about playing 20 event (although I probably will anyway).

Crash and Burn at the Hoy

Decided at the last minute to play the Hoy, wish I hadn't. Played tight poker the first hour, and got very little out of it, ending up just 10% higher then what I started the hand before the hour break. Short stack goes all-in with AQ, I have AK and call. Of course a Queen comes on the turn and my legs are chopped out. 1st hand back after break I have KQs. Flop comes down Kxx. I know I have the the guy who was in the hand beat, and sure enough I end up all in, with my KQ dominating his KJ. Of course the f'ing Jack falls on the turn and out I go. I dont even know where I finished, nor do I care at this point. I cant believe that I can will races on a regular basis lately, but if I have a dominant hand..then I should just lay it down because I am getting killed.

Vegas Bound Baby!!!

That's right, after months of trying I actually did it. Played in a $8.00 SnG for a token, and managed to take 1st to get the $26 token. Used that token to buy-in the Bracelet Race sat, and decided to take Hoy's advice and play the soft $14.00 + Rebuy Bracelet Race sat also. Managed to get past the first hour in the Rebuy WITHOUT rebuying, so I paid the extra $14 for the add-on and went from there. After 2 hours, I was on the final table of both Bracelet Race sats, and won my seat on the $14 rebuy about 11:20. 15 minutes later I manage to do the same on the $26 token buy-in, so Full Tilt puts $216 in my account (more then doubling what I had in there at the time!). Play went pretty good for most of the Bracelet Race, but when we get down to 12 people (with 10 getting money and 7 getting $2,000 Bracelet Race packages), I am sitting 12th. As the blinds go up, people keep going down, and we are finally down to 8 people. I of course am sitting 8th in chips at the time. I get K10d in the big blind with $1850 committed by the blind and ante, leaving me with $4400 left. One EP caller and the small blind call, I push it all-in. Both players call me. They check it down, and I hit the runner-runner straight, beating both of their pocket pairs (one had 9s, the other Queens). Jumps me all the way to 4th, where I only have to wait about 4 hands until the new low stack goes all in and loses. Its on to Vegas for me!

Also managed to play in the Riverchasers Horse, finished 4th (Bubble of course), but getting more points and hopefully will keep me in the Top 50 with the limited schedule I am able to play.

Pockets Rockets

Got busted out both Riverchasers and WSOOP when getting up against AA. Both times I bet into it with a great hand, but wasnt able to get away from it when my JJ and QQ were obviously beaten. One of the biggest leaks in my game is without a doubt not being able to get away from the large pocket pairs, although the odds show that chances of my being beat in either hand was fairly small. Watching people play crap for so long as make me immune to thinking that they could actually have the nuts.