First Foray into Cash Games

Decided to play $.25/$.50 NLHE last night, with a $50.00 buy-in. Played very agressive but good poker, and managed to stack a couple of shorties early. Within 100 hands I had actually seen flops in 40% (much higher then my norm), but won 22% of all the hands. Was up two buy-ins at one point, and when I got back down to $135, it finally hit me hard. I was dealt pocket 3's and called a raise of $3 from the blind. Flop came down 3s4s6s, giving me Trip 3's but a flush was possible. The blind and I basically raised and reraised each other until he was all in, and he turned over QQ, but one of them was a spade. Sure enough spades on both the turn and the river, and I am down to $65. I played a few more hands, and left up $15 for the night as I had just won my $26 token in the Tier 1 Token Frenzy at the same time. Played the Riverchasers, and got rivered with a flush once again to take 1/2 my stack, and then pushed my AA into 88, with an 8 coming on the river to take me out way too early.

Nerd God!

Bubble and Brutal

First things first, I decided to take my two tokens, and play the MATH and also a satellite to Full Tilt's $750K. The satellite was first, and I played well, but was card dead for most of it. Amazingly enough, I was still alive but in 4th with 4 people left, and finally had to push a semi-decent hand. I get called by both of the large stacks, and have to watch in chat as the other small stack starts acting like a 5 year old. Needless to say, I lost the hand, but won $72 for my trouble.

The MATH was a different story. I was having a good time, knocking heads and playing more aggressive then I usually do, and it worked great. With 24 runners, I was in the top 5 most of the tournament until the hand I was finally knocked out on. Oh, and I was completely AstinBayned last night too. 3 AA's, 4 KK's 2 QQ's, 3 JJ's. Unreal run of cards. The last JJ killed me. If you read the comments to the 50/50 post, you can see what RaisingCayne though of the play. I had the JJ's and was honestly tired of watching the big stack (Wormmsu or something like that) reraise everytime I had something decent at the final table, as he was the only person with more chips then me. I push over the top, and he calls with AKo? Seriously, how is calling off 80% of your stack on a race that you are BEHIND in a good play on his part??? Needless to say, AK4 flop, and IGH 7th. I am happy to report though that Cayne won the MATH again, so props to the man!

On the bankroll front, at one point over a month ago, I was down below $100. I have put together a nice run lately, and have managed to push my bankroll above the $700 mark for the first time ever, without playing cash games at all.

Cashing in the 50/50

Yes, its has bene a while. Work and my class reunion have been taking up a lot of my time, so I decided to still back and relax last night and give a shot at a token for the MATH and take a shot or two at qualifying for the 50/50 last night. Played two token SnG's and managed to win tokens in both of them. The first one was funny, because once I got the token, the usual all-in fest began and I couldnt lose if I tired. My hammer flopped a boat, then with three of us left my K9 flops two nines and then rivers anotehr for quads!
My first attempt at qualifying for the 50/50 went ok, but short unfortunetly. I decided to give the $14+$1 qualifer a shot, and finished easily in the top 15 for my seat. Started the 50/50 strong, get a nice flop in the big blind early and adding a quick 400 chips to my starting 2000 on the first hand. Never got back below my starting amount until my last hand, and by then the blinds were 500/1000. Unfortunetly I go out when my JJ werent OK, and runs into QQ. Finshed in 126th place of 967 runners, for a $80.00 payout. Total spent on the day on buy-ins = $40.30, total won = $80.00 cash, $52 in Tier 1 tokens. Enough for me to play the MATH tonight! See you all there!

Playing the $4K Omaha Hi on Full Tilt

I have currently burned myself out playing LHE and NLHE so much this summer, so I took some time off, and the only reason I decided to play anything last night was the wife was already gone to Maine for the weekend (which I will fly up and join her after work today). I decided to use one of my $26 Tokens and play the $4K Guar. Omaha Hi on Full Tilt at 9:15 PM last night. 173 started, top 18 got paid. I figured I would play some smart OHi and try to sneak into the money. I finally got knocked out of the tournament a little after 1:30 AM, final tabling and finishing in 5th place. A nice little payout of $313! By far my biggest Omaha score ever.

Taking a break

With the exception of playing the Mookie next Wednesday while I do a fantasy football draft, I will likely stop playing for the month of September. I have been running so bad lately, I really think taking a break is about the only thing left to do. Several tournament tonight I have lost when I was all-in or put someone else all in with me at least 75% favorite, and nothing has worked out. At this point if I dont take a break I am afraid I will go on tilt so badly I will go through ALL my money left on Full Tilt. Hope to play some live, and I will likely go to play at the Trump Taj the last weekend of September in order to try to get into the USPC.

FTOPS Event #3

Managed to win my way into Event #3 via the $50 qualifer that I had won a seat in over the weekend. Played ok in that, but nothing spectacular, just enough to get into Event #3.
I played a mostly tight and smart game, occasionally having to push when I was under the average stack, and for the most part it worked out for me. I had two incredible suckout early that got me in a position to cash, which I did finally do!! My first cash in on of them events!! When the bubble finally burst I was sitting around 7,000 chips, which was about 1/3 of the average stack. I opened up my hand requirements a bit of that, and managed to get some good flops and a couple of good reads too. The final result: 88th Place. $535.36! My largest pure cash, and secong biggest score ever next to the WSOP $2,000 Package I won in June.