The monkey's off my back

Today is the day I have been waiting for.... finally got the monkey off my tournament back. Played the $4000 guarantee at Pechanga this morning. 245 players started and we finally chopped $325 each with 13 left (they were paying 20). At one point I had a run for about 20 minutes when I could not miss a hand. I had pocket J's hold up against two other players... I reraised a big bet with AK suited and got the original raiser to fold... at one point I had guys folding winning hands because they thought I had the nuts. The most memorable hand was after we were already in the money... we were down to two tables and the blinds were 3000/6000. I had just over 5 times the big blind when I decided to push in with AK unsuited. The player to my left called with a smaller stack and to my surprise one of the big stacks also called. I turned over my AK.. the guy to my left had KJ and the big stacked rolled over 2 Aces. A king came on the flop... the turn was a blank and the river was the case King giving me and the small stack trip Kings to crack the Aces and my AK beat his KJ. The $325 chop won't get us back to even but we are much closer. One or two more tournament or cash wins and we'll be back in the black. Feeling much better today especially knowing how well I have been playing it's nice to have it pay off :)

The Reality of Poker

Sorry for the lack of updates the past couple of days but I must admit I have been a bit frustrated and more than a little disappointed in myself. I know we just got started, there is a long way to go, plenty of money in the account and it's a marathon not a sprint but I really wanted to get off to a better start. I also know that one or two tournament wins and we'll be up money but you guys put your faith in me and I am not happy with the performance so far.

The past couple of days have been typical of what's going on... Monday I played Palomar (I always seem to do well there on Mondays) and was doing really well early...then a couple of bad beats diminished my stack and I ended up going out 8th and they were paying 6. By the way Luciano was there and made the final table also, but no money.

Tuesday, I went to Oceans and did fair in the tournament (again no money) and actually had my first losing cash session (only lost $60 but it was the first cash loss).

Today, I went back up to Ocean again because the Wed. AM tournament carries a nice prize pool. I promised myself to play well and be totally focused. I didn't even play a hand for the first two rounds plus being very patient and waiting for cards I could play. I finally hit one decent hand with pocket J's and won a pot. The very next hand I slow played a QJ of clubs and just called on the button. The flop came 10K7 with two clubs and all three players checked. Then came a 9 and the small blind checked, the player to my right went all in with about $1500... I thought and pushed all in to isolated him figuring I had a lot of outs and he couldn't really hurt me. To my surprise the small blind called my all in and turned over a straight he had gotten on the turn. I was behind but had an up and down straight draw and the club draw and sure enough a club came on the river and I had about $10,000 in my stack. After that I won a few hands and lost a few hands when they moved a guy with a pretty big stack to our table. The blinds were 300/600 when I was able to limp on the button with 10/9 offsuit. The flop came 10/5/4 rainbow... the big stack checked and I bet $1600... he thought about it and said "I have a feeling about this" and he called the 1600. The turn was a 7 and he checked again... I should have checked and saw the river but I figured the seven couldn't have helped him and I did not want him to catch a river card that would, so I bet another $1800. He reraised me and after thinking about it I tossed my hand and he turned over two pairs 5's and 7's. He called my raise with middle pair and got donkey luck. A couple of hands later the guy to my left went all in with about $1700, big stack called and I had QJ and decided to call since I was getting 3 to 1 odds. The flop came 4/5/8 and we both checked. The turn was nothing that help either of us so I checked and he bet $2500. I told him he had better have the nuts since we could have eliminated a player and folded my hand. They both turned over and big stack had a K/5 suited and all in had Q10 off suit. I couldn't believe this idiot had called the original all in with K/5 suited and then he bet me out with a pair of 5's. Well of course the river turned a Q which would have given me the winning hand with a better kicker but instead he tripled up the small stack and my stack was now half what it was before he came to our table. I was steaming and wanted to go over the table at this guy but instead they broke our table and I never got a chance to get my revenge. Shortly after the table change I got QJ again in the big blind and with less than 5 big blinds left I pushed all in when a Q came on the flop. Unfortunately my QJ came up against a QA and I was done in 37th place (started with 122 players) and wanted to go over and ring that guys neck.

I might take tomorrow off and wait until Friday to give my self a chance to calm down but I am playing really well and as Phil Helmuth would say, "if it weren't for luck I would win them all"...LOL Ah well, I feel a little better now but still a little disappointed I have not produced better results so far. Well like I said at the beginning... there is a long way to go...enough money in the account and my luck has to kick in here pretty soon. I will keep you informed.

Friday/Saturday Update

Not much to report this weekend... am getting frustratingly close to the money but have not yet been able to cash. Friday I stayed local and played at Palomar... was short stacked as we came to the end of the rebuy period and decided to push in with my last $875 on QJ suited.. figured I would either chip up before the break or go home... got four callers and two pairs to chip up to about $3500 before the break... second hand after the break was in small blind for 200... the big blind was warning the under the gun player not to raise because he was gonna defend his blind... under the gun limped and I looked down at AK suited and although I was planning on going all in I decided to just call and see what the big blind was going to do... sure enough he raised to $800 and I put him on some kind of mid pair (something around pocket 8's to pocket J's)... under the gun folded and I had to decide what to do... I didn't feel like I could call 1/4 of my stack and thought if i pushed either he would fold or AK suited would give me a lot of outs... so I decided to go all in and he snap called turning over a pair of 10's... unfortunately not only did I not hit an A or a K but not a single spade came up and I was done.

Saturday I went to Oceans to play a $70 buy in.... I hit a couple of big hands early including doubling up on a straight against 3 of a kind.... then went a long time with no hands and chased a couple of hands and lost with lower kickers... about halfway through I got moved to another table and quickly won a couple of hands to get back in the hunt. We were down to 20 players (128 started and they were paying 12) and I had about 12,000 with antes of 300 and blinds of 800/1600... was getting blinded out when I finally found a KQ off suit in late position and with only the blinds behind me I decided to push all in only to come up against pocket Aces and once again out just before the money. Top prize was over $2000 and I am one hand away from making the money... planning on getting over the top very soon :)

So close I can smell it

Went to Oceans morning tournament again this morning. Interesting twist that its only 2500 chips and 10 minute blinds, so things were bound to move quickly. Once again I thought I would be out early after a bad beats but was patient and made it down to 16th place (103 players to start, they were paying 10). The most annoying hand was... 400-800 blinds and I raised to 1600 with KJ suited... the guy to my left called and the guy two players to my right went all in with a big stack... i thought about it before laying it down and the other player called the all in. The first caller had 10/10 and the all in guy had AK... I would have flopped a straight and won a big pot but didn't. I was able to make it to just before the money but need to get over the top soon and put ine in the win column.

Cash is King

I went up to Oceans 11 this morning to play their morning tournament ($60 buy in) which I did pretty well in last week. Well the good cards I caught yesterday at Pechanga didn't follow me to Oceans. The one hand that pissed me off was.... blinds were 50/100 and i had pocket three's and called a raise to 300. The next palyer went all in and was called by another player and finally by the initial raiser. I assumed at least one had a big pair and the others might have had 2 high cards so I laid down my 3's. As I suspected, one guys turned over pockets Aces, another pocket Jacks and the third KQ suited.... and of course my three came on the turn which would have given me 10,000+ in chips. I went out later when I pushed with JJ (short stacked) and was called by QQ... oh well.

I sat down to play cash (started playing cash this week as promised) at a 1/1 table. I bought in four $40 and that lasted about an hour. I lost at least 4 hands with pocket pairs including pocket K's twice. I decided to play the other $20 I had in my pocket and turned it into $175 thus getting my tournament buy in back, my cash buy in back and $55 profit. Not a huge day but in the plus column. I did hit a couple of big hands one of which was limping in with 5-7 and snap calling an all in with a 7 high straight to the all ins 6 high straight. Couple of other nice hands later and I got up from the table with $175. Looks like cash can keep us even in between tournament wins :)

The Good, The Bad and The Frustrating

I put a full day in at "the office" today and today the office was Pechanga. I played the morning tournament with my brother (Tuesday are 2 for 1 day so buy in was only $15.50) and went deep, playing much better and finally catching some cards. I think a couple of days off helped. Started with 208 players... made some good decisions and some good reads. Finally got short stacked with three tables left and I had 6000 in chips with the blind 3000/6000. I was in the little blind (half my stack) and got a J3... at first i was just gonna play it and pray but decided to let it go which turned out to be a good decision when I got pockets Aces with my last 3000 and tripled up. I actually got my stack up to 35,000 with 12 players left, they were paying 10. The blinds were coming around again and would have cost me half my stack when I looked down at AQ and prepared to move all in, when one of the bigger stacks pushed first. I thought about it for a minute and decided to make the call. He showed a KJ and I had him dominated... that is until he got a K on the flop and ended my day one off the bubble. No money but feeling good about my game again.

Next I sat and played some cash... played for about 4 hours and ended up winning about $15 so it was a wash for the day in terms of money but.... we were playing for a while when two players on the table (we were only 7 at the time) got involved in a hand and the board was AAA84... the guy to my left turned over KK for Aces full of Kings.... the woman to my right turned over A8 for Quad Aces with an 8 kicker. We all jumped up thinking the table had just won a $20,000 bad beat jackpot..... but it turns out that because her hole card (8) tied the card on the board we didn't win. If she had had a 9 or the board had had a 7 he would have gotten $8000, she would have gotten $4000 and the other 5 of us would have split $8000 for $1600 each...aggghhhh. Very frustrating!!!!

Off to Oceans Eleven tommorrow for the Wed AM tournament. Last week the pot was $5500 so hopefully I can bring the good play of today into the tournament tommorrow and get us back in the black :)

The definition of card dead

Played the $25K tournament at Pechanga yesterday and lasted a lot longer than I thought I was going to, based on the cards I was getting. We started with $4000 in chips and the blinds were 30 minutes. I literally did not play a hand until near the end of the first hour. I was just not gettting anything even remotely playable. When I did finally get an A9 in the big blind and the flop came AKsomething. A player with a short stack pushed all in and after giving it some thought I called. I was right in my read in that I had the top pair (aces) and he had second pair (K's)... unfortunately he hit runner, runner for a flush and half my stack was gone. Finally I was moved to another table but only had about 1500 in chips. They started with antes after the second blind so my stack was being further depleted. After not playing a few hands I finally got an AK and went all in and got one caller withe and AJ and my hand held up to double me up to just under 3000. Blinds at this point were 200-400 and I managed to steal the blinds on the next hand to get me to just about 3000 chips. Still short stacked I got and AJ suited... another player made a a three times the big blind raise and I thought for a while before pushing all in figuring I needed to gather some chips or wouldn't be around long anyway. Unfortunately he turned over AK suited and I was done for the day. Started with 162 players and managed to stick around to go out in about 60th place. Not bad considering how few hands I was able to play but not good enough. Plan to take today and tommorrow off... been card dead for about a week and hopefully a couple of days off will turn the tide. Also have not been playing much cash but plan to increase my cash play starting this week. Talk to you in a couple of days.

Quick Update

Lisa and I went to the morning tournament at Pechanga yesterday. This time around neither of us made the money. Lisa lasted a few minutes more than me but we were both out roght around the first break. I am heading back to Pechanga this afternoon for a $25K guarantee tournament. Wish me (us) luck!

Semi frustrated update

Decided not to play on Monday after the big tournament weekend... did play the Palomar morning tournament on Tuesday and although did not have to rebuy, I did go out around 18th place. This morning I decided to try the Oceans 11 wed. morning $60 (50+10) buyin with a $3500 guarantee. Turns out they had 115 players for a $5500 prize pool and they randomly assign two players at each table as bounty players (you take them out you get $10). I was doing pretty well including collecting a bounty when I took a guy out. We were down to 16 players (they were paying 11 places) with a $300 ante and blinds of 1,000-2,000. I was under the gun with about $8000 and looked down at a K of spades Q of clubs. I was big blind next so i decided to push all in.... seat seven called with about $6000 and turned over JJ (with one spade)... the flop had no face cards but did turn 3 spades, so know I have around 19 outs to win the pot... of course the last two cards blanked and I lost the hand. To add insult to injury I was all in blind the next hand... one other player went all in and we were heads up... he turned over AQ... I still had not looked at my cards and the first card I flipped was the A of diamonds... the second card was the K of diamonds... the table reacts and I am still alive... flop nothing... turn nothing... river.... a Q to end my day in 16th place... if I hit that KQ I definately make the money.... as Maxwell Smart would say... missed it by thhhat much :)

Big Tournament Weekend

This weekend was a pretty big $20K Tournament at Oceans 11. The buy in was $225 but I decided to go up on Saturday and try to satellite my way in. I played two $60 satellites and won the second one to get an entry into the tournament...so instead of $225 it only cost me $120. I went to the tournament on Sunday and actually missed the first hand when my 10 year old nephew called me just as we were getting under way. Fortunately the second hand I called a $150 raise with Q10 off suit and just about doubled up (started with 4000 in chips) when I got Q's full of 10's. Managed to stay around 8000 chips through the second break. The key hand after that was... i flopped pocket 10's on the button, the under the gun player made a decent raise and it folded back to me... I thought about pushing all in but decided to call and see what the flop brought except... the big blind went all in and the under the gun called him pretty quickly. I put one of them on a big pair and the other two big cards.... again I thought for a while and decided unless they both only had over cards and missed completely I would probably lose the hand, so I folded. Sure enough the big blind had pocket J's and under the gun had KQ suited.... good fold until a ten comes on the flop... agghhhh! Never quite recovered from that and once they started taking antes I had to push all in with and A5 suited but lost to a pair of 6's. Came in 45th and they were paying 16. Felt I played ok and am looking forward to more tournaments with similar payouts (1st was just under 10K).

Todays Guest Star

Went up to Pechanga with one of the investment group members, Lisa Schiff to play in the morning $28 buy in $4000 guarantee tournament. We purposely sat at different tables but it wasn't long before they broke Lisa's table and they sat her just to my left. My day ended at the first break with about 80 players left. We were just about to go on break when I got AK in the big blind... a couple of players limped in for $600 and I decided to push all in. All but one player folded and after giving it some thought he called with a pair of nines. I hit my king on the flop only to have him river a third nine. My day was done... I was steaming a little so decided to go downstairs to play a machine while I waited for Lisa. When I finally came back upstairs Lisa was still playing and they were down to three tables. At one point she went all in with her last $5000 and won with a pair of threes. She ended up chopping 6 ways for $503... NICE JOB LISA!!!! Just proves we had a lot of great players we competed against every week at Flicks :)

Big Decision

Played the morning tournament at Palomar (when in doubt go to Palomar) and played fairly well. Was in 14th place (they only paid 6 today) when I got AJ hearts... blinds were 200-400 and a player ahead of me raised to 1200... I decided just to call instead of shoving all in. Tow other players called and the flop came KJ10 with one heart. Three players went all in and I had to decide what to do... I needed to gather some chips so I called knowing that even if someone had a straight I had a couple of outs to chop and a back door flush draw... the turn was a heart but the river was a blank and sure enough one of the players had a straight and I was done. A win there would have assured getting into the money...oh well.

Two days of Play

I was out a bit late last night so didn't get to enter results... decided to play the evening tournament at Barona but went early to play some cash. Sat down with $80 and played for about two hours leaving the cash game for the tournament with a total stack of $145... $60 gain for two hours work...not too bad. Used the winnings to pay for the tournament... made it down to #14 when a player raised $800 and I pushed with my final $1400... he called and turned over pocket 7's against my pocket Aces. Of course he rivered a 6-10 straight to knock me out. Oh well. Not sure I care for their tournaments... no clock, they pay multiple blinds when a player goes out... all in all don't think I will be playing there a lot.

This morning I went to the Palomar morning tournament. Bought in for $20 and had to rebuy once ($20) after calling a 5 way all in due to pot odds. They were only paying 6 and after a lot of back and forth we finally chopped 6 ways for $243. Not a bad morning. To date we have played $208 and have won $388. I believe that is a 68.5% return if I am not mistaken.. not bad so far. Stay tuned

Monday October 5

Ran up to play the morning tournament at Palomar on El Cajon. $20 buy in unlimted $20 rebuys for the first two rounds. It was a full house (4 tables) today , first time in a while. Good news is I won a couple of small hands early and didn't have to rebuy... bad news is I went out in 22nd place. Never really got and cards to speak of... even the last hand I went all in blind and got two pairs but was beat by a set of eights. Oh well, long way to go.... So far down $48 with one bubble and one 22nd place... think I will throw in my $50 winnings from the Flicks football pool (only miseed one game) so that puts us in the black $2... yeah us. More later

Day 1

The new career has finally begun.... started with a $28 buy in $4000 guarantee tournament at Pechanga at 10AM. Played pretty well, slow played a pair of 8's and ended up doubling up when I hit a set on the flop. Never had a really huge stack but did manage to take out 2 or 3 players. Was down to 3000 in chips (less than the big blind) with three tables left. They were paying two tables (20 players). I won blind and had 8000 chips with the blinds 2000-4000. Sat a couple of hands when I hit QJ suited two spots from the big blind.... decided to go all in... two callers.... flopped top pair but player in seat 8 hit a river Ace to bust me... 21st place... bubbleboy... for you new comers the bubbleboy is the last guy knocked out before the money :( 214 players and I came in 21st. No money but a pretty decent start..next time we cash!