one for four and other miscellanea

Four tourneys today. 45k on stars, a 20table SnG on stars, 16k on FT and 40k on party (first time I've partaken in that one). It was, in fact, so surprising that I played in the party tournament that Matt reacted with ITALICS in surprise. So, yeah. A stunning upset.

Anyway, I flamed out early after the rebuy period ended in the 45k. I could not get anything going during the rebuy period, nor anything shortly thereafter. Ultimately AK died to AT as the guy tried to get something going for me.

40k was pretty uneventful. I had no cards, and had no business lasting as long as I did. It just didn't work out.

16k same deal. I actually flopped a set (which, combined with the QUADS I flopped in the 45k has induced me to stop counting how many I've gotten recently), and really played well. Again, I had no business lasting as long as I did, but I got myself into good position (about 75%) to get to the top 15 when the river changed all that. It would always be an uphill climb from there, one I just couldn't make. It ended when I sensed weakness in a preflop raise and I shoved what little fold equity I thought I had in there with Q8s. He wasn't weak. He had AA.

But, I did money in the 20 table SnG on stars. I had a real nice run of cards for a while, but was getting no action on them. It was one of those where the cards are so good and you're so active that you know someone's eventually gonna fight back - so you can't bluff for like 20 minutes. Well, finally at the end of the run I did get action, so that was nice. I would do my usual thing in these tournaments. Chop out pots, win a few of them, lose a few, while looking for a chance to win a real big one. I was able to do that enough to be in the middle of the pack on the bubble, but I used it (the bubble) to my advantage as I was able to make myself quite comfortable in relation to the blinds when it finally burst. I just kind of lingered through that second to last table, making the final table in 6th or 7th chip position. Finally the cards came back a bit, and after being 6th of 7, I moved to the top 3, where I would stay the remainder of the tournament. I was getting that great mix I love - just enough cards to back up my moves, but not too many where I could no longer attack situations with the confidence that I would not be looked up.

It got down to 3 players, and I was the short stack. The big stack doubled me up when he did not bet me off my OESD - and then paid me when I hit. Ironically, despite three errors in the hand (the third was a minraise preflop that would never get me to fold a hand like 57s) he called ME the dumbass. Go figure. He became the shortstack, and the third player and I were about even after I doubled his aces up with my tens. I then took a commanding lead when I flopped two pair (97) on aces guy after he minireraised me. I slowed to the turn when he hit his AJ, and doubled through, earning the comment: "you sure raise with shit". Still, I just couldn't put these guys away. I doubled them up when 40% hands just wouldn't win. Eventually, shitraiser knocked out the guy who called me a dumbass, and then I doubled him up again, giving him the chiplead briefly as his A6 made a straight to defeat my A4. I was able to get a slight lead back chopping out pots. It ended when I issued my only beat of the tournament, when my KJ and his KQ got it in on the KTTx board - I spiked the jack on the river. What a time to deliver something like that. I felt kinda guilty, and then I remembered how many sick beats I've taken at key times in the past couple of months, so fuck that. I'll take it.

As per usual, I have the greatest success in the smallest tournament, but... again. I'll take it. Defeating 179 other players, even if they aren't very good is always an accomplishment. And the payout of four digits is always nice.

On to the weekend. I deposited some money in UB, as their million dollar guaranteed tourney is Sunday at 3:30. I think it's at 3:30, anyway. I'll have to play a few tournaments there to get used to the software - probably some satellites to the event. As a nice kicker, (I'm led to believe that) they're giving away WSOP packages to the top 10 finishers in the event. Winning would not suck. At all.

I'm starting to really get excited for the AC trip. I've now got the hotel booked, and as soon as Matt figures out exactly what he's doing, the flight and car are next. Winning wouldn't suck there, either.

Well, this has been my longest post in quite some time. And it was written on my fancy schmancy new notebook because I'm too lazy to go upstairs right now. I'd have to climb FOURTEEN steps when I could just sit right here and type away. Which do you think I'm going to do, honestly?