$425 8-game Result

I finished 27th of 444 in the $425 buy in 8-game mixed. On the final hand I had 68,000 chips (we started with 5,000 and at my peak I had 122,000), we were playing 1,000/2,000 blind no limit hold'em and I raised to 6,000 from the button with AJ. The small blind made it 17,000 and I moved all in. When the cards got tuned over he had KK and I missed.

This is one of those hands where when you move all in and the other guy folds you think "Ah ha! Making strong plays is great!" and when you get called and lose you think "Man, maybe I could have let that one go!"

Part of me feels a little disappointed. I had a good stack, deep in this one, my opposition was OK, but not great, and other than the one hand I mentioned in a previous post I was playing great. Coming withing a few spot of the final table yesterday in the razz, and getting close again today feels like a real tease. Also I really felt like I was going to make the money in the $4,175.

The other part of me (the logical part) can acknowledge that I am having GREAT results in these tournaments. It should not be easy to get so close to a final table, and I already have one final table, and a few close calls in a pretty small group of tournaments. I am playing some of the best poker I ever have and it's paying off.

Anyway 27th paid $1,154. Tomorrow I have $22 and $215 NLH each with one rebuy and one add-on and $55 limit Omaha hi-lo. Nothing major.

A Stupid Terrible Play

I just made one of the worst plays I can remember making. We were playing pot limit Omaha and I got dealt KKQ8 with the KQ of hearts in the big blind. The blinds were 400/800 and the button who had a little over 100K made it 2,800 to go. I reraised the maximum to 8,800 leaving another 35K in my stack.

Now here is where the bonehead maneuver came in. My opponent made it the maximum which was 26,800. The only thing he could possibly have here is AAxx which would mean at best I'm about a 2 to 1 underdog and at worst a 4 to 1 underdog (I didn't actually know it was that bad, but I've since done some research).

This was an obvious fold. But for some reason I lost my mind and moved all in. My opponent instantly called with AA74 with the A4 of diamonds making me 33% to win.

Amazingly I flopped a king and took down a nice pot. Even though it worked out I feel like a real dunce.

The good news is I have about 80,000 chips and I'm in 7th of 43.

Out in the $4,175

I had two big hands go against me in the Stud and that was all it took. In the first I made a straight and lost to a flush (that was an 11,000 chip pot). That left me on fumes and somehow I got the rest of my chips in with a pair of sevens against rolled up aces! ACK!

I finished 23rd which was a fair showing. I know I played well and if they offered this tournament tomorrow I'd play it again. That's the real sign that playing this event was a good decision even though it resulted in a loss.

In the Money in $425 8-Game!

I almost ate shit in the $4,175, in the limit hold'em of all games! I was down to about 3K, but somehow I almost instantly went back up to 12K.

We're in the money in the $425. I was in super shape with close to 60K in chips, but now I'm down to 33K which is right on average. I'm in 30th place of 66.

Still Doing Well

I'm at 31K chips in the $425 and in 15th of 100 and 12K chips the $4,175 which is 13th place of 36. It's very likely that I'll make the top 66 and the money in the medium stakes, but it's still totally up in the air in the big one.

SCOOP Update!

I am blowing the doors off the medium and small stakes 8 game mix! I'm up to over 30,000 in the medium stakes in 3rd place of 189 and I'm over 25,000 in the low in 91st place of 703.

I slipped a little in the one that really matters though. Not too much, but a little. I'm at 8,700 and in 21st of 60. I had some trouble in the Razz, but I just got moved to a new table and it's a little softer than the one I started with.

Event #15 Underway!

I'm off to a good start in the $4,175 and $425 8 game mixed. In the first I've more than doubled my starting stack of 5,000 and am in 3rd of 74 remaining players (we started with 84). In the second I've also doubled my starting stack and am in 73rd of 314 (we started with 444).

The big one pays 9 spots and 9th is an insane $13,440 (about the same amount as you'd get for FIRST in the $44 event with 2,200 entrants!) and first is just over $100K.

Massive Choke Job!

I totally blew it in the razz! I finished in 15th of 713 (It paid $1,312) which is great. This is by far the best finish I've ever had in a razz tournament. But I still blew it!

With 17 players left I was in third. Of course since it was a limit tournament it took 5 or 6 hands going against me to do me in, and I did get unlucky towards the end. But I also overplayed a few hands. I haven't played a ton of razz so it's hard for me to look back and say conclusively whether I played bad or was just the victim of bad luck, but I feel like I could have done things a little differently.

Still it was a good result that washed away the mess of the rest of the day.

Tomorrow is a big day. I have $44, $425, and $4,175 8 game mix in the morning, and $320 Stud in the afternoon. I'm sure the big one is going to have a tough field, but after how well I've done playing HORSE even at the $1,000 level I just can't pass up a chance to play a mixed games event for big money.

In the Money in SCOOP Event #13!

The bad news is I came up short in the $530 and $55 NLH and the $22 Razz as well as a $33 with rebuys satellite (-$183 in that one).

The good news is I have a solid stack and I'm in the money in the $215 Razz. Right now I'm in 19th of 94. I need to make it to 16th to get about even for the $530 and all the satellite bricks I put up today.

But I'm running good and playing pretty well so anything could happen.

SCOOP Update

SCOOP Event #13 is underway with 2,945 players in the $22 low stakes (1st place $9,500), and 713 in the medium stakes (1st place $26,700). I have less than I started with in both, but it's been pretty boring so far.

In other bad news I came up short in two satellites. The first was a $280 attempt to win a $5,200 seat and the other was $109 with rebuys where 1st place was a $10,300 main event seat. Chalk up -$589 in the satellite column.