I wish there was more to report...

Unfortunately, though, I haven't had another tournament money finish and my cash game sessions haven't been that remarkable. Some of them have been profitable and others haven't, but I guess at the very least, I'm getting exposure to a lot of different players and their styles and am getting a good poker education. I guess it's a good thing that at least some of the players that I've pegged as being pretty good have labeled me as "tricky," if not good, for whatever that's worth.

I also had a semi-celebrity semi-encounter tonight, I was playing at a table next to the table where that Masterson kid from "Malcolm In The Middle" (brother of that other Masterson from "That 70's Show") was playing. I know how impressive that is...

Who needs to go all the way to the Great Barrier Reef?

I swam with sharks at the Bicycle Casino last night, without a cage, even. I managed to outlast about half the field last night, and was disappointed at that result, but I was up against some really tough competition and mostly just got unlucky. In the other tournaments (after the first one), I saw a number of people I recognized from other events. But this time, very few of those faces were around, and instead, I was surrounded by guys who were talking about how they did in the smaller WSOP events. I tried to mostly just play very tight, and not be too tricky. That approach worked for the most part, except these guys quickly realized what I was up to, so I got very little action when I entered a hand. I would have liked to use that to my advantage to steal a few more pots than I did, but there was usually someone else already representing strength, and usually someone who also seemed to be playing pretty tight. My final hand consisted of me losing to a bigger full house (he had AA and flopped a set, I had 99 and turned my set, river made it an irrelevant full house), and for the first time, I can only think of one mistake I made, and that one didn't cost me much. In fact, if I made any major mistakes, it wasn't the hands I did play, but possibly in the hands I didn't. Not hands that I folded many that would have won, and I don't beat myself up too much about those anyway, but I probably missed at least a couple of opportunities to exploit my tight image and steal.

Went back to the cash games after a short break, and that started off so well, I thought for sure I was going to make a lot of money. I managed to double up on the very first hand I actually played (just the fourth hand I was dealt). I got raised out of my blinds, and then folded on the button, but in the cutoff, I picked up A9 suited with little or no action in front of me, so I made a raise. I wasn't exactly thrilled when the big stack on the button called me, but at least he didn't re-raise. I couldn't ask for a better flop, 99x ! I checked, he bet, I called. Turn brought the fourth 9, so I checked again, hoping he made a full house, he bet, I called. The river brought a deuce, and I think a possible flush, so I led out, pushing in the rest of my chips, still hoping he had the full house and had no fear of a flush. He called, I showed my quads, and he mucked, saying he had pocket kings. I probably should have walked away right then, but I thought I could make some more money. Didn't quite work out like that, and six hours later, after a few bad beats and chopped pots, I was out of chips. Since I had been playing off my initial buy-in and was now pretty tired, it didn't seem to make sense to rebuy, so I just headed back to my room. Even though I ended the day down $650 ($500+50 for the tourney and $100 and the ring game), I felt like I played OK. I definitely made some mistakes at the cash game, but there were a lot more people coming and going and crazy drunks, so there were more adjustments to be made, not all of them in time. But I knew adjustments needed to be made, and approximately what those adjustments were, at least, even if I didn't always reach my goal. A fairly expensive lesson, to be sure, but I do feel like I learned from the experience and can meke it work for me in the future.

Second verse NOT same as the first

Since I made the final table in the first PLHE event, I had high hopes for the second one. Didn't work out that way, though. The lower buy-in brought with it a smaller starting stack and the need to catch good cards and have them hold up (or at least not get involved in hands without premium cards).

So, I wound up making an earlier exit than I planned, but Kevin at least hung on for a 3rd place finish. We had another 10% exchange deal, so that brought me a few bucks, even after subtracting my loss to our last-longer bet.

Kevin had given me a (mild) hard time about declining his earlier offer of a last longer bet, and I guess it was a little unsportsman-like, I should have at least asked what stakes/odds he had in mind, but I just passed, thinking Kevin would certainly last longer thean me in almost any event, making it a sucker bet. This time we talked about it after I was already short-stacked, so he offered to pay me $50 if I lasted longer, and I'd only have to pay him $30 if I went out first (I think those were the number, but it was a similar ratio whatever the numbers).

The good news for the day is that I had a small win at the cash games prior to the tournament, which put my head in a better place about that aspect of my game. With that in mind, I went back to the cash tables after the tournament and settled in to try and make some money. I wasn't sure that was such a good idea at first, I had to rebuy a couple of times, but 11.5 hours later, I cashed out about $600 up, which gets me more than even for my ring game sessions.

I actually made most of my profit that session on a hand that I played horribly. I overplayed AJ against AK & QQ, hitting an A on the flop and a miracle J on the river. I knew gow lucky I was, and since I had been playing for about 16 hours straight, I left after a few more hands. I can't count on getting lucky all the time, but I'll sure take it when it comes.

I guess I can't expect to make the final table every time

As expected, the turnout for the $100+25 NLHE event was huge, 502 players. That makes for a decent prize pool, and there are a lot of chips in play, but that's a lot of players to fight through. Starting stacks are fairly short (10 x buy-in), so if you play a hand and it doesn't hold up, you can be severely crippled. That's pretty much what happened to me, played only 6 or 7 seven hands and then I was out (JJ, beat by a weak Ace that hist; all-in w/ TT, spiked a miracle T on the river for a full house; 9T suited, hit the 9, won a small pot; QJo, I stupidly limped and had to let it go when I didn't hit the flop and faced a bet; all-in w/ 99, it held up; and a short-stacked all-in w/ KQo on the button, called by A8, I didn't improve). I was a little disappointed, but didn't think I was playing badly, so I sat down at $100 buy-in NLHE ring game, only played about 4 hands there, and when busted to slow-played AA.

I don't plan to play in tomorrow's $100+25 LHE event, so I will probably head to a different casino and try my luck there against some different players. I do plan to play in the $100+25 PLHE event on Sat. though, PLHE may be my new favorite game. Too bad there aren't more games spread in my stakes range (Kevin tells me some casinos have it, but it's usually at least a $500 buy-in game.

I loaned Kevin my new copy of Brunson's _Super System 2_, but I'm probably going to just re-read the Harrington book at least once more, since it focuses on NLHE tournaments and that's my primary agenda on this trip.

Guess I had that coming (or just call me "chum").

I don't really like rebuy tournaments, but I decided to enter this one anyway. I should have gone with my gut, not only did I not play well, but I was seated with a table full of sharks. At least three of them I had already played with in earlier tournaments and had pegged them as good players, and there were a couple more that the sharks knew and avoided. But they had my number for sure, I only won two hands, both of those with pre-flop raises. If I saw a flop, I lost. By the time the final add-on came around, I had zero chips, so even a double rebuy would leave me short-stacked, so I decided to just cut my losses and leave. I just headed back to the room and read some more Harrington. Maybe some of it will eventually stick...

Ouch, that hurt

I was pretty tired heading into tonight's $250+30 NLHE tournament, that and the higher buy-in made me have to really think about whether I wanted to play this event. Kevin wasn't going to play this one (had to work), so I had to make my decision without his advice. I decided I had been playing pretty well, and with the winnings from the other night, I could afford it. 250 entrants created a $62500 prize pool, which was pretty tempting, too.

Played pretty well for a couple of hours, then got shortstacked but got lucky and came back, but made one boneheaded play and busted myself out in 34th. And of course, only 27 places paid. I still feel like I only made the one significant mistake, so I'm not going to beat myself up too badly, but it's still painful.

Tomorrow: $100+25 NLHE rebuy tournament

06/04/05

  6/4  Didn't get quite as much

sleep as I'd have like so

I was tired when 4:15 came

around, but I entered the $150+25

LHE tourney anyway. Was up

then down, then started to

make a comeback, which included

hitting quads after a lot of

action initiated by others

Lost when my straight got

beat by a rivered flush and

full house. Oh well, what can

you do?

Now that's more like it...

Tried entering some $40 satellite tournaments (10 handed, winner receives $330), but busted out of three of those w/ nothing to show for it. Playing one more would have totaled almost as much as tonight's tournment entry fee, it didn't seem like that route was working.

Went back to the room and spent the afternoon reading (Dan Harrington's _Harrington On Hold'Em_), hoping to pick up some useful strategy tips. I had heard good things about this book, and I am very impressed so far.

Headed back to the Bike, and met up w/ Kev, but after the results to date, I wasn't sure I should play at all, especially since I don't have much experience w/ Pot Limit Hold'Em. But the field was smaller than the night before, and Kevin reminded me why I came out (to play some poker, dagnabbit). So I entered, and wound up at the same table as Kevin, with him to my immediate right. Grreaat. I was a little worried that he'd be the one taking me out, but I think his presence made me play better poker, I didn't want to embarass myself in front of him. I got some good cards, but I played well too, only making a couple of mistakes and wound up taking down 5th place, which paid $1040. Wh00t! Even better, Kevin won the whole thing, which paid $9240. Since we had the same 10% arrangement, that added another $820 to what I took home. Wh00t Wh00t! I'm out of the hole completely, even paying for travel expenses (so far). If I can do that even once more, I should be in pretty good shape.

Not the start I'd hoped for...

After finding a BoA ATM, got some cash and some lunch and headed over to the Bike to play in some cash games to get "warmed up" for the tournament that night. Played 3/6 limit Hold'em for about 6 hours, started w/ $100 and held it at around $125 for a while, but by the time it was time for the tournament, I was down to $0. At least the timing was right...

Kevin showed up just in time, we registered ($150+25) and picked up our complimentary Bicycle Casino baseball caps (I wound up w/ Kev's, he doesn't wear hats/caps). There were about 375 entrants, but I was a fairly early departure. I tried to play a pretty conservative game, I only played about 6 hands in 1.5 hours, but ran into sets on the last two of those and I was gone.

From there, I went back to the cash games, but decided to try out the No Limit tables this time. They had a $100 buy-in game that looked to be within my abilities, but it was a 2/3 blind structure, instead of the 1/2 structure I expected. Unfortunately, I lost $200 in short order and realized I was not playing well and got up to check on Kevin's progress.

Before the tournament, Kevin proposed a couple of side bets/deals. I declined to accept a "last longer" bet, which is a good thing, because Kevin lasted much longer than I did. But I did take him up on his offer to swap 10% stakes in one another, which was a good thing (for me) since Kevin made it into the money. He finished 17th, which gained me $35. Not much, but better than nothing.

I'm here...

Flights went smoothly, car was ready, hotel was easy to find. So far, so good. Didn't play any tonight, just got settled and talked to Kevin about the next few days' plans