Bouncing Back

Today was pretty standard. I didn't get to the gym, because I frankly didn't feel like going. I'll try and get their tomorrow though, since I didn't do anything active today. I got out of bed around 5 PM, after going to bed a little before 6 AM this morning. I jumped right into poker, although I felt alright because I had showered and eaten. As long as I don't feel groggy like I just rolled out of bed, then I'm fine. Nothing sucks more than having a few hundred dollars committed to various tournaments, and all you want to do is go back to bed.

So I started my MTT schedule at 7 after dinner and a shower. This is what it looked like:
2 $20+ $2 180 player Sit N Go's
7:00 - $100+ $9 25k guarantee, and $10+ $1 20k guarantee
7:15 - $7+ $.70 PLHE (360 max entrants) and $10+ $1 one rebuy, one add-on
8:00 - $25+$2.50 25k guarantee and $3+ $.30 rebuy 35k guarantee
8:15 - $50+ $5 shorthanded
9:15 - $9+ $.90 (360 max entrants)
9:30 - $50+ $5 50k guarantee
10:00 - $15+ $1.50
11:00 - $30+ $3

So that makes for a total of 13 total played. If you noticed, I did not play the $22 rebuy tonight. I thought I registered, but when 9:15 rolled around, I noticed the table hadn't popped up yet. I just forgot to register! That was pretty irritating. I had a small cash, which I'm not even sure if I made a profit from, in the $3 rebuy. My two biggest cashes were in the $55 shorthanded (16th of 174, $131) and the $109 (18th of 500ish, $588). Altogether on the night I was up about $300, which lightens the load a little from Tuesday's downswing.

There wasn't too many interesting hands, as far as strategical analysis goes, but I did flop quads twice!! In the 150-300 level, a shortstack moved in from the cutoff for about 900, with over 11,000 in chips, and A 3 ( any two would have done given the pot odds) I had a no brainer call. The guy showed J 10, but his hopes of a comeback were quickly vanquished when the flop came AAA. I forget which tournament that was in.

The second time was in the $109. Already in the money, the blinds were 2000-4000. The player under the gun pushed all in for 29,000. I had 22, and felt that I had his range beat. A lot of people would pass up a coin flip here, even though it is more likely that he has high cards (where you are a slight favorite) than a pocket pair (where you are a huge underdog). However I am a firm believer that if you have even the slightest edge in a hand, you can't pass it up. Especially with only 7 times the big blind, I feel that he is much more likely to have high cards, since there are simply more combinations of cards that make two high cards than there are combinations that make pocket pairs. So he pushed, I pushed over the top, and everyone else folded. He showed 88, making me a 4 1/2 to 1 underdog. No problem though, just watch the flop come 2 2 5.

I busted from that tournament when I pushed 40k at 2k-4k blinds with 77 from middle position. I was called by A J and 88. No quads for me this time, not even a set. So that was the end of that and I cashed for $588.

The $55 shorthanded was slightly disappointing. 24 players made the money in that tournament. I was able to abuse the bubble pretty well when there were 27-25 players remaining. This means simply raising a lot of hands and applying pressure to gain a lot of chips so you can make the final table or win. The idea is that the other players will be more likely to fold, trying to make the money, and you can chip up nicely. Sometimes this has come back to bite me, when people finally make their stand, and I wind up playing a massive pot with Q 6 or J 8 or something like that. Today it worked out well, and I'll give you a specific example.

I was on the button with J 7 off suit. There were exactly 25 players left, meaning the next person out would get nothing, and the one after that would get $84. I had over 16,000 in chips. The blinds were 300-600. The player in the small blind had about 3200, and the player in the big blind was on life support with only 1,000 after posting his 600 blind. The player in the big blind was certainly pot committed to call with any two cards, given that fact that he would be getting about 2.7 to 1. Even if I have AK and he has 23, he is only a 2 to 1 underdog, and calling there is correct. My thinking was that J 7 is approaching an average hand, and there is a chance I could have the big blind beat, since he is no doubt calling. I decided to gamble, and raised. Any raise I make would pot commit me should the small blind decide to shove in his 3200, So I just put them both all in. The small blind thought for a long time and finally folded. Shockingly, the big blind folded as well! The player in the small blind then told me he had A 10. If we were in the money, or a long way from it, A 10 is a no brainer call there. But since he was only one out of the money, he didn't want to risk going broke. Folding A 10 there is certainly a mistake in an MTT, even though we are one spot from the money. You don't get rich by finishing last in the money. You get rich by winning tournaments. I certainly would have made the call in either of their situations.

So heading into the money, I had about 18,000 in chips, which was good for 6th overall. I was disappointed to lose a few hands in a row, and after the blinds went up, I was now shortstacked. I wound up getting it all with AK suited vs A J and 10 10. 10 10 held and I was out in 16th. Certainly not the ideal finish when you're in 6th with 24 left, but I was glad to have a winning day, and felt like I played well overall.

I'm proud to say that I don't think I was eliminated from any tournaments getting the money in worse than a coin flip. Contrary to Tuesday when I was overplaying mediocre hands and getting it all in as a 3 to1 dog on several occasions. Not sure if I'll play tomorrow yet.

After I finished, around 12:30, I watched my shows with some food. Then I worked on my iTunes for a few hours. Read about the new artists below. I added at least 200 songs. I almost have 5,000 songs in my library now. So now it's around 6:30 AM. I may stay up for a little while longer even though I'm getting pretty tired. My goal is to sleep as late tomorrow as possible, so that I can stay up all night and into the next day. I could get to VCMS for basketball on Saturday morning at 8 am, watch all of the games, and then we have ours at 11. That would take me to probably 1PM on Saturday. If I just stayed up for a few more hours then, I could be waking up early Sunday morning, hopefully a few hours after midnight, and then I would be almost regular again. We'll see how it goes.

Until then,
Southrnctowl


Today's Artists added to iTunes:
A Tribe Called Quest
Baha Men
Birdman
Black Rob
Christina Milian
DJ Kool (Let Me Clear My Throat)
Franz Ferdinand
G-Unit (as a group)
Grateful Dead
Guerilla Black
Hoobastank
Kellie Pickler
New Found Glory
Nickelback
Phil Lesh & Friends
Phish
Reba McEntire
Rodney Atkins
Shakira
Shyne
Switchfoot
Talib Kweli
They Might Be Giants
Tony Yayo