Yes, this blog has been neglected. In all honesty, it's because I've been immersed in poker! Mostly the online variety. I've ever so slowly built my bankroll, a mighty 2 dollars that I won in a 2700 player freeroll tournament, upwards of $15 - by playing one or two tournaments just about every night of the week.
Very recently I've tapered off a bit, now playing every other night or so - I was getting concerned that the wife was getting concerned.
The good news is that my bankroll is about 8 times bigger than it was in September. The not so good news is that at one point I had it up to $29! Variance in tournament poker is pretty high, and I think such a big swing really is because of this fact. I feel very confident with my play, in that any sit-n-go I sit down to, be it NLHE or H.O.R.S.E., I have a VERY good chance of making the money.
Elsewhere, the fairly decent news is that though I haven't cashed recently in Flatline, I'm feeling a lot better about my play in that arena and I still haven't had to make another deposit. The tournament of champions is coming up for that league in 2 weeks, and there's a chance to take down a substantial prize pool. I have faith if I can avoid my typical river coolers, I have a better chance than most and as good a chance as the few better players.
The rather cool news, is that I've finally been cashing regularly in my home game. I scored fourth and third place finishes in back to back tournaments - as well as a $60 profit in the last cash game. Very nice.
The super cool news is that I recently cashed live again - taking down $490 in the Sunday Hollywood Park Casino H.O.R.S.E. tournament. It was a very small tournament, only two tables of 8 - but they only paid 2 places, first and second. And I finished second!
Overall I felt good about my play - though my one big misread of a hand (in Seven Stud/8) brought me one of the biggest pots of the night. The player to my right was a crafty codger who was surprisingly aggressive and had a very good feel of who to steal from and who to avoid. In the hand where I busted him, and another player, I put him on a low draw. He actually had a made 2 pair, very well hidden - and I was drawing dead on the river save for two outs. I hit one of them and he was gone, his friendly table demeanor evaporated as he stormed off scowling under his breath.
The other player was drawing to a low, which he missed. I essentially tripled up.
Two rounds later, playing Omaha/8, I'm very proud to say I looked down at a premium starting hand A4KQ double suited and popped it pre-flop. 3 callers. The flop came 2 5 K rainbow - and I led out with a bet. 3 callers. The turn was a Q. I checked and one player bet. Everyone, me included, called. The river was the dream 3. I led out, 3 callers. I had the stone nuts for both high and low. The one better had two pair Aces up, the other two had even tinier pieces. Big pot for me.
Energized by such fishiness around me, I continued to play exceptionally well - winning a dozen or so more pots - including a big one in Hold-em with a flopped boat, until we got to the final table - when I sat down I was a bit surprised to see that I was BY FAR the chip leader. I probably had a 5 to 1 lead on the next biggest stack, and likely a 10 to 1 lead or more on most of the stubby stacks at the table.
It was this realization, combined with the sheer, almost maniac, aggressiveness of the new players at the table, that I basically folded up and stopped playing for this last part of the tournament. I wanted to mix it up, really, but I new that mathematically there was very little reason to spew my chips away with less than premium starting cards - and I was about as card dead as you can get.
Towards the end, I did manage to bust another player, when my pocket kings in Hold-em held up to a short stack's Ax. This gave me enough chips to have a strangle hold on second. The player to my right, I have to give props to, for his relentless aggression and razor sharp instincts to fold in the right spots and get paid in others. He had a 2 to 1 chip lead on me when the dust settled and there were only three of us left.
The third place guy, who was down to a nub of a stack, was another codger. A regular I had seen before, who suavely suggested a chop. The chip leader graciously agreed to throw him $150 (only 50 more than the buy-in) off his own first place money of $1100, allowing me to keep the full second place amount.
I suppose I could have declined, the nub was sure to bust out in a few hands, and then I could've battled the chip leader. But in all honesty, the fatigue of nearly 6 hours of play had really gotten to me. If I ever play in the World Series of Poker, I don't know how I'm going to handle the 14 hour days! I was spent, and ready to head home, with nearly 5 times the money in my pocket than what I had sat down with. And since I'm being completely honest, I'd also say that the chip leader was simply a better player than I was. And though I would've enjoyed the challenge, it was likely to be at least another hour or two, with exactly the same results as our chop. As the Kenny Rogers song says, you got to know when to walk away...
