SATURDAY TOURNAMENTS

All the good tourneys are on the weekends, so today, I got to stay home while the family went to a swim party. I used a $300 ticket to play in the PokerRoom WSOP Qualifier. I played well, except for one pivotal hand. I had 33 and the flop came 58Q and it checked around. The turn was an 8, and it checked around to me with only the button left to act. I bet, thinking he had missed the flop since he checked on the button. He raised. I should have gotten wise, but I just thought he was playing me with two high cards. I raised, and he went all in. I folded, but my stack was decimated. He had hit a set of fives on the flop. Soon after, I went all in with a small pair and came against a large pair. Goes to show that one wrong move can kill an entire tournament.

I played Omaha for awhile, but that was no good to me. I couldn't hit anything and I lost $650.

Next, I entered two tournaments concurrently - one at PokerRoom on my Mac, and the other at PokerStars on my PC. That was the first time I ever had two screens going at once, and it was pretty cool. The PokerStars tourney was a $100 multi-table no limit hold'em with 279 entrants. I got a nice early lead, then got busted down, built back up, got busted down again, then built back up and was nearing the money when it all crumbled. The money cutoff was 27. I went out at 36. I had K9 on the big blind with an early caller and the small blind in the hand. The flop came 966. The small blind checked, I checked, the third guy bet. I figured he would bet, and I planned to come over the top with a check-raise to protect my hand. If he didn't fold, I knew I was in trouble. But before it got to me, the small blind went all-in. He had several times the amount of chips as the rest of us, so it looked to me like a vast overbet of the pot, much like my all-in with JJ the other day. I smelled something fishy, so I called off all my chips. I was right, he had 87 and was on a draw. Unbeknownst to me, the other guy had pocket tens, and made the overcall. I think Negreanu would have folded there, figuring one of us had trips, but the tens held up, and I was gone.

I was several hours into the PokerRoom tourney and I was already in the money at this point. The entry was only $30. Earlier, I had TT and got involved in a pot against a big stack. The flop came TJQ all spades. I made a big bet, and the stack went all in with KQ. The set held up and I doubled up.

Later, I saw a flop with 99 from early position. The flop came KQ9 and I figured the caller had a piece of it, so I made a big bet, which was met by an all-in response. The caller thought he had me trapped with his pocket rockets, but my set was good. After that win, I was in first place by a healthy margin with $108K, the next guy sitting at $76K.

As all good things must end, I got all-in preflop with AA v KK, only to find the king hit the flop and drop me out of first place. I would never again cross the $100K barrier. There were 685 entrants, and the money started at 70th place with a $150 payout. My stack dwindled down to around $24K with $8K blinds, so I started doing the all-in moves, which were paying off, especially when I actually had a hand - QQ - and was called by TJs. This got me over $50K, but the end came when I got all in with 88 v 77 and he hit quads to knock me out in 18th place.

Money invested = $33
Time invested = 4:47
Payout = $400

still down on the day :(