GRINDING

I was so disappointed with my day two play from the GT4 that I think I have actually been playing better since. I'm showing more patience anyways. I very nearly won a $30 mutli-table tournament yesterday. I would have been pleased with the first place prize of over $700, but I flamed out in fourth place and took only $230. I went into the final table second in chips. When it got down to four, I was still second, but then the low stacks kept getting lucky, and soon it was basically a four-way tie. I wouldn't say I did anything wrong, other than get unlucky. I called a huge raise with QQ and when an ace flopped and he bet strong, I laid down my big pair. Then I lost a race, and got sucked out on, etc, and I was done for.

I also made a final table in Omaha HiLo. It was only a $10 tourney, but I like to gain experience for cheap. I got a bunch of chips early and was the leader or at least top three all the way to the final, then I lost a big pot, etc, and I finished 6th. I'm happy to be surviving later into the action like the Dude of old.

Today, I played some single-table heads-up tournaments and did well. I joined a $20 multi-table heads-up tournament at PokerStars which was really cool. It begins with 128 players at 64 tables. I won the first round and went to round two with 64 players at 32 tables. If you win round two, you make the money with 1st offering a decent payday. I thought most of the way that I would win round two, but then I got sucked out on. With him ahead in chips, I got it all in with 33 against his A9. I know, it's only treys, but any pair is a huge hand heads-up. He was the type of player who happily went all in with A9. It was a coin flip, but he's lucky it was. He hit the nine and took me out.

I also played a multi-table $50 event at PokerStars. The competition was not strong, but I was Mr Cold Deck from the get-go. I kept my stack around $1300, then when the blinds hit triple digits, I got all in with AK v AQ, and got killed by a queen. I can't get my money in much better than that, so I left satisfied.

One final thing I did today was play some $5-10 Limit Omaha HiLo at PokerStars. I sat down with $100 and five minutes later I was up $200. I overstayed my welcome and gave $70 of it back before quitting. I really like Limit Omaha. I am looking for a game to make my ATM. I struggle with Limit Hold'em, as I am much better at No Limit. I have struggled with Pot Limit Omaha, but Limit might be right up my alley. Especially HiLo where you get to bet aggressively and find callers hoping for that perfect low card to complete their wheel. More Limit HiLo next week - nothing planned for this weekend besides soccer and home improvement.