MAY 2008 WRAP

Okay, this will be quick. I didn't play at all last weekend. Since then I've played a few cash sessions, totaling around $1200 profit and I've gone 0-10 in tournaments, though most of them were small satellites. Moments ago, I busted out of a $163 MTT in horrific fashion: Marci asked me at the break if I was out because I was standing around, but I assured her I was still in with an above-average stack. Moments later, I was out on the first hand coming out of the break. On the first hand with antes, I raised in third position with 7-7 and got a call from fourth position. The flop came 7-high with two spades. I bet a little more than half the pot and he tripled my bet. I figured the money may as well go in now while I have the nuts or I can push him off his hand and take down the healthy $7k+ pot. I shoved and he insta-called with J-J. I think he should fold there, especially without even holding a spade, because there were six pairs that had him beat and he's not even looking real strong against two high spades. But, he was willing to die with the jacks and went with it. I got the bad news right away on the turn when his two-outter hit, propelling him instead of me into second place overall.

I finished Gus Hansen's book, which I enjoyed very much and has given me some new insight on how to handle certain situations in tournaments. I have begun Dan Harrington's ode to cash games and it is just as great as I had hoped. I made over $1200 in a total of about three hours over the course of two days playing $2/4 NL and I think I will put in some big hours in June at the ring games for a bankroll boost while I am excited, motivated, and confident about my game.

I close out May on a mini losing streak, but I am playing well and looking forward to some big cashes this summer. For the month, I earned $7.3k even though it began and ended with zeros.
It is notable that I earned a profit in all three phases of the game this month - MTTs, STTs, and cash games. That puts me up around $11.3k for the year with 2/3 of the year left to get huge.