Mixed Success

Well, a less successful weekend than planned. The Raptors game was a ton of fun, if only because of the 4th quarter. Poker, on the other hand...

I couldn't have won a token if you'd held my feet over hot coals this weekend. I think I played 6 or 7 Tier 1's and won 2 of them. I played 3 Tier 2's and lost 'em all. I think my best showing was 8th. Between these and the 2 or 3 attempts during the week, I spent more trying to get into The Big Game than if I'd just bought in. So I ponied up and paid. 53 runners, which is fantastic. Top 6 paid, and 6th paid more than 1st usually does in any of the other games. THIS is what The Big Game was meant to be. So, top 27 would get points... I finished 22nd. Yay points!

The deep stack at the club was abysmal. The phrase "card dead" doesn't begin to do justice. My BEST hand (statistically) pre-flop the entire night was pocket tens in the 3rd or 4th hand of the game. After that? Pocket 4s once, and pocket 3s once. I think I saw AQo and AJo a couple times, and missed the flops by a mile. I pushed at the end with M=5 when I saw A9c in the SB with the action folded to me on the first hand after the 2nd break. BB had KQo and called for probably 2/3 of his stack. KQJ rainbow on the flop, and no T for yours truly sent me packing. I think I went out 15th out of around 20 or so players. I don't think I've ever folded so much. Normally with that level of decrepitude in the cards, I'd be picking spots to steal, taking advantage of table image... but these tables are mildly LAG-y, so I was almost always facing raises. That or it's a weak-tight cash player who will call to the turn (if that makes any sense). With my stack dwindling fast in relation to the blinds, I couldn't afford to gamble that much for long. I think I would have cheered if I saw matching faces or aces at any point last night.

On the upside (other than ranking in TBG), there was the $3 rebuy mentioned below. One of the smoothest 4 hours in poker I've played. I was inexplicably tired at the beginning (despite a solid night's sleep and large brunch). But only paid 4 times total, including initial buy-in and add-on (so an inital re-buy and one additional one), and found myself with a comfortable stack at the break (M ~ 20). I sat out for a bit to make some coffee and returned with gusto. Blinds were easily stolen and big hands were winning. I dropped low (M ~ 5) once or twice, but chipped back up and took down big pots when needed. Cards were catching, and if I lost, it was when I had my opponents well-covered. The final couple tables were a bunch of fish with one or two halfway decent players left, and since I had chips (but not the lead until there were 4 left), it was easy pickings as nobody wanted to go out so close to the money. Top 3 is tough to actually play for at that point -- everyone hopes to fold to the win and let the others take themselves out. I exploited this, as anybody should, and the ATC and bubble philosophies worked brilliantly here. As the final tally indicates, it was a walk for the last 30 min or so.

Small tangent here - I love the whiners who have no argument. I turned a straight against a guy's AK/top pair. His comment "3 hours wasted. Who calls my raises with 9T?" Well, let's see... 9Ts in the BB and you MIN RAISE, I call every time. I put out a feeler bet at the flop draw and you min raise AGAIN, I call every time it doesn't commit me. Straight on the turn and you're history. Grow a pair. A REAL bet anywhere before the turn and I'm out.

I didn't make it back in time for the WSOP qualifier, but that's fine. I was in no mood for such a long haul after the club. I had already pulled my entry and will probably use it next week. As Fuel said in the comments... great start, now I have to finish. But if I don't, there's still plenty of time.

Here's hoping my Wii shows up soon... because I need more things to waste time with.