Need to Practice

So, while the Wings were winning their Leafs-tying 11th Stanley Cup, I was splitting my attention between the game and poker.

I got to the club about 1 or 2 hands into the tournament and took my seat. The trick with these games is that you have to build a big stack early, while the blinds are low. Once the first break kicks in, you're screwed if you don't haven't doubled your starting stack.

I chased an open-ender and tried to steal the pot on the river, with a flush and ace on the board. A2o just couldn't fold to my pot-sized bet though.

Not too long after I flopped trips when the button played like this:

I raise 3x BB in the hijack with 68o. Button calls.
Flop comes 88x
I check my trips, he bets a bit less than the pot.
I raise 10x his bet, leaving very little behind. He calls.
Turn is a brick. I push my last few hundred chips. He calls.
I flip over my 8, he flips over cowboys and looks ready to cry.

So far, TP and overpairs are gold. I thought I opted to NOT play The Mookie last night...

Not too much happens until I flop a pair of kings with a Q kicker and get it all-in against the guy to my immediate left who decides K8 must be good. I take a good chunk of his chips. I lose them a couple hands later when my straight doesn't fill vs a shortie.

Getting short-stacked relative to the blinds, I find AKo. Push 2 before me, re-raise to my immediate right, and I call for all my chips. J9d vs AKo vs AKo. J on the flop wins the shortie some life and loses 1000 chips for me and the big stack.

I toss A7o in EP, only to see an A7x flop. I get rid of suited connectors after 2 all-ins and a call before me, only to river the winning pair (AQ vs KJ vs QT or something, no-face board), finally I push from the button with K8h unopened and get called by AKd in the BB. I'm done.

So I moved to cash. $1/2 was full with a list, so I opted for $2/5 NL, figuring it would be good practice for Vegas.

I played like shit. No aggression, just waiting for cards. Chasing draws, and being chased off decent, but not spectacular, hands. In the end, my last chips went in with a baby straight draw and a pot that would have doubled my starting stack. I didn't win it. I rebought, went down, came back, and cashed out down only my first buy-in.

Wow. My cash game has never been great, but it sucked HARD last night. I think any poker I play until Vegas will be non-tournament. I need to find my groove and aggression again in cash. I also need to work on patience. I'll very likely be back at the club next week if I have the chance.

At least it seems I'm still hard to read live. I love nothing more than listening to the discussion about what I had (since I rarely show), and people being so far off-base.

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I'm guessing a bunch of people are heading out or already out in Vegas for the "official" weekend coming up. Here's hoping you all come back home alive and richer, with many tales of debauchery to share.

Oh, and my flights were confirmed last night. Now just comes the regular question - will there be a seat for me?