Finally!

The past few days have been a roller coaster for me poker wise. Friday night I played at Hummer Geoff's in a strictly Stud 8OB tourney. While I am playing the best NLHE I have ever played, I still like playing other games. Admiteddly, S8OB is not my best game. I tend to play it better than straight up Stud, but still not my best game in the HORSE rotation. It showed early and late. I played very bad and, of course, had crazy hands call me, with miracle hands befall others (try rivering Jacks full only knowing you were probably up against Queens full, finding out she fourth streeted Quads). Anyway, I recovered after losing half of my large starting stack, only to run it up to over quadruple the original starting stack by the time we got 7 handed (we only had 12 to start with). Then the blinds got huge (after 6 hours of play we were still 7 handed). I lost top pair to relative short stacks rivering 2 pair over and over again. Nut 6 lows counterfeited by wheels. I had a fall from grace of mammoth proportions, and ended losing when on 7th street I missed gaining my second pair for my Aces (and also missing my lo draw when I was 4-to-a-6 lo, the person who was shorter than me all-in caught her second pair on 7th, and then the big stack who called us both hit his second pair as well. Out I go in 7th when I had approximately 40% of the chips in play when we were 7 handed. I played bad, did not read people good at the end, and ended up on the rail after playing for hours with nothing to show for it except experience (which is usually a good byproduct).

So, after that I played a little online. I pretty much have just been holding steady. I win a little playing cash, or I win a token seat. I then play in a FTOPS qualifier and lose. I did make it into the $120 KO FTOPS on Sunday afternoon through a $11+ qualifier. I knocked out enough people in the tourney to more than pay for the tourney, so the FTOPs was truly a freeroll. Of course - what happens? 3 hands into the tourney I get AA, and I get raised and re-re-raised all-in by 99. Flop brings a 9, and I am done just like that. Yippee.

So, after all the craziness, I head over to Dave's for the usual Tuesday night tourney with the regular crew. 19 of us showed up for this $25 buy-in event. I play like I did last time I played with the guys. Aggressive in position. I picked out the guys who were playing passive, and took many hands down on the flop when they checked it to me. Granted, I did not play rags nearly as much as I did two weeks ago at Dave's place. I toned down the aggression just a bit, mainly because many of the gys noticed it. So I could not be too predictable already. But when the times were right, I made moves.

I never gained a huge amount of chips, and was mid-to-low stack by the time we got to the final table. I waited for the right moments, and I took my shots. After the blinds got to the point I had to, I started shoving. I got Geraci to call an all-in with A-rag (he had the chips to absorb a loss) against my KQ. K on the river, and I am back in business. I kept my stack steady, then doubled up through another chip stack again. Now I am holding over 20K in chips and was right in the middle of the pack with about 6 to go. Then Kevin and I mixed it up in a hand where the flop was 666. I checked and Kevin checked. The turn was a T. I bet a decent amount. Kevin goes over the top of me all-in. He has me barely covered at this point. I did not even care if he had a 6 or TT; I was getting my chips in at that point. I insta-called him, and he turns over Tx. He needs a 2-outer to win, and it does not come. I double up again, and now I am a force at the table. We are soon 5 handed. Then 4 handed. Then Tony takes out Ted, and I am in the money. Finally! It had been awhile. Not long after we get 3 handed, I look down at 99. I raise. Jason re-raises. Jason has been re-raising me all night with monster hands (twice with AA), and I had gotten away from those hands relatively unscathed. I just felt he was trying to use that rep to scare me off a legit hand. I go all-in and he shows me how wrong I am. He calls and flips his KK over. But then after the turn there are 3 spades on the board and I am the only one with a spade. Of curse, it did not matter when the 9-ball dropped on the river. Barry was pissed, and rightfully so. But I have been screwed like that so many times online and live that I am actually starting to get a little numb to it at this point. It happens.

So I am heads up with Geraci, and I have a huge chip lead (about 3:1) over him. ANd I just attack. I think I raised 80% of the hands I played. I called a bet on the river with 3rd pair knowing I am good. And I finish him off when he goes all-in on a Queen high board, and I just happen to have a Q in my hand. He was bluffing, and I win the tourney. It has been way too long for that, and it felt good.

Since then I have still been keeping the same even kiel on FTP. I just beat a guy heads-up in PLO - absolutely pwned the guy. It was sweet. My main goal is get into the Razz FTOPS for tonight. Work may suffer a little bit today because of it. Oh well. Happy Valentines Day to myself.

Steak