Day 2 of Event 1

I came back with 44,000 at 2500/5000. The button was in seat 10 and I was in seat 4 so the third hand would see me in the BB. I did not get that far, folding K3o UTG1 and then jamming KQo UTG for 43K. 7 folds and the SB puts his chips in and turns over AcQs. We get the fun K93sss flop, the fine Qc turn, and the ugly get-there-both-ways As on the river. We had 3 chances to get to 80K+ in this tourney after clean flops (or in the last case, a lucky flop) but all 3 were squandered on the turn or river. That's just how tournament poker goes though.

The Rest of the Day

I hung out with a buddy in the food court for about a half hour before getting on a 2/5 table around 1:00. I played until 6:00 and finished up about 400. I 3b the BB with TT against a kid who was opening a lot, he flatted and I continued on the A55 flop. He called and the turn was a T. That doesn't even seem fair. I decided getting 3 streets was going to be hard and I feel like people have been folding a lot when I barrel twice recently (not sure if this is true or not but just how it's seemed to be) so I checked. I also think that this kid was capable of flatting flop without much with the intention of taking the pot away on a later street if I had a hand like, say, TT. Unfortunately he checked back and I bet something like 135 on the brick river. He called fairly quickly so I assume he did just have an ace this hand and I got very lucky on the turn.

I eventually chipped back down to around 380 (started with 500) but then slowly worked my way back up before eventually winning the pot that essentially locked up profit on the session, even though I missed $35 in value. 4 limps to my BB I check 96, flop comes A87 I c/c a $20 bet and a call. Turn is the Th, making my straight and putting 2 hearts on board. I check to the flop bettor who seemed to be a pretty spewy older Asian guy, but once again he found the check button and the river was the 5h, completing the backdoor flush. The SB now leads 40 and has maybe a stack of red left behind. I have black and green chips on top of the 2 stacks of red I have, and I grab 4 greens with the intention of raising enough to cover this guy who just led. However I realize I'll have to move the big chips to get to the rest of the reds below to make it the exact number I want to, so I just grab the extra red straggler I had on the side and raise to 105. So wtf happened here??? This is a very amateur mistake to be making! Here are a few things I thought about after the session:

1) In the moment, I was worried about looking too strong by really going deep into my stack to pull out a "big" raise.
2) In the moment, I didn't want to eye up the guy's stack and then raise that exact amount because I thought that would look too strong.
3) I now didn't have the nuts, with J9 having already had me beat but now any funky heart combo beating me as well. That innate, illogical fear that makes you want to raise quickly when you know you might not have the best hand but you know you're still supposed to raise (does that make any sense??) took over and I put the raise out more quickly than I should have without really thinking about the sizing.
4) There was another player in the pot and it felt awkward to focus on one guy when the only player who showed an aggressive action before the river is still waiting behind me.

All of these things combined, being in the heat of the moment, led to me making a pretty ridiculously small raise (40-->105) when I could have made it 140 and got full value. The other guy folded, the SB shrugged and called, leaving himself 35 back, and showed A5 (rivered 2 pair) after I showed my straight. I just want to clarify the 4 points above: All of them are terrible logic. But they are things that flashed quickly through my head (without me consciously thinking about them) that led to me making this mistake. Luckily this time it only cost me 7BBs, but I need to make sure going forward that I never act on impulses and always make rational decisions live. I do pride myself on the fact that I never make any quick decisions live and am always shocked when someone reacts quickly or excitedly to a bet when they might have gotten action had they relaxed and then raised or whatever. But this was a different sort of impulse play, where those sort of subconscious feelings led to me making a $35 mistake. These will not happen in the future!!

After cashing out there I went upstairs and registered for tomorrow's "elevator" tournament, in which players start with 40K starting chips and level 1 is 25/50. However, it and level 2 only last 10 minutes each. Levels 3 and 4 last 15 minutes each. Levels 5 and 6 last 20 minutes each, and so on, all the way up to levels 27 and 28 lasting 75 minutes each. It's an interesting format and I heard very good things about it from players who played it during the last series, which was the first time they had this tourney. It's a $560 and it is included in the package I sold. I have an unused bullet from event 1 that I plan on using in this event if bullet 1 doesn't work, but with only 10 levels of late reg my math says it's 3 hours 20 mins of play with the last level of late reg being 500/1000. So I really hope I do not bust the 40K stack before then.

Some Online Tourneys

At 7:00 I went to the food court and ate a bit and fired up 4 tourneys. Nothing stuck except the $10K on WSOP. My buddies Dan and Norm (there's your damn shout out Norm) came down to eat and sweat me a bit, and I ended up being pretty comfortably over average the whole tourney after catching a couple of really ridiculous punts from the same guy. I was around average with 140K or so with 14 left at 6K BB when I got QQ in the SB. Button opens, I 3b, button flats, flop 3T3, I bet small, button jams, I call, button has ATss, turn Js so now he has flush draw, river T and I'm out in 14th. Pot was for 3rd place stack and 1st in this one was $3600! Grrr! After that we went upstairs to see what was going on in event 1; there were still 5 tables left at midnight and they play down to 10 tonight. Gonna be a long grind for those guys (and possibly girl since Jessica Dawley was still in at that time) but they do get to come back at 3:00 tomorrow for the final table live stream. 325K up top. When you really start thinking about it it's unbelievable that you can pay $560 and run good, play good, whatever and walk away with $325,000 2 days later. Good lord.

End of the Week!

I've had a good time here this week. I've grown to like this ****ty hotel room. Driving 15 minutes is not a big deal, I paid $128 for 4 nights, and the room is my own. It would be nice to stay at Borgata but you really have to either pay some serious rates or split a room with someone. I have no issue splitting a room but there is something nice about being able to unwind on your own at the end of each day. I'll check out tomorrow around 10:15, get a bagel or something and then head to Borgata to play the elevator. 100K guarantee on that but I'd imagine they will smash that with only 200 entrants needed to cover. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Borgata Elevator Tournament

Quick rundown of Friday and Saturday: On Friday I played the $560 Elevator tourney at Borgata. Levels start 10 minutes each with 25/50. Levels 1 and 2 are 10 mins, levels 3 and 4 are 15 mins, levels 5 and 6 are 20 mins, and so on, with the amount of time per level being capped at 75 mins. You get 40K to start. On the first break I had 70K; I dropped to 15K soon after and then started grinding. AJ>AT, TT>AJ, JJ>88, and some other hands and all of a sudden I had 160K at dinner break with about 75 left of the original 380 coming back to 2500/5000. 36 paid and 50K+ up top. Post dinner break could not have gone worse aside from one hand where I got very lucky. I iso with 77 over an old guy's limp and he then c/r's the KT4 flop. I open AJ and get 3 bet very very small, flat and c/f the 8 high flop. I then get KQ in vs AQ for my last 85K button vs SB and flop a king! I double to 180K and feel like my luck is changing.

I then double barrel vs a good opponent and shut down on the river. He shows Q8 on the 46Qdd4xAd board and wins. This was absolutely a spot where I need to either check the turn or triple barrel on this amazingly good bluff card (I had KJcc). Instead I totally choked up, afraid to punt this stack off after having the good fortune of doubling with the worst hand. I end up 3b squeezing all in for 110K over a 15K CO open and button flat with 99, only to be shown TT by the CO and be out before the end of the 1st level back from dinner. I'm really disappointed with myself in all of this because getting it in bad and winning only to bust anyway always feels the worst to me.

The Rest of the Weekend

I drove home and played the tourney that lasts the latest, the 10r 5K on WSOP. With 5 left I was in a virtual 3 way tie for 1st with the other 2 having about half as much. I get QQ in vs AQ bvb vs one of the other big stacks for 54% of the chips in play. Flop clean, turn gives me a flush draw so he has 2 outs, river Ad and he scoops and I bust 5th. Yesterday I made a run in the Party 10K before getting 99 in on K955 vs KK with 14 left. It was really sick because it was an uncomfortable spot pre; the guy was very tight and 3b to 3x my open from the BB. It just screamed strength and I almost wanted to fold but I heard echoes of people berating me for being too nitty if I folded this spot, so I flatted and he c/c'ed the K95 flop. Alarm bells went off in my head but obviously at this point we're happy to get it in. I jammed the 5 turn and he took a few seconds before calling lol. Managed to win AT>JJ SB vs button a few hands later (the coolers are real but I got out of this one) before eventually busting 7th. Then made a run in a $35 tourney on WSOP before final table bubbling around 1AM.

Thoughts on the Past Week

It's been a tough week as far as tourneys go but honestly cash has been going really well for the small sample I have. I made over $700 playing 2/5 for 9 hours or whatever at Borgata (obviously way over EV) and then won over $350 over about 200 hands of 50c/$1 in an hour last night after the tourneys. Altogether I'm only down about $200 since Monday after arriving at Borgata and after factoring in how much of my own money I've spent on the live tourneys. I think the thing that has frustrated me the most is not being able to deliver yet for the investors. I really want this first package to go well to prove I am a good investment in the future, so busting the elevator like I did really bothered me. Financially, I feel much less pressure playing these tourneys since I only have about $230 of my own money going to each $560 bullet. But I want to succeed even more than if I had all my own action! I want to be able to give the people who trusted me with their money something to show for it all! I'm sure this is something I will get used to as I sell more packages and play more down the road, but right now I just really really want to at least find one cash during this series to be able to say "look guys, the big score didn't come now but I'm definitely capable of doing it." I know for myself that I am but I really just want to prove it. I'm really excited for the 6 max coming up and hopefully everything will click then. We'll have to wait until Friday to see.

A Comforting Sign

I saw a news article headline on Yahoo as I went to check my mail. These "stories" are usually really dumb but it grabbed my attention enough to at least check what the "habit" they were talking about was. The headline: "A self-made millionaire says a seemingly innocuous daily habit could be keeping you from getting rich." I opened it expecting to see something dumb but the answer I found actually made me feel really good. "In 'Secrets of the Millionaire Mind,' author and self-made millionaire T. Harv Eker identifies a seemingly harmless daily habit average people engage in that the rich refuse to: complaining."

This is what I have been preaching since I started trying to be a professional! The mindset is half the battle and if you can get your mind right you've got a way better chance than most to be successful. Now I have no idea who T. Harv Eker is or what he does or if his words should really mean anything, but I don't think you can argue with the statement I quoted here. Complaining can definitely hinder your success, and his claim is that it can hinder you from becoming rich. Not complaining isn't just going to get you there, but it has to be a step in the right direction. That is why I will continue to focus on being positive and shrugging when adversity hits. I think that playing bad will always leave me feeling frustrated, no matter how long I play this game. But running bad should be less and less painful as I continue on this journey.

I played 2 tournaments today: the $200 $35K guarantee on WSOP and the $215 $50K guarantee on Party. I started around 5:45 and busted the WSOP tourney at 6:30. In the process I punched my desk a few times and threw some poker chips I had on the table across the room. I'm getting worried that I'll never grow out of these outbursts. I get so angry when I make a bad decision or when I make a good decision and run into the top of someone's range. It's completely irrational how I react. That reaction doesn't happen live; it's like I know better when people are watching. But when I'm on my own I just let it all out. My mom heard me spazzing out and came upstairs and told me to stop playing because I needed a day off. She was right; I should have taken yesterday off but decided to play because I was determined to have a winning day to help my attitude about poker (I was going through that mental slump where you feel like a losing player because of recent results even if you know intuitively that isn't true). I didn't give myself a couple days off this week and I think all of the frustration came out after I took a non-standard line (which very well might have just strictly been a bad line) and then called off on the flop with 6 outs. I thought I could have the best hand but I did not, and there go the chips across the room!

So I wanted to take my mom's advice and stop playing but I couldn't just quit a $215 MTT so I laid down on my bed with my laptop and 1 tabled it. 5 hours later I was at the final table, funnily enough with the same kid who I thought I should have triple barreled against in the live tourney (or only fired flop and then given up). We told each other our online names while we were at the live table on Friday and there we are at the FT of the biggest weekly NJ tourney. By 1 tabling the whole tourney I felt like I was really focusing on every aspect of every hand and taking my time to make the best decisions. Then at the final table I punted. I can't express how frustrating it is to do this more than once in a week in a big spot with a lot of money on the line. First, a guy with 20BBs opens HJ and I flat CO with AQ. Why am I not 3 betting. He had 105K to start the hand at 3K/6K (so 17.5BBs) and I had 145K. It's like in my mind I know if he 4b shoves my hand isn't great but I'd have to call anyway, so I flatted. But wtf just get this in pre and handle the variance. There were 2.16M chips in play so average was 240K, but 2 stacks were at 500K so my stack was right in the middle of the bottom 7. I think I was fearing that getting it in with AQ would be an ICM mistake but I also think I underestimate how often he's just going to fold a marginal holding in that spot. I think I also fear him flatting and me whiffing the flop and just getting a headache from it. However, I don't think he flats or shoves often enough for me to justify flatting over 3 betting. I also let others in behind if I flat which can make it tougher for my AQ high to be good than if I was up against 1 opponent.

I just looked back at the hand on HEM and he opened to 15K, leaving himself 90K behind. I have 145K to start the hand and stacks behind are 520K, 130K, and 170K. This has to be the easiest shove ever. wtf am I doing with this flat??? Again, I'm scared of ICM implications, but I don't know how in game I'm not just shoving this in and dealing with the variance. I think I'm scared of the variance and want my "skill" to shine in these spots. I watch my friend Mike, who has chopped this tournament 3 of the last 6 weeks heads up (he didn't FT it today because he was busy winning the WSOP major outright What a 2 month stretch for him he must be totally in the zone). When I watch him and another guy who has had extreme success in these Sunday majors what I notice is that they simply don't get their chips in bad. They wait and wait and wait and wait for the spots to get it in. I mean why wouldn't you; these structures are unbelievable. 10K SS and 20 minute levels; that's the structure a lot of live tourneys use! And they don't skip any levels! So I'm probably thinking in game "don't just shove here like you usually do; you can wait for a better spot like them." But in reality I just have to play my own game and deal with the consequences. For all I know those guys ARE just piling it in here anyway.

So I flat and flop comes T33dd. I have the Ad and he bets 18000 into 44400. If I call there will be 80K in the middle and he'll have 72K back. This flop does NOT hit his range very hard and I could still have the best hand. I've got 15 good turns (3 aces, 2 non-diamond queens, and 10 diamonds) and I think there's a chance he'll shut down on turn with 22 and 44-99, especially if we get a J or K on turn, which gives us another 6 okay cards. So I peel, and unfortunately the turn is an offsuit 4. That's okay since 55-99 and 22 might still shut down. Now he checks, and I think the play here is probably to check back since this really isn't a scary card for 55-99 and the only realistic hand I might fold out that beats me is AK or 22. Even those might hero.

I go all in. I mean I don't know how I can botch a hand twice when we're 17BBs deep and I have AQ but I found a way to do it. I had no idea just how unfortunate the turn was but when I saw his 44 I got a better idea of it. I don't think this hand is a punt in the typical "wow this play made no sense at all" type of way, but it was enough of a punt for me to feel pretty upset about it given I've been playing for as long as I have. I can check this turn back and evaluate river. The river was a king so if he shoves it I prob fold. If he checks it I prob jam to get 55-99 off it and he doubles anyway. I don't think he would have checked it. So instead of having 110K left and 18BBs I wind up with 36K and 6 bigs. It's so disheartening. Luckily I don't think I've ever subconsciously punted a tourney before (once or twice I've given up on a $25 tourney or whatever because I felt like getting away from the computer was more +life EV than sitting there grinding it out was +dollar EV), so I sat there and folded a few hands before watching someone bust 9th. $500 pay jump for me. I then got AK in vs 77 and won to get over 60K. It then folded to SB who open limped and I jammed my QTo because if he's trapping me here then just good for him. He had the nut worst hand for me to see, QQ, and despite somehow finding 10 outs going to the river, I bricked and busted for $2050. Another 8K left on the table leaving more to be desired.

So yeah I now have a 6th 7th and 8th in the Party 50K, a 5th in the WSOP 40K (when it used to be a 40K), and a 9th in the live Borgata 100K. The sum of the differences between my bust outs and first place is somewhere in the 55K range. My bankroll is exactly half of that. It's pretty painful to think about. I know it's just all part of the journey but getting close and striking out is starting to really sting. I don't want it to become the norm for me. I should probably feel grateful just to reach these final tables but watching my peers win them every week makes it hard to just settle with small 4 figure scores time after time! I also have noticed that I have this desire to be respected in the poker community and unfortunately, unless you're a high stakes cash game crusher, you really need results to get noticed. I want some damn results! It might be greedy but just winning enough money to get by is not going to satisfy me. I want to be at the top and winning these weekly tourneys is just a small first step to getting there, and I can't even seem to pull these off. It's frustrating. On the surface I know it's all part of the journey but I really just want to get those results ASAP. I guess I will have to continue to wait.

I'm going to my girlfriend's tomorrow for some much needed time away from the game. I haven't ran since last Sunday's 7 miler so I absolutely need to get back to that. My girlfriend asked recently if I ever thought of tutoring kids in math. It's a really good idea. Poker is fun but I don't get that good feeling of helping other people that I did when I was teaching. Poker is a very selfish endeavor, and not only would tutoring make me some extra guaranteed money on the side, it would allow me to feel good again about helping people out. I will have to start looking into that soon. I also think I could charge quite a bit of money. I have a math degree with a teaching certification and I got a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT. I also student taught for a semester with nice recommendations from my cooperating teacher and the adviser from the college. I actually told my cooperating teacher I would go visit her soon so I definitely need to get on that. It's amazing how little time I've had to do that despite just being a poker player; with being in AC and travelling to see my girlfriend I really haven't had a weekday to drive in there to see all of them.

Anyway I'm getting a bit off topic now. If I play any poker in the next 2 days it will be very minimal, like maybe a small tourney online tomorrow morning and some cash, but I might not play at all. No poker Tuesday for sure and probably only 1 of the 2 nights on Wednesday/Thursday. Then Friday is the 1K 6 max (200K guarantee) and Saturday is day 2 of that tourney. I sold for 2 bullets of the Saturday Series but I'm just gonna win the 6 max and send refunds on that one. This post has had a bit of a negative attitude on it because I am very frustrated by my lack of success late in big tourneys, but I know the big break is coming. The important thing is that I just keep my head up and keep working hard. Maybe I need to spend more time studying; the one time I did a tournament review I won a tourney for 4K that night lol. I don't expect that to happen every time obviously but it definitely got me thinking properly about spots again and had at least a little bit to do with the win. I've had 2 people now suggest we go over hand histories so I need to call them and get on that! Maybe that's what I'll try to do tomorrow morning. In any case, time for sleep now hope everyone's Sunday went well.

WSOP 2015 First Two Episodes on ESPN

So I watched the first 2 episodes ESPN aired on Monday night in different segments, eventually finishing them up some time on Tuesday. I thought I'd share some of the things I was thinking while watching because those shows are what initially got me really interested in the game back in 2003. Actually even before '03 I got a small taste of it; I remember once asking my dad how poker worked when he was watching it a little bit in 2002 (I believe now that it was actually the '02 FT that Varkonyi won). I remember thinking it was ridiculous that someone could bet all the chips and win the pot and it wasn't fair. I don't think I understood that you were actually risking something when you did that lol. I was 11 so I'm gonna cut myself some slack but I do remember thinking it seemed like another interesting game and I'd like to learn it some day.

1) I've gotten involved enough in the poker community to really recognize people on these shows. In the first 10 seconds, when they show people walking through the halls of the casino before sitting down at their tables, I recognized 2 guys yelling at the camera who I've played with and talked with several times. One, Jon Borenstein, even got a pretty decent amount of camera time being on Phil Hellmuth's left for a majority of the first episode before busting in the 500s for $19K. Nice run Jon! I used to play a goofy computer game (Town of Salem) a few months back with Jon and another guy who eventually got air time on the show, Joe McKeehen. Joe had 1.4M on the show after getting the **** heroed out of him after value jamming the river (guy called off his last 300K at 5K (I think) BB with TT on like 49JQA or something. Joe scooped with TT). I guess we'll have to wait for future episodes to see how Joe ends up doing.

2) Mukul Pahuja (whose brother Vinny was actually at my table in 2 different flights of the Borgata Event 1 and who I play a lot with online) had a really great line when talking to Phil Hellmuth that I think is a great example of having a great mindset. Hellmuth is spouting off about all of the things that could have gone different for him so far and says something like "I deserve to have a million right now." Mukul says "I don't use that word (deserve) in poker." Great statement. I said something really similar to a buddy of mine on dinner break of the Elevator tourney. He said "I got KK in pre and should have 800K right now." I stopped him quickly and said "you SHOULDN'T have anything, you COULD have 800K." He's a smart guy and agreed with my pretty quickly. If you backtrack an entire tournament you're almost always going to find a spot where you got lucky to get a lot of chips, even if it's not lucky in the traditional sense. Coolering someone and holding is lucky. Getting someone to spew to you is lucky that that particular person was spewy and you found a hand against him. I mean even hero calling and being correct THIS TIME is lucky. There's so much variance in tournament poker and if you really want to go around saying you deserve better then you are probably an idiot, because you could so easily not have chips at any point in a tournament.

3) Some thoughts about Phil Hellmuth. Yes he is annoying and yes he comes off as unprofessional. But imagine where poker might be had there not been this character in the early stages of the game. He made it watchable, was just another of a few important core characters that made the game interesting in the beginning. It was pretty cool seeing Daniel Negreanu end up at his table, the featured table, on day 4 to see 2 of the old school guys who, love them or hate them, are still doing really well in 2015. You can see that when Hellmuth busts in the flip to Daniel that he almost seems offended that Negreanu would call off with "just AK", hinting that his range is QQ+ and MAYBE AK, but not having the balls to say that Negreanu's call was bad because he knows in his heart that it wasn't. Anyway, you have to root for Negreanu, I hope he does well going forward.

I'll be putting in an online session tonight, maybe just playing the bigger tourneys to keep it relaxed since I really should be taking it easy going into this weekend. After how bad I spazzed out on Sunday when I busted the WSOP $200 I realized that I absolutely needed a break, and seeing my girlfriend the last few days has really recharged my batteries. I think I could take today off too but putting in a small session seems best for me at the moment. Friday is the $1K 6 max at Borg with a $200K guarantee. Hopefully I just make day 2 of that and refund the investors but if not, I will be playing the Saturday $400 as part of the package.

Shoutout to my buddy Mike (I think he reads this ) on winning the WSOP $200 this past Sunday for $8K+; that's his 4th win/heads up chop of the last 7 week of a Sunday major. Given there are only 2 of them each week, that's an unbelievable feat. Couldn't be happening to a nicer guy or a harder worker either.

Coming from the Borgata

Managed to get some floor space with a buddy at Borgata so it's nice to not have to drive from Brigantine to AC back and forth is a nice luxury. Only played 2 tourneys last night, the $109 on Party and the $100 on WSOP. Final tabled the Party tourney but busted AQs<KK in 9th for $218. Hooray made $9 on the night. Also played just over 500 hands of $100NL before leaving for Borgata last night. 80 minutes over 4 tables and made about $300 so seems like a pretty nice session. Played one of the most ridiculous hands I've ever played. I'll post it at the end of this entry.

Today is the $1090 6 max with a $200K guarantee at Borgata. I'm excited for it and am ready to play well. It starts at 11 but I might late reg a little bit; with 50 minute levels I don't expect to miss more than a full level. The reason for late registration is that I forgot my contacts' case so I ended up sleeping with my contacts in my eyes. They felt funky this morning and when I went downstairs to buy a toothbrush (forgot that too!) I saw they had contact cases there. So I got one of those, popped those bad boys out, and am giving my eyes a rest now before the tourney. It's nice to take my time in the morning anyway; I'll probably go downstairs and get a sandwich or something before play starts.

Anyway that's about all I've got for this post, I'll end it with that bizarre hand:

***** Hand History for Game 106050122 *****
$0.50/$1 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, September 17, 15:38:31 EDT 2015
Table Clifton (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6/6
Seat 6: KGBoreos ( $162.90 USD )
Seat 2: RockD45 ( $100 USD )
Seat 1: Spyder80 ( $75.96 USD )
Seat 3: cardiackid ( $109.37 USD )
Seat 4: johnsnow ( $126.98 USD )
Seat 5: mj23style ( $100 USD )
cardiackid posts small blind [$0.50 USD].
johnsnow posts big blind [$1 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mj23style [ Th Qh ]
mj23style raises [$3 USD]
KGBoreos folds
Spyder80 folds
RockD45 folds
cardiackid calls [$2.50 USD]
johnsnow folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kh, Jh, Ah ]
cardiackid bets [$10 USD]
mj23style calls [$10 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Td ]
cardiackid bets [$25.50 USD]
mj23style calls [$25.50 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 9s ]
cardiackid is all-In [$70.87 USD]
mj23style is all-In [$61.50 USD]
cardiackid shows [ Jc, 8c ]a pair of Jacks.
mj23style shows [ Th, Qh ]royal flush.
cardiackid wins $9.37 USD from the side pot 1 with a pair of Jacks.
mj23style wins $198 USD from the main pot with a royal flush.

Borgata $1090 6 max ($200K guarantee)

Played this tournament for the package today...got a good start at a soft table and after telling everyone I drew maybe the only soft table in the whole room, I got back from break to see my chips in a rack and they were moving me since I was in BB. Seated at table with Travis Greenawalt on direct right and an empty seat on my left, which was promptly filled by Jonathan Duhamel. A few minutes later Gags took the seat to his left, and I wasn't loving the draw anymore. Got abused by Duhamel for the better part of 6 hours. I'm absolutely freerolling this tourney though after playing a hand with 99 against Gags. 13K deep at 150/300 I open to 700, he 3b's to 2K from button, and we have a little bit of history online but idk if it's enough to just assume he's light here a lot. I decided to 4b/call it off anyway, and I made it 5K. Before I did it I realized that if anyone is going to flat in this spot it's Gags (and when he's done this to me online in the past it's almost always been the nuts). He flats and the flop is Q8xhh. I decide to just rip (idk) and he calls with JJ. Turn Q river 9 and we have 26K.

I get abused for a while more (and then watch Gags get it in on the turn having to fade 2 outs and lose again to bust!! pretty sick) and eventually 3b jam QQ from SB vs a Justin Liberto button open for 14K at 8K BB. Duhamel wakes up with 99 and I double. I escape the table (it broke) with 26K or so and run it up pretty quickly on my next table I think primarily without a showdown which is pretty cool. When that table broke I had around 90K and moved to a table with lots of familiar faces. Dan Buzgon on direct left, Jon Borenstein on direct right, Mike Linster on his right, guy named Dennis who I should probably know on Dan's left, and a random but seemingly competent and laxed middle aged guy in the other seat. Everyone has heaps except the middle aged guy and I eventually get KK in vs his JJ for 66K each; J in the window and I'm down to around 35K at 2KBB. Folded down to like 28K or so at 2400BB and then called all in bvb vs Borenstein with A5 vs his...85! Hooray we somehow found a hand that had a 5 in it and I double. I grinded my ass off and eventually we reached the bubble with 31 left and 30 paying (287 entrants total). It was quite a relief to hear someone else busted since at this point the average is like 200K and it doesn't seem like there are many short stacks aside from myself. I get some shoves through, eventually 3b jam AQs vs Pat Chan for about 60K over a 7K open at 3K and he calls with AQo and we chop. Play a few hands to end the day and bag 59.2K going back to 4K BB tomorrow with 28 left. $70K up top I believe but I'm quite short so it's still way early to be thinking about that. However, with 1 hour levels I have a stack I'm really comfortable with so if we find that magical double spot then maybe we can have some fun! Bedtime now I think it said $1670 locked so it's nice to at least get a cash for the first package sold.

Back Home

After a pretty successful online cash session yesterday afternoon I finally packed up and drove home from Borgata. Sunday's online MTT session was very frustrating; I started the day with a mincash after AJ<Q8 bvb with 8 left in a $50 MTT with 1K up top (I was short but so was everyone else so hand was worth a bit). I then busted the 50K 10 from the money in a 70K pot at 1500BB in a flip vs the same kid who won it last week (the same guy I wish I had triple barreled against live but didn't). That is the 3rd week out of 4 I busted that tourney 10 from the money or closer. Luckily the 4th week of those 4 I final tabled. After finally getting above starting stack in the WSOP major I lost a flip for 3 starting stacks. My last 2 tourneys were the final table of a $20r with $900 up top and the 10K on Party. I got to heads up of the 20r and then simultaneously busted the 10K, also 10 from the money, and lost a pretty ridiculous pot in the 20r that would have ended it. I r/c'ed J9o pre, called the 9TT flop, and bet/called all in on the T turn. He had K4 and the river was a K. I haven't won a tournament this month and that's how I get denied my first one!! I ended the day down about $250; the difference between 1st and 2nd in that one was $330 so that was a bit annoying. Oh well, the days I spend in AC were enjoyable and the run I made in the 6 max was very good experience. Joe was mad I gave Norm a shoutout a while back and not him so here's your stupid shoutout Joe.

Last Night's Session

The session started off really well last night. I think I was over starting stack in all 5 tourneys I had running at one point. Eventually I busted the 30r on WSOP and the $55 5K on Party but I did manage a 3rd place in the $100 on WSOP for about $500. Wanted to win but I've had absolutely no success in that tournament recently so I'll take a 3rd place. We got down to 13 in the Party 10K and I was 13th; since only 99 people entered only 9 would pay, but that also meant a hefty $260 mincash and $3000 up top. Button opens and I shove my 10BBs with A9. He calls with KJ and I hold! As we got down to 11 players I realized that I had one of the tightest tables I've ever seen. I began opening any two and it worked amazingly. By the time we got to the final table I had the chip lead with around 180K at 5KBB.

There was only one other competent player at the final table and he was 2nd in chips. I fortunately drew him 2 to my right and I really think that was huge in allowing me to run over the table. Every time he folded I got to open and very often won uncontested. When someone called a c-bet almost always got it done. By the time we were 5 handed I was leading with over 500K of the 990K in play and the other 4 stacks were all close with around 100K each. It was a dream spot to exploit ICM play. And with Justin (the other competent player) on my right he was handcuffed since I could make his life miserable. I eventually got heads up with Justin with something like an 850K to 140K lead. I got my AJ in vs his K4 and he doubled and we were back to playing heads up. We grinded for about 30 minutes in a match where he showed me flopped top pair at showdown quite a few times. At one point he even took the lead back from me. I then took a few pots back and by the time the break started my lead was back to around 3:1, at which point I asked him if he wanted to deal. He said sure and I ended up taking $2625 in the chop. It's not a full on win but I'll definitely accept it as my first win of the month! For the first time in my life I have a 30K bankroll. I will need to decide at the end of the month how much I want to take off, if any, going forward. I know I am going to be playing the Parx series coming up in October so I might want to be conservative and leave my bankroll as is. I still have a few days to figure that out though.

Will you be selling for the Parx series?

Yes I will be and you and anyone else who invested in the last package will have first crack at that.

Quick update: Went to AC with my girlfriend the last couple days, had a great time, was a nice way to relax. I just bought a Wii U and am waiting now for the store to email me to tell me it's ready for pick up. I think I need something else to help me have other outlets after poker. Running and other athletic stuff is good but I think I need some more ways to wind down indoors too. Mario Maker comes with the Wii U in the package I bought and since I won the 10K on Monday I decided to treat myself. This is probably the first "splurge" purchase I've made since college and pre BF, when I used to literally look at my winnings as "free money" and buy things with reckless abandon. Now I'm very tight with my cash but this seems like a reasonable purchase. Kelsey also said she's a big Mario fan so that'll be something else for us to do when she comes over .

I'll put a session in tonight and probably each night until at least the end of Sunday. Maybe I'll go play some live cash at Parx one of these upcoming days too. My plans always seem to change though as friends let me know what they're up to so it's hard to commit to stuff. I know for sure I'll be playing Parx Big Stax in first few weeks of October. The plan is to rip the $330 on my own and then sell, probably 2 bullets each of the $550 and $1100. I can't play 1C of the $550 so I'll only have 2 starting flights of that, and the $1100 only has 2 starting flights, so I will probably just play 1 bullet each flight of those. That is the nice thing about living so close to Parx; I can easily just drive home if I have an early finish to a tournament, regroup, and come back the next day, instead of feeling forced to re-enter the same day and grind through another bullet.

The next few hours will be committed to vigorously refreshing my email to see if the Wii U is ready for pickup! Wish me luck.

Parx Big Stax Package

As promised, here is a link to the package I'm selling for the tournament series I'll be playing starting next week:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/18.../#post48247297

A decent amount of poker stuff, mental realizations, and even a run have occurred since last update. I'll post another update soon

Nice thread, grad to see a NJMTT grinder making a thread here, good luck on your journey, I started running every morning myself after I read your thread and it helps me a lot on my mental problem, I used to played tons of online and live toury and now I mainly only focus on cash game, hope to see you at the table when you come to borgata

Hey thanks a lot for sharing this man it actually really means a lot to me and makes me feel like this thread has actually done something positive haha. Feel free to PM me or post on this thread if you want any tips on running or just want to report how you've been doing! It's amazing to me how my mind can be in a fog before I run and when I come back that fog is just gone and I'm thinking clearly and positively again and feeling good about myself.

A Lack of Motivation?

Sticking with that topic, I went on my first run in three weeks on Monday! So wtf happened?? I'd been so positive about it all and all of a sudden just went on a ridiculous hiatus! The first 2 weeks of the 3 I was in AC for most of it playing very long tournament sessions and I simply didn't find the time. It's an excuse but it's one I don't really mind making because I felt good while I was playing the tournaments. The reason I run is to feel better and be healthy so I didn't mind missing, especially when I wasn't winning the tournaments but I still felt good about the experience.

The next week I won the Party 10K and final tabled another tourney for a +$3000 Monday, which obviously made me feel good. The next few days I went back to AC, this time for a relaxing trip with my girlfriend, and I was happy the whole time I was there until Thursday. Kelsey had work Thursday night and the following Monday and Tuesday, so we decided she'd go back that day and we would just meet up again the next week (this Friday). So now I have a bunch of free time on my own over the weekend to set up my schedule however I want! It's been a while since I've had that option and I ended up buying the Wii U last Thursday and played it A LOT over the weekend. I was playing it so much to the point that I didn't want to stop to put a session in lol. So anyway I have a few losing days of poker where I find myself questioning all of my decisions. I start feeling bad about the whole experience, find myself staying inside for a big chunk of the weekend, and when Monday comes around I feel like total ****!! I've lost $1500 since the +$3000 Monday and I feel like I don't know what I'm doing while playing the game. This is when I realized that fog had sneakily crept back into my mind while I was spending countless hours playing the Wii and surfing the web. I had to do something about it!

Running and the WPT

So on Monday I did what has worked for me in the past. I went on a run. I decided to go short, just 3 miles, to get my feet back under me. I went out around 3PM and I quickly realized I had gotten used to the 90 degree heat from all the summer running and I now felt like I was floating through the air with this beautiful 75-80 degree weather! I came through my 1st mile in 3 weeks in 6:50. It was at that point I realized I'd gotten caught up in feeling good and this was way too fast for how long I'd taken off. My chest felt really tight for the last 2 miles, making it pretty difficult to breathe, but the rest of my body felt great so I just sacked up and finished the run, 6:56 for mile 2 and 6:58 for mile 3 for a 20:44 3 mile run my first time back. Truth be told, the time doesn't matter at all; it's all about just getting that fog out of my brain. And it was gone that night and I felt great.

I took poker off that night to relax and watch the WSOP main, but it wasn't on TV. They changed it to tonight for whatever reason. But the WPT World Championship was on TV, a tournament I was actually in the audience for since it was at Borgata and I had a rooting interest in the final 6. This is a $15,000 buy in tournament and is the conclusion of the WPT season. The final table consisted of Carlos Mortenson (all time WPT money winner and 2001 WSOP Main Event champ), Alex Lahkov (former WPT champ), Ray Qartomy (former WPT champ), Brian Yoon (2 time WSOP bracelet winner), and Tony Dunst (Established pro and WPT Raw Deal Host). Oh, and my buddy Asher Coniff who I play against a bunch on the NJ sites. Asher won for a million bucks. If you haven't read or heard about this story google his name or "million dollar misclick." The story could seriously be made into a movie it was unbelievable. The coverage for this episode ended with Dunst losing KK<TT of Mortenson and they ended the episode with 6 still remaining. I got in the crowd right after Dunst busted and 5 remained so I'm looking forward to seeing if I get any air time next week. I was drinking and in the front row and cameras turned to me a couple times so I guess we'll see lol. Still so pumped for Asher who was actually motivation for me even before he won this tournament. He's all about not whining and just handling the variance like a pro, and he's been like that since before he won the tournament. He's also one of the more personable young pros I've ever met, as a lot of them are super analytical and not great at conversation. He was relaxed in front of the cameras and I honestly think he makes a very good ambassador for the game. I like to think if I ever find myself on that kind of a stage I will act the same way.

Self-Perception in Poker and Life

So last night I had a pretty nice conversation with my mom, who really helps me through all of my tough times. We both found similarities in the way we perceive ourselves when it comes to our jobs and she's explained to me how she's been working on it. She is one of the department heads at the high school she works at, which has her not only overlooking everyone who teaches in that department and sort of being a bridge between the administration and the teachers whenever someone messes something up, but also has her teaching 2 x 80 minute classes each semester. She told me yesterday how she has finally realized just how good she is at her job, but it took her a long time to see that. She said she often compares herself to the ideal, explaining how if there were 5 categories to focus on in the job, she looks at what being 100% in each of those categories looks like, and if she isn't there then she used to assume she wasn't doing great. And recently she has realized that you can be great without being perfect. It was eye opening for me!

I am absolutely like this. If I don't perceive myself as the best player online then I feel like I'm just not very good. I see guys playing 6 tables of $500NL and I imagine them talking about the silly tournament professionals and I feel like I'm a joke. I'll lose a pot to another reg and immediately wonder where it all went wrong. I start imagining that I just really am not cut out for this if I'm going to be getting owned by NJ regs from time to time. While talking to my mom I told her about the Twitter feed of a kid who plays a ton of tourneys and is often very focused (hint hint). He is a good player but all of his tweets are about how he's playing great and the only way you can bring him down is if you get lucky on him! I started to wonder if maybe this should be my attitude! He made a great run in a recent WPT and tweeted about grinding hard and playing great from 10 bigs to 25 and then getting unlucky to lose a flip to Merson. He said he played great and they gotta get there on him to beat him. Well, the WPT is a big tourney so I looked up the live updates they have on a separate site and he went 55>98s to double and then 99<AK to bust. For me, I'd shrug and say standard whatever and be done with it. But Nick lets everyone know how great he played and interprets it as he would win if he ran better, which probably is true! Nick if you ever stumble upon this blog I mean no disrespect with this, it actually was sort of eye opening for me that I need to be more confident and, while I still want to remain humble, I have to start trusting myself again that I am a good player and losing is just all part of this experience.

So yesterday when I sat down to play I decided I would 9 table (I very rarely do this these days, mainly because there isn't really a great schedule to choose from) and make decisions based on what my gut told me. Since I would have less time to think about and decide on my actions I hoped this would force me to play instinctively and just trust that I knew what I was doing! I did this and just felt great about the whole session. Lost some flips to bust a $100 MTT, lost another big flip in a different $100, lost QQ<JJ for 4 starting stacks in a $55 small field tourney (river J, the most painful, and with the small field I would have been in great shape for the $225 mincash at the least), and busted 9 from the money in a large pot in the WSOP 10K when we got a bunch in on 532 then got the rest in on 9 turn, my QQ<99. But I felt great! I felt like all of these were standard and I made no mistakes. In the past I'd be looking for what mistakes I made and start feeling bad that I probably did something wrong. Yesterday I just trusted that I knew what I was doing and these were standard spots. If I want to analyze how I played, AFTER the session is when to do it, not in the middle of the session where now I start doubting even the standard stuff.

I went on to win a $25 MTT for $500, took 5th in a $55 5K guarantee for $500ish, and cashed a few other small things for a +$600 day. I think I would have felt good about the session even had I lost money. I also could have won a ton more, but it's just variance and it's all good. It was great to feel like I was playing well again and to just have that confidence!

Next Few Weeks

I'll be leaving for Parx the second I finish with this blog post to play day 1A of the $330 Parx Big Stax tournament. I am excited for this series. Since I'm visiting Kelsey Friday and Saturday I'll be doing everything I can to bag either today or tomorrow and think I'll max it out at 4 bullets. Next week is the $550 and the week after is the $1100, which I'll be playing for the first time. I have a package selling now for 2 bullets of the 550 and the 1100 and I'm really looking forward to playing these tournaments with such great structures. I felt very comfortable in the $400 Borgata Players Series I final tabled, and very comfortable in the $1090 Borgata 6 max I cashed in. Both has excellent structures. The more experience I get with these great structures, the more confident I feel I will eventually get that big score that will jump start my career. It's only a matter of time! Here's to today being the beginning of that run!

Really enjoy your thread, I'm from NJ so it's neat to see someone doing well in the area. I actually think I played the WSOP 30r with you last night...regardless, if you put in the work, no doubt you can have one of those major scores. Having +200K in tournament earnings is something only about 1% of poker players can say, so don't feel bad after a few losing days.

I really believe some mental training will take you to the next level, I started incorporated it daily the past two months and I've noticed massive improvement.

GL in the Parx series

Thanks a lot man that really means a lot. What's your screenname? We probably did play together! I think that major score will come soon and I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing until it does. It's nice because I don't even feel discouraged really, just more motivated and I find myself enjoying the grind. Thanks for the kind words about 200K+; that's another one of those things where when I see other NJ regs have more in earnings and more than one of my friends has 7 figure scores that I start to feel like a joke. But in reality I should give myself credit for my accomplishments regardless of what the top tier is doing. Any suggestions for where to start with mental training? So far I've just been trying to figure it out on my own but I do agree that I should start actively pursuing it.

Yesterday's Summary

Went to Parx and had a pretty annoying day. Very early got JdTd in the SB in an 8 way limped pot and the flop came 9h8d7d. Wow! I check, a girl who is a reg (and a pretty good one at that) bets 1200, a loose but good player calls, I raise to 4600, girl shoves, guy tank folds, I call and she turns over JT and obviously is disgusted to see my hand. She fades the freeroll and I'm a tiny bit over starting stack. I probably wouldn't have mentioned that hand if I ever had more chips than I had then the rest of the tourney!

For 7 hours my 3 best hands were AQ AQ and 99. Both times with the AQ I faced an EP raise and elected to flat. Once we went 4 ways to a 987 flop, the other time a tight ABC guy 3b very large and I folded. When I had 99 in the BB a friend and fellow NJ grinder opens to 2400 at 1KBB, 3 calls, and I think a while before flatting. I thought about squeezing to 10Kish; the opener's range is pretty much the same as my opening range which includes all the premiums but also suited connectors and all that fun stuff, and I think these 2 particular flatters would be 3 betting TT+ all day. I elected to set mine because of how great the structure of this tournament is and I knew there was a good chance I would get a lot of chips if I flopped the set, based on how the table was playing. Flop comes KK5cc and it checks to the 4th guy who bets half pot. He's quite active and I'm probably going to call until the guy between us flats. Me and my buddy fold, turn is a brick, river is a 9 and the SB c/c's all in with KQ, beating A7cc. Tilt!!

A little while later, after the dinner break now, I am down to 24K and find 66 in EP at 1200BB. This is a pretty awkward spot, especially at a table that is flatting a lot of opens and occasionally throwing a 3b in there. I decide to open to 2600 but I think folding is okay and jamming might even be better. My buddy calls and the loose aggro kid calls in the BB as well. The flop comes J85r and after loose kid checks I c-bet 3300. Buddy folds, loose kid calls. Turn is a 4 giving me a gutter and we go check check. Turn is a Q and he checks. Here's where I think the most interesting spot in the hand occurs. I think this kid often has 4x in his range, 8x in his range, some Jx in his range, and veryyyyyyy occasionally T9, but I think he probably leads the river with that hand. Should I turn my hand into a bluff?? I thought about it for a while. The thing that led to me checking is that I think he's calling with Jx. So that would mean my bluff with a hand that has some showdown value would be exclusively to push 8x off the hand. I don't know! This is a spot where I need to be better at ranging this kid. He plays a ton of hands so he has a huge range pre, then the c/c on the flop narrows it a bit, and the checks on turn and river are probably pretty weak. So maybe the jam would be better and if I have the best hand anyway then great. I checked and he turned over 86 for the winner.

I'm now down to 16K and pretty frustrated with the day but I decided to look at it as a win/win situation; either I double and have more chips or I get to go home before 9:00 and play some online while watching the WSOP main on TV. It folds to the CO who opens to 3200 at 1200. This guy lost all but 3K of his stack earlier and tried to re-enter. They called him back right before he paid the cashier and he spun it all back up. Loose kid calls OTB and I 3b jam 17.6K with KJo from the BB. CO snap calls and button folds. I turn over my KJ and he does the thing where they stand up and examine your hand before turning theirs over and I'm waiting for the slowroll with better. He turns over 97hh. I turn to my buddy and shrug and we laugh. Board runs 9 high and it's gg me. Pretty dumb day. All good, gonna just go home and play online and try to end September with a bang. Side note: 97 guy ended the day with over 500K and the chip lead. Go figure.

Online Session

I get home in time to register for the 10Ks on each site, the $100 WSOP "High roller", and the $55 1 re entry on 888. I busted the Party 10K pretty quickly, 3b jamming KJ for 17BBs and getting snapped by A9o. The Bill Fillmaff signature hand was really letting me down yesterday! Look up Bill Fillmaff if you haven't seen him before it's hilarious and he essentially is a character loosely based off of Phil Hellmuth. KJo is his signature hand much like Phil tried to coin the 2 black 9s as his. Anyway, I make a run in the high roller and eventually bust AQ<KQ with 4 left. Grrr $1200 up top and 4th was good for $400. The $55 started pretty well and then I went QQ<JJ for heaps and eventually busted twice out of the money. That left me with only the WSOP 10K in which I was pretty short.

I spun it up in that tourney, eventually winning a flip with 2 tables left to put myself in position to do something. With 8 or 9 left I got JJ in vs AT and held to double to 4th or 5th place stack and I was starting to feel like we might end this month with a bang. With $3200 up top I think I might have instantly withdrawn what I won and put it in savings! Unfortunately it was not meant to be as I lost a flip, AT<88, to bust in 6th. Had I won there would have been 4 of us between 400K and 500K with 2 shorties. Unfortunately I didn't! It's okay though, standard tournament variance, and I got $600 for that 6th place finish whereas had I busted in the flip with 2 tables left I would have gotten $450 less. Gotta look at the upsides. The other upside is that I ended up with a winning day yesterday, including the

An Awesome Surprise

Speaking of upsides, as I was writing the above segment I was checking my bankroll and balances and saw my WSOP account had a lot more money in it than I thought it should. I check my email to see that the "volume discount" has been applied; I opted in to a bonus where you get half your rake back or something on MTTs throughout September and totally forgot about it. They credited it all at the end of the month and wahlah, $138.60 free money just showed up! Running good to start October

September Summary

I was ready to write that I was up a shade under $4000 for the month, but with that bonus it switches to a shade above $4000. Here is a good summary of how a tournament pro makes his living: My 2 biggest scores of the month were winning the Party 10K (+$2526.23) and finishing 8th in the Party 50K (+1850). Those 2 scores combine for $4376.23 in profit. I ended the month with $4073.09 in profit. The entire month came down to losing $300 EXCEPT for those 2 binks.

There are a couple ways to look at that:

1) I really am lucky I got those binks or I would have had a **** month!

A more appropriate way:

2) I got close in many different tournaments and many of them fell through. These just happened to be the 2 that worked out (which is debatable since I got 8th in the 50K ).

But the most appropriate way in my opinion:

3) There is a lot of variance in tournament poker. Some months you will have 10 binks, some you will have 0. This month I had 2 and I was fortunate enough to break even with all the tournaments that weren't big binks. But the results don't matter and the focus should be on playing optimally and letting the rest work itself out.

Reason #3 is why looking at results of each month is more of a fun thing for me to just look at statistics and patterns. It's easy to play well and have a losing month so I really shouldn't be too results oriented. But as we close the 3rd quarter my yearly profit is now just a shade under 30K. This include 3 months where I was in school not focusing and breaking even, and an additional month away in Europe. I am excited for what the future holds for me.

One Last Thing...

POKERSTARS IS BACK BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ten Days Since an Update!!

Sheesh knew I hadn't posted in a while but didn't realize it'd been this long! Let's try to sum up what's been going on since last post...

Parx and the Package

So I played the $330 again last Thursday and after a decent start getting stack to 50K from 30K, I lost a few pots and eventually get AA with about 30K at either 800 or 1000BB. Guy with 23K opens to 2500, I 3b SB to 6500 (went smaller than I often do since he should be jamming or folding and I want it to look as weak as possible). He flats, flop 984 we get it in he has 44 ok cool. All in with 22 the next hand and his T9s knocks me out.

Sold for 2 bullets of the $550 and 2 bullets of the $1100 and got all 50% sold which is encouraging. Start with 40K in the $550 and played 1A on Thursday. Had it up to 100K after picking off a big bluff from Brad MacFarland, then played a slew of really absurd hands. Open KT 2 flats, c-bet KJ3 2 flats. Turn is a brick that brings a backdoor flush draw, I bet 8K and both players call. I'm about ready to shut down and then the river is the Ks, bringing in the backdoor flush. First guy checks and I check to loose passive older guy, probably going to fold if he puts a big bet out. He shoves, first kid calls, so I say "wtf guys I have a king!" I was 100% going to fold but just wanted to look at it for a few seconds (I hate making snap decisions when playing live...I'll never waste the table's time but I will take 10 seconds there to just reassure myself that folding is right, even though intuitively I know it's a snap-fold). Before I fold old guy says "ace high flush"!! Whoops, he thought me announcing my hand was a result of me calling. I apologized showed him my hand and tried to make it clear I was never folding. Kid mucks and claims he had AK. So 3 kings was in 3rd place.

Later Greg Himmelbrand opens to 1800, I 3b to 4400 with QQ, he flats, flop 863 he c/r's my c-bet to 11K I flat, turn T he jams 25K (almost pot) I call he has 86dd. Alrighty then. I'm now suddenly down to about 25K and open AQs from EP. Solid guy goes all in from SB for 11K at 800BB, I call, he has AK, I flop 1 spade turn a 2nd and river a 3rd for the KO to get back to around starting stack. Now I find AK, open, and BB who just sat at table and has heaps calls. Flop K62r, looks like things are turning around. I decide to check back since the board is SO dry. He c/c's the 8x turn and c/c's the 9x river and I turn my hand over feeling good that things are starting to turn around. He turns over 98o and takes the pot. ****!!! I go to dinner with a sad 17K and eventually get A3 in on AxTd9d against 87dd to try to get back to starting stack again. Ad on turn Jx on river to finish me off.

I went back again yesterday and it was more of the same, but I felt much more confident yesterday. I opened AQ twice and got 3b both times. I found 88 and 99 a ridiculous amount of times and the boards just ran out bad every time; when I tried to win the pot without a showdown I was always blown off the hand. These hands weren't against guys who were trying to rebluff me; I'm really confident they just had it each time. The one real bluff I ran was when I flatted the 3b with AQ (I folded the other AQ) and flop goes check check on J97dd. I bet the T on the turn and bet sorta big on the 8 on the river; I think my r/c range pre is ALLLL over this board and the kid I was playing against seemed competent. He thought for a while on the river and then called with QQ. I don't think he's beating much there (probably only bluffs, not sure if I'm going to bet a jack on that board) but this time he did have me beat. Shrug. Eventually get down to 10K at 800BB but just continue to grind. The structure of this tournament allows you to have 1/4 starting stack this late into the day and still have a chance. Sure enough I end up spinning it up to 30K at dinner.

I decided to continue with my "lockdown mode" coming back to 1200BB so as to not spew off this 25BB stack, but whenever I had a must-open spot it just simply didn't work out. Open A9s from HJ get snap 3b by tight guy. Open AJ from HJ again later, BB defends, KT4 flop he calls my c-bet, chk chk brick turn, he leads brick river. Open CO w QJs and 25BBs, button flats, SB who just sat down 3b's big. I just don't really have any way to fight this stuff! Eventually I jam 20K with KQ at 1600BB and lose to AJ. Parx has been frustrating recently but I felt way more confident yesterday and I think I've realized that when I'm downswinging I just need to get back to the basics. Play TAG, stop trying to get tricky, and hope that today's your day. I think I've played around 20-25 hours of poker between the 4 flights of poker I've played during this series and I've gotten AA once, KK 0 times, and QQ once. I lost the AA and the QQ. So I think it's fair to say I'm not running great, especially in a tournament where people really get sticky and will give you chips when you have those premiums. It's all good, I'm just saving the rungood for next week's $1100.

Lack of Volume

I've only played 4 days so far this month of the 10 available. I lost the 1st 3 and had a small winning day 2 days ago (won a $10r turbo for $500ish after busting the Parx tourney). I've been having a lot of fun with my girlfriend and hanging out with other friends but I need to make sure that even when things are going bad I have to put the volume in. That being said I think it is good I took a few days off. I think I was getting overly frustrated and needed to get my head back on straight. I'm feeling pretty good about things right now and feel like I have a gameplan set up to really get back into the swing of things.

Garden State Super Series

Party Poker is running the GSSS again starting today. On today's slate is a $55 slow structured tourney, the standard $200 Sunday tourney with a bigger guarantee ($75K), a $55r 6 max, and a $20 MTT with a 5K guarantee. I'll be playing all of those and the WSOP $200 30K guarantee. If things are going well I might play more, but for now I'll keep it low stress and focus on the bigger tourneys of the week.

Reducing Stress

I think I've felt more stress recently because I wasn't sure exactly how I was sitting financially. Having people send funds on PayPal and Venmo and whatnot for the package has all my money in different places. I then get low on cash when buying into stuff. I also haven't paid my 3rd quarter taxes yet because I'm an idiot and thought it was due October 15, so I'll definitely face a little fine for that. But after sending that in either today or tomorrow I'll be a little less stressed. I also sat down today and took an inventory of exactly how much of the money I have on the money transferring sites is mine (and how much is investors' that needs to be used for next week's tournament), how much I have in the bank, how much I have online, etc, and having that all cleared up definitely made me feel better. It also allowed me to figure out how much I should take out now so that I have enough to cover bills and whatnot for the next of the year. So now I think I know how much money I have purely in the poker bankroll, while still having spending money through December, which is nice. Separating poker bankroll from life bankroll is really important since the money in your poker roll isn't really poker money if you depend on it for outside stuff. So having those accounts clearly distinct from one another is another way I've relieved a bit of the stress.

That's it for now, hopefully I won't take as long to make the next update!

An Exciting End to a Bad Poker Day

Played 8 tourneys today, bricked them all for a 4 figure loss. Four of them were GSSS events. Finished 14 from the money in event 1, a $55 MTT with maybe $2500 up top (huge for NJ), busted 2 bullets in the $215 $75K that had an option for a single re-entry. Bullet #1 went down in the 1st level. I lost 2K of my 10K SS after 4 betting AQ to iso a small 3b shove. The opener 5b and I was forced to fold (he had JJ and would have won)...I then got my last 8K in pre with AA for 160BBs each and lost to QQ. Action went CO open to 200, button flat, I 3b 750 from SB, CO call, button all in for 11K effective. Well played. More of the same in the rest of the tourneys before busting my last one in 12th after QQ limped, button 4x'ed, I jammed 25BBs with JJ and had 2 outs. 1st was $1500 and woulda saved the day but it wasn't meant to be. Quite frustrating but it's just another Sunday of tournament poker in the grand scheme of things.

The exciting end to the day is I happened to find a video on youtube that currently has less than 200 views. It's a poker strategy video and I assumed it would be random nonsense since it's gotten very little attention. I gave it a chance though and I think it's actually going to be an amazing watch. It's 40 minutes and part 1 of a 9 part series. When the narrator brought up the topic revolving around what winning players do compared to what losing players do I assumed the video was going to be trash. How can you generalize good players vs bad players aside from saying that the good win money and the bad lose money? There are so many contrasting styles that work for all different types of people and there's just no way to blanket them all together.

I was wrong! As soon as he said "losing players follow a set of laws, while winning players use these laws to form their own principles that sometimes shy away from the laws" I realized I need to watch this series. I think this is part of the reason I have hit a rough patch; I realized and actively thought about this concept maybe a month or two ago and have been trying to follow it without even realizing what I was doing. I constantly say things like "these guys in NJ never 4 bet light! I should just start 3b/folding AQ!" and then I think about how that just can't be a good play because turning a hand that strong into a bluff is not good. But then I started thinking about WHY it isn't good.

I actually went through a hand history review with a friend of mine last week where we looked through an entire tournament of his. Several times I saw him do something that "wasn't good." "Ryan, your 3 bet here is too big and can be exploited." As soon as the words came out of my mouth I started thinking out loud with him. "Why is your 3b too big? You just got your villain to peel with 33 and now you're getting more value from this hand than I would have. You know what? Your 3b is just fine!" I started to realize that I am still trying to use concepts that were crucial when I played on Pokerstars and Full Tilt...4 YEARS AGO! The game has changed but I still have these concepts stuck in my head as if they are...well, LAWS! And I started to realize that I needed to start thinking about things differently and start exploiting people more than I do now. If people ONLY 4b with the nuts and are peeling 3 bets with EVERYTHING, then make your 4b's bigger and get more value! Sometimes you'll have to fold when they 4b but since they don't do that light anymore you won't be exploited.

What's amazing is both examples I used above were genuinely real examples of things I have been thinking about over the past month, but they are both exact examples that the author of this video used. He points out that an example of a "law" would be "Never 3b/fold AK preflop", while the "principle" that strong players are using from that law is actually "don't turn strong hands into bluffs preflop." He then goes on to explain that if we have a player who will peel 90% of his range vs your 3b, fold with most the rest of it, and only 4b with AA and KK, then 3b/fold with AK is absolutely the correct play! You're getting huge value from almost all of his hands and you only have to fold the very small % of the time he 4b's. It's not a bluff at all, you're simply folding when you are beat. It's funny he used that wildly hypothetical example because those tendencies really aren't that different than what a lot of the online players in NJ do. The 4b's are always the nuts and the fold to 3b stat is often quite low. Which is why I came to my 3b/fold AQ conclusion I mentioned before. It's okay to 3b/f that hand when you know you're almost always going to be beat if they 4b.

This concept of laws vs principles is fascinating and I'm only about 12 minutes into the video. The author sounds very knowledgeable and I'd imagine he is a proven big winner (I'll have to look up his name to confirm). It all sort of makes sense why I might be downswinging right now; I'm transitioning from someone who typically is just using all of the rules, or laws, he's built up in his memory bank in the last 6 years and has gotten very good at executing to a player who is now interpreting those laws to form his own set of principles. It's why I've been taking funky lines recently, and it's why I'm giving the people who take what I used to consider "bad" lines, but who are consistent winners, more and more credit. It's possible all of these players are simply breaking some of the laws because they realize that the law is supposed to be broken in this instance. I remember being shocked when Kevin Grabel, a hyper aggressive live player who has been absolutely crushing (I probably mentioned some hands I played against him in past posts), 4b to 25K, over my 8K 3b, and then felt agonized after I 5b jammed for 60K. Back then I thought "wtf did he have no plan? How can he stick 25K in without knowing what he was going to do vs the shove?" But now it's sort of obvious; he's never needed a plan! People never fight back against him! And when they do his AQ is almost always dominated. But he was planning on how to proceed after I either flatted, because 90% of the time (maybe more) he either gets a fold or a call there from lol live players.

I guess I'm so excited about this because I feel like I've been closing in on discovering this concept on my own but I've never been able to really put it into words. This video is now doing all of that for me and even better explaining it to me. The best players are where they are not because they've memorized all the stuff they read in a book long ago. They've definitely taken all those steps too, but the thing that puts them ahead is that they are consistently figuring out how to stay ahead of the curve; how to know what tomorrow's new strategy bit is before it comes out. That's something you can't teach in a book. You simply need experience and incredible intuition/intelligence/whatever you might want to call it in order to start to see the direction things are going. I really think Daniel Negreanu might be the best of all time at this and that is why he has been so successful for so long. He jokes about how he never 3 bets and 4 bets and all that preflop and how it's just "not his style", but I think he really has just come to the conclusion that going to war preflop is not optimal for him. He'd probably be good at the hyper aggressive preflop game if it was the most profitable way for him to play, but instead he just pretends like he doesn't know what the kids are talking about and goes on about how he's "old school" and all that.

Hopefully I will stick this series out and really learn something from it. I've wanted to study more and have had a tough time figuring out exactly how to go about doing that, so I think I will start simply by watching these videos and actively trying to learn from them. But I am glad that I feel like I have found a reason for some of my recent speedbumps in poker; while some of it is negative variance, some of it may also be that I am trying to establish some of my own principles, which is making me nervous since it forces me to stray away from some of these laws that I have long held as pure truths that should never be strayed from.

Just realized that we've been on the same table in GSSS #5 for a while lol

Screenname is bbissick. You probably wont' see me in that tournament too often as my BR at the moment can only handle a shot or two price wise for that tournament. And I definitely think you're on the brink. Obviously the first big score seems like the hardest.

Just curious about this one, thoughts on this C-bet? This is something I'd normally check back or check call

Good luck with the Garden Series!

Thanks! As far as the KT hand, people really are anti-folding early in these MTTs. For example, I c-bet this KJ3r flop into 2 others (I was 2nd to act) and old guy OTB flatted with ATs for just a gutshot and BDFD. No 3b's pre make me think AK and KK/JJ are unlikely, so the hands that beat me are pretty limited to KQ, KJ, and 33 here imo. That being said, other guy did claim that he flatted AK pre, so my read there might have been a little off. I probably could have slowed down on the turn but did want to continue to charge the straight draws and AJ/QJ hands to continue. People don't like folding pairs, so I wanted to get value. Once I faced resistance on the turn bet, especially from 2 players, I was pretty confident I was shutting down, even with the king coming on the river, which is why I checked. After they both checked I was pretty intrigued but shoulda just snap mucked since there's no way I'm calling there.

You don't seem to get much feedback so I just wanted to let you know that this is one of my favorite threads and the way you detail HHs, especially in the live birds, is very entertaining. Your financial goals are so on point that I've decided to make them my own as well. Your thread has given me the inspiration to grind hard for the last 1/4 of this year after being down in the dumps for a few days. I barely play poker lately since I work and have a family and all that jazz (which is probably the reason I get a little depressed here and there), but if I grind the OT hard these next few months and budget wisely than I should have enough saved to put a small roll together and get back in action. Thank you for that.

Good luck going forward and catching the big break that you rightfully deserve (I know you don't like that word!). And GL in the PARX $1100.

Ha didn't see you there! I'm 0-6 in those events thusfar hoping things turn around soon!

Well posts like these make it absolutely worth it! Thanks a lot for taking the time to type this out it really does mean a lot. I've got a lot of respect for you guys that have a family and are able to play poker as well. It's a lot to balance and can definitely be overwhelming so I'm sure it's perfectly normal to feel a little depressed once in a while. I get that feeling somewhat often and I'm really not even juggling that much at all. Thanks again for the kind words and keep me updated with how your grind is going!

Quick update, I bricked everything again yesterday and am now 0-6 in the 6 GSSS events, which doesn't even include the 2 re-entries I bricked as well. A nice little downswing has snuck up on me as I am now down over $3K this month. It definitely hasn't negatively affected me the way it seems to in the past but as always with a downswing I worry that I am not playing my best. I'll just have to make sure to keep the focus high and allow myself to pop out of that downswing when the cards decide it is time. Hopefully that will be tonight!

Thanks for your thoughts, yeah definitely based on preflop actions you're rarely value-owning yourself. I always think it's interesting how a line may be +EV for a cash game but not optimal for a tourney.

And The GSSS is so early, saving the heater for the main event

I'm 0-2. Plus all of the sattys that I've busted trying to get in. Punched a main ticket and a $109 ticket in two of them though. Gonna keep plugging away and get in as many events as I can other than the $20 "events".

Nice Karl hope you qualify for a bunch. As for the $20 "events", the one I played Sunday had a 5K guarantee and a pretty amazing turnout. They are definitely worth the grind!

A Small Break in the Downswing

I played a session on Tuesday and got my first cash in about $1700 worth of buy ins. Mincashed a $30 MTT for $70ish lol. Continued my session, bricked GSSS to move to 0-8 on those with an additional 2 re-entries (so technically 0-10 I guess). Eventually I was down to 2 tables, semi-deep in a $25 MTT and in the middle stages of the WSOP 10K. Eventually I mincashed the $25 (another frustrating finish) and only had the 10K left. I was at my gf's place and she was finishing some homework so I knew we could hang out after my session was over, so I was already less tilted and feeling fine about the session, even though an out of the money finish in the 10K would lead to another -$200 day. I had 10BBs left about 20 from the money and then the heater started!

I forget how I doubled up first but then I 3b jammed 41K at 2400BB w AQ over an UTG min from a guy with heaps (200K). I had him marked as a fish and after 30 seconds he called with J9ss. K44 flop with 1 spade, turn Qs...river brick! What a relief that was. I then just started winning every pot, which further helped me understand variance. Why did something so simple as a card rush / good spot rush help me with a complicated topic?

I realized I hadn't had one of those rushes in weeks! It's something you get used to feeling when you're upswinging, where you feel like you can do no wrong and you are "running over the table." What we don't realize a lot of the time is that running over the table is often not just a product of us playing above the rim, but in reality is just a perfect storm of good cards or tight opponents or a lucky situation that allows us to crush because of how everyone else is stacked or positioned at the table. These rushes definitely help more if you know what you're doing and know how to keep your foot on the gas without driving off a cliff, but being good alone does not equal a rush like that. You need a little something extra, and it's all part of that crazy thing known as variance.

I ran it up to over 200K as we got into the money, and then they moved the only guy who covered me, my friend Jon Borenstein, to my direct left. We needle each other a lot and before the add on in this tourney I coolered Jon (let's be honest, he punted a bit too), quite a few times to build up a stack. He rebought at least 6 or 7 times and every bust out I had some friendly words to say in chat . During that stage I was on his direct left, but now the tables were turned! It proved to be a fun dynamic and we managed to stay away from each other enough to both make the final table, in the same seats, with comfortable stacks. Two more of my friends Rich and Mike ended up in the 2 seats to Jon's left. The 3 of them are probably 3 of the most aggro and competent players on the NJ sites so it was quite the unfortunate seat draw for me but hey, a chance for the breakthrough! I did the math and a win ($3300ish) would have me at almost exactly breakeven for the month.

Rich was short and busted 1st and Mike and Jon really went back and forth at each other, being 2 of the biggest stacks with several shorties really forcing us all to consider ICM in spots. At one point Jon opens CO, Mike 3b's button, SB jams for maybe 6BBs total, Jon folds and Mike calls getting 7:1 with the ol 83s. An 8 on the flop KO's shorties A7 but I'm cracking up at the fact that Mike is 3 betting Jon with his whole range in that spot. Definitely a good play at that point though especially given how active Jon often is. At this point Kelsey is done her homework and sweating the tourney with me and I realized I was gonna be 100% fine mentally regardless of where I finished. She really keeps my head on straight and makes me feel relaxed no matter what is happening.

At 12:55 we go on break 5 handed and Mike now have over 1M of the 2.3M in play. Jon is in 2nd with around 400K, and me and the other 2 each have around 200K at 20KBB. First hand back it folds to the SB who jams and I call with AQ. He had 84dd, flops a gutshot, turns an 8 which gives me a flush draw, and river is a brick. I'm left with 2BBs but double the next hand to get back to 100K at 20KBB. I do what I have been doing all year and don't panic, folding some hands despite my very small stack and allowing the other shorties, who have me way covered at this point, a chance to bust to let me move up the ladder. They don't bust and I get some shoves through and now am tied with the other shorty at around 140K. I somehow find AQ against and shove CO vs the shorties BB. He calls with 99 and the race is on to lock up 4th place and be tied with 3rd (and close to Jon for 2nd even). It is at this point that I realize WSOP software allows for runout trolls! They have a damn window card online and spread the flop out slowly lol. Ace in the window, not one but TWO nines behind it! Good game me. 5th for $700 and change and I end the day almost exactly $500 up.

So, the downswing continues, but I pick up a few good things from the session on Tuesday.

1) I've been much more mellow during this downswing, which I will go ahead and consider the 3rd real one I've ever had. The 1st one was in March and I was a spaz who was convinced that it was mathematically impossible to run as bad as me. If I could go back in time I'd bitchslap that Dan for being so caught up in himself. The 2nd one was right back from vacation in July. I handled that better with much less of a whiny "this is rigged" attitude, but I still let it get me down. I wondered if it would ever end and thought I might just be bad at poker. However, this downswing I've been much better mentally. I still get frustrated but it's nowhere near where I was in March or even in July. I realize more how easily variance can affect anyone and how I must just grind through it. I'm aware the downswing could be partly my fault as well and I might not be playing optimally. BUT, I also realize that when I'm not downswing, my AQ holds vs 84. My AQ beats 99 sometimes. I'd pick up more premiums at that final table. It's just all part of the swings. There's no more downswing if I just finish FOUR spots higher! A win would end the downswing. For that reason, I don't feel any sort of panic anymore. It's important to keep going over hands I've played to make sure I'm playing alright but I'm quite confident at this point that the downswing is more linked to just bad luck than to gaping leaks in my game.

2) Winning is important. I went through all of my tournaments since the beginning of September to see I have a grand total of 3 1st places in MTTs. You have to close MTTs to make good money and I just haven't been! This could certainly be on me since I have really been putting a lot of value into ICM lately. But I don't think I'm just shying away from good spots at all, just for the sake of moving up the pay ladder, so again I'm thinking it's mostly just runbad at final tables. As I looked through all these tourneys I got close in I could remember my bust hands being sort of absurd and it made me feel better that this really is just a downswing and again, not a total collapse by me as a player.

3) Having a life outside poker is vital! I realized this during the last downswing but it is being reaffirmed in my head during this one. Having Kelsey watch that last tournament while I played relaxed me so much. Normally these days, while I don't spaz out after losing, I go through about a minute of "Why can't I hold in these spots anymore I run so bad if I were *insert name here* I'd win every single one of these spots there's too much luck in poker I can't overcome it I'm a victim of fate I'll never win again" nonsense that isn't rational but is just a quick reaction to something that has just occurred. After that minute, I'm back down to earth and realize that it's just part of the game. But with Kelsey I didn't even have a second of that feeling. I think I mentioned that I might have won it and wouldn't be downswinging if I won in those all in hands, but it wasn't with the normal "fml" attitude; it was more just summing up what had happened before closing it all out. Having her in my corner is huge, and given that she does not play poker, she is really wise with knowing what to say after I lose. It's almost always along the lines of "you know you'll start winning again soon, you chose this game and you know this is how it's gonna be sometimes", and other really smart stuff that I know is true but am not thinking about in the moment. She doesn't try to downplay it all but she also tells it as it is.

There are a lot of people who lose a poker tournament and then have to continue on with a life they dread living. When I stop playing the game I love, I turn around and see that the other things in my life are actually even better. I'm truly blessed.




I took yesterday off to be with Kelsey and the grind will continue tonight. I think tonight's GSSS events are PLO8 and PLO so I might not even play those. Tomorrow is the start of the Parx $1100, which is a $1200 buy in. Whoops, I put it in as an $1100 buy in on my package, so investors are simply being charged a smaller % of markup and payments and equity will be the same. I'm really excited for that and plan on getting there earlier than normal to get into a rhythm and establish an image. Loose and splashy >100BBs deep, a little rockier 50-100BBs deep, and back to TAG <50BBs deep. Or something like that who knows if one of you guys reading is at my table maybe I'll completely change it up . Still at Kelsey's now, gonna hang out with her a bit before driving home.

Hand from the $10K

Last thing, here is a hand I played in that 10K I talked about above. Feel free to give your inputs! http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/18...antee-1565769/

Online Session Before Live Poker Tomorrow

Another frustrating start to today, but I think it's been more frustrating just because I've been struggling lately. I 3b AK in the $100 on WSOP and got flatted, guy c/c'ed AsKs2c, c/c'ed 8s, then BOMBED 2s river for a little more than the pot. I called and he had 76ss. Sheesh. I then opened button with my last 20BBs for the minraise w KK and got a 3b from SB. I thought about flatting but I didn't think he'd 3b with the intention to fold vs my stack, so I shoved and was shown I was right when he turned over AA lol.

The Party $109 started bad and I was down to 3K from 10K fast but managed to get it back to 7500 at 300BB. Guy opens EP, next guy jams 8K (a lot), I call with QQ and his K9 wins. Blah!

I final tabled 2 of the smaller tourneys on the schedule with a 7th in a 10r and an 8th in a $25 freezeout. More cashes with no closes . But then I decided to play a $15 turbo on 888 that I hadn't seen before and I ran really hot 3 handed and won for $240! Not a lot of money but it was nice to finally win a tourney again. After that one was over all I had left was the WSOP 10K in which I had the chip lead on the bubble with 27 players left. I decided to one table that until it was done then go to bed. I got to the final table still having a pretty good stack and opened AJo from HJ. Capable button shoves 12BBs and I actually took some time with it because I don't think he's going to be light very often in that spot. I eventually called and he had AA. Back down below average.

We grinded for quite a bit and I eventually hold QQ vs AJ for a double! Nice to hold in those spots. Then the big hand plays out. I open button and SB, one of the best NJ regs, 3b's to 70K. BB, same guy who had the AA, jams 150K. I have AKs so I reshove and the reg actually tanks a bit before folding. BB has KQ (kinda surprised by that but I guess SB reg could be light?) and we get a sweet 357 flop before the dagger Q turn that knocks me back below average. Just more of the same ****.

Except that I run like god after that, including 77>AA of the KQ guy, and A5>AA all in pre, heads up, to win the tourney against the good reg. Ship for 3K. Later downswing! See ya tomorrow Parx!