The Latest

Well, things have been going pretty decent since Monday. I'm waiting on my big $1.25 last hurrah at FTP until the time feels right. And by "the time feels right", I mean when I'm a whole lot less pissed off at that site than I am currently, and think I can get top 6 out of 45 without being weak/tight out of my mind.

I cashed in another $2.20 SNG at Poker.com on Tuesday evening, which propeled my bankroll to $17. At that point, I decided it was time to venture into the $5.50 arena. So I did that last night, and although I pulled together a few chips early, I found myself in jeopardy toward the middle. But I did some scooping and managed to stick around until one of the leaders took out 2 people. All of the sudden I'm on the bubble. But unfortunately the bubble is where I stayed, as I saw a couple of pretty decent hands, but couldn't hit a board and I busted 4th.

Feeling a little steamed, I went 2.20 SNG crazy. I ended up playing in 3. I had already started in one when it looked like the $5.50 was not gonna go my way, and I proceeded to steam that one away pretty quickly. Attempting a big bluff, I lost all my chips when I ran up against a straight. With a lot of paint on the board I had a middle 2 pair and figured I was up against a bigger 2 pair. This is something that I really need to keep working on, because I want it to be a part of my game. I try and bluff every now and then, and when I pull it off it feels great, but more often than not I run into a real hand. So I need to figure out how to feel out a strong bluffing situation, and how to know when I'm really up against something. Anyway, I picked up in another one, and when it was getting boring, I started in another. With my bankroll at $4.90 I started feeling that feeling again, but luckily I hit a rush of cards in the first of the pair I was playing and it propelled me to the money with the chip lead. Once I got 3-handed I was scooping like mad and showing as many good hands as I could. I eventually had a 3 to 1 chip advantage on each of my opponents, but by the time I got heads up I was running a little colder and it was 5xxx to 4xxx. About this time, I busted out of the other one I was in. Blinds were starting to make my stack pretty measly, and after a couple of successful scoops, my A9 ran up against rockets with 5 left. But, being heads up in this other one, I wasn't horribly disappointed, and just wanted to win what would be a very satisfying $10. Heads up proceeded to go about like the other 2 heads up have gone in these 2.20 SNGs, as I was making moves at the wrong time and not having what I needed when we'd check it down. I eventually got somewhat stacked, but then a preflop push on a raise got us about even. Shortly after that I picked up 3s and pushed, and felt the nasty sting of deja vu (I have ONLY cashed in 2nd place in these tourneys) when my opponent rolled 7s. But I overcame the odds, doubled up, and won when my opponent was all-in for less on the next hand.

End result of what could've been a disastrous night: a $14.90 bankroll. Only down $2.10 from where I started. Even the $6 2nd place prize would've kept me at $10.90, and up from my freeroll cash, which is where I want to stay.

The $5.50 played a lot better than the $2.20 tournaments but still appeared VERY beatable, so I'm looking forward to trying that level again. With a little luck I could've backed into the money with little to no effort. But, I won't be back at that game until my bankroll is at least $15.50. I went a little crazy w/the $2.20s, and need to control my tilt, but I was confident something would go my way, and it did. The 2.20s are simple to beat. All you need is some winning hands.

So...the overall feeling is pretty good I'm happy to report. The key I came away with last night is that I have to work on that whole tilting thing, play my game, and not try to force things when something doesn't go my way. I also need to work on picking better places to bluff. Sorry if all this talk makes for bad reading, but this blog is also for self-analysis, so get used to it. :-P I won't get to play tonight, but hopefully I will tomorrow. Then Saturday we'll head out of town, so depending on how things go when we get back Sunday I may or may not get to play. But after I could've lost 71% of my bankroll last night and only ended up down 13%, a couple of no play days are just what the doctor ordered.

Originally Posted 8/24/2006