Goin' Deep

Well, I made the final table of last night's Poker.com $1k Freeroll. It was a great tournament, but tough to go out in 7th after three and a half hours of tooth and nail play.

It started out pretty average. I actually was in both the $500 and the $1k, and while I was being careful to play my best in the $1k, it was the $500 that was going best when I doubled up early w/QQ. Then, before I knew it I was out of the $500, and with blinds at 75/150, I only had 999 chips in the $1k. I was wondering if I'd even make the first break. Cash games were off the chain, though, so I didn't care *that* much. But wait, pocket kings in the big blind? Maybe this isn't over yet. So, behind a limp and a raise, I push my kings and get two callers. They hold up, and all of the sudden I'm back in the game. In fact, this kicks off a mad rush that includes taking someone out two hands later when I turned the nut flush, and a string of pocket pairs hitting trips or holding up and not even needing to hit trips to win, amongs other random flushes and TP, good kicks. It couldn't have come at a better time, as I was able to be taking stacks from the others who were sitting around 7-8xBB and pushing the first decent hand they saw. When the dust settled, I found myself in 35th out of the remaining 300-some players.

At that point I went into that inevitable period of inactivity where you just have to grind it out and not take yourself out of the game. This lasted until I was sitting somewhere around 64th out of 70ish. I was sitting on a stack of around 8k, with blinds at 500/1000. I managed to scoop some chips here and get myself up to 11k. Then came the suckout that you need at least one of to go deep in a tournament. I found myself pushing w/A6o in early position, and was not thrilled when I saw AK in the small blind. But it was really strange...I didn't get as worried as I usually do when I'm facing this situation. The flop proceeded to bring a 6, my opponent got no help, and he went home. Including the blinds, I was doubled up. Over the course of the next 20ish people going out, a handfull of which at the hands of yours truly, I went on another rush, this time taking me to the top spot. I bounced back and forth between 1st and 3rd while the next 20 were whiddled down, and we were ITM. Naturally 30 to 20 dropped pretty quick, and then it got dicey for a little bit between 20 and 10 as the blinds were really starting to get mean. But the lowest I dropped was 4th.

Next thing we know, the final table was here, and it looked a little something like THIS, with your hero at the top of the pile.

This is where the story fizzles. I was feeling really good about my chances, but over the course of the next 5 or so orbits, while people are pushing and showing AA, KK, AK, and other pocket pairs galore, the best hand I see is Q7o. I finally find myself in a position to at least *make* a move, folded to me on the button w/J9o. I push with my 90k, hoping to collect the 22,500 in blinds, but the big blind calls w/AK and IGH in 7th out of 733, for a $40 payday.

So while it was a thrilling run deep into the tournament, I again fall short of that illustrious little trophy by my name, with about as weak of a final table performance as possible. I stuck around to watch it, and my pick to win it, therack, took it down. We'd been together for the last 3 tables, and he was a very strong player with good instincts. He came back from a short stack, stole several of my big blinds at the last two tables, and always seemed to make the right moves. Thanks to the stack:blind ratio, the FT was just a big push-fest until there were about 3 players left. They finally got to play a little at that point. Which is unfortunate, because if anywhere, the FT is where there should be the MOST play, but of course this is an online tournament, and they're not known for their structure.

Regardless...a damn respectable Final Table, YAY!

As I mentioned, I also played some more .50/1 NL for about an hour to keep working off that bonus, and happen to have won my biggest online cash game pot as well. At the 10-handed table I limped with 99, and the flop came 9 8 6. Two players called me all the way down and after all was said and done I had made $100 on the hand. One player showed 69, and the other mucked. So I was riding HIGH in the cash games, and although I hate to think about it, was up as much as $150 before I got a little frisky in the short-handed game and called off my stack with odds on a flush draw. But I still cashed out up about $60.

That means a little over $100 profit on the night, which I just can't even believe. Friday afternoon I had $67. Now I've got almost $367. I am a very fortunate soul right now.

I'm getting to the point where I'd like to be able to review hand histories, and unfortunately don't have that option with Poker.com. PokerTracker doesn't work with the site last I checked, and their hand histories function is unavailable (and has been for as long as I've been there). I get the last 15 hands at the table, but that's not nearly enough, and as soon as I close the table that's gone. When I'm 4-tabling, including cash and tournaments, its hard to make the right move on a hand-by-hand basis, let alone be able to recall hands. I can't remember all of the key hands over the course of the inevitable 3 1/2 hour roller coaster ride that is a FT performance, especially when I was 4-tabling for the first hour. And as for the cash game, I know I made some brash plays and mistakes at the shorthanded table that could've saved me my $50, and I'd like to go back and see what they are. I'm pretty much used to playing no more than two tables that are pretty low action and meaningless, and my big, dumb melon can handle that pretty well. But with this 4-tabling stuff with decent chunks of money on the line, I can definitely see the need for going back and doing some homework to see where you can shore up potential holes.

Anyway, I think that's plenty for today. Tonight, after stopping to vote on my way home, I'll probably play an hour and a half or two of cash games, but will call it quits by 7 to catch up on TV missed last night (Heroes and Studio 60!) and hang w/the wife, who ended up being home last night, made my dinner (last night and Sunday), and hung out w/me watching the crappy TV while I played. She definitely earned some comp points for that, and I'm plenty pokered out after a couple of solid evenings, so a night on the couch it will be!

EVERYONE GO VOTE TODAY. Show them that we won't stand for them deciding how we spend our hard earned money, or for the concept of taking away our freedom in general. They're not expecting us to turn out (hell, normally I wouldn't), but lets show 'em that the 15 million poker players in the US *do* have a voice, and we're not afraid to use it!

Siyonara.