The Big Weekend Report, End of March 2010 Edition

As I hoped I was able to play quite a bit this weekend and things came out fairly well. All in all I played in 74 events, including all of the small majors on Sunday. Those didn't go too well except for a min-cash in the $11 bounty on Cake. One day I'll make a run in one of these... just don't know when.

I did have a couple "almosts" as it were. On Saturday I took second in a $27.50 MTT on UB for $412 and on Sunday I was second in the 4:50pm $5.50 turbo on FTP for $677 or so. That last one was a bit heartbreaking as I fought from being 9th at the final table all the way to about eliminating my opponent heads-up, but he sucked out on my 3 straight times to come back and win. Considering that I could have been knocked out well before that point myself I can't be too upset though.

I had a couple other spots come close, took 5th in a 6.60 bounty on UB for about $200 and a number of other cashes as well. I ended up placing 18th in the weekly SNG TLB on UB also, that was worth $20 for me. Overall I think I put in close to 24 total hours in over the two days... was fun times.

In other news, on Friday night we actually won once at jai-alai so not all the money I brought with me got thrown into that gasoline fire. Monday I took the family to a place in Orlando called The Fun Spot, which is really just a carnival thing that took up a permanent address. Their big selling point are the four multi-level go-cart tracks. Cameron enjoyed himself though and that's what counts.

Tonight and tomorrow night I will be hitting Stars heavy as I want to make Silver Star. I'll probably concentrate on the 45-man turbos but I'm sure I'll add a few 180-mans because I like them. I think I need about 43 total games over the two nights and I should be able to do it without any trouble. Wish me luck!

Big Weekend

Nothing special is coming up this weekend but since I'll be taking Monday off from work I'll be able to play all the "mini-Majors" on Sunday. I haven't really fared all that well in them to date but its still fun to try. Plus I'll play most of my normal schedule and I'll also have a good chunk of Saturday to play as well. I'd estimate that I'll get into at least 50 games, probably 60+ over the weekend.

Played a few SNGs earlier this week, Tuesday night wasn't great as I only nabbed a second out of six games. However, last night was pretty good. I got in 16 games and won three, got second five times and ended up third in two others. I don't know what it is but I can't seem to hold with the best hand heads-up in those things lately.

Since I did pretty well over that set I'm in position to take a shot at winning some TLB prizes. I have a 6-game set left to try and improve on both the weekly and the monthly boards so hopefully I can get a solid set in. I think I'll try to do that tonight after.... jai-alai. Ugh, I know. Again. Why I do this to myself I have no clue. Well, yes I do. My wife likes going. Who am I to dare say no?

I'm kidding of course. I like getting out and doing stuff like this, even though I could better serve society by donating that burned cash to the Red Cross or something. Then again maybe some degen (other than me) at the fronton could use it. :)

Fun With Aces

I played a couple friendlies over at Marc's place last night and experienced both the highs and the lows of holding pocket aces. Here is how each hand went down.

In the first game with blinds sitting at 75/150, I sat on the button with AA when Phillip raised from the hijack. The stack sizes were absolutely perfect to flat call in this spot, so I did. To my surprise, Bob in the SB then shoved all-in! Things couldn't be better! Phillip wisely folded and I ended up facing Bob's KK. Naturally he hit the K on the turn and knocked me out. Ooof. I harassed Bob with fake threats and curses for the reminder of the evening, LOL.

To the second game. I was faring much better as I was the chip leader with only three of us left. Since we only pay out two spots I was in a favorable position. Marc was to my left and quite short in third... I would rather have him in second so I can beat the hell out of his big blind, but we can't be picky.

So, on the button I push an Ace-rag hand. Marc then says, "I'm looking for one of two hands here", looks at his cards and quickly says "call". Robin folds and my hand loses to Marc's pocket kings. Since he was so short to begin with Marc is stayed in third and I have still Robin covered by about 2000 chips.

The very next hand Marc looks at his hand on the button and tanks. Lamenting on how close he thinks it is, he finally elects to go all-in on my big blind. Robin then goes all-in also! Whhhhhhaaaaat? Knowing her I figured he has to be hugegantic there so I naturally pick up Marc's line and say "I'm looking for one of two hands here" and peek at my cards.

"Holy shit, I call!"

I flip over aces and hold against Marc's KJo and Robin's tens to win. Easy game.

Reversal Of Fortune

I haven't played all that much in the last couple of weeks but when I have its been brutal. Standard variance, yada yada. I know it happens. Times like this can wear on you if you aren't careful and everyone feels it in some regard. Taking some time to do some reading probably was a good idea considering how I'd been running lately so I'm glad the timing of it worked out that way. Still, I was eager to get a full slate of games in this weekend.

I had a couple of freerolls to play from the rakeback site so I started around 2:30 on Staurday. Got in plenty of games and just concentrated on playing well as always. As it turns out, I was able to get few things to go my way and I ended up hitting a huge score by winning a $22 turbo MTT on Full Tilt for $2030! My big hands were holding, I was winning the races and when I did lose a hand it didn't cripple me. I was so excited about winning that my hands started shaking, LOL!

I had other games going so I recovered my senses quickly. I ran well in a few others and such but nothing huge happened until Sunday, where I took 6th in another rakeback site freeroll for $270 there. I feel like I stole about $160 of that since I lost a big hand early at the final table, dropping to 9th. However I folded my way around and three players got knocked out before I did... pretty fortunate for me!

Now my bankroll is at an all-time high but I still have a long way to go before hitting some of my goals. Tonight is the fun home game and I'll get in a set of SNGs on UB on Tuesday (I haven't played those in about two weeks, I'm behind). Wednesday I'll do some more reading and then play the rest of the week. Well, except for Friday night... damn jai-alai has me by the balls. :)

More Reading Than Playing Again

I finished up the new PXB book (it was good, not great) and I'm not currently reading some other material that was given to me as well. This means that I haven't played too much lately. I did play on Tuesday and bubbled the mFTOPS $22 turbo while taking a goose egg on everything else I played also. Running bad stinks.

This weekend will be a full one though, I have a couple more freerolls and I'll also hit all my favorite MTTs along the way. Should get in 50+ games overall, maybe more if I decide to grind 180-mans on Sunday. Monday will be the home game again, where I'm reallllly overdue... yes, I'm running horrible "live" too.

Hopefully I'll pick up something useful in all this reading I'm doing. I have a feeling that the stuff I'm reading right now will take a few reviews or rereads before I can properly apply any of it. It has more to do with deep stack cash games than MTTs, but I've already seen stuff in this that would make me a better player with deep stacks post-flop. I just hope I can do it right.

Quick Update

Since I've been reading that book I haven't really thought about updating the blog. I'm almost finished with it but I'll probably go thru it again to review a few points I wanted to review.

I did take time to play this past weekend but other than a 3rd in a Bodog $11 turbo MTT not much went my way. I played well but its tough to win when your big pair get cracked or you bump into them and don't suck out. I did have a good run in the One-A-Day Freeroll on FTP Saturday, finished 17th out of 1400+ runners... for $7.50 in prize money. Wow. At least the experience was good... its not often you get that deep in such a large field.

I'll be playing the $22 turbo mFTOPS event at 9pm tonight so I'll likely run and bunch of 45s and 180s on Stars while I do. Wednesday I'll hopefully finish off my book and then we'll hit the SNGs on UB Thursday and possibly Friday... unless my wife drags me to jai-alai again. She doesn't even bet that much, she just lies going. Now if I can convince her that poker is more fun (and profitable!) I'll have something good.

Another Weekend In The Books

Was a fun weekend by any standard, and even a little profitable as well. We'll run down the highlights of the weekend past here and then we'll get into what the future could bring.

Friday night was jai-alai night with my friend Marc, my wife Maggie and my son Cameron. Other than Marc's win I simply burned money (as predicted) but its always fun yelling at the players and what-not. Good times. We'll go again this Friday, true degenerates we are. Hopefully I'll get to meet up with Vincent, another one of Jen's student/friends.

I did manage to play some SNGs on Friday night and about broke even. I did improve to 15th on the weekly TLB with my efforts so it was worth the time. More on the TLB thingy later.

Saturday morning the clan went to go see Alice In Wonderland (in 3D of course) and I came away satisfied. Is it the best movie ever? No. Was it worth seeing in the theater? Yes it was. I thought they did a good job with casting all the parts and voices... it all worked for me.

The rest of my Saturday was poker. I mixed in more SNGs with the other MTTs I wanted to play and got a nice bit of volume in. While I didn't make a killing with the SNGs I did manage to creep up to 8th in the TLB. That was good for a $50 prize. As far as my MTTs went I had a few "almosts", a 3rd in a $11 super-turbo on Bodog, another 3rd in a $13 turbo there, and also took 4th out of about 400 runners in the $2 turbo rebuy on Full Tilt. I had a couple of other cashes here and there, including a 31st in a $27.50 MTT on UB. Overall I came out ahead... not by a huge margin but its in the correct direction.

Sunday was some more poker but I kept it fairly small. I cashed a couple times here and there but nothing big. I played in the mFTOPS Turbo Warmup and bubbled and also bubbled another MTT on Bodog. I was gonna play some SNGs on UB but too many regulars/grinders were out and I saw no need to fight them for anything. Having two of them in a game is not a big deal but four of even five? Why? I'll wait for the donks to play.

Tonight is an off night assuming I get to play in a home game, if not I'll try some SNGs on UB again. I'm hoping my new book shows up in the mail though and if it does I'll be making time for that this week so my volume could take a hit. However, this weekend will be quite busy with the poker with a few freeroll events I'm qualified for and a mFTOPS event on Sunday. Could be a lot of fun!