Before I start, I want to alert y'all to Mr. Doyle Brunson's blog post of yesterday (12/17, at www.doylesroom.com/blog). It's his tribute/farewell to Chip Reese. So kind of Papa to share with us his thoughts and feelings about a sad event. Thank you, sir.
OK, this is one of the two recaps I've been promising. Not the Vegas recap yet; still gotta pull that one together, although reading other folks like Dr. Pauly (taopoker.blogspot.com) and gcox's Low Limit Grinder (gcox25.blogspot.com) and Bad Blood help get my memory juices going. Gotta remember who it was that humbled my "nut flush" with a well-disguised straight flush and sent me to the rail in level one at the Venetian; the state of shock lasted hours, you'll be pleased to know. Bully.
Anyways, the online search for fame and fortune (I prefer the latter, if you please, poker goddesses) resumed upon returning from Sin City. Wednesday and Thursday saw very minimal success, featuring early exits from The Mookie: Greedy Pirate (86th of 93) and Riverchasers Online (82nd/103; called bigger stack's level 6 all-in with me final 1,500 chips and AJ, pleased to see he only had 75, but was quickly crushed by two 7's on the flop; what a game!). So the BBT2 TOC and trip to Australia is not destined to be sham-tastic this year. Pooh.
Thursday wasn't all bad, as prior to Riverchasers I got 5th/91 in a Rounders Radio freeroll at Carbon (only paid one, a satellite ticket) and 4th/39 in Poker Analysis Freeroll League at Absolute Poker (got $10 and 70 points for that one, my first FR League game of the month). The PA success continued Friday in its Buy-In League, 3rd/11 at poker.com ($21 back on a $5.50 investment). Full Tilt offered a couple cheap MTT Token Frenzies on Friday evening (that continue daily, at 7:45 pm CT where $1 chases T$26s in turbo and at 9:15 pm where 300 FTP chase T$75s six-handed). Unfortunately, I didn't earn a token, which might have gotten me into Miami Don's Big Game on Sunday Night. Turned out for the better I didn't, as we'll see in Weekend Part 2.
Saturday, Dec. 15: Sham enters six tournaments. Cashes in three. Down 300 FTP (Full Tilt Points, if you don't know) for the day, but up $7. In my current micro-mindset, that's OK.
Saturday began at 11 am with the weekly Absolute Touchdown at Ab Poke. A freeroll this week, my St. Louis Rams are playing the Green Bay Packers. Doesn't look like St. Louis will make the 16-team playoffs for an Aussie trip; the Rams got crushed something like 44-1 the week before when I was in Vegas, and are 24th or so in the standings. Wish I'd chosen to be on one of the strong teams like New England or San Francisco (poker players chose to play for any city when they signed up, whomever was their "favorite team"); but I guess I'm just a simple sentimental schlock. Patsy.
(Pause. "Nights in White Satin" on the radio. The Moody Blues' original. My absolutely positively undisputed all-time favorite song. Period. "Breathe deep the gathering gloom...")
(Another pause. And now the new community college at Wildwood just called with five modelling dates for me in March. Sweet. Nice to be popular. The positive mojo is flowing!)
OK, back to Absolute Touchdown. Made the final table for the first time in one of these, and wind up getting 2 points for myself and my team. But the FT is mostly Packers. Wound up almost as bad as the real football game Sunday. Oh well. Two points, 8th/124 and $2.60 for my bankroll is a decent way to start the weekend. I was 1st in this tourney with 72 left, but for some reason lately I've often been starting real fast and then crashing. At least I was pretty consistent throughout this one, out of the top 10 at only one level shift (12th/37 beginning Level 8).
Now things start getting a bit nutz. I know better than to try to do two things (or more) at once, but knowing and following through are two different animals. So I'm in Doyle's Room for two freeroll tournaments, the Welcome $100 FR at 2 pm and the Holiday Frenzy $500 ($1,000?) FR at 3 pm. These monster freerolls at Microgaming sites, you have to play smart and selective early since there are a lot of sitouts, small starting stacks and usually a maniac and a bully at your table. (Kudos to Microgaming for improvements on their sites' running the last week or two; the refreshes often froze or disconnected things in recent months. Now if only they'd let ALL US states play!...)
I played well in both Doyle's events, bouncing back and forth with my concentration and efforts. Unfortunately, I did better in the smaller event, which didn't pay nearly as good as the Holiday Frenzy. Both events paid 600 places, and I need/want the money since I can't (easily) deposit on Doyle's and my bankroll there started the day at 73 cents (all freeroll winnings). I'm trying to build up to enter the Bounty Tournament featuring Doyle and Mike Caro mid-weeks! I cruised along in the Welcome, always in the top 300 for the first two hours (entries were capped at 2,000 players). When the Frenzy began (with 2,783 players), I made some good hits early and breezed through the first hour. Reached Frenzy's first break in a little slump, down to 351st/1298 left. By start of level 8 I was 298th/835, and I should've just sat back and made the money. But I misfigured; brain-burp made me think 800 got paid, and in trying to move up the standings I got it in with a bigger stack ... who proceeded to hit his straight on the river and send me to the rail 659th/2,783. No cash. Stupido sham! Yeah, I'd lucked out in level 1 when my KK cracked AA as four diamonds on the board gave me a flush, but still...
I was still rolling along in Welcome, now 16th/169 left beginning level 10 (15-minute levels here, 10-minute levels in Frenzy), then up to 3rd as I flopped a set of 6's to crack QQ and KK. I was still in top 10 as 5 pm St. Louis time (CT) rolled around -- time to begin the TPFC Finals at Carbon, which I was playing for the wonderful folks at Maximum Poker League (you should check out their daily trivia contests, wild!). Still a little tilted from the Frenzy crash and distracted by my Welcome success, I got armadilloed (run over by a semi) real fast at Carbon. I turned a straight, but hit the wrong button: all-in. And my straight card made a flush possible. And sure enough someone had one. And shamalamadingdongdorkdonk's gone from this $250 FR 84th/89. Sorry MPL. I should know to slow down and think a little. Ouch.
Yet I'm still in Welcome at Doyle's. Wound up in this tournament for over 4 1/2 hours -- not smart considering the payoffs were so small!! You'll see what I mean in a minute, and reinforce your opinions that sham can be such an armadillo. But I see it all as learning experience, something to build on ... I would hope. So I suffer another "bad beat" straight on the river and drop to 29th enterring level 15 (1500/3000 blinds). And I luck out with KJ vs. KA, flop AKJ, another J on the turn! Up to 5th place again. Then 6th/30 left coming out of break into level 17. Sham has K6; board 66A. I bet about half of my 200K, slightly bigger stack all-in for 300K, I call ... a runner-runner flush comes down, and they ship my foe the chips! Sham's out 30th/2,000, and has won ... a whopping 40 cents. That's right, $0.40, earned less than 10 cents an hour. Good thing I love this game. Geeeeeeeeezzzzzzz.........
Stop laughing, please.
Saturday's not done. The Aces Cracked League has thrown together another off-season game at PokerStars, so insane sham heads off there to blow another $11. Wind up with five players, a lot of fun as these games always are (come play with us! at 7 pm CT Saturdays, password is acescracked). Wind up heads-up with tough unpredictable lucky MarkGreb, and a familiar story: I turn a straight but he turns a flush. I settle for 2nd/5 and $15 for less than an hour's play. Let's not compare that to the Doyle's Welcome earnings rate, OK?
Inspired by that success and the fact I'm still mostly playing well for the day, it's off to Full Tilt and another 300 FTP expenditure at 9:15 pm to try to win a $75 token. The bad thing is only 6 tokens are up for grabs in this MTT; the good thing is it's six-handed and not turbo, one can play a little. Bottom line is I get 33rd/218, no token. Good news is I was top 20 most of the time from level 5 on. Omenic, a superb player and friend from Bluff and Poker Analysis leagues, wound up at my table before the first break, making tough action even tougher. But I held my own and played well until the end, when I squandered my final 7K with top pair into a flopped set.
Enough for Saturday. Down 300 FTP but up $7 for the day. And even better things ahead Sunday. But I'll have to wait for next post to fill y'all in on that...
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