Sunday, December 7, 2008

A "Winning" Streak

Hey, it may only be a fourth-place finish, but I'm not complaining. Especially since it came in Online Forum Challenge #49, the Poker PayDay Buy-In at Wass. There were 253 entrants paying $5.50 each today (Sunday), and the generous and awesome folks at OFC added $5,150 to the prize pools for players and the forums they played for. Thanks, Wolf, Tara and company!

Fourth for me meant $158.56 into my Wass account (and here I was all ready to give up on that site, since I was under $2 after the buy-in and I don't care for a number of cosmetic things at Wass, or in the Merge Network software). Plus, I'll get $100 a month for three months added to my Wass bankroll as a bonus. I'd have preferred first place, which was worth about $1,300 in cash and bonuses ... but the way things have been going I won't complain.

Shoot, the rest of Sunday was a wash with the normal bad luck and bad timings. Did win a Suited Pockets Forum razz tournament at Absolute before the OFC event ($7 prize), but I ran awful later in the Real Poker Players League game and the Rounders Radio Buy-In, both at Ultimate Bet. And I lost three first-round matches at Full Tilt in the start of its final week of NBC Heads-Up '09 Qualifiers-Round 1. I'll be back at those heads-up games A LOT trying to make next Saturday's Round 2; all I have to do is win eight straight matches! That's all...

In the OFC, I played tighter and more patient than usual in the early going, letting almost every speculative hand go. No missteps meant I hung around, and in Level 15 when my all-in 77 cracked KK thanks to a flopped 7 (all right, so my timing still leaves a lot to be desired!), that set me off on a heater that made up for the last two weeks. I could do no wrong, soared from 20th/37 left to 4th immediately and eventually into the lead. From there I was mostly second coasting to the final table, and it was a lot of fun playing with other Forum heroes until I went out suddenly in a three-way all-in -- I flopped top pair, but both rivals also did and outkicked me! Shoot, if I hadn't been over-cautious and too patient I'd have won two big pots in the time between 15 and 10 left, gone way over 100K chips, and eliminated the eventual champion and runner-up! Ah well...

My finish and teammate Wassuuup's 14th place scored 47 points for our Poker Analysis Forum team, good for fourth place overall (what is with me and fourths?) and a forum prize of a $100 freeroll. Uuup and I were the only ones who played for PA Sunday. And support and congratulations were rare after the event (guess folks are busy elsewhere). Think I'll be offering my services to Shark Poker Tour, poker101a and MaximumPokerLeague in upcoming OFC events. I'm such a mercenary. And there're folks I really like at each forum.

My depression peaked today with family problems. I feel miserable and lousy. Thank goodness for this $458 (eventually) cash. And with things to look forward to like Tony Holden's The Tuesday Night Game on Dec. 16 and the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker on Dec. 15-20 (both at PokerStars), and Michael Craig's Relay for Life charity event Dec. 21 and the "Extra" Holiday $100K Dec. 28 (both at Full Tilt), I have plenty to psyche me up in the weeks ahead and carry me through the holidaze doldrums. I hope...

May yours be happy.

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