Catching up

I haven't been really blogging much of late, and I looked at Pablosplace and noticed that I've been talking much more of recent the results of my online poker playing, and much less about the home game. This kind of bummed me out.

While the truth of the matter is that I play a lot more online then I do live games, the site was originally intended to document my poker gaming. In the beginning, it was just video games and the Friday Night game at Pablosplace. But now, I do a lot more playing, both live and on the web. I think I just need to be more diligent about documenting it all. I don't want it to spiral out of control. This really helps me stay centered, and I think that I need that from time to time.

So this week has been a busy one, with two trips to The Bike, Two large fields, and a Pablosplace game that was a ton of fun.

I'll begin with the home game that saw 10 players again to the table. Amber, Chris, Robert, Andrew, Tim, Tay, Jay, Traci and myself all made it there, and a long time return by Brendan, who hadn't made a home game since the Encino days. It was nice to have him along as he made a few wonderful plays en route to chipping his way to a 3rd place finish. Traci and I would go heads up, and I had a 3 to 1 lead in the heads up. I basically just leaned on her until eventually I would turn a flush and get all of her chips in for the win. It was a great night that saw me come from behind on two massive luckfests to win. I was all in for my life twice against Tay, but managed to win both hands. The first was and all in from UTG with Ah-10s. Tay was in the big blind and made the call with QQ. The board ran out with the 4th spade on the river giving me an eventually flush and the double up.

Later, I would move with KK and Tay would call with A-x. The flop produced an Ace, but the turn delivered the case K, and I would cripple Tay, who would go out in 4th place. It was a really fun night, and I'm happy to see the home game produce back to back 10 player tables. I'd love to keep that momentum going.

For the two Bike runs, I went last Wednesday down to see if I could get into the daily nooner, but got there too late. But I stumbled into a $60 S&G, and figured that I'd try my luck. It turns out, this game was nothing but luck, as you began with $500 chips, and blinds of $25/$25 increasing every 15 minutes. Whoever got their chips in good first was going to win, so I go aggressive early, and it worked. I flopped top two pair on a guy with A9, and he missed his flush to double me. Then I flopped an Ace with AJ sooted to win another big pot. From there, I stuck at around 1500 chips until I finished in 2nd place. It was a $160 cash, and I was happy with it.

Then yesterday, after my lunch appointment canceled, I met Tim at the Bike for the nooner. I would outlast him in the tournament by about 20 people, but I misplayed my final hand something awful to bust. I was playing very tight throughout the tournament, and had chipped up finally after the second break with KK. But in the final hand, I raised from the small blind with 8-8 to 1500 with blinds at 200/400 ante 50. The BB folded and so did the first limper, but the second guy came along. The flop came out 10s-9c-8s, and I got nervous and checked it. I should have shoved right there with my set because I was best. My opponent got to see the free turn by checking behind me and the J fell on the turn. I decided that apparently now that I was behind, it was a good time to shove and pushed all in. He insta-called with his AQ, and I was done in about 50th. Despite playing well through the early stages of the tournament, I deserved to go out on that hand. My favorite thing of this tournament was the giant yell from one of the tables. A guy moved all in pre-flop with 2-3os, and got called by KK. The flop came out 2-2-3, and the guy with KK just went berserk. It was hilarious.

My two good Internet runs came in the Midnight Madness where I played my way into a 70th place finish. With a field size of 1967, I was very happy with my play, and with my finish. I ended up with a $33 cash in it, and was quite pleased with it.

The second came in a free roll tournament that I found last second. There were 2700 entries and I played great. Eventually, I would bust in the money in 25th place. It was only a $2 cash, but for no money put in, I was happy with it.

My FTP bankroll has taken a monster beating this week though. Despite some really good cashes (the Midnight Madness and an $11 45 player S&G 2nd place finish). I had to pay $10 to @BrooklynBeast for the Twitter NCAA09 March Madness pool. My brackets finished both 2nd and 3rd, but it was a winner take all. Had Louisville beaten Michigan St. in the elite 8, I would have won it all, but alas it was not to be. At the moment, my FTP balance sits at just over $13 and my PS balance is at $18.

My plan is to focus on gaining more money at a very slow rate. I've been very successful in the $1.25 Matrix tournaments, and cash in almost all of them in one way or another. They aren't terribly profitable though, as my best result to date came from a $3.80 prize. But the odds are good in cashing as you play 4 single table S&G's at the same time with the same players. Each time you outlast someone you get a point in the matrix pool, and if you KO that person you get 2 points in the matrix pool. Additionally, you get 2 bonus points for any individual S&G match you win. In the end, each S&G pays out the top 3 finishers, and then you also get paid if you finish in the top 3 of the matrix pool. The prizes are smaller though, but I've seemed to slowly work my way in an upward direction playing them, whereas It's been quite the opposite at the other tourney's I'm playing in.

Tonight is the Season 2 Finale of the Twitter Poker Tour. I'm pumped up for it like you can't believe. I really want to win this one. I feel like I'm completely outclassed as a poker player at these things. I don't think that I'm even in the same league as most of the players, yet I'm sitting in 4th place on the Leaderboard. I would love just 1 win, and this would be a great time to do it. In truth, I'd like to finish either 2nd or 3rd in the overall standings and win a free shirt. If not, then I'd hope to upgrade to a hoodie.

Lastly, the home game at Pablosplace looks good for tomorrow. I hope that we see the same kind of turnout that we've had the last couple of weeks. I really enjoy having the full table, and maybe we'll move to some 2 table action. If this gets more regular, maybe I'll buy another set of chips. An maybe, just maybe, I can talk Traci into letting me turn the garage into a poker room yet. Now THAT's a long shot and a half.

Ok, done with my book now. And I feel all caught up. Cheers, P