Already bought in for this to avoid the morning scrums of people buying in. Kicks off at noon, so off to hit a bucket of gold balls in the meantime, and get some sunshine before venturing into a freezing cold poker room hopefully for the whole day. More to come later!
A quiet beginning with little to say other than the standard "nice table, a few good natured guys, etc,etc" so we'll skip past all that and get straight to level 3. The only things of note so far to raise a smile are firstly bumping into my good buddy Dan Goldman who is also playing, always a pleasure. Secondly the floor ask over the PA system "Barry Shulman, if you're in the room, please raise your hand. Someone is looking for you". Some wag on another table calls out "Yeah, the IRS".
Well, it made two of us laugh anyway.
I ran the starting 18K stack up to 21K, then foolishly found KK and ran it into 92 on a 9 high flop. he turned a 2, and my stack became about 8K lighter once the dust had cleared. Could have been worse. Now on 14K as we hit the first break.
Haven't seen anything so far today but not overly fussed, if that doesn't sound unduly cavalier. One guy on the table just flopped a gutshot straight draw (9 high) and blew his brains out by shoving 15K into QQ who had no plans whatsoever to fold. Christmas for someone. If this doesn't go my way I could fire another shell (was discussing with a pal earlier), but I'd rather start fresh on 1B than be on 18K and in for $800 when other players are now on 65K. It just upsets the dynamic, however well you feel you're playing. Hopefully it's not an issue we need to address if I can actually pick up a hand.
Young unshaven kid came to the table in his hoodie and headphones. He says very little, but waits about three orbits, and bluffs off his stack with King high on the river to a guy who makes a good call with 77. No Christmas presents like that for yours truly. I've bolted down at 50/150/300 as I think I'll get paid anyway if I punt my 11,500 off. 129/180 remain right now.
Well, it made two of us laugh anyway.
I ran the starting 18K stack up to 21K, then foolishly found KK and ran it into 92 on a 9 high flop. he turned a 2, and my stack became about 8K lighter once the dust had cleared. Could have been worse. Now on 14K as we hit the first break.
Haven't seen anything so far today but not overly fussed, if that doesn't sound unduly cavalier. One guy on the table just flopped a gutshot straight draw (9 high) and blew his brains out by shoving 15K into QQ who had no plans whatsoever to fold. Christmas for someone. If this doesn't go my way I could fire another shell (was discussing with a pal earlier), but I'd rather start fresh on 1B than be on 18K and in for $800 when other players are now on 65K. It just upsets the dynamic, however well you feel you're playing. Hopefully it's not an issue we need to address if I can actually pick up a hand.
Young unshaven kid came to the table in his hoodie and headphones. He says very little, but waits about three orbits, and bluffs off his stack with King high on the river to a guy who makes a good call with 77. No Christmas presents like that for yours truly. I've bolted down at 50/150/300 as I think I'll get paid anyway if I punt my 11,500 off. 129/180 remain right now.
Patience being a virtue and all that.. we waited it out and shipped KK. 56 offsuit decides to try to send me spinning out. Luckily I flop a King, as he makes trip sixes, but it's no good so I'm back to starting stack again and still campaigning as we hit level 6, and 50/200/400. Go the English/Irish.
Nice healthy spoonful of pain for our hero. I slowplay QQ on a J8J flop, and get the same 56 guy to shove with 4s4c. I snap call and he makes a runner-runner club flush with the 4c. He fist pumps the air, exclaims "yes!" and then proceeds to tell me he deserved to win because he gambled earlier with the 56 against me. I agree with him. It's far simpler to do that. Back down to 11K again.
The 56/44 guy is absolutely walking on water. He just called 9k preflop with KJ and busted someone (blinds are now 75/250/500 at level 7). Earlier he also had 10 9 vs 33 on a 10 8 8 3 board and rivered a 10 to make a bigger boat. He then lectured the 33 on how badly he played his hand (he played it just fine). Some people really have no clue. Hopefully I'll still be here when he stops walking on water, but it's getting tougher as i dip below 10K.
Well, it's been a grind with around 4 playable hands all day, but do-or-die time approacheth. 96/203 remain and we're on level 8 at 75/300/600. I find 10 10 and jam, only to get snap called by a big stack with.... A 5 offsuit. This could be ugliness personified.
The board comes down Q Q J 3..... I'm fully expecting a Jack for maximum sadism.
The river is a 6, and I double back to a not ideal but still alive 14K. average chips is 39K!
Posting more to keep myself occupied than anything else right now. It's level 10 in a few minutes, and I've stayed alive pretty much solely by willpower, stealing occasionally with a shove, then slowly spiralling back down as I repeatedly have to fold unsuited 7-gappers. No complaints, but it ain't sexy poker having to simply exist and wait for the exit or double up hand. Splashing about in lots of pots is far more fun, but you need chips for that. Let's just hope the discipline eventually pays off.
Dinner break approaches, and the table has some new faces. One of whom is a hooded Asian kid with questionable facial hair, and a tendency to raise every other hand. Irritating, but it'll keep.
30 min dinner break. registration has just ended (!!!) and I'm on 8K. We return at 100/500/1000. For the first time ever, I find myself glad the break is only 30 minutes.
Nice healthy spoonful of pain for our hero. I slowplay QQ on a J8J flop, and get the same 56 guy to shove with 4s4c. I snap call and he makes a runner-runner club flush with the 4c. He fist pumps the air, exclaims "yes!" and then proceeds to tell me he deserved to win because he gambled earlier with the 56 against me. I agree with him. It's far simpler to do that. Back down to 11K again.
The 56/44 guy is absolutely walking on water. He just called 9k preflop with KJ and busted someone (blinds are now 75/250/500 at level 7). Earlier he also had 10 9 vs 33 on a 10 8 8 3 board and rivered a 10 to make a bigger boat. He then lectured the 33 on how badly he played his hand (he played it just fine). Some people really have no clue. Hopefully I'll still be here when he stops walking on water, but it's getting tougher as i dip below 10K.
Well, it's been a grind with around 4 playable hands all day, but do-or-die time approacheth. 96/203 remain and we're on level 8 at 75/300/600. I find 10 10 and jam, only to get snap called by a big stack with.... A 5 offsuit. This could be ugliness personified.
The board comes down Q Q J 3..... I'm fully expecting a Jack for maximum sadism.
The river is a 6, and I double back to a not ideal but still alive 14K. average chips is 39K!
Posting more to keep myself occupied than anything else right now. It's level 10 in a few minutes, and I've stayed alive pretty much solely by willpower, stealing occasionally with a shove, then slowly spiralling back down as I repeatedly have to fold unsuited 7-gappers. No complaints, but it ain't sexy poker having to simply exist and wait for the exit or double up hand. Splashing about in lots of pots is far more fun, but you need chips for that. Let's just hope the discipline eventually pays off.
Dinner break approaches, and the table has some new faces. One of whom is a hooded Asian kid with questionable facial hair, and a tendency to raise every other hand. Irritating, but it'll keep.
30 min dinner break. registration has just ended (!!!) and I'm on 8K. We return at 100/500/1000. For the first time ever, I find myself glad the break is only 30 minutes.
Level 11 after the break and I repop 99 and tell him he likely has 88 or 77. He flips over 77 and my nines are good. Luckily he didn't have 88 as two of them flopped and I'd have been toast. Up to 24K.
44k. I raised with Js 10s and caught a big combo draw (flush and straight) versus AJ offsuit. I get there on the river with Broadway to get back to a playable stack for the first time today as we hit 200/800/1600, with 55/216 remaining.
To complicate matters I appear to have lost my cellphone, which is all kinds of bad news. I will have to hope it turns up with security, and have had a brief look (it isn't here) but need to keep playing in this, especially as I've ground for so long and it finally seems to have paid off.
Cellphone emergency averted, a little faith in the basic goodness of humankind is restored, with one less thing for me to worry about. In the tournament, I've bobbed and weaved all day, mainly grinding the short stack, when the inevitable car crash now comes up. I have 9d7d on a 2d 3d 7h flop. In a 3 way pot with heavy action, there's a 3 way all-in for a pot that is well in the region of 140k...perfect day 2 chips and all that. Over we go.
Me: 7d 9d
Villain 1: 6d 8d
Villain 2: Ad 4d
Oh my God. This clearly isn't going to end well.
The board runs out with no diamonds, and I beat Villain 1 who makes 66, but lose to Villain 1 who makes a straight when a 5 falls. He covers both of us (he had nut diamonds also), and that's my night, out in 45th of 208. Ground like a bastard for 9 hours to get to the spot that matters, to get blasted out of the water. What sobering stuff this game is. Only the one bullet, and a wasted day. Back for 1B tomorrow. Home to sleep and forget the majority of the day, and come out swinging at noon on Wednesday.
To complicate matters I appear to have lost my cellphone, which is all kinds of bad news. I will have to hope it turns up with security, and have had a brief look (it isn't here) but need to keep playing in this, especially as I've ground for so long and it finally seems to have paid off.
Cellphone emergency averted, a little faith in the basic goodness of humankind is restored, with one less thing for me to worry about. In the tournament, I've bobbed and weaved all day, mainly grinding the short stack, when the inevitable car crash now comes up. I have 9d7d on a 2d 3d 7h flop. In a 3 way pot with heavy action, there's a 3 way all-in for a pot that is well in the region of 140k...perfect day 2 chips and all that. Over we go.
Me: 7d 9d
Villain 1: 6d 8d
Villain 2: Ad 4d
Oh my God. This clearly isn't going to end well.
The board runs out with no diamonds, and I beat Villain 1 who makes 66, but lose to Villain 1 who makes a straight when a 5 falls. He covers both of us (he had nut diamonds also), and that's my night, out in 45th of 208. Ground like a bastard for 9 hours to get to the spot that matters, to get blasted out of the water. What sobering stuff this game is. Only the one bullet, and a wasted day. Back for 1B tomorrow. Home to sleep and forget the majority of the day, and come out swinging at noon on Wednesday.