7th = 550

So I am coming to you from work today. They opened the street again on the side of building where my current place of employment is located. This is a miracle. That thing has been shut down for about two months and it really made getting into the plaza a pain in the butt. Now people won't have to drive another 500 yards, make a U-turn, and then realize they can't turn into the street they thought they were going to be able to. I know for a fact people just said "screw it" and kept driving. Hopefully sales will start going back up.

So, my girlfriend has been out of town which leaves me with some time to kill. I've been playing poker for years but not so much recently because I just have not had the time. I decided yesterday to enter a local poker tourney at the casino. I have played in this a couple of times and made it kind of deep once out of the three times I have tried my luck. Yesterday was a bit different however. I started out strong winning a couple of hands without having to show what I was holding. The funny thing about these types of hands is that I had the nuts both times and I would have crushed someone if they called. It makes me think I played the hand too strong on the river if that's possible. Maybe I could have gotten more out of the other players...oh well. I sat on my stack for about the next two hours and didn't really do too much. I was getting killed by the blinds and in my small blind looked down at AKs. What a shitty position to be in with that hand. Blinds were at 500-1000 and second to act makes it 3000 to go before the flop. I had about 12k in front of me. The thing is that I really played this hand bad but then made up for it with what I consider a good play. In that position I should have shoved it all in. I had been card dead up to that point and that would have been the right thing to do in that spot. Instead, I call. Not the best play. The flop comes 2c-3s-5c and I check. The raiser comes out with a 3500 chip bet and I think about it for about three seconds and then check raise him all in. I was pretty sure he had exactly the same hand as me or perhaps AJ or AQ. In any case, he can't call. Or else he shouldn't call if he is any kind of player at all. He seriously thought about calling for about two minutes and then mucked his hand. This is the hand that was the turning point for me. I was now close to 25k in chips and had enough time to pick my spots. Something I considered after the hand was that I was drum tight during the course of play at that table but when I thought I had the best hand, I was very aggressive. This is how it should be and I actually think the guy respected that. In local, smaller tourneys most people forget any logic or don't consider odds and position. Now I am no poker pro but I can tell you this much.....in a tournament situation you need to evaluate your chip stack in comparison to rate at which you will be blinded out if you are getting low. That's pretty basic but I see so many people that have no clue or don't pay attention and then are forced to shove with crap. You can't just sit and wait for aces or kings in a tourney. You have to make moves. After two more breaks I found myself down to the final two tables at 20 people left out of the 102 that started. I got it all in the center with KQs vs. AJos shortly after the start of the final two tables. Spade on the river gives me a flush and I double through one of the bigger stacks. After folding pocket 10's to two all in's, I find myself on the bubble. Turns out the guy who was on my left had two jacks. I felt good about that fold. I make the final table with about 62k in chips and felt good about my chances seeing as the chip leader had about 120k or so. Two people quickly bust out and we are down to seven players. The blinds are now at 15k and 30k and I am down to 51k in chips. In first position I shove with A7h and get called by the big blind with A10s. He spikes a 10 and I'm sent to the rail with 550 bucks for my efforts. Not too bad.

All in all, it was a long night and I'm used to going to bed pretty early. It was worth it though. I bought my girlfriend a gift which she will get when she gets home tomorrow. Sorry for the poker rant but it was something I felt I wanted to type about. School starts in a couple of months and I'm stoked. I'm also getting leaner without having started my contest diet and I'm stoked on that too. Things are going good. Until next time.

JD