Blogging again

So I'm gonna start this here thingee again. I never really had anything to say, and only had two readers, anyway, but we're switching things up here. It's poker blog, basically. I've decided to try these little five and ten dollar 45 man tournies to get some steady cash in. I figure I need to finish 6th twice and fifth once out of every ten tournies to stay just about break even. Anything on top of that is gravy. So I'm journaling to review what I'm doing, what kinds of hands I'm playing, how I'm losing, what my record is, etc. With luck, it'll help my game.

So tonight, just minutes ago, I do my first tourney under the new system. Five dollar, nine table tourney.

1st $85.50
2nd $56.25
3rd $36
4th $22.50
5th $13.50
6th $11.25

Played tight, aggressive. Didn't get many hands. Caught KQ spades fairly early on at the button and one early limper folded and one early limper called. Flop was a bunch of rags, nine high. I led out with a probe bet and he took forever but finally folded. That set me up decently for a while. Ended up getting pretty good respect, which wasn't a great thing. Blinds started to grow and I caught AQ in third position. Raised 3x and everyone folded to me. It's nice to win, but the blinds still weren't high enough to make it worth it. Ended up in a decent pot from the big blind with a couple of limpers. Had 49 off. Flop is 345 rainbow. Pot is 280. I think about putting in a bet, just to see where I am, but out of position and only middle pair, weak kicker, I just checked. Next guy bets 120 and the other guy folds. I go ahead and call, which is kinda weak, but he might have the straight already, so raising wasn't right, and you gotta figure he's weak, too. Nine hits on the turn. I'm feeling good, but afraid of the made straight, so I bet 360 into a 560 pot. Get called. River's a two. Figure there's a good chance he's got an ace, so I check. Sure enough, he's got AQ. Lucky bastard. That hurt, too. That pot would have got me to the final 15 and would have set me up nicely for the final table.

Next hand I'm in the small blind with 10 7 off. Two limpers, I call for the odds, and the BB checks. Flop is 5 Ace 7, two hearts. Everyone checks. Turn is an 8 of clubs. Again, I almost do a probe bet, just to see where I stand, but theace is already there and the 8 is higher than my seven. Ends up we all check again. River is three of clubs. I figure nobody's slow playing at this point, unless an 8 was scared of the ace, so I do a little 120 chip bet. Everyone folds to me. Not a bad pot, but I'm still behind pace.

Five hands later, catch tens in early position. Not sure if I should push or do a 4x raise. Don't really like tens at second to act. Decide to do just a 3x, but I pretty much have to push if anyone raises me or if the flop is anything but an ace, as it's about half my chips for the raise. Again, I get respect and everyone folds to me.

Next hand I catch 8s. Decide to limp this time since I'm under the gun. Guy to my left goes all in and everyone folds to me. His stack is shorter than ine. He could have a big pocket pair, but I'm thinking High cards. Really hard decision for me, tempted to fold. I ask him if he has a pair and he actually tells me no. Ordinarily that'd scare me off, and I did wonder, but decided he was telling the truth and decided to race. Sure enough, he's got AQ. Why he told me, I'll never know. If he said he had a pair, I'd have folded for sure. Flop is 5 10 4, two spades. Turn is a two. Anyone wanna guess the river? Yep. Three. That was harsh. So he doubles up and I'm crippled with like 300 chips left and in the big blind. He says he got lucky, but it was a race, he wasn't far behind, if at all. Get a limper and an all in call in front of me, so I have to call, even with 8 ten off. First guy checks on the flop, second guy bets strong. He's got Queens. I've got nothing. I'm out at 24th.

Played decent, if tight, poker and just got a couple bad breaks. Maybe should have folded the 8s, since I had plenty of time to double up under better circumstances, but I'm gonna have to learn to make calls like that now and then, especially if I play more multi-table tournies.


Post Script:

Took second in a 6 dollar turbo after the loss. To say I got all the breaks back that went against me in the 45 man tourney would be a big understatement. I was dead several times over and kept catching the card that saved me. Anytime they caught a pair, my higher pair also hit. It was amazing. I'd rather my hands in the 45 man tourney held up, if I was gonna get luck in one or the other, but I won't turn it down.

Anyway, $16.20 won there, subtract the $6.50 entrance, and I netted $9.70. Subtract the $5.50 from the other tourney, add 85 cents from taking third in a dollar turbo, and I'm at $5.05 for the night and the next 45 man tourney is almost free. That sounds anal and nit-picky, but my whole plan revolves around cashing in x number of the 45 man tournies out of ten tries to become profitable, so a free try is fairly significant in those terms.