Back in the game

04/19/07

Well the past couple days have been really great for me... actually as of about two weeks ago.

I got staked in a $4.40 and TID! $216, $80 of which went to my staker. Sadly, after staking a couple people on my own, I played out of my bankroll and went busto again. At least it was off of a stake and not my own money.

Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I final tabled another $4.40, taking 5th for $48.80..ish. $24.40 went to my staker. I figured I'd just play a few more $4.40's with that and hopefully build something up. Then Knollie919 (who I know from back home, and also posts on FCP) told me he was being staked again in the $10 short handed mtt on pokerstars. I asked if he would talk to his staker and see if he was interested in staking me as well, and he was. Thankyou again,

I think I played well throughout the entire tournament. I must say, I played a bit tight at many inflection points when I probably should have been more aggressive, but it was my first shorthanded tournament. Some big hands early included doubling up w/ JJ on a Q 5 x x x board, after the short stack pushed on the river. I had bet each street and checked the river either hoping for him to push, or just check. He didn't have much left but I figured checking the river might show a missed draw and he could jam. He did, showing 5 7, and I 2x'd. It's also great flopping 6 2 2 w/ 66 and getting it all in against 77, yeah, did that, which brought me to top 10 in chips. I made some disciplined laydowns as well. on a board of 7 8 9 4, holding 910os, I folded facing a 3/4 pot bet (or so). Villain showed 77 for the set. Sure, I had outs, but I was out of position and was relatively sure I was way behind.

When we got down to 18ish players, I don't recall any real meaningful hands. I re-popped a couple standard raises to build my stack. I had this very aggressive player at my table that I was player rather tight against. I knew that if I could pick up one or two hands against him, I would get paid off or he would at least build the pot for me. (I ended up busting him w/ 10Jsuited > AQos, board x x 10 10 x, I had raised, he jammed, and I called getting over 3-1.) While mr. aggro was at another table, every single orbit when I was on the button, i would 3x raise and I would take the blinds basically every time. This fact helped me out very much, having two tight players in the blinds on my button, because if it folded to me i would raise w/ ATC. Therefore, if I actually picked up a playable hand in other positions, I had a little cushion, stack wise.

To be honest, I played pretty weak at the FT. kidpkrjr (fcp) got knocked out first, I'm not sure what his thinking was during the hand that he busted on, but hey, getting that far, and being like 3:30 in the morning, we all make mistakes. GG though buddy. Anyway, I didn't even play a hand until 3 handed.. The CL was destroying the field, I think he ended up taking out every player at the FT. Luckbox doesn't describe it. Regardless, he seemed like he had a general grasp of shorthanded play which vaulted him to such a high chip lead. After beating the 2nd place chip stack 48os>AJos... I was HU against him with about a 10-1 chip deficit... yeah it was bad. I basically called all in the next hand w/ Q9os... his K6 held. 2nd was $810, which $405 of which went to my staker. He didn't even win and he made 4 bills! Nice investment, I'd say.

Overall, I'm glad to have finally made it deep in a reasonably worthwhile tourney. I'll definitely play this tourney again in the future (perhaps tonight) as I think my shorthanded game is one of my strengths, but there is always more to learn.

THX to the railers, etc... much appreciated.