80% Guarantee to Busto (aka AA in 1st Position)

Had a weekend that was both fun, and frustrating. Played a few MTTs on Saturday, and finished 4th in a $10+1 PL Omaha...of course, I'm wondering where the hell Drizztdj is during all then, when I'm actually playing Omaha successfully for once. But anyway, it was a blast. I love playing PL Omaha, but the evening tourneys just take so much longer to actually crack the bubble, so I don't play as many as I'd like. Also picked up a couple Tier One tokens, and a bit of SNG cash. All in all, a good day, and added to the roll, if only just slightly, overall.

Anyway, Sunday was far more frustrating. In the FTP $7,500 guarantee, I picked up AA 4 times in the span of about 100 hands. GG me, right? Nope. Every time, I was in either 1st position or 2nd. So the first time, I don't want to get cute. I'm pretty short stacked, and just shove. Get one caller. Double up. Yay.

2nd time? 1st to act, standard 3x raise, all fold, pick up the blind.

3rd time? 2nd to act, standard 3x raise, all fold, pick up the blind.

Unfortunately, aside from AA, I was pretty card dead, so as we get towards the bubble, I'm looking to extract value from hands I do get. Which eventually leads me to...

4th time? 1st to act. No more standard raise, I want action. We're close to the bubble, another 30 spots or so, and I'm near the bottom of remaining players. I'm looking for a double or more. I think blinds were 200/400 with an ante of either 50 or 75. I want chips.

So no more 3x BB. I raise to 2x BB. Get one caller from SB. And then I blow it. On a 3-spade flop, I push, to show power. Duh. SB called with 54s. Boom. Lost to the flush. Out. 94th of 504, paying 54. Not quite as heartbreaking as Saturday's $7.5k, where I went out 76 of 476, paying 45, but damn. One more standard raise, buy the blinds and antes, and I'm probably in the clear...

What's the phrase? "Sucks to be you?"

Anyway, Sunday was horrible all over. 9 tourneys, not a single cash, including a few just a spot or two off breaking the bubble. And a couple more tantalizingly close to the bubble, where the difference was one or two pots. 65th of 347, 20th of 90, 26th of 77...that kinda day.

And to top it off, my pub league was having it's annual year end tourney. I know, it's almost February, but they do things slower in Longmont. Once again, AJ < K5. Always. And AT < 85. And once again, Mondo megatilts in public. Not a problem until my last couple power mucks. I can lose to donks daily and nightly, and ever so rightly, online, and always remain dead calm. But to hit the rail yet again to the same donkeyfucker whose done it to me 4-5 times before, and always with a hand far worse than mine when the money goes in, in a live situation...

Anyway, it's nearly the end of January.

The online BR has wavered between $400 to it's current low of around $120 + one token, as I donked off about $110 or so in buy-ins yesterday with nothing to show for it. Time to get a'movin. With the uncertain nature of ever being able to withdraw from sites, I don't have any intention to reload if it comes to that. Not that I'd mind reloading, if need be, but I couldn't stand the idea of actually reloading, then hitting one of the big tourneys, and never being able to withdraw. This is still a hobby for me, and a learning process, and since I only reload in smallish amounts, and rare occasions, busto isn't really busto. But, I'd rather just save my ducats for live tourneys in Blackhawk, for a payday I can actually take home. So, I'll take my shots for the next few days or weeks, and see what happens. Most likely, you don't see me buying Gift2Go Visas, no matter how useful they may be. I've been encouraged by my play, especially in last week's Daily Double, but I only have enough BR to take a couple more shots at that. Or 20 $6 SNGs. Or I can just keep working the $5/$10 MTTs...but if you don't see me at the Mookie, or the next Riverchasers, you'll know what happened....busto.

Maybe the guvmint's achieving their desired effect. But they're turning a golden goose into a eunuch at the same time, dontcha think?