Feeling the Rush

After another ten hour day in the office, I was sadly unable to make it home in time for the Mookie (or, The Buddy, if you're so inclined).

Now, I wasn't necessarily setting to play any poker last night. It's been a long week already, and miles to go before I sleep. But the Good Doctor Mondo and her mom were watching American Idol, and I just. can't. get. into. that. The audition shows are fun, but once everyone gets to Hollywood and is fed through the inevitable makeover process through the course of a season...makes me wanna gack.

So instead, I thought I'd try my hand at Full Tilt's new Rush Tournaments. Yeah, Rush poker with a tournament twist. I found two levels of 135 man SNGs, at $4.40 and $11. And I promptly tried a $4.40. The same Rush poker mechanism, but in a tourney with 2k starting chips and three minute blinds. So it's also a super turbo. And almost as promptly, I went down in flamed, with my AQ going down to KT on a TT8 board. Raised PF from the button, both blinds called, and I couldn't lay down to the check-raise after my c-bet on the flop.

So I fired up another one, as these seem to go off every five minutes. And on the very first hand, my AQ 3-bet AIPF went down to QT (who'd called my all in) on yet another TTx flop. Gross. I could sense a pattern forming.

So I fired up another one, and AK went down to QQ (oh, so now a Q is good).

So I fired up another one, and KK went down in flames. At least my conqueror had no tens...

So I fired up another one. And came home fourth. Way to go.

Actually, I found myself very fortunate in this one. Twice I had to catch a turn or a river in a really tight spot to keep going. And even when the final table started, I was 9th in chips, and pretty much roached my way up five spots just from other players getting knocked out by one or two big stacks. I think I only managed to pull down two pots at the final table.

All in all, the most valuable lesson I learned in these last night is that one of these 135 rush tournaments will go from start to end in under 80 minutes or so. But the play, at least in the $4.40s, is pretty bad, at least given some of the preflop calls I saw. Variance will be high. Once down to 18 players or so, the short stacks will stall, to lesson the number of hands. I haven't yet decided whether the quick fold is a great idea at that stage. If you have a decent stack (which I did at that time, around 5th-6th in chips), you may be better served by playing along with the stallers, to force the levels to rise and help the blinds swallow them up.

Anyway, it was fun, and the whole shebang was done just a few minutes after the DVR'd AI festivities were over, so I'm definitely going to try this again.

Besides, given the massive 122 player Mookie turnout last night, the 12:30MT headsup, and my work schedule...gah...it's looking less likely that I'll end up in any of the BBT5 events this cycle, such is life.

May the chips fall your way....

B(ad) B(ea)T Story Of the Day

BBT5 is here, and I never got an invite to the Blogger Invitational today. Guess I'm not much of a blogger. Oh well. I realize my actual poker blogging is pretty crappy, so I doubt I merited an invite, but it would have been fun.

Had a heartbreaking day today...made it oh so close in Early Daily Double B.



Bittersweet, really. Deepest I've ever made it through any Daily Double, but once I hit a high of about 80k chips in level 22, I went through about 6-7 orbits of nothing better than Q2s in early position with massive stacks to my left. The type of card death (93o, 74o, T3o), at a table where no one was limping in, that I just couldn't make a move. I managed to double up once with AK, back to about 60k with 25 players left, and picked up AK again in position, in a three way raised pot preflop, but the J on the flop help the KJ short stack shover keep me from gaining any more ground, and it was all downhill from there.

Still, I was able to semi min-cash the big afternoon $3r, and an $11 huge field event, and even the 1/4 mil today, but didn't go deep enough in those to make a meaningful bankroll difference. So to get oh so close to a final table in a large-ish field event...bah. Nevertheless, I managed five or six cashes today, and came out slightly above breakeven...which doesn't make me feel any better about missing the Invitational, but there you have it.

Good luck on the felt y'all.

It's Baaaaaaaaaaaaaack.............

Just when you think you're out....they drag you back in....



Truth be told, I'm probably going to have to settle for begging my way into the Battle Royale, as weeknight poker is just not really possible for me these days. But damn, I've always loved playing the Mookie in the handful of times I've been able to. Would sure like to start again.

I should be able to make one of the Invitationals, we'll see. Either way, this is yet another great thing FTP is doing to advance the cause of poker bloggery. Now, if they'd just do something about that RNG when I'm holding AA.....

Why A Stickshift?

Cause it's drivin' my nuts.

Not much reportage worth passing on these days...the 50-65 hour work weeks continue apace, which is well and truly cutting into this donkey's time at the virtual felt. I've only managed to play one MTT session since my last correspondence, with pretty miserable results not even worth mentioning.

What is worth mentioning is this...back in the long long ago, when my darling Good Doctor Mondo first woke from her coma, and had several months in the hospital still awaiting her, I made to her a promise. She *would* be going to Rockies Opening Day in 2010. The promise was probably really for both of us, after all, we were pretty much powered by nothing but hope at that time. It would be quite a while before she'd even take her first steps, much less contemplate actually going to a ballpark.

So...........



It was an adventure, to be sure, given the limited handicap parking at Coors, the fact our seats were on the opposite side of the stadium from said parking, and us being occasionally on edge as to the duration of the Good Doctor's O2 tanks. Well, everything actually went very smoothly -- not to mention the 7-0 spanking our Boys Of Purple put on those Padres. A great great day all around, and now I can promise it will not be the last game she'll see this year.

And this past Friday, by itself, makes everything else we're dealing with...crazy-making long work hours and absences from one another, rigorous physical therapy, all everything else...pretty insignificant in the moment.

Play ball!

18 Outs Twice?

No good, not for 250k chips. So sad.

Frankly, it's just been really refreshing to actually get back to playing some poker for the first time in two weeks. Managed five cashes, one absolute bubble (gack), one HORSE final table (but always in my smallest buyin, and out in 4th).

But a very fun session, all in all, even if I only managed to eke out a tiny tiny profit.

One reason it was so fun? Here it is:



My first ever Steel Wheel. Sure, it was Omatard 8, but a scoop is a scoop, no? Got paid off by both players, too...