9k

Played in the Full Tilt 9k guaranteed tourney. I plunked down my coin to take on the field of 393. Unfortunately, I have no great success to report here.

For an hour and a half I didn't really catch many cards. It looked promising when I caught 10s in the first hand and took down a small pot, but that would be it for a while. I folded many hands from there as I willing to play tight for the first hour. I did watch a guy limp with A A and put all his chips in on the turn. He lost to 7 3o (two pair). I never go that, especially early in a tournament. Unless I am positive I am going to get that raise down the way and only later on in a tournament. I was going to slam him in the chat for his great move but decided not to. Odds are strong that you are going to be called with a regular raise. If it folds around, so what? Flip the cards in and hope it plays more to your favor afterwards.

But that wasn't the stupidest play I saw last night. The limp re-raise all with A 10 wins that award. What are some people thinking? I have mentioned many a time how I think people overplay that hand. Especially with the way this push monkey was playing. He had gotten short stacked and was pushing a lot pre flop. Did he actually think he was going to represent pocket rockets?

Meanwhile I was still not getting many good hands. When I did, I didn't hit flops or my big pairs were not called. I also seemed to get a lot of Q Jo and J 10o out of position. Folded those again and again. I was playing rather tight but too tight? I did note that only once would I have won a sizable pot. Otherwise I was tossing chips away.

With all the folding I was doing, I began to feel desperate. You aren't going to be a successful poker player when you are feeling desperate. If you are not getting cards, you are not getting cards. Nothing can be done about it. About the only thing you can do is be disciplined and wait for the right moment. But I didn't. Called a raise with A 9s that of ourse totally missed me and wiped out 20% of my stack.

Now I am short stacked and need to chip up a bit. But two big stacks are raising every pot. I was trying to be patient to catch a hand to fire back with. I had my discipline back but needed to load my gun. Then I made my move.

To another table. Was put in the SB and had to sit out a hand. But just like earlier, I am not catching any cards. 5 5 in the BB was the best I saw and I just got the SB money when I raised it up. So when the blinds were 120/240, 25 ante, I had to push my 1400 in with A Qs. The BB awoke with 10 10. Thus I was done at 106.

Mixed thoughts here. I played patiently and got in with coin toss at the end. There were some weak calls I made but recognized it and tightened up. For some reason, I feel I played rather well considering the cards I was getting. I have noticed I can consistently get to the top 30% of a field. I usually find myself in the middle of the pack at the first break. I am comfortable there as I feel I can chip up during the second period and make a move then. But that is hard when the cards come as sporadically as they did yesterday.

I also have started to play some NL ring games. This is one area I do need some work on. Thus I have had a couple of sessions playing .25/.50, 6 max. Doing ok. One thing I have learned to not to be fancy and limp with A x suited. Twice I had the board totally miss me and let the BB win with 8 3o and 9 2o. Apparently there was no way he was folding the pair of 2s or 3s, even though I have the bets on the flop and turn.