Road to recovery?

Played Mookie's charity event last night. It was good to see 66 people show up to raise some money for Tanner Evers. Just another good cause to raise some money for.

Though it started slow for me, I made the final table. In fact, I ended up in 2nd place. Just couldn't beat 8 8 twice for victory. But I was quite satisfied with how I played. Maybe I am on the road to recovery.

I seemed to be moved quite a bit in the tourney. I even survived a gauntlet of poker by being seated to the right of 3 pros all in a row. At my first table change, I was put to the left of Andy Bloch. Not where you want to be. Yeah, it may be exciting to have the man who came in second at the HORSE event next to you, but it is also can be intimidating. Thank God this was just on the Internet and not live. He was playing somewhat tight so he wasn't stealing my blinds. Just when he got into a position to run the table, I was moved again.

There on my right was pro actress/poker player Maudie. I was still feeling the sting of her cowboys whipping my Hiltons at the Bash Charity event. She chipped up a bit and bullied me before she took a hit. I was able to eliminate her a bit later with pocket 10s.

I was soon moved again and found the 3rd pro to my right- AlCantHang, drinking professional. What is he doing with chips? He is an Omaha guy. Wait, another Omaha guy, Drizz, has chips too. Are we playing Hold Em? I played nice with Al. Hey, I don't want to get on the bad side of the Bash chairman. I need to get my drink on later this month in a serious way.

Aside from playing with those pros, I also did a great job of taking out the people who weren't online. Like when I crushed Joe Speaker's A 6 with my Q Q. He didn't see that coming.

But overall, I felt like I played my game. Was quite patient early on, found some spots to get chips and then played hard when I had something. Of course, I did get lucky once. My first break was calling the all-in re-raise with A K and flopping the K. That was a much needed double in the second session. Later, I would crack A A with 9 9. That basically got me to the final table.

There were spots at the final table where I felt I really controlled things. I did have a chip lead with 3 left, and I believe a slight advantage when I was heads up with NewinNov. He played a good heads up game. I would like to comment on that more but it would sound like I was making excuses. I liked how I played until the end where I made a bad call. I had my outs but just didn't hit them. Congrats again NewinNov.

Aside from the good finish, it was nice to feel like I knew what I was doing again. That I was making some good reads, making some good moves, pushing players off pots. The cards weren't necessarily coming my way (had A A once, and K K twice during the entire event), but I played with what I was dealt. Didn't make any huge mistakes and was patient. And that felt good.

It is a good first step to getting some confidence back.