On the Comeback Trail

So I sucked it up good in Razz in the Skills game last night. Actually I played the game quite well, got drawn out on a couple of times, made a couple of shitboats thanks to double-pairing on 6th and 7th, you know, the usual razz stuff. I think my favorite part of the entire night was that I played for about 90 minutes in the razz tournament, and somehow I managed to be rolled up not once, not twice but three times over just that hour and a half. As I told some bloggers in the girly last night, I could play Stud Hi on full tilt for six months and not be rolled up three times. Whenever I sit down for some razz I get dealt split Queens, buried Kings, and trips more times than I can count, making for a very frustrating experience. My personal highlight of the night was my elimination hand, when I was showing an Ace on 3rd street, bet and got called by an 8. Then I was dealt a 4 for an A4 showing, and the 8 was dealt a 7 for a 78 showing. So whem my A4 ass bet out, Mr. Dinkhead of course instacalled again. You know, because his 87 low has to be ahead of my A4-showing low. Well by that point I was very close to allin so I just put in the rest when I paired one of my low cards on 5th street, and fast forward 20 seconds later and there I am making a full house and losing to some 9 or 10-low hand.

Amazingly, that guy did not go on to win the razz event last night. I was shocked. But JD Schellnut did go on to nab his BBT3 Tournament of Champions seat, joining the likes of me and others who have won their way in via the Skills Series set of limit non-holdem events. Congratulations to JD for what I'm sure was a fine performance to outlast that field of donkeys in of all things a blogger razz event.

The good news from my end is that once again I played some solid poker last night. I know razz enough to know that I played well and that the big pots I lost were all played correctly by me, save for one dumb chase that I knew was dumb when I did it. Outside of gheyass razz, however, it was another strong night for me, the second in a row where my poker instincts have been right on despite a two-week hiatus due to the mono that still lingers in my system. I cashed nicely in a PLO tournament on pokerstars, only losing a few short of the final table when my AAxx lost allin pre to a fonkey who could not lay down QQJx to my allin reraise. But I had sucked out once or twice to get to that point in the tournament, so I'm not complaining. I played well and that is what's important.

I also cashed in my first attempt at an FTOPS ME satellite, which was the juicy $20 rebuy that ran somewhere around 9pm ish ET, I forget exactly when but I believe it's a nightly thing. These things are flat-out great tournaments, and I like to play the $10 rebuy sat into FTOPS #1 or this $20 rebuy into the Main Event whenever I can. In the end last night I ran AK into 33 and could not hold up to bust in 4th place out of 40-some runners with just the top 2 winning ME seats, but I still nearly tripled my money overall, and I cashed again for the second straight night in a satellite so that is all good. Once again I was able to play my big hands well, and one thing I have been focusing on these past few days is keeping the pots smaller when I am not holding a big made hand. Like I said, over the past few days since my return to the online felt, I have been playing solid poker, succeeding in doing what I am trying to do for the most part, so I am very happy to see that turn of events given my recent poker layoff. Most of all, as I mentioned yesterday my instincts appear to be right on, almost as if I took no time away at all, and that to me is huge with the WSOP coming up just right around the corner now.

Which reminds me, I want to say for the record here how totally fucking psyched up I am that so many of you appear to be on track to be in Vegas during that second weekend of June this year when I will also be in town. I had no idea when I wrote my post yesterday that there would be any sizeable crowd of bloggers in town for that second weekend, but I could not be happier to hear the list. I want to repeat, I definitely look forward to meeting up with each and every one of you guys, sharing a (non-alcoholic for me, sorry) beverage of some kind and shooting the shit. As the time gets closer someone should pick a time and a place for us all to meet up, if nothing else so I can attach some faces to some new names, and re-establish relations with a bunch of people with whom I have hung out before in my previous two summer trips to Vegas with the larger group. While I have to say that I am disappointed that some of the old school regulars have opted not to make the summer gathering any kind of a priority in their own lives anymore, obviously that is their decision to make, and I think it kicks some ass that there are so many of the newer crop of bloggers who are still interested in heading out to the city that never sleeps during World Series time. As a poker player and avid poker fan, I will say that personally there is nothing like being out there, hanging out at the Rio and seeing all the big stars from tv live and in person. For me, there is no better possible time to be in Las Vegas as a poker player than June/July during the World Series, and the thought that I will get to meet and/or hang out with a good bunch of bloggers while I'm there is a super great thing in my book.

Anyways, more on that as the time for my trip draws closer. For now, just know that my game is going well after some time away, and I'm ready to make my mark tonight in the Mookie. Obviously I will win tonight, I can feel it in my bones. No wait, that's actually just the mono, or as my older daughter M calls it when she tells everyone in the entire world that I am sick, "the mono disease". But you should definitely come out for the Mook, always the biggest and baddest of the weekly blogger tournaments. I will be there and in fact am already registered, so see you at 10pm ET on full tilt -- password as always is "vegas1".