I have a lot to talk about. All of this will be a poker related blog and most of it will be how I have been doing the last week. So if you don’t want to read about my results please don’t continue reading.

Last Sunday I made it deep in a bunch of tournaments. I bubbled a couple huge tournaments (100r, Mulligan, 163, one other big tournament) all on the money bubble which isn’t a huge deal because there was a long ways to go still. I was getting deep and getting close at huge scores though. Then I got 8th in the 6max cubed that same day along with a bunch of other deep finishes.

Come Monday I got 7th in the 100 cubed turbo, and then bubbled the 163 on FTP in 11th place. Tuesday I had deja vu and got 7th AGAIN in the 100 cubed turbo AND bubbled Stars 162 in 12th place. I took two days off because I was mentally drained from all of the close calls. Friday I played again and bubbled the 100r 6max on FTP in 8th place I believe.

Saturday I took the day off again. My nephew had his first birthday and I spent time with my family and friends. I was ready to win something big on Sunday. Sunday came and I finished 21st in the Warmup (142k to first) and 25th or so in the 163rebuy on FTP (67k to first.) I was getting so close. I didn’t want to have another typical Sunday. I was deep in a satellite for a PCA package. The package is worth a little over $15k. It contains a seat to the 10k main event, 8 days in the hotel, food voucher, and 1k spending cash. It was my last hope.

With about 45 people left this hand came up.

PokerStars Game #36665957995: Tournament #219296327, $665+$35 USD Hold’em No Limit – Level XX (700/1400) – 2009/12/13 23:18:47 ET
Table ‘219296327 42′ 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: kidsolid (9715 in chips)
Seat 2: Cre8ive (31275 in chips)
Seat 3: TheTaker (37817 in chips)
Seat 4: evo404hp (21121 in chips)
Seat 5: GavinGriffin (67748 in chips)
Seat 6: dragosgiu (78591 in chips)
Seat 7: newg_choier (77552 in chips)
Seat 8: NoMeNot (70788 in chips)
Seat 9: Luie Sojo (11719 in chips)
kidsolid: posts the ante 175
Cre8ive: posts the ante 175
TheTaker: posts the ante 175
evo404hp: posts the ante 175
GavinGriffin: posts the ante 175
dragosgiu: posts the ante 175
newg_choier: posts the ante 175
NoMeNot: posts the ante 175
Luie Sojo: posts the ante 175
Cre8ive: posts small blind 700
TheTaker: posts big blind 1400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cre8ive [8h 8d]
evo404hp: folds
GavinGriffin: folds
dragosgiu: folds
newg_choier: folds
NoMeNot: folds
Luie Sojo: folds
kidsolid: folds
Cre8ive: raises 29700 to 31100 and is all-in
TheTaker: calls 29700
*** FLOP *** [7s 2h Ac]
*** TURN *** [7s 2h Ac] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [7s 2h Ac 8c] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Cre8ive: shows [8h 8d] (three of a kind, Eights)
TheTaker: shows [Td Tc] (a pair of Tens)
Cre8ive collected 63775 from pot

I’m pretty sure this is a standard shove in a satellite when you are this close to a package. I was lucky enough to hit a 2 outter and double up. I now had an even better chance of winning a seat because I was probably in the top 10 in chips with 45 people left. I then lost this hand…

PokerStars Game #36666091824: Tournament #219296327, $665+$35 USD Hold’em No Limit – Level XX (700/1400) – 2009/12/13 23:23:42 ET
Table ‘219296327 42′ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: kidsolid (12690 in chips)
Seat 2: Cre8ive (60425 in chips)
Seat 3: TheTaker (5317 in chips)
Seat 4: evo404hp (24821 in chips)
Seat 5: GavinGriffin (64948 in chips)
Seat 6: dragosgiu (80166 in chips)
Seat 7: newg_choier (76852 in chips)
Seat 8: NoMeNot (70088 in chips)
Seat 9: Luie Sojo (11019 in chips)
kidsolid: posts the ante 175
Cre8ive: posts the ante 175
TheTaker: posts the ante 175
evo404hp: posts the ante 175
GavinGriffin: posts the ante 175
dragosgiu: posts the ante 175
newg_choier: posts the ante 175
NoMeNot: posts the ante 175
Luie Sojo: posts the ante 175
dragosgiu: posts small blind 700
newg_choier: posts big blind 1400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cre8ive [Kh Kd]
NoMeNot: folds
Luie Sojo: folds
kidsolid: raises 11115 to 12515 and is all-in
Cre8ive: calls 12515
TheTaker: folds
evo404hp: folds
GavinGriffin: folds
dragosgiu: folds
newg_choier: folds
*** FLOP *** [6c Ac 4h]
*** TURN *** [6c Ac 4h] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [6c Ac 4h Js] [Td]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kidsolid: shows [Jc Jd] (three of a kind, Jacks)
Cre8ive: shows [Kh Kd] (a pair of Kings)
kidsolid collected 28705 from pot

Another standard spot. Now I was on the other side of a 2 outter. This pot would have put me well over the average stack for being in the money. I grinded my stack and eventually made it until there were 31 people left. The final guy busted and I had won my package!

I was super excited and still am. I have tried for the last month to win a package and I have been running pretty bad in all the satellites and sngs. It’s poker though and I knew it was bound to go my way eventually. I am so excited I won the package. This is actually my first satellite win on stars to a live tournament. My last satty win for a live event was on Party Poker for my first WSOP main event.

Now on to today (or yesterday if we are getting technical) Monday. I got back from the gym a little late around 2:40pm and registered for the 100r and my typical tournaments. I took a couple beats early and wasn’t playing my best poker. I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been and my results suffered. I made it deep in a couple tournaments but didn’t have any results. I went to my room and laid down. I knew I was playing bad and wasn’t focused. I took a break and geared up to put in a good night session with a couple tournaments.

I registered for the 100r, 1k, 162, and the 100 turbo. I also played the 50r turbo and the $117 super turbo later on at night. I ran pretty well in the 100r on Stars and ended up chopping it even heads up for almost 18k.

I was still deep in the 1k with two tables left. I didn’t want to try to play the 1k and play a HU match so I elected to even chop with the guy although I am pretty sure I had an edge on him in heads up play. I wanted to bring all my attention to the 1k.

I made a bad shove with A9 into a medium stacked players open 6 handed. I knew it was a bad shove but I was finishing the heads up deal and still made the bad play. He turned over KK and I was lucky enough to hit an ace on the flop. I won’t talk about all the hands I played in the 1k but I played my heart out and that was the only pot I sucked out in.

Stuart Paterson also made the final table with me. He had a pretty good stack and I was one of the shorter stacks. He got it all in in a monster pot below. Unfortunately his hand didn’t hold up and he was eliminated in 8th place.

Full Tilt Poker Game #16815226758: $1K Monday (120270734), Table 27 – 2000/4000 Ante 500 – No Limit Hold’em – 2:49:47 ET – 2009/12/15
Seat 1: Dudderz (306,638)
Seat 2: DimJarnaby35 (44,105)
Seat 3: A__theKevlar__2 (303,787)
Seat 4: BigMoneyBogart (450,771)
Seat 5: aka_advanced (86,190)
Seat 6: hoodini10 (101,281)
Seat 7: Cre8ive (116,226)
Seat 8: Stuart Paterson (211,002)
Dudderz antes 500
DimJarnaby35 antes 500
A__theKevlar__2 antes 500
BigMoneyBogart antes 500
aka_advanced antes 500
hoodini10 antes 500
Cre8ive antes 500
Stuart Paterson antes 500
A__theKevlar__2 posts the small blind of 2,000
BigMoneyBogart posts the big blind of 4,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cre8ive [8d 3c]
aka_advanced folds
hoodini10 folds
Cre8ive folds
Stuart Paterson raises to 9,885
Dudderz folds
DimJarnaby35 raises to 43,605, and is all in
A__theKevlar__2 calls 41,605
BigMoneyBogart folds
Stuart Paterson has 15 seconds left to act
Stuart Paterson has requested TIME
Stuart Paterson calls 33,720
*** FLOP *** [9c 4c 7c]
A__theKevlar__2 bets 259,682, and is all in
Stuart Paterson calls 166,897, and is all in
A__theKevlar__2 shows [Js Jd]
Stuart Paterson shows [9h 9d]
DimJarnaby35 shows [Qh Kh]
Uncalled bet of 92,785 returned to A__theKevlar__2
*** TURN *** [9c 4c 7c] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [9c 4c 7c Th] [Jc]
A__theKevlar__2 shows three of a kind, Jacks
Stuart Paterson shows three of a kind, Nines
A__theKevlar__2 wins the side pot (333,794) with three of a kind, Jacks
DimJarnaby35 shows a straight, King high
DimJarnaby35 wins the main pot (138,815) with a straight, King high

I ended up getting down to 6 handed play and I lost this pot to bust…

Full Tilt Poker Game #16815533996: $1K Monday (120270734), Table 27 – 2500/5000 Ante 600 – No Limit Hold’em – 3:16:12 ET – 2009/12/15
Seat 1: Dudderz (374,188)
Seat 2: DimJarnaby35 (216,540)
Seat 3: A__theKevlar__2 (310,620)
Seat 4: BigMoneyBogart (469,596)
Seat 5: aka_advanced (150,530)
Seat 7: Cre8ive (98,526)
Dudderz antes 600
DimJarnaby35 antes 600
A__theKevlar__2 antes 600
BigMoneyBogart antes 600
aka_advanced antes 600
Cre8ive antes 600
DimJarnaby35 posts the small blind of 2,500
A__theKevlar__2 posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cre8ive [Qs Qd]
BigMoneyBogart folds
aka_advanced folds
Cre8ive raises to 12,226
Dudderz raises to 34,555
DimJarnaby35 folds
A__theKevlar__2 folds
Cre8ive raises to 97,926, and is all in
Dudderz calls 63,371
Cre8ive shows [Qs Qd]
Dudderz shows [9h 9d]
*** FLOP *** [5s 9c 6d]
*** TURN *** [5s 9c 6d] [Td]
*** RIVER *** [5s 9c 6d Td] [3s]
Cre8ive shows a pair of Queens
Dudderz shows three of a kind, Nines
Dudderz wins the pot (206,952) with three of a kind, Nines

Pretty unlucky. I got a great situation with pair vs pair and he hit his 2 outter. I did of course get lucky to get where I was but I wanted a better finish. I received about 16k for my 6th place finish. I have been getting so close to big final tables and I wanted this win. With 40bbs I would have been a problem and definitely had a chance to win the tournament. I had an amazing day. I can’t really complain but if you don’t win first you always want to do better. I fought real hard today and I am glad I gained my composure and put in a strong night session. I wish I could of had better results in the 1k but that’s how it goes. That is tournament poker.

Today is actually my Birthday too. December 15th. It would have been awesome to scoop both tournaments for my birthday but I have to take what I can get. I guess I still have all day to win something else. Maybe the Pokerstars $1k?

That’s it for now. That’s how my last week of poker has been going. A bunch of bubbles with close calls and then I have put together a couple decent scores yesterday and today. There’s always room for improvement and hopefully I can keep the success coming. Goodnight.