Disclaimer: This is not a brag blog. This is just me stating what’s been going on with me lately in poker. I’m not one to brag so if you don’t want to read about recent success stop here.

I have a 5 day streak of at least making a final table everyday. I have 6 final tables in 5 days. It started last Saturday and continued through today (Next Sunday.) In between are the days I did not play poker. Here’s how it looks:

10-4 – $55 NL (1r 1a) – 1st place
10-5 – $100 NL – 4th place
10-6 – $120 Knockout – 3rd place
10-9 – $100r – 7th place
10-9 – $20r – 9th place
10-12 – $200r – 7th place

It’s pretty disappointing making final tables and finishing in the bottom (top) of them. I can’t stand getting 7-9th place. It makes me so angry and frustrated. In the first tournament I won, it was deepstacked and I was patient and pulled out the win. In the $100 NL it was a tough 4 handed lineup with bdbeatslayer and pikappraider and I got it in 99 vs AT for a big flip and lost. So nothing I can do there. The Knockout I also believe I played flawless. I lost a 700k pot with 88 vs 55 to have 2/3 the chip in play 3 handed, then busted a7 vs a5. Again, I played that tournament to the best of my abilities. The 100r I lost a flip to moneymaker. Oh well. The 20r I lost KK vs AK (I had him covered) and then QJ vs J9 (vs shortstacks J9) and ultimately KJ vs 22 (I shoved button he woke up in BB and I bricked.) So I ran pretty bad at that final table and busted 9th.

Tonight in the 200r, I really wanted to win it. I played very well and never got my money in bad. I won a big flip AK vs QQ early to get chips and coasted with the stack. I got my money in as a 70/30 favorite for the most part when getting down to the final table I believe. I won AK vs A5, AK vs A4, AA vs A6. I did get lucky when I called a shortstacks allin with K5 vs his AQ. And I did get very unlucky on the bubble to chop AA vs ATo all in preflop. He flopped QJK and I turned the T. So that pot might of changed my tournament around as well. I would of had 180k going into the final table instead of 90k. I won a coinflip vs andy mcleod at the final table with 8 left when he raised the cutoff at 3.5/7k to 16k and I shoved A9o in the bb for 85k. He called with 77 and I rivered a straight and won the flip. He moved in the very next hand for 60k and everyone folded. The very next hand he moved all in again for 80k in third position and I had A9cc on the button. I had 180k and the average stack has 20bbs. I think the blinds need TT-AA and AK and AQ to call my reshove, maybe folding AQ. So that’s 6-7 hands they need to call with that can beat me if they get one of those hands. And Andy shoving, well I think he knows that he can shove light and pick up a lot of chips in the blinds and antes and nobody is really deep where his shove doesn’t hurt us, so I think hes shoving a lot of hands. Suited connectors, any paint cards, most if not all aces, etc. I don’t know if he was tilted at all from losing the flip vs me either. So all in all I think my a9cc reshove is not bad and I think it was unlucky the BB woke up with AKhh. Andy had 77 and his shove (again) and the board ran out AJxJx to knock andy out in 8th and me and 7th.

After I busted It was about 2:30am and I went for a bike ride around the neighborhood to think about the final table and poker. I kept replaying the A9cc hand in my head and I think its the right play. I think andy is shoving a ton of hands that A9cc can beat and I still have 100k if I lose which I can manage and if I win I am up to 260k with a top stack. Like I said earlier there isn’t too much room for play since the average was 20bbs at the final table, so I think the gamble is right. If anyone else has any comments let me know. But like I said, only the blinds are behind me and I think they need one of the 6 or 7 hands to call. (TT-AA and AK possibly AQ.) So probably just unlucky, but still annoying.

My results have been pretty good lately and if I keep putting results like this up I’m sure people will be surprised. I think I’ve always been one of those ‘under the radar’ guys. Personally, I don’t care what people think about my game or if they know who I am or if I am a ranked player or what not. I don’t really feel like I am a respected member of the online poker community, but it doesn’t bother me one bit. I’d rather be the outsider who does his own thing and creates his own trail. No lie, just know I chose my own fate, I drove by the fork in the road and went straight! Let me explain a little more…

I’ve always been a winning poker player. When I first started playing my freshman year in college, I was a winner. I watched moneymaker win the main event, got a couple books on poker, and started immediately learning the game. I played online for real small stakes at Absolute Poker and did well off the bat. After learning the game and winning money on AP, I put money on Pokerstars and won a couple small tournaments. I think being naive and new to the game helped me because I didn’t understand everything about poker like I do now (bad beats, etc.) Aside from playing online I would go to home games around Orlando as well. I played in a 2-5 NL Cash game and also a 2 table SNG style tournament. I did really well in all of these games and this is where I started to really have a passion for the game. Poker was fun, and that is the main reason why I think I did well.

So back to tying this into what I was saying before. Sometimes I feel people look at me and feel like I can not play poker. I am not a good player, I am not a winning player, I am just a person who knows how to play, etc. That’s fine. I am not a person who cares about what other people think. I DON’T CARE what other people think what so ever; but I care what I think about myself. That’s the point of my last couple paragraphs. I am basically driven lately to prove to myself I can be who I want to be in the poker world and have the results I want to have. For a long time I have played online and not really put too much time and effort into it, but that has changed as of late and I am determined to tear up poker lately. I have always been able to succeed at anything I’ve wanted to do, so I’m not going to let poker be an exception. *EDIT* After re-reading what I wrote, I do care what SOME people think. I care what my friends think to an extent, as well as myself. I care what my family thinks. I also want to show other’s who doubt poker being a reasonable and possible way to make an income that it is possible and I am doing it. I don’t care what other people think aside from myself, family and friends basically.

This also leads me to another lesson I’ve learned about poker and tournaments. Poker is a lot of luck. The more you play, the more chances you have to take down a tournament. I have recently realized this. The more you play, the more you learn, the more chances you have to win. I used to not play enough to see the benefits of playing a lot. I used to play a couple tournaments here and there and always cry about my luck, losing a big coinflip late or something. Now I realize there are more tournaments, sometimes you’re going to lose. Just play good, make the right decisions and try your best. This is what I have been doing lately and I have come to peace with losing coinflips, losing races, losing 80/20s, etc. Luck happens in this game we play and you have to accept it. Luckily I have started to accept it.

I kind of lost my train of thought after a couple of IM conversations during me writing this blog, but I also want to say that acceptance in poker is all about results. People don’t accept you or embrace you until you start winning. It’s pretty pathetic. Like right now I only talk to a couple people about poker. I have a lot of people’s screen names on my AIM buddy list who are ranked players, or supposedly good players, but I don’t really talk to any of them. If I won the 100r a couple times and the $500 NL and kept crushing, then I’m sure more people would start IMing me. That’s just how people are with people who are winning at the time. They think that if someone is winning all of a sudden that person must have figured something out about poker and then they want a piece of the information. Don’t hop on the bandwagon people lol.

Hopefully I can continue to fly under the radar and put up good results. My only win the last week was in a 50 cubed tournament for 6k so that’s not that spectacular. I need to keep putting myself in position to win and then come out with some more first place finishes. In due time. Goodnight guys.