Found My Balls ...Heh.

Went to the coast for a few days last week for vacation and to mix up some cash and tournament play. Played in the $1,000.00 Guarantee at Beau Rivage and finished third in addition to picking up a little bit of cash off the locals.

Am I learning to pay more attention to everything? Sure hope so. It seems to be making a difference. Been doing lots of reading, getting a little bit of coaching, fingers crossed that I can continue growing into a stronger player as time goes on.

Had a great virtual rail for the tournament. I wanted to share some of my favorites so that I can find them here in the future in case I need a reminder of where my head was at this day.

Stone: @jedi_balls: Nice balls. Are you playing today? (see pic above. This reminded me that indeed I do have balls as big as any guy at the table, they're just strapped to my chest, or in this case, remembered forever in a silly tweetpic)

Steve: @swhitelextown: Make it a payday. Ship It. Hoodie On. Game face on and look at your donks and take it down. You got this. (This came in at just the right time. Helped me make my own comfort zone regardless of the seat number and focus) ALSO: don't limp. Destroy it. Have position and make em tank. (reminder, position makes a big difference, don't limp)

Dave: @Djm182: grind #donkalicious grind. Pick your spots. Own the Game. One decision at a time (A little reinforcement here on things I've been trying to remember lol)

And thanks to @jedi_balls, @Roseyg917, @Jammenplayer, @suzysbad, @wisecapra, @rosietexecano, @djm182 for pulling me back to earth during the breaks. Sometimes it helps knowing that someone's out there. Big hugs to @mitchell1969 for recommending some reading material to help me improve. Have been reading and re-reading and will continue to read.

Happy Holidays. Wishing you lots of run good in 2012 and happiness too.

It's so nice to be free of the #voodoodonkcurse and be playing poker again ;)

About Poker & Stuff...

Stopped by a local poker room yesterday morning to check out the action.  I went to the desk and asked the poker host what table he had going on at the time (there was only one).  He had his back to me.  "Excuse me, Sir? What game do you have going?"  "2/5 NL with $200/500 buy-in."  He went back to watching the table and again had his back to me.  There were only five players seated, two of whom I recognized from last weekend, so I pranced my happy little ass around to the other side of the desk where you buy your chips.  Yeah, he still had his back to me.  "I'd like to buy in." I said as I slid my $200.00 onto the counter.   "Excuse me?"  Finally.  He turns around.  "I'd like to buy in".  He gives me A LOOK and said, "It's NO LIMIT".  Well, yeah duh (I'm thinking) looking at him and my money on the counter and at him, "I'd like to buy in."  Finally.  He slides me a rack. 
I set up at seat 3 doing a little happy happy joy joy dance that I was finally going to sit in a 6 handed game and not deal with a 10 player table like I'd been facing all year in tournaments.  And yeah, I played some poker.  Watching the 5 guys who were already there I realized I'd sat down with all of them last week.  It was a nice, friendly game-- a little less brutal than the previous meeting.  I was up just over $150 and was thinking about leaving and going to get some lunch before work when I looked down at A10d.  Maybe a few more hands, huh?  There were two players in so I called the blind.  Flop came diamonds.  The opening bets had pretty all much been $15 so I tossed in $25 thinking that would be enough to buy the blinds and I could go home.  Guys in seat 5 and 9 both called.  Well crud.  I'm thinking, well, I couldn't buy it and I'm not going to donk off the hundred some I was up and I know if these guys stay in I'm going to get killed on the river.  Right?  Turn came diamond.  I can't remember which cards were out there exactly but they were far enough apart to know a straight flush wasn't possible, and unless one of these guys boated up on the river, I still had it and shoved in $75.00.  Seat 9 folded the guy in 5 called.  WHAT?  I kept looking at the cards out there going over and over in my mind what could he possible have.  He hadn't won a hand since I sat down, had been betting on pretty much nothing, I'd already taken two small pots against him...  No, I still have this.  I THINK?  It's got to be a smaller flush.  Relax.  River card was 3h.  I remember that one because I slid in the $100 bill in front of me.  If I'd reached for chips I would have knocked them over... if he'd been looking at me he would have noticed I was shaking so bad I had to flip my hair until I got the shaking of my head back under control... I know the guy next to him saw that.  But he didn't look at me.  He thought about it for almost FIVE MINUTES, as I settled down and waited.  He had Qd, he called.  SWEET.  I played a few more hands and as the table had now become 8 players, begged off that I had to get to work.  After tips & drinks cashed out $572, felt pretty good after a year of tournaments and three months of total voodoo poker curse donk-a-thon play.  Not bad for an hour and a half work... Maybe I can get back into it, would be nice to start seeing regular cash again. 
So I grabbed the chips & four $100.00 bills in front of me and slipped back up to see Mr.Rude at the desk who first apologized for seat 5's earlier language (he and another guy had been tossing the N-word back and forth when guy sat down in seat 4 short time earlier), thanked me for playing and cashed in my chips all while presenting me with his front side and looking me in the eye. ;)   That's all for this week, not the greatest, but I'll take it.

Reflections

One of my goals for 2011 was to focus strictly on tournament play.  What an adventure! (...and blow to my bankroll lol)
Do I feel like I've accomplished what I set out to do?  Yes.  Is there still room for improvement?  Oh yeah.  Has it been a waste of time and money?  Nope. 
 I've been playing poker about 15 years.  Did the online micro grinding thing for a while but chose to stop 3-4 years ago because it just wasn't as satisfying as sitting around with live bodies touching the chips and the cards.  I've done very well in cash games until recently but my heart has always been wraped around tournaments.
So 2011 was all about tourneys. Tunica, Vegas, Biloxi, Vicksburg, Vegas, Biloxi, WSOP-C, and was on the rail for the 3rd time at the WSOP.  Stepping up and playing with a different caliber of players than I'm used to has sure brought room for growth and I've cashed twice, second place both times. At the same time there were moments when I was terrified, confident, made a good read, donked off my stack and had nightmares.  All year long, I was working three jobs -about 70 hrs a week, trying to bounce back from an abusive marriage, Feb-Nov my boss at the full-time job found out he had cancer, went through chemo and died--a whole word of personal challenges going on there which definitely affected how much I could mentally and physically stand to play. Then came one hell of a blow to my ego.  The first part of December I sat down at a cash table and LOST. WTF? Yeah. That had NEVER happened before and was probably good for me in some warped, sort of way.  Obviously there is still plenty of room for growth and adjustment.
Would I do it again?  Yes.  In fact, I plan to continue with this goal into 2012 and do even better.  I've met and played with some great people and look forward to seeing them again. 

Poker & Snow

Had planned on playing in some of the Winter Poker Classic events in Tunica this week but when a friend posted this picture I decided to just skip the drive and stay home.  Between working 70 hours a week, volunteer work and the little bit of poker I've had time to go play, I'm burnt out.  Bad.  Looking at the Million Dollar Heater in Biloxi (January) and WSOPC Tunica (February) for next bit of adventure.