More Disappointments

Well it's been more deep runs and even more frustrations. I feel like I can't get any closer to a good score every single day.

Today I finished 28th in the 12k guaranteed and 15th in the 3r. The 3r was 10k to win and starting with 7,000 players. I can't understand how I can constantly make the final 100 of these fields with 3k+ players without final tabling them any of them. The level of play in these things is literally a joke. Imagine the level of play in a 1/2 live cash game, and now divide that skill level by 5. These are the players that I am having trouble beating as soon as I make the final 50 of a tournament, which btw is what I would consider the strong point of my game.

One hand today that drove me crazy was with about 17 left in the 3r. I raised utg to 115k at 25k/50k with a 2.5 mill stack with AK and the bb called with 1.2 mill. Flop was 45J, the bb checked I bet 160k and he make it 320k. I had a note on him from earlier in the tournament that his min raises pree flop were weak, so I guessed that post flop would probably be similar. By re raising I would be committed to his shove, but I thought raising to 575k looked strongest instead of shoving so that's what I did. Obviously he ships in with 33 and holds after I'm forced to call. It's funny because I would have played a ton of hands the exact same way that all have him drawing almost dead but of course his play works out because he deserved it. 5 mins after that I busted with 1010 to 99 aip for 2.5 mill.

I'm still around -$200 since starting the challenge so it's no big deal, but obviously beyond tilting.

The one positive I can take from this is that I seem to be going deeper and deeper everyday, and Pokerstars always seems to do that do you directly before a good run, so hopefully that is around the corner.

Hopefully my next blog will be well on the way to the 25k goal....

Rough Start

Well I was hoping to have a good start to the challenge but it hasn't happened. I have had a couple deep runs with no help from the gods deep. I finished 13th in the 30k on the first night, and just finished 59th in the 5r busting on a fun one..

PokerStars Game #42918413808: Tournament #307010751, $5.00+$0.50 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XXV (8000/16000) - 2010/04/19 22:37:20 ET

Table '307010751 139' 9-max Seat #4 is the button

Seat 2: BIGNUTZ87 (217806 in chips)

Seat 3: cgarbin (567974 in chips)

Seat 4: fishbones11 (90713 in chips)

Seat 5: MILIU81 (91448 in chips)

Seat 6: CeyeA (139010 in chips)

Seat 7: mymanstu (369609 in chips)

Seat 8: Kilor023 (475321 in chips)

Seat 9: 42rook (383807 in chips)

BIGNUTZ87: posts the ante 1600

cgarbin: posts the ante 1600

fishbones11: posts the ante 1600

MILIU81: posts the ante 1600

CeyeA: posts the ante 1600

mymanstu: posts the ante 1600

Kilor023: posts the ante 1600

42rook: posts the ante 1600

MILIU81: posts small blind 8000

CeyeA: posts big blind 16000

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to fishbones11 [As Ac]

mymanstu: folds

Kilor023: folds

42rook: folds

BIGNUTZ87: raises 16000 to 32000

cgarbin: folds

fishbones11: raises 57113 to 89113 and is all-in

MILIU81: folds

CeyeA: folds

BIGNUTZ87: calls 57113

*** FLOP *** [7c 7s 2s]

*** TURN *** [7c 7s 2s] [9c]

*** RIVER *** [7c 7s 2s 9c] [6h]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

BIGNUTZ87: shows [8d 5d] (a straight, Five to Nine)

fishbones11: shows [As Ac] (two pair, Aces and Sevens)

BIGNUTZ87 collected 215026 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 215026 | Rake 0

Board [7c 7s 2s 9c 6h]

Seat 2: BIGNUTZ87 showed [8d 5d] and won (215026) with a straight, Five to Nine

Seat 3: cgarbin folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 4: fishbones11 (button) showed [As Ac] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens

Seat 5: MILIU81 (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 6: CeyeA (big blind) folded before Flop

Seat 7: mymanstu folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 8: Kilor023 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 9: 42rook folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I believe I am down something like $200-300 since starting the challenge so it's not that big of a deal, but these close calls are getting old.

I'll be back...

$25k in 45 days

So since my last blog things have not gone well in poker. My post to "help me run better deep" seems to have served as a curse, and increased the strength of the doom switch power on my pokerstars.com account. I have since parted ways with my backer, for both his reasons and mine, and have dropped down in stakes.

Since then I have had small wins in the low stakes mtts, but I have not had the motivation to play my best. Therefor I am creating a challenge for myself. 25k in 45 days. I'm starting tonight, and hopefully I will be able to get off to a good start. There is a possibility that I may be getting staked in the high stakes tournaments again, so that in turn I can get staked for the wsop this year. If that happens, I will consider half of any profits in tournaments I am staked for towards the goal of 25k.

I am going to try to do much more blog updates with results and progress towards the goal.

here we go....