Actual Poker Content!

For someone who is unemployed and essentially broke, I shouldn't be anywhere near a poker table these days. But with the girlfriend out of town, I had no one to convince me that going to the casino for a tournament tonight was a bad idea. However, after playing a $10 home game last night, I couldn't control the itch, so I made the trek back to Rascal's, the same casino where Cayne scored his first live MTT win a couple weeks ago.

I mentioned to Cayne last week at my Halloween party (one of the few conversations I can remember) that I had lost a lot of confidence in my game lately, stemming all the way back to months ago. As excited as I was for his victory, I couldn't help but think that I should be doing that too. I don't mean that as any slight to Cayne; he's certainly a formidable poker player in his own right. I mean that in the sense that, at a game like that, I shouldn't be thinking anything but how I'm going to win the tournament. I took this new approach to Rascal's tonight. Even though I was playing with money I could definitely use elsewhere, I made sure not to play with scared money and just focus on playing a solid game.

For my first actual poker post in a while, I suppose I should give you a proper recap, but I'll spare you the play by play details. Instead, I'll just give a Chako-style bullet point recap:

- Played more tight-aggressive than in previous tournaments, was able to get a couple big aces to take down some pots preflop. I played maybe 2 hands before the CO, and only limped 2 hands preflop that weren't SB hands.
- Focused more on reading people, stole a nice pot on a K77 flop by floating & betting out turn.
- 3 pairs on the night: KK and two QQ. Only one QQ went to showdown, but allowed me to double through a big stack & hit the final table in either 2nd or 3rd place.
- Played 2 hands before the money hit; both took the blinds to keep my stack decent.
- Took 4th place out with QJ vs AJ (AIPF) with a sick runner-runner flush.
- Was slight chipleader afterwards with 68k before 40k stack doubled through 2nd place then took him out in back to back hands.

Down to two, my opponent offered an even chop. 1st paid 340, 2nd paid 180. He had me outchipped nearly 2:1, and with blinds at 10k, it was going to come down to me catching better cards to win. Considering that I shouldn't have even been there, I happily took the chop, and walked away with 260 for my efforts and my FIRST EVER LIVE TOURNAMENT CASH! Certainly not anything to write home about, but at least something to blog about.

Hopefully this is a sign that my luck is changing. Between the home game last night & the 2nd place (if it's an even chop but I'm 2nd in chips, I can't claim 1st place, right?), I feel more confident about my poker game. I know it's only two games, but sometimes, I just need some results for reinforcement. Unfortunately, I'm still not ready to make the jump back into online play considering my employment status. However, I should be hearing back from a company in the next few days; perhaps then I'll know whether or not my luck has truly changed.

Stay tuned....