Another final table in a rebuy.

It's been a while since I've written in this.

Of course, the number of entrants was reduced...there were approx. 180 entrants in this 2.00 rebuy. I got 2nd place, and was THIS CLOSE to first.

Okay, not really that close. Heads up, he had 70 percent of the chips, I had 30 percent. I had AJ suited, and I was first to act. I pushed, he called with TT, and his pair held up. I think this was a good decision on my part although some would call it impatient. I disagree but let's go through some other scenarios to prove my point.

Let's say he acted first, and put me all in. Easy call. If I would call that, why not raise all in?

Let's say he acted first, and raised me. I would reraise him, and judging by his play, he would have put me all in. Who wouldn't have?

Okay, let's say that I just raised him. Would he have really just called? Would you have? I would think he would have raised me, which I would have in turn reraised him. With a 70-30 chip lead, he's got to think TT heads up is completely fine for him getting me all in.

Plus, I'm a coin flip for getting a HUGE pot that completely turns the tables. Being down 700,000 chips to 300,000 chips in the 8k/16k blinds means I'm not totally in trouble, but I'm not going to be able to just sit and wait forever. I have a chance to flip to make it 60/40 me, and take command of the game. We're playing for first here anyhow. I am really confident that my play was correct.

Anyhow, that's another final table, and I am amped about that. I'm starting to get way more final tables and lately, I've considered myself in a bit of a downswing. I can't make a dime on Stars, although I'll continue to try. At this point I'm in a good dilemma in that I'm unsure if I should w/d from AP and put some on Stars, or I should just keep my $$ on AP where I've been doing well. Don't know. Not like it's some huge amount anyhow.

On Sunday, I played a 1.00 rebuy! As much of a donkfest you would think this would be, the table I was at was SURPRISINGLY tight. Not too tight, mind you, but it was a surprise nonethess.

I spent 6.00 on this particular rebuy (played on Absolute Poker). I ended up making 125.00. There were 200 entrants, and I got 2nd. I'm upset about the 2nd, I should have gotten 1st (well, I COULD have got 1st) but it was 4:30 in the morning, and I had to be to work about 3.5 hours later.

Again, what was happening was that my slightly more than 50/50 hands were holding up, and I had one hand where I got pretty lucky. Outside of that, I played extremely well. When it was final table, I came in about middle position. People were slowly going out, and I was just taking turns stealing blinds and antes. At times, when I was short stack (for example, down to 4) I would push. At one point, the player I ended up heads up with felt that I had pushed too much, but called with what I felt was a good hand 4 handed. I had JJ, and he had AJ. It's just, he called off so much of his stack. I became instant chipleader, but he ended up coming back by pretty much taking out the other two players. We were tied in chips, mostly, heads up, and just kept trading chips back and forth. I was almost falling asleep, yet excited. At one point, he pushed all in with AQ, and without giving much thought, I auto called with 87 suited. Not great, I know, and I didn't show any patience. Live and learn.

Last night, I played a 4.40 180 man, and didn't get ITM. I played extremely well. At one point, however, I think I might have pushed in too early of a position with the type of hand I had. I had Ax, and I was in 2nd position with 10xbb. I hadn't seen a hand close to that good in a while, and I decided to push. You're pretty much going to get called with a hand that dominates you when you push that early, and that's what happened, I got called by AJ, and he won. It's obvious now, but at the time, I wasn't as focused as I should be. You really need to be thinking about everything at once.

Sunday, I also played 3 SnGs at once, got 1st in two, and 4th in the other.

Last night, I played one SnG, and got 4th. I played extremely well, and was very aggro on the bubble, just ran into people with good hands willing to call. No problem. I'll gain many chips in some of those to get the win, and some I'll bust out 4th.

Neglected. Sorry.

Well, I'm back. I final tabled a 2000 person event. It was a freeroll, but I ft'd it nonetheless.

How? My good hands held up when I went to showdown, and I when I didn't have the best hand I didn't see a showdown. I bluffed some, but nothing huge.

Two instances, I had people all in with crap hands. I had AJ vs. two players all in, and I had the best hand of the three, and it held up. That was when I had 90k in chips (but 10bbs).

I've been playing well lately. I read something by sheets here: http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5536406

Great article.

If you read it, you notice that it's mostly VERY tight early, hyper aggro late. No problem with that. Implementing it takes practice, and patience, and the hard part is getting from part to the other.

In the ten days since I last blogged on here, I lost money. Plenty. However, I changed things up slightly, playing much tighter. It's helped mostly because I've been able to control my emotions better.

I played live yesterday, had about 23 people, got 3rd. Played great up until the final table, and I called a few too many bets. But, mostly, I played excellent. Over the past three to four days I've played excellent.

Got into a 8,000+ entrant freeroll earlier today, and was down to 220 people with about 50,000 in chips. I was 2nd in chips at the table by about 1,000 chips. Basically, the reason I was gaining so many chips is because everyone up to that point was SO predictable that I couldn't lose. I knew when to lay down (often) and when to call. Essentially, most of the players in this thing would bet small when they had something, and HUGE when they had mediocre holdings that more than likely wouldn't win at showdown. It was sick.

So, I'm going along great, and I get KK, but I have to show something to someone on my PC at the same time. I raise 4xbb from EP w/KK in the 1k-2k blinds, and get three callers. Nothing out of the ordinary thus far.

The flop is A64 with two diamonds on the flop. I think it is important for our discussion to say whether or not the A was a diamond (it changes strategies) but honestly I don't remember, and it's late as I write this.

Anyhow, they didn't bet it. I felt with two diamonds, someone would protect their ace, and at least get the others to pay a little bit (at least) to draw. The turn wasn't a diamond, and I bet big, and the other two players went all in. This was for so much of my stack that if I had any inclination whatsoever that one of them could possibly have an ace, I should just lay down immediately, and move on. I had only gave up about 10k in chips, and was doing fine.

Instead, I'm distracted, and I reason that they would have bet the ace on the flop, and I call. Of course, one of them flips over AQ (no bet on the flop?), and the other had something like A3. So, they had the ace, and I lose such a significant amount of my stack that I"m on tilt, and bust out about three hands later, and I was ready to go anyhow.

Which brings me to this....there couldn't be anything in poker more important, and more difficult to attain than having complete control of your emotions at all times. I can play emotionally, but not well, and mostly, I love horribly when I play emotionally. I had a chance, even after my loss of chips, to come back. There's no reason to think otherwise. But, I gave up, and was on tilt, and that was it.

I had to deposit twice already. About 20.00 each time, and that's sick. My run without depositing ended at about three months months long. But, hey, it's longer than any run I had for any previous run, so it's a start.

I'm good emotionally right now, and could probably play, but i'm not going to play tired. Instead, I'm going to play a crapload this weekend. I'll probably switch to playing the 4.40 180 man touraments almost exlusively. I'm getting so much better at playing larger tournaments.