Up, Down, Up, Down. Jane get me off this crazy thing!

On Wednesday I decided to head down to Hawaiian Gardens for some poker. I met my buddies Mike G. And Chris V. For some all you can eat buffet at Bukara's. (They have the best Indian food in O.C. !)
After stuffing ourselves, Mike and I headed to the casino. Sat in on a 8-16 limit game and was happy to see the fishes in today! After 2 hours of the fishes getting great breaks on flops, turns, and rivers I was down 240 of my 300 buy-in. These guys were hitting everything! When I did hit a hand most of the time they either folded quickly, or ran the river and caught the lucky 2 pair or str8, etc. I played pretty well and adjusted my style when I was down, but to no avail. I got up and wished Mike better luck. (He is a tight player, I'm more aggressive. He ended up down just a little.)
I decided to change up for a while and entered the 10,000 guaranteed no limit tournment. The Wednesday tournment is a lot better than the Monday one. The buy in is higher and the rebuys are also higher.(Keeps the cheap fish out. ;-) ) While waiting for it to start I sat down at a $40 no limit cash game just to get the bad taste out of my mouth after my beating at 8-16. Played for about 45 minutes and tripled up. Didn't get many cards, but I played well. After about 30 minutes the table was giving me a lot of respect and I used it to bluff off better hands. It was then time for the tournment. I went into this event with the idea to work on my detecting tells. I didn't expect to get past the 6th level. To make a long story short, (Too late.) I finished 8th! I played really well and made great reads without getting great cards. I had KK once and AK suited once. Other than those cards I didn't get really any premium hands all night. I only made 2 real mistake all evening. The 1st was calling an all in with 99. It was about a 5th of my stack, but the bad call was that the player, even though he was short stacked was playing really tight. He had KK and they held. The last one was the one that knocked me out of the tournment. I was down to 15k with the blinds at 2-4k with a 400 ante when I was dealt 8 10 spades in the BB. It was folded to the SB who also was the chip leader and he made the bet 8k. I stopped to think about the bet, but with only 3 minutes left in the level I was close to the edge. I flat called the bet and the flop came 9d 6d 3c. He checked and I did the dumb thing buy going all in with a gutshot str8 draw. He flipped up AKd and I new I was dead. The turn was Ah and the river was the overkill Kc for the 2 pair and I was out in 8th. The payout was $285, nut if I just laid it down. 7th was $450. Bad played from started to finish. Well it was a learning experience for me. I'm going down on Sunday afternoon for the $100 no limit at HG, 1 $100 rebuy and a $25 entry fee. The levels are longer and the starting chips are more so this will be a really good test for me. Wish me luck.
Guns2112

There are Poker Gods... And they like me... Sometimes

Well this was my 1st time going to Hawaiian Gardens Casino since about June 05. I entered the No-Limit tournment they have on Mondays to try some of my new found skills. I found out a few things about my new skills in this tournment,
1- Unlimited rebuys will not tell you how good you are, They tell you how lucky you are. (I was not very lucky)
2- I at least know when to let go of a hand when I'm beat. (Harder than you think)
3- I still need to learn a lot more
This tournment is a $20/$10 with unlimited $10 rebuys the 1st 2 levels, after that you can add 2 add ons for $10 each. You only start with $300 in chips and the rebuys are for $10 gets you $300
in tournment chips. The 1st 2 levels are 30 minutes and all others are 20 minutes. The Add on is for $10 gets you $500 in chips and you can buy 2. The blind go fast and in the first 2 levels it just play anything poker. I had to rebuy 4 times + 2 add ons. The last 2 rebuys were for going bust against a river runner. By the end of the 2nd level I was almost even. The 3rd level kicked my ass. Had to dump good hands pre-flop when I was re-raised and that cost me 1/2 of my stack. I finally went all in with A10 off and was called by KK. I flopped the Ace, the turn gave me a 10, but the river gave him his 4th heart to go with his KH to give him the flush. The poker gods taketh away.

I decided to drown my sorrows in a 4-8 limit 1/2 kill game. It was juicy to say the least. Was never down more than 40 of my 180 buy in. The big story was 2 players hit the bad Beat jackpot for 100,000! Pocket J's made quads, and Pocket A's made Aces full of Jacks on the river. My share was $2853 and that will be my stake in poker this year. I'm going to try the grinding out and see if I can make it. Wish me luck all.
Guns2112

1st post

Well I have joined the millions in creating a blog. This will be mostly about poker, but sometimes I will post on other subjects. Please don't expect any schedule to this blog. As this is my 1st atempt at one will see how it goes. Until next time, May your aces never be cracked. (I know its corny, so sue me ;-) )