Baby, What a Big Surprise

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

That's the sound a pirate makes. Congrats to Wes for winning the seat.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

That's the sound I make when I go out to a runner-runner flush at Level 3. But there's no crying in poker.

My biggest problem, outside of walking off my tilt, was what to do with the rest of my evening? I was well into a 12-pack of Newcastles, I'm a degenerate chip slinger and I was a little pissed off. The perfect mind-set for the Crazy $11 Re-Buy on Stars.

Giddyup.

I know I promised no more screen shots until I win an MTT. But, how 'bout this:

PokerStars Tournament #7715142, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
971 players
Total Prize Pool: $38740.00
Tournament started - 2005/05/11 - 22:15:00 (ET)

Dear JoeSpeaker,

You finished the tournament in 7th place.
A $1,317.16 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

I am one BAD-ASS motherfuckin' card player.

I hope everyone realizes that phrase is a joke. You should have seen how funny it was when Glyph typed it into chat after I busted someone during the re-buy period. I swear he had 3 or 4 players on tilt. In fact, his running commentary for the full six hours was often hysterical, keeping my increasingly drunk and tired ass both in stitches and focused. I appreciate it, man. Thanks also to Jason, who had a nice WPBT finish, for hanging out and rooting me on.

I was only in for $31, just a single re-buy and add-on. I worked up a huge stack in the first hour, massaged it up to about T30K during the second and, after quickly doubling thru in the third, got the break--the one hand--I'd been waiting for lo these many sessions.

I got AJ, of course, in the SB and raised the BB, who was also a bigger stack. He called and we saw a flop of 443. I bet out and he called. Turn was an ace and we repeated the dance. River was another 3. I bet again, hoping to keep the pot reasonable. This is not a hand I wanna go broke on. Big Stack was having none of that and pushed. I've had some trouble lately with the smooth calls and then the big bet on the river. Didn't get the hint I was behind early enough. But I didn't feel that was the case here. I worked my way through the hand and knew he had an ace. It was a kicker deal. I called. He showed A7s and my heart began to beat again.

From there, I just spent a lot of time stealing, especially on the various bubbles. Glyph made a comment about my pre-flop raises getting respect and they absolutely were, though I did drop (and show) The Hammer at some point early on. In fact, my table featured real solid players all the way around. At one point, we had 3 people who I would see again hours later at the final table (what up, Tuscon!?!?).

Down to two-tables, I made a great play. And then a poor one. First, I re-raised pre-flop with pocket 10s. Got a call behind from a short stack (ugh) and the original raiser pushed. I folded my tens. He showed queens. Good, good fold.

Couple hands later, against the same guy, I tried a turn check-raise on a scary board. He pushed and I folded, followed by me pulling my head out of my ass. Wasn't too long after that I was down to T350K, a small stack compared to both players and blinds. AA came just in time. Even better, there was a raise and a re-raise (from my nemesis in the previous graf), putting nearly 250K in the pot before I even acted. I pushed and both called. Ragged board and my nemesis bet at it, getting the other to fold, and flipped KK. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Cruised to the final table from there where the luck ran out. Lost twice with QQ, once to the short stack in the BB who beat me with 94o. The second time to AKs. Went out when my Big Slick fell to A9o. We both flopped the ace and I bet at it, perhaps a little too lightly. I was sure I was ahead when he didn't raise, so prepared to push. When the 9 hit the turn, I wasn't worried about it.

D'oh!

Even so, this one wasn't like the kicked in the junk feelings of prior "just short" finishes. Felt much better about my play last night, my first FT in the Stars re-buy, my biggest payday. Three final tables and more than $2500 in winnings this week ain't bad at all. Not at all.

Now if I could just get some goddamn sleep.