1st Post

Hey everyone. This blog is all about the journeys of a part time hobby poker player. I've been playing for about 8 years with mixed success for the first 5-6, but now I've finally become a successful mid level tourney player and decent NL cash player as well. I was even fortunate enough to play in the 2009 WSOP Main Event. Probably was WAY about my bankroll and level but its been one of my dreams so I said "what the hell" and went with it. I'll go more into that story in my next post but for now I'll get to the past couple of weeks of online play.

Most of my play is centered around UB. I used to play FT and Stars but have just not been a big fan of playing tournies with 1-2 thousand people and the players suckout more than they should. I've had more success on UB and have just been loyal since I do better on their site.

Big tourney nights online are on Sunday, of course, but Wednesday has good turn outs as well. The past two Weds, I've came in 2nd in the $15K guaranteed rebuy for $3k and $3.5K respectively. While those are great, I feel I should have won both tournies which left about $4k in earnings on the table. In the 1st HU match, and stack relatively close, I went all in with AJ vs. K8s. I went on to flop an ace to only lose to runner runner flush and eliminated. In the 2nd one, I was a 6-1 chipleader when the other guy goes on a sick run of cards. Everytime I go in on him, he has AA, AQ, JJ, etc.... We were back to even after two double ups and I lost with QT to Q8 when he spiked 2 pair to my high pair. Even still, Im starting to come into my own and this tourney has been good to me as a result.

While I dont want this blog to be my personal venting ground, I do have to get this hand off of my chest. In the same $15K this past Thursday with 15 left, I'm sitting 11th in chips and need to make a move to comfortably FT. My opportunity comes when I'm dealt QQ on the button. It fold to me and I make a steal looking raise. To my surprise, I get an all in and call from the blinds. The BB has me covered and I feel his calling range is wide open. THe SB was short so his range was also pretty wide. After almost talking myself out of it, I call. They flip over TT and JJ. BEST Scenario possible. Gets better (or so I thought) when the flop come Q85. PERFECT!! Then, the poker gods decide to bring me back to earth when it runs 9 and T to give the big stack the entire pot and ship me out in 14th. I really thought I had a chance to repeat this tourney if I win that pot. I watched our chipleader donk off those chips at the FT for a 6th place when he should have finished 4th or better easily.

I'm feeling this blog getting long for my 1st post, so I'll quit here. Hopefully they'll be plenty more success stories and less talk of Bad Beat stories in the future. See you on the Flip Side.