A Hunting I Will Go

With the Monty Memorial Poker Blogger Tournament back from the abyss I shall hunt down all of my prey and hang their heads on the wall as trophies. In further preparation for my inevitable victory I played a $5 No-Limit Hold'em Tourney at Absolute Poker. The field consisted of 86 of the top pros in the poker world today. (well maybe not but on the internet everyone is anonymous so you never know) My first victim was felled on the very first hand of the event. I held KJs and flopped the top two pair. I didn't slow play it but bet small enough to ensure callers. As I so skillfully knew I would, I had a player call me to the river where we ended up all in. The first trophy was dominated as he only held a pair of Kings. With the chip lead I again took out another as my pair of 5's flopped a set. An additional two victims at once were retired when my straight came on the river. All this before the first break and I was on fire.

As often happens in these long hunting expeditions the prey became aware of my existence and did their best to avoid me. Only those with a keen sense of danger dared venture into my sights. With the massive chip stack before me blocking my vision, I decided to disperse it to my quarry. (OK, that's just a nice way of saying I was starting to let the power go to my head. It was like I was giving it away though.) At the first break my chip count stood at 3,260 up from the original 1,500.

Half way through the second round is when I made a nearly fatal mistake. Holding AK preflop I decided to push the issue when all low cards came on the flop. I had the feeling I was against a set but ignored my instincts and forced an all-in call. Escaping with his life and most of my chips the hunter had now become the hunted. Using my finely honed survival skills the second break came with 13 players remaining. My chip stack stood at 7,510.

When we came back from the break the software in it's infinite wisdom placed all the large stacks on one table and all the shorter stacks on another. I went from being a big fish in a small pond to the smallest fish in what was a very big pond. I managed to survive but with the larger stacks able to stalk me I was barely able to hold on till the final table. When the dust settled I found myself out in 9th place but in the money.

Aside from a few key mistakes that stemmed from a lack of concentration on my part I feel I played flawlessly. I also managed a win in a SNG tourney so I continue to feel real good about this upcoming tournament on Sunday.

Speaking of the tournament my hat goes off to Pacific Poker. I don't know if they read my post on Monday but Pacific gave everyone $25 in their account which will pay the entry fee for the $20 tournament. In addition they are adding $500 dollars to the prize pool so they have recovered in the best way possible from the earlier mistake. Word has it that we will be playing with 1500 chips instead of the standard 800 that the site normally starts you with. This will make the tournament more about skill and less of a crapshoot. (that will probably work against me).

My limit game took another turn south as I managed to lose $35 last night. I'm still up for the week but I need to put several winning sessions together in a row before I feel good about my game again. Well I'm off for some target practice. See you in the jungle.