Quote of the Day
"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
what a great quote for poker...although i dont think mr. emerson played any as he died in 1882. juuuust missed out on the moneymaker effect.
anyway, i have been all over the map last month, and i got back to vegas almost two weeks ago, yet it feels like two days ago. hawaii was awesome. i realize i need to go back as much as possible. hopefully i can get a condo there in the future as a second home or something. after hawaii i was in toronto for 4 days. its just depressing there. everyday day is painfully cold, and gray skies. its a miracle if you can see the sun. i didn't do much there, but i did get to play a lot of poker and did well while i was there. after that, i went to new york and hung out with more friends and fam there. i tried to hang out with as many people as i could, but was only there for a week, so icouldn't see everyone. spent some time with my dad...it was his bday while i was there. played some nba 2k9 which i used to great at all the nba 2k games, but can't figure this new game out. also...watched the de la hoya debacle at my friends vijay and johanna's place (you like that shout out!!!). spent some other time with old friends, and thats about it.
i got back on the 10th, and poker has been just a straight line for 11 days. just going nowhere after a huge run i had for three weeks i had previously. so it was expected. breaking even day after day for a couple weeks doesn't bother me as much as if it were being very swingy for the same result. it shouldn't matter, but its just easier for me to deal with. while i've been playing my heads up games, i've been trying to qualify for the pca. i planned on going and just playing the battleship (HU tourny), and not play the main event...only if i could qualify. now the pca and i have a history. for 3 years i have been trying to qualify, and every year i fall short spending god knows how much trying to get in. so the last few days i have been getting close in the 30 rebuy tourny. the first 10-15 times, i didn't even make a final table, but the last few days i made it 3 straight times (2nd, 5th, and 5th). so it was encouraging yet increasingly frustrating. then came today.
i again got to the final table sitting in 4th. i won a huge hand with 9's against two opponents, and i had the chip lead. the final 4 players included ch0ppy, shaundeeb, apestyles and myself. they are all tourny pro's who obviously weren't going to make any mistakes. luckily i had the chiplead, and i got heads up with apestyles for the seat. i had a 1.5-1 advantage at this point. my hands were so extremely sweaty, i had to keep wiping them on my shirt before every move, because my mouse on my laptop wasn't registering my movements. i was convinced i would somehow blow my oppurtunity yet again. i had ATdd when apestyles min raised and he had about 13bb total. its an obvious reshove there, which i did, and much to my disbelief, he has AJ...but wait! Q108 flop! bang! i hit my 10!!!! wooo hooo!!!! but wait....9 comes on the turn to give him a straight...but wait! turn gave me a diamond redraw! river came a blank, and now i was down 2-1. i was so incredibly sick. a few hands later, i limped with a9 tryin to induce a shove which i got from him with k7. i now dodged his flush draw on the turn, and doubled up. helloooo lead!!!! few hands after that he shoved with 13bb, and i picked up 33. i depressingly called knowing he'd overs, and my 3's held!!!! woooo hoooo!!!!!! book the atlantis trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks to thepabloshow, breakribs, and dr. fells for watching and their support. much appreciated guys.
and now for the heads up update. after going nowhere for 2 weeks, today im 24-7 thus far today with two separate 9 game winning streaks. so with the pca win, a great day in heads up, AND the giants clinching the #1 seed in the NFC, what else could i ask for? it was a great day. oh, and i almost won another pca seat a few hours after the rebuy...i got 25th in the $650 qualifier with 12 seats. oh well! believe me, im not that disappointed about it. wow...todays blog is almost all about poker...what the hell is that about??
