Mis-click from Hell ..."Redemption"

Well...lets see here...I left off my last blog speaking of getting "Dialed in" as we were close to the money in the Sat. $11.00 Deep Stack event on Stars. This was the same tournament that I "mis-clicked" in the previous weekend...Well...as some of you already know...I was able to get a little redemption for myself as was able to pull off a 2nd place finish:

PokerStars Tournament #169968468, No Limit Hold'emBuy-In: $10.00/$1.00
1224 playersTotal Prize Pool: $12240.00 Tournament started 2009/06/13 12:00:00 ET
Dear GCPGeneD,
You finished the tournament in 2nd place. A $1,493.29 award has been credited to your Real Money account.You earned 497.43 tournament leader points in this tournament.
Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

I felt good about the score but also a little disappointed as I wanted to win sooooooo bad I could taste it. The guy that won first was from Minsk, somewhere in Russia and he played very well. There were 2 hand I will breakdown a little later where I felt I had him "stone cold dead"...and either he sniffed out of it or the cards counterfeited my action. The tournament started at 11am and did not finish until around 2:30am...with a good hour of HU play. The difference between 1st and 2nd was only $500.00.

The tourney...I felt I played really well and once we got down to 4 tables, everything came together for me. I was seeing things clearly and had picked up on several patterns on my opponents that I was able to exploit. I also was taking hot showers...and I mean steaming hot...on every break to stay focused and dialed in. I went to the FT as the chip leader and did not relinquish the CL until we were 4 handed...I never had my tournament life on the line the entire tourney until we got to FT...we went into HU him having me 2 to 1 in chips...45 minuted later I had him 2 to 1 in chips and the see-saw battle continued.

At this point in the tourney where I had him 2 to 1 (a little over 6 million in chips total). When the following hands played out...I am going by memory as I haven't dug into my hand history's just yet for analysis:

-I flopped a medium size flush (I think I was holding 6-8h) and the flop came out K high with all of them being hearts. I check and he makes a huge bet...I flat. Turn bricks and he again makes a decent bet...I raise and he flats...I now thought I had him as I felt he at least had a King in his hand...river is terrible for me as the 2hearts peels out and I make a blocking bet for pot control just in case he has a heart higher that the 8h...he folds and admitted he had a King.

-The next one was in a very similar situation where I flop a straight where I three bet with J9o...villain flats and the flop shows K-Q-10...and dont remember the exact action but there were some bets, raises and calls on flop and turn...and a J hits the river to cause me to shut down and hand cuffed me...we checked it down and he showed 2 pair...I think he had K-10.

Again...I think he played the well, and I felt my HU games was formidable. I could have easily won this tourney with either of the hands above...but it wasnt meant to be...and again...these 2 hands are what I remember it from a week ago ...Tha.nks to those that came bird dog it also

If I could sum up my entire tournament experience with what I have been learning recently would be a couple of things:
1) I learned alot being able to shadow TK, Fish and Tyler in the FTOPs ME recently. (There was a guy named Trey there also but he wasnt playing just like me). I touched on this experience in a previous Blog and my thoughts leaving TKs that night was my knowing that Fish is going to be making an impact...somewhere...its just a matter of time. I know Bill and I discussed this that day and I told him, "Fish has the sharpest instincts if seen playing online, and I was able to learn alot from just watching and asking questions"
2) I just finish the poker book from John Vorhaus Killer Poker series "Killer Poker by the Numbers" which was written by Tony Guerrera. Its a "Math" book no doubt, but I think he explains the math portions a little simpler that Bill Chen's book. Some of the formulas were confusing for me but I got a solid grasped of everything he wrote and it wasnt that difficult to follow. The thing that I learned that was the most crucial was not the odds on your starting hands vs your players range...but the odds that your opponents have nothing but air...and the odds that they whiffed the flop with random hands...that your opponents has nothing. My only suggestion is to get familiar with pokerstove before you read it...again...watching fish work pokerstove was very impressive and helped my reading the book.

I went fishing several times recently to "Unplug" for awhile...and I went deep sea fishing today with some of buddies I grew up with in Tim B's 24 foot boat. I had a great time, and we killed the Red Snapper and Mangroves...but it was hot as hell and the sun kicked my ass. It was very peaceful watching the sun come up over the horizon as the Gulf was slick and calm...good times with good people. I talked to people who haven't got many close friends like that...that I would call "Life Long" friends. I have been friends with these guys since 6th or 7th grade ...which I value very much

What else...My tomato plants are just humming along...I am having to give away tomato's before they go bad...and I am heading to a Family reunion on my Sonnier side of my family...looking forward to see all my cousins (Which on both sides of my family combined...I think I have something like 33 first cousins.

Good Luck to everyone at the WSOP..Cobra Kai, TK, Monk, Fish...and all the rest. Plan on getting back to the online grind after I savor the moment for a few days.

"Poker is the ultimate game of pain...you re either giving it or getting it...and sometimes it only 30 seconds between the two" David Grey in Cardplayer Magazine/Vol 22c/No 12c/Jan 17the 2009.