Yah, I finally placed fairly high in a tournament on PokerStars last night.  The upside is I made it that far, the downside is I was just a few out of making really decent $. 

PokerStars Tournament #144057554, No Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $3.00/$0.30
4500 players
Total Prize Pool: $56376.00
Tournament started 2009/03/02 20:00:00 ET
Tournament finished 2009/03/03 3:37:12 ET
1: cjmcculley (Richmond), $7216.13 (12.80%)
2: surrealz (Rochester), $5045.66 (8.95%)
3: mgurev (Brussels), $3360.01 (5.96%)
4: Tor Fey (Tampa), $2818.81 (5%)
5: Hustlnhard11 (Shippensburg), $2255.05 (4%)
6: aswampmaster (GLADSTONE), $1691.29 (3%)
7: Gleidinger (Hannover), $1127.53 (2%)
8: jimizeppelin (portland), $676.52 (1.20%)
9: DCSTCLEE (Greenville), $439.74 (0.78%)
10: KittMitt (Milwaukee), $281.89 (0.50%)
11: heki55 (Hun), $281.89 (0.50%)
12: *PkrplyaGd* (Huntington Beach), $281.89 (0.50%)
13: PokerWorks (Las Vegas), $197.32 (0.35%)
14: poolman4 (St Charles), $197.32 (0.35%)
15: matgou77 (montreal), $197.32 (0.35%)

It was a re-buy and I did the add on at the end of the first break so I was in it for $6.60.  I went totally, stone ground, card dead the last hour; having around $900K at only one point, I was hovering around the 500 to 700K bracket most of the time.  I must have picked up 3’s, 2’s, and 7’s a zillion times.  Most of the time I pitched them…winning one hand with 3’s once when the blinds were extremely high and just shoving.  If I had played them the very next hand, I would have tripled up…oh well.

I did donk out horribly a few times.   In the first hour, I hadn’t played  hand and picked up K-5S on the button.  The BB had been fritzing around raising a bit, and he went all-in for about what I had in my stack.  I really put him on about 8 or 9 high and chunked with him.  He had 10-10, I caught a five on the turn and a five on the river.  He went nutz.  Telling me to get phucked, etc…as he rebought chips.  There was another one within an hour that I did the super suck out on but I can’t even remember it.  Hell, six or seven hours of looking at poker hands takes the mind to nonmemory zone.

One hand that started a hysterical verbal exchange was when I looked at A-Q – no hands for a long time previous to that and I needed to pick up chips or hit the road, a player UT raised – and I can’t even remember the blind level at that time – and I pushed all-in.  UTG called and showed 2-2.  I caught an Ace and a Queen and he went nutzo, explaining that I was a totally idiot calling his raise all-in with A-Qo.  Coupla players got involved in the whole spiel, telling him he was an idiot for raising UTG with 2-2, and I reminded him that I didn’t call his raise all-in, I reraised him.  It just went from there.  I was LMAO over the chat that followed…forever.  Then I picked up K-K an orbit later in the BB, after having picked up a few more pots, and it was raised to 3 or 4K to me.  I pushed for 30K all-in.  One of the players that had been razzing Mr. Deuce-deuce player almost timed out before he called.  He showed 2-2.  My hand held and suddenly I was in contention to be able to weather the long road ahead.  I ended up busting the player that called my Kings a few rounds later when I picked up Aces and raised, he called me with K-9o, and went all-in on the flop that was 9-5-3 or something close to that.  I turned a set of Aces.  Mr. Deuce-deuce had a fit because ‘Dude, the cards are running over you.  You win every race!”

Damn!  Ain’t that awful?

My faithful friend and late night, poker degenerate buddy came to sweat me and root me on.

*****

On the home front, the wind is a ripper today.  I hate it.  The fence/block wall project will help cut some of that from the coach.  And did I mention we are seriously thinking straw bale?  Yah, look it up, it’s one of most noise block, eco friendly, attractive ways to go and may be less expensive in the long run.

I have been kid free for the last four days.  No one has felt well and almost everyone I’ve talked to across the country as in friends and family has had some bug going on.  P-U!  I hate that stuff.  I’m thinking I’m damn lucky to not have gotten what ailed my little buddy last week.

OK…Laters