Didn't get any deer this weekend bow hunting. Had two smaller bucks come by but I passed on them and then the one big buck I did see didn't come close enough. Was a great time as always though. Hunt all day and then drink all night and then repeat. I hunt with a great group of guys so it's rarely ever a bad time when we're up there even if we don't see any deer. Next week is gun hunting so hopefully I'll have a little more success then.

My internet doesn't work when I'm up north either so there won't be any updates unless they are some voice updates. I'll be playing mostly cash this week with the exception of the FTOPS event on Wednesday that I mentioned in the last blog. I'll have another update or two up before heading out hunting all next week.

Because the FTOPs was a 6max event tonight I figured I'd spend one more day playing tournaments and look to hit a nice score. Once again it was a big mistake. I've been crushing my cash games lately and I don't know why I keep going back to the tournament scene.

Played most of the big nightly tournaments on both Stars and Tilt. Busted the FTOPs with set under set, the $320 on Stars with KK < AA, and the only tournament I got deep in, a $109 on Stars, I lost AA < 33. I'll give tournaments one more try next week Wednesday when they have the NL 6max $320 with rebuys FTOPs event.

I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon to head up north bow hunting and probably won't be back until Wednesday. Then next weekend is gun hunting so I won't be playing much from the 16th - 24th. I may get some cash game play in but it will depend on whether or not I can get service on my at&t wireless card while I'm up north.

I'll probably get a few updates up but I won't be having any regular blogs up until after Thanksgiving. If I get a big buck hunting maybe I'll try doing a voice recorded update.

Thanks for all the comments on the last blog. I know it's variance and if I keep plugging away I'll hit a nice score and the results will come. Just a matter of it really frustrating me right now. I'm sure I'll hit a tourney heater soon enough... January in the Bahamas would be a good time to start one.

Toward the end of October after I had a few really nice runs in tournaments I was considering playing them full time again and leaving cash behind for a month. However after another really disappointing Sunday I'm already fed up with tournaments again. I know... I lasted real long into November.

I blame it all on my roommate who continues to crush tournaments and that keeps me coming back to them. He finished 2nd in the Bodog 100k last Sunday for a nice score and then FTed the Full Tilt 750k yesterday for another sick cash. He definitely deserves it though as he studies the game and puts a lot of thought into it both at and away from the tables. Every time I decided to get away from tourneys I see him hit a big score and then I get the itch to play them again. I get deep in something, whiff at the end, and then get fed up with tournaments again. It's becoming a vicious cycle.

So for the rest of November I'm going to play mostly cash again. The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) starts on Wednesday and I'll probably play a few of the events but I'm going to try and stay away from tournaments for the most part. In December I'll probably get back into them so that I feel prepared for the PCA in January.

Been two weeks since I've put a blog up. My computer took a crash on me... again. Just before last weekend my internet browsers stopped working and so did my AIM. When I started to mess around with it and try to fix it I just ended up making things worse. So about the middle of last week I just wiped the whole computer and reinstalled windows and now everything seems to be back in good working order.

Last weekend was also my little sister's wedding so I wasn't doing much playing as I had commitments for that from Thursday - Sunday. It was a great time though and she married a really good guy. They grows up so fast now... *tear*.

So I missed the big majors last Sunday due to the wedding but got back in time to jump in the Stars 2nd Chance tourney. I ended up going deep in that and then busting when I got it all in preflop with AA against QTs for a top 2 stack with 50 left only to lose to his rivered two pair. Then at the end of the night I lost HU in another 33r for my second PCA seat. I now realize what it feels like to get nothing when the other guy gets $12k and it sucks. I then got HU again on Tuesday in the 33r and again lost. I really don't feel like there is anything wrong with my HU game but it's going to be something I look at now just to make sure as I figure it could use some improvements anyways.

I then spent this last week playing exclusively tournaments. I final tabled the 22r one night and lost when I got it in on the turn with kings against a guy with a straight draw which obviously hit on the river to knock me out in 4th. That was my only decent deep finish in a tournament during the week. I played a lot of Stars 45 man $60 turbo sit n gos and did pretty well in them. They take about an hour to run and it's about $750 to first. It's a bit of a luck fest but it's nice to jump in them when I only have one or two tourneys running and I'm getting a bit bored.

This past weekend was Halloween and Homecoming here in Madison so it was crazy starting on Thursday night through the weekend with a ton of people coming into town. So after a disappointing Wednesday night where I got a big stack in Stars $320 tournament and then didn't even cash I didn't really get any play in from Thursday - Saturday except for a few sessions of the 45 man turbos.

So that brings me to Sunday, which like usual, was a huge disappointment. I never got anything going in the Stars or Full Tilt big Sunday Tournaments and ended up running into aces to bust out of both of them. I did get deep in a few tournaments though. With about 20 left in Stars afternoon $55 tournament which got over 1400 runners I lost with aces to kings when we got it all in preflop and he spiked a king on the river. It wouldn't have been as crushing a blow but the pot was for 550k in chips and a massive chip lead considering the average at the final table was going to be about 450k (I think 2nd in chips only had about 250k at the time of the pot).

I then final tabled a $27.50 tourney and got knocked out in 5th when I lost with JJ to AKs. I made another final table of a PCA satellite but went out in 5th or 6th (can't remember). I'm not sure why I continue to torture myself with those satellites since I already have my seat and it's a crushing blow to get so close and get nothing but they are still a good value I guess.

Sunday was a long day though and while it was really disappointing to get so close to a few big scores I did finish up some on the day so it wasn't a complete loss. I'm not sure what my plan is for this week. The Packers play tonight on MNF and I want to get up bow hunting later this week. Which probably means it will be a mix of cash and tournaments. Cash when I don't want to have to commit to the time it takes to play a tourney and tournaments on the few days where I can plan on playing for a few hours.

One last quick side note. TwoRags is putting together a audio blog where I will be able to call into a voice mail system and leave audio updates that will automatically be posted here so you can look for that in the coming weeks.

This is the first day where I've actually started to feel good. Still have a pretty wicked headache but it's much better than where I was at before.

This Sunday started out great as the Packers pulled out a close win and the Bears lost a heartbreaker... awwwww. :) But then I started to play poker and it started to go down hill. I started out by losing $500 in cash games as I lost all 3 of my the flips I was in (and I had the 55% end too). I could tell I was frustrated though and that I wasn't playing my best anymore so I called it quits for the day and went back to football.

I then sweated my roommate to a win in the early $109r on Stars and was motivated to play a few tournaments as he's been having some great success lately. (He also won a seat in the $650 satellite to the PCA on Saturday.) So being all motivated to play doesn't help much when it's too late to get in most of the decent tournaments. I remembered that Cake Poker has late registration in their tournaments and I was able to get into their $100k guaranteed tourney which was a $55r. So after getting into that for $250 I quickly busted out right after the rebuy period... why did I want to play tourneys?!?

Just when I was about to say screw poker again and watch the baseball playoffs and the SNF game I figured I jump in the Stars $50 -$50k guaranteed tourney and the $33r to the PCA satellite that started a little later. I got deep in the $50k and with 100 left lost with AQ to J7o for a top 15 stack when the guy 4bet all in with absolutely no fold equity. However, the day finished amazing though as I went on to win the PCA satellite!!! I had a great HU battle to finish the tournament . It lasted 77 hands, which is a lot considering there were about 80BBs in play when we got HU. I started with a 2:1 chip lead and at one point was down 3:2. I fell into a rhythm though and got a really good feel for my opponent and came back to dominate it at the end. I''ll post a few of the HU hands at the end.

I was lucky enough to win a seat last year in the $650 last chance tourney and it was an amazing vacation so I am ridiculously psyched right now to be heading down there again. It's also nice to get the monkey off my back early this year instead of winning a seat last minute. One of my buddy's from Madison won a seat in the $33r on Monday night too so there are already 3 of us heading down there. Not gonna lie that I was a little worried when him and my roommate already had a seat. Puts a lot of pressure on a guy.

A few HU hands:

My low point... calling with Q high is not good!!! (I can here Alex Powers now):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589141
She had just taken the chip lead for the first time after winning 7 hands in a row and had me on tilt. I'm not sure why but somehow that hand got me off tilt. I laughed at my call, asked myself "wtf Andy", and took a deep breath.

I wasn't a believer on the flop:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589143

Yeah, I'm a calling station:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589149
(ok that's pretty standard but I am a station)

Let's get a nail in the coffin:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589151
(I may just really like bluffing with KJ)

FINISH HER(?):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589156
(sometimes it's good to be lucky)