I busted 82nd in the $1500. The hands have been reported, but basically, I doubled up in a huge pot when I called a shove with an overpair on the turn, and then I gave some away steadily until I punted 2/3 to Matt Matros with the 22 < 77. I'm still debating my shove; there were a lot of factors that made it very close, and mostly I'm upset that I didn't take more time to think about them.

Since them, I've been resting some and preparing for the Main Event. I'm trying to keep my mind fresh; I was playing some stud hi/lo earlier in the week to try to grind out some money, but I gave some back in the last couple of days and realized that I had let myself get complacent with my play. It's funny what a continuous struggle that is.

I'm planning to play the Main Event on Sunday. So meantime I've been trying to keep my head clear... I've been mixing it up with rest, physical exercise, and trying to play other games to keep my poker mind sound (but to not burn out on tournaments). In less than 48 hours, my Main Event kicks off. I feel good enough about my play recently that I know I have a shot if I get the breaks. One time Mr. Dealer?

First day 2 and first cash of the series. I have 65k going into day 2 at 800/1600/200. I'm exhausted so no full writeup but more will come when it's all over and I'm rested.

Brief review of my last three live tournaments:

-I start at a very tough table in the 5k six-handed and bleed chips until the table breaks. I double up AQ > 55 the last hand before that table breaks. I take my 11k to 22k at my new table and then slowly hover and bleed away until I inevitably bust shoving the T6o with 9100 chips at 600/1200/100.
-I ran my stack up to 9k early in the 2k, then gave away a bunch of it check-shoving 77 on a 468 flop in a reraised pot. AA good. Oops. I short stacked the rest of the day until that table broke; the third hand at my new table I open shove 99 from the SB with 2200 chips at 100/200/25. A young-ish Euro calls with A2 and flops 345.
-The $1500 actually had a lot of interesting hands. I couldn't find my wallet this morning, so I showed up an hour and a half late, but I more or less short stacked until I caught a huge rush at 100/200/25 and ran it up to 17.5k, then lost it all, the last 5/6 of it or so on standard plays and/or plays where I got my money in as a large favorite.

I actually had a lot of fun at my starting table in the $2k. JaspudUF and the other two guys on our side of the table made for great conversation. We had a good time and a lot of laughs-- one of the things I really appreciate about live poker. It isn't always like that, but that's when it's really fun.

I'm gonna grind Sundays online tomorrow. I'm definitely taking a break from poker before the ME, and from tournaments after the WSOP is over, but I feel my tournament game is sharp and my edge will be biggest there tomorrow.

Remind me to post some of the hands in more detail. I don't have too many questions, but they make for fun stories.

After some hassles with a bank that has a dim view on shipping to a different address than the billing address, the order should go through today and I'll have a new one in time to start updating when stuff goes down again.

Conveniently enough, I had a vacation scheduled these few days already. I've been utterly refusing to play poker, and it feels good. My brain needed a rest, and I clearly needed to stop pressuring myself so much to win.

Sunday's results were nothing special (651st in the million, 8th in the 215 HU), but overall a profitable day, and more importantly, I had mentally reminded myself to keep attacking, to not shy away from big pots, to not fear busting out, and I feel my play, at least initially, was much better as a result. I wasn't able to maintain the same level of play throughout the day, but getting off on the right foot felt good.

Anyway, it's more rest until the $5k shorthanded at the WSOP on Thursday. I pretty much have to play my best to give myself a chance in that, so... I'll try to do just that!

Apologies for no updates the last few days. I've been out of communication because my laptop-- which was already my backup laptop, broken keys and prone to fits and starts-- finally stopped taking a charge, and thus for all intents and purposes no longer functions. This may be fixable, and as soon as I get some money offline from Saturday's scores, I'll likely buy a new one.

On top of that, my iPod inexplicably gave up the ghost a couple of days ago. So now I have no music and no reliable source of communication with the Internet world. This is a little difficult for me.

I'm making it, though. I still have my blackberry (when it doesn't run out of batteries). It's just hard for me to post unless I can sneak onto someone's laptop long enough to do that. Usually this means someone has made it deep into a live tournament, though, so they don't mind.

Anyway, updates will be sporadic until I get a permanent means to update. Meantime, nothing exciting has happened. The $2500 shorthanded was a disappointment, as was today's $1k at Bellagio. I did go swimming and disc golfing with some of the guys yesterday, though, so at least I'm doing what I can to stay well-rounded and healthy.

Might play the $2k at Bellagio tomorrow; might play the $1500 at Rio Saturday. There's nothing really big to gear up for until the $5k shorthanded on Thursday, so 'til then it's a matter of finding the best value on any given day, and keeping my head in the right place.