16 left in the FTOPS $300r 6-max.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6422686934: FTOPS Event #16 (45241217), Table 115 - 4000/8000 Ante 1000 - No Limit Hold'em - 4:14:35 ET - 2008/05/15
Seat 1: Tony Pisser (337,447)
Seat 2: Trelana (131,026)
Seat 4: NEONPILS99 (954,147)
Seat 5: stuckmyass (549,219)
Seat 6: tedsfishfry (493,408)
Tony Pisser antes 1,000
Trelana antes 1,000
NEONPILS99 antes 1,000
stuckmyass antes 1,000
tedsfishfry antes 1,000
stuckmyass posts the small blind of 4,000
tedsfishfry posts the big blind of 8,000
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tony Pisser [Tc Th]
Tony Pisser raises to 19,800
Trelana has 15 seconds left to act
Trelana folds
NEONPILS99 folds
stuckmyass calls 15,800
tedsfishfry folds
*** FLOP *** [Td Kc 8h]
stuckmyass checks
Tony Pisser bets 28,000
stuckmyass has 15 seconds left to act
stuckmyass raises to 85,000
Tony Pisser has 15 seconds left to act
Tony Pisser has requested TIME
Tony Pisser raises to 316,647, and is all in
stuckmyass calls 231,647
Tony Pisser shows [Tc Th]
stuckmyass shows [Ks Ac]
*** TURN *** [Td Kc 8h] [Kh]
*** RIVER *** [Td Kc 8h Kh] [8s]
Tony Pisser shows a full house, Tens full of Kings
stuckmyass shows a full house, Kings full of Eights
stuckmyass wins the pot (685,894) with a full house, Kings full of Eights
Tony Pisser: OMFG
Tony Pisser stands up

Sunday my run in the Million was cut short in 82nd. These three hands took me apart:

Poker Stars $200+$15 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t10000/t20000 Blinds - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: t387978
UTG: t576253
UTG+1: t78438
UTG+2: t326300
MP1: t275780
MP2: t311466
CO: t398967
BTN: t189438
Hero (SB): t557064

Pre Flop: Hero is SB with K A
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t76438 all in, 3 folds, CO raises to t396967 all in, 1 fold, Hero raises to t555064 all in, 1 fold

Flop: (t908372) 4 A K (3 players - 3 are all in)

Turn: (t908372) 2 (3 players - 3 are all in)

River: (t908372) T (3 players - 3 are all in)

Final Pot: t908372
UTG+1 shows Ac 7h (a pair of Aces)
CO shows Td Tc (three of a kind, Tens)
Hero shows Kd Ad (two pair, Aces and Kings)
CO wins t641058
CO wins t267314
Acey-Deucey said, "i had a 10...ONE OUTER"



Poker Stars $200+$15 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t15000/t30000 Blinds - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: t450048
SB: t334275
BB: t2190688
Hero (UTG): t583358
UTG+1: t308804
UTG+2: t353042
MP1: t591327
MP2: t1457483
CO: t308608

Pre Flop: Hero is UTG with T T
Hero raises to t70775, 2 folds, MP1 calls t70775, 5 folds

Flop: (t213550) Q 3 A (2 players)
Hero bets t101500, MP1 calls t101500

Turn: (t416550) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets t120000, Hero folds

Final Pot: t416550
MP1 wins t416550



Poker Stars $200+$15 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t20000/t40000 Blinds - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

SB: t420048
BB: t378275
Hero (UTG): t412083
UTG+1: t704666
MP1: t697846
MP2: t845602
CO: t1465595
BTN: t221608

Pre Flop: Hero is UTG with T T
Hero raises to t408083 all in, 6 folds, BB calls t334275 all in

Flop: (t800550) A J 8 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Turn: (t800550) 7 (2 players - 2 are all in

River: (t800550) 6 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t800550
BB shows Kh Ac (a pair of Aces)
Hero shows Ts Th (a pair of Tens)
BB wins t800550

In conclusion, fuck tens.

Today after doubling up early in the FTOPS with set over set I didn't win a single pot for two hours and constantly ran my good hands into better ones.

Oh, the best part was that I had decided to quit for the day and had nothing left but the $55x3 on Stars (about half an hour in) and a couple of those $60/45 turbos. Needless to say I bubbled the last $60/45 and wasted another three hours to finish 13th in the $55x3 when my JJ < A4o (A river obv).

Also, I was bored during this time and sweated a few people in the FTOPS event, and watched them all bust (mostly on suckouts) not long after I pulled them up.

I feel like I don't have any control over my results and life is just fucking with me, finding a way to cost me every tournament in the most painful way possible. At least if I bust early I can go do something else.

Back to the drawing board, I guess. I feel some sliding back, so I have to correct that before I play again. Getting up tomorrow and getting some real exercise again (I had an exhausting weekend-- physically, that is) will help.

And a diamond is just a lump of coal until it's been under pressure.

And other platitudes to make me feel better about the frustration of the last few days.

I've been trying to put in lots of volume, both to rebuild my online bankroll and to prepare myself for Vegas. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of close-but-no-cigar chances at scores-- slight cashes, money bubbles, and the like-- and even the occasional final table doesn't quite pan out. Tonight I finished 6th in the Stars $22r for $1600, which put me at +600 on the day-- which does beat losing, but it's a far cry from the big score I could have used.

I busted many things in painful fashion as well-- getting outdrawn, losing races, and being victimized by the Timex theorem more than once (essentially, your opponent always has the weakest hand possible that dominates yours). Just seemed like a day where I couldn't make the right decision in any close spot.

Of course, it was still a winning day, so it really wasn't even that bad, all in all. And yet, I complain. I'm my harshest critic and own worst enemy.

I need to find a way to keep my cool about poker. I can't do it consistently right now, and that bothers me, because it only makes me play worse and stay stressed and miserable and hate the game. Every time I think I've learned something about staying humble and patient, calm and levelheaded, I'm tested even more.

At this rate I'll be able to survive the end of the world. But it'd be nice to win a tournament first.

I'm taking tomorrow off; I've put in about 20 hours the last three days, and I could use the break, and some more time with my friends.

So I decided to give it a full Sunday schedule today. Started at 1 PM (Central) with the $109r on Stars and the $240 knockout/warmup/I'm-not-sure-what-they-call-it on Full Tilt, and just ended with a 7th-place finish in the afternoon 11r-- I came in 3rd in chips and proceeded to lose all three pots I played.

So with that and a 150-something finish in the million as my only cashes on the day, I can call my day disappointing-- holding the promise of bigger paydays only to leave me short yet again-- but at the same time, I have reason to feel positive about my play. I avoided major mistakes and got value in good spots, and evaluated situations accurately (or at least I felt that way in retrospect). I also started noticing mistakes I was making as I played, and I think I did a good job of plugging them as I went along. This says good things about both my ability to objectively evaluate my play and to keep focused for long periods of time. I feel like it will get better the more I play-- which is good because I'll be spending the next month or so warming up for the WSOP.

Not much else to report at this time. I'll be putting in more and more volume as the month goes on so hopefully something good (both writingwise and in terms of cash money.)

Well, April has been, among other things, hectic and bizarre, so if you're wondering why I haven't written in a long time, you'll have your answer soon.

The end of March and early April was spent locating and moving into our new house. The short version of this story is that I've been looking to settle back into Houston for a few months now-- I've had no real permanent home for a long while, and wanted a day-to-day life that was more stable and where I spent more time with my friends. With some luck and some work, I landed a house I had my eye on and moved in with a couple of friends. It's beautiful, in my part of town, and not too expensive (although furnishing it hasn't been particularly cheap).

Of course, this would be taking up enough of my time until now weren't it also for the series of absurd events I encountered. I got two flat tires after I returned from Seattle, and then I had a week where, in succession, my laptop was stolen, I was hit by a car while on foot, and I got a third flat tire.

I'm okay. (I weather storms well.) But I haven't had time for anything, and unfortunately, "anything" included playing the Five Star and WPT Championship at Bellagio. I had to cancel those plans; I'm going to have to wait until the World Series to play live again, probably. Too much to do and not enough time (not to mention I would have needed a few days of rest for my body and mind before going out there). In the meantime, I expect to play online and spend more of my free time working on a couple of poker-related projects. (There's always something on my plate, and I never have time to finish it all. I'm the guy who goes to buffets and accidentally gets three times more than he can eat because it all looks so good.)

I've dabbled in a little online play the last couple of weeks but haven't gotten back to seriously playing. That'll change once I finish setting up the new house and my office area. How domestic of me.