Spikeaments!

As per yesterdays post I stuck to my plan,had an earlyish dinner and hit the tables after watching a TPE training video to get me in the right frame of mind.I also added No Cash
,Awesome Hutch ,The Riverbed Diaries and Greg's Seo1990
blogs to my sidebar.If any other genuine poker bloggers would like to swap links just drop me a comment or email.( especially if I've deleted your link and you've made a blogging comeback!)

Anyway to the poker and I registered for 19 Mtt's ranging from a $5 Hyper to a $55 standard speed game,rolled a few up and waited for the fun to begin.It didn't and I crashed out of game after game and even fired up some $15 180 player turbo's to keep me busy.With no joy in those either I was left with only a few tables open and my Stars roll down under the $2.6k mark.

Going out of a $25 Hyper in 14th from 897 starters for $161 after shoving AJs from the button into the big blinds AA caused Nacho to look up as I loudly told nobody in particular to "f*ck off"!

I did at least get the pleasure of beating Mr Watch Name again in another hand,although to be fair it was completely standard and it's not as if I outplayed him.



I was still in the $44 ,$25 Gtd Turbo although I was left crippled when I lost the hand below right on the money bubble.



On the next hand I was left with 965 chips in the big blind and got lucky after calling a raise with K10 v KQ and hitting a 10 on the river to stay alive.My A9 beat KQ a couple of hands later and I was back to having 10 big blinds and a fighting chance.I did miss a couple of spots where I could have got my money in ahead and doubled up, but overall having played a ton of sngs/hyper sngs,I'm quite comfortable playing a shortstack.

I managed to duck and dive a bit,stealing around once per orbit to stay alive.There were quite a few big names left in the game too and I found it quite amusing that only last week I'd downloaded an interview with Moorman1 from Oneouter.com and had been listening to it as I walked Nacho and here I was at his table.He's won over $7.5 Million at online Mtt's ( more than anyone else)and with the exception of Burnley Mik
he's considered to be the best Mtt player in the world.

Still,he did say in the Oneouter interview that his greatest fear in poker was tangling with the mighty Zagga at the virtual felt and I'm sure that was reinforced when I completely outplayed him.... in this plays itself, totally standard hand below!



I also kept an eye on the other tables in the tourney and was hoping to play with Stars pro TalonChick at some point.I can't be the only bloke to constantly rewind the bit on her 2+2 Pokercast advert where she threatens to put listeners in a "downward dog" in the sexiest voice I've ever heard! ( well maybe apart from Clare Grogans in Gregorys Girl) What do you mean I am the only bloke that does that? Ahh well!

I mentioned before that in the run up and at previous final tables I've been shaking with excitment and trying very hard to keep myself calm enough to play well.I think I'm over that now as I didn't feel any nerves at all playing this one.Perhaps that was down to so nearly going out after that AK hand and the fact that even when I did make the final table I was very shortstacked and had pretty much satisfied myself with cashing for the $520 that ninth place brought.

As it was I managed to creep up a couple of places before I shoved A2 and lost to J7 for a $1371 payout.

As with nights where I've lost $400-$500 in buy-ins, aside from a quick fist pump I didn't really feel too up or down about it.$1371 may be my 2nd biggest Mtt cash but it really just gives me the fuel to keep taking shots at the $44-$50 level when I should probably be doing it the hard way and learning Mtt's at lower limits,especially with my limited bankroll.

Off work tomorrow for Easter Monday.I read an article in the paper last week that said most kids in the UK think Easter is a celebration of the birth of the Easter Bunny.Made me smile!Hopefully I'll be celebrating more Mtt cashes as I plan to get a bit of a Sunday grind on later.

Back soon...

Ace from Space,King from....

I warmed up last night by playing some 6 max hyper turbo's whilst watching The Big Game and other poker I had recorded during the week.

Around 10pm I fired up the tournament lobby,applied the turbo/hyper turbo filter and registered for 8 games ranging from a $5 turbo to a $50 hyper mtt.

As I crashed out of one after another it crossed my mind that if I want to play Mtt's then I'd better get used to the variance.If I'm buying in for aprox $200 per session it probably wont be long before I go ten sessions without a cash and I'd guess that would be a fairly standard run.Maybe that kind of inevitable run when it happens will send me scurrying back to Sngs but for now I'm loving the blood pumping world of turbo/hyper Mtt donkaments.

Even as I was losing flips etc and crashing out I was having a great time trying to read my opponents ranges and making moves to exploit their weak spots.So much so that even when I was only playing 3-4 tables I switched the tv off and focussed on only the poker.I was also well aware of making mistakes myself and when it comes to Mtt's I'm still trying things out to see what works and what doesn't much of the time.

Specific hands from last night are a blur.I do remember getting my money in with AQ v KK for the world in one game and ( Tony G style) thinking "there's the Ace from f*ckin space" when I hit my Ace on the flop.It may not rhyme but I also recall thinking just a second later, "And there's the King from "FFS,why can't I just suckout one f*ckin time instead of being two outered the river".

After resigning myself to a $200 losing session I made a couple of small cashes, one of which was a frustrating 30th place from 2500 runners in a top heavy $15 game for a $58 payout.

After that exit I was left playing only a $9.90 $5k Gtd game with 837 runners where only making the final table paid.Adjusting strategy for that one was interesting as I don't think I've ever played an Mtt with such a top heavy payout structure.

Anyway I did make the final table and with four left I shoved A5 into other shortish stack and he snap called

with Aks and I didn't get any help from the board.What a croc! Nice to cash for $753 though and get off to a good start to the month but really I'm just happy to look at those winnings as fuel to play yet more Mtt's and hopefully become a better player at them.