What’s up everyone? I'm a little burnt out from all the poker I've been playing the last few days. Two $600 buy in tournaments in the last 2 days with over $1 million prize pool in each tournament is not what I am used to. Neither were very successful for me unfortunately. I outlasted more then 2000 people in yesterday’s Party Poker tournament and finished 14 out of the money, and I got knocked out within the first 30 minutes in today’s Paradise $600 buy in. I definitely need a lot of improvement in these large field tournaments. It is hard for anyone to be consistent in these types of tournaments because there is so much luck involved, but it is still something I hope to improve on in the future. <READMORE>

Thursday night was the first ever pocketfives.com open. It was held on Poker Stars, which I wasn't thrilled about, because I do not like Stars as much as Ultimatebet, but either way I was still very excited about the tournament. The buy in was $215, and the field had 85 players. I almost had to laugh when I looked on the tournament lobby page to see who was playing. I recognized most of the names, and the majority of those names that I did notice were very strong players. I like playing against good players, not only to test myself and see if I can play with the best, but also because they are more predictable for the most part, then say 75% of the people that would play in a tournament like yesterdays Party Poker Million dollar guarenteed tournament. Now I am not saying that great players like BRSAVAGE or P0KER H0 are predictable, because they are the exact opposite of predictable, but good players are bluffable and can be moved off hands.

Once I was seated at my table, it took me about 2 minutes to actually find where I was sitting because of Poker Stars annoying software. On Ultimatebet you are always sitting right in the middle at the bottom of the screen, but for some reason with Poker Stars and most of the other sites, you can be seated anywhere on the screen. I found my seat in the upper left hand corner of my computer and was ready to begin. To my immediate right was DoubleLucky, and I also had Brian51, Mr. Lobo, and a few other good players at my starting table. We only started with 1500 chips, so I decided that I was going to try to chip up early. I got off to a great start when I called a raise preflop from DoubleLucky with 33. The flop came K Q 3, which was a perfect flop since he held AK. I doubled up to 3k in chips and was off to a great start. A few hands later, I limped in under the gun with 33 and had 3 other limpers plus the blinds. The flop was a lovely 3 8 10 with 2 diamonds, and I bet out 3/4 of the pot. Mr. Lobo and another player called the flop bet. The turn was a black 9, but for some reason it gave me a very bad feeling. Either way, I bet out about 500 chips, which was close to a pot sized bet. Mr. Lobo called and the other player folded, so we were heads up. The river was a 10 of diamonds, so it filled the possible flush draw but it also paired the board giving me a full house. I really did not know what he had because I have not played with him before, and him just calling such a large bet on the turn confused me. I figured the river had to help him to either give him a flush or 3 10s, so I bet 800 of his remaining 1200 chips. He quickly went all in, and I called; he had Q J for a straight. It was an interesting hand, to say the least, but I was now over 5k in chips and in first place very early in the tournament.

I pretty much hung around for the middle stages of the tournament, never really losing many chips but not increasing my stack too much either. An interesting hand came up between WestTexasMan and myself. I was in the small blind with 99, and WTM raised about 2.5 times the big blind from late position. I reraised about half of my stack, because I felt like he was trying to be a bit of a bully. He had raised a few pots in the previous few hands and was winning them uncontested, and I felt like he might be getting really comfortable, so I wanted to try and play back at him. I thought he would fold for sure, but to my surprise, he put me all in. I did some thinking, and my gut kept telling me to call. I wasn't sure of what he had, but I just felt like he was trying to push me around. After a while of really thinking hard, I called, and he flipped over A 5. My 99 held up, and I doubled up and crippled one of the best players in the tournament. I felt like this was a really important hand for me in the tournament, because it gave me confidence to be correct on a read that I felt strongly about. My mentality changed a bit right after I won this pot, and I sarted feeling like I was really going to play mistake-free poker and win the tournament.

I was in the top 10 for the entire duration of the tournament and was looking to make a move once we got close to the money. With 9 spots getting paid, I decided to start playing more hands once we got down to 17 or 18 players. I played a hand against Sheets/Johnnybax that was a very crucial part of the tournament for me. The action folded around to me in the small blind, and I called half a bet with 3 4 off suit. The flop came 5 6 7 rainbow, and I led out the minimum. Sheets raised big, and we got it all in for a 20k pot. I had him covered by about 3500 chips. Sheets flipped over 6 8 and had outs, but a 10 on the turn and another 10 on the river won me the pot with my 7 high straight. I congratulated Sheets on a tournament well played....but Sheets can take a nap in traffic for all I care. I'm just messing with ya Sheets/JohnnyBax/whoever you really are. I went on to knock out the player in 10th place, so I went into the final table as the chip leader and was feeling good about my chances.

The final table was pretty stacked with good players. Gator93, Solidall, faithless, and Browerkid are all players who were at the final table who I have played with a lot and have a lot of respect for. I felt like the table was playing pretty tight for the most part, and I was able to raise a lot of pots and win a lot of hands uncontested. I maintained my chiplead throughout the final table, knocking out a few players along the way.

A crucial hand came up very early in the final table. I was in the big blind with 2 4 off suit, and Solidall limped in late position, and the small blind took a flop as well. The flop came down K 2 2. The small blind and I both checked, and Solidall bet about half the pot, which was about 2000 chips. I was trying to think of how I could get the most chips out of Solidall, which I knew would be tough because of how tough he is. He also knows me well as we have played live together in Atlantic City and Aruba. I knew on a flop like K 2 2 that if I played back at him, he would most likely be able to figure out that I had a 2. Well I did not have to figure out how to trap Solidall, because the player in the small blind went all in for a little over 10k chips. I just called, hoping I could get Solidall in the pot also, but he ran out of there like Oprah runs into to a buffet. The small blind player had king 10, and the 2 on the turn gave me quads and a monster 25k pot. With this pot I took a commanding chip lead and really felt good about my chances.

Players began to fall, and I was still the big chipleader with 4 players left. gator93 and myself have played in probably hundreds of tournaments together, and I have a lot of respect for his game. The other 2 players were people that I have never played with until this tournament, but both were playing very well. Mr. D. and suited-hooks were their names. We played 4 handed for a while,and I was really beginning to doubt myself at certain points of the 4 handed play. I had a few chances to knock out Gator but he kept on winning. We got all the money in preflop in a very important hand. I had A 10 off, and Gator had A 7 of diamonds. I knew as soon as he flopped a flush draw that I would have to prepare for gator having a big stack, and to my surprise, he turned the flush as opposed to rivering it like I was expecting. At this point all 4 of us had over 30k in chips, and it was anyones game.

Gator ended uo knocking out Mr. D when his A Q beat Mr. D's pocket pair, and I knocked out suited-hooks when my A 10 beat his J 9. Once we were heads up, I had Gator outchipped 90k to 30k with the blinds at 4k-8k. The blinds being so large relative to our stacks did not leave us much room to play, but thats Poker Stars for you. Gator and I are friends, but decided that we would play it out without making a deal, strictly for pride purposes. I'd like to think that heads up play is a strong point for me, since I play heads up sit and go’s every day and do very well at them, but to be perfectly honest; I played horrible heads up against Gator. I do not want to take anything away from Gator--he played great and deserved the win. I called a few raises out of position with marginal hands, which is a big no no in heads up play, and just like that we were almost even in chips. With the blinds being so big, it was a bad play for me to call his raises out of position with weak hands. I will talk more about heads up strategy in a future blog. Once we were about even in chips, I reraised him all in with K8 of hearts, hoping he would fold, but he made a good call with A 7 of hearts and was ahead. The flop came 7 3 3 and I still had hope. The turn brought me a King, and I was 1 card away from winning the tournament. But the river brought another 7, giving him a full house and a huge pot. I was left with only 20k in chips and lost the very next hand when my Q 2 lost to Gator's K 6.

2nd place in a field this tough is definitely something to be proud of, and I am proud of it, but I was extremely upset and disappointed that I did not finish the tournament with the win. I felt like I played really well from start to finish and never really made any mistakes until heads up play began. From the first 5 minutes, I was never out of the top 10 in chips, and I was in the top 5 for the majority of the tournament. That's poker though. I haven't won a tournament in a while, and I thought this would be the perfect time to get out of my 2nd-9th place slump. Oh well, maybe next time.

Overall, the tournament was a lot of fun, and I am definitely excited for the next one. I want to thank Adam and everyone at pocketfives.com for putting the tournament together. I just heard a car accident right outside my apartment, and it looks like the guys are yelling at each other so I'm gonna go watch that. Hope everyone has a good week and if you see BEANIE at the tables, make sure to tell him that I, jsup, wish him all the bad luck in the world. Peeeeaaaacccce.

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