Online Poker Tournament Rankings

You will note I have not posted here in awhile. I have been travelling to a couple of weddings and bachelor parties etc. This has put me through a lot of thinking and examining of my life. I have also been distracted and away from poker for a couple weeks.  My poker bankroll has dwindled, due to frivolous spending on other things such as clothes, air conditioning, computer repairs and other genuinely useless material items.
  So I have decided to spend a little time "IRL".  Look here if you are confused

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=IRL

Feel free to email me like real people do and maybe we can have some good conversations. Thank you for reading and Good luck in all that you do!

This turned out to be an unlucky Friday the 13th. I played 3 different tournaments. 2 single table satellites and the 7pm nightly tourney at the Rio. Ill keep this short and sweet. I got 4th in both the satellites ($225 and $175) which pays nothing. 
  I then played for 5 hours in the $340 buyin 7pm nightly at the Rio. I did really well early and pretty much trippled my chip stack. Then my table broke and I was moved to a table with the two chip leaders and I went card dead. The last 1.5hrs of the tournament were spent blinding and anteing and folding. Finaly when my stack was down to 7600 at the 400/800 with 100 ante level I picked up AKs. This was a welcome site and I just happened to be on the button. Of course I push all in. The SB insta folds and the BB insta calls. BB has AA and the board comes all red. Good game me. Why does this always happen. You wait and wait for a good hand and then when you push the dude in the BB wakes up with the only hand in the entire deck that you dont want to see.  Oh well I had fun and my bankroll is still tight.
   +$3325 to start the day and I lost all of these ($175,$225, & $340) Thats -$740 for the day leaving me at +$2585 so far for the summer. Im playing online today and maybe tomorrow too. I will keep you updated. Thanks for reading and good luck in all that you do! 

A quick update on last night. I played 1 single table satellite at the Rio. It was a $225 buyin and was really weak overall. We did a $20 last longer which I of course took down for an extra $100. I had a good read on this guy who was bullying the table and basically just crushing people. I however built my chipstack through him while he took out others. Him and I ended up heads up and chopped it even up. Thats +$835 after you subract the buyin, also +$100 from the last longer prop bet. That put me +$935 on the day.
 I messed around for the afternoon watching Bhanks11 at the final table and then railing all the pros in what I think was the 2-7 lowball  triple draw with rebuys. The tables were stacked with pros and it was fun to watch. I also spent some time near the Final couple tables of the $10k buyin Seven Card stud championship where Eric Seidel and Minh Lyh were fixtures. The crowds were however the biggest surrounding the final 5 tables of the Ladies event. Most couldnt pick out any big names at the tables. I however noticed Isabel Mercier in the 8 seat near the rail going completely unnoticed and I snapped her picture and told her good luck. She said thanks and that she apparently needed the luck.
  I then played the 7pm Nightly $340 buying MTT. There were 243 entrants and that calculated to approximately $17k for first place. Top 27 made the money and I got off to a great start. I built my chip stack to nearly tripple the original by the second break. Then I got a few good pots by taking out shorter stacks. I made a great river push with 1010 on a A 2 3 7 9 board against a preflop raiser. He had K7 and called me down putting me at about 36k chip count. I was coasting right into the money with 35 people left.
  Blinds being 800/1600 with a 400 ante took a toll on my stack and I was down to 23k. In the SB I looked down at 10Js and had one limper and foolishly decided to just call rather than raising, big blind checked. Flop came Qh 4h 6s. I checked figuring someone would bet out and I would just smooth call and steal on the turn. Instead it went check check and the turn brought Qs. This was a great card for me and a perfect opportunity to Semibluff steal this pot. Instead I made a ridiculous bet of 3500 into a 9600 pot. Giving perfect odds for a flush draw to call. BB instantly folds and the preflop limper smooth calls. River is 9s and I bet 9000 putting him allin and leaving me with only 6500 behind and praying that he has a queen. He insta calls and of course has A7s. In hindsight I should have preflop raised with the 10Js in the SB and probably took it down preflop. Had that not worked, then a continuation bet on the flop would have surely had him folding. Regardless of how I played it, If I make a reasonable bet such as 10k - Allin  then I most likely take it down on the turn too. It was the second time in the last few days I have made a poor bet size on the turn to completely ruin my chances of  winning the pot. I am going to focus on some pot odds and draw percentages the next couple days to help me fix this leak.
   On the next hand its folded to me on the button and I look down at A7d and just pushed in my last 6500. As per standard the BB has AJs and the board comes A 4 9 3 J and I go home in 32nd place. (-$340) This puts me at +$595  for the day and +$3325 total for the summer so far. Thank you for reading and Good Luck in all that you do.

This has been an incredibly fun weekend. It started at +$510. I played about 6 hours of 3/6 and 2/4 limit at Green Valley Ranch casino. This was lots of fun but a roller coaster ride. I got drunk through all of it too. This is not a good idea and I thoroughly regret it. I lost about $280 over the course of the evening. I came home saddened by my lack of discipline and return to drinking. As always I could at least take joy in the friends I made while drunk.
   I woke about 10am on sunday determined to redeem myself for a worthless day on saturday. I headed to The Golden Nugget casino across the street from Binion's. Montel Williams kicked off The Grand Series with a Charity event on saturday night. He also played in Event #3 today and was at my table to start off.  The structure was great and allowed for a lot of play with 8000 in starting chips.
  I have only a few hands that stick out in my mind. I will go over them as they are the keys to my success. About 25 mins into the tournment, everyone folded around to me on the button. I raised 5x BB and SB folded and the BB smooth called. I had 77 and the flop came K 10 7.  BB checked and I bet out 1/2 the pot. He thought for only a moment and then just called. At this point I figure him for either AK, Q10, or possibly AJ since there is no flush possibility. Turn brings a 4. He checks again and I bet out 1/2 the pot again. He attempts to make a raise but puts in two of the wrong color chips and the dealer made an error and said he was just trying to call. I was trying to decipher this when she went ahead and brought the river. I was completely lost and still thought there was a mistake. He bet out at the 6 on the river. Rather than raising him allin since the board was so safe for me, I just called and off course I had his K10 crushed. Small error that resulted only in not getting 3200 more chips early.
  I continued getting ridiculous cards. At one point I had to just call because I had raised 6 hands in a row. I had AKs  AJh 1010 AJo 66 AQd all right in a row and the 7th hand was KQh in the cutoff. By the second break I had nearly trippled up and was ready to coast to the final table. Montel williams bought our whole table lunch which was pretty cool of him. Nice guy, weak player. My next hand was the key to the whole tournament for me. Final table, 8players left with only 5 making the money. I am UTG and get AQd. I raised 3x and got one caller from the cutoff. Flop comes out As Kc 5h. Nearly perfect for me so I bet out 1/2 the pot and he just smooth calls.  He was a kinda loose player but I figured him for AJ or Kx. Im sure he doesnt have AK since he didnt raise my flop bet. Turn card is a Qs. I made a bet of about 2/3 my remaining chips figuring he is gonna fold. He instantly pushed allin and I had no choice but to call. I said "I called you,Show your cards" and he was sick. Said "You got me." He had A10o. River was a brick and I took down a huge pot and I was the chip leader and he was crippled.
   Approximately 15 hands later. I got the exact same AQd UTG and now there were only 7 players left. I raised and got called by the SB who had about 1/5th of my stack.  Flop came Qh 4d 6s and he bet out 1/2 the pot and I min raised...first mistake, he calls. Turn card comes 8h, He checks and I bet out 1/3rd the pot.....second mistake. He smooth calls and river is of course 3h. He only had a miniscule amount of chips left so I had to call and see his 10Jh. Now I gave him perfect odds to call all the way but I just dont understand how someone can call even with the right odds when it puts them to an unplayable stack and finishing out of the money if they miss. In hindsight I should have just pushed allin on the flop and took it down right there. The chips I gave this guy allowed him to make it all the way to 4th place without really playing another hand.
   I finished in 3rd place and this is my bustout hand. I had not been getting cards and folded alot of my stack off to the large 300ante 1500/3000 blinds. I got Q9s in the small blind with the 2ndplace in chips guy in the BB. I raised to 8500 which has previously made him fold. He smooth calls and the flop comes 4s 10s Jd. I have 1/3rd of my chips already in the pot so I just pushed allin with my last 21k in chips. He insta calls and has 1010. Now I have any of 15 outs to win, (any K or 8 for a straight and any of the 9 spades remaining). Just when I dont need it I get Runner Runner 9h 9d. He has a full house and I finish 3rd. I was totally stoked and very proud of my play today and feel redeemed after a crazy saturday. The $2500 profit from this prize really helped my bottom line so far for the summer. I now sit at +$2730. Ill be playing more tomorrow, probably at the Rio WSOP and I surely wont be drinking or playing cash games. Thank you for reading and Good luck in all that you do!