Sunday is online poker day

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. So I decided not to enter any live poker tournaments today. (At least not so far!)

I got up early to do battle in the DD blackjack pit. Yesterday had been a real struggle – I lost small, six times out of seven tables. Whereas the prior night, after fuming over my pulled muscle and untimely poker tournament exit, I had won significantly in four of six sessions.

Overall, my BJ play has been profitable this trip, though the winning session percentage has been very low, at around 55%.

I have not been able to catch a rhythm.

This morning was particularly annoying as this Asian kid beside me was winning money at a clip of $300 per hand or more, while my spot treaded water. And he was asking me for advice on many of his hands.

Most of my time has been organizing my notes from the week’s adventures and playing online poker tournaments concurrently. Sunday is usually a big day for online events at all the major poker sites. My site of favor is FTP – known as Full Tilt Poker.

I love the word “ tilt”

It is so apropos for what I see at the card tables almost every day.

I have suffered ‘bad beats’ in every online tournament I have played in so far today, so I am bit bummed out.

The one that mattered most to me had 118 entrants, with the top 15 winning entries into today’s $1 million guarantee – which starts in a few minutes, and presently has an enrolled field of close to 1,900 players.

The entry fee is a healthy $535 – which, to this point in time, is more than I have ever spent on an online poker tournament entry.

I was nursing my chips, being patient, as we got down to only 17 players – just about ‘on the bubble.’

If I had owned a huge stack, I would simply have folded all hands until I won my entry – taking no risks. But I was always hovering between 12th and 16th, so I could not sit quietly.

I picked up the two red Aces on the dealer’s button. The big stack was in the small blind. He should be folding his way to the end.

I opened with a three bet (3 times the BB) and he decided to shove me all in. Of course, I called.

He turned over the Ace of spades and the King of hearts.

The flop was the 1098 all of hearts. Good – if the winning hand is a flush, it’ll be mine.

The turn was the King of Spades, giving him a pair of kings to go up against my Aces. But the river was a damned king of clubs, and that was NOT amusing.

I mean come on !

“Runner runner” kings to beat me, and to ensure I do NOT play in the million dollar guarantee which is starting right now.

Anyway, as consolation, I won a smaller tournament which qualified me into the FTOPS main event which began at 5 pm. Just under 16,000 players are in this thing, with a prize pool of $799,000.

And concurrent with that, I am playing in a $15,000 tournament. around 2,300entrants, and 250 remaining as I write. I am presently in 89th place.