2nd in 1000 at Bellagio

Life has been pretty cool lately, with lots of minor highs and lows. I ended up taking 2nd in the first $1,000 event at Bellagio for $27,000. I ended up getting all in heads up with AK vs 66 and lost. I reeallly wanted to win as they are giving the winner of every event a Rolex, which would be neat I busted from that event at around 4:30 pm then registered in the $500 event that started 4 hours earlier. I had a nice 12bb stack but somehow ended up busting in 9th when I ran my AK(again) into AA. I only won $1500 for that one.

The next day, I ran my AK (3rd time in a row) into QQ in the $1500 event. It was fairly sick, as the kid that busted me slowrolled me hardcore. I raised from early position to around 2.5bbs out of my 30bb stack. The kid made it 7.5bbs and I obv pushed. He tanked for around 3 minutes, which had me thinking I was in great shape. He sighed, cried, etc, then called with QQ.

It came QTx and I was 100% sure I was going to win, as it clearly wouldnt be right for me to bust to some slowrolling kid, would it? I didnt peel and busted. I busted the $2000 event somehow...I forget. Today, I played the $3000 event and got most of my stack in with AA vs QQ when we were down to around 16 people out of the huuuge 32 person starting field. After the AA lost, I got the little pile I had left in with AJ vs AK. Ohhhh well. All in all though, final tabling 2 tournaments in the same day was fun.

As for cash games, I have been playing a lot. I am up just a little despite losing a $8000 pot where I had my QcJc all in against JTo on a Jd4c2cTc board. He peeled his 8%er like a pro to make me sad. Good thing I was already up around $5000 that session. I have still been playing at hard rock and made the mistake of having 2 coronas last night.

The only reason I had them in the first place was because the hostess at Pink Taco said they were having happy hour and I could get 1/2 price food if I ate at the bar. I am obv not going to be the only person at the bar without a corona, so I had me 2 for 1. Anyways, I got it in with 75s vs A9 on a As9s5d board. I missed. A while later, I had 9h7h on a Th8hXx and missed. I then did the tilt repush with A8s and ran into AA to end the short session down 2 buyins.

I wont be making the drinking mistake again for a long long time. I have actually been making a little list of my life leaks and am working hard on plugging them. I played today at Bellagio but wasnt focusing (one of my leaks on the list) at all. I ended up QJs into 99 on a Ts9sXx board. He boated the turn and I missed. I then had 87d on a 9d8x2d board...he again had 99. I need to stop running into sets...or better yet, have some of my draws miss. Despite running into all these monsters and losing, I am only down 3 buyins in the last 2 days, so I should be happy about that.

I have had the chance to talk to lots of cash game players and they all seem to think about the game very different than I do. First off, they dont understand how I can take a game seriously when the money doesnt really mean anything to me. I have never been one to really care about the money, even when I didnt have any. What I care about is winning and losing.

When I got my head beat in at hard rock, I was unhappy, not because I lost $2000 but because I had lost. Most of the players also dont understand how I can be ok with not playing the biggest game in the casino against the best players. Call me crazy, but I dont really want to play against Icey and Durrr, and really, im not rolled for it.

It seems to me like most of these guys have huge ego problems. I am playing these mid stake cash games simply to get live poker experience, which I feel like I have missed over the last few years, as I spent most of my time online. I feel like I have a pretty solid game and now just need to find those few extra spots where I can really exploit the live players. All in all, I am happy with the results and I am finding flaws in myself that I am quickly correcting, which s the whole point of this. So...I am happy.