cspc: great weather but bad beats

i’m sitting outside on the upper patio of commerce casino right now. it’s an awesome day today. the sun is shining and i’m not even bummed that i just busted out (aces cracked) of the mega satellite for the $2080 no limit california state poker championship main event. im taking 2 shots today – here’s the gory details

bullet #1. as you can see from my text with courtenay it was indeed horrid. in these satellites, getting it all in early with the best possible starting hand in poker definitely doesn’t suck. blinds were 1/2 with a 25 ante when tragedy struck.   i 3bet all in over an old guy’s utg raise to 1k (with another caller). i had about 6k in chips and was pretty ecstatic getting it all in. strangely, the guy who over called ended up showing A4 off? what??? obviously the guy with queens boated. it is what it is – honestly, i’m finally starting to not get upset any more. i think i’ve reached my bad beat quota and the numbness has set in. at some point these are all gonna go my way or at least stop for a while…i hope.

bullet #2. this baby shaped up rather nicely. unfortunately i busted in 20th place. they paid 13 and gave out 12 seats. drag…..so close. i shoved (with 10bb’s left) over an early position min raiser. i had jacks, he had kj off — no other way to play it given the stacks. flop was great but the turn brought in the king. what a bummer. that bonehead essentially called off his tournament life with kjo only to find him drawing to 3 cards max. not what i would do with kjo (u can make a fine argument for open shoving with that hand but calling?) but that’s why i play…to play against people who make bad decisions. i’m confident i would have made it to 13 if i won that hand. oh well it is what it is.

overall i played with a great attitude and love for the game today – my reads were also dead on. i feel like my range analysis is on point. i made folds in 3 spots where it turned out i would have been dominated preflop. maybe it’s cos i’ve been off for a couple weeks but there was a nice clarity, calm and zen to my overall mental approach. i liked it and i think it helped the hands i played. that said, there isnt much room for error in these satellites – it helps to get some cards or get lucky. my bluffs were timed well and more importantly i knew the times i was beat and when bluffing would have only been spewing.

afterwards i played some cash and that helped ease the pain. i felt that same sort of zen playing cash. as if the game got easier all of a sudden and the targets and traps are easy to see – like im wearing infrared/heat sensing goggles in a video game.

ohhh…as u can see from the main pic i do most of my initial blog writing on my ipad and that wireless keyboard is a fuking godsend. i love that thing. talk about a purchase that keeps giving u ur money’s worth. i highly recommend these for any writers/bloggers.