Been two weeks since I've put a blog up. My computer took a crash on me... again. Just before last weekend my internet browsers stopped working and so did my AIM. When I started to mess around with it and try to fix it I just ended up making things worse. So about the middle of last week I just wiped the whole computer and reinstalled windows and now everything seems to be back in good working order.

Last weekend was also my little sister's wedding so I wasn't doing much playing as I had commitments for that from Thursday - Sunday. It was a great time though and she married a really good guy. They grows up so fast now... *tear*.

So I missed the big majors last Sunday due to the wedding but got back in time to jump in the Stars 2nd Chance tourney. I ended up going deep in that and then busting when I got it all in preflop with AA against QTs for a top 2 stack with 50 left only to lose to his rivered two pair. Then at the end of the night I lost HU in another 33r for my second PCA seat. I now realize what it feels like to get nothing when the other guy gets $12k and it sucks. I then got HU again on Tuesday in the 33r and again lost. I really don't feel like there is anything wrong with my HU game but it's going to be something I look at now just to make sure as I figure it could use some improvements anyways.

I then spent this last week playing exclusively tournaments. I final tabled the 22r one night and lost when I got it in on the turn with kings against a guy with a straight draw which obviously hit on the river to knock me out in 4th. That was my only decent deep finish in a tournament during the week. I played a lot of Stars 45 man $60 turbo sit n gos and did pretty well in them. They take about an hour to run and it's about $750 to first. It's a bit of a luck fest but it's nice to jump in them when I only have one or two tourneys running and I'm getting a bit bored.

This past weekend was Halloween and Homecoming here in Madison so it was crazy starting on Thursday night through the weekend with a ton of people coming into town. So after a disappointing Wednesday night where I got a big stack in Stars $320 tournament and then didn't even cash I didn't really get any play in from Thursday - Saturday except for a few sessions of the 45 man turbos.

So that brings me to Sunday, which like usual, was a huge disappointment. I never got anything going in the Stars or Full Tilt big Sunday Tournaments and ended up running into aces to bust out of both of them. I did get deep in a few tournaments though. With about 20 left in Stars afternoon $55 tournament which got over 1400 runners I lost with aces to kings when we got it all in preflop and he spiked a king on the river. It wouldn't have been as crushing a blow but the pot was for 550k in chips and a massive chip lead considering the average at the final table was going to be about 450k (I think 2nd in chips only had about 250k at the time of the pot).

I then final tabled a $27.50 tourney and got knocked out in 5th when I lost with JJ to AKs. I made another final table of a PCA satellite but went out in 5th or 6th (can't remember). I'm not sure why I continue to torture myself with those satellites since I already have my seat and it's a crushing blow to get so close and get nothing but they are still a good value I guess.

Sunday was a long day though and while it was really disappointing to get so close to a few big scores I did finish up some on the day so it wasn't a complete loss. I'm not sure what my plan is for this week. The Packers play tonight on MNF and I want to get up bow hunting later this week. Which probably means it will be a mix of cash and tournaments. Cash when I don't want to have to commit to the time it takes to play a tourney and tournaments on the few days where I can plan on playing for a few hours.

One last quick side note. TwoRags is putting together a audio blog where I will be able to call into a voice mail system and leave audio updates that will automatically be posted here so you can look for that in the coming weeks.

This is the first day where I've actually started to feel good. Still have a pretty wicked headache but it's much better than where I was at before.

This Sunday started out great as the Packers pulled out a close win and the Bears lost a heartbreaker... awwwww. :) But then I started to play poker and it started to go down hill. I started out by losing $500 in cash games as I lost all 3 of my the flips I was in (and I had the 55% end too). I could tell I was frustrated though and that I wasn't playing my best anymore so I called it quits for the day and went back to football.

I then sweated my roommate to a win in the early $109r on Stars and was motivated to play a few tournaments as he's been having some great success lately. (He also won a seat in the $650 satellite to the PCA on Saturday.) So being all motivated to play doesn't help much when it's too late to get in most of the decent tournaments. I remembered that Cake Poker has late registration in their tournaments and I was able to get into their $100k guaranteed tourney which was a $55r. So after getting into that for $250 I quickly busted out right after the rebuy period... why did I want to play tourneys?!?

Just when I was about to say screw poker again and watch the baseball playoffs and the SNF game I figured I jump in the Stars $50 -$50k guaranteed tourney and the $33r to the PCA satellite that started a little later. I got deep in the $50k and with 100 left lost with AQ to J7o for a top 15 stack when the guy 4bet all in with absolutely no fold equity. However, the day finished amazing though as I went on to win the PCA satellite!!! I had a great HU battle to finish the tournament . It lasted 77 hands, which is a lot considering there were about 80BBs in play when we got HU. I started with a 2:1 chip lead and at one point was down 3:2. I fell into a rhythm though and got a really good feel for my opponent and came back to dominate it at the end. I''ll post a few of the HU hands at the end.

I was lucky enough to win a seat last year in the $650 last chance tourney and it was an amazing vacation so I am ridiculously psyched right now to be heading down there again. It's also nice to get the monkey off my back early this year instead of winning a seat last minute. One of my buddy's from Madison won a seat in the $33r on Monday night too so there are already 3 of us heading down there. Not gonna lie that I was a little worried when him and my roommate already had a seat. Puts a lot of pressure on a guy.

A few HU hands:

My low point... calling with Q high is not good!!! (I can here Alex Powers now):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589141
She had just taken the chip lead for the first time after winning 7 hands in a row and had me on tilt. I'm not sure why but somehow that hand got me off tilt. I laughed at my call, asked myself "wtf Andy", and took a deep breath.

I wasn't a believer on the flop:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589143

Yeah, I'm a calling station:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589149
(ok that's pretty standard but I am a station)

Let's get a nail in the coffin:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589151
(I may just really like bluffing with KJ)

FINISH HER(?):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1589156
(sometimes it's good to be lucky)

Still feeling sick which sucks but it's not enough to keep me in bed just enough were I feel like crap all day. Not sure if it's been good for me to play since I have that slow groggy feeling where it seems like your brain is thinking in slow motion. Hopefully this will disappear soon.

Yesterday was another ridiculous day and about 2/3s of the way through it I thought it was gonna be the mirror opposite of Tuesday. I started out 8 tabling again and was doing pretty decent to start. Then things went bad and one player in particular put me on tilt. He was stacking off with any draw, any pair, and playing 75% of his hands. But somehow he kept hitting monsters on me and stacking me and then dumping my chips to the rest of the players. So about 2.5 hours into my session I was down $1200. I knew I wasn't playing my best before but I took a deep breath and decided to try and get back to my usual game and just grind back. So after 4 hours of total play I was back up $50 on the day. After a day like Tuesday where you just kill the tables this may be the second best feeling you can have, digging yourself out of a hole to get to even.

I played another 3 tabling session while playing the 33r PCA satellite again later in the night. Went about the same as yesterday. I cashed the PCA satellite but didn't win so I basically got my money back (a little less this time since I had to double rebuy during the rebuy period). Also was up another $150 at the cash games for a total of +$200 on the day. My high point was +$600 but I played a few hands poorly toward the end of my session.

Stars is also starting to run some 'step' sngs to the PCA that I will probably play a few of. For those who weren't around in the Party Poker days here's a link to what a step sng is. PCA Steps

Not sure what the plan is for today. I really need to go get some grocery shopping done but I don't feel like leaving the house. Also, the cable still isn't working so I need to call the cable company again and get on their ass. So unless something crazy happens tonight I probably won't have another blog up for a few days.

Here are the hands against the maniac yesterday:

This is the hand that started me on tilt. It looks really bad without reads but he's stacking off with probably any 8, and straight draw and probably any 6 or flush draw combo on the turn.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1577728

Hand number 2:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1577731

Third overpair in a row against this guy and I have to hit a two outer to beat him:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1577737

I'm not sure what the odds of those three hands happening is but while they weren't one immediately after the other I didn't get any other big pairs in between them. So for him to flop trips twice and hit his set (boat) the other time has to be ridiculous.

Now it's time to "FINISH HIM" though:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1577748

Oh no wait, he picks up another monster against me... ok try again:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1577757

Like I said he was doing that the whole time even with a full stack. So I got a little redemption at the end which helped me to get off tilt and make the little comeback on the day.

Came down with a cold the last day before leaving Aruba so I've had a headache and been congested the past few days. Despite not feeling the best I had an awesome day playing $1/2nl 6max cash games yesterday. Started off with a 1.5 hour 8 tabling session which can be rather draining as playing that many tables requires a lot of focus. I finished up about $600 and then took a little break to eat and put a new load of laundry in from my Aruba trip.

I was gonna catch up on my DVR after that but realized that my cable box was broken so I figured I might as well just put another little session in. Wasn't in the mood to 8 table again so I dropped down to 6 tables and surfed around the internet while playing. Playing 6 tables still requires a decent amount of my attention but I usually never feel rushed playing 6 tables like I occasionally do at 8. I played for about another 1.5 hours and brought my daily total up to about $1500. Then it was back to get my last load of laundry in the washer.

Stars runs a $33r satellite to the PCA every night that is usually super soft. Last night it started about an hour after I finished my last session so I figured I'd come back and play 3 cash tables and the one tourney table until I won it or busted in it. There was a little over 200 runners and I finished around 40-50th in it which was good enough to get me my tourney buyin back. The only downside to the $33r is that it only pays out one seat. Usually the best satellites are the ones that award multiple seats. I was in the tournament for a little over two hours and had been 3 tabling cash the whole time too and brought my daily total for the day up to just under $2100.

As much as I complained about running bad last month today made up for a lot of it. I got set over set once and the one time I got set under set I turned quads. I also got it all in with AJ suited in spades against a guy with aces on a low two spade board where I rivered a spade. I played the hand fine as he's not going to have AA in that spot every time and I will have some outs to my two overs but i still got really lucky this time. I coolered one other guy when I flopped bottom set and he turned trip 8s that gave me a full house but he really shouldn't have been in the hand with K8s to begin with.

So I got really lucky on two of those four hands but even had I lost both of those I still would have made a really nice profit on the day as there were three times that I got people to put in their entire stack drawing dead (once on the turn and twice I induced river bluffs).

Here are a few of the hands:

Set over set hand. I didn't love the turn but I'm still getting it in.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1573128

Set under set but I turn the quads :)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1573141

Had a read on this guy and would have got it all in on the flop with top pair against him.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1573148

Flushing out against aces. Sometimes I 3bet preflop here but this was early in the session and I wanted to see a flop.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1573155

Here the guy decides to bluff off on the turn drawing dead.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1573167

I won't get into too many of the boring details of the trip. Most of my time was spent at the beach drinking, swimming, getting a tan and the rest was spent partying on the island or gambling in the Radisson Casino.

I barely played any poker while down there (which was my plan from the start) and I was really happy I took that route as it was a great break. The little poker I did play was at the $1/2nl tables usually late at night after I'd had a few too many drinks. It was fun donking around in the lower stakes and not caring too much about winning or losing any pots. I did play a bunch of blackjack and craps while down there and finished up a little bit overall on the trip as far as gambling was concerned.

The first two nights were a blast and I spent the first one meeting a bunch of the Madison poker players who I didn't already know. There was a huge Madison group down there since apparently Ultimate Bet (the poker site running the tournament) is the place to play if you live in Madison. I think I've played on UB twice in the past year and once was trying to qualify for the Aruba tourney. I may start to spend some more time on it now though since the cash games are rumored to be really soft.

The second night I hung out with all of the guys who run the pocketfives.com website. They do a lot of coverage of live poker events on their site. They usually try to cover a lot of the bigger internet names that are playing in any given live tourney which is nice since most other sites covering tournaments focus on only the big name live players.

Both nights I had a blast and will probably hang out with the Madison group more now that I know them and will be sure to keep in touch with the P5s guys also.

The middle of the week Eric and I spent a lot of time hanging out with Shannon Shorr, who Eric is good buddies with, and his girlfriend, Stephanie. Mostly just chilling at the beach during the day and then going somewhere to drink and watch the playoff baseball games at night.

The night before the final table of the main event down there Phil Helmuth threw a big party at his penthouse sweet in the Radisson. Poker Ho (one of the Madison players) wrote a great write up about the party in his Aruba recap so I'll just link to that to fill you in on the party. The party write up is the last entry at the bottom of the page. Phil's Annual Party

I'll also give a quick link to the UB Blog that covered a lot of the tournament action. If you click the 'Madison Bragging Rights' entry you'll see a picture of a bunch of the Madison players (I'm in the back row in the red polo and Eric is right next to me). The link is about halfway down the page. Also, the videos at the top of the page are decent if you want to get a tiny feel for what goes on down in Aruba. UB Blog

The other two highlights were the opening and closing parties that UB threw. Both of the parties lasted 3 hours with great food and an open bar the entire time. It was definitely a well run event by UB blowing away the job Stars did last year at the PCA. Not that Stars did a bad job but UB definitely did an amazing job at this tournament.

Speaking of the PCA, Stars has just started to run it's satellites to this year's event so I will probably be trying to win a seat over the next few months. The Aussie Millions runs immediately after the PCA and I've heard that's an amazing time also so I will probably be trying to qualify for that one too. Hopefully I'll get a seat to one of them.