HOME SWEET HOME!

Ahhhhhhhh......

Nice to see you again, FINAL TABLE!

And upon arrival, I kissed the sacred felt!

Decided, after a horrendous Monday which saw me play the $550 noon tourney, and exit badly...then lose three SNGs, followed by the 7pm tourney....followed by a SNG in which we got to 300/600 with 6 players left...and with the button raising 2000, the SB moving all in and me seeing QQ (the nightmare hand this week) in the BB calling, and subsequently losing to his AJ...to go home, get a long night sleep, chill out Tuesday afternoon...then go back and play the 7pm 2nd chance tourney.

Which is exactly what I did. Slept until 2pm. Had a nice early dinner with Squirrel. Played with my dogs. Took a nice long hot bath. Read 5 chapters in my current book, "THE TRAITOR", by Stephen Coonts....and headed for the Beau.

I had one of those tourneys where I was on fire early. Turned 4000 into 12000 quickly. Then lost about 4000 of it the conventional way. Then got some back. Then my KK gets trampled by 66 when the guy makes quads. How nice. Not again! Hovered around 6000 for the next three levels, and with 36 left (paying 18 on a night where only 182 played...lowest of the tourney so far, bummer) it was starting to look like another one of these damn 'play for 6 or 7 hours and get nothing out of it' kind of nights.

But, then...alas, I got my courtesy double up that always seems to happen at the right time whenever I DO make a final table. Moved my 6100 in with 600/1200 blinds in the SB with KJ and got a semi-loose call from the BB with A9. I hit the K and we were back in business. Then picked up AK/AQ and JJ to improve my stack to 25K. A little later my 10-10 held up against 88 (finally) and I was sitting on close to 40K and on my way. Getting through the bubble was a long, tedious affair. Three tables played 7/6/6 forever! Our new blogger Matt Bryant got moved to my table and we had a chance to get to know each other a bit. He was on my right. He gave me a lot of walks in the BB which really helped me maintain my average stack. In fact our whole table was really pretty kind to each other. We all pretty much swapped chips for about two levels.

Meanwhile on the other table...there was a guy...who's name I would discover was 'FRED JONES'....how is that for bland? He was anything but. Young kid, black...well, sort of, kind of had a Tiger Woods thing going on...student from LSU...and VERY intoxicated. I had enjoyed a very mellow, relaxing day...and thus, was in a very subdued mood on this occasion. So, really, this kid was taking over for me! He was loud, and basically...never shut up. I asked several players "is this what I am like when I'm slamming Red Snappers? I sure as hell hope not" and to a man, they all insisted that NO, this was not ME in another sheeps clothing! Thank God!

It was funny. I mean, yeah it was annoying at times, but it was also kind of entertaining. He should have bubbled about three times...but he kept surviving. He would eventually go out when I called his all in out of the SB with J10, Squirrel's favorite hand...and my BB flatted it too. I would have checked it down...but...well, the flop came J-J-10. Kind of had to bet something there. ON another hand...I called his all in with K-10....I hit the 10. He had A-8. The board made a straight and he didn't even see it. The dealer did. When we got to 2 tables Matt assumed the exact position on my right.

The final table took forever. Actually, this whole tourney took forever! I walked out of there at 5:30 am. Yikes! Needless to say, 'ol Fred managed to inspire me to finally start drinking Red Snappers. Must have slammed close to 10-12. Got Matt drinking with me. He just lost a race...and then was low and lost a coin flip to go out...I think, 10th. That sucks. The money from 10-18 sucked balls.

At the final table we had probably 7 or 8 really solid players. I love that. It means I might have a shot at winning. Our boy FRED JONES had a guy take over for him. In the drunk category. An older guy wearing Texas Longhorn gear was barely able to talk. He pulled a nice little bluff, moving all in on my A5...and showing 5/7 offsuit. Hmmmm...uh huh. He then started donking off chips. With him holding a pretty sizeable chiplead...and 8 left, I predicted, quite boldly...to the table that I didn't see him finishing higher than 6th.

I enjoyed this hand. In the BB with 89h....crazy old Texas guy raised the 5k/10k blinds to 30K. I thought about this for some time. Then BJ MCBRAYER...who I will give a little run here in a second...decides to call clock on me. BJ BJ BJ....come on now man! Well, I call. After showing that end of the table my cards (on accident)...I guess he thought I was Hollywood'ing, that I would NEVER call with that hand there. Well, he was wrong! I thought I could either (a) outflop the old coot or (b) outplay his stupid drunk ass! The flop came out J-7-5. A double gutter. I didn't waste much time moving all in for 48K. And I swear I heard the guy say call (oh shit!) and turned up my cards as he was mucking??? HUH? Apparently, his "call" and his "fold" sounded very similar...he had said fold! Whew. Good!

Old guy would end up going out 7th. MonkeyDamus strikes again! We would get to 5 and we started talking about doing a possible 'save' on the money. I was proposing we all take $4000 and play for the rest. But BJ was in the process of accumulating a lot of chips and starting to get to where he wanted to zap at least one more player. I had to kind of agree...so we kept on keeping on. We would finally get to 4...but when we got there, I was getting very low stacked. So again....I needed to double up to have a chance to get in on a $4000 save. I could not get a damn hand to save my life...and BJ...he is like a piranha...when there is blood in the water he is in full-on attack mode. Give him credit. Hell, to get INTO the money...he moved all in on his button with A6....getting a call from the BB with AK...and promptly flopping two sixes! Well done BJ.

So sitting in the BB, he raises me again. I have 16K out front and 18K behind. Ridiculous. I look down at 5-8, my bud Allie Prescott's favorite hand. Figured I would honor him, and attempt my comeback with a hand I knew pretty confidently would be live. I was right. BJ showed KQ. He made Broadway (of course) and I was out in 4th. Good for $2400. I couldn't hang my head though. I really played a good tourney. I was up, down, up again, down again. I made some very good laydowns, made some very good calls, and made some very good bluffs. Can't think of too many mistakes I made, unlike the day before where I played really shitty, and got pretty damn unlucky. Not a good combination. Gave $100 to the floor, $100 to the dealers and got my ass home!

Little something about BJ MCBRAYER. At 26, this kid is a fucking machine when it comes to cashing in tourneys. I met BJ a few years ago. Through my good buddy Charlie Oliver. This is a guy I would love to sit in with during an online session to just see how he plays at every level of a tourney. I might learn something. I am always open to learning. I do not know HOW this kid isn't a household name yet. I swear to God...every damn time I am at a tourney...it seems like....there is BJ...and BJ has chips! He ALWAYS has chips! As these events at the Beau have been running all week, and I have been walking over to see who is at the final two tables...its consistently been guys who I know and see a lot of. I like to see that. But at the same time...it is making me feel...well, I don't know what the proper word is. Envious? Embarrassed? Sad? I feel like...I am SUPPOSED to make the money. And when I don't...it sucks! I guess its good to feel like that. Three years ago, I was happy WHEN I made the money. Final Tables were like a dream. Hell, not anymore. When a tourney starts...I EXPECT to make the final table. That might not be good. Anyway....friggin BJ MCBRAYER is a damn machine. He is making me feel like....mmmmm.....shit! Like I suck! Guess that's good motivation! Watch out for this kid...I promise you...he's a millionaire by 2010. I better be too dammit. 'Ol BJ and I might buy us a boat. Or an RV or something! Go on the road....BJ and the Monkey! Remember BJ and the Bear? You old guys do, I'm sure!

Anyway...I'm sick of writing. And my battery is about to go dead. Dogs are hungry. And I think I am ready to go play some sit n go's. Today was a limit tourney. Screw that. I will play SNG's today, tomorrow....both 7pm tourneys....and then Friday play the $550 which should have a HUGE field, and the $1050 on Saturday that should be gigantic, and hope I can make a REAL final table before this week is over.

Not sure if I told you guys in my last post....but I talked to Jason Lipscomb the other night about structures at the next event in New Orleans. He has basically told me, and I quote "Monkey, you TELL ME what the structures should be on all tourneys and SNG's...and I will make it happen!" Whoa! Kind of similar to what Ronnie did at the I.P. before they ran that event. And they did a KILLER job with that tourney! You know...its about gosh dang time these guys finally started LISTENING to 'Ol Monk instead of just telling me to shut the hell up! No seriously, I am flattered that these guys value my opinion. The fact that they are listening to the players, and giving us what we want to make an event well-attended and enjoyable for all the players is a very good sign that they are starting to figure it out! I think its awesome! I told Jason "I will tell you this, you do this structure, and I can promise you that EVERYONE will come and play the next New Orleans event." But keep things as they were for that December event....wheeeewww and you can forget it! I know one thing, I will promote the HELL out of it! And I have a big mouth, and a big pen!

Y'all have a great week!

MONK

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