Okay, I'm off the Ledge!

http://www.suicidemethods.net/pix/listpix.htm

WOW! I was going to start this blog with a cute, funny picture of some kind of suicide photo, to go with the feeling that I had as I was whacked from the Borgata Main Event...so I Googled 'suicide photos' and brought up this link. As I started clicking on them, I started getting queasy. Each picture brought me closer and closer to the bathroom. I finally decided, okay...you know suicide isn't a funny topic. And losing a stupid poker tournament is NO REASON to do to yourself what these unhappy folks did.

But I am finally ready to discuss what happened. Plus the things to write about were just piling up. I wasn't getting any sleep due to snoring Maximus over here. The last three days I have dragged my mattress into the bathroom, closed the door, turned on the shower and found some sleep. This takes me back to three or four years ago, when Smoke and I were in Reno I think...and we had this kid Ryan with us...who we called 'ManChild' for no apparant reason. He snored. Bad. Really bad. We stuck him in the bathroom. And ran the shower all night. Keith is pretty close to that guy. Whats funny though, is when he tries to deny snoring. Um. Yeah. Okay. You DONT snore.

Main Event. Showed up on time. Huge field. Where there was 350'ish the day before for Day 1...we had around 650! Bringing the total to over 1000. First place was going to be huge, around a cool million! I should have been nervous I guess, but I wasn't. I've got too much experience now in these deals. I was just excited. I had a great draw...seat 6, on a table that wouldnt break all day.

Things started great. We began with 30k in chips. NICE! 75 minute levels. And they actually were using most of their 'good' dealers. Not all of them. We still had a few who were pretty sketchy. But the good thing was that the bad ones at least knew they were bad. The whole table was very patient with them. We had a good table. A friendly table. I would get up to 37k early. Made a few hands. Made a few huge bluffs. Things were looking good. Then I would have a mini-disaster. This guy had just lost a big hand...where he had overbet, then overbluffed...and got caught. It left him with only 15,000 chips. He had been overraising a lot too. He raises UTG with the blinds at 100/200...to 1200. The girl next to me, who was not a very good player...calls. She had been flat calling a lot of raises with some pretty goofy hands. And she didn't play well after the flop. She was nice though. And I could tell on a given day...if things went her way, she might win sometimes. But she was out of her league here. I wake up with QQ.

Hmmmm. I have to assume this guy is steam raising. And I have to assume she has another AJ, A10 or small pair hand. I take a chance here. I decide to isolate in bad position and hope to God no one wakes up with AA/KK. I raise to 5500. It folds around to him. He frustratingly throws all his chips in there. She moans a bit and folds. Who knows what she had. She tries to claim as a 9 flops and a 7 turns...that she had two pair. She called 1200 with 9-7? Whatever. Well...I called his all in and prayed. He turned over AA. Shit. Nice read Monkey. But, had he not shoved preflop, or if I had just called the 1200...I think it would have gone down the same way since the board was all below a 10. So I guess I couldn't be too upset about it. I still had 19k.

Shortly after that, we go on break. We come back and I am in the SB. The BB isnt back yet. Thats when, at 100/200 with 25 ante...this guy raises to 800. Before I even look at my cards I feel like he is trying to steal the dead blind. But then I look down at AA. Wow. How to play this. Smooth call? Hope to get more? Raise? Last time I got cute with AA this week I got killed. Vowed to never do that again. And this guy has about 5k more than me...so he can put me out if things go wrong. I better just raise. But first I throw in this gem...."whatcha doing man? Trying to steal that dead money out there?" He blinks. Blinks again. I raise to 2000. He stares back at me. I give off the proper false tells that would suggest I am pulling a re-steal with junk. Start the fake nervous chatter with the girl next to me. Then he asks 'the question' we all love to hear when we have AA.

"How much do you have there?" Thats when I do the...."OMG, I just got caught" facial expression as I nervously fumble with my chips and tell him I have 18,400 behind. Then those other beautiful words roll off his lips...."I'll put you all in." I bet every single one of you know the next two words that were uttered. Duh.

Good news. I was NOT up against a pair...no need to sweat out a 2-0uter. Nope he turned over...A-Q offsuit. Perfect. He hit nothing. Even better. I stacked chips. Back to 40k! Awesome! I was back! I would sit around for an hour or so....till we get to 200/400 with 50 ante. By the way....before I get into this hand, I have to say something:

This is the greatest structured Main Event I have ever seen, neck and neck with the Rio Main Event the last two years. Just great.

25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
100/200 with 25
150/300 with 25
200/400 with 50
250/500 wtih 50
300/600 with 75
400/800 with 75
500/1000 with 100
600/1200 with 200
800/1600 with 200

....and so on. Just a great structure. And starting with 30k in chips. To lose on Day 1 in this requires one of two things. A horrible player, or a horrible beat. Stay tuned.

I am sitting UTG+1 with JJ. I raise it to 1150 at 200/400. I get a call from this kid, "Joe"...nice, young Asian kid. We had been friendly all day. I would call his skill level average, maybe slightly above average. No one else calls. The flop comes J-10-6, rainbow. I like to bet into sets. People know I check raise a lot. So betting into sets, I tend to get action a lot. I am not really sure where to put him...but if he has KQ, I am certainly going to get a smooth call here. Any raise by him and I have to think I am probably good.

I lead out for 2400. Slightly less than the pot. He immediately raises it to 6000. Wow. I start clicking through the hands he has. KQ is definitely a possibility, but there is no way he raising that much on a draw. No way. I think if he had 10-10 he would have re-popped me preflop, as he is pretty aggressive that way. No, what really makes sense is that he has 66. So I literally tell him....I think you have 6's partner. And you must be thinking I have either AJ, or at best an over pair. If you have 66 you probably think you have me killed, but you don't. I like you. I am going to hopefully do you a favor here and let you get out of this still holding 25k in chips. I raise...to 20k. He goes into the usual ritual that a guy with that situation goes through...hands through hair....moaning and groaning....followed by "Man, I just don't think I can lay this down." "I know man...I understand...but you are drawing to a one-outer. And typically I would beg you to call here...but like I said, I like you...and would hate to see you go out here. I'm okay with this nice little 10k pot we have here."

Well, he finally calls. Turns over...surprise, 6's. The table all get up out of their chairs. Turn card is a Q. The river......BOOM! 6. The kid goes wild. But not too over the top. I can understand his elation. I just stand there...feeling completely numb. Staring at the board. Several players are also staring at the board, mouth open...looking at me with that face people have when you've just been told your loved one has been killed. I collect my stuff, tell everyone good luck...walk over to the kid...shake his hand. He tells me "sorry man...I feel bad...but I just didn't think you had it." "Its cool Joe...that's poker, it wasn't meant to be my tourney this time....I wish you luck." And I walked out into the hallway. I sat down along the wall...and just....I don't know...stared at the ceiling for awhile. I felt empty, and alone, and sad. I didn't know what to do. Where to go. It was 6:30pm. That was three days ago...and honestly, I can't remember what I did next, thats how stunned I was.

The next day I woke up to late to play the noon $440 that they were running. Arrived 18 minutes late. So I went downstairs and played Texas Hold Em Bonus Poker in the casino. In for $200 I cashed out for $550. Cool. Then I went into the cash room where they were running SNG's. Got into a $120, with a $20 last longer. I would end up getting heads up with this guy named Greyson, who turned out to be a really cool guy. He has his own business doing countertops and stuff like that, and wants to play poker full time. We got heads up, even in chips and decided to chop the $1000 but play heads up for the $120 last longer. I won. We both decided to go eat at Wolfgang Pucks and then play the 7pm second chance.

It was another great meal. At Borgata I ate at the Japaneese restaurant that I cant remember the name of. It was awesome. Then a few nights ago I ate at the chef's counter at Old Homestead and had a killer meal, and was joined by Jason Young...who I had a nice time talking to. I was wanting to hit Bobby Flay's Steakhouse too, but looks like I won't make that one. Well Wolfgang Pucks was terrific. I had a really good Rib Eye and Greyson and I split an entree order of crab and shrimp risotto that was amazing. It was another super meal. The service was decent. So while I didn't get any tourney cashes up here...I have to say...I ran good in the restaurant category, I did win back to back Mega's, won a few SNGs and ran good in the cash game.

We went and played the 2nd chance. I had another fun table. I was in a chatty mood. I run my 8k up to 15k then make a pretty bad call. The blinds were 400/800...five people limp, and I limp on the button with QJs....when the kid behind me goes all in for 5k. Nice play. It folds back around to me. I tell him, straight up....no idea what you have...but its a great play with any two cards. Hes all in for 5000 to win about 5000. Great play. I have to think I am live, and I like this kid and don't mind if I double him up. But more importantly, I think if I hit I have a nice stack now to run with. I call. He has JJ. Ouch! I miss the Q and the spades. And get punched in the face. I lose a couple more hands after that when I miss flops with good hands.

Then with 5800 and the blinds now at 500/1000 I look down at my favorite hand...K9! Suited, spades! Sweet! I shove it in. And the same kid calls me. Oh hell. He flips over QQ. Dammit. But I act confident. I even say before he turns it over..."Please have Queens!" and he looks at me like hes screwed. When he sees K9 he feels better...but I tell him I'm going to flop a King! That K9 always saves me when I'm shortstacked. I flop a KING! hehehehehehe sweeeet! But then he rivers a damn Queen. Come on! I take it well. Couple people at the table are disappointed that I lost. One of them says "Great...the table isnt going to be any fun now....damn." I always love it when people say that. I'm always glad when I can add a fun, entertaining element to a table. And these people were all really nice. I wasn't the least bit bitter about losing. I shook the kids hand, told him he deserved to win, since he had the best hand any way...and I went downstairs.

I decided to get into a $1/$2 game, since I had been literally killing the cash game here all week. Why not!??? Well, this session would go horribly. Couldnt get ANYTHING to hold up. Couldn't hit ANY draws. Couldnt bluff anyone. Just about as bad as a cash session could go. I think I lost about $900. oooof. But this is going to happen sometimes. I kept my head together. Still tried to have fun.

I have to say...I really enjoyed this trip. While I am not going to go home with a big score and a bundle of hundreds, I am going home with a renewed sense of excitement for poker. Saw a new beautiful casino, met some new cool poker players. It was a good experience. No regrets. And now I have Aruba to look forward to, with more really good structures. I am also thinking very seriously about hooking a left when I land in New Orleans tomorrow night and going to that scary place called Coushatta and play their Main Event there on Friday for $1k.

I really miss Squirrel and my dogs...as I've been gone for almost two weeks, but I also miss winning money! And its so close to New Orleans...its going to be hard to pass on. Pretty sure I am going to do it. Then go home...chill out for the last week of the month, do the yard work, catch up on bills and pool payments...then get ready for Aruba.

I spent all day in my hotel room yesterday. In the cash game the night before...some kid sneezed all over the table...and I literally said to him..."Dude! Come on man, you can't cover your mouth? You gotta shoot your germs all over everyone!?? Wow, if I wake up with Swine Flu I'm coming after you!" Well, guess what? I get that burning in the back of the throat that always precedes the common cold yesterday. And today, the burning is worse, the sniffles are here...and now I'm coughing. Thanks a lot jagoff! I swear...the ONLY time I ever get sick is when I go to a poker event. The worlds largest germ pool, and now I am sick. So I am holed up in my room, but catching up on a lot of stuff. So thats good. And I have almost finished this 675 page mega novel, 'Consent to Kill' by Vince Flynn.

There were a lot of little funny things that happened on this trip, but I've either forgotten about them, or this blog has gotten too long to start trying to insert them all. But I knew I had to get SOMEthing up on here...and this should pretty much cover everything.

If any of you reading this are in the Atlanta area, my thoughts and prayers go out to you. I sincerely hope you are all safe, as the flooding there appears to be horrendous. I used to live up there and have a lot of friends in the area, who I have thought about the last few days. Its weird how nature works. Lake Lanier was on the threat of completely drying up for the last few years...and now today, its practically FULL due to this weeks storms. But at the expense of massive flooding.

Shout outs to D.Fish and TK for their huge scores in the last week. Nice to see guys I know and like doing good. My buddy Maurice Hawkins, from Naples, Florida...who took second to me in the Venetian All Around..and who also won two events...and was there hanging out with me the night I won the $550, bagged up 1.9 million chips here last night at the Borgata, as they got down to 27. He is in really good shape to make a run at the Final Table today. He is about to get married in November...so I am really rooting hard for Crazy 'Ol Mo to take this down! Should be a pretty nice Final Table. Lot of good players still in it. And a good structure. God I hate that I am not there...but I can be happy for those guys I'm buddies with too. My day will come, and when it does, I know they will be there to support me too. It's all part of the deal in this game.

MONKEY