$3K was really fun, I got there at 300bb with 15k, so perfectly fine. I got unto 40k pretty easily, I was so tuned in, off my phone completely taking every decision serious. My whole intention and goal was to play better than anybody else in the room and just make as good a decision as possible.
I hand one hand that was pretty interesting.
I open ATdd UTG to 900, unknown Spanish reg flats button kind of weirdly as if he didn't have a really great hand. Maybe a suited ace/broadways/pairs.
Flop KJ2ccd, I make a pretty easy cbet of 975. He calls.
Turn KJ2Qccdc, I think betting any of my range here would be a pretty big mistake. Hands that aren't strong enough to check call but have equity would be AcXx but I have none A8/9/7 off suit combos that I'm opening. I think this turn favours his range, especially as he flats a lot of JJ/QQ/KK potentially pre flop given stack sizes. He bets 1500 which felt pretty weak to me, I assumed he had KJ/KQ/QJ/AK hand strengths.
River KJ2QJ, I check and now he acts very differently to previously so I know it means something, he grabs his chips differently and then bets 4500. I pretty much insta folded and turned my hand over, he was abit shocked and showed me KJo for a full house. I don't really like his pre flop call, but maybe its ok.
Next hand of note is I open 1300 on whales big blind UTG with QQ, veryyyyyy splashy/peely guy flats the 1300 and then this same Spanish guy makes it 3200 off like 60k (I have 24k) such an awkward spot, I think he doesn't have AK with this sizing, but no idea what he was trying to do? Maybe play a pot against the other guy in position or something, I didn't feel comfortable 4b/calling when I had such a great table, but also didn't want to 4bf. When I peel flops are incredibly tough because I will be sandwiched in-between and may have to call/fold which will really suck!
I ended up peeling, and c/f A55r. No showdown.
I grinder from 20k to 40k without showdown, I 4bet bluffed half my stack pre in one spot when I had a very good read he was 3bet/folding in a squeezed pot, I was sure of my read that I just wanted to back myself and go with it.
I get moved table with 3 hands left of the night. I have a really nice stack and first hand I sit down Zisimo is stop and going into 5 people on Jxx, 2-3 hands left before they call last hands of the night and fish limps. English reg makes it 2400, theres a call and I overcall KJhh (bb800) from the cut off, Zisimo jams again and obviously anybody who plays against him a lot knows he's very, very aggro. I'm contemplating whether to call or not, pretty sure I'm going to call and he kind of shows me either a 6-7-8, not a picture anyway lol. LOLlivepoker, I call anyway, but very much doubt I would ever fold vs him and lost KJhh vs his 88 on 66542. I come back tomorrow with 19k instead of 70+k, but weirdly I just felt completely fine. In the past I had this previous fear of losing big hands before the end of the night and obviously over the last 48 hours have had the entitlement and the IRUNSOBAD fear, but here I just felt completely fine. I didn't make close to one mistake all day I don't think and made 7-8 really great plays.
I'm happy. It's kind of weird. Out of all the tournaments this summer I've made day 2 in about half+ of them, I really believe in myself and think I'm playing good. I just need to accept that thats ok. Thinking back I realise that this happens for 5-6 tournaments and then the 7th one I really find it hard to take. For example in SCOOP I felt find running bad for the first week and then on the 2nd Sunday after losing AA aip, I finally got the entitlement tilt. In Monaco I busted 5-6 tournaments playing great and then in the $25k I lost KK v AJ for lots of chips and thats when I kind of blew up.
I now know moving forward what to expect, I know I'll be fine for the next 4-5 tournaments, but I have to realise I'm probably going to take the next one really bad, but I didn't realise previously about this pattern, so from all of this I've definitely learned.
Theres a really nice saying in poker.. We either win or we learn.
I do have an overly pessimistic attitude, tomorrow I know when I'm first all in I'll expect to lose, I'm not sure just yet how to overcome that, but I really will go in tomorrow and treat it as if I have to make every decision worthwhile and play every spot as close to what I consider perfect (optimal)
I have taken the last 3 months extremely roughly, they have been very rough. But I will get over it, things will change and hopefully next time a run happens like this I'm better prepared for it.
I am anything but the finished article in poker and as much as I can cringe about the technical side of a lot of peoples games, perhaps their mental game makes up for it.
I actually don't think my mental game impedes me, its the post game mental game that is extremely weak, which in turn really hurts my life EV.
For all the nice posts, I really do appreciate it. For the not so nice posts, I completely get it and really appreciate you still posting, it will help harden me up.
Such a drama queen
253/297 tomorrow, 117 get paid.
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