Majors, cash games, and a new home game...

Well I spent about $240 or so and qualified for both the Mill and the 750k, so I saved some money by not buying in directly. In the Mill, I just never really got anything going. I busted with KQ on a Q 2 x flop against a limper with 22... didn't have much of a stack so I couldn't really do anything about it. In the 750k, I ran hot early. The starting stack was 3k, and I chipped up to around 10k after the first hour or so. Around the second break, I lost a big one though. I had AA UTG+1 and UTG raised. We got all-in preflop, my AA vs his QQ. Flop 8 9 10. Turn x. River J. I was down to about 9 or 10 BBs. I limped the very next hand with 55 UTG. 9 or 10 BBs is the absolute minimum stack that I will ever limp with UTG, but sometimes I like the play. Someone in MP pushed for about 8 BBs. It folded to me and I had put myself in a bad situation yet again. With all the antes and blinds in the pot, I was getting between 1.5 to 1 and 2 to 1 to call. I banked for a little bit and decided he probably had overs. I called and he showed KJ and spiked a K. I was crippled and lost the very next hand when I was committed with AQ. Forgot what I lost to but it doesn't really matter. I felt like I played really well, and had I won the AA hand I would've been more than twice the avg stack... oh well

So I've decided to play cash games only, specifically .25/.50 NL, until I pull my Pokerstars roll up from $1,049.53 to $2,000. Once I hit that mark, I will re-evaluate what I want to do, and either play sngs, mtts, or cash games... or maybe mix it up. I feel that I'm definitely good enough to consistently beat .25/.50 NL on stars, and I'll be 6-tabling mostly when I play. I just downloaded Pokertracker Version 3 (BETA) and HUD for free, and I think that will be alot of help with cash games. Hopefully I can get something going there.

Well I found a new home game. Its made up of mostly lawyers, a stockbroker, real estate investors, etc... These guys have money for the most part. Its pretty cool because they are very organized. There is a tourney every week at the same day, same time. Almost always 20 or more people. $80 buy-in. They have a leaderboard and a system that keeps up with the payouts and blind levels. After the tourney, they always play $1/$2 NL cash. There usually ends up being around $3k or so on the table by the end of the night. I bought in for $200 both times I played. I busted in the tourneys both times, but won $164 in cash one night and lost $149 the other. I think if I just play a tight and solid game over there, I am waaaaay +EV against them. Not saying I'm that good or that they're that bad, I just think its a very beatable game. Well thats it for now... I'm about to 6-table some NL cash. Laterrrrrrrrrr.

- Brandon

I'm an old man.....

So I did something to my back, probably in the gym, and I was having bad back spasms all last weekend. Its better for the most part, but I'm still really careful when I do pretty much anything. At first they were so bad that I had to lay out of work Monday and Tuesday, so I got to play tourneys all day. I made 3 final tables in 2 days, playing probably around 25 tourneys. It sounds better than it is though. One was a 6-max limit mtt with around 100 or so people... Got 4th. Another was a limit mtt with about 90 people... Got 8th. The other was a $3 rebuy on FTP with about 480 or so people... Got 9th. The rebuy was the only tourney where 1st place was over $500 (it was like $1.1k). These finishes were very disappointing, but I do absolutely OWN limit tourneys. I think I'll start playing in the major limit tourneys in the WCOOP and FTOPS, etc. etc., because I feel like I'm so goooot in those. Lost a flip for the chiplead in the rebuy with AK losing to JJ by the way. I could've played it better though. I think I misplay AK more than any other hand, which I hear is common. Oooooh well.

I've been playing some NL full ring cash games lately (.25/.50 mostly), and I've started liking them again. I need to just stop saying that I'm going to only play sngs, or only mtts, etc etc because I never do lol. My plan is to satty into the Mil and 750k, and possibly some other majors (i.e. Warmup, Second Chance). My roll is lower than its been in a long time since I've been messing around in MTTs waiting for a score... Its around $1,500 or so. If it gets to $1,000 I'm going to 6-9 table 50NL cash until I can grind it back up to $2k. That is my plan at least... and we all know I can never stick to it, but I will try lol. So thats whats been going on lately. Nothing exciting I know. I'm ready for a vacation... going to Panama City Beach a couple times in May and probably back to Vegas in July... I can't wait.

- Brandon