Sweet tourney win

1st place at Dave's over the weekend. I got hit with the deck like you wouldn't believe. Pocket pair after pocket pair held up, then people started folding to me just because I was on a heater. Until the final table, every bust out at my table resulted in more chips for me. Gotta love it. I even won a hand with 7-high when my opponent (forget who it was) had a small pocket pair with a 2-pr board. The $310 win puts me back on top of the POY race. I will not be denied!! :)

The heater continued into the cash game. I played every cheap flop I could, playing every suited face card, 2-3 gapper, and generally any 2 cards that added up to 5 or more. I was up about $275 at one point, but finished up $215 after (gasp!) I chased a flush draw that missed.

We played some showdown for $1-2 while everyone was cashing out, and I pulled in about $20 from that as well.

So, poker is much more fun when you aren't getting your ass handed to you. For the record, I never said I was going to completely stop blogging, nor have I ever said I was the best player and actually meant it. I am certainly better than average. Sure, I bitch and moan when things aren't going my way. I criticize people that play some of the same hands I do (I'll play any hand, but not in every situation), and complain when they hit, but I don't brag about donkey moves that I make. On the other hand, every time I win, it isn't pure luck. 2 summers ago when I chalked up 17-18 straight wins was not luck. Winning about 90% of my sessions from Jan-June and turning $700 into $13k+ was not luck. Losing $4k in one hand with a 96% favorite and 1 card to go WAS luck. Bad luck. I play as smart as I can but also play on instinct, and it has worked well for me. You know how you just FEEL that your gutshot is going to hit on the river and you call that big bet? (And if you don't believe in feel/instinct, ask any pro. None of them play by math alone) Over the last few months, while I was getting stomped and nothing was holding up, I rarely had that feeling, but chased anyway. That was poor play. Rebuying in bad games where I had little chance of getting my $$ back was bad play. One thing I have never lost...the guts to put $$ into the pot.