40 bucks gone in 5 minutes

...really like 30, but within a span of 5 minutes. Played 2 $20 tournies - got to hand #36, get dealt Aces, guy with AJs calls, catches a strong enough draw(flush and gutshot) to continue until he hits his straight on the river (I didn't bet enough to make his draw call incorrect, but then I didn't know his draw was this strong).

Start a new tourney, get AA again in hand 6, lose all my money when a donk calls with QT, hits a Q on the flop (with a K over), calls a large bet, then hits a T on the turn for 2 pair. No way that's a good play - that's a donk getting lucky.

Oh well, I like to shut it down when it's obvious the poker gods are going to bounce me around in a given night.

As for the Friday night live tourney, I felt like I played very well, ended up in 16th place out of 48. The player to my right was a very aggressive, seemingly good, online player. The hand I'm most proud of - I raise under the gun with AJs - he calls from the big blind. Flop comes 9TQ, giving me an overcard and an open ended straight draw. He checks, I think about the continuation bet but remember my recent online experience and decide to let my position work for me and check behind. Turn comes a blank and he fires out a 300 chip bet. I know he's aggressive and this could just be a shot at the pot. I consider all three plays- folding (seems too weak), calling (hoping an A, K, or 8 comes, 11 outs), or raising as a semibluff. I look down at my stack, if I minraise his 300 to 600, I have only 800 left. Screw it, I think - I shove. No guts, no glory!

Someone at the table goes "woah". The aggressive player takes his time and considers my actions. He stares at me to get a read - I smile. I realize at this time that my leg is shaking under the table, but I've read that this is a tell of a great hand, so I don't stop it. I also realize that I'm pretty hard to read right now - because I truly don't mind if he calls. I'm thinking he might call with a pair or two pair and then have to yield a huge pot to a nasty river card, which will both cripple and send him tilting off for hours. I would be interested in seeing this, actually. If he calls and I don't hit my hand, I'll be pretty proud of the attempt nonetheless. I was well below average in chips and needed to do something to make some headway. An all-in semibluff certainly fits the bill of "doing something".

He says out loud, "I think I have the best hand right now, I think you're betting on the come", which happens to be completely true. It also might look like I've got AA or KK and I'm shoving against a scary board (though I probably wouldn't have checked the flop). I could have checked the flop with 99/TT/QQ, though and his pair is dogmeat. In the end, he folds and he doesn't look happy about it for several hands afterwards.

I'm able to double up right before the first break with an all-in 99 vs. AJs, but after this I make a few poor plays and tighten up too much and get short stacked again. I almost climb out of it with the help of some more pocket pairs - I double up with 55 against overs, I raise 2 limpers all in with 88 and they fold, and then on the very next hand I get TT under the gun. My M is about 6.5, so I just shove it in again. The table folds around to a good player who says "I gotta call you", which I hope means AK/AQ/AJ, but he flips over JJ. Damn! The pairs over pairs aren't good to me lately, seems like I've been on short end more often that the other. My luck ends with that hand and I'm knocked out.

I realize afterward what a thin line getting into the money of a slower tournament can be. If I end up with a different result on that hand, I double up to about 4000 chips and an M of about 13, and I can probably fold/steal my way to the final table, or perhaps catch a hand or two and get a crack at the winner's circle. One unlucky result away. Of course, it took 3 "lucky" results in a row (coin flips) just to get that far...