And I'm not talking about Glen from Family Guy.
Due
to missing several sessions in the first quarter, I did not have my
typical starting chip stack in the quarterly. We started with only 8 of
the 10 qualifiers. I built my stack up a bit, but I ended up making a
big mistake, losing much of my stack in a 3-way all-in situation when we
were down to 7. I was in the SB with AQ. The UTG player limped in, and a
couple of others did as well. I completed and the BB went all-in. The
UTG player shoved over the top. I considered the situation and ended up
calling, having both players covered. I incorrectly concluded that was
ahead of at least one of them, putting the BB on a mid pair, and the UTG
on something like AJs. However, he had pocket Ts, and the BB had AK.
The flop comes A, J, rag. The turn is a T, and I’m praying for a K for a
straight, but I miss. I last a while, but as we chip up, my stack gets
shorter, and I finally shove with A9. I get one caller, who took his
time, and he flips over AJ. I’m surprised he took so long to call, but
not surprised when I’m out. That was the first time in years that I
hadn’t cashed, and only the 2nd time I didn’t finish in the top 4 in a
quarterly or year-end tournament.
Since
then, I’ve made a plan to keep myself higher in the standings. After
the first week, I was in 3rd place for the quarter, and
moved up to 2nd place after the following week. A win in the first session, and another 3rd place in the 2nd session should propel me into the lead after last Friday. :)
I
got a couple of nice surprises on my birthday that were poker related.
My sister got a nice poker themed cake, complete with $30 in chips from
the local Horseshoe Casino. My wife got me a new book, Unleash Your Hidden Poker Memory. I’ve only read chapter one so far. At the end of each
chapter are some timed exercises to test your memory. Since I want to do
more than just read the book, I’m going to make an effort to regularly
do the exercises, working from the simpler suggestions to the more
challenging ones.
