Before heading to church this morning, I had time for 38 minutes of on-line poker. After all, is there any better way to prep for church than some quality time on Party Poker? I don't think so!
I jumped on a 6-man $1/$2 and found no success. All told, I played 46 hands and won exactly 3 of them. I played for 22 minutes and lost a healthy $59. Having won the last 7 hands I played last night, it was VERY frustrating to lose 43 of the 46 hands I played on this table.
Desperate to recoup my $59, I jumped onto a 6-man $5/$10 table and proceeded to lose my first nine hands. Just like that, I was down another $65 and staring at an overall loss of over $100. Things were looking bleak!
I proceeded to win a couple small pots and brought my stack of chips on the $5/$10 table back up to $238.50 (I had started with $250). Then, with minutes remaining until I had to leave for church, the following hand took place:
HAND OF THE DAY:
Deltronxzero posts the small blind ($2). Stephiegus posts the big blind ($5). I'm dealt Jh 10h.
Preflop: Spense folds. I call $5. Sprue76 folds. Torodbull calls $5. Deltronxzero raises to $10. Stephiegus calls $5. I call $5. Torobull calls $5.
The Flop: The board shows 8d, 3s, Tc. Deltronxzero bets $5. Stephiegus calls $5. I call $5. Torodbull calls $5.
The Turn: 8c. With a pair of 8's on the board, Deltronxzero bets $10. Stephiegus calls $10. I call $10. Torodbull calls $10.
The River: 2d. Deltronzero bets $10. Stephiegus calls $10. I call $10. Torodbull calls $10.
Deltronxzero shows 9h, 9d - two pair, nines and eights.
Stephiegus shows 7s, 3d - two pair, eights and threes.
Torodbull shows Ah Qs - a pair of eights.
I show Jh 10h - two pair, tens and eights.
I win $138 from the main pot with my two pair. Woo Hoo!! Just like that, I found myself up for the morning's session. As the results were posted, I was surprised to see the chips slide my direction (I thought Deltronxzero had an overpair), but I'm not going to complain.
After winning that hand, I IMMEDATELY left the table and retired for the morning - up exactly $32.50. Considering the fact that I spent 37 of my morning's 38 minutes significantly in the hole, I'm quite happy to report a profit before heading to church. I would have liked to keep playing at the $5/$10 table (Stephiegus was a particularly poor player), but church was calling.
After attending church (I said an extra thank-you prayer for the 10's) and watching the Daytona 500, I decided to pursue the Steps this evening. With a free pass into Step #3, I was ready to roll!
To get to Step #4, you need to finish in the Top 3 of a 10-man Step #3 Tournament. At the same time, fourth place is awarded a free entry into another Step #3 tournament and 5th place earns an entry back into Step #2.
My first shot at Step #3 ended with a 4th place finish. When we got to four players, I was the low stack and I couldn't catch anything to get over the hump. Three times, I went "all in" before the flop and was subsequently called by an opponent. Each time I went "all in", I found that I was up against better cards. The first two times, however, I hit some cards and stole the pot. The third time, however, I wasn't as lucky and I was eliminated in 4th place - leaving me with a free entry into another Step #3 Tournament.
My 2nd attempt at a 10-man Step #3 Tournament started terribly. Holding JQ, another jack and queen appeared on the board, but an opponent took most of my chips when he revealed a JJ underneath. I battled my way back, however, and eventually reached the Final 5. At that point, I was holding a 99 and lost a big pot to another player holding JJ who went "all in" with the last of his chips before seeing the flop. The very next hand, I went "all in" with my dwindling pile of chips and lost (ironically) to another player holding 99. I was holding Ac 7c and was delighted when two clubs immediately flopped. The turn and river, however, were no help and I finished in 5th place and got bumped down to Step #2. Ugh!
If nothing else, I was getting good mileage out of the original $12 I had invested in this pursuit of the Steps, so I immediately jumped into a Step #2 Tournament. Considering the fact that I had won the last 7 hands I had played in a Step #2 tournament (yesterday), I figured that karma was one my side!
As it turned out, karma was one my side. After an extremely long battle amongst the Final Four players at the Step #2 Tourney, I came out victorious and earned a return trip to Step #3. So, a little over 2 hours since playing my first Step #3 Tournament of the evening, I was back to where I started - and all this activity hadn't cost me a cent. I'm beginning to like these Steps - even though I haven't won anything yet. It's relatively cheap entertainment.
I was growing a bit weary, but I decided to play another Step #3 Tournament. If nothing else, it would make for boring Sketch if I finished the night exactly where I started. Right?
Unfortunately, my 3rd attempt at a Step #3 Tourney didn't go particularly well - as I finished in 5th place. I never got any cards and never found myself above the 1,000 chips I started the tournament with. Eventually, I was eliminated when I went "all in" with my Ah 5h and lost to a player who called me with AK. Ugh! As a "reward" for my 5th place finish, I got bumped back down to Step #2.
At this point, my circular "ascent" of the Steps was starting to get ridiculous, but I decided to play the Step #2 Tournament right away. Regardless of the outcome, it was going to be my last tournament of the night. Sadly, my new goal for the night was to simply get to the same Step #3 that I had started the evening at.
Unfortunately, I didn't achieve my goal and finished in a dismal 6th place. Similar to my last Step #3 Tournament, I caught zero cards and couldn't get anything going. I eventually lost when my AJ lost to another player's JJ.
At least I won money this morning. I'm tired of playing the Steps!
Daily Sketch: Up $32.50
Month-to-Date Sketch: Up $696.28
.
.
