Oh Sunday Night
First off (if there's even anyone out there reading this), haven't had a chance to update in awhile, too much stuff going on. Haven't played poker since the last time I've posted with the exception of one $.50 NLO tourney (that I placed 3rd in for a small profit) not including tonight.
I've been running pretty bad with other shit lately. My bowling has been below par this season, barely averaging over 200 when I was a 220 bowler last season. Actually so disgusted with how I'm running in that game that I took the night off tonight. Also was talked into joining a fantasy football league this year and running shitty in that too. Going into this week 2-4 record with 2 matches being lost by a single point. Last week I had Larry Fitzgerald in a PPR league and he gets me 49 yards in the Monday Night Game. If he gets 1 more yard I at least tie, one more reception for any positive gain I win. So frustrating.
So tonight I'm at home and I enter the freeroll but I'm also watching the Sunday Night Game. I'm up in my match 131-118 and we each have 1 player left. I have Fitzgerald, he has David Johnson. Of course Johnson goes absolute bonkers in this game and it seemed like for awhile he was getting the ball on every fucking snap. Palmer was both passing and handing off to him. Fitzgerald is getting a few receptions but it's a close game going into the 4th quarter because Johnson manages to get 20+ points in a game that had no touchdowns! More on that later.
So I'm dealing with that while I play the freeroll. Get my starting 2k stack to close to 3k doing nothing spectacular, just making good raises and bets and so forth. Get to the ante stage with blinds 100/200 and a 25 ante and pick up J♠J♥ on the button. Folded to me with 2780 in chips and I make it 800. SB folds, BB who has me well covered calls. Flop comes 9♠3♦3♣ and he checks to me. I shove for what basically amounts to a pot sized bet. He tanks and then calls with A♦J♦ and thankfully bricks both the turn and river. That gets me into a good chip position as I had fallen under the average going into that hand. Not sure what he thinks I could have there. If he thinks I'm making a move with something like a medium/small suited connector or KJ/QJ he should just put me all-in preflop.
Get moved to another table and pick up A♥Q♣ OTB with blinds now 200/400 with a 50 ante. A middle position player opens for 400 and not having a read on the player or the table I elect to flat. BB defends and it's 3 to a flop of 9♠3♣7♣. Checked to me and I consider taking a stab but check it back. Turn Q♠ and it gets checked to me again. I bet 1800 into 3000 and it down. Pretty standard I think but this got me to a little over 8k in chips.
An orbit and change later I'm UTG+1 at what's now an 8-handed table with A♠K♦ and raise to 1700 with blinds now 250/500+60. BB who has me covered is the only caller. Flop K♠T♦8♠ and with 4130 in the pot I just shove after being checked to for my final 6240 as any reasonable bet would commit me anyhow. BB folds and I'm now over 10k in chips.
However I start to get reversals after that with escalating blinds and then raising UTG preflop (at what's now a 7-handed table) with KQo and having to fold it after the player to my immediate left re-raises me for just about the rest of my chips. Right after that get moved again to another table and we're now within 10 places of the money.
At this point I'm saying to myself, I need to at least make the money in this tournament. It's not about the $1.35 I'd get for coming in 70th but rather for my own personal self-esteem as sad as that may sound. I need something POSITIVE to happen. But the new table actually worked out for me. The 3 players left of me all have fewer chips. One of them is automatically all-in for less than the BB when I pick up K♥9♥ in the BB and get a free look at 5 cards when the other players decline to play. It holds up unimproved against his Q♦5♦. Very next hand I'm in the SB with 66 with blinds having just gone from 500/1000 to 1000/2000 and I open-shove with 66 against the SB who had 1730 behind. I knew he couldn't call just 3 places from the money so I would have shoved with any two there. He folded.
A few hands later we're on the tournament bubble just one place out of the money and I pick up A♦Q♥ in the CO. We're 8-handed now as one player at our table busted the hand before and 2nd to act limps in for 1k with 4215 behind. Silly player. Folded to me and I raise to 6k (I had about 8900 to start the hand after posting the ante) which is enough to put the button, either blind, or the limper all-in as I have them covered. I know no matter what I cannot be eliminated this hand and they can so I thought I'd be getting four folds and we'd be moving on to the next hand.
Not to be. Both the BB and the limper call, wasn't expecting that. Limper actually had A♣K♠ and the limper had T2o (wtf?!?). Board runs out K♣Q♠T♣J♦K♦ and I'm happy to chop with the limper there and cement my place in the money.
Managed to win an all-in vs a short stack with A8 vs 65 and then steal a few blinds to stay afloat but went card dead for a bit and then had only about 11k with somewhere around 50 players left. I had to shove on the button with K♦J♣ as blinds are now 1250/2500-310. SB calls, BB folds and he turns over A♥8♥ but my offsuit hand and it's ability to make two flushes comes to fruition when the flop comes 9♦5♦3♦ with a 2♦ on the turn to seal it for me before a meaningless Q♠ on the river. That puts me at over 25k and keeps me in the tournament.
Find myself down to the final 20 players but my stack has gone down to 19k and blinds are 4000/8000-500. I'm UTG with Q♦T♦ and stick it in. Blinds are going to go up any minute now so really this is a mandatory shove (was quite card dead before after that KJ hand so didn't get a chance to shove before). Folded to SB who re-shoves for 41k. Shit. BB folds and he has the goods, or at least good enoughs, A♥J♦. Flop comes A♦K♥8♠ and after a 3♣ turn I am down to 4 outs. The river is the wrong paint card, K♠ and I go out in 19th. $4.30 cash for my efforts and overall pleased that I was able to make another deep run at this especially after a close to two-month hiatus.
So while this was going on I was also keeping an eye on the Sunday night football game of course. I had a very slim lead and was just hoping that the Cardinals offense would be kept off the field as I didn't like my chances even with my remaining player on the field, as his would be on the field at the same time. Game goes into OT tied at 3, Cardinals win the toss and take the ball and drive down the field. Johnson gets the ball a few times and I think Fitzgerald had a reception on the drive. Not sure but it ends on a FG and I'm ahead 144-141 after a Cardinal FG gives them the lead. If the game ends on the ensuing possession, it's over and I win my matchup.
But it didn't. Seattle was able to get into FG range and tie the game which now turned it into a sudden death game. Cardinals complete a few passes and get one that gets them to the 5 yard line. I figure good, they'll set up for the game winning FG and end the game right now. But they didn't. They instead give to Johnson who is stopped JUST shy of the goal line. Or was he? He was marked short but a review could give him the game winning TD. Instead of waiting to see if it would be reviewed the Cardinals try running another play with Johnson but instead are stuffed at the goal line. Then they miss the FG! Crazy!
Seattle marches down the FG and gets into chip shot range and Hauschka misses a 29 yarder, wow! At this point under a minute left so the Cardinals have to get it down field to have any kind of shot. Johnson is only in there as a blocker at this point, Fitzgerald gets a 19 yard reception in the final seconds but the game ends in a tie and I narrowly escape with a win. So last week I lost by 1 yard, and this week I won by 1 yard, or perhaps less than that. Crazy game. More variance than poker, lol!
Finally FWIW the game actually ended before my tournament did. So I was actually still playing while all of this was going on.
I've been running pretty bad with other shit lately. My bowling has been below par this season, barely averaging over 200 when I was a 220 bowler last season. Actually so disgusted with how I'm running in that game that I took the night off tonight. Also was talked into joining a fantasy football league this year and running shitty in that too. Going into this week 2-4 record with 2 matches being lost by a single point. Last week I had Larry Fitzgerald in a PPR league and he gets me 49 yards in the Monday Night Game. If he gets 1 more yard I at least tie, one more reception for any positive gain I win. So frustrating.
So tonight I'm at home and I enter the freeroll but I'm also watching the Sunday Night Game. I'm up in my match 131-118 and we each have 1 player left. I have Fitzgerald, he has David Johnson. Of course Johnson goes absolute bonkers in this game and it seemed like for awhile he was getting the ball on every fucking snap. Palmer was both passing and handing off to him. Fitzgerald is getting a few receptions but it's a close game going into the 4th quarter because Johnson manages to get 20+ points in a game that had no touchdowns! More on that later.
So I'm dealing with that while I play the freeroll. Get my starting 2k stack to close to 3k doing nothing spectacular, just making good raises and bets and so forth. Get to the ante stage with blinds 100/200 and a 25 ante and pick up J♠J♥ on the button. Folded to me with 2780 in chips and I make it 800. SB folds, BB who has me well covered calls. Flop comes 9♠3♦3♣ and he checks to me. I shove for what basically amounts to a pot sized bet. He tanks and then calls with A♦J♦ and thankfully bricks both the turn and river. That gets me into a good chip position as I had fallen under the average going into that hand. Not sure what he thinks I could have there. If he thinks I'm making a move with something like a medium/small suited connector or KJ/QJ he should just put me all-in preflop.
Get moved to another table and pick up A♥Q♣ OTB with blinds now 200/400 with a 50 ante. A middle position player opens for 400 and not having a read on the player or the table I elect to flat. BB defends and it's 3 to a flop of 9♠3♣7♣. Checked to me and I consider taking a stab but check it back. Turn Q♠ and it gets checked to me again. I bet 1800 into 3000 and it down. Pretty standard I think but this got me to a little over 8k in chips.
An orbit and change later I'm UTG+1 at what's now an 8-handed table with A♠K♦ and raise to 1700 with blinds now 250/500+60. BB who has me covered is the only caller. Flop K♠T♦8♠ and with 4130 in the pot I just shove after being checked to for my final 6240 as any reasonable bet would commit me anyhow. BB folds and I'm now over 10k in chips.
However I start to get reversals after that with escalating blinds and then raising UTG preflop (at what's now a 7-handed table) with KQo and having to fold it after the player to my immediate left re-raises me for just about the rest of my chips. Right after that get moved again to another table and we're now within 10 places of the money.
At this point I'm saying to myself, I need to at least make the money in this tournament. It's not about the $1.35 I'd get for coming in 70th but rather for my own personal self-esteem as sad as that may sound. I need something POSITIVE to happen. But the new table actually worked out for me. The 3 players left of me all have fewer chips. One of them is automatically all-in for less than the BB when I pick up K♥9♥ in the BB and get a free look at 5 cards when the other players decline to play. It holds up unimproved against his Q♦5♦. Very next hand I'm in the SB with 66 with blinds having just gone from 500/1000 to 1000/2000 and I open-shove with 66 against the SB who had 1730 behind. I knew he couldn't call just 3 places from the money so I would have shoved with any two there. He folded.
A few hands later we're on the tournament bubble just one place out of the money and I pick up A♦Q♥ in the CO. We're 8-handed now as one player at our table busted the hand before and 2nd to act limps in for 1k with 4215 behind. Silly player. Folded to me and I raise to 6k (I had about 8900 to start the hand after posting the ante) which is enough to put the button, either blind, or the limper all-in as I have them covered. I know no matter what I cannot be eliminated this hand and they can so I thought I'd be getting four folds and we'd be moving on to the next hand.
Not to be. Both the BB and the limper call, wasn't expecting that. Limper actually had A♣K♠ and the limper had T2o (wtf?!?). Board runs out K♣Q♠T♣J♦K♦ and I'm happy to chop with the limper there and cement my place in the money.
Managed to win an all-in vs a short stack with A8 vs 65 and then steal a few blinds to stay afloat but went card dead for a bit and then had only about 11k with somewhere around 50 players left. I had to shove on the button with K♦J♣ as blinds are now 1250/2500-310. SB calls, BB folds and he turns over A♥8♥ but my offsuit hand and it's ability to make two flushes comes to fruition when the flop comes 9♦5♦3♦ with a 2♦ on the turn to seal it for me before a meaningless Q♠ on the river. That puts me at over 25k and keeps me in the tournament.
Find myself down to the final 20 players but my stack has gone down to 19k and blinds are 4000/8000-500. I'm UTG with Q♦T♦ and stick it in. Blinds are going to go up any minute now so really this is a mandatory shove (was quite card dead before after that KJ hand so didn't get a chance to shove before). Folded to SB who re-shoves for 41k. Shit. BB folds and he has the goods, or at least good enoughs, A♥J♦. Flop comes A♦K♥8♠ and after a 3♣ turn I am down to 4 outs. The river is the wrong paint card, K♠ and I go out in 19th. $4.30 cash for my efforts and overall pleased that I was able to make another deep run at this especially after a close to two-month hiatus.
So while this was going on I was also keeping an eye on the Sunday night football game of course. I had a very slim lead and was just hoping that the Cardinals offense would be kept off the field as I didn't like my chances even with my remaining player on the field, as his would be on the field at the same time. Game goes into OT tied at 3, Cardinals win the toss and take the ball and drive down the field. Johnson gets the ball a few times and I think Fitzgerald had a reception on the drive. Not sure but it ends on a FG and I'm ahead 144-141 after a Cardinal FG gives them the lead. If the game ends on the ensuing possession, it's over and I win my matchup.
But it didn't. Seattle was able to get into FG range and tie the game which now turned it into a sudden death game. Cardinals complete a few passes and get one that gets them to the 5 yard line. I figure good, they'll set up for the game winning FG and end the game right now. But they didn't. They instead give to Johnson who is stopped JUST shy of the goal line. Or was he? He was marked short but a review could give him the game winning TD. Instead of waiting to see if it would be reviewed the Cardinals try running another play with Johnson but instead are stuffed at the goal line. Then they miss the FG! Crazy!
Seattle marches down the FG and gets into chip shot range and Hauschka misses a 29 yarder, wow! At this point under a minute left so the Cardinals have to get it down field to have any kind of shot. Johnson is only in there as a blocker at this point, Fitzgerald gets a 19 yard reception in the final seconds but the game ends in a tie and I narrowly escape with a win. So last week I lost by 1 yard, and this week I won by 1 yard, or perhaps less than that. Crazy game. More variance than poker, lol!
Finally FWIW the game actually ended before my tournament did. So I was actually still playing while all of this was going on.
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