Solid...

Played in month 4 of the year long Hold 'Em tourney last night. I played pretty solidly and made only a couple of minor mistakes which I think I recovered from rather well. At the very least, I didn't let them eat at me and influence my decision making in subsequent hands. I made it to the final table with a decent stack of chips but the cards had long since gone cold for me and I spent pretty much the rest of the night folding crappy starting hands. I had a pretty decent starting hand that I wanted to get involved with, but was out of position and would have been calling a ridiculous raise, so I grudgingly folded my hand. With exactly $1,025 in chips left, I was dealt a pair of 9's. The blinds were $150/300 and going up in a couple of minutes. The button was making it's way around the table relatively quickly to me and decided that this was my last best chance to make some money so I went all-in pre-flop. The rest of the players folded except for the chip leader (Jeez, I think it was the same guy who put me out last month come to think of it!). Well, as soon as he called me, I knew that I was running into a buzzsaw and let everyone know it. We rolled them and he showed his pocket jacks. Flop, turn, river and I was done.

On the bright side, I earned 19 points and am averaging 17.75 points after 4 months. I'm a little concerned that I'm further back than I think I am because you do get to drop your 2 lowest scores over the course of a year. Despite that, I'm feeling rather comfortable with my game right now, so I'm not too worried - it's a LONG year of poker!

Been Busy Lately...

I know I haven't posted in a while but I've been busy as hell lately. Work got insane around the end of August and hasn't really let up since. As a result, I haven't played a lot of poker or golf since early August. I've also been kinda busy with the new place - purchasing some new furniture and stuff - just trying to make it feel more like a home. I've got a long way to go with that, but I'm making progress. We'll see if Levin Furniture can finally deliver the correct color chair on their third try. I bought 2 brown leather chairs and although they got one of them the right color, they can't seem to get the second one right.

Other than that, I have been able to watch some TV in my free time. There are some good new shows on this fall - heroes is a pretty good show. I don't know exactly how long it will keep my interest, but I've found it interesting so far. Standoff has also grabbed my interest. Studio 60 isn't bad either - very good cast and I have to admit that I have a thing for Amanda Peet - don't know why, I just do. Battlestar Galactica on SciFi another show that I'm horribly addicted to. I know, that's a totally geeky thing to say, but I'm ok with it. It's not the science fiction aspect of it that's drawn me to the show though - the story line and character development has been tremendous. Speaking about story lines, what the hell is up with Lost? I love the show and the characters and the twists and turns the story takes each week, but I must admit that I really have no clue where the writers are going with everything. I suppose that's why I'm so into the show. Geez, you'd think I do nothing but work and watch tv all the time. Thank god for TiVo!

Monday is the next installment of my local WSOP tourney. Played OK last month - didn't make it to the final table though. I wasn't getting cards and almost busted out a couple of times but managed to stay in long enough to earn roughly the same amount of points I had in the previous months. I'm not very confident right now, but I'm not exactly doubting my play either. This month will go a long way to telling what my chances are for the rest of the year.