Thursday, February 15, 2007

On The Way Home

Wow, its been a while since i last posted. Theres been alot of stuff going on with my life here in singapore. That will have to wait though, Im due for a needed vacation. Im in the budget terminal opposite changi now posting a short blog, waiting to board my flight home to good ol' philippines. Heading back in about a week. Rest and relaxation here i come!

Been playin a lot of online poker, mostly on Mansion, Poker.Com and Full Tilt. Mansion has some really sick overlays, with their GTD 100k tourneys with just 400+ players at the most every night with $100 buyin, its real bang for your buck if you get lucky. I got in through a satellite and unfortunately wen broke early when my Kings got outdrawn by 8-T offsuit on the river. Oh well. At poker.com, they have $50 freerolls every 2 hours, so I usually play 4 every night, when I get the chance. I cashed at 8th place on my very first one and got $1.50 for my troubles. Not bad. Couple days later, I get first place and $12. Thats when I started playing the 2.20 sngs and smaller buy-in tourneys. My current BR there is at about $40. Something from nothing isnt bad. Last tuesday, 11finger sent me a message asking me to join his private tourney on FTP. Told him I had no cash on Full Tilt and asked him to spot me 11bucks to play, id just send him the money the next day. After a good start on the regular SnG, I was down to 500 at 25-50 blinds and was not looking well. Couple of well-timed pushes and calls got me ITM and eventually first place. The exact same scenario happened on the turbo SnG. Managed to stay afloat with 4 players left, albeit the shortstack. When I reached the money, I decided to play smart poker, not just push when I see a pretty face card. I had a pretty good read on the table, especially on the chip leader. A couple of select calls for all my chips put me at about even to both remaining players. In late position, I pick up aces and just call the big blind. 3rd in chips pushes all-in and I feel great. But even better, chip leader pushes as well. I insta-call and 3rd shows AQ, CL shows 9s and my aces hold up. AQ busts out and CL left with less than 600. 2 hands later I get 1st again. Very well played I thought. Sent the 11bucks I owed to 11finger right away and thanked him. He said that he should get all 30bucks! Hehe. Backer ko na si 11finger! hehe.

Played 0.05/0.10 at FTP last night and bought in for max at $10. After being down to 6bucks, I tightened up and managed to get up to 11bucks. Player to my right was very loose and liked to raise pots. One hand he raised to 0.35 as usual and I look down (if its possible to look down at a laptop monitor, lol) at QTs and decide to call. Headsup going to the flop and hit my flush immediately. He bets 2/3 of pot and I call. He checks the turn, and so do I. He bets 2/3 pot on river and I min reraise. He calls and shows 69s, also hitting his flush on flop. A little later he raises prelfop again and I call with QJo. I hit my Q on flop and just call all his bets. I get 10 bucks from the pot and he shows a busted straight draw when he bets big on river. I finally bust him when I raise preflop LP with KQo and get two callers. Flop comes with a Q and 2 suited babies. Checked to me and I bet half the pot. EP calls and maniac raises 3x my bet. I call after a few seconds, afraid that he may have hit 2 pair with his rag and decide that If I dont improve or he bets big on turn, to just throw it away. I turn another Q and he pushes all-in. At this point, if hes got a full house or limped with AQ, then so be it, but the way he's been playing, Ill take my chances. I call and he shows 78o and hit his 7 on flop. He just types "lol, nh, gg". I quit little bit later with $24 winnings. Not bad at all!

Anyways, flight is boarding now. Gotta run. Dunno if i can play when I get to manila, will try and squeeze it in though. Id rather spend time with the family and girlfriend.


Peace all! thanks for reading!