Of bubbles... and beyond

Oh poker... my love-hate relationship with you continues to be more ambivalent than ever. On Saturday I played in Event #49 of the World Series. It was a $1500 NL Hold'em tournament and I won my entry by playing in a few sit 'n go satellites. I have to admit I was nervous when the cards first went in the air but after a few hands I calmed down and zoned in. The structure was interesting because you only start with 60 big blinds but the increments were relatively flat so it meant that you really had to pick your spots wisely. I felt like I played my A+ game the entire day. I was dealt aces three times in the first hour and a half but after that I went card-dead and was surviving on pure blind and pot stealing alone. I was really happy that I was able to follow through on my reads and make the plays I did. Unfortunately as the day went on I became short-stacked and had to get my money all-in on a coin flip and lost but that's the way it goes. It's frustrating to play a tournament for nine hours and have nothing to show for it and even more frustrating that I don't have the bankroll to play more WSOP events because I felt, to my surprise, that I actually had a pretty good edge on the field, which was even weaker that I expected. Plus I had a lot of fun. The next day I was back playing cash games at the Wynn to rack up more hours for the freeroll. At the table where I was initially seated, I don't think there was a pot reached $18 so I requested a table change and ended up at a table with this really funny couple. They each had a stack of benjamins on the table and the girl had a diamond the size of the dealer button. They didn't play that well and were predictable and making ridiculously huge bets. By the end of the night they had gone through their stacks, which I'm sure was pennies to them. When I went back to the Wynn the next day, I found out that I couldn't make enough hours to qualify for the freeroll, which I think wass because they forget to count some of my hours. So I was pissed about that because I had been playing a lot there lately at it's not definitely not my favourite place. However it did free up my day today, which meant I got to play a H.O.R.S.E. tournament at the Golden Nugget. Mixed game tourneys are rare so a lot of the local pros come to play them when they do take place. At one point I was sitting at a table with a guy who had a World Series bracelet! I didn't recognize him though. Even though there were a lot of mixed game specialists I held my own and went deep again, only to finish on the bubble in 19th spot. (18 places were paid.) I had an above-average stack at dinner break with 29 people to go but could not get anything going after that. So another solid day of poker and another disappointing result. Oh well... I was flipping through the channels when I came home tonight and came across a documentary about Darfur. There's also a poker charity event happening tomorrow to support the people of that region. Sometimes it's easy to forget that there are more important things in life to worry about.