Blogger's Tournament.

First off, congratulations to Scott McMillan for his 14th place finish in this thing. That'll be good for an X-Box 360, which I'd prefer of the flat-screen monitor anyway.

My tournamnet started like a roller coaster, then I flatlined. I went out in like 226th, after more than two hours of play. Seeing as how it was my first MTT in a while, I had to concentrate on keeping my focus. My goal was to not call an bet that got me all-in dominated. Whether I accomplished that goal is debateable.

*********** # 176 **************
PokerStars Game #2875680814: Tournament #13081516, Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2005/10/23 - 18:12:49 (ET)
Table '13081516 85' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: All_In_Mrs (2830 in chips)
Seat 2: StiffKing (14790 in chips)
Seat 3: Reamer (12005 in chips)
Seat 4: iggy38 (20163 in chips)
Seat 5: Roswell (4200 in chips)
Seat 6: BurntOrnge (2400 in chips)
Seat 7: mroy19 (3254 in chips)
Seat 8: CaptainLen (4970 in chips)
Seat 9: jerge88 (3819 in chips)
All_In_Mrs: posts the ante 50
StiffKing: posts the ante 50
Reamer: posts the ante 50
iggy38: posts the ante 50
Roswell: posts the ante 50
BurntOrnge: posts the ante 50
mroy19: posts the ante 50
CaptainLen: posts the ante 50
jerge88: posts the ante 50
StiffKing: posts small blind 300
Reamer: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BurntOrnge [Ad Jh]
iggy38: folds
Roswell: raises 3550 to 4150 and is all-in
BurntOrnge: calls 2350 and is all-in
mroy19: folds
CaptainLen: folds
jerge88: folds
All_In_Mrs: folds
StiffKing: calls 3850
Reamer: folds
*** FLOP *** [2h 6s 8d]
*** TURN *** [2h 6s 8d] [Kd]
BurntOrnge said, "nh"
Ribs [observer] said, "ding"
*** RIVER *** [2h 6s 8d Kd] [7s]
Roswell said, "omg"
simply3 [observer] said, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAQQQQQQ"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
StiffKing: shows [Qs As] (high card Ace)
Roswell: shows [8s 8h] (three of a kind, Eights)
Roswell collected 3600 from side pot
BurntOrnge: shows [Ad Jh] (high card Ace)
Roswell collected 8100 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 11700 Main pot 8100. Side pot 3600. | Rake 0
Board [2h 6s 8d Kd 7s]
Seat 1: All_In_Mrs (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: StiffKing (small blind) showed [Qs As] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 3: Reamer (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: iggy38 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Roswell showed [8s 8h] and won (11700) with three of a kind, Eights
Seat 6: BurntOrnge showed [Ad Jh] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: mroy19 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: CaptainLen folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: jerge88 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Anyone fold there? I honestly did put him on a mid-pair, though I think he plays AQ the
same way. Maybe I should have folded only because there were so many left to act
behind me.

I did have a couple of highlights. Here's an early hand.

*********** # 9 **************
PokerStars Game #2874678919: Tournament #13081516, Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2005/10/23 - 16:07:50 (ET)
Table '13081516 85' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: All_In_Mrs (1665 in chips)
Seat 2: jimismits (1640 in chips)
Seat 3: dabrat76 (3480 in chips)
Seat 4: desolace (1970 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 5: Roswell (1970 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 6: BurntOrnge (2295 in chips)
Seat 7: mathwise (3090 in chips)
Seat 8: gdshaffer (1890 in chips)
dabrat76: posts small blind 10
desolace: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BurntOrnge [Ah As]
Roswell: folds
BurntOrnge: raises 40 to 60
mathwise: folds
gdshaffer: calls 60
All_In_Mrs: folds
jimismits: folds
dabrat76: calls 50
desolace: folds
*** FLOP *** [9c 2s 3s][b] nice flop for me [/b]
dabrat76: checks
BurntOrnge: bets 175
gdshaffer: raises 325 to 500 [b] I start thinking overpair here, with an outside chance of A9[/b]
dabrat76: folds
BurntOrnge: calls 325 [b] I think a re-raise could push him off an overpair,
and I know if I'm beat I'll get called. So raising doesn't seem smart. [/b]
*** TURN *** [9c 2s 3s] [4s]
BurntOrnge: checks
Finalkut is connected
gdshaffer: bets 400
BurntOrnge: raises 1335 to 1735 and is all-in [b] maybe I shouldn't have done it like this.
It gives him a chance to fold thinking flush, but I wanted him to put in some more chips before
making my move.
gdshaffer: calls 930 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [9c 2s 3s 4s] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BurntOrnge: shows [Ah As] (a pair of Aces)
gdshaffer: shows [Jd Jh] (a pair of Jacks)
BurntOrnge collected 3860 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3860 | Rake 0
Board [9c 2s 3s 4s 6d]
Seat 1: All_In_Mrs folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: jimismits (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: dabrat76 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: desolace (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Roswell folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: BurntOrnge showed [Ah As] and won (3860) with a pair of Aces
Seat 7: mathwise folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: gdshaffer showed [Jd Jh] and lost with a pair of Jacks

My stats for this thing sucked.
You finished in 262nd place (eliminated at hand #2875680814).

176 hands played and saw flop:
- 5 times out of 20 while in small blind (25%)
- 12 times out of 20 while in big blind (60%)
- 8 times out of 136 in other positions (5%) [b] tight? [/b]
- a total of 25 times out of 176 (14%)

Pots won at showdown - 2 out of 6 (33%) [b] that's a problem. [/b]
Pots won without showdown - 16

Once the blinds got significant, I only had one premium hand (aces) and I took the blinds with them. It sucked.