Chipleader.

Is there any better word in a poker player's lexicon? Other than "champion", I contest that there is not.

Of course, being chipleader means squat if you inevitably implode and nosedive to a mediocre finish. I didn't do that yesterday. In fact, I didn't do that today, either.

The end of the month is our slow time at work, and this month seems even more abnormally slow. Being that it's impossible to use "I didn't know it was a porn site! I swear" as an excuse(one get out of jail free card) again, I decided to fire up PokerStars to see if any MTT's were about to start. For some reason my company hasn't deemed it necessary to block it. Not that I mind, though.

The only tournament that fit my bankroll was the $5.50+R, and even though I despise rebuy tournaments because it's tough for me to sit around for 6+ hours, I made the decision to register for it, under the stipulation that I'd only invest $10, total. Only one rebuy or add on. Hell, I figured I'd be out by the first break, so why not join in and play like a retard for an hour or two?

Looking back over the hand histories, I didn't even play like a retard as intended. The best laid plans blahbbity blahb. In fact, I folded 40 out of the first 45 hands. That got me to right before the first break with right around T1200, so I figured I'd rebuy and see where that took me. Now, I don't play rebuys. Ever. Is it normal for one person to continuously push in right before the rebuy period ends? Because that's what happened on my table.

Push, push, push, that's all he did. Always with crap. A few hands he sucked out, and the rest left him with very little in chips and he'd rebuy again. I told myself that if I got any decent ace, I'd push and hope to double up off this wanker. Hey, look, that's AJo! And hey, look, that guy just pushed before me! Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner! Auto-call.

We both miss and I double up with ace high. Damn that's a nice feeling when a plan comes together like that.

Without taking the T2000 add-on, I was sitting at about T5500 and the blinds 75/150, which is about all I could ask for with the cards I was getting. And then the rush happened. In the course of about 15 hands, I went from T5500, to T15000 and by the time the second break came around, I was in...the chip lead?

That doesn't sound right.

But it was. I was the chipleader at T169000. Not a big chiplead, mind you, but a chiplead nonetheless. I'd forgotten how fun this game can be when you have a monster pile of chips and get to suck out on the lower stacks. On the road to the final table, I only sucked out once to stay in the tournament and only had one, maybe two, people suck out on me to stay alive.

The time I sucked out was really a re-suck suckout. When down to the final tables in these tournaments, it's either all-in or fold, unless you're a huge stack. I was dealt 9's on the button and pushed with only an M of about 8. I was called by the BB, who held AKo

And their off!

A friggin' king flopped and I thought my tournament life was over somewhere in the teens. Wait, what's that? It looks so pretty. It's almost blinding, but is that? Could it be the 9 of diamonds? It is! It is! Nines have been good to my since the WPBT, when they helped me destroy Pauly, sending him to the rail crying for a drink. So, I doubled after actually winning a race for once. See, Mr. Speaker and Drizz? It really can happen! Come to think of it, I won a race against QQ when I was holding AKo, and I can't remember the last time that's every happened for me.

The only hand that really hurt me was getting called by 22 after pushing with QQ. I was sitting here, talking with a coworker after the flop was dealt.

"The only card that can hurt me is another 2" I nonchalantly spewed after the turn was dealt, but before the river puked up a third 2.

"You deserved that." my coworker replied.

Yeah, I completely jinxed myself, so what? Oof.

I held on to finish 6th/4xx (knocked out when my 66 in the BB rain into the button's aces) for a payday of about $400. Not bad for a $10.50 investment. At first I said "I'm happy with it, because I don't think I could finished any higher". Not that I would've thrown the 6's at that point, but I didn't feel outclassed in any way leading up to the final table. Even though one player had a huge chiplead by the time we reached the final 9, I didn't feel like I'd lucked into my first Stars--but definitely not my last--final table appearance, which is a goal I'd set out for myself at the beginning of this year. I had a post about year long goals, but I can't find it now. Crap.

Today, I entered the $5.50(no rebuy) tourney on Stars and finished 11th/6xx. I was bumped out right before the final table by runner-runner club flush when I'd had him dominated with top pair. Oh well. The payday on today's tourney was craptacular, but at least I feel as if I'm learning.

I really won't be satisfied, though, until I learn how to win one of these tournaments, regardless of payout or entry fee.