I'm too tired to make a coherent, flowing post. So, you get a bullet post containing mostly poker related, some tidbits far removed from this blog's purpose. Without further ado, I give you;

A Week in My (sometimes) Poker Life
by Chachi Arcola

In the past week, I've played in 4 of the newer $36 MTT on Doyle's room and cashed in three of them. Each tourney had approximately 150 players entered, and I finished 11th, 18th, 50th(ick) and 6th last night, respectively. In last night's 6th place finish--while in the middle of a silly-assed fantasy football draft, mind you--I held the chip lead from the 5th level until the final table, and damn it, I stand by my previous post on being the chipleader; It's fan-fucking-tastic.

An interesting hand came up with the blinds 1000/2000, no antes. We're playing short-handed and playing hand-for-hand to boot, and I'm dealt 66 in the SB. There's one EP limper, I complete and the BB checks. Flop: 6-9-4, two suited cards, not matching either of my 6's. Instead of getting cute, I bet right out with the size of the pot(T6000) and the BB calls. The limper folds. Turn is a queen that doesn't complete a flush draw and I push all in(about T20,000), figuring that the BB will fold his flush draw for fear of going out on the bubble. He was the 2nd biggest stack at the table, so I didn't think he'd want to jeopordize his whole tournament when he was assured of making more than bubble money.

Instead he insta-calls with 94o, gets no help on the river and goes from 2nd to 19th in one unraised pot gone horribly awry. If you were that guy, could you have gotten away from the hand?

Of course this one, lucky hand made me the huge chipleader with more than 2-1 on anyone else at the final two tables. From that point on, I didn't waver that much in chipstack size, sitting right around T50,000 until we got down to the final table. Still the chipleader, but not by as wide a margin.

And then, Card Dead City, baby. I just didn't get any cards when people would raise all-in, and getting sucked out on by A2s while holding AQo didn't help much either. That's the how my tournament game has been playing out lately; play well enough to put myself in a position to win, and then get unlucky. That's how it goes, I suppose.

How many people reading this have won more than one of these medium/big tournaments? If so, how? I just don't get how people consistently get by the luck factor.

What is it about a full moon that makes those of the female persuasion absolutely bonkers?

Hey, it was a full moon this weekend, wasn't it?

Why yes, yes it was. 'Nough said.

Hold your thumb and forefinger about an inch or two apart. Go on, nobody's watching. Got it? Don't be a pansy. Good, that's about how close I am to having a bankroll large enough to buy that damn laptop I was pissing and moaning about just one week ago. To say that I'm experiencing the upside of the variance teeter-totter would be an understatement. Or maybe it's just that I'm so wicked awesome, I don't know. It's just too early to tell.

I do know that I've been running decent in $20+2 SNG's on stars, winning 2/4 and placing in the other two. I even dominated one guy so badly heads-up that he sat out with T3000 left and let me blind him down for my win. Either that or he had to crap really badly. I didn't ask.

I'm running so much better in the .50/$1 NL 6 max tables on Doyle's, occasionally taking a stab at the $1/2 NL 6 max. In my opinion, the $1/$2 tables are just as soft, if not softer, than the lower limits, but my bankroll cannot sustain more than a two buy in loss at the level. Not right now, at least. These make up the bulk of my online winnings to date, and it would be a crime to leave them before they dry up, and that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

Vegas in December? Really? And nobody will make fun of my long underwear undershirt this time? What about the fact that my liver processed nary a drop of Soco during that whole June weekend?