The rest of the poker weekend

Saturday stunk. I should've taken a (poker) day off and read a book or something. I had a short stint at UB. Four sit 'n goes: ninth, tied for tenth, sixth, seventh place finishes. Add to that a quick knockout in a freeroll, and a $2 in/$0 out at pot-limit Omaha. Second-best hands and pushing at the wrong times are frustrating.

Sunday was much more interesting. After having full apartment after full apartment as a poker host, it was odd to have only four others show up for the $10 tourney. Esther, Daniel (who sounds way too much like Mike Tyson), Woody, Paul, and me.

I busted out first, in record time for me, less than a half hour after the add-on. After raising preflop, I check-raised Daniel as a semi-bluff, and he tenaciously hung on to his T8 offsuit. His top pair held up, and my flush draw and overcards were no good after the blanks on the turn and river. I hadn't played Daniel much before, though he busted out several times on Thursday before running up his stack to more than $50. From what I can tell, he's loose, he'll draw to flushes, and he doesn't like to fold. His luck should run dry if he keeps it up when my table is full.

In restrospect, if I'm going to push my semi-bluff, I need to go all-in on the flop, instead of checkraising.

Daniel busted out next, followed by Paul. We decided at the add-on break to pay out the top two, $65 and $30. I was pleased to see Esther get into the money. She and Woody had no rebuys, unlike the rest of us.

My theory on Esther is that she's a much better player when she's been drinking. I now have to add "when she's already in the money" to the theory. Once it got to heads-up, she got much more aggressive pre- and post-flop. When I mentioned this, she explained that she cares less because she's already guaranteed some money.

I dealt for the two, and they went back and forth. Esther made another preflop raise. Woody, who had about a 60/40 chip lead at the time, went all-in over the top of her. She thought about it (entirely too long), and called to flip over pocket kings. Kings? How can you think about that for even a second when heads-up? Woody had J3 offsuit, hit a three on the flop and a jack on the turn. Suckout city. The river didn't help Esther, but she didn't mind much. She was happy with her second place money.

I did snag a first place in the only $5 sng I played on Sunday. My play to get into the money was solid, but my win was pure suckout. While heads-up, Number2 held 33, I had 76 offsuit. The flop was 377. The turn was a 2, and the river was a 2. I think we were slowplaying each other and all the money didn't go in until the showdown, but I was a huge 'dog the whole way. That crippled him, and I finished him off in another underdog hand, A8 offsuit vs his pocket 7's, with all the money in preflop and an ace on the river. I'll take it!

Last ten $5 sng's: 8, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, T10, 6, 7, 1. $55 in, $90 out. I should definitely keep at these things. I'm considering a mix of $5 and $10 sng's when my bankroll hits $500. Yeah, and that tie for tenth is me getting pimpslapped on the first hand with AK vs AQ vs A9, flop of AQx, and I couldn't get away from it.

UB update: $436.05 real, $276.14 bonus, 4405.40 points.