Protege Success

Even though I'm attempting this O8 project, I'm also still playing hold'em ring games/tournaments on FCP these days. On Wednesday, I noticed that there was a MTT going on for Seat 5 in DN's Protege contest. It cost $5+.5 and the winner received an entry into a $50 satellite tournament. 11 players signed up. When it got down to 5-handed, I had exactly my starting amount -- 1500 chips. I proceeded to go on an unbelievable card-rush. I had AA and KK in the BB and was able to get all my money in preflop to double up twice. I took more small pots, and before I knew it, I was up around 8k in chips 3-handed. I pushed preflop again with AK v a shorter stack's JJ, but I lost that coinflip. Later, I got all my money in with 10-10 against K-K, and completely lucked out when I had a 10 on the flop. I cruised to the victory.

That win qualified me for the $50 satellite into a $300 tournament which paid out cash like a normal MTT and the winner received a seat for a tournament in March with only the winners of the weekly $300 tournaments. In this $50 sat, only 5 people signed up. One of them was a complete and utter maniac. He went all-in preflop with 7-2 suited (with blinds at 10/20), was called by A-Q, and managed to hit a straight. He knocked out everybody else at the table, and we went to heads-up play with him having a 4-1 chip lead. I decided to just sit and wait, since the blinds (25/50) didn't hurt my stack all that much. I doubled up once when my Q-7 suited went all-in against his 4-4 on a Q high flop. Then, the hand of my month: I had KK in the BB. He raised (like he did every hand) 4x the BB. I decided to just push because I figured he would call with any two cards (seriously, this guy was an utter maniac). Sure enough, he called for over half his stack with..8-7 off. Flop: 10-8-6. Turn: 8. I threw my hands up in disgust. River: K. So, I spiked my two-outer and gave myself a huge chip lead. The next hand, I got QJ suited, and he open-pushed with A-10. I called and made quad jacks.

The $300 tournament was yesterday at 5:00. I have never, ever played in a tournament with such a huge buy-in. Honestly, I was pretty nervous. I wanted to qualify for the March tournament, because being DN's protege would just be an amazing experience. With about an hour left to tournament time, there was only 3 people signed up. I was pumped. Then, 5 more people signed up over the last hour. We started 8-handed with extra large stacks of 2500 chips. My down-fall began with blinds at 75/150 (now 6-handed) when I had KQ suited from the SB. A player, Vatche, opened in the CO for a 3.5x BB raise. He did this nearly every orbit, but I decided to just smooth call and look at the flop. The flop was J-x-A. I checked, and he checked behind me. The turn was a brick, and I took a shot at the pot, betting about 3/4ths of it, committing a lot of my stack. Vatche called, and I was finished with the hand. The river blanked and I check/folded. I had lost half my stack on a bluff. I wasn't happy. The next hand, I got AK. UTG, another short stack, opened for 4x the BB. I pushed all-in, he called with JJ and the J-5-5 flop finished me.

I had 80 chips left. And then...the unbelivable happened again. I quadrupled up with 8-7 suited on the next hand. Then, I managed to win 4 straight coinflips to double up each time. When we were 4-handed, I was exactly tied with two other players for second place. When one of the other short stacks (Vatche again) raised preflop for half of our stacks, I pushed with 3-3. He called with K-7 suited, and I made quad 3s. Somehow, I had cashed. I busted out in 3rd, good for $480. Not a bad investment from my $5.50.

I also moved my money from UB to Paradise Poker. I did this because I'm completing a PokerSourceOnline promotion to get a set of the Nevada Jacks' chips. I've wanted these things for a while, so I decided to finally do it. I'm moving exactly half of my FCP money into my "O8" fund, so that is quite a nice boost.

Party: + $27.60
UB/Paradise: + $26.25
Tournament: + $240
Total: + $293.85

Left to go: ($1906.15)