Not Bad, For A Rookie...

I'm not off to Australia... Which really doesn't surprise me, so I'm not really disappointed in it. I finished 16th of 42 players. I have to say I really did have a good tournement. I got into a little bit of trouble early on when my AK didn't amount to anything and I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar trying to represent a hand, but made it back up a few hands later with a well played AA against the chip monster on the table. My stack pretty much followed the tournement average for the entire go-round. Then this happens. I get 67h in the small blind. Folded around to me so I pop it up to 3x the BB for the steal and get called... Flop gives me the open ended straight draw and 4 to the flush. I throw out a pot sized bet and BB doubles it. Hmmmm. BB is a good player but is in chip trouble, so this raise could mean anything. I check, he shoves. I have him readily covered in chips so I call it and I catch my straight on the river to knock him out.

Next hand I get AA on the button. A couple of limpers and I pop it for a decent raise to see if they're serious. SB (an equal stack to me) calls and the limpers bow out. Flop comes with a rainbow of low cards and I'm thinking I'm money here. SB throws out a pot sized bet and I double it. He calls and a K of whatever falls. No flush possible and I'm feeling pretty good about my aces. SB checks and I sense weakness, so I shove and he calls and turns over a pair of 8's. I'm eleated until I notice an 8 fell on the flop. No help for the Klingon and I'm gone. Hero to Zero in two hands.

That's Poker!

I did WHAT?!

Congratulations,The_ICP! You won Entry to Aussie Million Satellite A.

I won the damn freeroll! How's that for a friggin return to the game? So, tonight I get to play the multi-table qualifier. Not sure HOW I'm actually going to make a showing to that, seeing as how I'm going to be out of town in Elgin tonight, but I'll give it the college effort to try to get 'er done.

I almost wish I could just take the cash equivalent to the freeroll and run!

Moving In Stereo

Knocked out about 180 hands this morning towards the 500, and made out almost $10 to the good. Since I'm just trying to build the bankroll back to a comfortable level and get my sea legs back under me, I'm playing ultra-conservative. I missed out on a couple of hands I would have won on, including one where I was sort of trolling along with KJo with two people in who kept betting into me, so I just called away. River brought a third heart and I figured I was dead. EP betting out only solidified my feeling so I folded away, only to be shown a split pot between the other two... One with K5o and the other with K7o. My KJo would have been good for a moderately good pot... Oh well... I think I would have lost that hand more then I would have won it, but it still stung a little bit. As usual, I was in some trouble early on, but most of it was missed hands rather then beaten hands. All in all a pretty standard day, and it helped my confidence immensely to start this all off with a notch in the Win column.

I'm going to have to do some more research on that Aussie million thing to see when I'd have to play the qualifier in the unlikely event I win the sub-qualifier sit and go. It'll be fun to get into one of those though, especially since I apparently don't have to pay for it!

Rebirth

It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything.


So another month passes by and not a peep from me on the ICP. I do most thoroughly suck. It's not that things aren't happening, it's just that I've been busy dealing with the things that have been happening.

The business venture I mentioned earlier is still alive... Well, dormant, but alive. I've reached the point where I need to raise capital, and my potential investors are dragging their feet, so I'm probably going to have to think about funding this little venture myself... Not impossible, but it will severely delay the start of business.

Perhaps the biggest buzz kill of this month though is United has decided to arbitrarily place all of the work my company provides to the company up for bid. Nevermind that we just went though this shit a year ago and had a contract with the company. Thanks to the wonders of the Bankruptcy court, they can simply ball up our contract and toss it in the fire. WE, of course, are offered no such freedom since we, you know, have a contract. The legal system is broken. Anyway, we pretty much will know in 45 days whether or not I still have a job. If it turns out we get shoved out the door, I'm pretty much well and truly fucked, but since there's precisely dick I can do about it at the moment, I'm choosing to bury my head in the sand and hope it all works out.

But, this is the Intrepid Card Player, not the Intrepid whiner, so onto information you'd care about. I got an email from Lucy Jones (anyone who plays at Party knows her well) telling me about a free $50 in my account. I have to play 500 hands by the 28th to make it mine, so I have to get to it, since I'm going to be out of town for Thanksgiving. I really don't want to multi-table just yet, but with 500 hands to complete in limited time, I may well have to just to meet the deadline. Also handed down was a freeroll on the Aussie Million sit and go. I'd really rather I just got the money equivalent of that in my bonus account, but what the heck, when you've got nothing you've got nothing left to lose, so I'll take the shot at that and see what happens here in the next few days.

I'm kind of stoked about getting back into the game, but some of that excitement might just be the possibility that I can pull off the same stunt I pulled the last time I plunked down $50 into Party. I think several months off should be good enough to break the hideous streak I was on, so here's hoping my skills are still at least semi-intact... Of course, the 50/1 level is sort of a crapshoot, so I have about an even chance of doubling or busting before the 500 hands are through. No comment on the freeroll, but I don't have my hopes set too high on that one.

Always hard to argue with free money, though. The ICP is back.... Hopefully for more then a weekend.