Live blogging WWdN#15: KentAllard Invitational

8:30 I feel good. I'm still alive. I fold 93c in the small blind for my first hand. kaellinn18 is the only familiar face at my table. When I tell him I recognize him from previous tournaments, he says:

Sweet! I'm famous
Move over Wil

8:33 SirFWALGMan arrives, just in time. He says he flew in at warp 9

8:35 Tactix from Calgary is out in 83rd place. I've avoided ultimate donkey-dom this time.

8:36 Pocket tens in the big blind -- yes! BulletJoe34 raises to 100, and on_thg raises to 300. Bully. I fold and am quietly relieved to see KQ9 drop on the flop.

8:38 Pocket tens yet again. I raise to 100 and everybody else folds. Ah well, I would rather replenish my blinds at this point.

8:42-ish Possibly the play of the game for me, punctuated in part by my own stupidity. Raise to 90 came around to me and my pair of fours; I called on a bit of a whim, another player (Slimeface) called, and to my delight the flop came 8-4-8. However, here's where the stupidity hit: jacked about blogging and hitting the set, I completely forgot about the full boat. How do you forget about something like that? I dunno, but I did. Anyways... Slime and I both ended up checking all the way to the river. Slime bet 120, I reraised to 300, Slime went all in, I called -- and when he showed the 8 I thought I was done. Does this have anything to do with my erratic play? Mayhaps. I said "awesome", aiming it sarcastically at myself, realizing a moment later that I had actually knocked Slime out and now I felt like a complete dick. Apologies were offered and luckily Slime understood.

9:08 I think I've now folded every hand since doubling up. Tight, indeed.

9:11 Pocket 9s. SirFWALGman, with T1282, bets 300. bogieboo (with T4400) calls. I call. Flop comes KQ9. SirFWALGMan bets 300. bogieboo folds. I raise SirFWALGMan all-in. He goes into the tank, and then lays them down. Congratulations on fine play are exchanged all around.

9:18 Everyone folds to me in small blind with 7s-8c.

9:21 I take out kaelinn18 (T476) when my AQo catches a Q on the flop and kaelinn18's pocket 7's don't improve. I feel sad.

9:22 The very next hand, SirFWALGMan goes all in with A-something against bluegillchow's pocket 7's. Deja vu? No, this time an ace and a 7 both hit on the flop and bluegillchow knocks out waffles. Man, this table is nasty!

9:30 Break time: I've achieved both of my goals for this tournament. Now what? I'm a very goal oriented person... umm, let's say that I want to finish in the top 10. Given that I'm currently in 10th place, that should be doable. I grab a large glass of water to wash down the beer that I started the tourney with, take a deep breath, and plunge back into the tournament.

9:39 NHL200X is out when his pocket jacks fail to improve against wwonka's cowboys. wwonka is up to T5500 chips, putting him in 5th place. By doing nothing for three hands, I've dropped to 14th. Hmm. Maybe I have to change my strategy and do something.

9:44 I raise to 4xBB early with KJs; bluegillchow, short-stacked, goes all-in. I call the extra $63 and see that he has 82c. The flop brings an 2 -- oh no, I'm behind! The turn brings a K -- wow, I'm ahead again! And the river brings an 8 -- oh no... I'm impressed by bluegillchow's play of the near-hammer!

9:54 bluegillchow goes down when his QJ runs into elcee's Ax; bluegillchow catches a Q, but elcee pairs up both his ten and his ace to send bluegillchow packing. That means that Joanne1111's family (brother: Tactix, father: bluegillchow) are now all out of this tournament.

10:02 In small blind, I find 82o... everyone folds to me, I raise to 4xBB, and BulletJoe34 folds, allowing me to reveal the bluegillchow near-hammer (unsuited variation)!

10:06 My hammer bluff UTG gets called by Mourn, and he raises on the flop. I fold. So much for the hammer. My stack is now diminished to T1772.

10:07 Aha! Hammer in the big blind. CawtBluffin raises to 3xBB in early position, I go all-in... and CawtBluffin calls, showing pocket queens. Well, that won't do. It really won't do when another queen comes down on the flop. I exit the tourney in 27th place, just ahead of dsheep (28th) and well ahead of NHL200X (43rd). Those hammers will cripple ya... but I'm happy I went out strong

New goal for next tournament -- final table. Yes, look out, I'm going to be on fire next time around!