Oh My God!!!

OMG… I’ve been on hold with Gold’s Gym for over 30 minutes… If my call “was important to” them, I wouldn’t have waited for so long.
OMG… the school year is over… working Summer programs is a much slower/easier pace than the school year… I’m so ready to slow down…
OMG… It’s official… I’ll be moving to Philadelphia at the end of this summer. I’ll be working with Meriwether-Godsey (I don’t see myself ever leaving them… EVER) at our only account in PA, Germantown Academy. I’m in for quite a change. It’s a different type of account in many respects — it’s a P&L (vs a fee at EHS), it’s a day school (vs. Boarding at EHS)… it’s a Monday to Friday gig… and they only serve Breakfast and Lunch… So, I’m going to have to get used to working mornings again… but I should be done by 4 pm or so every day… so Happy Hours are back to being possible again!
OMG… did I mention that I have to move to Philadelphia in the next couple of months? Talk about culture change!! Yeah, it’s still a big city (like DC), but Philly isn’t in the South… And the roads seem narrower there. But everyone has seemed awfully friendly there so far. BUT, I have a convertible, and have to move to a “colder” area to live? 🙁 But maybe I’ll love it there!)
OMG… this past weekend SnB had their final regional poker tournament before the annual tournament next week. To qualify for the regional, you had to win a nightly game or score in the top 50 of those who didn’t win… I won three times, so not a big deal there… To qualify for the annual tournament, you had to win a regional (only six winners totals), or score in the top 100 of those who played in regionals — but to score any “real” points, you had to finish in the top 30 of any regional… In 3 attempts, the closest I got was to about 50th place… so the only way I could qualify for the annual tournament (in my estimation, anyway), was to finish in the top 25-30 of this regional…
Well, I went into this regional with the mindset that I was giong to do just that… make the final 3 tables. And I did mighty well, I think.. but I didn’t make it. I was heartbroken… and I feel like I only played 2 hands badly during all of the tournament.
Some highlights:

• Catching pocket 8’s on the button, and having the flop fall 6-8-6… flopping top boat is a great feeling… I won a good amount of chips on that hand.
• I think that every flop that I saw with a pocket pair, I caught my set… there were some hands where I folded a small pair, and they didn’t hit… it felt like luck was heading my way.
• One hand, I was dealt AK, and raised 3x the Big blind. I only had one caller (and he was very short stacked)… the flop came all rags, so put the guy all in… he called, and turned over pocket queens… the turn and river were blanks too…. I didn’t lose too many chips that hand… but it was the first badly played hand that I came across.
• I tend to tighten up a little towards the middle of the tournamants… not sure why. but I have noticed that, and am working on it… but when the table I was playing at was broken up, I entered the new table as a short stack — where I was top 2 at the previous table. So, I had some making up to do. I probably hit the table with around 5600 chips or so, and the blinds were 500-1000. So, I was into short-stacked playing mode… When I decided to enter a pot, it was all-in, or a fold. Well, I don’t know how it happened, but my “middle-tournament-tightening-up problem” was less tight than the other players at this table. Every time I went all-in, I got a fold. I increased my chips to about 16,200 without ever showing down my cards. It was great… my bluffs were folded to, my raises with small pocket pairs were folded to, my raises with an ace were all folded… I didn’t show a card for an hour…
  And then it got to be about time for the next break… there were 27 players left, and the blinds were 2000-4000, and I had 16,200 chips, and I was probably about average stacked (if not, slightly above average) for the table. With about 3 minutes before break, I’m in the big blind. And everyone folded around to me except the small blind. I haven’t looked at my cards yet, and the small blind ponders it a bit… and then folds.. I won the pot without even looking at the cards…so I turn them over one by one for the whole table to see… first a K, then an A… I would have been able to play that hand with big slick if everyone hadn’t folded to me… my table image of being a raiser could have cost me extra chips… my image also was that I would defend my blinds ruthlessly.
• And on the last hand before the break, I’m the player before the button. Everyone folds to me, and I look down at A-10 suited. I have 18,200 chips. I have to raise… the blinds are 2000-4000, and raising three times the big blind would basically have me pot committed, so I went all in. The dealer folded, the small blind thought and thought and thought, and called me…. he had a few more chips than I did. And then the big blind thought and thought and folded. I was heads up and a little worried. The Small Blind turned over pocket 6’s… I was behind, but only slightly (I was about a 49% – 51% underdog — basically a coin toss). The flop came 3-4-9. I was futher behind (at that point, I had about a 32% chance of winning the hand). The turn came a 5. I had a gutshot straight draw, which was negated by his open-ended straight draw (If the 2 came, he’d have a 6 high-flush, beating out my 5-high flush — I was an 88% – 12% underdog)…. and then came the river… a Jack. In one moment, my chances were gone. There’d be no reaching the extra points… there’d be no qualifying for the annual tournament.
• I’ve replayed that hand in my head COUNTLESS times since then. If I had played it slower, would he have folded ? There’s no way he would have folded at the turn… he was open-ended and had a pocket pair… Would he have folded with just one overcard on the board? I don’t know.
• The guy who busted me almost busted out on his very first hand of the tournament… He flopped trip aces, and had a lower kicker… he was down to 375 chips. Nice Comback!
• The guy who busted me out finished the regionals in 2nd place… Even more impressive comeback!!!

OMG!!