Tour 2787 $1 End 1364 35 Hands

Payout  1st - $510.02,  9th - $39.02, 366-405 - $1.39

Nothing much happened and my chips were going down. I decided to take a chance with pocket 8's. on the BTN. UTG+1 limped in for 60, MP2, HJ, & I  called, SB folded, BB, short-stack raised all-in for 535, which I pretty much expected him to do. UTG+1, MP2, HJ & I called. Though I didn't like calling, I felt I had pot odds to do so, approx 4 to 1. Flop 5h 4s 4h. Here's were it gets tricky as the board paired.  UTG+1 bet all-in for 1405 into the 2705 pot, MP2 called, HJ folded, I decided to call with my last 545. BB had Kh Jh, UTG+1 had Qh 3h, & MP2 had 10d 9d. At this point I still had the best hand. Turn 9h. Well that kills me pretty much though I could still get a FH and beat the heart flush. River 3c. That's it and I'm outta there.

I could have folded at the start and still be there but I'm OK with taking the gamble and try to improve my chip count.

2 HU $2 + .15 End 1st 81 Hands

I didn't think I was going to win this one as I was down to a 680 stack by hand 6. I had 3c 5h as BB. SB limped in for 20 and I called. Flop Ad 5c 3s. I have bottom 2 pair. I decide to slow play and check. SB bets 20 into the 40 pot and I call. Turn 4d. That I didn't like. I had a wheel straight draw, but SB might already have one. I check again and SB bets 60 into the 80 pot. River 2d. Well that gives me my wheel straight as well as the SB one; if that holds we'll chop, but there is also a possible diamond flush out there. I check and SB bets 520 into the 200 pot. I think about it and wonder if he's trying to push me off the chop? Anyway I decide to call. SB shows Ah 6d. He has the wheel straight up to the 6, I only have it up to the 5. No flush, but I still lose.

Hand 12 I get some of those chips back. I'm BB w/Kh Qh. SB open raises and I decide to call w/my last 520 chips. They show 7d 4d. I have two, suited overcards. The board plays out: 10s Ad 5s 9s 2c. I win and double up to 1080 chips. I'm feeling a bit better.

Hand 48. I've been going up and down between roughly 500 to 1000 chips. I'm the BB w/pocket 8's (8c 8h). SB limps in w/50 and I raise to 100, they call. Flop 6d 7h Qh. Only one overcard. I bet 100 into the 200 pot and SB calls. Turn 5h. That gives me an open-ended straight draw but SB could already have the straight. I decide to see if I can push them off this hand and bet all-in, 425, into the 400 pot. Since SB has 2175 chips they decide to call showing 4d 7s. They paired their 7 and also have an open-ended straight draw but only to an 8 high. River 9s. I hit my open-ended straight on the high side and win, doubling up to 1250 chips.

Hand 54 I get closer to even. I'm BB w/10c Ks. SB open raises 2 BB (100) and I call. Flop 6c 8c 5c. I have a 10 high flush draw. I bet 50 into the 200 pot and the SB calls. Turn 7h. The board shows it's likely someone has a straight, I have a gutshot straight draw. I make another min bet of 50 into the 300 pot and SB calls. River 3c. I have the flush, 10 high. Again I min bet 50 into the 400 pot. SB raises me to 200 and I decide to just call since my flush could easily be beat. SB shows Kd 9c. A flush also, but nicely not as high as mine. I have 1475 chips and am breathing a bit easier.

Hand 61. I'm back down to 1050chips. I'm SB w/As 9d. I open raise 2 BB (100) and BB re-raises me to 150, I call. Flop 2s Jd 9h. I pair my 9. BB bets 150 into the 300 pot and raise him to 300 to see what he'll do. He could have a J. BB calls. Turn 4c. BB bets 150 into the 900 pot and I decide to raise him all-in w/my last 600 chips. Either I've got the best hand (paired 9's w/Ace kicker) or he has me beat. BB calls showing 10c 9s. Wow, only a paired 9 too, but a worse kicker! River 5d. For the 1st time in this session I have a substantial lead with 2100 chips to their 900. Far from won, but I'm in a much better position.

By hand 76 I'm back down to 1470 chips. Hand 77 I'm back up to 1950 and shortly after comes hand 81.

Hand 81. I'm SB w/8s 10c. I open-raise 2 BB (160) and BB calls. Flop 2c 8h 3d. I pair my 8 and have top pair. BB checks and I bet 160 into the 320 pot, BB calls. Turn 3h. That pairs the board; I rather that hadn't happened. BB bets 240 into the 640 pot and I think about it for a bit. Could he have trip 3's? I decide that's not likely and call. River 10h. Well that gives me 2 pair but there could be a heart flush out there. BB decided to bet all-in w/670 chips. Again I think a bit about it, but decide he probably doesn't have the flush either. I could be wrong on both my assumptions, but he has liked to bet aggressively in the past, even when he hasn't had the best cares, BUT sometimes he did. Also, I've played passive a lot and often folded to his big raises so he might be figuring I'll do that again. Once I noticed I was playing pretty passive I decided I needed to continue playing that way most of the time and hopefully have the opportunity to trap him with his aggressive betting. I call. BB shows 9d Qs. NOTHING!!  I win.

9 SNG $5 + .50 End 9th 4 Hands

Simple put, poorly played after the 1st hand, ok in the 4th hand. 2nd hand I had AJo, flop was 8c Ac 8s. I bet 1/2 the pot and was called. Turn 4c. Beside the board pairing the 8's, it has 3 clubs. My paired Ace doesn't look that good. The other player bet 400 into the 450 pot after I checked and I raised them to 800. They called. River Kc. There's now 4 clubs on the board. We both check. They show 9d 8d. I was hoping they didn't have the 8. I didn't think they had the club flush. I'm down to 580 in chips.

Hand 3. I have 10c As, UTG. I limp in for 30 and UTG+1 raises to 135. I call. Flop Kc 9c Kd. No real help to me. We all check. Turn 8h. I check, UTG+1 min bets 30 into the 450 pot, MP1 & I call. River 9h. I check, UTG+1 bets 90 into the 540 pot, MP1 folds, and I call to see what he has. He shows Ks 9h having hit a FH on the Flop. I'm down to 325 chips.

Hand 4 I'm the BB w/9h 7c. Three limper's (30) come to me and I check. Flop Jh 9d 4c. I have middle pair. SB checks and I go all-in w/my last 295 chips. MP2 calls, BTN & SB fold. MP2 shows Kh Js pairing their J. Not looking good for me. Turn Qd. River 4h. It's over.

Basically very poor play in hands 2 & 3, with no good explanation for my doing that, since I do know better. I'm OK with the last hand as I had very few chips and if my pairing on the Flop could get me a win it was OK going all-in.

2 HU $2 + .15 End 1st 16 Hands

Overall this one went well and I played well. When he thought he had a good hand he's bet up. My big win was with Qd 5d as BB. SB open raised 2 BB (40) and I called. Flop 10d Kd 2d. I have a K high diamond flush. I min bet 20, SB raises me to 70 and I re-raise them to 140. SB then re-raises me to 210 and I decide enough of this and re-raise all-in. I've been debating if he might have two diamonds as well and the Ace but decide to take the risk. Plus, if he did have the Ace but not another diamond, I was hoping to cut off his going for the draw. He calls and I hold my breath waiting to see his cards. He shows 8d Kh. I'm in decent shape. Now to see if the cards will hold for me since I couldn't talk him out of continuing. Turn Jd. I'm golden!!! River Js. He has 220 chips left. Now to see if I can close it out.

Next hand I have 6d Ac as SB and open raise 2 BB (60), BB re-raises all-in and shows Kh 3h. Board plays out: Qc 9c 7d 3c 8d. He pairs his 3 and doubles up to 440.

Hand 16. I'm BB w/Ac Kh. SB has 530 chips and limps in for 30 and I raise him to 75, basically hoping this is one of those time he'll re-raise me all-in. Instead he only re-raises me to 120 and to keep the game going and not to seem too anxious, I re-raise him to 225. This time he finally re-raises me all-in and I call. He shows Ah 8h. I'm in pretty good shape. He needs hearts or 8's to beat me. Flop 5s Qs 4c. He adds runner, runner to a straight outs. Turn 10h. Back to needing an 8 to beat me. River 2h and I win.

2 HU $5 + .25 End 2nd 45 Hands

Not bad play in general, but not good enough to win. He bluffed me once that he showed me. Hand 31 I had pocket 9's. Flop 3h Ks Kd. I made a min bet into the 180 pot,he raised me to 210, and I re-raised him to 390. He had folded a couple of times when I re-raised him like that. This time he decided to re-raise me going all-in w/his last 1080 chips.  I decided to fold and he showed me his 6c 5s. I would have liked to called him but I wasn't ready to risk almost all my chips in that situation and his pattern had been to fold rather than raise, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. That cut me back to 1140 chips.

I never recovered from that and seemed to go into a mostly downward spiral. Hand 44 I had 89o and as SB limped in, BB raised me to 4 BB (160) and I called. Flop 2 A J. No help. He checked and I checked. Turn 10. That gave me an open-ended straight draw. BB bet 240 and I decided to call on the straight draw. River 3. I have nothing but 9 high. BB bets the pot of 800 and I fold. I'm down to 720 chips.

Hand 45. Last hand. I'm BB, SB open-raises 3 BB (120) and I decide to re-raise all-in for my 720 w/Ad 3d. He calls showing Ac Jc. I'm not in a good situation. The board plays out to ALMOST help me showing a straight 5 through 8 BUT it has 3 clubs giving the SB a nut high flush. Any 5 but the 5c on the River and we'd have chopped. That was it for me.

Tour 29 $2 + .20 End 12th 64 Hands Sat to $200K Double Deuce

Payout  1-2 - Entry, 3rd - $7,  4th - $4.20,  5 - $2.80

OK play till near the end, though I was near the bottom most of the time. I had K6o. Flop was 2 J K. The other player in was playing 6 sessions and made only a min opening bet, so I was taking him to have maybe an Ace/rag, small pair, etc. He only called my 1/2 pot raises on the Flop & Turn. Turn Qd. River 8c. I made a small bet of 250 into the 1600 pot and he raised me all-in. I called. Turns out he had KJs and had hit two pair on the Flop. That cut me back to 310 chips w/blinds of 50/100. Next hand w/AJo I managed to double up.Then two hands after that w/Q9o I tried again. I was against pocket 7's, so I had two overcards. Flop 9 A 7. I pair my 9 but he hits a set. Turn 10. River A. That was it.

9 SNG $5 + .50 End 9th 26 Hands

Had a good start then made a bad call in hand 11. I had AKo and the board showed K 4 5 9 8. My only worry was the three clubs and the other player bet the 660 pot on the River and I called. They had hit their set of 5's on the Flop.

From there on out until the last hand I had a bit of up and down. I was SB w/Ah Qd and 875 in chips; blinds 30/60. MP2 open raised 2 BB (120) and BTN re-raised all-in with their 1260. I thought about it a bit and decided to go w/my AK and called. Rest folded. BTN showed pocket 7's (7d 7h). The board played out K 4 K 3 8 and I was gone.

Probably feeling a bit too tired to really be playing tonight so I'm folded it up.

2 HU $5 + .50 end 2nd 115 Hands

Mixed play with poor call on my part on last hand. I was hoping to slow play pocket K's and open-raised w/2 BB (200). Flop Ac 8h 6d. Rats, not the flop I wanted to see. BB bets 200 into the 400 pot and I raise to 400, figuring he'll fold if he doesn't have an Ace. Instead he re-raises me with an all-in. Against my better judgement I call. Indeed he shows and Ace w/As 4d. Turn 2c. River 5d. I'm done.

Outside of that hand's play I feel I'm playing these sessions too passively overall and need to work on being more aggressive.