Last Update Before Vegas

First off the $20,000 Guaranteed tournament I qualified for. Well as you probably guessed I didn't do too well. There were 288 players, starting stacks of 3000, blinds at 15 mins.

I didn't get very involved early on with my stack staying just above or around the starting level of 3000. Then 40 minutes in, holding 77 on the button and with 5 players in the pot, I hit a set of 7's on a board of 567 (two clubs). It checks to me, I pot bet (500) and get 1 caller (the BB). The turn came a 4 (no club). BB checks. At this point I decide to control the pot (pot 1500, my stack 2400) by letting a free card on the river with the intention of calling a small bet. He may have already hit his straight draw and I don't feel by betting I'm putting him off a flush draw (he could be a flush draw with an 8 anyway). River comes an A (no club). BB bets 400, small enough to tell me I'm probably beaten but also small enough to look up, so I call and he takes the pot with J8os and his straight.

From then on my stack just got shorter until I was forced to call the SB push all in with my BB A8os. He had pocket tens and I was out 125th.

So for the rest of the week I have been grinding the small buy in standard and double up single table tournaments (6 and 10 man). I want to get some dollars in the pot to give me a bit of a buffer for the Vegas trip. What I don't want to do on this trip is blow a large defecit and then spend the rest of the year slowly clawing back to break even.

This plan so far has worked well (the green March line on my graph is going in the right direction) and I have hit what I think are some impressive stats:

SnG's played 56 (28 double up - 28 standard)

Standard SnG's cashed = 24 (12-1st, 5-2nd, 7-3rd)

Double up SnG's cashed = 20

OK the dollar wins are not massive but the ROI for march including a few cash table winnings is currently sitting at 19.82%.

So I have a little buffer of around $300 to start me off on the cash games in the good ol' USofA. That'll be one and a half buy ins as I generally play the $1/$2 NL full ring cash games. Lets hope I don't have to delve into my pocket too many times if this gets busted early.

I'm not taking the laptop and will be posting here when I have time using the hotels internet terminals. Not sure how much poker I will be playing as the girlfriend will be with me for our main holidays of the year. This is her first trip to Vegas and the most important thing to me is that she enjoys the trip, so I won't be abandoning her to play poker whilst she is awake. That leaves the wee small hours whilst she sleeps, at least I will get the juicy tables as the drinkers will be in full flow by that time.

So Until Vegas ...

Keep it Tight!