Quick recap before I get to the good stuff: I’m at Bellagio. I’ve played 4 events so far. I finished 12th in the $3,000 tournament which was a cash, but it only paid $4200.

Today was the 5k. I ran QQ into AA early on. It was the type of hand that is an easy fold against some players, and an easy call against others. I didn’t know my opponent at all, and basically had to guess. We started with 10k chips but I was down to 2k after that.

As you all know, when I’m shortstacked and/or there is no money on the line, I run really good. I built that stack up to 35k.

I played a couple of big pots against Todd Brunson. I stole his blind the first hand at the table. The 2nd hand I raised from MP and he reraised from the SB. I called. The flop came ragged and he bet pot. I called. The turn put a 3rd spade on the board, and I folded to his all-in. I have a feeling he may have made that play with just a 4th spade, but I don’t know. I folded like a pansy.

A few minutes later, he raised, John Murphy moved all-in, and I put in a small reraise with AK, Todd called. The flop came ATx. I bet 8500, Todd moved all-in, I called, and he also had AK. Murph had jacks and spiked one on the river, but he didn’t have enough chips to hurt me. I had around 30k left after that hand.

At 200/400 I raised to 1100 with two black fives. Todd called in the SB. The flop was 954 with two hearts. Todd checked. I had noticed Todd was staring people down trying to pick up tells, so I tried to throw some subtle reverse tells out there as I bet 1700. Todd called. The turn was an offsuit deuce. Todd checked, I bet 4500, and Todd moved all-in. I instantly called not knowing or caring whether or not he had me covered (it was close). Todd quickly flipped over two threes, almost as if he was proud of them or was sure he would win. Well, he binked an ace on the river, and shipped a 60k pot when the average stack was still under 20k.

I had 2k left after the hand, and started a comeback, but I peeked at 6k before busting out.

That’s how I’ve been running lately. It’s hard to win tournaments when you can’t win with 55 vs 33 on the 954 flop. Those “coinflips” are brutal sometimes.

I’ve been getting murdered in cash games. We have been playing mixed games, but a lot of those games are split pot games and are effectively lower stakes than the triple draw games in the mix (like Badougi or 2-7 triple draw). Basically, if you run bad at Badougi, you can’t win, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. It’s really frustrating to post a win in most of the games, while still being a huge loser just because Badougi plays so much higher than every other game. Sadly, the fish love Badougi, so we have no choice but to keep it in the mix.

Oh well, just a bad poker run… nothing to write home about. Things always turn around.