Yeah, I failed to post this on the night of the game. But yeah, Friday night was the PFC. And boy was I psyched. But earlier in the day, I was afraid I would not be at 100% to play. And well, as I have posted earlier, this would continue a long standing tradition.
The day before the PFC, I get an e-mail from Hyunsil, one of my best friends in the whole world, who also lives in Korea...halfway around the world from myself. She needed help with a report she was doing for her American Culture class. Well, I had told her that if she ever needed any help, to let me know, and I didn't let her down. She later, at about 10PM my time, sends me the questions to work on, and then tells me that she would be able to be online again at 6AM my time to run through what I had written and make sure it's what she needed.
Like I said, it's 10PM. I'm figuring I can get this done by midnight, get some sleep, and wake up to talk to her at 6.
At 3AM, I finally get the questions done. And have caught a second wind. Perfect! Just perfect. So now, I know beyond any doubt that I'd be much better off staying awake till 6, staying awake till we're done, and then sleep.
So at 6, just like she promised, here she is, and we get everything ran over. Well, then we got talking about various other things, as we hadn't gotten a chance to talk in about a week or so. The huge time difference, on top of her not bringing her computer to college with her, kind of hinders that. I need to get a phone card and call her sometime, but hey, that's another story.
At 8 or 9, she has to go, and I desperately need sleep! I finally fall asleep at 10, knowing at 8, the tournament starts.
I finally wake up at about 5:30, but would've slept longer had it not have been for the tournament. I put a pot of coffee on, because I knew I needed it. And then hopped in AJPoker's chat room and talked with the crew that was playing tonight.
My buddy Jingo & I were both on the same page pretty much, as he had to sleep during the day also, because he received a surprise phone call from a friend in Iraq. But all in all, we were both ready. I had been at a place where my focus has been at the highest it's been in a while, on top of that I was running good. In the first one, I had slept through the first 3 levels, caught cards, but had no focus. In the second one I played, I was running horribly, but had a dead read on everyone. So this would be the first one I'd go into having both.
As the PFC started, I was psyched. I played rather tight at the start, but still, when I was in the pot, I knew where I stood, and whether I could steal the pot. That kept myself hovering around the average for the first 3 levels. Then, comes the breaking point.
I started really catching. And my focus was still dead on. Knocking out players left and right. Then comes one of the funny hands of the tournament.
I'm sitting in the BB with 94o. Everyone limps to me, and I check. Flop comes x99. I lead out and bet, and see a smaller stack just in front of me push all-in. Two callers, so I decide to isolate and move everyone else all-in. One caller, and I have the best of it. Dropping two in one hand, I check the lobby, and I am now the chipleader with 600 left (after starting with 2000). The first caller then starts needling me about being a crap player. Well, that's what you get when you let me see the flop for free with crap hands!
Upon review, he apologized, forgetting that I was in the BB. Much respect for that. It happens.
At the first break, I hold the cheap lead with under 500 left. I felt pretty safe, but in this no one is.
I wind up shortstacked at 10K with under 200 left and get dealt Q4s in the BB with the blinds at 500/1000. Button raises to 3000, and normally I would fold. However, I felt I had a read that told me that he was just playing position to steal the blinds, as he had been doing anyway. So I push all-in, thinking he'll fold, and I could still back in to something if he did call. Well he did, unfortunately he shows AKo. Bad misread. And I get teased. Flop an inside straight draw on the flop, giving me a chance to hit a 3, 4 or a Queen to scoop, and miss all outs on the river. Thus, ending my run in 176th.
PFC III: 800-something
PFC IV: 1200-something
PFC V: 176th
Not bad? No cash. But I felt very satisfied. In a normal tournament situation, I would've cashed. However, this being a freeroll, with a weird pay schedule, I don't. All-in-all, I usually don't have total faith in myself in a large field. I need to work on that, but I just never do. But I started to gain some faith after this game. I was holding my own, something I love doing, and really felt like I played some of the best poker I have played in a long time. Very sweet.
For the record, JohnJr never showed. Clown!
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