Well Lookie Here...........

Runner-up finish in the WWDN last night on stars!! This was only my third WWDN I believe, my 2nd final table and my best finish. I don't believe I minimum raised once. I folded a whole hell of a lot in the beginning as I was getting on the average one playable hand in position every 3 or 4 orbits and my stack had dwindled to under 1000. Breathing room came when EP raised and I reraised with KK. We were all in and he showed TT and I doubled up nicely. Then I called a raise with AK from the pug. King hit on the flop and when another king hit I couldn't wait to get the rest of my chips in it was my AK vs K9 and I was now a medium stack with 4000+ chips.

Carmen got moved to my table with a big old stack, CJ and WWonka and Mungo36 and lightning36 all hit the table and one ghost aka Casper. For a long time it was fold fold fold not just by me but everyone was tight, CJ actually labeled us weak. I literally was getting crap, but figured as long as I got a walk on my blind now and then, and could stay ahead of them Id be okay. Patience is one of my strengths. Finally there was a situation ripe for a squeeze play. Of course it only works if your opponents know the play themselves. The button min-raised I believe it was Seedy, NewinNov called from the SB and I in the bb looked down to see the good old IG: 99. So I push all in and get the desired result from the button but NewinNov insta-calls and flips KK. I think to my self Hakuna Matata... No worries I'm gonna hit a set... I did on the turn which turned into a boat of 999JJ. It didn't hurt that Waffles was on the rail sending a voodoo curse NewWinNov's way.

Quite the little array of railbirds held court. I know Sir Waffles was looking for girl on girl action between Carmen and I. Snake, SLB159, DrPauly, Waffles, Kat, and Wil Wheaton himself all were chattering away. Playing a middle stack is frustrating. You aren't in desperation mode yet but you also don't have a full arsenal of hands available to you that a big stack does. The hand against NewinNov had doubled me up nicely but my key luckbox hand was when I oompah loompah'd WWonka (not the WilWonka). I raised from EP with A5os. I was hoping for fold equity based on table dynamics but Wil reraised me. I thought for a bit and said to myself re-raise steal perhaps? So I decided to push and WWonka flipped AK to have me completely dominated. But my A5 two paired and I put a small hurt on WWonka.

Then the dreaded break came. When you got rhythm and momentum. You want to keep going and a break can interrupt that flow. Its kind of like when I was running and knew when it was time to surge and breakaway. I was getting antsy because this was the furthest I'd gotten in a blogger tourney against some players with pretty great resumes. I was going to call Snake but there was really nothing he could say that he hadn't said from the rail. I said to myself.. IG this path is for you alone tonite. So I got up and left my poker room and did something I try to remember to do. I took some deep breaths meditated for a minute to clear my head and made some tea. SLB159 is saying to himself right now Girl that is so Ghey. Who drinks tea. I may be a tomboy at heart but I'm all girlie girl. I get annoyed when I break or snag my nails on poker chips and I drink tea and virgin frou frou drinks.

Back from the break and eventually it is down to three. We were all even stacked in the upper 20k range. I started tangling with Seedy and lost my stack when I raised with AQ the flop was a gutshot for me but I wasn't going to chase it with the rest of my chips. Down to 19000. Ouch. Lost a few blinds when I failed to connect down to about 12k. I did raise with the hammer from the button and showed. That was a good way to left off steam and show that yes I do have balls to do it. Then Seedy was in trouble to NewinNov who had doubled up off Seedy. He started pushing. When I got the hammer in the BB again and NewinNov called Seedy's all in I said fold girl. So I did and it was me headsup against NewWinNov dominated 6:1 that doesn't scare me. Ive come back from 10:1 deficits. First hand he raises me all in (like Snake did to me live when we were headsup) I insta call with AQc and have him dominated he shows Q2os but the flop hits a two and the ace on the river gives him two pair to my one pair. Waffles where were you when I needed you and thanks to Wil for routing us on at the end.

I would have liked to last longer then one hand headsup but you dont throw away AQ when you are sure you have the best hand and are shortstacked. Cie le Vie. On to the Mookie tonite