I was cruising in the tournament up to 60,000 pretty early. I took a couple hits once getting to 60,000 but I was still in great shape over 40,000 with only one player at my table having me covered- by 1000.

With blinds at 300-600 with a 75 ante I made it 1500 to go, as I normally would, with a pair of 99.

The one player that could break me called. The flop came 10-7-5 and I checked. My opponent bet 2200 and I called.

The turn came gin, a 9! I checked again, and my opponent bet 3300 this time. I thought for a moment, then finally raised him 5500 more. He thought for a moment, and then raised it 7500 more.

I was worried about the straight, but not 10-10. I felt like he would have raised me pre-flop with that hand. I wasn’t going to lay it down on the river, so in the hopes that my opponent has a smaller set I moved all in for my remaining 22,500 more. He called quickly, "You have the straight," I asked?

He did. The board didn’t pair and that was that. I kept my record in tact this year. I’ve made it through day one only once all year. I won that one.

The last two tournaments I’ve played, though, I’ve been able to get up near the chip lead on day one which is nice. However, tumbling out of the tournament before the day is over is tough.

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I was supposed to fly home today but stayed up late last night playing Gretzky hockey and Need for Speed’s Most Wanted. So instead, I’m going to watch a little bit of the Masters and play a little on FCP.

I set up a fun little $5 tournament for the guys in the forum. The game is going to be limit Omaha. Something different, and something new for the guys that always play hold’em.

I’m throwing a bounty on my head too. $1 for each entry. If you are bored, and feel like goofing around in a $5 tournament with me, it’s under Scheduled Private tournaments and the password is kidpoker. It starts at 7:00pm EST, in about 45 minutes…
(tournament details in the General Forum)