All I really knew about Vanessa’s heads up game was that she beat Doyle, Ivey, and Wasicka. By the time I was able to confirm some reads, it was too late. The match was over. I find the hardest part about winning that event is dealing with the unknown with such a limited amount of time. One mistake is just so huge. One bad read can turn the tide, and two bad reads will usually knock you out.
Normally if you play someone heads up you have time to adapt to things you learn and you can make the adjustments you need to make in order to win. If I could have a mulligan, and play the match over, I’d approach most of it exactly the same way with one minor adjustment.

I had the lead on the match, up 3-1 in chips, and then lost the match, both times calling Vanessa when she had a full house. I had no reads before the match, but picked up some things as we played. The hard part, is that in order to gain information, and confirm it’s accuracy, the only way to do that is to call! You have to actually see the hand. The last call I made, it was pretty stupid. I was quite sure that she had a strong hand. I was quite sure it wasn’t a total bluff. Based on that alone I should have folded, but then my brain got in the way of my instincts and I started to find hands I could beat.

I played pretty well during the entires series of matches, except for losing my patience on two key hands against Vanessa. I was in a hurry to end the match, and that cost me.

Oh well… there is always next year!

So now I’m home on the couch, a little bit tired, but something inside me wants to go out and have some fun. I feel like going out, but not sure if I have the energy to. I feel like doing something different, not the same old party at my house gambling on pool and Golden Tee. In the past, when I felt like this I’d just go somewhere random by myself and do some people watching. I can’t really do that anymore. If I go to a bar someone will usually recognize me which makes being alone, and people watching kinda tough!

I’ll probably end up staying home. Maybe hit some balls tomorrow and then get ready for some work this week. I am doing a cameo in a music video on the 10th, and then have three days of commentary work to do. After that I’ll be heading to San Jose for the WPT shooting stars event. After that I’ll probably go back to Toronto for a while to be with my mother…