I’ve been trying really hard in the big no limit events, did well on day one in Barcelona, but got crushed early on day two.

My starting table was pretty sick in terms of skill level. All day, we had precisely one player who wouldn’t have positive equity playing tournaments for a living. Annette Oberstad played fantastic all day long. Ray D., a very talented cash game player really had his head in the game. He and Annette really butted heads all day long. The kid on my right and the young kid across the table- both sold.

Add Barry Greenstien, Chris Ferguson, and another great player by the name of James Keyes and it made for a sophisticated poker game which is a lot of fun. By the way, when we lost the live one, it was Shaun Deeb who filled that seat with a monster stack.

I love it, because in order to compete, I know that I need to play my best brand of poker which includes more creativity and more pre-flop aggression. I re-raised before the flop more today than I have in probably the last seven tournaments combined!

I also limped in to more pots than I have in that same span, from all positions, with a wide variety of hands. I was really playing within a "flow" that I’ve talked about… maybe being exhausted all day helped me play better. Sometimes that’s the case because in that blaze overtired state sometimes you just go with your instincts and that’s often a good plan.

I’m excited to get some much needed sleep and make a run tomorrow. I ended the day among the leaders with 88,925 in chips.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing with Annette. It’s the first time we’ve ever played at the same table and I think she’s much better now than she was when she won the WSOPE. She’s got more experience so that’s supposed to happen! She’s added a lot more finesse to her game.

I’ve been playing more poker on a daily basis on PokerStars.com in the 8-game mix. While I’m not playing straight no limit hold’em, I am playing against good players which puts you in a different mindset from typical tournaments. I’m pretty hungry right now, and really enjoying the game.

I was winning everyday in that game, but hit a slight down slide my last four sessions:
-25k
-25k
+14k
-20k

Those are all low variance results for a game that size and I’m not at all concerned. I feel like I have a nice edge in the 8-game mix and am really enjoying it. No PokerStars for me today, though, I’m beat and need to sleep!