Atlantic City results

I didn't come home with any of the $40,000 prize packages given away this past weekend at the Borgata's "Ultimate Super Satellite", but it was still a very worthwhile experience. I spotted a few faces that I recognized from TV (including Robert Varkonyi and Noli Francisco) and played at the same table as Anthony Argila, who finished 4th at last year's Borgata Open WPT event. It was a real confidence-booster to see that despite all their poker accomplishments and television exposure, these people are still only human.

Here's a breakdown of my performance:

Earned my entry to the Sunday Super Satellite through the $220+$50 qualifier Saturday morning (390 entrants; final 78 won entries to the Sunday tournament). I played a very disciplined game and did a pretty good job of picking up just enough blinds towards the later part of the tournament. Once I reached the $30,000 chip mark, I literally folded all of my hands in the dark until the bubble boy was finally eliminated. It's a well-known strategy that I had read about previously but had never had the opportunity to actually employ. I hope I get the chance to do it again soon, because it was kind of fun to be able to just sit back and relax at the end of a tournament for a change.

During the actual Super Satellite on Sunday, my worst nemesis ended up being myself. I went into the tournament expecting to play the same tight game that I used in the Saturday qualifier, but when I realized that only 11 of the 439 entrants (practically the final table) would win the $40,000 prize pack, I panicked somewhat and got involved in a few early hands that I had absolutely no business playing. These mistakes very nearly resulted in early elimination, but fortunately, I'm very comfortable playing short-stack poker (probably because I get so much practice) and managed to work my way back to an average stack each time.

My last hand took place at blind level $800/$1600, $300 ante. I was sitting in the small blind with just over $24K when action was folded around to the button, who limped. I looked down at AKo and pushed all-in, fully expecting to take down the $7K pot uncontested. Unfortunately, the big stack at the table woke up to JJ in the big blind and my AK failed to improve. There were 12 tables remaining at the time, so my estimated place of finish was somewhere between 111 and 120 (out of the original field of 439).

My only regret is that I didn't play as disciplined a game as I should have during the first 3 blind levels. However, after battling back the way I did each of the 3 times that I was short-stacked (including one time during the $400/$800 level where I only had 1 small blind left), I know that I will never throw in the towel in a tournament, no matter how much ground I need to make up.

July 2007 Recap

Cash game net profit = $1074.55 (53.08 hours of play)
Tournament net profit = $128.15
Total net profit = $1202.70

Total online bankroll = $587.90

Things are starting to look up a bit. Of my 11 cash game sessions in July, 10 were winners. I've also finally gotten my online play back on track; I deposited $280 on PokerStars on the 27th and slipped right back into my old comfort zone playing 2 regular single-table SnGs at a time. It's not the strategy that most SnG specialists seem to use, but I'm content sticking with what's worked for me, at least for now.

Had to nix the trip to Atlantic City back in June, but it looks like I'll be heading back to the Borgata this weekend for their "Ultimate Super Satellite" to 4 different WPT events. Right now, I'm only planning on playing if I can win entry through their qualifier on Saturday, but I haven't completely ruled out a direct buy-in either, if it comes down to that.