I Hope That Tomorrow...

Good evening everyone.  I'm sitting in the chair that I've spent a good part of the day in, relaxing in the makeshift freeroll tournament area that's right by the sportsbook here at the Monte Carlo.  I've failed to mention to you that I started both of my Monte Carlo Freerolls (now all three) at the same table in the same seat.  We had 43 entrants today, and this is the tightest that this already tight tourney has been played in my 3 tries.  I was fairly card dead early this time, raising queens from 100 to 300 in the 2nd level, only to see an ace flop and a bet come at me, and my limp with 44 during the same level yielded nothing.  Just like the last time I played this tourney, I scored a necessary win from the small blind.  In the 200/400 round, I limped in with A 9 spades, 1 of 5 players to see the flop.  No one bet the J-high, one spade flop.  No one bet the second spade on the turn.  My spade didn't hit the river, but an ace did.  I wasn't thrilled with my 9 kicker, but for the third time, this hand was checked around, and my pair of aces was good.  I also won a hand during the 300/600 level when I shoved my 4k over a raise of 1,600 with AQ and the raiser folded.

My next memorable hand came when I believe that we had already reached the min-cash mark ($75.00).  I looked down at 33 in the big blind, and I would have been almost all-in during the next hand in the small blind (plus the antes had started).  I was not reaching the next cashing level ($175.00) without winning some chips.  I called the raiser all-in, and a BEAUTIFUL 3 came on three flop.  The raiser's AQ picked up hope when the turn brought a straight draw, but the river didn't let me down, and that hand got me to the next cashing tier.  It was during this level, trying to make the jump from $175.00 to $275.00 (top 15), that I had a rare suckout.  I'm usually ahead when the chips go into the middle, and when I am behind, it's not often that I catch up.  I was the big blind, and it folded to the button, who raised.  I looked down at J 10 offsuit, and being low on chips, I went ahead and called.  I figured to at least have live cards.  It was not pretty pretty when my opponent tabled K 10, but a WONDERFUL jack hit the board, and I lived to see another hand.  The next hand that I played was the hand that enabled me to coast to the final table.  The action had folded to the small blind (I believe that this was during the 2k/4k 300 ante round).  As I'm writing this, it's just occurring to me that SEVERAL of my key hands today took place while I was the big blind...  :)  Anyway, the small blind went for the steal, and when I looked down at my cards, I saw a pair a KINGS!  Dreaded my _ _ _...  ;)  I called, and the disappointed small blind tabled J 8 offsuit, and the board played out without coming close to helping him.  After reaching the final 11 (a bump to $325.00), I had to endure watching SEVERAL suckouts by all-ins (yeah, I remember my J 10), but finally, we reached the final 10, where the payout was $500.00!!!  The chip leader gets $600.00, but this is my story...  ;)  So yeah, 3 for 3 in my favorite freeroll, with my biggest cash yet.

When I woke up, I immediately saw positive news from my friend Jessica regarding her mom (who is also a friend of mine), who is recovering from a recent surgery.  Then I learned that today is Leanne's (Training Truths) and Valerie's (Spam) birthday.  And I just kept seeing all of these POSITIVE statuses on Facebook.  And my 2 NCAA 'Lucky 7' picks (Navy and Ole Miss) covered, and I cashed for $500.00 in the freeroll.  I hope that tomorrow is as good as today...  ;)