Back in the game

Well, after almost two weeks of not playing on PokerStars, I got back in the game yesterday.

I felt I was playing well but didn't have the results at the start of the session. From the first 20 tournaments I cashed just twice and had a number of bubbles. Thankfully I then hit a purple patch cashing 4 straight games. The only downside was that I couldn't get any higher than 6th in any of them.

After a few more blanks, I finished the night with a 5th in a 180 which was a little better payout. I felt like I played it really well and it was the sort of tournament that in the past I may not have made the money or min-cashed but made some moves at the right time that got me on to the final table with a chance of a decent finish.

I played for a fair few hours yesterday and with the 5th placed finish probably only broke even. With the slow start, my bankroll actually was under $400 for the first time in months. Not good ...

After getting up early and doing some stair-running this morning, I jumped online around lunch and have pretty much played ever since. OPR hasn't caught up so I can't see all of my results. Thankfully I can see my bankroll and its back over $500 ($510 to be precise).

I played really well in another 180 man and had a considerable chip lead on the final table. I was a big chance to take it down but had some unlucky hands. Four handed I ran ace ten suited in to pocket aces and then I called a small blind shove with ace jack in the big blind, he turned over pocket 4's, I flopped a jack, fist-pumped ... and then a four on the turn, ouch! I ended up finishing 3rd which was a little disappointing.

I finally got a win in a tournament also, a $3 45 man game. Despite facing a 5:1 deficit when heads-up play began I fought back to parity and then got paid off with two pair vs middle pair. I had OPR'd my opponent, saw they weren't good and picked up they were playing very tight. So I took advantage of it, got aggressive, hit a few flops and got the win. I can't even remember when I last won a tournament so it was nice to get that monkey off the back.

I finished the night playing a few of the $2.20 satellites to the Sunday 1/4 Million. Since the tournament starts at 5am in the morning my time, the plan was to just get the win and then unregister and take the tournament money. The games are fairly soft and I'd read on the Two Plus Two poker forum that they were a good way to grow a bankroll. I qualified in three of them and was unlucky not to go 4 of 4. The only problem with them is that they're not turbo so they take a while and slow down even more near the bubble.

So it was nice to have a profitable day again. I think I probably made $70 which is ok but mainly it was good for the confidence again after poor results of late. I had a look at my SharkScope graph yesterday and it was big downward slide. Its looking a lot healthier now and my form is even listed as "hot".