Friday, March 14, 2008

HUC 6 - Finally complete

Alright, first things first, I final tabled the Riverchasers but one big mistake later, I reraised swimmom all in with KK, only to get it cracked by her TT. She did put those chips to good use and secured a TOC seat. And no, this wasn't intended to be a bad beat story. It was a no brainer call for her considering my short stack and to her credit, it wasn't an instacall. If I didn't have a massive suckout of my own with QTs when I shoved from EP, only to get called by Lucko who had AK, and Lightning36 who had AQ, I wouldn't even be there so it sucks but I can deal with that. I'm more upset about the mistake I made when I incorrectly thought that actyper did not have an A on a A-high flop and so I foolishly put him all in with my AT and he calls with AQ, I double him up and I go from chip lead to short stack.

But I didn't really care. I did but that didn't hurt nearly as much as my loss to Emptyman in the finals of the Heads Up Challenge. Twice. 2nd place both times. I honestly didn't even know what second place prize was. I didn't know and I didn't care. It wasn't even about the money. It was about the glory of winning it. Something to add to my completely blank poker resume. And yet, after last night, I still got nothing.

After our match ended where in the last match, I had a 2:1 chip lead and only to see it disappear in a matter of few hands when my AQ < JT (all in pre) and QQ < K7 (all in on flop of 456), I was devastated. I really wanted to win. This meant a lot to me. For all of you out there, who thinks, dude, you make a good amount of money playing poker, what do you care... well, I care a lot. I have no credentials to back up my "skill." I haven't won any major tournaments, I've never played in the WSOP, I've never really won anything. Hell, even my buddy, Pouringreign, who doesn't take poker nearly as seriously as I do has won a 1000+ person (I think) tourney on PartyPoker back in the day. To say that I have a tourney complex is an understatement. But, again, this is not a please tell me how great I am post. It's just my honest take on how I feel and hence, how much winning the HUC would have meant to me. I listed the hands above just as an example but not as a "Emptyman sucked out on me and that's the only reason he won" type of post. I was probably like a 60% favorite on the first, and a virtual flip on the second. So, it's not even really a suckout. As a matter of fact, I will say this for the record.

I got pwned by Emptyman.

I really did. After the first two games, I felt so lost. I have never felt as confused and worried in a heads up match as I did against him. He played real well, I couldn't tell when he was bluffing, I called his value bets, probably folded to his bluffs, let him catch up when I had hands, and just played poorly overall. I had to keep making adjustments which was fine and I finally felt like I was starting to get into the groove. I really wish I coulda taken down game 4. It woulda been interesting to take the match to game 5 but it wasn't meant to be. Emptyman played great and deserved to win. Honestly, even if I ended up winning a seat to the TOC last night, it really woulda done nothing to how shitty I felt about losing the HUC. I mean a seat to the TOC is great but it's not the end goal. The goal is to win a WSOP seat and TOC is just a means to get that. My goal was never to GET a seat to the TOC. I will get that. My goal is to get a seat to the WSOP. Gotta start somewhere.

GL to all this weekend and again, congrats to Emptyman for taking down the Finals and becoming the latest HUC champion.

Note: I'll link up everyone later. Unfortunately, I gotta get back to work. Busy Fridays blow.

11 comments:

emptyman said...

It was a match worthy of the finals. Thanks for the props.

While I was extremely pleased to get to a 2-0 lead, I was extremely relieved to take it down in Game 4
, because we all know who the favorite is in Game 5.

Bracelet Race maybe? Just remember that donkeys are EVERYWHERE in regular tourneys. Maybe play a couple of $26 regular tourneys. Myself, I sometimes have trouble readjusting after playing low-limit against such highly skilled players (in the blogger tourneys). Bloggers in general are very skilled, so:

Kudos on making the HUC finals. Really. Twice in a row even. Pwned by emptyman? Get used to it, everyone else is. :)

bayne_s said...

BayneAt least you are FullTilt's #1 Promotions sucker

Klopzi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Klopzi said...

I have no credentials to back up my "skill."

Damn it man! You're a cash game player! Your bankroll is a testament to your skill. It's the tournament players who need to prove they're no fluke by hitting more final tables than the next guy.

With that said, have a good weekend and enjoy making more money than most tourney players make in their careers... ;)

WillWonka said...

Unfortunately, you can't keep on playing guys like willwonka (a former HUC champ). Your record speaks for itself.

Similar to Ferguson in the NBC HU. He was almost always up there with 2 2nds and now a 1st.

Just because you don't win, doesn't mean that you don't have credentials.

Keep up the good play and great posts!!

lightning36 said...

Your day will come, bro. But like Tom Petty sang, "The waiting is the hardest part."

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Unknown said...

Pwned by emptyman? Get used to it, everyone else is.

Hmmmmm...

Anonymous said...

I thought about his for awhile since you posted and wonder how much of it has to do with you studying Fuel's style so much before your match up.

Because you spent so much time figuring out Fuel's techninque (that you swept him), did you have a hard time switching stratgies in this one (until it was too late).

Alan aka RecessRampage said...

Actually... I never studied Fuel's technique that much... There was no strategy switch. I had a hard time getting anything going against Emptyman and I don't think that has anything to do with how I played Fuel.