**** TJ’s Sundry Poker Adventures! 2025-26 ****

Good luck and run good

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Second break, still on about 108k.

The table’s gotten a lot tougher. Several action players late reg’ed, and blasted off, so there’s a fair bit of money on our table now. Most of it is to my left.

I made top set as PFR, and checked it, and it checked through. I led the turn that put a backdoor flush draw out, and got raised. I decided to 3bet a committing amount, and he says he folded TPGK. I wish I would have flatted, and gone for the river check/shove, if I knew I already had him drawing dead. Ah well.

Feeling patient, and observing keenly.

Go go go! You are in good shape.

LFG! Keep it going!

Third break, on 182k. Average is about 130k, so still in a good spot at this stage.

One hand I think I misplayed. Sitting on about 140k, I call an open to 8500 from the button with Ac3c, then a shortstack shoves 27k from the SB. The raiser flats, with about 100 behind it. I call too.

Don’t get a great flop, 7-4-2 all diamonds. He quickly checks, and I check back. But I get a great turn, an offsuit 5 to make me a wheel. He quickly checks again, and with a dry side pot, I also check back.

River is another deuce, pairing the board with 3 diamonds, and he leads 25k. The Omaha player in me is seeing bright warning lights everywhere, but I guess I played it this way to get to showdown without stacks going in. I just call, he has A2, and the dealer has to correct him to tell him he didn’t win. The all in shortstack has JJ with a diamond.

He later said he was fist-pump snapping the trip deuces if I shoved river. Guess I missed value there.

Not really feeling fatigued yet. I think I have some good reads, and the chip leader looks exploitable.

Let’s keep going!

Registration closed for this flight.

610 entries, 137 left, paying 92 places.

Bag at 31 left, or through level 22. We’re in level 13 now.

Should probably get 3k entries across the 5 flights, but maybe not 4k.

If I bust this flight before bagging, I’m not jumping back into Flight C. We’ll start fresh tomorrow.

But right now, I’m focused on bringing this to a bag!

Get that BAG!

And just like that, a pretty good day goes splat. That’s tournament poker.

Bust in about 125th place.

The chip leader loses KK to AA for heaps, and he wasn’t of the temperament to take that in stride.

I have AdQd in the cutoff, raise to 9k, he 3bets to 20k. Then the BB cold flats.

I want to be playing pots with the tilted guy, so I call.

Flop Kd-Qh-Td. Middle pair and the royal gutshot draw. BB checks, I bet 50k, a committing amount. The tilting former chipleader folds, and BB check/shoves. I’m obviously never folding after that.

He has KK for top set, I don’t improve, and he just has me covered.

Sigh.

If the BB had cold 4bet, I would have folded AQs. As it played out, I wouldn’t have done anything differently.

Thought I played great today. Loved all the decisions I made, with the information I had. And ran pretty well today, too, picking up AA four times in the 7 hours I played.

Staying true to my word. Not jumping back into Flight C in level 5.

It’s Friday night, so I’ll play PLO for as long as I feel good, then start fresh tomorrow.

Bad luck :( You got it in with plenty of equity you just need to be better at hitting straights or flushes. Get 'em next time!

It was a rough PLO session, -1.5k. Was pretty card dead for most of it.

Players kept buying in for racks of reds, which got to be pretty annoying. Plus, a couple of the players took FOREVER to make decisions in very basic, standard spots. That, plus the lousy cards I kept getting, made the game move really slow.

Thought I mostly played okay, until I made a bad call down in a spot I really should have folded. That got me a little tilted, and I became impatient, trying to force things. Then I made a light peel in a big pot, and didn’t improve, so I had to c/f OOP. Bad plan, bad execution.

The last hand of the night, I made a pained fold on a river with a marginal hand, vs the same opponent I unsuccessfully bluff caught against earlier. That time he WAS bluffing, and I folded the winner.

After playing all day, I had started to get a headache. I knew that hand would put me on tilt, so I’m happy I immediately picked up after that, and didn’t go deeper, or bust it.

I’m also really glad I didn’t late reg into Flight C after I busted the tournament. It was a relief to be able to end my session once I wasn’t feeling it.

So I went upstairs to get barbecue.

I’ll say it again, the new barbecue joint upstairs, Soco Smokehouse, is pretty legit.

I got the pulled pork and sausage, plus green beans and mac. Plus an IPA, it was $35.

Felt better about my day after eating. I really did think I played well in the tourney today. Tomorrow’s a new day.

And I’m in bed sober at a reasonable hour. That’s a win on any casino trip.

Gonna be refreshed and focused for Flight D tomorrow. It’ll be the biggest flight of the event, so I want to give it my best.

Slept great last night, woke up, and had a shower. Went and got breakfast at the BK drive thru.

Feeling great today. I’ve noticed I have a tendency, in these tournament weekends, for my first bullet to have the most success. I think it’s because I’m starting out patient, and focused, and really devoting conscious energy to observing my opponents.

After I bust, and jump back in, and start all the way over, I try to force things, to make it back quickly. It’s like I abandon the discipline that led to my initial success.

So for today, we’re gonna dedicate all available mental energy and willpower to focus. And patience. There’s no skipping stages ahead to fast forward to the end.

It starts with a quick hit-n-run warmup of 1/3, to get in the zone, and practice folding.

Feeling locked in. Ready to make it a long day.

This will be the biggest flight of the event.

The Day 2 chip leader is likely to come out of this flight.

Let’s goooooo!!

Busted the first bullet of the day in level 3. Got down to half a starting stack, then shoved AKo over an open. Cold flat behind me, original raiser calls.

I’m pretty emotionally neutral to the result of any time I’m all in pre with AK in a tournament, as it’s usually too good to pass up. But in this case, I was in pretty bad shape, QQ > AK = AK.

Ah well. Bullet number 3 in play, in level 4.

First break, still basically at a starting stack.

Played tight at the new table. It was a good mental reset.

We’ve already surpassed the number of entries from Flight B yesterday, with 4 hours left of late reg. This should get pretty big.

Feeling focused.

run
it
up
!

Busto bullet number 3.

Got pretty unlucky in a blind vs blind spot. I open to 2400 from SB with A6o, my opponent calls. Flop 6-3-3, I continue for 3k, he shoves for 17k.

I’m ahead of all the worse 6’s, draws, or random spaz you see in blind vs blind spots, so I call. He has 54o, and the river is a deuce. Now I’m down to about 15k myself.

A little later, 4 of us see a raised flop of Q-8-5 two diamonds, and I have position with QJo. PFR checks, a chip leader bets out, and I decide to shove. Unfortunately, he had me pipped with KQo, and I don’t improve.

Not gonna fire another bullet into Flight D. I’ll play a couple hours of 1/3 to reset, and start fresh in the 4 pm flight.

Donk fest indeed.

Bust in level 3 losing a 60/40 all in pre, A9 < KJ.

Thought I had the best hand, made a read, was right… that’s tournament poker.

I still feel good, and think I’m playing well, so firing the one last chance, lucky bullet number 5.

First break, on 38k. I’m observing weaknesses in my opponents’ game, and staying patient.

I made a set of queens on a king high flop, and bet it hard, but I must have gone too hard, because they folded.

Doing a good job putting the phone down, and following the action.

Keeping at it.

This is important. It's amazing how many people are so addicted to getting shitformation from the internet that they fail to get information from the game.

Stay focused, you are due for a good run!

Few years back I played an $1100 with someone who used to sell a lot of packages on 2P2 (not an LVL poster).

He had his head buried in his phone the whole time. Paid zero attention to the game.

I wonder if his backers understood what they were really buying.

As it turns out, I ended up busting him when he got himself pot-committed raising trash from the BTN into my BB.

I wasn't impressed and would never buy a piece of that guy.

Second break. I swung up to 60k when I got AA > KK all in pre. Feels like that’s a poor reflection of my poker talent, if that’s the only way I seem to be able to win chips this weekend. Pm me for coaching rates on how to hold in 80/20’s… its a crucial skill.

But since then it’s been going in reverse. Nothing big, just losing in non showdown spots, missing flops, and I’m sitting on 25k now.

Our table just got three new late reg’s, so I predict it’s about to become a preflop game.

Let’s hope I find the right spots to spin!

Managed a little spin, and made it to the third break, with 100k. Average is 110k, coming back to 2k/4k, so I have a little room to maneuver.

The first spot I found was A5s > 65s, shoving over a loose opener, and survived. I cold 4bet shoved AKs, and I had just enough to get it through.

One pretty interesting hand happened later. I open 22 from MP, and a loose chipleader called.

Flop 6-6-2, and I elect to down bet, less than my preflop open. She flats… and I get the WORST possible turn, another 6. I check, she checks back, and the river is a 7. I check/call her less than half pot river bet, and she has K6s.

I guess I lost the minimum. I’d rather have her miss her 4-outer, and have doubled through her though. Ah well, so it goes.

Registration closing after break. The chipleader at our table is loose, and bad. I’m still feeling good, I think I’m playing good, let’s turn our eyes towards that bag!