starting well

Last week I had my biggest cash ever in a $10r, 5th place for $1.7k which I'm really pleased about but at the same time a tad annoyed as I came into the final table leading in chips. First place was $6.5k, but at one point I could of easily come 7th or 8th and obviously to get to the final table I won a couple of flips so I can't be too greedy!

On the final table the average stack was about 500,000 and I had 1.1m and position on the guy who had 2nd in chips so it was looking pretty ideal. As the prize jumps were very big for the level of buy-in I was raising about 70% of flops preflop and getting no one playing back at me so soon got my stack up to 1.4m. The first time somone played back at me they had 350,000 and was priced into call their all in with A4o. They had deuces which held, which was a huge flip for me if I win. I then shoved in the SB on a short stacked BB with K4 which was dominated by K9. That put me to average stack and we had only lost one player. In hinddight, I could have played the final table more conservatively and guaranteed a 3rd or 4th position but I was going for the win so no regrets.

At 5 handed each jump was over $1k so play was pretty tight and I was in push/fold mode with an M of 4. Final hand I jammed the button with the mighty 5,2o and lost to 9's. Both blinds had similar stacks to me and were playing fairly tight so I don't mind pushing there. It's definately made me have more belief in my game and the money will be good in building my BR and it's means I don't have to deposit.

During the month off I had from poker I was watching some of the proven winners of MTT's online, i.e Annette_15 and Chris Moorman which definatley helped and made me think alot about strategy in a different way. The biggest realisation I had was the level of aggression they both have and how well timed it is. Also reading their blogs it seems like they have a real winning mentality and hunger to win which I think is a fundamental part of their success and something I'm trying to improve in each tournament I play.

That was last week and after that I've had a few smaller cashes and yesterday decided to see how hot I was runnning by entering some medium sized games as the prize pools were looking pretty juicy. I played 3 $50-60 tournaments, so not sticking to my 1% rule...

The first game tilted me pretty hard when I got 2/5 of a guys stack in pre-flop with his 5's against my aces. A 5 on the flop was pretty nasty. Later on he mentioned that he mis-clicked called preflop which tilted me further! The second tourney someone soulread me as I RRAI on the turn with no hand and got called by second pair, no kicker. Owned. The final tournament I made a debateable push with an M of 6 with K8 UTG+2, and got beaten by 10's. So, a pretty dissapointing evening but thrown in with a bit of poker-burnout as I had hit the tournaments fairly hard that week.

Going to take a break for a day or so and next poker will be a live game a mate invited me to which is a £60 dealer dealt tournament. Again out of the BR so not the best idea but it will be (hopefully) more fun and good to get some live experience in. If any of St.Albans finest poker players are out there and want to join me it's Tuesday night and I can drive...