There are no easy days in poker. I began the day at a great table. I had James Van Alstyne across from me but no one else could really do me much damage. I had twice the chips of anyone else and my plan was to take a little from everyone, rather than break the table. Things were going fine, but eventually that table broke and then life got a lot tougher. Yesterday was a complete slugfest. I’d win a huge pot, lose a pot, win another one, lose the next one, etc. Here are some of the hands today,

 

1k/2k with a 500 ante:

 

I raised the button with A, J. The small blind called and the BB folded. The flop came K, 10, x. Check Check. The turn was a Q. He bet 50k and I put him all-in for $70k more. He called. Poor guy showed Q, Q. The river was a 9, putting me up to $675k.

 

2k/4k with a 500 ante:

 

I opened the button with a J, 6. A new guy in the small blind called and the big blind folded. The flop came Q, 6, 5 with two clubs. He checked and I thought for a while and then bet $50k of his $78k. He went all-in and I called. He had Q, J, one of the worst possible hands I could see. I doubled him up.

 

3k/6k with 500 ante:

 

Approaching the bubble, it folded to me in the small blind and I have 5, 5. I make $26k. The young swede in the BB makes it $76k and I called. The flop came Kc, Qc, 7. I checked and he threw $80k and I folded.

 

UTG raised to $17k. I called on the button with 7,7. The flop came Q, 9, 5. He bet $25k and I called. The turn was a 10. He checked and I bet $50k. He folded.

 

4k/8k with a 1k ante:

 

It folded to Mizzy Sorrel on the button and he made it $24k. I called in the big blind with 9, 8. The flop was 9, 4, 2 rainbow. I bet out $30k and he called. The turn was a Kd, bringing the second diamond. I checked and he bet $60k and I called because I just didn’t think he had anything. The river brought a 5d. I checked he bet $100k, which I also called. He said, “nice call” and threw his cards away. This put me up to 800k.

 

Then I got moved to another table, where Thomas Wahlroos raised the cutoff. SB called and I called with an 8,7 of diamonds in the big blind. The flop was K, 9, 6 with two clubs. I checked and Thomas bet $70k. I made it $210k and he immediately went all-in for $600k more. I folded.

Then I got moved to a horrific table. To my immediate left sat then chip leader Roland De Wolfe followed by Carlos Mortenson. Also at the table were Jared Hamby, Joe Tehan, David Baker, bracelet winner Ian Johns, and Daniel Alaei. I decided to play tight, didn’t pick much up, and got grinded down to $540k.

Regardless of what happens, it feels good to add another cash to my bankroll. I think sometimes I get caught up in the high expectations I put on myself but yesterday was a victory and it’s important to savor those. I’ll never set the record for most tourmanet cashes or anything like that because I only play deep stack, big buy-in events, and there are only so many of those. I try to measure my success by tournament cashes vs. tournaments entered. So far, I’ve played six events in 2007, and I’ve cashed in four of them.