That hand will stay with me

I've been thinking about it more and more, and I think that hand will stay with me for a while. Mostly because I feel like I should have or could have folded. With that much action before me, and I'm risking all of my chips, and I can't just see a flop - I'm handcuffed. Then again, very few hands have me beat. I wonder if I made the right play. At the same time, I think I could have climbed the money ladder a bit by steering clear. Anything top 3 would have been a great boost. That is what I was really gunning for. 7th was kind of a waste.

I also played the $1 at 4pm very tough. I was basically on the bubble from 150 players in. 90 got paid, and I was hanging around 90-95, pretty much the entire time. I had almost nothing when the bubble burst, and I was in like 88th place out of 90. Despite that, I made a comeback and kept fighting and made it all the way to 33rd place. Not a great finish, but considering where I was, I consider it an accomplishment. I was getting low and the blinds were huge, and I picked up KJss in mid pos and shipped it. I think blinds were like 600/1200 with antes and I had about 5k left. I got called by A4, and on the river, a K, J or spade would have got me there and I missed.

It was a grueling day of play for not very much money, but one I think I made some real progress in game-wise. Just being that low in both tourneys and coming back to not only cash but make a real run is (hopefully) something I'll remember that I have the ability to do. Nam Le's interview with cardplayer is a good example of this. I respect Nam's game a lot. I forget who it was - Shannon Shorr I think, who said in his blog that he was blown away by Nam when they sat at the same table. Nam talked about how important it was to value your tournament life and how his experience of being able to come all the way back from a short stack to win events guides his decisions at the table.

I may do these 180-man tables more often, although it still took more than three hours to finish in 7th. Usually, when I have time to play MTTs though there is a $1 tourney available.

Also, instead of winning the FTP hat, they've credited my account with about 1500 FTP points. I always use these to win tourney dollars because I can't create enough FTP points to buy any of the ultra-cool schwag that they have available.

I may enter one 1800 FTP point SNG where top three get a $26 token. I think this probably has the best value. However, the $26 token cannot be turned into cash or split up like tourney dollars, so even if I win, it will likely just sit in my chashier like the $75 token.

The other alternative is to play the 275 FTP point satellites to the Daily Double. I have won this a few times (at least four). I usually use my FTPs to play this. It's a standard 9 person turbo SNG and it is winner-take all. If I used all the points, I would be able to take shots at six of these. If I win two, it's pretty much just aso good as the $26 token - it will be ($24) - plus the added flexibility of being able to convert it to cash (yeah, right) or use them for other tourneys (much more likely). I'll see how I feel. Right now, I'm leaning towards the Daily Double route. Plus, the ridiculous possibility that I win all 6, it's $72 total!!! Thanks for the hat FTP!