Bottom of the 9th inning. Two men out, a count of 0 and 2 on the batter. The crowd is on their feet ...

Yeah, I screwed myself but good this time. WSOP dreams are fading away as the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 3 and the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series draw to a close in the next week.

My failure to win one of the BBT3 tournaments has me on the outside looking in, although I still keep hanging around the leaderboard anywhere from 12th to 18th place. My best chances were thwarted by lucko, who beat me heads up and then in a three-way in a couple of the tournaments. We all know that lucko is an excellent player, but the slimy b*st*rd sucked out on me heads up in the Mookie when I had him where I wanted him. Nothing like being good AND lucky. Only one chance left -- this Sunday's Big Game.

The Bodog season was more surprising. I had always done well in the Bodonkey, then seemed to just play some terrible poker there this spring. Only one chance left here, also -- the regular season finale on Tuesday. A win or top finish could possibly push me into the top 18, but once again, my back is against the wall.

I imagine that I feel like a lot of players do. We're grateful for the jobs that AlCantHang and Smokkee did in lining up these fantastic oportunities, but they seemed to drag on forever. Having these series follow almost immediately after BBT2 didn't help, but you have to grab those opportunities when they present themselves.

So ... a big congrats to AlCantHang and Smokkee. I hope that Full Tilt and Bodog find some way to compensate them for all they did -- a free trip to a WSOP tournament, maybe?

Coming up this weekend and next week ...

I have my home game tonight, so that will help fill my jones for live poker. I finished second last time, and hope to get in the money again.

Saturday, I will give a try at event #2 in the Bodog Mini-SOP. It should be fun.

Sunday: The Big Game. 'nough said.

Tuesday: Final Bodonkey of the season.

Yeah -- the pressure is on. Time to kick it up a notch.

Have a great weekend!