A Rewind and a Fast Forward

The Mookie

In Wednesday's Mookie I roached to 14th place out of 87 runners. No TOC seat, of course, and I even came up a little short of getting my buy-in back as the tournament only paid the top nine.

I got off to a great start as I hit a set of 8's on the flop and took a bunch of chips from lucko21, my former Mookie tormentor. After that, however -- not much to speak of. Premium hands were few and far between and I stayed around the middle of the pack for most of the tournament. As we got below 30 runners, I was always just a few spots away from "Dank Position" -- still in but smallest stack. However, I have always been pretty good at playing the short stack (waaay too much practice) and roached .... and roached ... until I was finally busted by LJ, who had raised in early position. Being a short stack and knowing LJ's aggro style, I knew my shove with 6-6 would get at least one caller. I was right as she called with a whopper -- A-2os! I was fine on the flop and the turn, but as we all know when playing at Full Tilt, the Ace ALWAYS comes on the river.

Knowing that my family was still up, I felt free to scream when the ace hit. I knew it was coming, so why did I really expect anything different? I typed some gibberish in the FT chat and then pronounced "I'm having a stroke." I guess I was unconvincing or no one cared about my whining or potential death. Poker bastards!

Well, at least I played better than I have the previous BBT5 tournaments. Time to step it up or the TOC will pass me by again.

Canucks vs Blackhawks

Oh, this is going to be great! Last year's series between these two teams was epic. There is a growing hate between the teams, making for some tough play and hard hits. The bad blood still lingers and snarky comments by both sides during the regular season make this a highly anticipated war.

I, of course, line up on the side of the Hawks. Some other clueless bloggers (Schaubs, Fuel55, Pirate Lawyer, and dbcooper, among others) will be rooting for the evil Canucks. I am sure the Canucks will try what was unsuccessful last year -- play a tough, physical game, hoping to halt the speed and finesse of the Blackhawks.

I'll be watching game one from the comfort of my home, but will be at the United Center for game two. It has been years since I have been to a Hawks playoff game (they were so bad for so many years) so this should be fun.

The betting window is open for any of you Canookie fans. Any brave souls out there looking to make a small wager?

Have a great weekend!