Busy summer

I have had a crazy busy summer and it is really interfering with my ability to play poker. I played hooky one day when my meetings and court canceled and I decided to hit Rivers for the day. They have a pretty good 1/3 game there. I was cruising along nicely when I got involved in a crazy hand. I had j10 h. Flop comes 789 with 2 hearts. Nice flop. One guy bets 25, crazy guy raises to 55. I am next to act and I have 450 in front of me. I think for a while there are a few people behind me to act and they do not look interested in the hand at all. I decide to raise to 100. Lets get some money in the pot. The original better goes all in for about 120 total. The crazy guy calls. Turn is 4. Crazy guy bets 75. I figure he likes his hand enough to call my raise so I ship my remaining money into the pot. He calls. River 7. Short stack had j10 also, crazy guy had 74. He went runner runner boat for a monster pot. When people asked him what he thought I had when I raised the turn, his response was two smaller pair than him. HE HAD BOTTOM TWO PAIR.

I did manage to make it to Meadows for their big poker weekend tournament. The tournament is a $335 buy in with a decent structure. I was cruising along nicely chipping up when I went completely card dead. I could not even get a spot to shove. Whenever it folded to me I had a hand like 82, 10 4. It was crazy. I finally get 99 utg and shove for about 9 big blinds. I get called by AK and Aq. Of course the door card is an Ace. Why do they always hit when they are sharing outs. Oh well. That's poker. I suffered a few horrendous beats that weekend and I am really proud of the way that I handled the losses. I did not go on tilt as I normally do.

I also went to Hollywood Casino for the Indiana State poker championship. I played in the $345 deep stack. I did a sort of running log after
each blind level. In the early rounds I played smart tight aggressive poker. I refused to call with weak hands out of position. Won a few decent pots with Ak and Aq. I am really upset about a few hands that I played. After losing a decent pot with Ak vs Aq when he hit a queen
on the river, I went completely card dead. I had over 65,000 in chips so I was not desperate at all as the blinds were 600/1200 with a 150 ante. I did not stay as patient as I should have been. I saw aj s utg and decided to raise. I hate that hand. Of course the crazy guy in the
big blind called. Flop was j46 with 2 spades. I way overplayed top pair. He bet out 3,500. I put him on the flush draw so I raised to 9,500. He shipped it. I did not take the time to count his stack before I insta-called with just one pair. He had 7-5 spades for the open ended straight
flush draw. Of course he hit the flush on the river. When will I learn to slow down and think. He had about 39,000 total and my stack was down to 22,500. I am so pissed that I played such a big pot with one pair. I should never have been in the pot in the first place and I lost
a good portion of my stack. I stayed positive and tried to refocus but I could hear that little voice in my head that I blew it and I needed to get my chips back. Soon after we went to 800/1600 with 200 ante I got nervous. It folded to be on the hijack and I shipped it with my
favorite hand Aj s. I was insta-called by the player next to me and he had QQ. No luck for me and I am out. I don't hate the shove with Aj but it is such a bad hand for me that I should know better.

I also played the $555 tourney. It only had 171 runners. There were really no weak spots in this tourney. (other than me). I played really well
in this tournament. I got unlucky in two spots that cost me a bunch of chips. The first hand was a cooler blind v blind. I had jj in small blind vs kk in bb. Luckily he did not have a huge stack. Then I called a small raise from the big blind (against the most aggressive guy at the
table) with 74 c. Flop was 746. I checked, he bet about half the pot. I raised and he shipped it with 78. He hit a 5 on the turn for the straight. The only thing I would have done differently was I think I should have went all in after he bet and put maximum pressure on him. I don't
know if it plays out any differently but I wish I would have shipped it. I finally got short stacked and shoved from the button with pocket 10s. I got called by kq s. Flop qq9. Good game. I went out 28th. I was upset because they redrew for seats at 27 and I was hoping to get away
from the maniac 2 to my left.

Not sure if I will go back to Hollywood. I liked the tournaments, but they shut down their cash games. I got squashed in the pits. It was a very expensive weekend. Luckily, the next weekend I was saved. I will write about that later.