But in purple, I'm stunning

In contrast to the bad online $1/$2 play I've had recently, today was an OK day in brick and mortar land. Mainly, it's because I got to spend a day in brick and mortar land, but secondly, it's because I played well and cam out ahead.

At Palace's 8:30 a.m. tourney, I lost my $20 buy-in about 30 minutes into the tourney (10 minute rounds) when my AK of spades ran into pocket eights preflop, and never caught up. At Happy Days, I pushed all-in with AQo, and got called by... another AQo. And a pair of nines. The nines won it, two of us dropped at the same time.

But in cash game play at Palace, three hands in I raked in a monster pot (about $45, I think), when I missed my straight draw and flush draw, and only had a K♥ on the river. I continued to bet strong however, and the other two players who apparently also missed their draws, folded.

I took a small hit when I ran into a set of sixes, but came back with a win in the small blind with A9s, when I hit the flop (a 3, a 5, and a 9), then paired the ace on the turn, beating someone with A5.

In the end, I was up $70 at the $3/$6 game before I left, and won $10 with the Happy Days match play tickets, so subtracting out the $20 and $25 buy-ins, I ended up +$35 for the day. Vacation's great.

Weekend of tournaments, Event 6: Hawks Prairie 8 PM $40 buy-in

I arrived just after 7:00 to sign up for the 8:00 tournament, and the 30 spots were already filled; there was already a waiting list. I was second on the list.

As an idea of how tight this tournament was: 1) it started at 7:00; 2) I didn't get a seat as the second alternate until after 7:30, and 3) I didn't hear them seat any alternates after me. I played until about 9:15, and the three tables were still at 8 people each. I took advantage of the tight play a couple of times, building my initial 4000 chip stack to almost 7000, but had two bad beats which brought me down to about 2000 (the player to my right, with pocket fours both times, called my AQ and AK, hitting a 4 on the flop both times). Then, on the small blind, I made a donkey move, trying to win a battle-of-the-blinds with K7o, raising the big blind, who called, then bet, and I pushed all in to scare him off, and he called, winning with A4 (yes, his four paired. Fours were mean to me tonight.) My remaining 300 in chips weren't enough to live past the blinds.

Net: -$40

I could stay up and hit Happy Days' 2:00 AM tourney, but I think I'm pokered out for the night. And I've got to see about a Horse in Renton tomorrow morning.

Net for the day: -$90
Net for the weekend: +$86