Has the Nightmare Ended?

This week has been tough for me. The cash games have roughed me up every time and despite making the final table on nearly every tournament I have entered, have not cashed until today. Yesterday's tournament at Joker's was particularly brutal, going all in with A6 suited in the cutoff in a blind stealing attempt only to run into pocket aces just like my last two hands at the same tournament a month ago.

The 10 a.m. Sunday Moose tournament is one of my favorites, with 5000 chips, 20 min. blinds and a $5 cash bounty. We had about 30 players and I was very card dead the entire tournament. The biggest pair I ever got was pocket Jacks, and I had pocket 8's 4 times. Needless to say, I struggled to make the final table as the short stack, with only enough chips (1500) to make about one round. I got very lucky deciding to go all in with 4 other players in a pot (went for the volume) including one other all-in. I chose that hand with a queen/eight suited as I have personally been busted by that combination a couple of times. I flopped top pair and turned the flush and was back in the game. I tried to stay out of trouble and successfully bluffed a very cautious player when we were in the blinds and the board paired. I went all-in, he laid down the winning hand, saying "I hope you had the trip queens". I showed him my small suited connectors and he went a little on tilt. I showed them mostly for the benefit of the other regulars at the table to send them the message that I was willing to bluff with all my chips and not just wait for great hands. I did make one big goof-up when I thought someone had just bet and I came over the top all-in with a suited 3/5. Turns out he had thrown all his chips in, not just bet. Ooops. I wish that had a happy ending, he had pushed weak with an 8/9 diamonds. I ended up making a straight, but he made a flush. I have to slow down and make sure where I am on the hand when putting all my chips in. I would normally have folded that hand without a thought unless in the blind for not many more chips, or shortstacked. We ended the tournament early when 3rd place was eliminated and the chip leader...by about 3 to 1 margin, generously offered to give me 2nd place plus another $100. I quickly accepted and earned a total of $455 including 3 bounties. Hooray!

One other note. Played in a freeroll online for a seat in the Saturday $1000 game (top 30). I had to leave to catch a 4:00 movie and turned my seat over to my buddy Ron with 900 players remaining and me in 218th place. I completely forgot about it until Ron called after the movie and told me he was in 18th place with 58 left. I drove to the office to watch him win my seat in 24th place. Way to go Ronster!!!