Last night, after work and a bowl of frosted shredded wheat, I headed over to Hollywood Park for a Limit Hold’em tournament. The buy-in, $20 + $15 with $20 rebuys and a $20 add-on option. Shuffle up and deal. About six hands into the tournament, I was dealt big slick (A K off suit), I raised, and two others called.

Flop comes, 2, 5, K, I open the bet, get raised, re-raise, and called. Fourth street, a heart drops (making three hearts on the board), check to me, I open, get called. Fifth street, another heart. She opens, I call. She has A of hearts, K of diamonds; I have A of Spades, K of clubs. She wins with an A high flush. Without the heart, we split the pot. That was my only bad beat of the night.

Fast-forward, I’m down to the felt, I’m dealt pocket fours. I raise, get called by four people. Flop comes, I open, one caller. Fourth street, board is A 2 3 K. I put the last of my chips in and get called. River drops a 5, giving me a straight. The other guy had two pair A 3. Later that night, I took the rest of that guys chips, I took the lady’s chips from the earlier encounter, and the chips of our table chip leader at the break. I was on a roll.

Three tables left, the farthest I’ve ever been in a structured tournament. I have a fair amount of chips, and I�m sitting on them trying to make the final table. No one is taking chances; they don�t want to get knocked out. I started making some loose plays and not taking the right chances. Playing flushes instead of straights, stuff like that.

So my finishing place, in an uneventful demise, was 22nd of 99. My best tournament place thus far. Time to fire up the Turbo Texas Hold�em simulator. Practice, practice, practice.