9th in UB $200 .. Playing Differently

I took 9th in the UB Sunday $200 tournament out of 571 players. The railing support was terrific and fun -- thanks guys, it's always appreciated. Woot! Since I'm often only playing two tournaments a week (the UB Sunday $200 and Wednesday $200 -- I'll eventually add Tuesday's Ecrew, which have stopped while UB was going through it's troubles), it's cool to hit.

There is no way to make the following not look self-serving but I have to be honest: thank you Bax and Sheets.

I have made several UB $200 final tables over the last six months and cashed a bunch of times, but this one was different for one main reason -- I really enjoyed this tournament because my stress level was so much less. This is the main thing I've gotten so far from the videos by Bax and sheets: confidence that the play I am making is perfectly fine based on math, position, the cards, the players, etc.

In the past, I've struggled over lots of the tough decisions we all face when going deep in a tournament. But this time, I was absolutely sure that there was only one move for this hand -- or even that there are three ways to play this hand and all are acceptable. That just lowers your stress completely -- then it's up to the cards.

On top of this: I definitely played differently in a whole bunch of situations. I came over the top when I had a big stack without top premium hands, making the early raiser make a decision for his entire tourament. I isolated players better than ever before. I didn't limp nearly as much. I called far less. I made at least 4 very tough laydowns when the math wasn't right or where I would have been breaking one of Sheets' rules. I called a few lower stack all-ins when the math was right but I knew I was behind. I played my cards more aggressively when I hit my hand and got paid off more often and sucked out on less. This stuff adds up. Sure, I did some of this stuff in the past, but not as consistently -- hand after hand -- like I've been doing lately.

All of these things and much more are second nature to Bax and Sheets. Seeing them make the correct plays over and over again just burns it into you. So thank guys. Obv.

In the first two hours of the tournament, I had terrific cards that held up. There was only one bad suck out during this run that stung and one other didn't hurt that bad. I was playing more hands than normal because of the cards, maybe 20% and winning more than normal. Hours three and four were fine. The only downside to the tournament was my table had a ton of big stacks. I was 3rd or 4th in chips in the tournament but was often on the table with the chip leader and two others in the top ten -- even with 120 players to go. So that did slow me down, which of course was maybe a good thing.

I then went card dead when we got to maybe 30 players and two little runs of cards kept me alive. Finally with 14 or 15 to go I hit and moved up in the tournament to 3rd, only to blow it in the one horribly played hand of the night, an attempted steal from the SB against the BB, who played the hand great. Dumb! I limped into the final table then hit a hand. I was still in last place but safer with 60,000 chips and blinds at 4000/8000 and big antes. In middle position, I got AQ suited but an early position player went all in. I honestly thought he had JJ based on an earlier play he made and with 12k blinds coming, I finally made the call. Bad read -- he flipped KK and I went out 9th.

On top of those rather poor plays, I had one other hand I played badly and maybe 5 other hands I want to pull up in the PXF Replayer and take a hard look out. I have a long way to go but I feel like I'm getting there.

Congrats to shattus for taking second, plus pullincards1, kristen, and anniebets on their results too!

Overall, it was an exciting night of poker because Bax went deep in the PokerStars $1 million and the UB $200, plus it was fun to watch Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, the WSOP champion, dominate the PS $1 million. He finally went out 2nd after holding a 3 to 1 lead over the guy he was heads up with. Still, it was a nice $185,000 pay day. ActionJeff, a player I've been watching a lot lately, won the $500 UB and went very deep in the PS $1 million as well. VN.

Good luck this week!