A bit of success:

With the frustration of bailing on that tourney the night before stewing in my brain, I am mad. The whole day at work I was beating myself up. Would Phil Ivey leave a poker tourney he had put himself in position to win because he was tired??

So midnight comes, and I enter the same tourney 2.20NL - at midnight. Ready to play until 7AM if needed. Well, of course things don't alway work out that way do they? I run pretty dead, and barely scrap alive and end up busting out with about 700 people left after an hour and a half. So its about 1:40am, im tired and I goto sleep right? nope. I tell myself that if I am going to get better, I have to play, and I won't always be able to play optimial conditions.

So I go looking to see what to play, I happen to spot a 90 player sit n go 2.20 filling up and I jump right in. After busting out of tourney I normally take a break, but maybe thats not the best idea. I am playing very well and I am getting good reads on the table. Sometimes you just see a table well, and while you look at my hand log, you'd see I was dealt KK 4 times! -- well actually 2 of those I won the blinds, and one of them, I got a call and a continuation bet, and the last one was folded to me.

in a tourney where I at one time had a 100,000 chips, those 4 hands of KK got me a whopping 260 chips. Though I was really playing well and I might do some hand anylsis on here if I get the time the weekend.

One hand I will note:

Blind Battle:

I pick up ATo in the BB-- all fold to the SB who makes an 10XBB raise. A really big raise that comes up really fishy here. I am in middle of the road in chips, and the SB is in the top 10. I have about 5500 he has about 9,000-- I am in no danger of being force to make a move due to the tournament structure. Though AT heads up is a mighty nice hand. Two choices run through my head right now:

Steal: very well could be -- its a lot to risk for a steal - but that maybe the point.
Medium pair: These cards are terrible to play post flop against someone who could have any number of hands. (I hate to play them anyway) -- So a big raise to win the blinds makes everyone happy.

The other choice is he has a Monster: AK, AA, KK, QQ -- and that he has pegged me as a good enough player that I will pick up on the oversized bet. But this is a really risky play, as I have been playing really tight, and 95% of the time I am hitting the muck before his chips go in.

So now: its ATo facing a big raise. So I think he has a middle pair. so im a dog, but only slightly. The question is, he has enough chips to walk away easy, and I can hurt him pretty badly here. so do I have enough chips to make him fold? I think that I do.

So I decide to push all in over the top -- in hoping to take this pot away from him. Now he goes into the tank. hits the request time button. I accomplish two things here. One, I defend my blind in dramatic fashion for all to see. and I show a willingness to play a big pot, put pressure on my oppt. and will re-raise.

The longer he waits, the more sure I am that he is going to lay this down.

He calls: flips over 77 -- perfect read on my part. Probably a good read on his part.

I hit a T on the turn and win the race: and am now sitting pretty with a lot of chips with about 40 people left to go.

Two things on this hand, as over 50% of the time, I am ending this tourney early. but in poker, you are not always going to be a 80-20 favorite -- you can't be scared to loose. but mainly, if you are reluctant to push your chips in the center, your oppt will just continue to push you around. So while I figured I was putting my money as a slight dog, it made up for it to me by the % of times he folds his hand, and now I have shown everyone at the table I will defend my blind, and put my chips in the center.

This kind of table image, with a big stack is a great recipe for success and it served me well in this tourney. When we hit 13 players left, I am at the six handed table. Though I am only 9th in chips, I am only a 1000 behind 3rd. people tend to tighten up near the money, and I have been playing really tight (card dead) for the past 20 minutes. So its time to losen up a bit and see if I can take some blinds and antes.

By the time we hit the final table I am moved up to 4th in chip position, and sitting pretty. in the money! already made back for both tournies tonight, but now the real fight begins. I won't go into any hand history, but because of the blind structure, I am sitting pretty under no presssure to make a move at the full table unless ive got a big hand.

I sit back, relax and tighten up. as two people get elimiated, and I start to pick things up and get a few hands. by the time we get down to four I am sitting on 100,000 chips. Over 50% at the table. Eventually we finally make heads up and I have 81,000 chips and my oppt. has 80,000. Even Steven!

I would like to go on and write about how I dominated my player heads up and took home the prize as he was no match for me. First off, he gave me a nice compliment to start, that he knew it would be us too, even since he saw me play a certin hand. nice to see that he thinks im a good player, and worrysome that he is actually paying attention. doh!

As I lead into before: I haven't played a meaningful heads up battle in months. Im rusty, and its late (now 5:30am and I have to wake up in 2 hours for work) I am not making excuses: he beat me. plain and simple, as we started even I soon found myself down to 45,000 chips. I double again thanks to a well placed flop -- only to find myself back down to a 100,000 - 60,000 advantage again. I pick up KQ and push, he calls with JT - T on the river -- game over.

I need some heads up practice.

Either way, though I started busting out of a tourney -early - and could have went to bed - I decided to plug along and had my most successful run in a long time. 2.20 90 man sit n go -- turned into a prize of 34.00 -- considering my bankroll is 100.00 that is a pretty nice little boost.