After taking last week off for holiday awesomeness with my family, the WWdN poker tournaments at PokerStars are back in action.

Today, we have the West Coast Warmup number three:

What: WWdN: West Coast Warmup #3
Where: PokerStars.
When: Thursday, December 1. 7:30 PST
Password: monkey
Tournament number: 15885231
Buy-in: $10+1

Tomorrow, we have the WWdN: ZowieZ Invitational

What: WWdN: ZowieZ Invitational
Where: PokerStars.
When: Friday, December 2. 7:00 EST
Password: monkey
Tournament number: 15886396
Buy-in: $10+1

I was doing really well in the HeyKidsItsBG Invitational, right up until I got sort of unlucky trying to bust a short stack. After a limp and a raise, I was getting 6-1 on my money with pocket fives, so I re-raised all-in to isolate the short-stack. I was in the lead, but just barely, against hands like KQ and AQ . . . until the KQ flopped two pair. Ouch. Two people went broke on that hand, and two others were crippled. Nice hand, well-played. A few hands later, I found AKo, and lost a race to a pair of eights. Here’s what I blogged at CardSquad:

He raised it 4x the BB, so I came over the top for 3x his raise, which
pretty much committed me. When he went all-in, I knew I was behind, but
getting 3-1 on my money, I thought it was a good call, since I was at
worst 50-50 unless he had an ace. Oh, there’s an 8 on the flop. D’oh!

I finished fourteenth, which was pretty awful, considering my chip position right before the debacle with presto (that’s pocket fives, for you non-BARGErs.) It illustrates the reality of a no-limit tournament: you can go from first place to the parking lot in just a few hands if you get stupid, unlucky, or both. Of course, you can also go from last to first just as easily. "That’s no limit, baby!"

Hope to see lots of players tonight and tomorrow!