Back to School and Pokering!

I stated almost a month ago the only way for me to come back to Online pokering is if my investment in my friend Dan and Yoda returns after the WCOOP, well, I got almost everything back from Yoda who played every event in WCOOP and performed commendably, cashing twice and making the final table once, so I received 120 dollars for my 1%. Dan, on the other hand, sucked! So I only got 15 dollars back from him for an event he ended up not playing. So my total bankroll started at 140! From watching Dan and Yoda play in the WCOOP, I have learned a few things about MTT, I think that my chances at them are much better than before.. So I decided to use the 140 dollars to play MTT while playing some .25/.5 NL cash game on the side to cover the buyins.

Skipping forward, my bankroll is currently over 2000 dollars! Mainly from a 2nd place finish in a Pot limit event with the buyin of 20 and a small field of 360 ppl. The payoff was good for 1000 dollars, 1st place gets 1600 dollars. Although I was dissappointed not to finish first, the event gave me a lot of confidence and definite boosts to my bankroll. I played quite a few MTT after that, playing well in all of them.. I am able to consistently make it past the 2nd hour and be in the hunt for the big money almost every tournament.. I am playing so well that I am confident I will soon score another big one.

I finished 62nd/1050 ppl in the 5 rebuy tourny couple of days ago, the total prize pool was over 25k and top place paid 6k+. I made the money in good position 20/80 at some point, but I proceeded to lose two coinflips.. TT vs KQ and 55 vs KJ. There is absolutely nothing I could've done, you have to win these flips to be able to score big in these tournies, I guess it just wasnt my day.

I have been consistently playing in tourny with prize pool close to 30k, and today I played in the 30 dollars NL tourny that attracted 886 players. After 4 hours, I finished 32nd/886.. for a meager 110 dollars!! This is the frustrating part of MTT, the money are all in the final table. I played absolutely flawless all tournament, was a big stack since 200 players left, I was top 10 the whole way before losing a coinflip right before the money, which dropped me back to 20/81 as I made the money. I was really in a zone in this tournament and thought for sure I am going into the final table... but cards just would not go my way after I made th emoney, I lost another coinflip which dropped me below average right after making the money.. I fought hard as a short stack but never caught any chance to double up, eventually finishing in 32nd..
When you play so hard and well in these big tourny and finish so close to the big money.. you get a really sick feeling the moment you bust out, I guess that is the frustration innate to these tourny.

I have also been playing lots of SNG, mostly 30 and 50 dollars.. doing well in them, but the big money was when I felt like gambling yesterday and played a 100 SNG, in which I luckily finished 1st, not that I suckedout but I just feel really fortunate to do that well in my first try at 100 SNG.

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School starts tom. I am really not in the school mode.. but I think I have learned enough along the way in the past three years to just about "grind" through any quarter without much effort. I will be taking GRE next Friday, still feeling very unsure about the writing section but unable to bring myself to prepare for it more.. the real problem is the fact that it is difficult to learn how to "write" well in such a short time, especially since I have not written anything in over two and half years. Writing skill is something that can only be accumulated over time, but the lack of opportunity to practice in the past few years because of my major is taking quite a tow on my ability to write well, even more difficult is to do it under a time pressure. All these have resulted in my almost surrendering to preparing for the writing section, I feel like just improvise on the day of the test and hopefully receive an acceptable score. For the verbal and math section of the exam, I actually have pretty high expectation, hoping to do well and use it as a ticket to get into the prospect grad. school I am hoping for.

Lian is back for school and we have not argued for over two months.. granted that more than one of the two month we did not even see each other.. but still, isnt that something! I think she has matured to understand the fact that I am always right!! =)

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The main focus of my upcoming quarter is to take the GRE exam and complete all the grad. school application which is a daunting task considering I will have to write many personal statments as well as trying to coax THREE recommendations out of professors who do not even know who I am.. GL me..

That's it for now. Hope I do well on my test and I win a big one soon!