+160k Month

I took second in the Sunday Poker Stars Million for 140k (3-way chop at the end leaving 40k on the table) and had a good month in the cash games to boot.

In the tourney, I ran hot when it mattered and played solid poker. Most amusing part of the day for me was that I registered for the tournament in an act of tilt after a seemingly never-ending downswing playing 2/4 and 3/6 PLO. Then, I almost un-registered at the last minute because I had forgotten I needed to pick up my wife--but, I was too late as they were already seating for the event. So, I called her a cab and settled in to see if I could build up a stack.

I was average in chips, picking up medium sized pots and doubling up a number of times, winning a number of coinflips as well as cracking KK with AK all-in preflop, well into the money. I got my money in bad on one other occassion but was saved from being more or less crippled when the board made a straight.

Then, when there was around 70 people left I went on a major heater, going from about 175k in chips to 1.3 million over 20 hands or so. Then I stole blinds like crazy building it up to about 3 million and the chip lead. I was moved to a very tough table on the final table bubble and lost a lot of chips and showed up at the final table 8th in chips. Then, I ran pretty well and got lucky that some of the other players were in a hurry to bust. When it was down to 3 players, we were roughly equal in chips and after some haggling did a 3-way chop leaving 40k on the table. I made it to heads up and then got ran over by the deck and a LAG opponent. It would have been nice to take down that extra 40k but I'd say I am content. Huge score for my family and puts us in a nice position as I prepare to retire from professional poker in May 07.

Thanks to everyone who sweated me, especially Bugstud who provided me with a lot of good tips. I have played very few MTTs and even the most basic end-game problems confuse the fuck out of me.