TomBraband

I'm sitting in the Miami airport recollecting on what turned out to be a very enjoyable weekend. I didn't cash the 5k which was the only tourney i played but I thought I played well for most of the tourney, especially day 1. I ended up with the toughest table draw in the room on day 2. Around the table to my left was matt brady who is the defending champion, roothlus, a good online guy that i didnt know, a good live pro with a ton of chips from LA that i met who was played well and tough, tmay, crazyzachary, a couple more good online pros and then bigegypt to my right. I held my own for most the of day but was getting rivered in pretty muc every significant pot I got into. The hand I feel that really cost me most of my chips and my momentum in the tourney was the following:

I opened EP with 87cc to 3k at 600/1200, tmay flatted the button and zach made it 8600 from the sb, which was really tiny considering we were all about 70k deep. I couldn't resist calling and tmay called as well. I though zach didn't have a huge hand but a pretty good hand just trying to take control of the pot. It came out K82 rainbow and he bet 9k into a 28k pot. I called and tmay folded. Turn was a 3 and zach checked. I was pretty sure I had the best hand but was undecided on whether to check behind and try to show down or play a more aggressive line and bet about 1/3 of my stack which woulda put me in a tough spot if he shoved. Looking back on it I don't think he shoves many hands to that bet so betting may have been the right play but I decided to check. The river was a Q and he bet 9k again into a pot that was now around 46k. I thought about shoving as a bluff because I put him on AQ but decided against it and decided he wasn't bluffing so i folded and later he told me he did have AQ. Oh wellz.

I did end up staying a couple extra days in aruba because my good friend and current cardplayer POY leader eric 'basebaldy' baldwin made the final table. He was the chip leader 4 handed at one point but couldn't find the cards to get the momentum. He eventually declined a chop when he was 2 of 4, which would have given him about 350k but I thought it was the right move since I felt and I'm sure he felt he was the best player left in the tournament. He then turned up the heat and starting 3 betting quite a bit and with that image he was forced into a really hard spot for a huge pot where he 3bet a10 and brandon hall shoved and he eventually called and brandon had JJ and held for the CL. He busted shortly after losing AQ to robert mizrachi's A7 and was knocked out in 4th for 126k. Even though it was a disappointing finish I really thought he made the correct long term move to decline the chop and I saw the fire in him wanting to win it which is what you need to be successful. Once again a great tourney for him and an unbelievable year. He just got enough points to pass up Yevginey Timoshenko for the POY lead and he's going to be grinding pretty hard in the next few months to go for the title. Really pulling for him, GL sir!

It was a great weekend besides all the poker, had a lot of fun hanging out with many old poker friends as well as meeting a bunch of new guys who are very good guys and classy dudes. It's really great to have a good poker community of pros and good friends out there to see for each live tournament you play. Had a great time by the beach and also did a dune buggy excursion on the far side of the island that was a blast. I did have an unfortunate jetski accident in which mattg's and my jetski collided sending us both to the water. My arm was pretty badly bruised up and bled for awhile but I felt fortunate that it wasn't worse than that because he pretty much landed his jetski on me mid-air going about 40 mph.

I plan on playing mostly online for the next month or 2 besides maybe a trip to vegas for the caesers classic main event. I'm making a trip back to wisconsin for halloween and to hopefully catch the packers/vikings game at lambeau field. Should be a fun trip. Hopefully I'll have some big scores to report on soon.

-TT

I had a pretty successful wcoop series. Didn't hit any giant scores but I had a lot of cashes and thought I played well overall throughout the series. I did have one final table, it came in the $300 limit event. I took 4th for about 25k. I did also win the 50 rebuy on one of the sundays during the series for about 40k and then wrapped up the last day with a cash in the main event for 11k.

The big news for me, however, was the emergence of my horses, especially jake. Jake found his way to about 7-8 final tables in the last couple weeks and has profited over 25k. He was in a slump for awhile but i'm proud of him that he has come out of it and is playing really well. I've really spent a ton of time working closely with my horses on their game and giving them advice whenever possible and I think i'm finally starting to reap the rewards.

I'm busy doing things around the house today, cleaning, doing laundry and packing in preparation for my travel to aruba tomorrow night. I have never been there but it should be a great time. I'm flying out with jamie (pokerjamers) and staying with him and Nick Grippo. Never been there before and i've only heard great things so i'm really excited. Shortly after my trip to aruba, i'll be planning a trip back home to wisconsin for some haloween festivities and hopefully see a bunch of people that I haven't seen since i left in may. Should be a fun and excited couple weeks!

-TT

So it's been a good few weeks of moving in, playing a light schedule on sundays and wednesdays and helping my horses improve their games. I feel ready and focused to put in a heavy schedule and grind for the next couple weeks. My game is blossoming at the right time and I just need to start using the "run good" that i've saved up over the last 4 months. High spirits and successes are headed this way, i can feel it.

I got to enjoy several nice golf courses and a few great movies over the last few weeks. Dave, Jake and I golfed Trump National today. Absolutely a sick course. Unfortunately for me I was not golfing well at all and lost some money on the skins prop betting. I am not the greatest golfer so I of course get a healthy handicap against dave and jake but I still golfed way under par( errr over par?) for even my own abilities. With wcoop starting, its gonna be tough to get in some golf lessons like I've wanted to do for awhile but after that I should be getting a lot of lessons in to try and improve my game a lot. I also have plans to start a UFC training regimen at the UFC gym here in huntington. I probably won't ever enter a real fight but the goal is to sweat like crazy and attend some classes to try to get a true california body back that I had in high school and college. I also would like to get back into baseball (I played in college) in the form of some kind of semi-pro league in the area. Hopefully they have plenty of week night and saturday games so I can avoid having games on tournament sundays. If it causes me to adjust my schedule and start playing more cash games instead of the rough schedule of tournaments to get all these activities in, i'll do it.

There's a couple great movies I've seen recently that I encourage everyone to watch. First of all, i'm sure most of you have seen the hangover. Great flick, especially for people interested in las vegas and comdedy - cant miss this one. If you are into science fiction and alien movies but have been disappointed with the plots and story lines of those movies in the last few years then you should definately check out district 9. Unbelievably rich plot and I think it's worth seeing even if you dont traditionally like those types of movies. Hurt locker was a really good army film about the life of a bomb defuser and his daily activities and why he loves doing what he's doing. And last but not least, I just saw inglorious basterds. Not what i expected at all, since I haven't seen very many Quentin Tarantino movies, if any, but I really enjoyed it. The acting completely made this movie. Several phenomenal performances including brad pitt made this movie into a masterpiece. Tons of clever and subtle comedy along the way made it really enjoyable too.

I've been on a bit of a madden 10 craze as well, as I entered a league with fellow pocketfivers and am 2-0 so far. It's good to play a couple games of madden to take some attention away from poker for awhile, although it sucks when you play someone really good cuz you just get really tilted. I've been having some tough, competitive games against friends online too which is really fun plus it's getting me really excited for the NFL season. GO PACKERS!

The good news is that I am now in my own apartment and have space to myself to relax and regroup mentally. It's a one bedroom apartment near downtown huntington beach, CA that has a spectacular ocean view and a great location.

I'm (hopefully) closing down one of the larger downswings of my career in the next few weeks. I haven't ran well at all since pretty much May. I haven't hit over a 15k score online since may and I've pretty much lost all the key pots that you need to win to win tournaments. I've looked at my game and looked at others and realized I'm playing very well, just certain adjustments in styles in certain situations (being over aggressive or under aggressive) have been made and I feel like the last 2 weeks online I've been playing extremely well. I've gotten in the top 20 in a ton of sunday majors in recent weeks so I don't think theres anything wrong with my game, if anything I think I am playing as good as I have in a few months. The next step is just to get out of this funk.

I'm not the type to panic, as I have plenty of money saved up from my heater during the fall and spring so I'm no where near going busto, but my horses have under performed online since vegas so that doesn't help either. I have faith they will bust out of that and start hitting some big scores as well. WCOOP is coming up and so I'm anticipating a big series. I plan on buckling down, lowering volume in other tourneys to focus on those and hit a few big scores.

I haven't played any poker since sunday because I've been busy doing things to get settled in to the apartment but I will play sunday and then probably wednesday and put in a few cash sessions before the start of WCOOP. Dave and I have a double lunch date and a round of golf planned out for tomorrow. That should be fun, especially because I haven't gotten to hang out with him for a few weeks because we've both been so busy. I'm confident that good things are on the horizon and am anxious to be able to look out at the ocean to relax while I play and have that lead to better focus and play. See you all for WCOOP!

So it's been awhile since I have posted a new blog so I wanted to share some updates on my life. After the series I finished the drive out to orange county, CA and have been living with mike and jake for a few weeks. I am currently in a hotel in newport beach for the week until I can hopefully find an apartment for a month before moving in with doc sands and/or pokerjamers in september. I haven't been playing a ton of mtt's since vegas as I am still on a slight burnout but I have been putting in a lot of hours at the cash tables online. I've had some good success so far as I continue to learn from my mistakes every day.

I put in a session at commerce the other day with mike, jake and his buddy whitey. I sat with 3k at 10/20 and doubled up the first hand qq against a missed combo draw so that was pretty sick. I got in a couple questionable spots that I think I misplayed that cost me a lot of money that I'll share. I raised to 70 utg 6 handed with TT and both blinds called. The flop came JT9 rainbow and the sb immediately led out for 200. Kind of a weird spot I decided to raise to 550, didn't really like my raise size after I did it, i thought i shoulda made it more. He called. Turn was a brick 5 or 2, and he checked. I really thought about checking behind for deception/ pot control/ maybe catch a bluff on the end type reasons but i decided to bet 950 and he shoved for 2700 more and i reluctantly called knowing it probably wasn't a good call and he showed up with Q8 for a straight and I didn't catch up. That hurt a lot since I was playing in higher stakes cash games than i'm used to. Didn't buy in more and I had about 1500 left and I just grinded it back up to about 4k until getting coolered a8 to 88 on a A83 flop against a donkey, he check raised me on the flop and i just called, turn J and i called 600 again and he bet 1200 on a 6 river with 800 behind and I thought I was losing value against worse 2 pairs so i shoved, hating my shove in hindsight.

The 2/4-5/10 6max games online have been treating me well, i've profited probably 10-12k in the last 3 weeks, although I did get all in on the flop last night with JJ against 66 on a QJ6 and he turned a 6 for a significant pot lol, but I guess those happen once in awhile.

I actually got up at 8 this morning to grab some complimentary breakfast with apple downstairs and then we walked on the beach for awhile, really relaxing. I could definitely get used to living on the beach for the next 10 months thats for sure. Newport beach is beautiful, I hope I can make it my home and find a good place for atleast the next year.

Hoping to get back into a tourney grind with upcoming ftops and wcoop series so that should be exciting, I'll probably take a break for a few days before thats starts and hopefully find some good plans for my birthday next sunday.

-TT

I cashed in my 2nd straight wsop tournament to bring my total to 4 on the summer. I took 53rd in the 5k 6max. I was all the way down to 5k in chips from the starting 15k stacks in the first level but managed to make a come back and make the money. I was extremely happy with how I played the entire tournament overall, as I minimized mistakes and got max value out of almost every situation while remaining aggressive. Congrats to Matt hawrilenko on the victory. I played with him the entire day on day one, and watched him be all in 3 times with his tourney life on the line and winning all 3 and being short stacked still going into day 2 and coming out with victory. He played great the whole day I played with him, and he must have continued that trend on day 2 and 3.

My focus now shifts to the main event. I chose to play sunday because my mom and sister will be in town friday through sunday (leaving earlier in the day sunday) and I wanted them to be able to watch me play the main event atleast for a few hours.

As the summer wears on, I am growing increasingly sick of the city. I've said it before, I think its a great place to visit, but I really don't know if I could ever live here. Being in a casino constantly just wears a person's soul down because of the pure fact of what casinos are based on and how they make money. Barring poker players, it seems everyone is only out to get their own dime and doesn't really respect other people or worry about anyone else's fortunes. It's really tough to live in a city like that and find really good-hearted people to meet and talk to on a daily basis. (Again, I think most poker players are an exception and a lot of them are really nice, generous people) The grind of live poker is also starting to get to me because the last few summers I hadn't going deep in every event and I had been busting out early or making a deep run but this summer it feels like I plugged up some leaks in my early game and i've been playing extremely patient so I am lasting long into each day, which is good, but it also puts more stress and wear on you when you play for so long and don't see any rewards.

I'm going to ground up all of the mental energy I have left for the main event, hopefully make something happen, and then ship off to california to settle down and relax for awhile before thinking about poker again. My mind and my body definitely need a break from this lifestyle. I am becoming more and more stressed by the day, and I hate to see it also effect the people around me negatively as well. My girlfriend has been extremely supportive and I hate to see my stress taken out on her sometimes unnecessarily. Being irritable after a tournament bustout is never anything anyone close to a tournament regular wants to deal with, but they put up with us somehow, and probably don't deserve enough credit. I'm in store for a nice long vacation soon enough, and it can't come at a better time. Good luck everyone in the main event!
-TT

Bit of a roller coaster week. Things didn't go well at all in any event I played this week until yesteday's 1500. I played a couple 2500s and a hilo and the venetian 2k and grinded out all of them, being extremely patient before taking a bad beat or a series or really disappointing hands in each to bust late in the day. They really exhausted me because I was playing every day and I was busting late in the night with no money to show for it. I did get to watch basebaldy at the 10k PLH final table exactly a week after he won his bracelet. He ended up taking 3rd for another 250k. Pretty unreal week for him and I'm extremely happy for him because he deserves it.

So I lost my car key which has made getting around extrememly difficult. I haven't had time to get my car unlocked so I can get the title out of my car to get a new key made, just more things to annoy me this week basically. I almost unregistered for the 1500 yesterday the night before because I was just so exhausted from the whole week and pretty depressed about how things were going. Glad I didn't.

I played patient early, ripped one river bluff raise for most of my chips against an older guy that worked and then got some nice value bets in to get my stack up to 8k early. I then 3 bet squeezed t7o to a late raise and 2 callers and ended up being committed against a short stack with ak and flopped a straight to get up to around 11k. From there I just started pretty much raping my table. I picked up AK in a couple nice spots where it looked like I was making plays with an aggressive table image and people were playing back at me with either very marginal hands or AQ or small pairs in which I won 4 out of 6 races. In that time span I was able to chip up to about 60k at 150/300. Last hand before dinner i flatted a raise in the cutoff and the button shoved 12k and i decided to call off with 88 and was up against AK and held to get to 80k before our dinner break. My friends were text updating me saying that 2nd place in the entire tourney at the time had 49k. We got moved into the amazon room shortly after dinner at which point I had a massive amount of chips because we hadn't done a color up and I had about 16k in green chips and the floor guys wouldn't let me color up until they did it officially after the next level. This kinda tilted me because it took me over 15 minutes to stack my chips up again and then we colored them up an hour later. Once we got moved in there I won a couple pots to chip up to 124k at 400/800. Most notably, an older gentlemen on my right was limping a lot and decided to make it 4x on the button and I woke up with KK in the sb and reraised like I had been doing with some consistency and he didn't take long to shove in about 25-30k with AJ and I held.

From there things didn't pan out the way I would have liked to. A few hands later, a middle aged euro got moved to my right and played pretty well. We got involved in a sizable blind battle. He limped in the sb and i checked with 62o. It came J52, 2 diamonds, he bet 1100 and i raised to 3100 to find out where I was at and take control of the hand. He called. The turn was my gin 2c and he checked again and I bet 6300. He called after some thought and the river was a 9s. He checked again and i decided to shove for the rest of his 18k stacking, making it look like I missed a draw, hoping he could call with a J. Unfortunately he snap called and tabled a full house with 55. That hand brought me all the way down to about 90k. From there the stacks at our table were mixed with JPosu on my left with a lot of chips and a bunch of short stacks. I probably should have been raising a tighter range than I was, but as it ended up, I got all in with 3 short stacks, all with around 10 bbs, having 2 live cards or being in a race every time, and lost all 3. I ended the day with 67k, which is still double average, so I'm not too disappointed. Hopefully I can get another rush today.

-TT

For me, a couple more NL events and a couple more 100 bb+ bad beats. Not the most of my concerns at the moment though because Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin, a very close friend, poker mentor, and great person, won event #34 at the wsop last night for 521k. I can't imagine a more deserving person to win a bracelet. I'm more happy for him than I am for my own financial benefits from the win (through swaps). He hails from the great state of wisconsin and so I was able to learn a lot from someone relatively close to me in the online poker realm. Eric just has a great feel for life balance, happiness and focus which I have tried to model after for several years now (as is aparent by my pokerstars avatar). We talk all the time about anything from poker to our baseball rivalries (he played college baseball at uw-whitewater and I played at their rivals uw-oshkosh, and he's originally from illinois so he's a cubs fan and I'm a brewers fan), to girlfriends,or to beer products. I've learned so much from him and will continue to for a long time. Congrats baldy.

As for my upcoming schedule. It looks like the NL events are becoming more scarce as there are only 4-5 left including a 5k 6max event. I might dabble in one or two omaha hi-lo events next week as well. Hopefully I can make another deep run or two before the main event.

It's good to have a post where I can atleast talk about some wsop successes instead of failures. I finally had a cash in the 5k NL that started on saturday. I got some chips early flopping an ace with AK in a reraised pot with farke koye and ended up betting him off the same hand. I was making some good value bets and called a few bluffs early on to get my stack up to 34k from the 15k starting stack at the first break. Right before the 2nd break I check shoved a flush draw on the turn and missed for a 22k pot or so, so my stack had dwindled to 23k with antes about to kick in at 100/200.
I lost a few more chips spewing a bit during the next level before getting it all in with 66 vs tt on a 944 flop against an aggro guy and spiking the 6 on the river for my tourney life and the 37k pot. (yeeesh! mbn) I seemed to have a temporary lapse of judgement and was bailed out. I decided I wasn't going to get my money in that far behind anymore and play a lot better and thats exactly what I did. I went card dead for awhile before picking up QQ in the sb and squeezed an early raise and a call. Marciek Gracz called my squeeze and the flop came t86, 2 diamonds. I decided to play it slow and I just checked, he bet 2800 and I called. The turn was a 9 and it went chk chk. The river was a 5 and i checked again and he bet full pot almost, 8k. I ended up debating for awhile if he was bluffing and decided to fold. Not the best hand I've ever played, but we were too deep enough to commit a lot of chips to the pot at that point with one pair, and he hadn't been showing the propensity to pull a big bluff at all.
Genius28 got sat at our table a little later, he came in with 2100 chips at 150/300 and ended up doubling off me j9 to my AJ and then again qq to my 22. He started to have enough chips to play postflop and I'm sure everyone knows how good he is postflop. He began winning a lot of pots off the other weaker players at the table, I was very impressed. I didn't get to play with him after our table broke, but I know he finished deep in the money, around 30th or 40th. That was good to see because he was a nice kid, and played very well.
I meanwhile had been waiting around down to 20-25 bbs and playing very patiently. I got moved to another table toward the end up the day with jeff williams and begsclutch at it. I came in with 30k at 500/1k an chipped up to 57k through 3 betting and winning a couple pots with no showdown to end day one. Day 2 I felt like I had a weaker table draw and so I started 3 betting weaker players right away and won a few more pots without showdown and one blind to blind battle where I floated ace high on the turn and hit an ace on the river and made a big value bet that got called.
I was at about 75k at 600/1200 and houralabo (sp?) voulgaris raised in the cutoff and with my aggressive image I looked down at JJ and 3 bet the button and got him to shove in 45k with T7o and held to chip up to 115k. An orbit or 2 later Gavin Griffin raised early position and I found two black aces on the button and 3 bet. I just knew it wasn't going to look like I had a real hand with my table image and so I was praying to get all his chips because he had about 85k in front. He called my 3 bet and the flop came down t7x, 2 diamonds and he check shove my continuation bet with J8dd and hit the 5d on the turn for the 170k pot. That hurt.
I remained calm though, and tried to keep my composure and keep grinding the short stack. I still had 20 bbs at 800/1600. Blinds were up to 1k/2k before I raised in the cutoff with A10cc and got reraised by an aggro euro kid and decided to stick it in because I only had about 18 bbs total. He showed up with A7o and I doubled up. I started 3 betting a bunch to chip up to 120k at 1200/2400 but hadn't been opening too many pots. I picked up aces in early position and got flatted by a young kid in the sb. It came 853 all diamonds and I had no diamond. I elected to check behind because we were fairly deep and I really didn't want to get check raised on that flop. The turn was a 6h and he lead for 15k. I had a pretty trivial call. The river was an interesting 4s and he lead again for 36k. I debated for awhile and decided he was capable of trying to blow me off my hand so I decided to call and he showed me QJdd for a flopped flush. That put me down to 80k again but I was patient until 1500/3k before getting all in against the same kid with JJ vs TT to double to 92k. Same orbit, we are now on the bubble and an aggro guy on my left raises utg and I defend the bb with 54dd. It comes 874 and it goes chk chk. The turn is an 8 and lead 12k for value. He calls and the river is another 8. I decide he's calling down light so I lead another 28k for value, he does something that really suprises me, he shoves all in for my remaining 50k or so. I thought with his aggressive nature and the line he took in the hand that any overpair was unlikely and the only hand he really could have is a 7, but I think he still bets the flop with it. So I call off for my tourney life and he shows AQ high and I scoop the 200k pot.
By this time, Jason Sommerville (Jcarver) and David Benefield are sitting on my right. Over the course of the next hour or so I play pretty patient, while still occassionally 3 betting jcarver, benefield, kathy liebert, or the young euro kid. I chip up to 250k at dinner break and then shortly after dinner, Mike Sowers comes and sits on my left, SIGH. We've had quite a bit of history from our deep run in the LAPC where we had been 3 betting each other a lot and I had a big suckout against him with KJ vs JJ. Since that time we've talked a bunch and befriended and so I didn't think it was going to be as much of a problem having him on my left as usual. I chipped up to 300k before trying a double barrel with 87 on a T8xK, ddd board and getting check/ shoved by Fabian Moss (a young euro kid who eventually takes 2nd). That hurt a lot and I'm down to 175k. At this point, the pressure is mounting and the blinds seem like they are flying up and suddenly I'm down to about 120k at 4k/8k. I reshove Moss who is opening pretty wide, with A3hh on the button and run into Sowers' aces in the sb. The board runs out 543, X, 3 and my rail goes crazy but I just put my head down and don't say a word as I collect my chips. Pretty exciting suckout. It really felt surreal at the time and I just kept my head down, focused and kept playing poker. I kept up a steady diet of 3 betting and opening to chip up to 320k or so before we redrew tables at 27.
I was sat next to Nick Grippo and got to talk to him for awhile, cool guy. David Pham was on my right and kept opening the button and cutoff and I kept jamming all in with 25-40 bbs because I knew he was the type of player who didn't want to call off all his chips with a marginal hand. I had mostly small pairs but 2 face cards a couple times as well. I did get to knock out Erik Seidel when he shoved 85k utg at 5k/10k and I isolated in the cutoff with A10 and held. That got my stack close to 450k. We redrew again at 18 and I found Isaac (Mr.Menlo) Baron on my direct left with the CL and Fabian Moss 2 to my left and Sowers 3 to my left. Also had pham on my right and the online player Livb112 a few to my right. Basically it was the worst table draw in the tournament so far IMO. We only played a few hands before played was stopped for the night at 3 am. We bagged up with 17 left and they asked us to come back at noon the next day for day 3, which a lot of the players were unhappy about but did anyway.
Day 3 didn't last too long for me. I raised 3 of the first 4 hands uncontested at the table to chip up to 530k at 6k/12k before getting in a blind confrontation with danny Illingworth I think his name was. He raised my bb from the sb and I defend with J8cc. It came down T75, 2 clubs and i raised commit to his stack on the flop and he got it all in with T4o for top pair. The turn was a 6, giving me an open ended striaght draw, with my flush draw and over card and I hit an irrelevant 8h on the river to give him the 1 million chip pot and leave me with 90k. Next hand I had to shove into isaac with t7o and he called with a3cc and flopped 542, 2 clubs. GG me, really disappointing end to what I thought was going to be my first wsop final table. 27k payday looming that close to a 692k bracelet, sigh.

I ended up late registering for the 2500 6 max taht day and got to my table a little bit before 1.
I sat on lee watkinson's left before raising his bb from utg with 74cc. We saw a flop that came K74. He check/called a 525 cbet and the turn was an 8. I bet 1100 and he shoved for 4k more with 56 for the nut straight, blah. We broke a little bit after that and I got moved to a table with Jared (the WacoKidd) Hamby on my left. I was still in recovery mode from the 5k so I was just chatting with him, trying to have a good time and just play good poker without putting too much pressure on this tournament. I waited around on a short stack before doubling J9 to AK and then 44 to AK against the same guy to get up to 15k or so.
From there I ran over the table and chipped up to 25k before watching a bunch of monster stacks get seated at our table. Before our table broke from the brasilia room, I had 31k at 150/300 and was in 5th chip position at our table out of 6. Pretty unreal. I did end up getting moved right after dinner to another table. First hand of the table I picked up AQ in the bb with 30k at 200/400. An asian kid in the sb raised and i reraised for roughly 1/3 of his stack. He elected to flat call and the flop came J7x and i just bet the rest of his stack on the flop which he called off with j10, sigh obv. VERY next hand I try to look noticeable tilted and pick up red kings in the sb and reraise a euro kid in the cutoff. He tanks and folds, sigh. VERY next hand the asian kid raises in the cutoff and I wake up with JJ on the button with 19k left and insta 3 bet to show them I'm a maniac on still on tilt. He 4 bets to 8k and there was just no way I was folding this hand with my image at a new table and my seemingly tilt. So I shove and he calls with QQ. GG me. So 2 disappointing bustouts in one day. meh. Taking today off before the 1500 shootout tomorrow and another 1500 NL on thursday. Hopefully time for another deep run.