TJ'S BBT Player of the Week

It should come as no surprise that I had to give the award to myself for last week. I won the Big Game and finished third in both Riverchaers and Skillz razz to give myself a nice points lead going into the final week of the month.

That lead has evaporated some since then. In last week's Mookie I cruelly lost a race against top competitor ElSnarfGrande with 9-9 versus A-Q when the board ran out J-T-8-7-9. ElSnarfGrande went on to make the final seven when the lights went out later in the evening. He was back at it this Monday, finishing fifth in the Riverchasers event. In this one I was at one time the chipleader, but self-destructed to a degree (I think this is the third event in BBT4 that at one time I was the chipleader yet failed to make even the points).

CracknKK, with a stack of about 15K, raised to 720. I decided to flat call in the SB with A-K. Schaubs popped it to about 2,100 of his 11K stack and cracknKK folded. Thinking this could be a squeeze I re-raised all-in for about 6K total. Schaubs insta-called with A-A. If I had re-raised preflop I could have folded to an all-in push by Schaubs behind me. Oh well. This was a spot (with 19 players left and 13 making the points) where I definitely should not have gambled as my overall equity for the month greatly increases by just making the points. Despite my advocacy of consistent point gathering I have definitely been willing to gamble it up more in BBT4, if my two times directly on the points bubble is any indication.

After Monday my points lead over the now second-place ElSnarfGrande was now down to 80, but fortunes turned Tuesday night. Other than winning the thing, I couldn't have asked for a better result in the Skillz stud/8 event. I finished eighth while only Shabazz Jenkins made the points among my closest competitors for the monthly points race, finishing in 12th. If my math is correct, and believe me it's often wrong, only SJ and ESG are capable of overtaking me in tonight's final event of the month, The Mookie. A first or second by either would be required (and I'm not sure if second place would provide enought points for victory) as I figure to have a 130 point lead or so. Good luck to my honorable foes tonight. If one of you sneaks up and beat me I will only be getting my just desserts as I beat both twoblackaces and JDSchellnut last year on the last or next-to-last event of the months I won.