because it would be rude to hijack someone else's journal to give details on why I made as many rebuys as I did.

LA Poker Classic at Commerce Event #17. I'm going to have to preface this by saying that I had all intention of doing the shootout the night before but ended up doing that Valentine's Weekend Tag Team tournament at the Bike with someone whose poker prowess is on par with a paraplegic's ability to make a turducken. Please note that open shoving with 3 high (not a 3 high flush, but 3 high period) into a made king flush is sofa king hot. I proceeded to blow a small chunk of cash in the Stud hi/lo game and watch my former tournament partner run his $200 into $1500 in the NL game.

So Saturday night after the fiasco at The Bike, I went to the gym and mused. Well I sweated, did pushups, squats, jumped rope and mused. My perfect record for 2008 for tournament cashes was wrecked. Not that it mattered. My poker was pretty good. I had been doing the satellites at Commerce, winning them and selling the chips for cash without any problems...unlike SOME people here on this forum.

Why the hell NOT take a shot at the rebuy orgy at Commerce? Showered, slept, awoke the next morning and reserved a room at the DoubleTree two blocks from the casino and had breakfast with Dad. So here was the plan:

Do a rebuy at the beginning of the tournament. Do a double add on at the break. Win like $80,000 or so, come back to this forum and brag.

O-Ren Ishii: You didn't think it was gonna be that easy, did you?
The Bride: You know, for a second there, yeah, I kinda did.
O-Ren Ishii: Silly rabbit.
---------------------------------------------------------
Exactly.

For those of you who throw yourselves into rebuy tournaments, you know how BAD the play is before the rebuy period ends. You'd think that if rebuys cost $300 apiece, the play would be better.

Yeah, you'd think.

And you'd be thinking wrong. Because it was INSANE. I sat there and watched the craziest shit hands win pots. I tried to be tight. Raise with AQ or better. Fold everything else. Then I tried to "do as the Romans do" and play shit...and miss. Before you knew it, I was in for three rebuys because I couldn't get a line on anyone's play or my own and because when I moved in with AQ, J8 called and beat the snot out of me. Of course Mr. J8 was in for $4200 in rebuys.

New guy comes to the table and AA and KK grows on trees for him. He wrecks the table and felts people left and right. Older Armenian guy is having the time of his freaking life and I'm staring at J3, 42, K6.

Last hand before the break, I'm looking at QQ and 1600 in chips with blinds at 50-100. I move in, get called in two places by K5 and K8. A obligatory king falls on the flop, felting me.

So I have a choice. Lick my wounds and say "Uncle", eat my free meal and go back to the hotel and cry. OR...

I have $1200 in my wallet. Double add on, double rebuy.

(To Be Continued)

I rebuy and max it out for $1200. So I'm in for SEVEN rebuys dammit. I call my dad and a friend to hash stuff out in my brain. Obviously I'm in it. What's the next step? The Chang overthink? Ahhh, I got over that one. Not that I was overthinking, but I was thinking too much about the wrong things.

Chill out and take the temperature. Seriously. The new blinds after the break are 75-150 and 4000 chips gives me plenty of play.

Anyhow so after the rebuy period has ended and all the Beavises have settled down (for the most part), I look around at the stacks at the table. Who can I double up through? Who is stuck 12 months worth of mortgage in rebuys and is afraid to bust out?

Nothing is urgent but then after an hour and a half I'm down to 2900 in chips. I steal a couple of blinds to keep me afloat. By dinner break, I'm up to 3500 but still in not resting comfortably. Table makeup has changed by this point. Mr. "I play 68 and I like it" has been eliminated while holding KK (his opponent had Q9 and made 2 pair) as well as Seats 1, 4 and 5. In his place is a cute young guy with 1500 in chips. He's to my left so my play is stifled by the fact that he could move all in at any moment AND that there are two massive stacks waiting in seats 2 and 3 (I'm in Seat 8).

Dinner break is pretty cruel to the short stacks. Think about it. An hour of agony before you are mercifully eliminated. He's been quite tight, giving up his blinds without a fight. I don't know what he's doing. But I have to monitor him. I joke with Seat 7 about playing grab ass with our dealer (a SWARTHY middle eastern chap) and head on out for dinner. I grab a Muscle Milk and cookie because the lines to everything resembling a restaurant are prohibitively long. I make a phone call to Lenart.

And then I go to my car and drop EVERYTHING off except for my MP3 player, sunglasses and car keys. I'm sick of positioning my gargantuan bag and want to be able to move freely to look at stacks or nap. Go back to the ballroom, put on some soothing Anthrax and Metallica and nap for the remaining 20 minutes.

Jumping into a tournament after an hour long break is like jumping into an unheated swimming pool. There's a shock to the system that is not unpleasant yet tosses you a little out of your element. At this point it's only seven thirty and I do a mental count of the remaining players. 36 tables still. More than halfway gone, but shit 360 players is 360 players. Up until the antes kick in, I'm happily folding everything, getting the occasional walk and scaring the bejezus out of the short stack who I discover has a last longer bet with his brother.

Then the antes show up. And so do I. I have 3000 at this point; 100-200 with 25 ante and I open shove from late position a couple of times. People recalling how tight I am, fold and I'm starting to get enough chips to keep me on life support. Until the following hand.

I'm in the cutoff with A8 offsuit. Time for another shove. The UTG limper calls with AJ. UH OH. Brick, brick, brick, brick, EIGHT on the river and I double up. I am psyched. I am a goddess. I am a PLAYER. I go back to being mostly tight and watch the blinds go up again.

Surprisingly enough the old guy who got hit in the face with aces and kings (seat 3) early makes an unexpected exit. He must have had close to 25,000 chips. The other large stack has maybe 35,000. Seat 2. They both could afford to cruise a bit. Instead they're both all in preflop. With what you ask? AK and AQ.