Badger Gets Back Up With a Little Help from His Friends

Soooo, following Herr's most impressive "bricks and mortar" victory on Sunday (and my most dismal weak play in said tourney), my blog-mate kindly offered to help me putty up the leaks in my game.

We sat down, pre-pub quiz and played 2 one-table SNGs. It didn't take Herr too long to see that I had acquired 2 leaks of sufficient gauge to down the QE2:

1. I was playing far too many hands. Low suited-connectors in any position? Sure thing! K-2 in late position? Why the hell not! He smacked me smart, and good.

2. When I was involved in a hand, I was not following thru post-flop: I was getting all weak-kneed if I didn't hit top pair. Well, Herr smartened me up: "gotta keep attacking when you were the pre-flop aggressor". Not always, of course (position and number of opponents are key), but, in general he is dead-on.

Having performed on-the-fly triage, we ended up finishing 4th on the first SNG (sadly, right on the bubble)...and 1st in our second one! There we were, high-fiving and shrieking in victory at my iBook in the staid English pub. Did I just imagine the Brits seated around us gritting their teeth, rolling their eyes and saying "Bloody Yanks!"

Anyhoooo, prior to Herr's tutelage, I had been in a deep Badger funk: over the previous 10 days or so, my stack had dwindled from neigh $160 to sub-$100. I was in the red and many, many miles from my Feb 1 target of $200.

Well, I sat down last nite (from about 11 pm 'til 6 am!) and played according to the new mantra: highly selective in the early stages, and then attack, attack, attack post-flop. And attack, attack, attack as the blinds climb and the opponents wither.

In that seven hour stretch I managed to dispatch a lovely white Rhone...and, in 11 games, place 7 times "in the money"--with 3 first-place finishes.

I ain't counting my chickens yet, but the Badger is back on the farm, sniffing around the hen house.

I look forward to another practice session with Herr, and hopefully with Douchebag as well, upon his return from Vietnam.

Ending balance: $145.