Golf and Party Poker Step

I took the afternoon off yesterday to play golf at Phoenix Country Club with Bill and Glen. Bill and I had the standard bet of $50 on the round. I have to give him one stroke as I am a 10 handicap and he is an 11.

According to Bill, it was the best round of golf he has ever seen me play. I shot 75. Being a golfer, naturally I can think of 5 or 6 shots that I left out there, but yes I did play very well. The aggravating part was the bet. Bill was not playing all that well so I was beating him by 10 strokes going into the last hole. Invariably Bill or I will press on the last hole if we are down to try and win back our bets, all at once. Bill had bogeyed or double bogeyed the last 6 holes so I was feeling really confident going into 18 and I proclaimed, "Bill you can do what you want on 18, but there is no way I am losing to you on this hole."

Bill decided to add a twist and asked if he can make the bet after he sees his tee shot on the par 5 18th. Since Bill always hits 2 iron off the tee, I didn't think that would make much of a difference so I agreed. Bill hit his tee shot about 190 yards in the middle of the fairway. I hit my 3 wood about 220 down the middle. We both laid up. Bill somehow hit his pitching wedge to 6 feet. I hit my 52 degree wedge very well, right over the flag and it stopped 20 feet from the pin.

The last time we played at Phoenix Country Club, I started out horribly and eventually got to playing better and started winning some of the bets. We pressed again on 18 and I birdied the hole by sinking a 30 foot putt. This is after 3 or 4 rounds in a row where I had not scored better than a 7 on this difficult hole.

Needless to say, Bill was having flashbacks of me making this putt again. I gave it a good run, but it broke a little more to the right than I thought and left me with an easy tap in for par. Bill confidently strode up to his ball. He then made a tentative stroke at it, but somehow it found the bottom of the cup and he finished even for the day. This game is so unfair! I shoot my all time best score at Phoenix CC by 5 strokes and I finish even for the day!

Now for Poker:

I decided to give the one table step tournaments at Party Poker a try. My ROI on the 10+1 and the 20+2 sit and go's has been between 30-40% so I thought I would give it shot as you can win in the thousands if you make it through the 5 steps.

I finished in second place in the 10+1 step one table. I played my normal game and just reminded myself over and over that you need to finish in the top 2. Once I made the final 2 I just went all in and lost because it doesn't matter if you win or lose.

I immediately started the level 2 step. The guy who finished in first place was on the table as well. This one I started out really well, winning a few pots early and building up to 1500 by level 2. Then I lost a pot and was down to 1000. In level 2 you need to finish in the top four to get anything. 4th place you go back to step 1 for free plus you win $3. 3rd place gives you another shot at step 2. 1st and 2nd move on to step 3. I started to get blinded down a little but I had 800 left with 6 players left. That's when the table got really weak tight. I was stealing a few blinds and then doubled up when I went all in with my pocket fours preflop and a big stack called me with A-9. There were 4 players left when the guy that one the first step I played in was eliminated.

Now with 3 left, I had about 1700 along with one other guy at 1700. The chip leader had 5600. I figure he's going to fold his way to the finals so I need to steal his blinds often. We go a few hands with that strategy when I get dealt AJ offsuit on the button. This time I only call because I want the other short stack to raise me. He raises me from the big blind, and I come over the top all in. He calls with A2. The flop is A-3-5. Turn is a King. I am one card away from step 3!!
The river is the fucking 4! He rivers the straight and I am out in third.

On the bright side, I get another free roll at step 2.

Another quick question for my small audience.....Does anyone know how to make the avatar show up when posting on 2+2. I can't for the life of me get that thing to work.