Rambler series

so lastnight's rambler was a heads-up event. got a first round bye which i was happy about, til i realized i'd be down 2-1 at start of my 2nd round match, especially after dropping a few hundred chips early on. then just kinda hung around, first big hand was this:



actually picked up AA next hand but no action.

next big hand was the trap FTW:



so then it was on to match 2 against a newbie, DanDude41. made amazingly quick work of him, winning the match in 5 hands, 2 of which decided things.

Big hand #1:



and #2:



So then it was on to the final, against Blyght, not Rambler amazingly enough (epic fail on the rigging)

this match was brutal.

calling flop to bluff turn i guess?



tried to get creative here, to no avail:



not sure what he thought i was betting flop with here:



this was just a sick call by him that i ended up getting lucky on:



doubled up when my Q9 flopped a straight, then the hand that broke me:



I didnt bet the flop cause he obv wasnt folding anything at this point. probably should've bet turn but thinking 3rd level, didn't think he'd be able to put me on a hand either, and could easily shove on me. on the river I was agonizing - i honestly felt like he either had 88 or air. nothing else made sense. K - would've bet flop probably, if not turn. J - probably bet flop to take it down if i missed. thought maybe Q10 but figured he'd throw something out. When it came down to it, I thought I had him but I didn't want to be humiliated if I called all-in with ace high and lost, so i mucked. he said he had 9-high. !@#!@_#)@_$@#!(%#$)%*#$)%@ that would've been a crazy sick call, and gotten me back in it. instead, i get it in on the next hand, and he dodges about 42 outs to end it:



overall i'm very pleased with my play for the most part. I made a couple of well-thought out moves that actually worked for a change, which was nice. and after dropping back down under $40 my roll is back up over $140.