Aces Players Club $10K Guarantee ($10,000 chips)

Seated at table 1, seat 1. Picked up on the first hand and raised, getting several callers. Had a couple of over cards on the KX Q♣ 4X flop and bet again, narrowing the competition down to two. The rest of the board put out a king-high straight sans a jack and we all sat tight. I flipped over my pair, both the others had low aces.

The very next hand was AX AX. I called an all-in by seat 2 by the turn, with three clubs on the board. He had K♣ 6X with the six paired on the flop, but no club hit the river and I was up to 20,000.

I got streaks of the same ranks of cards in short order. I raised with 7♠ 8♠ and made two pair on the flop to win a small pot.

On the next hand, I got 7♣ 8♣ and had the top end of the straight on the board by the turn. I pushed hard, and was all-in against seat 9 who also flipped 7X 8X for a chop.

The third time I got KX 9X in a row, I played it and hit top pair on the flop but got beat by a set of twos. Still, at 45 minutes I had 18,000 chips.

The last hand before the first break proved to be my undoing (again). I had AX JX in late position, raised to 750 with several callers, then hit an ace on the flop. Seat 3 and I bet into each other with a pause as a queen showed on the turn. I should have gotten away, but tried to push him off with a large bet on the river. He called and showed AX KX and I was knocked down to 8,500. The same player took me out not long after with another AX KX against my A♥ 8♥.

80 minutes. -100% ROI. 49th of 55 players.

Aces Players Club Shootout (50 BB)

Got into it early (after waiting more than ten minutes for A couple players to come back from a pre-game break in the bar) and lost 35 BB in a hand with [qx 9z] v QX QX with the case queen as the high on the flop.

I managed to double up with two pair, then my own pocket queens ran into a set of eights and I was gone.

20 minutes. -100% ROI.

Only 25 winning days before EPT Prague.