Eric Rizen Lynch

Back Home!

I posted this on Twitter, but I assume most of you know that I'm back home by now. Day 3 of the ME was pretty short for me. The first level I splashed in a few pots, but generally just tread water a little and ended up going from 41k to 36k. The second hand or so after break on the next level Hevad Khan opened in middle position on my big blind, as he had been doing A LOT that day. I looked down at AJo and that was good enough. He tank/called with 55 and I didn't win the race despite flopping a gut shot with my two overs.

If I had to grade my play in the main event I'd probably give myself a B-. I lost three big pots on day 2 where I made river calls with the worst hand. In 1 of them I think my call was a no brainer, but the other 2 I really should have found a fold. In all 3 my gut instinct was to fold as I really didn't think they were bluffing, and I should have followed that. I think I was trying way too hard to get my chips back from a big pot I lost earlier in day 2 where I got all in with a guy with ~25 big blinds with JJ vs his AQ. The flop was all unders and he said 'good game' and started to get up and walk away, so of course the turn was an A and the river a Q for good measure. That took me from 75k to 45k or so early in day 2 and I never really recovered although I did eventually build my stack back up some.

Aside from the two bad river calls on day 2 though I was pretty happy with my play, but given that all 3 of the pots where I thought I was beat were over 20k and the river bets I called were over 10k each, I could have easily finished day 2 with over 70k had I followed my instincts. I've been playing poker long enough that my instincts are right 99% of the time, and I find that when I don't follow them I usually regret it. So that's why the 'B-'.

Overall for the series I'd give myself a 'B' but I was slightly in the red for the entire series. I only had one cash, although it was a pretty big one at 12th place for over 30k. I felt I played fairly well throughout the entire series but played a couple of spots pretty weakly in the early events as I was still getting into a groove and then the bad river calls in the main event. I actually feel like I ran pretty poorly in the series. I can't remember ever putting a bad beat on someone the entire series (that doesn't mean it didn't happen once, I just don't remember it) and I only won one coin flip that I can remember. I'm not saying that to complain about it, but in evaluating my own play it's important to try and be honest with myself in all aspects. Since I had a slightly losing series I feel that in order to give myself anything over a 'C' I really need to be able to look back and honestly tell myself if I ran bad in spots or if i I played bad. I think there were a few spots I played poorly, but in general I feel like if I'd been able to win instead of lose a few key coin flips I would have had a profitable series.

I don't know what's next right now. I'm back home enjoying time in Kansas with the family. I've been away off and on so long I'm just laying low and relaxing. Playing a lot of pot limit omaha right now and virtually no tournaments. I'm sure the tournament bug will bite me again soon, but for now I'm enjoying playing on my schedule when I want and enjoying time with the family.

-Rizen