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It started off lousy. I lost a flip, bluffed off a bunch more, and was down to 112k. I then ran amazingly good and got up to a million. Then I had a misstep. I four-bet against an aggressive player, even though my instincts said he was strong. I overruled my instincts and set him in, thinking he would fold all but his monsters. He had AK, which was definitely a monster for the situation, and I lost half my stack to move back down to 500k. I then won every hand I played for the rest of the night. It was really incredible. To quote Worm, “I caught a run of cards like you **** read about.” Except I mean it in a good way.

I ended up at 1,978,000, which unofficially makes me the chip leader. We have 27 players left. I have a slightly below average stack for the final table–and we’re playing down to the final table tomorrow. My goal is to get a healthy final table stack, but really that’s a pretty meaningless goal. My goal is to maximize EV in every hand, and then deal with the situations as they come up. I’m trying to keep things simple.

And, of course, I’d like to start the day with a hot shower. Sadly, that’s still not possible yet here at the old Borgata. I took a frigid shower this morning. A guy I played with today said his roommate was in the Special Forces, and even he couldn’t deal with the frigid shower. Another guy said he screamed like a little girl throughout. Personally, I never stayed under the water for more than a few seconds. It was pretty agonizing. But after it was over, it felt amazing just to not be in the shower anymore. If any of you work on water mains in south New Jersey, please get down here and fix this thing. I’m sure a bunch of poker players would be happy to tip you a little something.

With that, I’ll say goodnight. Wish me luck tomorrow!