USA Day 17 & 18

Yes, I'm missing days in my update! The first sign of slacking off perhaps??
Played the California State Championships Main Event & finished in 99th place out of 175 starters. Quite a rollercoaster of a day, with a poor start having me down to under 5k early (started with 10k), only to double up a few times when my AA beat AK, JJ beat 88, then I got lucky with JJ against KK & I managed to get my stack up to around 17k at the high point of the event. Eventually lost a big hand when my AK suited could not beat 99, in spite of flopping huge with the nut flush draw & overcards. Eventually my demise was a combination of blatant stupidity & dumb luck. I was down to 6k with the blinds at 150/300/25 when a player was moved to my table. As he was unracking his chips, he was dealt into a hand & was under-the-gun. He takes a look at his cards & casually throwns in a blue chip (500) & three red chips (1000). He apologises (obviously meaning to raise to 800, not 3500) & there is no problem until I look at my cards ... AK suited! Obviously I'm going to play the hand with such a short stack, so I ship my few remaining chips into the pot. It folds back around to the UTG player who now pretty much HAS to call with any two cards as it is only another 2500 for him to call, with over 10k already in the pot to be won. Yes I would have made the same play (moving all-in for 6k) with an initial bet of 800, however my opponent would be far less likely to call with the substantially worse odds to call. Anyway he called & showed 89hh ... not the best hand to be up against (live suited connectors), but still not an entirely unpleasant situation (62-38 or thereabouts pre-flop). Of course the flop didn't help my cause: QhTh6c giving my opponent a gutshot straight-flush draw, as well as the double belly-buster straight draw, to go with the fact that any pair would put his hand in front of mine! 21 outs to dodge!! FML, I'm now an underdog to survive (57-43 to be more precise!). Of course there was no waiting around ... BOOM ... Ah on the turn & making a pair has sealed my fate ...
After grabbing a bite to eat I headed to the hustler Casino & played some $2/5NL, which went well for the most part (helped by the fact that I had two retads sitting to my immediate right. I stacked the same guy three times before another player stacked him for the fourth & final time. Of course the other retard started my slide ... I was up over $250 when we got it all-in on a J66 board (he only had $60 or so left) with my QQ against his JT. Of course I only have to dodge a jack or running tens ... and what turns up on the river but one of the two remaining jacks! I managed to find a few similar (though not quite so unlikely) beats to drain most of the profit for the evening before the table broke & I decided to pick up my chips & head home with a small win.
Today I was hopeful of going to the planned 'Deepstacks Live' WSOP Preparation seminar/lecture at the Bicycle Casino, however it was cancelled due to a conflict with the Bike's own Deepstack series (hooray for forward planning, both from Deepstacks University & the Bicycle Casino!), so I headed to the COmmerce for the $220 donkament that was the Player Appreciation event (with $10k added to the prize pool, with the qualification that you had to have played at least 2 events in the series to enter). Of course I managed to find a seat at the table with the three maniacs to my direct left. Just the seat I was looking for! Of course one maniac started playing every hand & winning most of the pots, until one of the other maniacs decided to take over 'control' of the table, managing to go from the 3k starting stack to around 10k by the end of the second level (20 minutes per level, so it was a pretty fast tourney). Anyway I was short & after seeing another player do it, pulled the old limp-re-raise trick with AK suited UTG. Of course the maniac raised, a few called, then another (shorter than me) stack shoved. I shoved as well, which got everyone else out of the way & I was up against QQ & lost the flip. Not even shorter, I resorted to the limp-re-raise again ... this time from the small blind! The button limped, I limped (25/50 level) & the maniac in the big blind made it 200 to go. The button called & I shoved my remaining 1075 into the middle, which the maniac called & my 66 managed to double up against his KQo. Of course the maniac then donked off most of his remaining stack calling an all-in with A6 suited & not improving against QQ. I finished off this maniac when my 33 held against his 49 & another player's J8. Of course this meant that the third maniac now took over, managing to double-up through, and then bust the woman on the table, both times by hitting a king on the turn (first with T9 v QJ on a QJ5 flop & later with KT v 86 on a flop of K66). I managed to get it all-in against him with JJ against his TT ... and of course he hit his ten on the turn to send me packing in around 90th place from 142 starters.
To finsh off the evening I went for a drive over to Santa Monica Beach before heading back to the hotel, with a stopoff at the laundromat.
I'm hoping to put together another episode of the Donkcast tonight (or tomorrow) ... and then it off to Las Vegas on Monday morning (yes, I will need to speak to the agent who booked my flight at such a ridiculous hour!!).
Next on the agenda: Donkcast episode 3 ... then Vegas baby!