Barcelona or bust

I'm trying to get back into the blogging habit, so here goes...

My current mini-obsession is Ongame's Poker Classic event, a $5 million guaranteed pot tournament with a live final in Barcelona (a town in which, experience tells me, it is impossible to have either an unmemorable or a bad time). Its unusual qualifying structure involves several rounds of either scheduled or sit'n'go tourneys, each taking you to the next level, and then an online final which continues until there are 45 players remaining, at which point play is suspended, to be resumed live at a casino in Barcelona.

I've played quite a few of the $9+1 Round 1 sit'n'go tourneys, and made the second level, the $68+5 event, three times so far. As in Round 1, only two places pay, and only the winner walks away with a ticket to the next round; second spot earns you another ticket for the same level you just played, plus a small cash payout. So anything other than first or second really sucks.

My last appearance at the 68+5 level saw me bubble holding pocket kings - I paid the price for not making it sufficiently expensive when my opponent hit a lucky straight, so I feel like the game sort of owes me a break or two... we'll see.

I'd go into more detail about a few more hands, but unfortunately Mac Poker Pro, my tracking software, doesn't support the Ongame qualifier sit'n'gos.