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3 entries this month
Another Win06:19 Sep 15 2010
Times Read: 981
I entered another poker tournament tonight. It was similar to the last one. 30 people, $40 buy in.
I won first place. I refused all split deals. I won $450.
As soon as it gets down to 6 people, they want to start cutting deals. We were down to 4 players and I was 3rd place in chips... I refused their deals. One guy was pissy, he was the chip leader. I knocked him out a few hands later and took the chip lead.
Then we're three-handed and the 3rd place guy kept trying to cut a deal. I refused (several times, the dealer finally told the guy to shut up) and went on to take the win.
I think many of the players are weak and just happy to make the final table. They want to cash out for as much as they can, as they know they'll get knocked out if they keep playing.
I don't think it's a coincidence I won two tournaments in a row. I may have a tournament future. I'm playing another small tournament tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.
Poker Tournaments00:13 Sep 10 2010
Times Read: 1,053
I don't enter many poker tournaments. Tournament play is very different from cash games. I'm getting very good at cash games and the two skills are quite different.
In a cash game you can be patient. In a tournament the blinds continually increase to a point where you cannot be patient. Also, if you go bust in a cash game you can reach into your pocket and re-buy. In a tournament once you're knocked out, you're out. No re-buys, game over, no consolation prize.
In my life I've only played in 2 tournaments. I didn't like them. You pay $50 (give or take), and are most likely to walk away with nothing.
However....
I've been watching this year's World Series of Poker on ESPN. It astonishes me the bad play I always see. This is at an event with a $10,000 buy in. Surely an event with a $50 buy in has even worse players...
So over the last few weeks I've been putting together a tournament strategy. I've altered my cash game for tournament play.
Last night I entered a $40 tournament. Including myself there were 31 players. I split first place for $350.
At the first break I was in the top 5. By the time I got to the final table I was the chip leader. I then busted 2 more players which gave me a huge chip lead.
At this point I sat back a bit and let the small stacks fight among themselves. The top 4 places paid in this tournament, so I was virtually guaranteed a cash payout (6 players remained).
My stack shortened a little, but I was still the chip leader. When there were 4 of us left I busted the guy in 4th place, so I once again had a huge lead.
I then sat back again. I was in the money and guaranteed to receive a nice payout no matter what. Only 3 of us remained. I had the advantage with the big chip stack where I could be patient for a little while.
The guy in 3rd place made a nice little run, and then the guy in 2nd place busted the guy in 3rd place. In retrospect I shouldn't have let this happen. This gave the guy in 2nd place a huge chip boost and he was only a couple thousand chips behind me.
So now we're down to 2 and almost even stacked. I agreed to a first place split. What that means is you add the first and second place money together and then split it evenly.
If I had had a larger chip lead I would not have agreed to the split. But since we were more-or-less even, the tournament could have drug on for hours and hours more. So I took the split. If I had taken sole first place I would have won about $125 more.
But all-in-all I'm happy with my performance. A first place split and only my 3rd tournament. I doubt there are very few poker players in the world that can claim that. Granted, this was a very small tournament, but I still beat 30 other players in only my 3rd outing.
I still prefer cash games... But I think I'll be entering more tournaments. At higher levels the tournament payouts can be quite large. This year's World Series of Poker winner will win somewhere around 9 million dollars.
The Venetian runs daily deep stack tournaments. Payouts vary based on the number of entrants, but here's an example of recent tournament results, quoted from their website:
$300 buy in.
422 players.
1st place prize money: $28,709
45th place price money: $660
Typically the top 10% of players are paid in a tournament.
Dogs02:01 Sep 08 2010
Times Read: 1,125
Dogs are smarter than people think.
It's all about getting food.
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COMMENTS
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Fale
07:07 Sep 15 2010
Once you start going toe to toe and heads-up in tournaments, the stronger player will always win provided equal matching in cards; its that simple, awesome that you're winning tournaments though, maybe one day you'll even be my equal and rival me on the World Poker Tour!
wate wat
atyourwindow
07:27 Sep 15 2010
nice, buddy of mine does that very same thing, happy reading's! ^.^
GrieviousDemon
14:01 Sep 15 2010
Nice work Cancer. Yeah you get down to the final and they all want to cut deals. See it here every damn week. Problem is if you do then your out the possible full take cause half them idiots dont play anything correct just to make it to the final. Take this senerio. Raise 2000k on a 100, 200 blind pre flop. I have KK decent raise yes. 2 caller's not a big deal put them on a mid pair or two over's. One did have AK I end up with trips on the flop. Both call. The idiot that shouldnt have been in the hand in the first place with a damn 6 , 8 off suit ends up with a damn straight on the river. What we call donkey poker here.. Nice to see a good player come out on top for playing proper. Hope to see you do well more often. Keep up the work and we may see you in the WSP soon enough.
TheGreenKnight
09:22 Oct 12 2010
Oh Dear, we do have common traits, off to Vegas at 4 a.m. I also use stats to predict and perhaps a little fore-site.
Anyway, if you fancy a night away from the grind look for the English troop at the LAX night club-Luxor on Wedsnesday 13th. I will recognize you.
P.s Drinks on us.Kind regards~Bows TGK.