Looking for a new place to play

I went looking for some different poker venues. I found my way to the Full Tilt Poker web site, the free one where you play for points, not money. I played a few tournaments, and its clear to me (using the points anyway) that the tournament style is much different.

I played some cash (points) games and did okay. Took my points balance from 1000 to 4500. Played some sit-n-go tournaments and realized my style of play wasn’t going to work very well. As soon as the tournament began, many around the table went all-in. Matter of fact, it was an all-in festival. Whereas on ESPN it takes about 30 minutes thin half the field, on this site it takes about 7 minutes. J It took me a bit to adjust my playing style, but not before I blew through about half those points I earned.

I then went back and built my points back up again, and joined a 630 player sit-n-go that apparently was a super satellite for the Aussie Millions tournament. Didn’t know that as I played it. I did pretty well, finishing 10th out of 630. One player shy of the final table, so not too shabby. :-)

Tournament Update

An update on my big tournament day. I did not play in the $10,000 tournament. Early in the morning, I played some cash games to warm up and found myself not playing very good cards and losing money. I also learned that this tournament can last until 8pm at night, which would cause me to miss the ESPN tournament. I felt like my chances were going to be better in the ESPN tournament, so I found someone to buy my seat at the Tulalip tournament and went home early.

The ESPN final tournament went okay for me, but no grand prize. Out of 411 entries, I finished 114th. Not quite where I wanted to be, no grand prize, etc. But hey, I think I did okay considering the day I was having. I was in what Harrington calls the Green and Yellow zones during the first hour of the tournament. For a final tournament, I would have figured they would have given each player more than 1500 in tournament chips. I found myself running behind for most of the second hour. Harrington calls this the Orange and Red Zones. I shot myself in the end going all-in with ATo, found one caller who paired his J on the board to knock me out even though I had paired my T.

So I just don’t feel like I was playing good cards today. I’m not playing academically lately and I think I’m playing the game itself and not playing the cards. I think I need to take a little time away from actually playing poker and work on some of the fundamentals. I think I’ll read my books for a few days and not play at all. See you in a few days... maybe.

My mind must be elsewhere

Played a few tournaments today – the Daily Big Play (DBP) and a few Multi-Table Tournements (MTT) . The first 20 hands or so I stunk. I busted out of the DBP and first few MTT’s pretty quick. Usually I’ve been playing pretty tight tournaments, so busting out quick doesn’t seem like my usual game. The third MTT though I was starting to get back to normal. I made it halfway through the field – 66th out of 150 players and the next one was 70th out of 150 before I simply got bored and pushed with 7s 4s. Must improve my game before that ESPN Final Tournament.

Rookie

I’ve played NL Texas Hold 'Em on Xbox and Xbox360 games. A lot of fun, but it doesn’t really go anywhere, ya know?

I’ve grown a little bolder and played a few cash games in Las Vegas and broke even. I’ve played a few tournaments back home and busted out too quickly. A little too quickly. OK, way too quickly. Most of the time I was simply misreading the strength of my opponent’s hands, getting aggressive, and missing straights or the occasional full house while I’m going all in with trips or worse.

Lately I’ve been playing in online games. Not for money, mind you. I’ll only play online if it’s for play money, such as ESPN’s site or Xbox360. I won a few single table tournaments and did okay on the multi-table tournaments, but never got enough points to enter some of the bigger events.

Recent I made the bubble on ESPN's Daily Big Play the first time I tried it (this past Monday) which gave me the 60 qualification points for the Sunday Qualifier. In the Daily Big Play, I finished in 19th place out of some 420 players. You had to be among the last 20 standing to get an entry into the Sunday Qualifier. Today I played that Sunday Qualifier tournament (some 300+ hands) and made it within the required top 25 – I finished in 22nd place, out of 319 players. In both those tournaments I played really tight, picked a few spots to be aggressive, and made it in by the skin of my teeth. I could have busted out really easily in several instances. But hey – I made it. And the first time, too. It’s giving me some confidence that maybe I’m not as bad as I think I am. :-)

Today’s play gets me a slot in the final tournament on Sunday August 26th. In that tournament, you have to win it all to move on. Rather than getting in by the skin of my teeth, I'll have to be a bit more agressive. Can’t wait.