So I've been meaning to post about how the poker tourney I played in last weekend was, but just hadn't had the time until now. For those that don't know, I played in my first live tournament in SLO.

Number of players: 160 - 190 approx.
Tables - 20 - 24, 8 players at each.
Format - you start w/ 1500 in chips. Blinds start at 25-50 and doubled each half hour for 2 rounds. Then blinds go up every 20 min. 1 rebuy, 1 addon.

So I was pretty nervous playing at first feeling like the oldest guy at the table (which I was), but luckily I sat next to someone who was pretty talkative. Coincidentally he knows someone from my church, so we had some common in which to converse. The table I sat at was VERY conservative. People only bet when they had a "pretty" good hand, very little on the bluffing. No one really took a big cheap lead throughout. Our table was the only one that did not have anyone drop until after the 3rd round where as other tables were having players rebuy a lot giving the chip leader a big advantage to anyone at our table.

Worst play of the day: I was the small blind and had Q7 (2 other callers, big blind and on the button), i decided to call and the flop turned out to be AA7. So instead of checking, I bet double the pot to get people out. I had one caller who was on the button. On the turn another A comes up giving me a full house. Instead of checking to get some more info, I bet big again and the guy behind me doubles the bet. I called, luckily he was a nice guy to tell me he had the A and checked on the river which I would've folded anyway. So that put quite a hurt on my chips, but I was able to chip back but I was not happy.

Possible other bad call = spot before the dealer was really low on chips and he goes all in, dealer calls, and I'm on the small blind w/ AKo. To call was about 1/3 of my chips, and I did. The flop was 5, 2, 8. I check, the dealer goes all in and I fold. Both players had mid-pairs, so I made the right call there, but wasn't sure if playing the AK was the right thing to do.

After 2 rounds, there's a break. I add on and played a couple more rounds at my low-risk table. Then I get moved to another table. I could tell these guys were suckers with the hands they were playing, raising, and getting mad that they didn't hit (raising triple the bet w/ K8 and getting mad they didn't hit- idiots). So I was stoked, but after two hands it's time for another break. I then get moved to a table where everyone minus two people had more chips then. So I was not very happy. So at about the 6th round, blinds are 500-1000 and with me having 2k in chips I go all in on the dealer button w/ KJ suited. No one else calls except for the big blind (who was semi-oblivious to the fact I had a lot less in chips then him and he went all in haha), and he had 99. Don't remember the cards that came out because there was no J, K or diamonds. I would say overall I went out about 75-80th.

Lessons:

• I need to play more confident. I was pretty nervous the whole time.
• Need to read people a little better. I need to focus more.
• Vary up my play a little bit.
  
• Don't call just to call, have a purpose.

So I hope I take these lessons and go into my next tourney a little better/more strategic. I've been playing online tourneys to just try and practice more.

Oh right. It was Scott's. Haha sorry about that!

Tony that was a funny ass phone call. Those Sudhir's sure are funny.

Negreanu and Ivey already back in Vegas. Gus Hanson fucking steaming through the field like he can see other player's cards. Amazing. Tobey Maguire was getting mad that everyone was coming back over the top of him I heard. What a fucking baby. That is why he shouldn't be Spiderman.

16th out of 220 yesterday. I'm sitting in a tournament with 540 entrants. I'm sitting in 60th as of right now out of 197 left. What a long fucking climb to go.

That was a VERY good observation from Jonathan. I didn't even think about WHY the tables average pot size was so high...I'm an idiot...

I'll let you know how this tournament turns out...

Great story Tony. "... But you should call the number."... hilarity. I'm glad you stuck with it and didn't just agree to call back later. I hate that garbage.

I believe Andy got a better digital cable price when he was gonna leave. Apparently we should periodically try to quit all these memberships to get the good prices.

Brendan... I didn't make any benches for the church. Okay technically I helped, but that was your buddy Scott's project. My benches were for a community center near my house, where as far as I know there were no lame guys waiting for girls to ask THEM to dance. Also as far as I know, they WERE horribly defaced by skateboarders and vandalism.

Sweet painting though.

jhiro.net may indeed rise again, but I've got a different name in mind. And no real design concepts yet. Maybe I should just modify the old one. Or go back to my Street Fighter character select screen idea... To be continued once I get my computer running again.

Steve, sorry you lost your online poker money. You'd probably have done well if you had the guts to play $3-$6. Heh just kidding, that's horrible advice and goes against what I told you earlier. You just have to keep studying and learn through experience. When you're ready (read: WHEN YOU HAVE A JOB), we can talk Party Poker/Empire Poker bonuses. That way you have some cushion to fall back on if the cards screw you over.

I agree with most of Brendan's comments. However, I don't mind seeing friends lose money if it's not that much and it's because they ignored my advice. Because that's just stupid. And "closest" friends... nope, don't think I've ever had one of those.

There is just one aspect I want to address. You obviously want a table full of weak callers who play too many hands too far for too much sucker money. However, I would guess that at those really low stakes players who learned from TV shows (or not at all) are playing a lot of hands, and aggressively. This may be the key to someone like us having trouble. When Brendan and I were starting out at PokerRoom, a good $1-$2 table had 60% seeing the flop and $20 average pots (oh, those days were SWEET). If the $.50-$1 pots are really getting that big, then there's gotta be some raising going on. Give me a table with no preflop raises and I'll gladly sit there all day. But I hate it when any other player raises preflop. That's because it's now costing me more to play a hand I'll probably have to fold when the flop misses me. So remember table selection is an important aspect of winning strategy. If you can find a table with a lot of players coming in for one bet, that's where you wanna be. If they're capping it every round, either find another table or take up religion. The choice is yours, but I think you know which one I'd go with.

Nah Steve, I'm not gonna write how your dead wrong. I totally understand what you are Tony are saying about the videogame theory. They don't phsyically see the chips coming from their stacks to me. That definetely changes their play a bit. Also I'm not one to say when one should gamble and when one shouldn't...as well as where one should and where one shouldn't. Now I hate seeing my closest friends losing money (unless its to me...which makes it that much more sweeter, haha!) online with all these megalomaniacs so I'm going to put my 2 cents in. It won't be four pages but hopefully something to think about. And no its not going to criticize you or anyone else...but think of it a chance to see how I deal with them and perhaps...maybe, just maybe it will help you in the future.

IMHO, I don't think that there are such things as short term winners when it comes to playing cards. Perhaps you know of someone who has won short term. Yet the problem is that with the human brain as I understand it, learns through experience. Perhaps they won this money without playing a sound game...well the brain associates their bad play with good winnings. So they tend to play bad and ignore the fact that they might have been wrong. I think we can all take the pros advice when they say that there is a right way to play poker that will help you in the long run. Okay so where is this leading to...

Well I have been in slumps before (you are not even close to my swings) and had to tell my brain that what I was doing wrong even though I might have made some lucky draws with bad play...this is a different form of tilt, but still tilt because I myself associated winning some pots with bad play. This caused me to come to a standstill in terms of poker growth. I too thought as you did. Too many people call with shit, too many people play crazy that I can't win.

You said it that night filled with asparagus. No one in this society wants to blame themselves. It wasn't until after I analyzed my play did I start to win consistently again. This was still when Jonathan was in Berkley so it was a while ago...but so far it has suited me well online and live.

I'm not saying you didn't suffer bad beats. I'm sure there were bad beats. Everyone gets them. Yet you say that you suffered almost all bad beats. Over the past few days you have IMed me saying what beat got you crazy that night...I think I have said this before but...

Only the good players suffer bad/tough beats. This is pretty much poker law. If you play how you are supposed to play, optimize your pot, the odds are with you...there is no other beat than a bad beat. You get your money in when you have the best of it and you still lose. This is because your opponents have to outdraw YOU to win and that is the ONLY way they can win.

Over the past couple of nights I have actually played in the .50 cent and 1 dollar tables to see if there was something that I could give insight on...and the only thing I can say is that the averages at these games have sometimes reached higher than the 1-2 games back in the day. What does this tell you? Well you can be the one that says...

"Man, the pots are huge for this level becuase so many people stay in with stupid shit and will probably beat me."

OR

"Man, the pots are huge for this level because it has so many idiots staying in with long shots, but I don't mind because the positive expecation of each hand goes way up since I don't have to invest too much to begin with. The way I play I WANT calling stations."

Okay so no one talks like that...but I think you are starting to fear callers. I did for a while when I was in the slump. Why does no one give me respect? Well guess what. Calling stations are weak players in my mind. Give me weak players any day than 9 other people who respect my raises and let me win the blinds and only the blinds.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I don't even know poker well enough to consider myself to be good. Yet I constantly look at my hand histories to see if I was getting the odds, could I have played that better etc. To just play poker is not enough to be considered practice. It can be the complete opposite if you somehow trick your brain into bad play = winning.

You have a general understanding of poker. You are probably a step up over other a lot of other people, but the way you are looking at even the smallest stakes poker is costly. No matter what level, if you playing it right, you want callers and idiots. Without them, everyone would be playing poker perfectly and this would mean all of us would even out, more or less.

On the other hand you approach the game differently than me. I want to win in the long run...over the long session. My session has lasted 5 years now. I don't measure it by how many pots I drag in. I try to maximize my winnings over my losses. It seems your poker session will be short sessions on trips to Vegas and Vegas only. That's cool. Just remember that the shorter session you play, the long run, winning tactics don't come into play as much. Enjoy the game and never hit up the ATM! Haha!

Thanks for the picture comment..I like how this one turned out also.

I'll call you up when you get your check. You know you can't resist the urge...oh yeah and so Jonathan will read this...

YOU HAVE BEEN PLAYING ONLINE LATELY, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CRITIQUE WHAT I HAVE SAID. THERE ARE PROBABLY FLAWS IN THE WAY I THINK...LETS HELP THE POOKY TEAM WIN OVER THE MANIACS!

I'm not sure, but I think that last sentence that Jonathan wrote was a run on. Of course he meant to do it, but not everything is crystal clear on the internet. Then again I have NO engrish skills whatsoever. In fact it probably isn't even a run on. Sounds like a line I'd put in a paper...worth 70 percent of my grade.

"KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK...AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!" If you know any other TV character that can do a 7-10 split on the lanes, I'd like you to name them. Balki was awesome, "Coosin Larry" was not. Raven Symone. Hell yeah she looked like a fucking brat. I'm kind of bitter since she has success now. I thought you needed eyebrows to be beautiful.

All I remember of Reading Rainbow was thinking to myself, "I wish I knew how to read" when all those nerds did their fucking testimonials for their favorite book. So fuck Jorde LaForge and those goggles that look like 60's window blinds. Yeah I know how to spell his name...I hope to God it isn't right. Nah, fuck it. I like that show. It had cool characters and some very interesting plots. I couldn't stand that guy though from Stand By Me...Wesley Crusher...I forgot his name, but he had to wear that gay ass gray uniform with a rainbow around the shoulders. Haha. It sucks to be an ensign...I guess hazing exsists in the future also.

I'm sure all you had your shows that were fucking nerdy. Saved By the Bell doesn't count. I think all those who don't like it are denying themselves of their childhood. That or it was a shitty show. Whatever, Steven and Jonathan are just pissed off becuase they probably has some stupid Boy Scout thing to do on Saturday mornings...they got to watch Hammertime's award winning animation then had to pack up in their Brownie uniform and go off and tie knots. Don't be jealous of those kids whose parents didn't want to be involved. (But both of you are better because you are Eagles...perhaps I'm bitter because I didn't get to build benches for the gymnasium...come to think of it...

If we didn't have those benches Jonathan, everyone might have been dancing than being a wallflower at our YBA dances. You messed it up for everyone and you have no one else to blame but yourself.

Shit, I forgot the measurments didn't I? Okay basically without drawing it you have about a 14 X 20 foot rectangle in which to dance. Don't concern yourself with the stalls. Between the stall doors and the main rectangle you have another 20 feet. I'll draw a picture tonight so you can see the shape.

And since Jonathan hasn't seen this yet, and apparently MentalAbstraction will never be updated again with this pace...

How are you gonna hate on Reading Rainbow? I can understand if you don't like Star Trek, smoky white eyes, or blind people, but Levar Burton was a great host. But you don't have to take MY word for it...

How about that little girl on The Cosby Show... you know, the granddaughter who was just annoying and was someone's attempt to add fresh material to the show. Like Elmo... a punk sellout new face, ruining a classic with already lovable characters. Stomp him, Snuffy. "Hi Bird... Bird, I'm sick!"

Or Balki and his lame "Oh my lord" cousin. Or anyone trying to deliver a punchline on Saved by the Bell.

Japanese robe, cool... time to start mentioning how much I like the new Prius. That would be a great moneysaver for our stupid waste of time frustrating traffic punk in the passenger seat sleeping no parking waiting in the rain smelling like peepee trips to SF.