Guess I had that coming (or just call me "chum").

I don't really like rebuy tournaments, but I decided to enter this one anyway. I should have gone with my gut, not only did I not play well, but I was seated with a table full of sharks. At least three of them I had already played with in earlier tournaments and had pegged them as good players, and there were a couple more that the sharks knew and avoided. But they had my number for sure, I only won two hands, both of those with pre-flop raises. If I saw a flop, I lost. By the time the final add-on came around, I had zero chips, so even a double rebuy would leave me short-stacked, so I decided to just cut my losses and leave. I just headed back to the room and read some more Harrington. Maybe some of it will eventually stick...

Ouch, that hurt

I was pretty tired heading into tonight's $250+30 NLHE tournament, that and the higher buy-in made me have to really think about whether I wanted to play this event. Kevin wasn't going to play this one (had to work), so I had to make my decision without his advice. I decided I had been playing pretty well, and with the winnings from the other night, I could afford it. 250 entrants created a $62500 prize pool, which was pretty tempting, too.

Played pretty well for a couple of hours, then got shortstacked but got lucky and came back, but made one boneheaded play and busted myself out in 34th. And of course, only 27 places paid. I still feel like I only made the one significant mistake, so I'm not going to beat myself up too badly, but it's still painful.

Tomorrow: $100+25 NLHE rebuy tournament

06/04/05

  6/4  Didn't get quite as much

sleep as I'd have like so

I was tired when 4:15 came

around, but I entered the $150+25

LHE tourney anyway. Was up

then down, then started to

make a comeback, which included

hitting quads after a lot of

action initiated by others

Lost when my straight got

beat by a rivered flush and

full house. Oh well, what can

you do?

Now that's more like it...

Tried entering some $40 satellite tournaments (10 handed, winner receives $330), but busted out of three of those w/ nothing to show for it. Playing one more would have totaled almost as much as tonight's tournment entry fee, it didn't seem like that route was working.

Went back to the room and spent the afternoon reading (Dan Harrington's _Harrington On Hold'Em_), hoping to pick up some useful strategy tips. I had heard good things about this book, and I am very impressed so far.

Headed back to the Bike, and met up w/ Kev, but after the results to date, I wasn't sure I should play at all, especially since I don't have much experience w/ Pot Limit Hold'Em. But the field was smaller than the night before, and Kevin reminded me why I came out (to play some poker, dagnabbit). So I entered, and wound up at the same table as Kevin, with him to my immediate right. Grreaat. I was a little worried that he'd be the one taking me out, but I think his presence made me play better poker, I didn't want to embarass myself in front of him. I got some good cards, but I played well too, only making a couple of mistakes and wound up taking down 5th place, which paid $1040. Wh00t! Even better, Kevin won the whole thing, which paid $9240. Since we had the same 10% arrangement, that added another $820 to what I took home. Wh00t Wh00t! I'm out of the hole completely, even paying for travel expenses (so far). If I can do that even once more, I should be in pretty good shape.

Not the start I'd hoped for...

After finding a BoA ATM, got some cash and some lunch and headed over to the Bike to play in some cash games to get "warmed up" for the tournament that night. Played 3/6 limit Hold'em for about 6 hours, started w/ $100 and held it at around $125 for a while, but by the time it was time for the tournament, I was down to $0. At least the timing was right...

Kevin showed up just in time, we registered ($150+25) and picked up our complimentary Bicycle Casino baseball caps (I wound up w/ Kev's, he doesn't wear hats/caps). There were about 375 entrants, but I was a fairly early departure. I tried to play a pretty conservative game, I only played about 6 hands in 1.5 hours, but ran into sets on the last two of those and I was gone.

From there, I went back to the cash games, but decided to try out the No Limit tables this time. They had a $100 buy-in game that looked to be within my abilities, but it was a 2/3 blind structure, instead of the 1/2 structure I expected. Unfortunately, I lost $200 in short order and realized I was not playing well and got up to check on Kevin's progress.

Before the tournament, Kevin proposed a couple of side bets/deals. I declined to accept a "last longer" bet, which is a good thing, because Kevin lasted much longer than I did. But I did take him up on his offer to swap 10% stakes in one another, which was a good thing (for me) since Kevin made it into the money. He finished 17th, which gained me $35. Not much, but better than nothing.

I'm here...

Flights went smoothly, car was ready, hotel was easy to find. So far, so good. Didn't play any tonight, just got settled and talked to Kevin about the next few days' plans

See, I do know a pro!

A friend of mine since long before he went pro, Kevin's been playing for a living for many years now, even though, like a lot of pro players, we haven't seen him on TV (yet?). He's been giving me advice, support and encouragement since before I started playing, hopefully some of it stuck. I have to hope I'm picking up a little sumpin-sumpin on my own, too...

Speaking of TV, the MSOP has none (coverage), which might make it seem like an odd choice for my first real excursion into the poker world. Why not a WPT or WSOP circuit event? Even though I'm flying to another city for a month to play in a tournament, I'm really still just testing the waters. I know all the biggest names will be at the WSOP, and with no cameras and a smaller field, there should be less stress; I'm hoping I can just concentrate on the poker I know I can play (make good decisions, make good decisions, make good decisions) and see where that takes me.

Making it happen

So, lodging plans will have to be re-worked, but where there is a will, there's a way, and dammit, I'm making this happen. Bought the cheapest ticket I could find, with an expectation I may have to pay to change it (hopefully to stay longer, which should mean I'm winning, which should cover any change fees) and started looking for a cheap place to flop near the Bicycle Casino. Found a likely candidate, put in time off requests, and started feeling like "It's on!"...

Will it happen?

My friend and poker mentor, Kevin, has returned from Thailand, so I was hoping to finalize my travel plans. It turns out Kevin hasn't told/asked his girlfriend June about my staying with them (for a MONTH, "Oh, June, by the way, you remember my friend Tom...?") and needs to get clearance. I understand this, but anything less than 2 weeks advance purchase costs extra.

Which raises a question, I can save a couple hundred dollars by pushing my flight back, but I would miss the first three events I planned to play in. In a way, that's a "savings" too, since that's about $525 in tournament entry fees I wouldn't be spending, so should I spend more on a ticket to get there earlier to be able to enter those events? Or save some money on the plane ticket and enter the later more expensive events only (since you were planning on entering them anyway)? I also have to keep in mind that this is LA we're talking about, there are multiple casinos and other tournaments at about the same stakes going on; there's no shortage of poker, the only thing I'd be missing would be some portion of a semi "name" event.

It's not that I think I'm that good...

...but a couple of people expressed interest in my trip, so I created this page. I'll try to include the interesting details of my first major poker tournament (major for me, anyway).

If a blogger posts on the Internet...

...and no one knows or cares to read it, did they miss a bad analogy?

04/30/04

4/30 Went to Hollywood Park on way to airport was up about $50 at one point. Got to airport & found out I was confused about the time, pushed me back until tomorrow. Went back to HP & lost almost all my winnings

04/28/04

4/28 Went to the Bicycle Casino w/ Kev & Linda. The hospitality hostess knew Kev & treated us all to dinner. Which is good, since I lost about $38 (of $50 buy-in) playing 2/4 HE. Got dealt several pocket pairs, but didn't win w/ any of them. 2nd hand 3 people flopped a set, mine was bottom, of course.

04/22/04

[...] After that, headed to Casino Europa to play in another tournament. Bang, Chad, Paul, Trang, John & Shane from the other day/night were there. I didn't make it as far tonight but I found out I was sitting next to a former World Champ, Jose Rosencranz. Bang & John Hickox made it to the final table & both were knocked out on the same hand by Rosencranz. Bang made his flush, but the same card made a full house for J.R. Bang & Chad said they went on the same whitewater trip I'm going on tomorrow & that it was fun. Looking forward to it...

04/20/04

Woke up early & ate, arranged to take in the rainforest canopy cable run. Fun & the forest is impressive. Can now say, "Been there, done that, got the CD". Had a salad & an iced drink at lunch, hope that wasn't a mistake. Decided to start writing this down while i figure out what to do tonight. Hit a casino or two, maybe. [Later] One casino, 2 tries to get there, as it turns out. First, they took me to the Europa Hotel, which has a casino, but not the one I was looking for, and no poker. Fortunately, the actual location (Radisson Hotel), wasn't far away. When I got there, I ran into two guys I met on the canopy tour, Chad & Bang(?). Bang had mentioned he played & that his sister had moved to CR w/ her boyfriend, who also played. They told me there was a $10 buyin NL Hold'em tournament and they were entered. Decided I could afford to spend $10 on poker. Wound up spending $70 after all the rebuys, but made it to the final table and placed 6th, which paid $142, so I doubled my money! I stuck to my game plan, played tight, for the most part, and made as few mistakes as possible. I think I could have gotten more money out of some of my winning hands by slow playing a little more, I probably folded at least one winning hand (pocket Jacks) when an opponent went all in, and I never truly bluffed. Bang's sister's boyfriend Paul was a cool guy who knew his poker, he reassured me that I played well. He said they'd be back there Thurs. Got back to the hotel, checked email from their mini cyber cafe, sent poker reports to Kevin & Nick, talked computers w/ the night desk clerk. I need to move to another hotel, but I don't want to waste the day waiting to check in somewhere else, and I don't want to haul my luggage around all day either.