Tournament Day

Posted by icemonkey9 on May 27, 2008 in General | 0 comments

I worked a half day so I didn't spend the day planning out all things poker. What I did do is play a few tournaments.

I tried the $2 quad-shootout where you play a 4-person table and if you win 2 in a row you are in the money. I finished 3rd at my first table, so that was a bust.

I search and there was a special memorial day $5k guarantee and I saw that there was $1.75 satellites which seemed slightly ridiculous. I can definitely afford $5 as an entry, but I'm confident enough to win a sat to get in even at these stakes to save me a buck or two. Sure enough, I won the satellite and the seat to the special tournament (on FullTilt).

This tournament turned out to have 3,800+ entrants, easily the biggest field I have ever seen in an online tournament. In addition, there was a $1 bounty on each player, which made it a lot of fun. After 2.5 hours of playing I did end up in the money (+$7.80) and knocked out four players (+$4). Once I made the money my stack was dwindling so I tried to make some steals and double up, but failed both times and finished a modest 362nd place. Not bad for a $1.75 entry!

I'm trying to think why I am enjoying the tournaments so much. I guess there is less grinding involved, there's a definitive start and ending to the poker session, and then there's the possibility of the big score (that tournament winner got $2800!). I can definitely tell my cash game skills have tremendously helped me in the STT and MTT arena, so the increased success is also an allure. A nice change of pace after 5,000+ cash hands this month is probably what I needed. Since I play poker for fun, I'll go where I am both profitable and entertained ... and for now that's probably STT or STT sats into larger MTTs.