The Severed Cortex

I've decided to post stuff about gambling in general, but I'm sure most of these posts will be about poker since that's really all I ever play.

Saturday night I played in a no limit tournament that benefitted the Troy (IL) Thunder youth baseball team. My friend Tim Range, who recently moved back to the area and lives in the subdivision next to mine, has a nephew who plays for the team. His nephew pitches and plays shortstop so if he's playing those positions on an all star team, he most likely will be a very good high school and college player. Right now he's only 12. This tournament was held at the Marine Sports Complex which is really just a converted old factory building in Marine, IL. (For those of you unaware, Marine is about 6 miles East of Edwardsville on Hwy. 143) Some locals have purchased the building and use it for winter baseball conditioning. It appears to be more of a front for gambling as there was a craps table in the back too, but I'll work under the assumption that baseball training is their primary focus. If I hadn't gone with Tim and this wasn't for a somewhat charitable endeavor, I would have wanted to leave armed if I had won money.

As some of you know, I love to play poker. However, I'm not a great big no limit fan. I'd much rather play limit poker because over the long haul I've consistently won money that way. Once again, it's all math so there's no surprise that I do OK at it. But alas, here I am playing a no limit tournament. It cost $25 to get into the tournament which in the grand scheme of things is a pretty cheap buy-in. You were allowed to re-buy up until an hour and half into the tournament, but the re-buy folks had to win their way back into the tournament by narrowing themselves down to 3 players. I like that kind of re-buy since it doesn't penalize the players who manage their stack better in the first hour and a half. There were 72 entries into the tournament and it payed six places. We sat down at 12 tables of 6 each which is a little odd, but I think worked to my advantage. It certainly takes less to win with six at a table.

I drew table number one which I thought was a good sign. There were a fair number of women playing and there was one at my table. Typically I don't do all that well against women, especially those that play aggressive. This one was not all that aggressive and it didn't take too long for us to knock her out. She caught a lot of cards which helped her hang on longer. I caught a set of nines on the first hand out of the gate and raked an OK size pot. I caught two more sets in the first eight hands which bumped my stack immediately. On the last set I was dealt J-J and the flop came A-K-J. I had a late position and no one jumped out large so I was able to slow play it to the river, milking whatever I could from the other players. At the river I put out a large bet and the guy to my left called me. He wasn't a very good player and I wound up knocking him out a couple of hands later with two pair.
From that point on I couldn't catch anything. I had so many Q-6 and K-4 off suits that I folded that when I did finally pick up something like an A-8 or a K-J, I couldn't get anyone to play. I realize that part of my mistake was not pushing people around when I had the big stack, but I never had anything decent to bluff with when I was in position to bluff. I did manage to pick up a pot or two here and there, but for the most part it kept me even. On my last hand I was dealt 9-9 on the big blind. The kid across from me jumped out with a pretty large bet. I put him on a somewhat pretty decent hand, but nothing like a high pair. I figured even if he had A-K or A-Q or K-Q I'd be a 50-50 gut shot against him. I debated for a couple minutes then decided that it was a good chance for me to steal his bet. I went all in and you could see that he wasn't expecting that, especially from someone in the big blind. He thought for the longest time then decided to call me. He turned over A-K suited. The flop came 8-K-4 in all flavors and I knew I was down to a 22-1 long shot. Of course, I didn't get a nine on the turn or the river and that was the end of the tournament for me. When I left there were 5 people at my table, 5 at the table next to us, and 6 at the table next to them. If you don't count the re-buy table then I finished 18th. If you do count the re-buy table, which allowed three players back into the tournament, then I finished 21st. Although it was out of the money, I didn't think that was too bad for me since I rarely play no-limit.

Afterwards we played a 1-2 no limit game which we had to pay a $5 rake to the house for the seat. I bought in with $20 and left with $22.

Nightly win/loss: -28
Yearly win/loss total: -28