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| From the helicopter I rode in with my niece. |
With special thanks to my investors.
Friday’s $350 FLO8 tournament.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous at all. Found a parking spot. Found the m-life desk to get my rewards card for the all-important food comps. Found the poker rooms. I registered about 7 minutes before the tourney began and took my seat at table 47, seat 7. My tablemates were all men, half seniors, and the other half younger. Most had their headphones on already. Only one wore sunglasses. The man to my immediate right was a talker. Talk, talk, talk. But he wasn’t obnoxious or annoying. The table was full of competent players, none of whom was unpleasant.
I didn’t need most of the stuff I brought with me in my big bag. The granola bars were a good idea. But I didn’t need the GameBoy. And I didn’t use my headphones except during breaks.
I made sure the players knew I was a rookie. I told them it was my first tournament. They didn’t know what I meant was that it was my first LIVE Limit O8 tournament. The young man to my left wasn’t fooled. The talker to my right was until I showed the nuts in a clever hand. He said, "this might be your first tournament, but you’ve played this game before." I said, "I read a book." Haha.
At a later table (I was moved 3 times), I was told to protect my cards. A player thought maybe the guy next to me could see my cards. He couldn’t. I was fine. The guy was the know-it-all type who commented on many of the hands played. He was clearly very intelligent, but he annoyed me. He and one loud drunk guy at a nearby table were the only two in the whole field who tilted me a bit.
107 people started and the top 9 places paid, from $935 to $11,000. I finished in 21st place after 10 hours and 15 minutes of playing. I originally thought I finished 20th, but I met up with the 20th place finisher at a cash game the next night. He was still in when I left, so I finished 21st after 10 hours and 15 minutes. At 2:15AM, I made my way out of the poker room, out of the casino, and out of the parking lot.
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Saturday, I got to the casino just before 7PM. Amazingly, I found a decent parking spot. Went straight to the poker room and asked for FLO8. They had an open seat at the $10/20 Full Kill table. I didn’t realize the implications of full kill (the bets would become $20/40). Minimum buy in was $200. I sat with $300 in chips. I was a little nervous but tried to view the chips as tools of the trade instead of $5 increments of my next mortgage payment.
I sat there for a little over four hours. I saw people come and go. Some came to hit and run. Others came to lose all of their chips. One man sat with $500 and spewed it all without even knowing how to play the game. I sat there, card dead for most of the evening and couldn’t even take advantage of that player’s ignorance. I was down to about $100 at one point and I was going to leave. But instead, I decided the cards would turn around and I would improve.
It happened. I even ended up with a couple of kill pots, which meant I scooped more than $100. But once I got back to just above even, I left. I didn’t want to risk leaving with a loss and I was exhausted. I cashed out $327 and a $23 food comp that I used to stuff my face at midnight. Then I left.
I haven’t played any slot machines. I haven’t played any house games. I’ve stayed within the budget I set for myself for the trip.
Days Inn is kind of tilting because I have the "do not disturb" sign on my door and yet every morning, the housekeeping people stand outside my door yelling up and down the halls. I called the front desk and asked that they have the housekeeping people tone it down for tomorrow morning. We’ll see if that helps.
As I prepare to head to the casino for the Sunday tournament, I am exhausted and have swollen and painful glands. The glands have been like that since before I got here. But I’m forging onward. Today could be my day. If I can stay awake.
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Sunday's $240 FLO8 Tournament
No problem staying awake. It was a good time. Was moved from my first table pretty quickly. New table was the youngest in the room. Fun, funny, partying. Chipped up, thanks to their loose, gambly play. Moved again to tougher table but still did pretty well. Was hitting and playing well until the blinds got really high. I missed with A24Kds. After that, the blinds got me. I was down to 15K chips from the bb at 3000/6000. Played my 2557 with all of my chips. Missed by one card. After 9 ½ hours I was out in 32nd place out of 131 runners.
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On my day off (Monday), my niece, Megan came to visit from just north of Memphis. We flew in a helicopter for the first time ever. We both LOVED it. We used my comps to pig out and I taught Megan how to play blackjack (I'm no expert, but taught her the basics). That might have been a mistake. :)
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I thought about staying an extra day because after making such a sound comeback in the cash game, I wanted to try to earn some money. I was soooooo tired, though. And, what if I lost? I made a compromise with myself. I wouldn’t stay an extra night, but I would go to the poker room to see if there was an FLO8 I could get into and try to earn a little money before heading out of town.
After about a five-minute wait, I entered a ring game before leaving. $10/20 half kill FLO8. I sat down and announced to the table that I was on my way out of town and was hoping to do "what I believe they call a hit and run." One other player said he was on his way out as well. He was the youngest at the table and had cashed in one of the tourneys. Everyone else was older than me (51), and one of the older men had also cashed in one of the tourneys.
I had good enough hands to project a loose image early on. Since I have poor short-term memory, unlike other poker players, I cannot recite hands completely. For this significant hand, I have no idea how big the pot was or how many people were in it, but I’d guess there were still 3 or four others after the turn. I’m also guessing I limped (eeeek) from whatever position I was in and bet each street. There were likely no raises.
I started with AA23. After the turn we had a J4A8 board. The river was a 4 and I’m pretty sure the board was suited. After having led out each previous street, I said, "oh. That’s kind of a scary card," but not loudly. I hollywooded for just a few seconds, scrunching up my nose and pausing before putting my $30 bet in the pot (it was a kill pot). Everyone called.
I said, "I think I have the nuts." Somebody replied, "you have quads?" My heart sank slightly. I forgot that quads were a strong possibility in this game. I felt kind of foolish. I showed my aces full of fours and nut low, and got sighs and moans all around as I scooped the pot.
My other large pot of the day was jacks full of aces with no low possible. I played the turn, but checked the Q river. When I showed, the guy next to me said, "you didn’t bet that?" my reply was, "somebody could have had pocket queens." He said, "yeah, and the sky might be falling," and laughed. I gently argued that if I bet, I wasn’t getting called by anyone who didn’t have a better hand than mine. Got positive nods all around.
I sat with $300 and left after an hour with $660. That profit paid for my motel and gas. I was happy as I drove the 250 miles home.
Next report: from Biloxi, I hope. :)
(Clarification: I wasn't really using my mortgage money for my buy in. My point is that money is not meaningless for me.)
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