Poker Ramblings of cmitch

Contact Info:

cmitchpoker@gmail.com

"Why would I ever play a live tourney again?" - I started to type this on twitter last night and then erased it.

I had just spent an entire day playing my "A" game in a tourney only to have it turn into a turbo super turbo at the tail end with nothing to show for my efforts.  I don't see how the tourney regulars do it every day.  I know the payoff is huge when you hit, but there is mostly frustration.

A more appropriate tweet might have been, "Why would I ever play a live tourney with a horrible structure when my time would be better spent at the cash tables?"  I left my house around 10:30 am and got home around 11 pm.  I had nothing to show for it other than a belly full of "free" Outback food and a few "not-free" beers.

The tourney info:
Daytona Beach Kennel Club Poker Room Venetian Deep Stack Charity Classic
Total number of players including alternates - 536
$150 buyin + $40 initial add-on + $40 add-on after 3 levels.
$80 rebuy if you bust in 1st 3 level
Starting chips - 10k (including the initial addon)
Add-on after 3 levels - 4k
Blinds - 25 minute levels
1st place - $5k Venetian tourney buy-in + $1k meal credit at Venetian + Hotel + Biz Class air
2nd-5th - $2,100 Venetian tourney + above
Cash payouts through 40th place

I was playing great most of the tourney.  I didn't even feel bad about a mistimed bluff that I made against a 70 year old guy during the rebuy period.  After all, it took him a very very long time to call me with KJ on a KKAxx board.  I got a guy to put all his chips in with 77 when I had KK.  I made a big laydown when I couldn't put the other player on anything other than the nuts based on how he played the hand.  After I folded, he proceeded to show me the nuts.  Thanks!!  And on and on....

Everything was going great, until all of the sudden it turned into a super turbo.  We were down to 55 players and I looked around my table and all the other tables.  Everyone's stack, other than maybe 2-4 ppl, was less than 10 BBs.  The blinds were 8k/16k with a 2k ante and going up to 10k/20k in 25 mins.  Assuming that the average chips/player that bought in was 15k based on 536 players, when we were down to 55 players the average stack was $140k.  I had 150k chips and was 2nd at our table.  The chip leader at our table had around 240k.

Nearly everyone was at push/fold level, but not everyone realized that they only had one move.

It didn't take long for me to bust once the 8k/16k 2k ante level hit.

This post isn't meant to complain about bad beats with hands.  I legitimately lost two 50/50s.  The first one was my AK<44 aipf against a guy with around 85k chips.  It knocked me down to around 50k.  Two hands later, my 55 lost to AQ aipf.


I was pissed after I busted.  The 50 minute drive home helped with my sanity.  I knew my state of mind, so I decided not to play any online poker when I got home.  I'll take that as a positive, since in the past I might have fired up the laptop and tilted off a few buy-ins.

A day later, I can definitely say that I had a great time playing and enjoyed playing live again for the 1st time in a while.  In the future, I'll check and analyze the tourney structure of any live tourney that I play and try to stay away from the super turbos.

3 responses to "Live Tourneys can be frustrating"

  1. At least it sounds like you played well.

    I play in a lot of these live things, and the ones with good structures are the exceptions, I'm afraid.

    Memphis MOJO

  2. lol donkaments.

    Sorry, that's the best I can come up with.

    Better luck in Vegas!!!

    WillWonka

  3. It just gets frustrating when playing a solid game gets thrown out the window at the end and the only decision is push or fold.

    I've seen charity tournaments change their blind structure near the end to get the tournament completed. Totally sucks.

    lightning36