I’m an amateur player in Kentucky who is looking to better my poker game. This site was designed to learn from others successes and mistakes. I’ll keep a running log of my money lost and won to monitor my personal progress.
Dates: October 18, 2008 – November 24, 2008
Winnings: $800
Money Spent: $180
Total Winnings: +$620
Current Cash Streak: 3
If you link to this website, let me know and I’ll create a link page for our members.
Below I’ll post personal poker tournament tales.
33 players, I made it down to the last 5. Instead of paying out the top 3, they decided that we’d all get $100 and then the first place winner would get an extra $140.
There was about $30,000 in chips out there, which would have put me in first place. With Ace/9 suited, I went all in with top pair on the flop… along with two hearts out there. The caller had pocket hearts and caught the flush on the river, otherwise I would have won.
After 4 hours of playing, I didn’t care any more. I had a beautiful wife at home waiting for me, cold beer in the fridge and $100 in my pocket. I couldn’t help but leave happy, after the beat.
There was a pot of $600 tonight, built from a gathering of 34 players. With just $10 invested, I took an occasional pot to put me at $1,000 chips after 1 hour and 30 minutes which led us to the break. After the break, the blinds are $100/$200, so I had 5 big blinds to make a move with. My father threw me $20 (I paid him back) to go make a rebuy for the break, because everyone had stacks of at least $5,000. I wouldn’t have lasted long otherwise. So with $6,000 in chips, I started the second half of the tournament.
I caught a run of good cards, a little luck and the occasional bluff, which paid off. Position and betting amounts were key, as I built my stack to just over $50,000. Two hours later, I made the final table and took down 3 players, while maintaining a healthy 2nd/3rd place stack.
Three of us left, I raised $10,000 before the flop and the small stack moved all in. I called. I flipped over A/9, he flipped over A/10. The flop came with a 9 on the board. The turn & river didn’t help him, knocking him out of the tournament.
After that takedown, Patty & I were about even with chips, so we decided to split the pot. We both walked away with $250 and tipped the dealer $25.
With wins like this, Julie calls poker my “second job.”
A smaller group tonight (24), which meant a smaller pot ($490). Three tables of 8, I played aggressively and built the chip lead early. Once on top, I played fewer hands, to keep from getting busted. I lost a few, but nothing big (re-bought $1,500 in chips for $10).
At break I had a healthy stack but bought $4,000 in chips for $20 to compete with the bigger stacks and handle the higher blinds. I took down the first five hands in a row, building my stack close to $30,000 chips. Once on the top, I slow played everything like I did earlier and waited for the final table to come around.
Ten of us at the final table, I let the smaller stacks get blinded out and set back as players took out each other. I chip-bullied a few times, just to gain some ground on larger stacks when I knew I could. Six of us left, we decided to give everyone left $50 and then play for the remaining $190. One by one, the top 3 (me included) took turns taking out the bottom 3.
With the other two players having much higher stacks than me, we decided on a $75 split for them and $40 for me (as the small stack).
I invested $30 tonight and walked away with $90 in winnings.
On a side note, during the break, I took $2 and put them in the game machines in the back and turned it into $25, which essentially paid for my poker buy-ins tonight.
All in all, an $83 profit when I left.
Julie got home today, spent about an hour at the house and then she took me down to the poker hall. I had just $10 for a rebuy and got almost nothing the first 30 minutes. Then caught a few hands, ending big just before the break.
With over 40 people there, I checked the count on how much we were playing for tonight. Over $800- that’s probably the largest pot I’ve seen there. Knowing I’d need more chips to make my hands payoff, a friend lent me $20, doubling my stack for the second half.
People play different when they can’t rebuy, which is where I seem to excel. Making reads and proper bets to build the pot, but not push a lot of people out. I raked pot after pot, with Trip Aces (A/2 in hand, Ace Ace 4 on the flop) against pocket 10’s & K’s that ended up putting two people out at once.
Got to the final table and ended up knocking off the small stacks so that we could all split. $100 each and the rest of us played for the final $150. There were 3 of us left, with me and another player even in chips. The third guy had twice as many or else we would have split the $150. I caught face cards out of the blind, so I figured I’d call so I didn’t have to take my chances with a crap hand while in the big blind.
I got taken down, finishing in 3rd.
In short. Won $70 (after taking out the rebuy & paying back my friend) in 4 hours. Just over $15 an hour. I was just glad I could come through and continue to help us out financially during this hard time right now. I’ve cashed the last 3 tournaments I’ve played and there’s one everyday this week.