My 30-minute Tournament

I played a tournament at Northway Lanes this afternoon.  It didn't last long.

It was pretty uneventful for abut half an hour.  I flopped top two  pair on an AKJ flop, meaning I probably had the best hand but someone could have a straight draw.  Ten on the turn, making it likely that someone had a straight or was drawing for one. Check check on the turn, then I bet enough on the river to price out draws.

Player to my right went all in and I thought for about a minute.  I decided  that he was bluffing and I called.  The river was a queen, giving villian the straight, knocking me down from about 49,000 chips to 6,000.  Two hands later, I shoved QJs and was knocked out of the tournament.  After the big hand, villian said that he knew I bet enough to chase out a draw--but he misread his hand, and thought that he already had the straight!

So, I made the mathematically correct play by betting enough to chase draws away.  Villian then made the wrong play by calling because he misread his hand.  I called because I thought he was bluffing.  It' wasn't a bluff, because he thought he had the best hand.  I was out of the tournament when the queen came on the river.  Strange things happen in poker, and it was the first time in quite a while that I was out in the first hour.

As Doyle Brunson says on the commercials, that's poker folks!

Sorting Through the Options

Since I don't have much of a bankroll to work with,I'm exploring all of my options to keep my skills up and get my practice in.  While I'm doing this, the poker landscape is constantly changing.  It would only take a few cashes to give me a little breathing room, but until that happens, here are what seem to be my options, in no particular order:

1. Play less often.  I have a little free money to goose my bankroll each week, so if I only play a couple tournaments a week, my bankroll won't decrease,

Drawback--World Poker Tour Player of the Year Johnathan Little states that it takes playing 100 live tournaments just to get good at the mechanics.  The fewer tournaments I play, the longer it takes me to get those mechanics nailed down.

2. Play less expensive tournaments.  Instead of playing $50 tournaments I could play other tournaments out-of-town for half that price.

Drawback--Cheaper tournaments tend to have fewer starting chips, less deep play, and in general poorer structures.  All of my play and study in 2015 has been about being a winner in deepstacked tournaments.  I've ov erhauled everything, adjusting how many hands and which hands I play in different situations..  I eventually want to get better at all types of structures and tournaments, but I know my learning style, and I work best mastering one aspect of a problem or challenge before I move on to the next one.  Also, deepstacked tournaments will always be the tournaments that I play the most, because that's where the real money is.

3. Move some of my play to online.  I have enough money in my online bankroll to play tournaments at micro to low stakes with no problem..

Drawback--I'm not set up for playing regularly online now.  I would need to change and update some software and probably get a poker-only computer.

Also, online tournament choices are horrible right now.  The times when I could play on PokerStars and find a good tournament any hour of the day are long gone.  Right now I know what my poker schedule is (being prepared to play until at least midnight) and what my caregiver schedule is (being up by 0900 every day.)  Making the schedule switches while playing whatever online tournament I could find, whenever I could find it. would make a wreck of my already difficult sleep schedule.  A few days ago I was so tired that I slept 14 hours straight, woke up to go to the bathroom and I was still tired.

So, the choices aren't easy, but that's not the real problem.  The real problem is that I'm a family caregiver 3-4 days a week while I'm trying to get poker going.  No one in the family thought that we would be doing it for two years, and in fact, the person I was splitting the main caregiver duties has been looking for excuses to get time off and generally bail on her duties.  She found someone to sub for her (which is happening very frequently now.)  I'm in a really awful spot now.  Because I'm doing the right thing, I'm the live-in caregiver 50% of the time, with two other people splitting the caregiving doing 25% each.  I'm doing the right thing taking care of my mother-in-law, but I'm being taken advantage of and I can't do my job (poker).  I'm not sure what to do.  I don't know if there is anything that I can do.

Possibly The Best I've Played So Far

I played again last night.  It was about as well as I've ever played.  For one of the very rare times, I can't think of a one major mistake that I made.  We were close to the final table of 10 players and I got knocked out in 11th place.  Someone raised and I went all in with AT (ace-ten) preflop and the raiser showed AJ.

I didn't cash.  I had a run of about two months when I was cashing fairly regularly, now I've gone that long without cashing.

Of course I don't play very many times during a month, so the effect of statistical variance, positive or negative, can be pretty strong over such a small sample size.  Big cashing streaks can be followed by long losing streaks.  That's what a bankroll is for, to weather the storms of statistical variance.  I will at some point have to get my bankroll up to at least 100 buy-ins ($5,000) before I don't have to worry about being slapped in the face by variance.

I've been trying to, whenever possible, play two live tournaments during the days that I'm home.  Now my bankroll is getting smaller, and I'm going to have to dial it back.  My bankroll will be gone quickly if I keep dropping $100 every week.  Until I start cashing again, I have to play live less often and devote my extra money to building up my poker accounts.

I will devote some of that free time to studying, especially working with my flash cards.  There are always things that I can work on.  More about that in future posts.

Big News

The 2+2 poker forums now have a West Michigan thread!. I didn't do it, someone else with the same idea started one on July 23. This is a big deal, and I hope that it really takes off and gives the players a little more control of their situation,

The Poker Landscape is Still Crazy

A lot has happened in the last month.  I should be posting at least once a week, but the situation can get so strange that I don't know what to say, or if anything that I post will be outdated as soon as I post it.

The latest is that my local poker room has decided that they are no longer going to have a web site.  The explanation that I got is that the state of Michigan is taking such a big cut from the charity room profits is that they can't afford a web site.  Also, the second room at Pope's Pub is not yet up and running, even though the web site of the Michigan Gaming Control Board showed them being licensed a month ago.

This is about more than a web site.  There is no information at all.  No announcements during a tournament.  No flyers. Nothing posted in the room.  I just play a tournament and assume that next week there will be a tournament at the same place on the same day at the same time next week.  I have been going to the various locations run by The Big Game Room for a few years, and from time to time I am surprised when I go there and find the room closed.  The last time was about a month ago--the bowling alley was closed for maintenance and no one thought it was important that the players know that.

On the twoplustwo.com poker forums, there is a regional thread for the Detroit area.  http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/200/regional-communities/detroit-737949/

The players talk to each other about the poker room options and ask things like:

How many players are usually in that tournament?
How is the traffic to drive there?
Do the tournaments have a good structure?
Is the room comfortable and a fun place to play?
What is the food like there?
Is there a schedule of blinds and antes?

In short, the Detroit players gather information and anaylze it.  We're poker players, that's what we do.  Even though, as far as I know, every Detroit area poker room has a web site (what business doesn't in 2015?) the players always want to know more, and they critique everything.  If a dealer is rude on Tuesday night, a post will go up on the Detroit thread, often in real time.

Every room has strong and weak points.  One of the rooms in Grand Rapids (about 30 miles from my home) was so poorly lit that I had to take my sunglasses off to tell the difference between a club and a spade with the cards inches from my face..  At another Grand Rapids room the food is bad and expensive (especially the $9 chicken sandwich.)  I can certainly be surprised, but at least before I play in Grand Rapids I can check the web sites and know what tournaments are running when, and something about the tournament structures.

The Detroit players communicate about everything and the room owners know it.  They demand information that west Michigan players can never get, because we have no organized way of communicating.

I didn't really want to take this on, but I have petitioned 2+2 for a West Michigan regional thread.  Something has to change.  These rooms have to know that they are competing for our dollars, and for that to happen, the players in West Michigan have to be able to communicate.