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[Trakball]

Last night, six of my friends & I decided to hit up the local Indian Casino to take part in their Wednesday night tournament. We figured this would be right up our alley, financially: $14 buy-in, no rebuys (it really sucks when you're playing in a tourney with rebuys; you can be doing awesome but the guy next to you just keeps buying one stack of chips after the other), last 8 players standing split up the pot.

As you're all aware, poker is the hot shit right now. Last time I played in a tourney at Viejas (the Indian Casino in question), there were just enough players to meet the minimum; last night, the fucking joint was PACKED with players. Unfortunately, that means everyone outside of the first 100 players to be called ends up on the "alternate list", where you join a table after someone has already been eliminated. The problem with that is, you sit down at a table with 5,000 in chips, and you're surrounded by people with 30,000+ stacks. What the fuck can you do other than go all in on your first hand?

We wanted to leave at 4:00, but one of our friends got stuck in traffic so we didn't hit the road until a little before 5:00. I drove like a bat out of hell, breaking at least 10 traffic laws... but we still didn't get there until 6:00! I ended up being alternate #53 (!). When my number was called, I was shuffled off into this back room outside of the main card room - I swear, this room was a broom closet in a previous life - and ended up sitting ass-to-elbows next to an old grandmotherly type on one side, and a trustafarian who reeked of patchouli on the other. Sadly, I was out after four fucking hands! And the real bitch is, I was eliminated holding pocket kings!! Fuckity fuck fuck. I sadly made my way back to the main card room only to find that five of my other friends had also been eliminated. The only one out of all of us to make a decent showing was my friends' girlfriend, who went all in her first hand, doubled up, went all in on her second hand, doubled up AGAIN... and then got shitty cards the rest of the evening. Poor girl ended up going all in with a off suit 4 - 6 (the blinds were incredibly high by this time, so she didn't really have a choice) and got totally blasted.

But yeah, if you're going to try your hand at one of these tournaments, this is my advice. GET THERE EARLY! If you're an alternate, you might as well just lay your money at the foot of the reservation and go home. I didn't see ONE alternate make it past the table they started out on - even the low numbered alternates!

Anybody else as addicted to poker as I am?!

 

[Brian Fellows]

Never played at a casino but me and my friends play hold'em all the time. We are gonna be having our own tournament during Thanksgiving break. Prolly between 18-25 people with a 20 dollar buy-in.

 

[Trakball]

Brian, that's dope! My friends and I usually play with about 10 people every weekend. Depending on how close it is to payday, it's either a $10 or $20 buy in.

Are you in Southern California by any chance?

 

[nomoment]

Trakball: What was showing on the board when you went all-in with KK? How did the hand transpire?

 

[Brian Fellows]

Are you in Southern California by any chance?

naw central Illinois.

 

[Trakball]

Trakball: What was showing on the board when you went all-in with KK? How did the hand transpire?

Heh! It was pre-flop.

Like I said, being an alternate (especially such a high-numbered alternate such as myself) pretty much meant that you were going to get beat right away by the people who had been playing in the tourney from the beginning. I had to do something to keep from getting beat... and I figured, hell, pocket kings are the way to go, right?

The flop was 6, 7, 10 suited (all diamonds). Next card was a 4 of clubs, and the river was an Ace of spades. The winner had a diamond flush. Oh well!

 

[nomoment]

Heh! It was pre-flop.

Like I said, being an alternate (especially such a high-numbered alternate such as myself) pretty much meant that you were going to get beat right away by the people who had been playing in the tourney from the beginning. I had to do something to keep from getting beat... and I figured, hell, pocket kings are the way to go, right?

You made the wrong decision.

It's very undisciplined, and you didn't get maximum value for your kings. You should've made a medium raise preflop, then went all-in if the flop didn't show anything.

You shouldn't be worrying about other people's chip stacks early in the tournament -- just worry about YOUR chip stack before the antes and blinds get too high for you.

I've seen so many players get knocked out early in tournaments because they think they're making the right play by moving all-in preflop with AA, KK, AK. Don't make this move early in the tournament unless you have to (ie: someone reraises your preflop raise), or if the board doesn't have any scare cards.

Moving all-in with good cards is a move you save for later in tournaments.

 

[Trakball]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear, or you're misunderstanding what I'm saying.

By the time I got in, the blinds were already 2,000 - 4,000. I sat down at the table with 20,000 chips. By the time I had gone all in, I was down to 7,000 chips, and I was looking at the big blind next hand. If I wouldn't have gone all in that hand, I would've been fucked by the blind next hand.

I just didn't understand the concept of tournaments & alternates! I've learned my lesson, though, as I said in the thread title: get there early!

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

I think poker is a bit overexposed now.

 

[MaverickX9]

You made the wrong decision.

It's very undisciplined, and you didn't get maximum value for your kings. You should've made a medium raise preflop, then went all-in if the flop didn't show anything.

You shouldn't be worrying about other people's chip stacks early in the tournament -- just worry about YOUR chip stack before the antes and blinds get too high for you.

I've seen so many players get knocked out early in tournaments because they think they're making the right play by moving all-in preflop with AA, KK, AK. Don't make this move early in the tournament unless you have to (ie: someone reraises your preflop raise), or if the board doesn't have any scare cards.

Moving all-in with good cards is a move you save for later in tournaments.

He made the right move.

Short stacked with pocket kings, in tournament play? All in, easily. You're going to get at least one caller 100% of the time. The big dogs at the table will usually call with shit just because they can.

There was nothing else he could do. Slow playing with a short stack is just stupid when you are in a tournament.

If he was up, then he should have only made a decent pre-flop raise. But being low on chips with killer blinds, he has no other choice.

 

[Trakball]

I think poker is a bit overexposed now.

Dude, you should've SEEN all the fucking people there. I would say it was 75% college kids who looked like they decided to forgo meals for the day to pony up the tournament entry fee.

It's cool though, poker was all but dead before this resurgance.

 

[nomoment]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear, or you're misunderstanding what I'm saying.

By the time I got in, the blinds were already 2,000 - 4,000. I sat down at the table with 20,000 chips. By the time I had gone all in, I was down to 7,000 chips, and I was looking at the big blind next hand. If I wouldn't have gone all in that hand, I would've been fucked by the blind next hand.

Thanks for clarifying. You never made a mention of your chip count or the blinds in any of your previous posts -- all you said was:

The problem with that is, you sit down at a table with 5,000 in chips, and you're surrounded by people with 30,000+ stacks. What the fuck can you do other than go all in on your first hand?

So, I assumed only a few people had 30 000 chips stacks, while most people still had something close to the starting count, 5000.

So, are you sitting down with 5000, or 20000 chips? Your posts are inconsistent.

 

[nomoment]

I think poker is a bit overexposed now.

Good.

More dead money at the casinos, and online.

 

[Trakball]

Nomoment, sorry for not being clear about that.

Yeah, it's totally absurd to get in these poker tournaments when they're full. I can't blame the Casino for letting it happen - get that chedda, my Indian brethren! - but I certainly won't get involved in anything like that again.

Any of y'all ever been to a card room? My buddies and I were thinking about hitting up a few of them over Thanksgiving break. I've always been reluctant to go into a card room - they're so foreboding!

edit: in my original thread, I was playing a little fast & loose with the chip counts. It really went like this (black chips = 1,000, pink chips = 5,000):

Players who joined the tournament from the get-go and were not alternates received one pink chip. The blinds were 1,000 - 2,000. A half hour later, the blind went up to 2,000 - 4,000. I got in about 45 minutes after the start of the tourney, so instead of starting with 5,000, we started with 20,000 (four pink chips). When I sat down at my table, everyone else had at least 10 pink chips, if not more. And 15 minutes after I sat down, the blinds went to 4,000 - 8,000. I hope I'm explaining this better, this time!