Good times. 14 players, my usual mix of decent players and newbies; ultra low stakes which keeps the mood light and social.
A $10 buy-in with multi-rebuys and a single add-on let's those on a budget play tight and save - while allowing the action junkies to push.
The world's most perfect home tourney blind structure (polished by me after years and years of doing this) guarantees everyone but the craziest player a good 90 minutes of play time, whilst also making sure that everyone gets the hell out by 1130 or so.
Costco cookies, plenty of cheep beer, two nifty poker table tops, mood lighting courtesy of my work; all encased in a roomy enough garage = a great night of low stakes, low stress home poker.
The game was what everybody plays (NLHE natch) but we also have been alternating by month, in June it'll be a H.O.R.S.E. limit tourney (that would be Hold-em, Omaha/8, Razz [seven stud low only], Seven Stud, and Seven Stud/8). I'm also even squeezing in a cash game before that! We'll see how long this lasts (how long the wife will put up with it that is).
And I'm happy to say I played about my best ever at one of my events; finishing second for a whopping $90 in prize money. I got lucky a few times, cracked someone's aces near the bubble (I felt for him) and otherwise dodged a few bullets; but my reads really felt great - especially against the smattering of VERY green players in the bunch. I think my years of playing free poker have really helped me weed out the poker-deficient players early - and play them differently than those with some modicum of skill
Of mild interest, were it not for the fickle mistress that is variance, I would have taken down the trophy. I played pretty darn brilliantly when it got to heads up, my opponent (Sven from the Flatline league) had a monster chip lead. And I managed to bob and weave, giving him walks when I was in the SB just often enough to make him think I was playing only solid hands, smacking him hard with bluffs and semi-bluffs to build my stack to the point where I actually had him covered.
I limped on the button pre-flop, he then min-raised and I called with K8s. The flop came rag-8-rag. He lead out with an all-in. I insta-called (must have been a subconscious read, I knew he didn't connect and I knew he didn't have a pair) and he grimaced at my cards. He had a middling ace, and of course he spiked it on the river.
I still managed to get my chips in with the best of it on the last hand, and he hit his flush draw on the turn. Ah well, I still felt really good - which says a lot about how far I've come as a poker player. That I'm now able to recognize, truthfully (not just because I'm pissed about losing) that I've made decent decisions and it's not in my control if Sven hits a 3 outer on the river - AND be at peace with it; gets me excited about playing the game for the long haul.
I"m afraid I'll have to flake out about recounting the last two online tournaments; let's just say I played horribly in the one two weeks ago (went out very early) and better but still not so great last week. After Saturday night's game, I know I'll be much more enthusiastic about posting tonight's go-round, no matter how I finish.
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