For only the second time in my life, I took off a few days from work at the start of January to indulge in the Moose International Poker gathering at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas.
This year there was one major thing that was awesome - no more mask requirement! I loved being able to play sans face diaper, and I knew I was going to have a great time no matter what with this silliness out of the picture.
Turns out, I was not alone, with easily 90% of my fellow players also dispensing with the mask thingies. It made playing with everyone a real pleasure.
Alas, the Poker gods (note the little "g") were not influenced at all by my happy mood - they sought fit to smite me, over and over. And over again.
This will not be a post replete with bad beats, though I did have quite a few of them over three days. I failed to cash once in six tournaments. And I was too bummed out to try to recoup anything in cash.
The trip, at least poker-wise, was a total bust. However, in all honesty, I actually had more fun than I did last year, which you can read about here.
Sadly, my good friend from the Moose - Adam, was unable to make it this year as he'd had a heart attack just before Christmas. Fortunately, he is still with us and is on the mend. I talked with him on the phone during the trip more than once and was able to give him updates on my fellow Moose brothers and sisters (31 of us total!) who were making deep runs in the Main Event tournament.
One of these brothers, managed to parlay his $330 entry into almost 10K! He made a five way chop deal at the end, and locked up a very nice nearly five figure score. Yes, I'm very jealous, but he's a great guy and a very good player who absolutely deserves it. I laughed as his wife quipped from the rail - "Now we can pay for gas on the way back"
I really had a blast riding the rail for my friend, and for others who went deep. We had 6 of us make it to the final five tables, and 3 of us make it to the final two tables! Way to represent Burbank Ladies and Gents!
And truly, I also did enjoy my time on the felt - brutal exit hands not withstanding.
Overall I felt my play was sharp, though it did dull a bit with each new tournament I sat down for - my enthusiasm got dampened quite a bit with the brutal AA<AK nonsense. Then it was dampened more when my AQ was cracked by AJ (again AIPF)
And dampened even further when I collided with the only other big stack at my table as the money bubble approached - of course I had AK and she had AA. No suckout this time though. The very next hand I had AQ and someone else had KK. GGs and fuck right off lol.
Yes, it can be an exasperating game.
But I have to take solace in the pros that Vlog and are transparent - mainly that guy Rampage who shared this amazing video where he completely revealed his financials for 2022. He made over a million dollars in profit in poker - but only after he binked two big tournaments at the very end of the year - after almost 12 full months of losing.
Yes, that is the nature of the beast that is tournament play. Lose, lose, lose, lose, etc. etc. then BINK one or two big scores.
I understand that I don't play tournament poker every day, or even every week. I play a handful of times a month these days, and almost always in ultra-low buy-in recreational events, either home game or Moose Lodge. A "big" event for me is the $330 Moose Main in Vegas. Or the 11am $250 side events. Even when I do hit we're talking about $1K-$3K tops. I can blast through that in buy-ins in a month or two no problem. I have a very steep uphill climb to grinding out a decent profit, and truthfully, I'm amazed that my results have been as good as they have been for so long.
So I won't stress too hard at a long string of bad beats and goose-egg finishes. After looking at Rampage's results, or Daniel Negreanu's for that matter, I can see the big picture and see that both of these guys are big time long time winners - and yet most of the time, they bust out early.
As I type this - right at this moment - DNegs is all in for his tournament life with AQ, AIPF against AT against a young aggressive opponent. And...
Bam, a TEN literally just hit the flop. FUCKING CRAZY. I'm not making this up - I'm literally typing this at 3.40pm in the afternoon of Jan 19 as the Poker Cup Event #7 plays out LIVE. Board bricks out and DNegs is OUT.
Did everything right, played it perfect - doesn't matter. He's out.
Yep, that was me for three days.
I feel rejuvenated right now, in real time, watching the hand unfold right next to this window.
Just incredible.
*****
Grateful for this great game - and grateful that I will continue to enjoy it as a serious minded recreational player.
Looking forward to my home game tournament, the first regular event of the year, in two days - and looking forward to more Moose fun and whatever else comes my way in 2023.
Bring it on!
