Smoker, Take 3

About an hour into the smoker, I was pretty much disgusted with myself.

I have a good feel for how the tournament runs. Most players are loose and passive. They are willing to call down with bottom pair, not bet the nuts, and generally not have a clue on realizing they are way behind. They have no clue about pot odds, or being committed when short stacked. A good player should make the money every time they play as long as they elude the bad beat. They can control the table with strong hands and big bets.

But I wasn't doing much of anything but folding. My cards were pretty damn bad. If I had something I could possibly play, it was in early position and a raise wasn't going to keep people out of the pot. Thus going maniac wasn't a smart option.

Thus, I played the waiting game. My plans of being active early were gone. Instead I needed to catch one hand and make it pay off.

That would take a while. Close to 2 hours into the night to be exact. I would get A K in the BB. There were 2 limpers and the SB in the pot. With the option, I pushed all in, about 5 times the blinds. Everyone folded. Though I was happy to finally win a hand, I wonder if I should have see a flop to maximize the hand.

That would sit in my mind for a while as I would post blinds and bleed them off for another 30 minutes until I would get a decent hand. Then with K Js, I would someone quintuple up when I flopped the nut straight. Somehow the board did not pair up and no one connected for the flush. I would be back in the game. Just a bit later, I would double up with 10 10.

The structure at this tournament is weird. It is suppose to be 30 minutes levels early on. You get a good amount of play for the first 3 hours. But once they get down to the last 2 tables, the blinds seem to go up on a whim. Plus they are doubling. It ends up being a crapshoot at the end. Before you know it, blinds are going 2000/4000 and the chip leader has maybe 10xs the blinds.

At the end, anyone with ice water in their veins can push every hand and scoop up the blinds. I didn't make the final table but I was willing to try it. Most people fold just hoping to move up one more spot.

Considering how the night went, I should have been content getting my buy in back. But yet I was disgusted by folding so much. -