Brilliant!!! Now with added commentary

Hat tip: Bill Rini





I actually played some poker this weekend. Two cheap tournaments on Stars to be exact. The first was the Poker Savvy freeroll. Finished 11th out of 800some and won $3.25. Thankyouverymuch.

The other was the 100k guarantee where I finished 13000some out of 18000some.

I couldn't do much wrong in the freeroll. Haven't not played any real tournament besides the blogger tournaments, I felt the need to play in one that had more than 80 people. Sure it was a freeroll but it was the number of people that mattered. I needed to put my skills out there against unknowns. Against people who will push all in with total crap because it didn't cost them anything.

I have a thought about freerolls. They can help you try new strategies and develop new skills. You can relearn thinking processes on the cheap. Whether it be getting crippled to a short stack and playing that strategy or chipping up and bludgeoning others with your big stack, it is something I think you need to relearn and gain confidence on every once in a while.

I kicked some major ass in the freeroll. For a good portion of the second session I was the chip leader. I made some great calls and won all of my races. Yep, won all of the races. I knew when someone was pushing with A rag and made calls with my mid and lower pairs, knowing that I could lose some chips and win them back if needed. In fact, it was the first race that I lost that took me out of serious contention. 9 9 beat by A 10. That happened with less than 20 left.

I tried to then beef up my skills on short handed play as we were 6 then 5 for a good stretch of time. I was over aggressive with my A 9 and ran into A 10 to go home.

But I had a nice run where I got some needed confidence.

I had hoped to carry it over to the 100k guarantee but that didn't work. My table was very loose to begin with. 5 people would see a flop even with someone raising 5xs the blinds. I had one guy willing to call down with bottom pair (why couldn't I hit anything with A Q???).

I made one crucial mistake in this tournament. With A Ks, I raised in LP. UTG had limped and immediately pushed all in. We have all seen those clowns that make this play trying to act like they have A A. My gut told me this person did. But I heard the circus music in my head and called, knowing I would be suddenly down from 4k to 700. He flipped over the rockets and I had no chance for a flush or a straight.

I fought my way back up to 2400 but then got overly aggressive and was soon done. It did feel good to dip my toe back into the water. I may do that again but probably not until next month. Weather is too nice to spend time indoors.