Thursday, March 6, 2008

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum.....

So I return home today after a 2 day poker bender in Atlantic City that was planned around WSOP Circuit Event #1 at Caesar's. The event was to kick off at noon on Wednesday, so we arrived Tuesday night after work to get some pre-tourny play in. We decided to play in 7PM Showboat tourny (53+12 with 10K in chips no antes). This is a pretty fast structure after the first 4 levels, but is well worth it with pretty weak fields overall. Collected chips early, overplayed AK against a minraiser like a donk and flamed out less then halfway through the 90 person field.

So what to do next, well "Open Seat 1-2 NL", I'm in. Sit with 200. Lose a little, win a little. Then cold deck rears it's head. First I run into AA with a TP that I did lay down. Next in the BB, all limps, I see a 345 flop with A2, get a shorter stack all in on the turn, he's got 67. The I run 88 into aces, I fold flop. Then I lose my last 45 when I limp with A8, flop and ace, turn an 8 (all in at this point) and guy hits his flush on the river. Next! So a few of the guys decided to play the midnight tourny at the Taj (total and complete luckfest with a super fast structure). That's right people, it's not even midnight yet. So I decided to play cause I was not ready for sleep yet, well I eventually get crippled when I run top 2 into bottom set. Tilt monkey has arrived! So I watch two of my buddies cash at about 4AM and make the decision that I am not playing tomorrow. Why?

Well you may think this was a monetary decision, but it really had nothing to do with that. I was prepared (bankroll wise) to lose on Tuesday night and still play on Wednesday, but I couldn't shake the deck. So rather then piss away 340 for a tourny and played scared, I decided to make the choice to not play and it wasn't easy to do it. I immediately was disappointed that it had come to that but I really felt like it was the right choice. So, now I'm sitting here asking myself, "Have I matured as a poker player and now realize that I'm not playing optimal poker" or "Have I not matured enough in my poker playing to move on past a rough stretch and refocus to play my best"?

As for the rest of the trip. Played in the Showboat tourny at 2PM the next day. Played bad early, but got a couple key doubles, but eventually busted out first at the final table with 6 places paying when JJ < K2soooooooooooooooted. And this was after the guy limped UTG with K2sooooooooooooooooooooted. Uh huh, yup, good play sir. Also as a side note, a few players that busted from the Caesar's event were at my table. They said it was a total trainwreck with 1000 people and only 4000 in chips, people were playing like monkeys. So I'm very glad I didn't have to deal with that for a $340 price tag. Anyway, had a good dinner and then sat with a buddy at 3/6 at the Trop. We had good waitress service (read many free beverages) and thanks to Puff Daddy/Pdiddy to my right and a few other chasers we took over 300 out of that game between the two of us. All in all not a bad trip, but still disappointing.

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