I know that many poker players don't want to talk about their losses, but I am kind of proud of losing a tournament yesterday (Saturday) at The Bicycle Casino near Los Angeles.
I haven't played tournaments (except for occasional charity or benefit tournaments) for about a year. But yesterday I was tempted to play the noon tournament at The Bike which was a $40 buy-in with no add-ons or rebuys. In other words: the maximum risk was $40. There wasn't much reward either as the guaranteed prize pool was only $2,000. So simply, this was a chance to have some fun playing poker for cheap in a tournament setting.
I played very well and I was very proud of how I played, even though I lost.
I am sitting in seat #7 and the button was on seat #9. It was a ten-handed table so seat #1 was the Big Blind. The big blind was 50, small blind 25. We started with 6,000 in tournament chips.
On the very first hand I was dealt pocket queens, which is a darn good starting hand.
The blinds are posted.
Seat number two calls the big blind with his 50 chips.
Seats three and four fold.
Seat five calls the 50.
Seat six folds.
I am in seat 7 and with QQ I raised to 300.
The big and small blinds fold.
Seat 2 calls my raise to 300.
Sear 5 calls my raise to 300.
We see a flop.
The flop comes 4, 5, K.
Seat 2 bets 500.
Seat 5 calls the 500.
Because I only have a pair of queens, I fold thinking one or both of those players has a king. Well, I was wrong. Neither one of them had a king. Seat 2 had pocket fours and flopped a set, and Seat 5 had pocket fives and flopped a set.
On the next round of betting both players were all in. Pocket fives won. My queens never improved.
While I folded because of the king on the flop and neither had a king, I made the correct play anyway.
The next 3-thousand chips were lost to rising blinds and folding when it was obvious my hands were beat. Fortunately, I still had about 2,000 chips left when I was the big blind (400 chips) and I was dealt Q7.
The flop came Q-ten-deuce. There were two other players in the pot. I was first to act and with the Q showing on the flop I pushed all in. The first player after me folded, but the player on the button called. He showed AK for a gut shot draw, but he also had two overcards. I went all in hoping to keep a player with over cards from calling, but the player on the button was willing to take the chance. Luckily for him, he caught a king on the turn and I was out.
I lost but I played it right. And that's why I hate tournaments. You can be "right" all tournament long but if another player gets lucky and you get unlucky it can all be over.