The Six Month and Much More

Yes, I made the six month. And this weekend is Tavern Tourneys 'Best of the Best.' Only those who made the final table at a monthly or the six month qualify for the Best of the Best. The monthly, six month and Best of the Best being the premier tournaments for Tavern Tourneys with the chance to win large payouts. I didn't attend the last monthly, though I qualified, and was a bit short of the final table in the six month.

Six Month

The six month was held at a regular and very fine location for Tavern Tourneys. Outside of being very difficult to get people to sit down and play, making for a late start, the atmosphere was very nice. Lots of nice people, a common characteristic for Tavern Tourneys, and great play. Much tighter than even the one monthly I attended this summer. Well over 100 competing.

Back and forths, or give and takes, were a regular theme. I won some really big hands, and later lost some really big hands to the people I won them from. Hitting the nuts flush on the turn it checked around and I made a huge raise on the river, beating the J high flush. Losing an all-in against Q's I called his next all-in with A, Q suited. He had 8, 2. ?

Calling a pre-flop raise with deuces, I hit my deuce on the flop and it paid huge. I kept an average or above average stack most of the night. I had a unbelievable run before the dinner break that left me one of the chip leaders. I had a snickers for dinner.

After the break the tournament was running much later than I was lead to believe it would. A blind change had been missed which may also have had the game further along if it wasn't. And I went card dead. I knew I was card dead. I could feel it. I often feel like that at a table and even if I get good starting hands I lose. It is a complete constant, never wrong. I know I will lose when I get that feeling. I am thinking of just folding all my hands without even looking at them when I get this feeling. Until the mood changes.

I wanted to push, push, push with a huge stack after dinner, but didn't get the cards. Getting late, and my stack being nibbled away, I decided to take a stand with 10, J suited. The best cards I had seen in a while. I lost and went home and got out on our work route just in time. I finished about 14th. The players chopped when it got down to two.

Great fun.

The Casino

Yes I took a good sized stack to the casino and tried to work the Omaha Hi/Lo table. Nothing worked as it should. I split some pots but my stack kept dwindling. The cards were changed, at the request of one of the players, and everything played out as the odds say they should. So I kept going, my stack going up and down keeping a consistent average stack from that point, less than a quarter of what I started with. I cut my losses and left while I still had something.

I wont be going to the casino much. And when I go again I have decide I will go into all games with the minimal buy-in and if I win a big hand leave. And I am thinking of using my club points at their gift shop for Christmas shopping rather than a nice dinner with Misao. We recently used her birthday points for the buffet.

The Casino has canceled their daily tournaments. Something I wanted to try. But they still have tournaments on occassion. Their next a Thanksgiving tournament, $100 buy-in. And they have a lower blind no-limit Texas Hold'm game. A $1, 1, 2 game. Played with two small blinds, however unlike small blind limit games the minimum buy-in is $100 rather than $20.

Nightly Tournaments

Two outings in November have given me plenty of points, possibly already qualifying for the next monthly. I had an unbelievable run this past Monday night before the first break. I had a stack that was adequate to win with when one reaches the final table. After the break I was a target and a couple of guys kept betting large against my every hand. And I had that feeling, but kept getting really good cards. Eventually I stopped playing any hands to keep myself from going under the average stack.

The rising blinds were feeding off my stack and I was in a bad way. At the next break I asked if one could still buy a round for extra chips. You could and I did. Then, the blinds already large, I made the min raise with pocket 3's and had two callers. I hit a 3 on the flop, a K being the high card on the board. The first to act went all-in. The next to act went all-in on top of that for 20K more. (Am I a target? Being bullied? If they want to roll that way they should just put an eternal bounty on me) I called and showed my set. (a set is when you hit with a pocket pair, trips are when two of your three are on the board)

Made the final table with a reasonable stack. Finished fourth. Went all-in with A, 6 suited and was called by a 7 high hand. He hit his 7.

I'm a Winner!

Yes, I won my first Tavern Tourney outright on Halloween. Things just fell into place. When we got down to three I caught 8's and the flop came 5, 6, 7. My opponent, the tournament director, bet big and I raised all-in and he called. He also had 8's and we split the pot. A 9 came on the river.

With a mountainous stack I put the two final opponents all-in with K, 10. One hit his pair with a Q, the dealer, and he was calling for a J for the other guy, larger stack, to hit a pair and keep in the game... supposedly. The problem? The J gave me a straight and it was all over.

It didn't put me in the black but I am now less than $300 in the red in almost two years of poker playing including casino play. The sometimes buy-ins and any cost of sodas for which I received chips all recorded in a ledger. Not recorded is mileage costs and any purchases I did not receive chips for.

And on the first tourney of the new six month cycle I made third. Not much in the way of cards most of the night but buying a round and then hitting a couple good hands took me deep for a small payout. I don't think I will make the monthly on Saturday (starts too late, too far away and we have to work) but plan to make the six month the following Saturday. If Tavern Tourneys wants to grow in the Milwaukee market they need to find a nice place a bit closer to Milwaukee.

Mostly playing Omaha hi/lo on the Internet. Taking some Texas Hold'm Sit&Goes for play money quite easily. Played one last night on Ultimate Bet and am pained to say I don't like the patterns I see. Same cards up against each other with the same outcomes several times throughout the same game. Nothing nefarious, just reads poorly in the mind of the player. At least when you are on the losing end of the hand.