Twenty-five cents

Let me give you my two bits on 2011 and the coming 2012. I came out twenty-five cents in the black with my tournament play for 2011. I averaged less than three tournaments a month and most of them were Tavern Tourney events because they have really nice people, mostly.

Tavern Tourneys has a new location in downtown Milwaukee for 2012, starting January 4th. The Irish Rec Room on Old World Third Street near Usinger’s.

That is an improvement over 2010 where I averaged four tournaments a month for eight months, losing less than twenty dollars a month. These figures include any buy-in or purchase for which I received chips and do not include travel expenses. I have greater losses from more than two years back from a few attempts I made at casino play.

I made several monthly, quarterly or six month free tournaments and if I had made a final table at one of them I could easily be in the black overall. I was not able to attend all the free tournaments I had qualified for because they conflicted with my work schedule or other events I deemed more important. As it stands now I am qualified for the Tavern Tourney December monthly. I am also easily on my way to qualify for the next six month after only two months. As they all say, “Only you say you’re a good poker player.”

The last six month? Don’t really want to write anything outside of, sometimes you miss things especially when you’ve been up the entire weekend and your looking to hit a straight one way but there are other ways it could be made and the other guy in the hand thinks he’s got it won outright, …and then afterwards you’re thinking about the hand and comments at the table and banging your head against the wall. A lot of times people just miss things with no ill designs present. Life goes on.

But that is not to let anyone off the hook. It has been all too clear in action and comments that I have a big target on my back and that there are those who don’t want to play with me (too bad for them and I don’t care who their friends are) and though I may joke of alternative reasons everyone knows why. But fortunately we have freedom of religion in this country. Unfortunately, those who want to spew hate and demeaning comments behind my back are sitting in a position to cause a lot of problems for those good people caught in the middle as one of my resolutions for the New Year is no more mister nice guy. The reality is if such defamatory comments of me or my faith were said to my face the fallacy behind the whole construct would fade away and the demeaning hateful nature of such words would become all too clear to all. The truth is the idea that I am just a guy like everyone else who enjoys poker and has the same concerns as any other person in this world is unacceptable to some, a source of fear, a threat. What do you call that?

So I am supposed to just keep letting this crap deny me a career, a good salary that would cover our healthcare, housing and the ability to pursue a family whether through medicine or adoption, not to mention the simple recreational pursuits of my life? Guess what?

For 2012, and to promote the blog and my pursuit of poker as a possible profession (along with my writing) I will be doing Twelve Days of Poker. I was thinking of starting right after The Twelve days of Christmas but that would conflict with our anniversary. I hope to hit all of the four different tournament leagues in the area that I know of, as well as some stand alone tournaments that people keep mentioning at times, and will hit the casino once or twice as we work some evenings and there are no afternoon tournaments on those days.

You can buy the second edition of my latest book for your Kindle here. My writers blog is actually one of my most popular though I haven’t seen any similar numbers in sales. This blog is right up their with my MySpace blog. Yes MySpace still exists.

2012 in the Chinese calendar is the Year of the Dragon and my wife and I are both Dragons. As a friend of mine of oriental decent said to me the other day; The dragon lives on the bottom of the ocean alone for a very long time and then rises from the waters and rules the world.

Table Talk

In poker when you are out of a hand, have folded, it is improper to speak about the hand in play. I’ve flubbed on this a few times, commenting on possible outcomes.

You also cannot show cards you have folded to anyone in a hand. Some people like to keep their mucked (folded) cards to see what if. They sometimes like to show others that have also folded what they had in their hand. This is tolerated but if anyone in the hand sees any discarded cards those cards should be shown to everyone in the hand.

Also, if all fold and you win the pot, if you show one person what you were holding you must show all.

Of course you can talk about other things while at the table and if they are poker related they should be worth listening to. And I picked up a few bits of information that those interested in poker should be aware of, especially if you are not particularly in the know for all that is going on.

The biggest news I gleaned last night at Tavern Tourneys was that there is a new poker league in town; the Wisconsin Poker Tour. They are ending their second season so they are not completely new but this is the first I have heard of them. There site is clear in the most important detail; the event schedule. Otherwise I could not readily, in my brief review of their site, determine all the ins and outs of the workings of their league. It appears to be structured in a similar fashion to Badger Poker.

One needs not worry though if you cannot understand every nuance of the league through a website. Nor is it necessary to preregister. If you just show up to an event I am sure all will be happy to have you participate and explain the details of their operation. But one should always read their rules of the game, easily accessible on their website. Each league may differ a bit in their rules.

It sounds like Master Z’s in Waukesha will become the Mecca of poker in Southeastern Wisconsin. That is the bar and pool hall near the expressway, not the retailer of pool tables location. They may soon have all the leagues holding events at their location, holding poker tournaments more nights out of the week than not. It’s been a long long time since I worked a pool table.

I also learned that the owner of Tavern Tourneys placed very high in the money in a WSOP satellite. He was a major chip leader and then got hit by three bad beats in short order and was out in 22nd place.

But I know all have been wondering just how I’ve been doing at the poker table. I got out twice this month. My first outing I was card dead and couldn’t catch any hands outside of the first of the night. Still I made points by finishing ninth.

My next outing, last night, it was even worse. I caught many hands such as two pair that more often than not will take the pot. Two pair, high pair with an ace kicker, a marginal flush hand with only three of the suit on the board (requiring someone to have suited cards in their hand to make the flush) and I lost them all, more than once. Did I lose with two pair three times?

I also twice failed to push on the river with bluffs and lost to a low pair. With most all bluffs, betting large suggesting you’ve made a hand, there should be an outside potential to make a big hand. But I didn’t hit and didn’t follow through on the bluff.

I also bought some rounds to stay in the game to no avail. Something I usually don’t do and it hurts me with trying to stay even or better money wise in my poker pursuits. I have gone into the red. But it just wasn’t to stay in the game that I bought a round, it was also because I have not bought rounds for a very very long time and I feel it is part of being considerate to the host establishment, the tournament operators and fellow competitors. I will have to limit myself to one round a month and possibly play for completely free on other occasions. I hope I can make a tournament a week as we get back on our feet financially, maybe more when the Winter weather sets in. Tavern Tourneys now has a Saturday afternoon tournament in the Milwaukee area now.

Maybe I will challenge myself this Winter by doing something like playing two weeks straight. Hitting all the local leagues (now four) multiple times and then writing that piece I have been planning to write contrasting and comparing each league.

Though I don’t text I may set up my cell phone so I can text to my twitter poker account so I can tweet to this blog (see sidebar) as the action happens.

I have qualified with points for Tavern Tourneys six month tournament. Even with five days left in the month I don’t believe 34 people will overtake me, some 100 points behind. Of course the odds were in my favor many times last night and I lost every time.

Evening at the Casino

One of the few times we go to the casino, only two miles from our home, outside of our birthdays are for promotions the casino places in their small monthly magazine. We receive $25 worth of points for visiting on our birthdays (usually then putting 10-20 dollars into our favorite slot machine…!?) because we are part of their fire keepers card program. That is also why we get their monthly publication. A publication that is just the right size; about eighteen pages.

And the September promotion in “Ante”, their publication, was multiple entries into drawings. Drawings spread out over the entire month in which you must be present to win. So you have to visit the casino. So we had coupons for 25 free entries each if we visited on a certain evening which we did. Then last night they had the final drawings; three over two hours. So I used some of my points to buy my wife dinner at their Fire Pit Sports bar while we waited for the drawing results.

Breaking our routine was nice and we talked about a few things where we would have otherwise been stuck in our nightly routine. Six people were drawn at two times, twelve in total for a $1,000 prize each. Then at the final hour one person was drawn for a $52,000 prize. We didn’t win though a person at the table next to us in the sports bar won $1,000. My wife noticing that the person was neither surprised nor excited suspects the drawings are rigged, but we enjoyed our evening at the casino.

As we waited for that final drawing I borrowed five dollars from my wife for our favorite slot machine; a two cent machine. I won ten dollars and some change and cashed out. I pocketed the ten and gave my wife her five dollars back. She used it to win eleven dollars and some change, but couldn’t stop. I convinced her to cash out after a few more spins and then made sure she knew she won two cents more than I, because I know she enjoys to laugh…

For October we received in “Ante” four free entries each for guesses as to how many bats are in a coffin the casino has on display in their lobby. Little tiny plastic bats of the flying kind. When I read the promotion in their magazine I thought they were talking about baseball bats as the Brewers are in the playoffs. Of course you have to visit on four separate days to make your guesses. A rare promotion where you need not be present to win. Four closest guesses win. They also have more drawings, one entry for a gaming visit with additional entries for every 250 points earned. must be present at drawings to win.

We are close by so will enter our guesses and I may take my wife for dinner again on her birthday using my points. The poker room didn’t get busy until 8pm. They don’t have their Monday Night Football promotion this year. For a $530 buy-in, and a $30 add on, one can enter their $100,000 Autumn Feast No-Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament. Don’t know how fast it will fill or if it is already full. Winner gets $30,350. Sunday and Monday tournaments have come back also. They don’t advertise because they have no problem filling them. You best be waiting, seated at a game to get into one as those seated have first priority to get into the Sunday and Monday tournaments.

There are some large tournaments in this region at various casinos. Often the poker leagues will have promotions where you can win an entry into these tournaments. That is actually the best way to keep track of them, by participating or following one or more of the poker leagues (for lack of a more accurate description). The promotions usually entail playing at certain locations over a set time period, to win a seat outright or to qualify for a mini tournament of the largest point holders in the promotion to win a seat.

I have a new roof to get put on the house and some other miscellaneous expenses before I can consider serious tournament play. Even the mostly fun tavern tournaments will not be to common for me until we get by these financial hurdles. But I will get out to a few. I am considering setting up my cell phone so I can text directly to my poker twitter page.

If Full Tilt Poker really wasn’t segregating their players accounts from their operating expenses like they claimed they were, giving themselves large payouts, they are in deep doo doo.

So outside of a cash tip we left for our waiter ($20 of food paid in points) we came out ahead last night, which we have done on a goodly percentage of our visits over the last few years, since we first visited the casino. The food, service and company were good. It was a nice evening at the casino.

Free Poker!

Is there such a thing? Maybe if you are playing with friends in your home. But then again you have to provide some refreshments; you have to entertain your guests.

So I went to Fanatics last night to hit a Badger Poker tournament (see sidebar for links). It had been a long while since I attended Badger, though my name appeared to be recognized by all. I was surprised to find they are no longer providing a last man standing option in which people pay for extra chips and are eligible to win the collection… if they win it all. Chopping, splitting the collection among two or more remaining players, was also an option if all agreed.

But no more with Badger Poker as they desire to promote the free poker aspect of their business. The top three winners now get a bar tab as a prize. But is it really free? As someone who does not go out to enjoy the bar scene unless I am playing poker I have to question that, at least from the perspective of getting in a good game.

Yes, for those who go out to enjoy the night life spending a fist full of money, for which one will receive extra chips, is expected. Respectively they get a goodly stack beyond what someone who literally plays for free would get. You can still tip the tournament director for even more chips, which many are happy to do because the size of your stack does matter. Not to mention that they simply want to support the cause and know that something has to be in it for the directors so all involved can enjoy tournament poker.

I am capable of providing a small tip and to support the establishment by buying a soda, but this still leaves me severely small stacked in comparison to others. Badger also has an aggressive blind structure, not to mention extremely aggressive betting. Which means, for those truly or practically playing for free, if you don’t win a big hand, or several hands, in the first hour you’re going to have a short night.

Still it is an atmosphere, a style of play, I need to confront and master. So as I am now climbing back into economic viability, I still intend to hit Badger Poker on a regular basis. I had been sticking strictly with Tavern Tourney games when finances allowed, but now will start expanding my experiences. Ideally I would like to enjoy one of each (Badger and Tavern) every week. I still have to go to a few Pit Bull Poker tournaments so I can make a detailed comparison of the three tournament options on this blog. But that will have to happen sometime over the Winter. Pit Bull Poker promotes the free poker beyond all others though I believe you still get extra chips for purchases.

So why would I play tournament poker with tight finances? One reason is, as I record all my poker investments, I am break even or better money wise. …Maybe poker is free if you’re good like me. Now without a cash win option at Badger that may suffer a bit. The only opportunity to win back ones investment is now at Badger’s larger tournaments one usually must qualify for in points. Another reason I play, even when I can only afford a small stack, is that  I take everything I decide to invest myself in very seriously, and look to become the best at it. And that wont happen by doing nothing, and that’s what this blog is about.

Still I am not ready to be hitting tournaments twice a week on a regular basis. I am looking for several options for secondary and tertiary income. As Mark Belling has his football picking contest going on he promotes ASAwins.com . This service provides sport betting advice, their best picks available for purchase. So I looked into how one could take advantage of their advice to make some money (they wouldn’t be in business if their advice was bad) but could not find anyway to place sports bets that was clearly legal, so I have dropped that option.

Getting back into the stock market is another option that I feel more confident about after my past experiences. Then there is the nickel and dime returns I have made off of the Internet, through advertising or providing some small service. What I have called in the past Christmas gift money.

Playing poker on the Internet is loosing its allure as you don’t know and can’t see who you are playing, though I still do it to keep myself sharp. As we become financial stronger I am thinking of joining a site that provides training in the ways of poker.

What's Wrong with You?!

I have come to understand that the Milwaukee crowd that frequents Tavern Tourneys, a much more enjoyable, social and holding less chance of running into questionable activities alternative to Badger Poker, is far less drama encrusted than Tavern Tourney's southern crowd. Not that Badger Poker is not a great venue for the serious player, it's just better if you've been around the block at least once first. I still need to visit Pit Bull Poker two or three times to make a detailed comparison of the three.

We are still under the gun financially as home repairs loom large, and our credit reports are extremely slow to arrive allowing for us to resolve our debt. And until recently, I have not been playing any tournaments for a long time. I went last week to an opening of a new Tavern Tourney location to lend my support to the cause. Then Monday I went again, as we didn't go to a movie for my birthday and saved some money. I made the final three and we chopped three ways, somehow in my favor. Then I went again last night and took everything. I came home, told my wife I won again and how much, and she said "Oh my gosh! What's wrong with you?!" The Tavern Tourney director suggested I not tell my wife when I win.

Well, I did have some bonus chips for making it my birthday tournament last night but I took some huge hits and rebounded, being patient; waiting for the right moment. One gentleman came into the game on the cheap with a very small stack. I sent him on tilt after I pushed him off a hand he loved with a large pre-flop raise. Everyone folded. The fore mentioned gentleman went wild and made the final table. When I told him I had a 7, 5 suited on that hand.... he he he.

As far as the Internet goes I catch some tournaments here and there. If we were not financially buried, home repair costs looming large, I would seriously consider the Club WPT membership. not to mention getting cable or satellite to watch some poker channels. But that is a long way off. Maybe we should just move to Las Vegas. And as long as we are mentioning the Internet my latest book is available for Kindle. It is not professionally edited, but still immensely enjoyable if you like the genre. I gave a copy of an early draft to the owner of Tavern Tourneys for his newborn. I told him if I become famous he can auction it off and send his son through college with the money. I printed, numbered and signed only ten copies and have edited it further since. There will be no more like it. I seem to have misplaced one of my copies. I am looking forward to his opinion. Yes, I took the photo for and designed the cover myself.

Happy Fourth of July

I hope everyone enjoys this holiday weekend and celebrates our Independence Day with true patriotic fervor. They say such activities will make you a conservative. Then I say celebrate, celebrate, celebrate.

And if you are a great tournament poker player this July has more to celebrate; the $100,000 Mid-Summer Classic at the Potawatomi Bingo and Casino here in Milwaukee. Not only that, but they are having smaller tournaments Sundays and Mondays most of the month.

If you are some one who considers himself a proficient player, dangerous to the fortunes of others, these are the kind of events that should excite you. The odd thing is, if we were still deep in dept I feel I would be more likely to enter the tournament. That is, in financial circumstances with little hope the potential of huge windfalls is nearly the only place one could find hope. I never really chased such windfalls, never making the casino's smaller tournaments when they were on a weekly basis, but have been calculating in how much I can truly risk and still make my commitments. So I chased that chance to win an entry into the Chicago Poker Classic.

However, now that we have found relief from our debt, finding ourselves challenged with long overdue maintenance expenses on home and body, I am more frugal as I can see we can meet these expenses through the course of the summer if we truly hunker down. Expenses in the past we simply thought impossible to meet. But who knows? Maybe I will try one of the $100 tournaments and win enough to enter the big event,...if there's room.

You should always evaluate yourself. If you are being rational or are irrationally chasing pipe dreams. But I am good. These are the kind of events I should be challenging myself with if I'm going to take my poker truly serious. It's about what you want to make of yourself. It requires decision making and risk taking, and prioritizing, putting your larger responsibilities first.

Happy Fourth of July! And remember ...Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate!

Bowling

I have not been to a poker tournament in some time. I am doing much better playing on the Internet as many of the former money players now must play for free. So I'm not playing carefree hacks any longer. Also there are many more Omaha hi/lo games available.

After being encouraged by a friend of mine most of the Winter to bowl in an individual league on Fridays, I finally took him up on it. He seems to do well at collecting off the many offers to pick up prizes of cash or coupons. He always claimed it did not cost him much to bowl because of the prizes he wins on a regular basis. The prizes are based on strikes with colored head pins, strikes on predetermined frames, drawings, etc.

Not so for me. Though I tried a different ball today, that gave me hope for future improvement, I have not been doing well enough to even come close to making a dent in what it cost me to bowl. It cost about the same as a poker tournament and my returns are much higher with poker.

I will be stepping back from bowling until we get our finances worked out. Getting many bills out of the way, most notably our quarterly tax payments, we are about to get back to the ability to build assets for life and the future. Unfortunately much of that will be going into repairs on our home, and medical bills, for some time. But maybe things will work out better than we expect. I haven't raced my mountain bike in almost two years either and hope to make a few races this year.

So how much will I invest in small social tournaments held in bars and taverns? Even though it is an activity that is far less costly than mountain biking and bowling, considering my ability to win an occasional tournament, and could even bring a return, ...it is just so bright outside right now at 7:00 pm.; the time when poker tournaments generally start. I find it hard not to be busy with something else at the time. I still want to get in some tournaments over the Summer. My mind is more open to walking to a tournament, enjoying the nice weather, than driving or taking the bus. So I will be more likely start going to Badger Poker tournaments again this summer rather than Tavern Tourneys. Of course if the weather is bad...

It looks like Winter will be the primary season for poker. Still have some friends over once in a while for a friendly game. I may try the casino once or twice over the Summer if we get on top of our home repairs. Why go to the casino? Because I have a good chance to come out ahead.

Didn't bet on any horses that Mark Belling picked in the last three big horse races. I really wanted to on that race just before Mother's Day, but we were really busy with our sales. I had a strong urge to run out quick and make a bet but didn't. It would have paid off big. The two big races after that where Mark Belling provided picks I had plenty of time to get to the OTB at the casino, but I just didn't feel any drive to go. I would have lost. This is part of how I do well at poker.

I wrote another book. Not poker related. Available only for Kindle. It is a good read, edited as well as I can myself. So if the occasional over use of commas and sentence fragments trouble you to no end you might not enjoy it. Otherwise I am sure you'll love it. Do I spend hundreds to send out copies to numerous publishers to try to get support as an author, or spend some $5,000, $5,000 I don't have, to self publish; editing, layout/design and marketing all included?

The Six Month and Such

Yes, though I was only able to make it to few Tavern Tourney nightly tournaments, I qualified for the six moth with points. 235 points over six months is sufficient in most cycles to qualify. You earn 50 points for winning a tournament outright, and ten points for finishing 9th; making the final table.

For economic reason I could not play more often. Also it kept me from going to the Pit Bull tournaments as they are not near and the gas prices are high. So I do not have a review written for the three most available league play organizations in the area. I can give you the most dominant consideration one should have when considering taking up poker as a hobby, or amateur pursuit (I think poker is an amateur profession, there are no professionals in poker surviving singularly on table winnings in my view), and are trying to decide which league one should commit to. Location, location, location. Whatever is nearest you is the best place to start. The leagues that cost little or nothing will cost one no more, and possibly less if you are good, than most hobbies people have. After you get the feel of tournament play, recognize what is going on at the tables, other considerations may take precedent as to which league you find most enjoyable.

I finished 29th out of over 120 in the six month. Some odd things were going on at the table that may just be coincidence or signs of something more ominous, but I don't have the experience to tell which. Anyway I went in with a suited King when I wasn't on a blind with a small stack. Probably not wise as people were dropping quickly and it meant that this would most likely be the hand I would have to commit my whole stack to. I was still a few hands from being on the blinds. A gentleman bet big pre-flop and I called, as did several others before me. I had my flush draw and decided to go all-in. The big pre-flop raiser had a 7, 3 off suit and hit a full house, 7's full of 3's. After going all-in I showed my club flush draw to a gentleman next to me, he was out of the hand, and it must have been seen by the guy next to the big winner as he said "No clubs" to his friend before the river was dealt. A 3 came on the river. These kinds of things make one wonder.

Black Friday struck. That is what the Poker Players Alliance called it when the FBI shut down Internet poker sites where people were playing for money. No concern of mine as I do not play for money on the Internet. Ultimate Bet put money into my account as a promotion years back and I played a few sit and go tournaments with their money, as I thought they were allowed as I read the law, but stopped doing that also.

But even the free play is suspect. The free tournaments are very different in feel now as many of the money players are now at the tables. Still the patterns I see make me doubt the integrity of Internet play. How many times can I go all-in with the best hand, be called, and lose on the river. What are the odds that I never win in that circumstance, over and over and over again. And then I was on the small blind with Jacks. Great hand, but problematic when a high flop comes. But I had only the big blind to deal with. Everyone folded. I went all-in and he folded but then suddenly one of the chip leaders had a call in front of him, like poof. He called. Had an Ace 10. He hit an Ace on the river, the last card, and took me out.

Glitches in the software? It seems no matter what the environment, no matter how honest and good a tournament director may be, cheating will always be something one has to deal with when playing poker. In many ways life is the same.

One of the things that have kept me from posting was finishing my most recent book. Available for Kindle only. I hope you enjoy it.

Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, and St. Patrick's Day

The casino is celebrating twenty years in March. They are having some meal specials at their dining facilities. Many are related to the more traditional holidays of March. They have a few prize promotions, and are holding a heads up poker tournament, with several satellites leading up to the main event.

I have not gotten to a local tournament in a few weeks. Weather and trying to save a little cash. I still need to make some appearances as not to drop out of qualification for the Tavern Tourney six month event.

The Tavern Tourney January monthly was nothing outstanding for myself. The hands weren't there, and trying to steal a pot before the first break almost worked. Almost being the key word. Then I went all-in with pocket tens, and lost to pocket fours hitting a set. Yes, if I go all-in many will be there to encourage you to call, as it increases the chances of me being beat. Those four's were going to fold. I am feared. Hahaha.

The outstanding thing about Tavern Tourney's monthly for January was the turnout. The largest turnout ever, I heard. People enjoy the game. They enjoy the Tavern Tourney venue.

Still I need to get to a couple of Pit Bull Poker's tournaments, so I can write about the three major poker venues in Southeastern Wisconsin. Maybe when the Winter utility bills have passed.

In the Black

I didn't win that entry into the Chicago Poker Classic. But I did finish second and collected a $100 prize. This keeps me clearly in the black for 2011.

I worked slowly and built up a dominant stack. As the blinds went to 1500 - 3000 and only 45,000 on the table many blinds went unchallenged. With good but not great hands I took the blinds on several hands with a min raise (3000). And then there were two of us. I had well over half the chips on the table and the blinds were now 3000 - 6000. I went all-in with Q, J. The other gentleman took a long time to decide and then called. He had a J, 8. I was dominant but he hit his 8 on the river.

The only thing I could have done different, that may have been beneficial was to show a card or both my cards. I thought he was taking so long because he held an A. If I had shown my Q or even both cards he most likely would have folded. Showing cards is something I have not done before. If one shows a card or cards one's hand is generally dead. That means you cannot bet or raise any longer throughout the hand. You can only call a bet.

Now I have the monthly as my next chance to grow my winnings for 2011. I do not think I will be going to any local tournaments until then... OK ...maybe one. I need to catch some more points for the six month and am thinking of picking a weekly location to play Badger Poker. Perhaps something I can walk to.

The monthly is the 13th. A Sunday for once which works well for me. The local casino is also having a tournament, a $340 buy-in. They have tournaments few and far between these days. I will take my chances and mad skills to the free Tavern Tourney monthly.

I have not played much Internet poker. Play money games are all we can play in Wisconsin as I understand it. Which is probably best. I thought of trying to get an Internet home game set up. Where you play with people you know. Set up a club, approve membership, and set up your own games and tournaments.

And Then There Were Nine

Getting to the final table on a regular basis is a real confidence builder. I hadn't been to many tournaments as the small buy-in wisely increase one's chances to reach the final table and even that is a bit too much for our budget. But I hit the first Tavern Tourney of the year at Victor's and not only made the final table but took first.

The winnings and the fact that I was in the running to make a special single table tournament led me to make quite a few tournaments this January. I made several other final tables, but missed some, and couldn't go as far (winning more points) as possible as I was off my game a bit. Hard to focus with the numerous difficulties we are facing these last several years as Winter utility bills are a heavy burden. I pushed when I could have rode out my stack or waited for a better hand; costing me points or more than once costing me the final table. I also made some bad calls when I had really good hands but just had that feeling they had a better one.

I played a J, 3 because a sweetener was added to the pot. J high flop and I called a large bet. Another J on the turn and  I faced another large bet. I knew he had the other J and also was confident he didn't have the full house, but I had junk for a kicker. I had a very competitive stack and decided to push all-in. He insta-called and wanted to see my two spades as two spades were on the board. I thought it strange he thought I was chasing a flush but happy he couldn't read me at all. That he didn't put me on the other J. He had an A with his J. On the big blind he had not only a J but had the A. Something I wasn't expecting. with an 8, 9 also on the board a 7 or lower would have meant most likely a chop. I had nine outs. An 8 or 9 for a chop or a 3 for the win. I lost and was out.

But I was still in the running for that special single table tournament to win an entry into the Chicago Poker Classic. I didn't go to every tournament available or buy-in at every chance as I was trying not to extend my costs beyond what I won at that first final table and from another third place finish. Wished I had done things a bit different to catch a few more points with the chances I had but just had to wait to see if I made the cut. Was in good standing but several others were close behind and feared they would overtake me.

The single table tournament was to be for the top eight. The final points were posted a couple days ago and I tied for eight. Meaning there will be nine at he single table tournament for an entry into the Chicago Poker Classic.

I am also qualified for the January monthly which will be on a Sunday this time, which works great for me. And if I get to the final table in the monthly I will qualify for the 'Best of the Best' held every six months. And with just a bit of effort over the next three months am sure to make the next six month tournament.