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.
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