Poker can be cruel
Went to Bellagio yesterday to check out the action at the 2006 4th Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic. The main event is the 25K buy-in WPT season 4 finale No-Limit Hold’em Championship. The tournaments are played in the Fontana Bar near the main cage. I am really trying to get to the next level in my tournament playing, and these bigger buy-in events have just not being kind to me. I know it takes a lot of skill to win these things, but I also know it takes a little luck, and by that I mean getting your fair share of decent cards. It is amazing to me, at the moment, that on every larger buy-in tournament of 2K or more, I have been completely card-dead. I not complaining, just don’t understand it. I wish there was something more to write about, but unfortunately, I had 3 pocket pair (2’s, 8’s, and Q’s) the entire 2 1/2 hours I lasted. The Q’s went down hard on a flop of AK8 rainbow when I made a continuation bet and got raised.
Fortuantely, the other thing I look forward to is the side games at these larger tournaments. The main poker room was packed, and because of my early exit in the tournament, was able to grab a 30/60 seat fairly quickly. This was a fun table. There were a couple guys here from the tournament also, and it’s interesting to see how these guys throw money around after a tournament, looking to get their money back. I managed to win some of my money back, but again, I noticed how different the distribution of cards were. In those 3 hours, I had at least 15 pocket pairs including AA and KK twice, and many suited connectors which go well with such a rammin jammin game. Just wish I could get anywhere near these types of cards in the larger tournaments.