Long Night

After spending the whole day out Friday, I didn't get to do much of anything with poker. I played a little for play money very late that night and then found out I could set up a real money account in only a few minutes even without a credit card, so I went ahead and did it. I felt like there was little I could learn continuing to play for play money - I was seeing the same hare-brained stuff again and again and taking advantage of it gets old. I figure, if I am going to play in these situations, I might as well play for something. So, I made a deposit. Then I played a couple of play money tournaments and won one and came in second in the other. I figured I was ready to try something for real, but it was in the wee hours of the morning and I was tired in spite of a nap earlier. I ended up 4th in the tournament after pulling a bonehead move... all in all I was having pretty bad luck the whole time anyway, but finishing as bubble boy shook me up. I was so ANGRY at myself for not backing off when I knew I had to. Every instinct was screaming fold and I just killed myself. So, I was pretty unsure of any success. The next 15 hours I was asleep, I was worn out from the trip out Friday and the stress of the game and a lot of other things. I decided I would play a couple of play money games again before a late supper (around 10pm), and see if I felt confident enough to get back into it. First, I played some small-stakes ring tables. Those little 5 and dime and .10 to .25 games can be fun without making your guts curl up too much worrying about losing it all. I won back what I had spent on the tourney the night before, but then lost it back to my buy-in +50 cents again. I wasn't on a loss for the day, but I got very antsy when I dropped down after that to only 1/3 of my buy-in. In a classic example of the need for patience, though, I slowly worked my way back up to my buy in and a bit beyond, and then finally got some good cards and tripled it. I had won back my lost tourney fee, plus double it again, giving me 2 "freebies" to try again. I played 2 more tournaments and finished second in one and third in the other, all positions which are better than break-even. I felt a lot better but not like playing another tourney so I went and played some more ring games, figuring I could get out any time and go to sleep since it was getting late again. It went well at first and then I pulled another boner and lost 80% of my buy-in plus all my winnings on ONE HAND in a five and dime ring game. This got me thinking I should go play the limit games, which is probably true. Then I considered the table I was at - in spite of it being a beginners table, several strong players were there. Also, I like playing a little short handed but that table kept filling up (probably due to the high "per hand" average showing on the tables list due to some hefty pots including the one I surrendered). I decided it was stupid to sit there playing at a disadvantage and for the second smallest bets when I really wanted to play for more. If you overbet on the smallest tables people fold and it is no way to gain anything. So, I went back to the slightly higher .25 and .50 Blind tables, and in 15 minutes won back all of what I had lost. Then I doubled it again and decided I would go to sleep. I tried to relax but couldn't - something told me to play one tourney to try and get my confidence stable since I was still feeling unsure. It was a tough one, many good players but no great ones. They all had a weakness that they showed at some point or another, mostly being too reckless - overplaying hands and bluffing too often. I took it easy and played strong when I had cards (which wasn't often), but it got me a modest chip lead so I could cruise. By the time there were 4 left at the table I knew I was pretty secure to get at least 3rd place unless I did something stupid. By the time we were down to 2 people, the 20000 total chips on the table were split about 70-30 in favour of the other guy. I was fortunate, though, because I had been watching them play so I had a good idea what I was up against. I had a bad run where I got down to only about 3000 chips and was getting a bit worried when I managed to double up with a strong hand. After winning a couple more hands, he threw an all-in at me when I had AA and I was able to basically switch positions. It took quite a few hands but eventually I was up with about 15000 chips, and we kept swapping around 1000 chips back and forth. I was biding my time, because I knew that sooner or later he would go all-in when I had a hand because he had tried it half a dozen times already. I finally had a pair of 10s and when he pushed all his chips in, I figured it was go time because I had him covered for chips. If I HAD lost I would have been back where I had been when I was down to 3000 chips, so I didn't see it as giving up the game. When his cards turned over and I saw he had Q4 offsuit, I knew all I had to do was dodge a Queen and unlike the runs of bad luck earlier, I was fortunate - the board cards helped neither hand and I had won first place for the first time in a money tournament. After this all-nighter the funds are modest, but I increased my total by 50% over my initial deposit to my poker account. It wasn't an exceptionally lucky day, nor was I very sharp with how tired I was, but the outcome was very good. I got really walloped on a few bad beats - more than my fair share, I felt, and I am keenly aware that it could have been much worse, but also buoyed by the thought that if it only went this well for a week it would pay for our groceries. For us, that's a seriously big difference. Hope it works out.