A Lot of Patience and a Little Bit of Luck
Posted by Adam Ralph on 06 Oct 2008 at 13:10
Last Wednesday night I took part in my first live tournament at the Palm Beach casino in Mayfair, courtesy of www.circuspoker.co.uk.
It cost £100 to buy-in to the tournament and there was the opportunity to re-buy as many times as you liked, up until the break. This was lucky because it quickly became clear when I sat down at one of five tables, that I was a minnow playing with some seriously big fish.
In his pep talk beforehand Waldorf1 warned me not to get involved in any hands I didn't feel confident about and to have the patience to wait for a good hand. Now, in theory, this seemed easy enough. In reality, where other players thought nothing of raising six times the big blind before the flop, it was a nightmare.
Any time I thought I had a strong hand, say, KQ suited, I'd get re-raised my whole stack and then be forced to make a difficult decision.
I ended up playing very few hands but, unfortunately, any time I got involved in anything other more aggressive players were scaring me off the pot, or making me do things I wouldn't otherwise do.
Thankfully I had £500 worth of re-buys but this was nothing compared to what some of the players brought to the table. I spotted one bloke pull a wedge of £50 notes about £10,000 deep and, unsurprisingly, this same player thought nothing of going all-in every other hand.
I held my own for three hours, winning a couple of hands with a straight and a pair of kings with a queen kicker but by the time we sat down to play again after the break, I had a paltry 2,400 chips, which was easily the smallest stack in the tournament. So, when the moment came, I went all in with AK when the flop showed 4K8. I got the caller I wanted but when he turned over a pair of eights I was up and running to get the last train home.
What I learnt from my first live tournament
- You need patience, patience, patience. Sometimes you'll have to sit there for up to an hour without getting involved in any hands.
- Live poker isn’t like online poker where hands are dealt quickly, decisions are made in under 30 seconds and you get to see a lot of hands.
- Don't let other players affect your game. Stick to what you know and have enough belief in your ability, and your hands, to know when to play them.
- You'll need lady luck sitting by your side. Without her a tricky challenge becomes mission impossible.
All Comments
Playing at the level is a whole different game to playing online. I'm not surprised that Adam got taken down so early. I suspect the other players spotted him straight away as being out of place. Online you can hide, but no way can you hide at the table, especially not at that level. No way.
Wow, sounds like a different ball game at this level. It's really interesting how the online and live gaming is soooo different. Adam -- are you doing another live play? it's a good read, even if you are losing!!!!
Sorry been on holiday - I like this Poker Blog, it is amusing. I disagree Mike - I've sat down with plenty of players who have just made the transition from online to live and they do well. I think the point here is the rebuy angle. I don't think Adam has played a rebuy before, let alone a £100 rebuy, which lets face it, is a serious poker tournament. The issue was the Adam didn't maximise his position to take advantage of the rebuy, it sound like he was a tad unlucky and got beaten when we had half decent hole cards. I've played in that very same tournament (cashing twice in 3 weeks if you must ask) although haven't played for a few months. I can tell you that 50% of the field are not very good players, who simply have money to burn. Keep up the focus Adam, sounds like you are learning and that's the best way...especially when it is someone else's money is funding you! What is next on your poker journey? I assume you have not qualified for the £100k yet?
So is Adam saying unless you've got loads of money, you can't be competetive at the poker table?
Its a different kettle of fish entirely when it's a rebuy, especially a mega moolah one like that. £100 Rebuy? Phew. I once played a £50 rebuy and some idiot sat down and was basically flaunting about £5k in front of people, I think he thought it would intimidate people, but all it did was send a message saying "I am going to go All In with anything". He ended up rebuying about 15 times and still only came out after the break with about 4 x his original stack! Much beter to play the pauper in these situations, make it known you only have cash for 2 rebuys and people will be much more scared when you push all in.
Cheers for all the comments. It's nice to know that someone's reading my random ramblings. I'll be playing in a heads up tournament tonight against four other players, one of which is Waldorf 1 my 'coach'. So I hope his training means I can take him down to China town.
