Mainstream Poker

Played this one yesterday and ended up making it to the final table.

There were about 36 total entrants in this one and the top 5 places paid. I bought in for $0.55 and did the rebuy for another $0.50 plus the add-on at the break for another $0.50, bringing my total buy-in to $1.55.

I ran decent, not cold, but no big heaters either. At one point very early in the tournament I actually got my 3K starting stack knocked down to about 800 on a single hand. I've donked out of enough tournaments on tilt and made enough huge comebacks by controlling tilt to not let getting the ****-end of a big pot control my outcome to the game. By staying off tilt, I managed to wait until I could catch some hands and chipped my way back up over 3K in chips.

From there, a couple of massive, all-in pots within a few hands of eachother catapulted me into 2nd place with about 12K in chips, where I managed to pretty much ride to the final table. One big pot at the FT vs the chip leader tragically knocked me down into 7th place out of 7 remaining players. I stayed off tilt and made some well-timed pre-flop raises and post-flop plays to grind myself back up into 3rd place at one point.

The blind structure was slow and therefore allowed for some real play (rather than a luck-box lottery) at the final table. Once 2 more players busted out, we were ITM. By that point, the blinds had increased to a point where I was dancing around in the 6-15 BB range until my rather uneventful exit from the tournament in 4th place. I shoved with Kh5h from the button (only as a steal attempt, not from any confidence in the hand), and the BB called with As7c. Blanks fell on the flop, turn, and river, and I packed up my ****, thanked the table for the "Good Games" and wished them a fun time.

In the end, I took down a prize of $4.08 for finishing in 4th place. Subtract out my buy-in from that, and the 3 other tournaments I played, and I ended up +$0.49. Not exactly a WSOP bracelet, but I am now forty-nine cents closer to that goal. And being a 49er fan, I can't help but feel a sense of a good omen in the fact that my first bankroll increase was exactly 49(er) cents.

So my total bankroll that started at $21.02 is now sitting at a pretty $21.51. I will likely be playing this game as regularly as possible (work & family permitting), so I sincerely hope to see you there and make it a regular meetup.