Play tournaments if you enjoy torture

Seriously. Last night Kristina went out to a movie and I jumped in the $28 40K guarantee on Stars with Pat. Finished 52/1485 players but *Teddy KGB Russian voice* I feel so unsatisfied. Poker players who have gone deep understand what I mean when I say tournaments are torture, but for those who don't let me explain (JayAre, Benny shoutout)!

Tournaments are torture because when you start you have a lot of chips and that inherently means luck is less of a factor because you don't have to risk as much. Your goal is to slowly accumulate or, in some cases if you have big hands, capitalize big on them against the bad players that haven't busted out yet. However, in "tourneys" the money is almost always weighted near the top. Unfortunately as you get closer to the top only the top 3-5 chip leaders have a stack even close to resembling what you started with in comparison to the blinds and antes. So tournaments esentially go: play good for hours and then when it counts, hope to run like God (getting lucky and not UNlucky) to get to the good money.

That's why a lot of serious players call them "donkaments" (complete phrase LOL donkaments) because any donkey can get lucky and win a tournament, even the World Series of Poker. Most players will agree the test of a truly good tournament player is not one big win, but consistency in getting deep and to final tables.

So back to my tournament, I thought I played well and effectively utilized some tweeks I've made in my overall endgame strategy. I got most of my chips early from a crazy Norwegian who the poker gods thankfully put to my right. Not long after he moved to my table I cracked his AA with my TT when the flop came T high. You could tell he was on tilt after that by his chat and how he was playing after we got back from break.

I kept waiting patiently to get involved with him again and take some more off of him since he had built his stack back up by playing just about every hand. I got the opportunity when I limped in with 89 of clubs. The flop came 8 8 J with two diamonds. I don't remember the action but I know we got all the chips in on the blank turn and he had Q9 of diamonds for a straight and flush draw, and he thankfully missed. I later crippled him with AQ vs his KQ when he tried to bluff me unsuccessfully. :)

I sat for a while until the luck factor started creeping up. Last 3 major hands I played were AJ against 77 where I had to sweat it all the way to the river before hitting my J. Then I tried a resteal all in against a different player on my right with K9 and he called with AQ (40% me, 60% him). Flop came 7 8 T and turn a 6 to give me a straight.

The final hand I had about 60K in chips and the blinds were 2/4K 600 ante. At this point I've been playing for 4 1/2 hours and Kristina's made it back home. We're already in the money and I pick up QQ. I raise to 11K from late position. Big stack two seats to my left reraises me and I push in. He tables KQ. I'm a 70% favorite, one of the best situations I can ask for this late in the game. Flop comes T x x. A turn and J river to give him a runner runner straight. :/

The thing that sucks about going deep like that and falling short is it's REALLY hard not to see dollar signs. Every time it happens I try my best not to think about it and just play my best game and the table I'm at, but hey 7K is not chump change to me. When you play 20+ hours a week online all year with no MAJOR results and you get close to a big payday it's damn near impossible to keep a clear head.

But good ol' poker will smack you right back down to reality a lot of the time! Only sick people that love torture would play tournaments as a profession. But hey it's OK. The point is to have fun and enjoy the game and I can say I did that and I didn't throw anything across the room when that river card hit. Progress is all you can really ask for right?

Going to play Craig's game tonight, hopefully the good play and good cards will continue. Peash!