Grr...Bubble Boy

No real excitement, I played the local tourney last night. This time it was just $120 freezeout without the usual rebuy/add-on. Started at 8500 chips after the $10 dealer toke for 1,000 in chips, so it was a $130 freezeout. Since that's what I budget for this tourney on a normal week it wasn't really any different other than tighter play early since no rebuys.

I didn't get any real hands of note, picked up KK once early, re-raised TT, he made a good read, announced my Kings to the table and folded face up. I played pretty tight, but never had enough chips to get aggressive and when my M got down into the red I got a string of non-pushable hands. Finally went all-in with QJo v. AQo and IGCGN.

That's I Go Cash Game Now for the unfamiliar. Cash game was fun, not a ton of money on the table, so I felt unhindered by buying in for $100 at a time for $1/2 NLHE. That was a little heavier than the average buyin, and I managed to make my second one last a lot longer.

I wish I were Dawn and had a great story about losing my first buyin, but I don't. I played like an ass and gave my chips away. Then my KK held against AJ and I got most of that buyin back.

But really, why not just CALL the re-raise with AsJs rather than coming over the top all-in? He raised, I re-raised, he pushed, I called, they held, HGATMN (He Go ATM Now). I didn't understand the push with a less-than marginal hand. Maybe I'm learning.

It's a decent game, but there's not enough money on the table to make it really profitable, and most of the players don't suck enough to make it a great game. I like the folks and the atmosphere, but I think my edge at that game is in the tourneys. I'm batting .500 in cashes there, but still lifetime negative since the nights that I don't cash I blow through even more in the cash games. I dropped about $200 total for the night, which isn't bad, but this is where losing online poker is really biting me in the ass.

I'm not bankrolled for $1/2 consistently live. And I'm certainly not bankrolled for a $130 tourney every week. Because the cold facts of tournament play are that you will lose more often than you win, so it's hard to watch my bankroll drop by 10% each week until I rebound with a 2nd-place finish for $300 or so. It's not really sustainable, so I need to find a softer cash game to fund those tourney buyins. There are a bunch of other games around town, but I've got a fuckton of freelance work coming up in the next few weeks that will severely reduce my playing time.

But I've got a game at my house Saturday night, a $120 HORSE tourney Saturday afternoon, and a $25 NLHE tourney Sunday night, so I'll be able to store up my poker jones for a couple weeks.

Tags: live poker