SFPT 2015: A Good Night

The tournament went off as planned, and personally, I think it went great.  The atmosphere was relaxed, everyone remembered how to play (even in a few split-pot situations), and we had fun.  There was interest in doing it again before the night was even over, and that will happen, likely sometime in January at the earliest.

My play: pretty good, actually.  I won the first pot of the year/night, folded quite a bit after that before taking down a couple more, and eventually got short-stacked (though not by much) with five remaining.  In the small blind, a great hand - A/A - which was a no-brainer shove when action came back to me.  Only Matt and Tina were still in the hand; the former folded despite "really wanting to call because I know you have ace-something".  (As an aside: NO ONE, not even Tina, can read me like Matt can.  He's not always right, but more often than not, he is.  It's uncanny, and unsettling.)

Tina called, and we flipped.  I was ahead, but not by much, over her pocket tens.  Despite the long-standing belief that "aces never win", I was confident.  After all, the math was on my side, right? Yeah, not so much - the flop contained a 10, the turn and river were duds, and that was it for me in fifth place out of 9.

So, a middle of the road finish, which isn't great, but we all had a good time which is even more important.  Matt ended up winning the whole thing, outlasting CJ whose second place finish was easily the best of his life.  The biggest surprise of the night, though? Not a single winner on the nine $5 lotto tickets.  The big win is still elusive, and we will keep chasing.


10k progress: 2.5 home game hours, 156.75 total home game hours, 268.25 total hours

2015, Once

In the last post, I said it may be "many months" until the next time I play poker.  "Many" turned out to be "12" - a year-long gap that was, I believe, easily the longest since the SFPT began. 

What will, I'm 99% sure, be the only tournament of 2015 is coming up this weekend.  So far, we have six players confirmed, with the likelihood of at least two more. It will be a first in SFPT history as well: the first time we've attempted an "adults-only" evening.  It was no secret to anyone that the older the kids got, the crazier they got having to be cooped up in the house, and the more uncomfortable it was for everyone whether they were playing or simply hanging out.  I'm hoping that with no kids, people will be more relaxed and everyone can have a good time, including some adult conversation.

As for my play: at this point, I have no expectations.  I've joked with a couple people that it's been so long I've forgotten how to play.  This may not be technically true (we'll see), but to say I'm rusty is an understatement.  We all are, because no one I've talked to has played at all since last November, either.  Tina, Matt, and I had a chance at Turning Stone over the summer, but declined - ironically, because it had been so long and we feared being rusty.  Better to shake off that rust in a home game, it goes without saying.

Watch this space for an update come early next week. Should be interesting.

SFPT November and The Future

In what may very well turn out to be the last SFPT tournament for many months, a small field of six showed up to play last weekend.  I played decent, and finished third.  I had some good hands that didn’t get good results, but overall played pretty well and got my chips in at the end with a good hand. 

My best hand of the night was one I didn’t win, but made a good read – with A/K and a king on the board, I bet the flop and turn, and was snap-called both times by Kim.  After the second one, I checked the river and folded to her mid-range bet, putting her on an ace.  I was right – not only did she have one ace, but rockets.

In the end, Tom won his second ever SFPT tournament after outlasting Kim heads-up.

The big question for me now is, what role does poker play in my life from here on out?  My initial thought is, “not enough to justify a blog”.  But I’m going to keep this blog going, because that may change, and because it’s a fun record of a small portion of my life.

We may not play poker as much, SFPT wise, until the kids are older.  At least that’s my prediction.  The every-other-month events will probably pick back up at some point, maybe after our new baby is a few months old and we are comfortable that everything is going well.  I also wonder what impact the (potential) new casino will have on my poker career (and for that matter, Tina’s as well).  Will the closer location mean more frequent, if less lengthy, poker sessions?  Or will having two kids mean we aren’t able to play any more than we do now, and perhaps less?

At this point, it’s all speculation, because Lago hasn’t been awarded a license and said license isn’t a guarantee.  I will admit, I did get excited when I saw a couple of tweets from Seneca Niagara that referred to the “Seneca Fall Poker Classic” and my brain put an “s” after “Fall” for a split second, like a mental auto-correct.  If Lago gets their license, maybe there would be such a tournament.  Based on my initial reaction, I would play.  That right there tells me I’m not done with poker, and that I may pick back up with my frequency of play in the future.  In other words, it’s still fun.

One thing is certain – my previous internal debate of fun versus money is no longer a debate.  Money itself has become so menial in my life, in terms of its importance, that it follows that I can’t and won’t care about money when I am playing poker.  Rather than being a bad thing, I believe it will be good.  It is well-documented that I play far too tight in many situations; truly not caring about profit will allow me to loosen up even further and take good chances.

All of this remains to be seen.  With everything going on in my life now, poker has taken a back seat, which is fine. 

Marathon to 10k: 2.5 home game hours, 154.25 total home game hours, 265.75 total hours

The August Tournament

The "new normal" seems to be to my liking. 

For the second straight tournament, I took down the win, this one slightly more impressive as the field was bigger by two players.  I played well for the most part, not taking too many stupid chances and pushing the action when I had the right cards, position, and chips.  That and a little bit of luck gave me the win, besting Tom in heads-up play.

I hate to say this in a way, but a little bit of alcohol helped once again as well.  It was four beers this time instead of six, but still, I'm not going to make a habit out of drinking every time I play.  Not good, for obvious reasons.  Although, having a few beers once every other month probably isn't going to hurt anything.

Even before  the beers, however, I found myself much more relaxed than I had been in the past; feeling and thus exhibiting more of a "go with the flow" attitude.   In the past, starting an hour and a half past the scheduled time, or seeing some of the kids (led by my own) making a mud hole in the back yard might have gotten on my nerves.  But it didn't, and I'm glad.  In fact, a couple days after the tournament, I was thinking how I am proud of myself that my reaction to the Mud Hole Incident was literally a shrug and "eh, let them have some fun".  The yard can be fixed, if needed.  Clothes can be washed or replaced.  But you can't go back and make memories.

Marathon to 10k: 4 home game hours, 151.75 total home game hours, 263.25 total hours

Interlude to Equilibrium

My complete and total layoff from poker lasted just over 3 months.

We had an SFPT "event" last weekend, and though some things hadn't changed (namely, the kids being, as a group, wild and a distraction), some had.  Namely, I found that I was able to relax and enjoy myself, despite my belief going in that I wouldn't be able to do so.  Or more accurately, didn't want to.  I gave serious thought to only dealing for the game, and only decided to play a few hours before when it became apparent the field would be a small one.

I should have realized long ago that completely giving up on poker was not something I really wanted to do.  I acted and talked like it was, in the name of being selfless - still my primary goal in life.  But playing poker brings me a certain level of enjoyment, and more importantly, it's something I do with my friends.  The making of memories is something I never want to neglect, and giving up on the SFPT home games would be doing just that.

I'm glad we played a couple days ago, for those reasons, but also because I played well.  And won.  Winning helps, I'm not going to lie.  It's not about the money at all, it's about the confidence.  It also goes a long way toward making the whole experience more enjoyable, which probably goes without saying.

It was a seven player field, and the heads-up came down to Corrye and I.  Corrye made a great play going all-in after the river on what Tina agreed was a "scary board" full of straight and flush draws; I laid down pocket jacks and it turns out I would have beaten Corrye's eights under.  I thought I was screwed after that, but a couple shoves and folds got me a slight lead going into the final hand.  Slightly intoxicated and therefore not over-thinking the situation as I am wont to do, I moved all-in with A/5 spades and was called by Corrye's K/10 off-suit.

The board ran out blanks and I took home the win and $35 in prize money, not counting the $10 I had won on a bounty earlier in the night.  After my $5 Add-On, I was up $30 on the night, which went directly to Jules' bank account.

I think I have found a happy medium now - while I don't need to take poker as seriously as I was not too long ago, I also know I don't want to give it up either.  It IS fun, and despite the frustrations that sometimes come with having the get-togethers at our house, it is worth it.

Marathon to 10K: 3 home game hours, 147.75 total home game hours, 259.25 total hours

The New SFPT and the New Reality

Safe to say, the thrill is done.  I just don't care anymore.  The flame has been extinguished.  Whatever love I had for poker, especially as for the idea of it being something I want to focus a good deal of my time and energy on, has disappeared.

It's hard to say exactly why I feel this way, but the first thought that comes to mind is that there's no one that wants to go on the journey with me.  If I wanted it bad enough, I could do it alone, and the fact that I'm not willing to go it alone tells me I don't want it bad enough.  That realization is enlightening, and oddly gives me a sense of relief.  From the beginning, it felt forced, but I chalked that up to the fact that it was something almost completely new to me.  In hindsight, I should have known better.  I'm just glad I came to that realization before too much more time had passed.

I do want to keep playing casually, which is one of the reasons this blog, my tracking spreadsheets, and the SFPT in general will not completely go away.  (For the SFPT specifically, hanging out with my friends and Add-Ons for Ally are the main reasons). Poker is still fun on a certain level, but I could tell when I was playing in the most recent SFPT that it's not as fun as it once was.  I was donking off chips with almost every pot, and not focusing as I am wont to do.  But this time, when I realized my lack of focus, my reaction was NOT to regain it.  It was literally, a shrug and "oh well".

Perhaps my desire to play will be bolstered by playing less frequently.  That idea makes me glad I changed the SFPT get-togethers to every other month (the stated reasons on the Facebook page being, of course, the primary ones). 

I have also made a few non-SFPT related changes, beginning with clearing out my Twitter feed and Facebook Likes of almost all poker-related content.  The only ones I kept were ones that were also following me, or people who are interesting on levels other than poker. 

It's good, I think, that I have made these decisions.  Spending so much time on poker, not so much the playing but watching, reading, and thinking, was taking too much of my time on a selfish pursuit.

10K update: 2.25 home game hours, 144.75 total home game, 256.25 total

SFPT 2014 Kicks Off

The 2014 SFPT season got underway last Friday, and my results were, of course, middling.  That seems to be my style.  I finished in fourth place of nine; as one might surmise, there was a balance of things that went right and wrong.  One hand was a double knockout to begin the season that was maybe the best hand I have ever played, and without a doubt one of the best in SFPT history.

Down to four players after the flop of 9h/3s/Ah and turn 4c, Corrye was first to act, and moved all-in for 16 and change.  I tanked for a long time by SFPT standards (close to two minutes) before deciding to call.  The decision to say “call” and not “all-in” would be important.

CJ was next and short-stacked; he snap-called for five and change.  Tom was the last player, and for some reason, wanted to get a count of his chips.  Perhaps he thought I said all-in when in fact I hadn’t.  In any event, his count took a while, leading Matt to pause the timer while the hand played out. 

After a couple minutes, someone clued in Tom that he didn’t need to count because I had only called, but most of the way done, he continued anyway, and it was determined that I had him covered by just over $1.  He decided to call Corrye as well, putting the same 16 and change into the pot.

Now, Corrye and CJ were committed, and Tom and I could have a side pot.  I had already decided my course of action: as soon as the river hit the felt, I moved all-in, hoping to get Tom to fold so even if I lost, I wouldn’t be crippled.

After much debate, that’s exactly what happened.  The rest of us flipped our cards, and I pumped my fist – not only did my two pair A-4 hold up, I had read both CJ (high card only) and Corrye (busted flush draw) perfectly.

Unfortunately, winning that big pot led me to take too many pre-flop chances when I shouldn't have, and I again found myself on the shorter end of the chip counts as the field dwindled.  In the midst of that pissing away of chips, there is one other hand I did play well: holding A/6 and with an ace on the board, I folded to Ray's river bet after figuring he had me out-kicked.  Holding a nine, he did.

So, good news and bad news, but not a terrible start to the year by any means.  I wasn't able to feed the Bracelet Hunting envelope at all (both BSOs I earned were losers), but my eight points under the new format put me in a tie for third place.

Time Played: 3.5 hours (142.5 home game hours, 254 total hours)