Well I haven’t been playing too much poker lately. I’ve been so busy with work that I just haven’t made a lot of time to play. But there have been a couple of tournaments I’ve played in the last couple of weeks that have turned out pretty good for me.
The first game was at the Stratosphere a few weeks ago. I really like playing this tournament. Always a lot of people there which leads to a pretty decent payout. Average for first place ends up being right around $1,400. Buy-in is $45 for 4500 in chips with the option to add-on in the first hour – $20 for $4000 more chips. Blinds start at $25/$50 with 20 minute levels, so this ends up being a decent tournament you can kind of take your time in. Kurt and I have played this several times and Kurt has cashed a few times, but I’ve never been able to. This last time though things really started going my way. I kept hitting the cards I needed and had a great time. I ended up making it to the final table and we chopped the money 5 ways. I figured this would be the best to do since the blinds by this time were out of control. I had about $150,000 in chips, which was close to the lead, but the blinds were $10,000/$20,000 which could swing the game in any direction. And since chopping guaranteed close to the second place payout, it seemed like the best choice. Would hate to not chop and get knocked out before 2nd!!
Second tournament was this past weekend at Aliante Station. Wasn’t really planning on playing this weekend, but a friend of mine, Richard, was in town so Kurt & I headed over to play in their Friday night “Beat the Boss” bounty tournament. Buy-in is $65 for $5,000 in chips plus $5 for staff appreciation gets you an additional $2,000 chips. This tournament also start at $25/$50 with 20 minute levels. There is a $15 bounty on each player and the poker room manager plays also with a $100 bounty on his head. Since he didn’t get beat the week before, the bounty on his head was carried over for a total of $200 for knocking him out. Kind of an interesting dynamic to throw into the game.
I started strong with this tournament – within 15 minutes I hit a full house on the river – Queen of Diamonds – which gave the guy I was up against the nut flush. I was able to get him to put all his chips in so I almost doubled up. He had me covered by $300, but I ended up getting him out 4 or 5 hands later for the first bounty of the night. I was able to play pretty strong the whole night, but wasn’t able to finish in the money. I did make the final table though, and Kurt went on to chop the prize money as one of the top four. I ended up knocking out 2 people total and got my bounty back once we got to the final table. All in all – playing the whole night and paying only $25 was good by me.