Always Learning

It had been a while since I played any tournament poker, so the day before Thanksgiving I went up the hill with a buddy to jump into a daily donkament. I use that term affectionately, but with a $60 buy-in, 20 minute levels, 8,000 in starting chips, a $10 dealer add-on for 5,000 chips and basically a who's-who of local poker players who are just killing time, it amounts to nothing more than a non-deepstack semi-turbo. But, it's a nice daily tournament in a clean poker room with competent dealers in the box.

However, this story isn't about tournament structures or even me winning the damn thing. This is a story about learning more about myself, a goal I have for every session I play whether it's cash or tournament. The only way I'll get better as a player is to learn more every time I sit down at a table.

The bonus chips we received at the beginning of the tournament allowed me to play around a little more in the early stages than I usually do. And based on what I learned, I think I know why the pros like deep structures in tournaments.

At 25/50, an older gentleman in early position raised to 200. Two players called the raise and I joined them with K4hh, my thinking being that if the flop hit me hard it would be well-disguised, and if it didn't I could get out relatively cheaply.

The flop came 10JQ rainbow, but one heart. The old man led out for 400 and the first two callers folded. I called. I could run through the math to rationalize my decision, but I just wanted to see a turn card. And I didn't like the way the old man looked at me.

The turn was a Q and the old man checked to me. At this point, if I'd had my druthers, I probably should have bet, repping the Q. As it was, I was happy to see a free river.

The river came 9, making my straight. He bet, I raised, he said "You got there, did ya'?" and called. I was a little sheepish to turn my hand over, but I had the nuts, so whatever. He looked disgustedly at me, flipping over one of his cards, a jack, and mumbling something sarcastically about a nice call.

I learned two things on this hand: 1) The old man was willing to bet and call all the way down with 2nd pair, and 2) I had tilted him.

A few hands later I chased a flush draw against the old man and folded on the river when I didn't get there. This time he said very audibly to the player next to him, "See? He just chases everything." At that moment I made a conscious decision to play off of that table image, to run a long-bluff.

Not too long after, I ran a "fake chase" against the old man. I played the hand as if I was on a draw, and would have bet the crap out of it had it hit on the river, but it missed and I folded. However, not three hands later, I played a hand that was perfect for the set-up that had been happening.

The old man had been getting frustrated and, with blinds at 100/200, snap-raised from early position to 700. It folded around to me where I found JJ in my hand. I took this opportunity to play off the table image I had established, especially in his eyes, and I just called. Everyone else folded. The flop was all low. He checked the flop, I bet "on the come", he raised, I called. The turn was another number, he bet, I called. The river paired the board. He bet and I moved all-in. He snap called and flipped over his pocket 10s, thinking I had moved in on a busted draw. He actually cursed when I turned over my JJ for the winning hand. He couldn't believe that I had "woken up" with a real hand. I now had the table chip lead and felt like I had complete control over the table.

This was the first time I had stayed focus enough in a tournament to really be able to gauge how other people viewed me, and I was immediately rewarded because of it. It was nice to be able to add another weapon to my arsenal at the poker table and move on from simply "can my cards beat their cards." I'll look forward to playing in tournaments in the future that have a little "deeper" structure so I can continue to use my table image to my advantage.

Why I Hate the November 9

First, let's get a few things straight: 1) I'm nothing more than an amateur poker player. 2) I've never lasted past day 1 in a multi-day tournament. 3) I have no idea what it's like to play for the kind of money that is up for grabs in the WSOP Main Event.

That being said, I don't really like the idea of finishing a tournament four months after it started. When I started playing poker I was intrigued and enamored with everything surrounding the WSOP. It was a month to a month and a half of total poker geekdom. Not that I ignore poker during the rest of the year, especially now that I'm really trying to make strides towards playing for a living, but the bacchanalia of poker that is the WSOP was always the best time of year.

Back in 2008, the first time the WSOP finished the Main Event in November, I remember hearing a big-time pro saying that he liked the idea. He thought it was great that players could get coaches and sponsorships and rest up. I remember feeling like I disagreed with him, but I couldn't pinpoint why at the time.

The problem I have with the November Nine is that my impression has always been that the WSOP is all about who is playing the best poker right now. It's about who has the stamina to outlast a massive field of players over the course of seven to eight days. And obviously, since Black Friday, the sponsorship part of the argument sort of goes away. Although, it did seem like sponsors were able to get their hands on the players they wanted with no problem at all, so why did we have to give them four months?

I think it would suck to have been playing a great WSOP, make a great run in the Main Event, get featured on almost every airing of the WSOP on ESPN, then have one of my opponents take four months to study my play and figure out ways to beat me. What am I supposed to do to combat that? Unless they're also featured on ESPN, I really have nothing to go on. The other player then has a distinct advantage.

All that being said, I'm still going to follow the November Nine this year. Why? Because it's still the most prestigious tournament in the world. I still love poker. And I hope to one day be there.