11-21-2001, 02:56 PM
So yesterday I turned the big 40. My wife was nice enough to let me have a day of poker as I took the day off from work.
So I go down to the local casino and signup for the morning tourney. It is a $5 buy-in with unlimited $5 rebuys for the 1st 4 rounds. 22 players. The 1st 2 rounds are limit and then it moves to NL. My 1st rebuy occurs when I flop trips, fillup on the turn and lose to a bigger boat on the river. My 2nd rebuy occurs when I go all-in with KK and lose on the river to an Ace. As we break to 1 table I am an average stack but then I hit a bunch of beauties. With 3 players left I have the biggest stack. The 2 opponents have no clue but that doesn't stop me from screwing up and taking 3rd place and a small profit.
I then sit down in the 3-6 game for the afternoon. Although I am not getting any decent cards I am able to pickup a few pots here and there. Every 1/2 hour until 5:00 p.m. they have a high hand award for boats or better for $25. In the final 1/2 hour I pickup AA. A few limpers. I raise. Someone re-raises and I cap. 3 players see the beautiful flop of AA9. The re-raiser bets, I call and the other player folds. Re-raiser goes all-in on the next card which is a K. River is a Q. I was hoping for another K for a possible bad beat. As it turns out he only had KJ.
My wife and kids meet me at the casino and we have a nice buffet. After shopping at the gift shop they are off to the mall and I am off to the poker room.
The Tuesday evening tourney is a freeroll if you have played 5 or more hours in the past week. I had exactly 5 hours in. You only start with T400 but for a $30 rebuy you get another $2000. Actually the more hours you played the more chips you get but I only had the minimum. This tourney had 32 players. 1st 3 rounds are limit and then it goes to NL. During the limit rounds I lose with QQ twice. When it jumps to NL I hit a few hands but my stack stays about average. I am able to survive to the final table although with T5000 and blinds of 500-1000 I am not in great shape. This tourney only pays 4 spots. I am able to survive past my blinds a few times. We are now 8 handed when one of the chip leaders lose to another chip leader. We now have 2 big stacks and 5 small stacks. I am 4th biggest but all the other small stacks have to hit the blinds before me. In an amazing turn of events the 3 smaller stacks all lose. I don't survive my all-in but I am happy to survive to 4th place with the cards I received.
I sit down to play some 1-5 stud as I wait for a 3-6 seat. After winning a few decent pots I lose a big pot to a newbie who must have hit 10 or 12 river cards to win. Oh well, I lose $1 my only loss of the day.
I finally sit down at 3-6 and screw up a few hands badly. I am down $50 when I pickup AA. I am able to cap it again and this time the flop isn't quite as nice as before but I survive and win a huge pot. This time I was up against KK. A few hands later I turn a straight and I am able to turn a profit.
So all in all a profitable and fun 40th.
Ken Poklitar
So I go down to the local casino and signup for the morning tourney. It is a $5 buy-in with unlimited $5 rebuys for the 1st 4 rounds. 22 players. The 1st 2 rounds are limit and then it moves to NL. My 1st rebuy occurs when I flop trips, fillup on the turn and lose to a bigger boat on the river. My 2nd rebuy occurs when I go all-in with KK and lose on the river to an Ace. As we break to 1 table I am an average stack but then I hit a bunch of beauties. With 3 players left I have the biggest stack. The 2 opponents have no clue but that doesn't stop me from screwing up and taking 3rd place and a small profit.
I then sit down in the 3-6 game for the afternoon. Although I am not getting any decent cards I am able to pickup a few pots here and there. Every 1/2 hour until 5:00 p.m. they have a high hand award for boats or better for $25. In the final 1/2 hour I pickup AA. A few limpers. I raise. Someone re-raises and I cap. 3 players see the beautiful flop of AA9. The re-raiser bets, I call and the other player folds. Re-raiser goes all-in on the next card which is a K. River is a Q. I was hoping for another K for a possible bad beat. As it turns out he only had KJ.
My wife and kids meet me at the casino and we have a nice buffet. After shopping at the gift shop they are off to the mall and I am off to the poker room.
The Tuesday evening tourney is a freeroll if you have played 5 or more hours in the past week. I had exactly 5 hours in. You only start with T400 but for a $30 rebuy you get another $2000. Actually the more hours you played the more chips you get but I only had the minimum. This tourney had 32 players. 1st 3 rounds are limit and then it goes to NL. During the limit rounds I lose with QQ twice. When it jumps to NL I hit a few hands but my stack stays about average. I am able to survive to the final table although with T5000 and blinds of 500-1000 I am not in great shape. This tourney only pays 4 spots. I am able to survive past my blinds a few times. We are now 8 handed when one of the chip leaders lose to another chip leader. We now have 2 big stacks and 5 small stacks. I am 4th biggest but all the other small stacks have to hit the blinds before me. In an amazing turn of events the 3 smaller stacks all lose. I don't survive my all-in but I am happy to survive to 4th place with the cards I received.
I sit down to play some 1-5 stud as I wait for a 3-6 seat. After winning a few decent pots I lose a big pot to a newbie who must have hit 10 or 12 river cards to win. Oh well, I lose $1 my only loss of the day.
I finally sit down at 3-6 and screw up a few hands badly. I am down $50 when I pickup AA. I am able to cap it again and this time the flop isn't quite as nice as before but I survive and win a huge pot. This time I was up against KK. A few hands later I turn a straight and I am able to turn a profit.
So all in all a profitable and fun 40th.
Ken Poklitar