CasinoRama Tournament Report - fyodor makes final table

[fyodor]

This was my first B&M casino tournament. Structure is a little weird in that first 2 rounds are limit but after that it is no limit. For $100 + 25 you get T1000. First 3 rounds you can rebuy T500 for $50. At the end of the 3rd round you can Add on T1000 for $75. Blinds start at 25/25 then 25/50 and then basically double every 20 minutes. 15 min break every 3 rounds. 121 entries. CasinoRama only has 11 tables but they seat 11 players per table. Top 10 make the money.

First 3 rounds were pretty uneventfull for me. I only remember one hand from that hour. I had KTs in late position. Raised. Flop QTx. I led the betting the rest of the way and my Tens held. Other than that I had no real cards. Did a rebuy close to the end of round 3 and then pretty much had to add on or I would have the least amount of chips of anyone left. So I went into round 4 with T3000.

The next 3 rounds I don't remember any hands at all. I was briefly up to about T4500 but ended the hour at T2500. So I was in pretty rough shape at the start of the next hour. We are down to about 30 at 3 tables. Blinds were now 1000/2000 and I was UTG. Got dealt 86s which is probably a mandatory play at that point but I mucked anyhow and thought I would take my chance with my blind. Lucky me. I threatened to raise my last 500 if anyone called (it was a joke - they all had me outchipped) and they all folded. I folded my SB and still had my T2500. Now I got real lucky.

AQo in the CO. I push. The button goes all in behind me with about T6500. BB calls. I flip over my AQ. Button flips over A6. BB flips over QQ. Flop comes A96. I'm looking good and dead. An Ace won't help and a Queen won't help. Turn is a rag. river is a 9. I'm about to get up and leave and they shove T7500 my way. What? Aces and 9s. Queen plays. Unbelievable.

Right after that someone else at the table hits a miracle 9 to stay alive. Then they move me to another table. First hand I pushed with A8s in late postition and stole the blinds. Shortly after that I got lucky again. A9s. I have about T11,000 at this point. I raise to T6,000 and find that the blinds have just gone to 2000/4000 and I have made an illegal raise. So they shove back 2000 and I have only called. Not what I wanted. SB completes. BB now raises to 8000. I say screw it and push. They both call and the SB gets all in on the flop which has brought me a 9 but given one of them Jacks and the other guy had TT. Turn is a rag. River is another miracle 9 and I have tripled through.

Got crap for cards from that point forward but slipped into the final 10 with T10,500. After the break I found myself UTG with blinds of 4000/8000. Well I'd been there before. Folded whatever garbage I had. Posted my 8000 and threatened to fire in my last 2500 if anyone called. UTG called. SB completed. I raised without looking at my cards. 6-10th pay the same. No point in folding this hand no matter what it was. They both called. Flop was all rags. UTG bet. SB folded. He turns over 2 big cards and I turn over something like 94. Almost made a straight on the river. Unfortunately they don't have a prize for almost.

10th paid $580 and 10 cents. I had invested $250. So a $330 profit with crap for cards all day. I think I had JJ once and AT 2 or 3 times. Serisously those were my good hands. Oh and that AQ with the miracle 9. So I couldn't have played too bad.

And it was fun.

[Benal]

Congrats on making the final table. The structure sounds kinda whacky.. would you play this again? I'm assuming this is a monthly affair?

[fyodor]

I would play again. One character I sat next to that had a decent stack for that point in the tournament was complaining that the blinds went up too quickly and we didn't start with enough chips. He had played it a few times before. He said he had made his concerns known to the floor and they were considering raising the starting chips for next season.

I don't know that that is necessary or good. More chips probably mean less rebuys which would seriously affect the prize fund. Even though the first 2 rounds were limit, you heard a dealer calling 'Rebuy!' every freaking hand. Sometimes double rebuy. The rebuys and addons more than doubled the prize fund.

121 players x $100 each = $12,100
Final prizes totaled about $28-29,000

Interestingly thay guy predicted his own demise. He said even if you get some chips, you take one lousy beat and then you are in danger of getting blinded out. Right after that he raised the T1000 BB to T3000 with AQ. BB called with J8o. Flop came K8x. BB bets T1000. Complainer raises him all in (another 5500) BB calls and his 8 held. He really started whining then. "J8o? How could you call preflop with that? See what I mean? Maybe if you make the final table I'll have some respect for you. yada yada yada" I was happy when he busted out and left.

I know there are a lot of good female players out there but was still surprised by the number of women in this tournament. I played with 4 and saw at least 1 other. 2 of them made the final table and finished I think 5,6.

I would like to send out a thank you to the one who sat on my right and folded her SB to me when I was down to 2500. She was my lady luck. I would also like to thank her boyfriend/husband who sat on my right at my first table. He almost singlehandedly doubled the prize fund with his rebuys.

[Karatitis]

Hi Fyodor !

It seems you played correctly, as you must become very aggressive when the blinds creep up like they did. However, I don't agree that you were quite unlucky as your phrase "crap cards" would indicate. Specifically, I would ask how many HANDS did u play "all day". Also, your error in judgment on the illegal raise is very dangerous, but it worked out for you.

Granted, I concur that you played well to arrive at your final table, and that many players are probably awful. But still, the structure of the Rama tournaments devalues the skill factor due to what I call the "Bingo" effect, and coupled with the exorbitant rake % I don't think that even a top tournament pro could show much of a long-term profit in these things.

Certainly, you might be able to win something in the long haul, but it certainly must be less than what you can pick up for equal hours of play in money games, particularly short-handed 6-max games? Remember also that when you bust out of a tournament you're not only out the initial entry fee, but also the re-buys, add-on fee, and other ancillary costs, i.e. the exorbitantly high-priced casino food, cost of transportation (gas, bus fares, whatever), and not the least to mention - your time invested.

Still, they are fun and if one views them simply as a recreational way to try out No-Limit with limited liability then that's fine. In fact, you'll see Karatitis in October at their super tournament since I know that they prize-fund has been enhanced with 10% they fawkin skimmed off the other tournaments.

Take Care,

Christos
"I'd check-raise my grandmother for her medicine money"