In Auburn

I am in Auburn for a family emergency and so I will not be playing poker tonight. This week may not see any card games at all. I am not even thinking about going up to the Muckleshoot Casino to play Blackjack while I am here in Auburn. I am spending time at the hospital and with family that have flown in.

This last weekend I have been playing blackjack at home practicing the strategy to see how I play and how the different strategies I use stack up against each other. Since I always try to play on a table with more than 2 or 3 people I will set cards out for that many. I bought enough cards to have the proper amount of decks available for the table I am playing. See if this helps my blackjack playing.

I see that WPT Poker Boot Camp is coming to the Wildhorse Casino in November. I would like to attend this camp. Waiting till November is sort of a wait though. It is nice that it is coming up to this area.

Have fun and keep the cards moving.

Poker Time

I forgot to post the game on Wednesday night. I got busy the Thursday and Friday and remembered last night that I hadn't posted anything to the blog.

The night was uneventful for me. I played the 6PM Poker Tournament at Jokers Casino and we had 20 people show up. Tonight I really didn't get any hands to play. I think I must have played about 3 hands and ended up in 12th place. I don't like being blinded out and that is exactly where I was headed for the evening. I didn't have any hands that really stuck with me that I could even talk about.

I keep watching players and how they are playing. I need to start playing some hands if I have position and if I can limp in and see a flop. I know that is where the training would come in if I could try and get to one of the Poker schools. Another thing that I thought interesting as I was watching a Tournament on TV was the amount of people that were dealers and now they are poker professionals and or play a lot. The announcers were talking about the ability to watch the hands as well as watch how people played the game. Wouldn't that be a fun job to be a poker dealer. Basically don't give up your day job until you could make it in that profession.

We have joined a fitness facility in town and so I need to start exercising more to loose some weight. I lost 22 pounds last year and this year my goal is another 25. I want to get to a total of 75 pounds lost, so it will go into 2008 for me to reach my goal. I would like to pick up another night of poker and the weather is starting to look better and I know golf is right around the corner. Hopefully this will be a good year all around. Of course I can't forget about the job.

Have fun with the cards.

Weekend on the Westside

We drove over to the West side of the state on Saturday morning and the roads were not that bad. Hardly any traffic.

Then saturday evening I took off for the Muckleshoot Casino. Wow, there were so many people I could not find a parking spot anywhere. I ended up going into the parking garage and found a spot up near the top. Walking into the casino you walked into a flood of people. I went from one end of the casino looking for a table so I could sit down and play some blackjack. After my third trip to the older side I found a seat and I put myself in seat number 6. The lady in seat 7 was a little inebriated. She started talking to me right away about how the person that just left did not know how to play and she hoped I would do better. She stated she knows how to play and when to hit and when to let the dealer try to bust. Ok, I have read the books as well. I started playing and won the first three hands and I was using the new strategy of every time I win I would put another chip in and if I lost the hand I would start over with one chip. Right off the bat I was up and for most of the night I was using there money to play with. Oh yes, the guy that left and I took his seat, he came back and now was sitting in seat 5. The Lady on my left leaned over to me and informed me in a low voice that, remember the guy I was telling you about, well he is sitting next to you now so keep an eye on him. Eventually she busted out and she decided the dealer was against her and she left. Not before talking to the pit boss about playing some poker in the poker room. That was an interesting conversation as well. Basically she could play but the poker players would enjoy her presence since it would be money in the bank for them.

After that took place a new person came and sat in seat 5 and he started playing. With his date behind him asking him why he was doing what he was doing. Even to the point of looking at my cards and telling me what I should do. She bumped up against my chair a couple of times and said sorry, I am a little bit challenged to stand straight right now. I could believe that. You could tell she was a little bit inebriated as well. She ended up sitting next to me in seat 7 with her date in seat 5 and she started talking to me, telling me that she was just dating the guy next to me. That she was not married to him. She started talking to me about the cards I would play and why. I finally after 3 hours was ahead in my chips from when I started and decided to just go home. I really like to play blackjack here. I did watch 4 card poker table, but it is hard to get a seat since there are two tables and they are always full. People standing behind them waiting to get a seat. It would be nice to have a few more tables open. Even all the blackjack tables were full with people watching and waiting for seats. It was fun.

This wednesday evening I am back at the Jokers Casino playing poker. I might try the 3 card poker that evening.

Have fun.

Love my Wednesdays

I was anxious to get out and go to Jokers Casino this evening so I could play some poker. The weather here is cold, cold, cold. I got myself into the casino this evening, signed up and paid my buyin of $30. There were 24 people playing tonight. We started out with 2 tables of 10 apiece and 4 alternates. I try to get there early enough that I am not an alternate. I think it is harder to get started when you are behind when you get seated. If I am going to loose my blinds I would rather loose them myself than to get blinded because I am not playing cards.

Tonight was one of those nights when I was getting some really good cards. I must have had 3 AK's and won 2 of them and lost 1. I went all-in 3 times and won two of them and lost the last one. Of course the last one I had one $500 dollar chip and went all in with nothing other than the 72 offsuit. Can't do much with that one. The hand I played prior to that one was the one that did me in though. I had AJ and lost to A5 when the player got a 5 on the river. I was feeling good and I was not playing a bunch of hands that were junk. I opened my play a little bit tonight trying to play some new hands so I didn't seem like a very tight player. I just played hands that made since to me. I ended up placing 11 out of 24. Middle of the pack again. Missed the final table by 1 person.

This weekend I am planning to make a trip back to Auburn and I will try to play some blackjack at the Muckleshoot Casino. Hopefully I will do well. I have been wanting to try a new strategy out and see how I do. I am trying to practice here at home before I do it there.

Have fun and will write sometime this weekend.

Wednesday Night Poker

Tonight was the home game. It was a $5 buyin and 15 players started. One thing about playing home games is that people will call down to the river just to try and make a hand. It is hard to figure out what to do when you know most of the group will play on even if you raise. It is even getting more noticeable for me I need to get some type of instruction on how to play the mid hands like K6 or the Q5 and hands like that. Bluffing doesn't seem to work very well. By the end of the evening I ended up in 8th position. Middle of the field and I seem to stay in that position most often.

Jokers Casino is starting a tournament now at 9PM. You can play at 12, 3PM, 6PM and now 9PM. Wouldn't that be nice to be able to play in a few more tournaments during the week. I enjoy watching some of the better players at Jokers.

Next weekend we are planning a trip over to Auburn again and maybe a chance to play some Blackjack at Muckleshoot Casino. We will have to wait and see if everything works out for the trip.

Have fun and play hard.

Tuesday Night Poker

Since I am playing in a home game on Wednesday night I figured to keep up with the weekly game at Jokers Casino I would need to play tonight. I ended up playing with a new group of players tonight. I only new 2 faces out of the bunch. There were 14 players. That is a far cry from the 30+ I am used to playing with on Wednesday night.

I started out playing my usual. I won the second hand with a pair of Q's. No one wanted to go to the turn or the river with me. I must not have played a hand for about 30 minutes because the next time I played one of the players looked at me and said that I haven't played at all and now I raise on the flop and no one wants to go in on the pot. From that point on I played the flops and within 3 hands I was out of the tournament. The cards I was dealt were KJ, A2, and a Q10. I had good hands just didn't get the flops to really continue. Of course I didn't through the hands away like I normally would and then the players started calling my hands.

I have been continuing to read Phil Gordons little green book again on his thoughts on poker. Tomorrow night will be a home game and will hope to do better. I need to start playing more flops to see if I can get the cards to continue.

This is hard to do because when I play any card game I don't play to loose. I play to win and as I am teased at work to earn money. I carefully manage my money when I play at the casino. I do that whether I play Poker or Blackjack. I also do not play with money that will be missed if I loose. I never play with house money.

My wife and I have a mine, hers, and ours account to pay bills. When it comes to money in our separate accounts we don't have to explain where it goes to each other. I call it my allowance and it works for us. When it is gone then we have to wait till then next paycheck and get allowance again. Hence, my one night per week in playing poker at the casino. The home games don't happen often and the buyin is like $5 so it doesn't matter that much. Good practice for me though.

Have a good week and will let you know how the game goes tomorrow.

Wednesday Poker Night

I have been sick all week but I did get to play poker Wednesday night at Jokers Casino. It was the shortest tournament I played in for a while. There was close to 30 players and I went out about 21st. That is a far cry from the last 3 weeks. It was one of those tournaments that I could play nothing in my hand. Even after folding I would watch the cards come out and still would not have had anything to play all night. This of course is not whining. Just the fact that some nights are like this and I accept the fact it happens.

I have been reading Phil Gordons little green book and I like what he talks about. The mindset and how he plays the game. I am getting ready to read the Little Blue Book next. Right now my game is tight. I should probably be reading Dan Harrington's books.

Until next week have fun.

Poker Night

I really enjoy the Wednesday night poker game at Jokers Casino. Tonight we had about 32 to 34 people in the tournament. There were 3 tables going with some alternates. My play is tight and when I have a hand I will start raising and try to take the pot. Early in the tournament I was not getting any hands and I felt I was going to be going home early. I was down to 1300 in chips and I needed to start moving. I got KK and felt like this was the moment to move. On the flop came xKx. I was all in at this moment. The turn was x and the river was a K. I just wished I had more to put in the pot. I had 5 callers when I went all in. This was going to be big. When we turned them over everyone saw the Quad K's. Wow, what a hand and I really needed it. I did get to the final table. I finally got down to 1500 in chips and with the blinds at 2000/4000 it was time to go all in. I had pocket Q's. Would they hold up. Nope, I ended up going out in 7th place tonight. I think that makes the 2nd week in a row for 7th place.

My play is tight and I play the best hands. The people at the Casino are getting used to me know and know that I will only play if I have a hand. They are even calling my cards when I raise according to what is on the table. I may change my style of play and try to loosen up a bit to see if I can start taking people off of their hands and maybe start stealing blinds. I have been showing my hands as well. They can see that I only play the best hands. Maybe I will try it on one hand next week. I will also need to start not showing my hands to hide what I am doing.

I would really enjoy playing more than once per week. I really feel I could learn more by playing more. I know that since I started playing at the Casino my play has gotten better. I am getting used to the people around me and the dealers call me by my name now. For me this is a good way to just get away from the every day things that go on with my personal life. I do have a lot of fun for the 2 hours that I am playing in this tournament.

Until the next time I play....... Have fun.

At the Muckleshoot

While I was in Auburn my sister and I went to the muckleshoot casino. My sister played the slots and I headed over to the Blackjack tables. We were there for two and a half hours and we both had fun. I walked away with money in my pocket. Now it wasn't big time but at least I didn't walk out with less in my pocket. When I play blackjack I play the standard rules and then watch the cards coming out and go with gut feeling on some of it. I don't like to hit with 15 or 16 and have the dealer showing 12,13,14,15,16. I want to give myself a chance and have the dealer bust. It is discouraging if you take a hit and bust and then the dealer busts as well. I like to sit in the #7 seat and watch the cards come out. I had a guy sitting in the #6 seat and he was doing very well in reading the dealer and saying what was going to happen. He wasn't counting cards or at least I couldn't figure it out. He did play either $10, 20, and 50 dollars at a time. I just kept watching him and playing like he was playing. There wasn't much difference though in our style of play. He was very sure of himself and was not afraid to show it at the table. Overall it was a fun evening and I even got Players Card so when I go back I may even get some comps. WhooHoo.

I did walk over and watched the 3 card poker table and the ultimate poker table game. I couldn't sit down since there were no seats to be had. I would like to play and learn the game. It seems simple enough. At Jokers Casino they have a 4 card poker table.

I have been reading the book Phil Gordon's little green book. I find it interesting and will probably reread it when I get done and see if I can pick up some pointers for the next poker night at Jokers on Wednesday.

Play to win.

Poker Night

This was not a bad showing after last week. I really enjoy the time playing poker, getting away from the other things going on in my life. This is 2 hours of concentrating on the players and the cards I have in front of me. I played tight again tonight and waited for the best cards. I did win a few hands that kept me in the game. Yes, I did make it to the final table again with my play and I was not a short stack. Now all I had to do was try to last till the end. One thing I also have to remember is you have to play to be able to win. I threw away K9 and the flop came out 99x. Wow, that would have helped my chip count a little bit. I tend to raise after I make a hand on the flop and not raise before the flop. I don't like to put money out there and know that I my hand is not made yet.

There were 20 players that started and I ended up being 7th. I figure I am doing well just need to get into the money. I went all in with pocket 8's and the other player ended up with 2 pair. I needed chips at this point and I was looking for something to help me. It didn't happen.

I will be in Auburn on Friday and I plan to play either 4 card poker or will play some blackjack. My sister will be with me. We will have some fun.

New Week

Here it is Monday and I missed the call finding out where the Poker game was at tonight. My plan for the week is to play on Wednesday night at Jokers and then I am headed over to Auburn on Friday. I will probably try to play some blackjack friday night at the muckleshoot casino. I will head back over the mountain on Saturday. Lets hope I have a good showing on Wednesday here at Jokers. My plan is to play just like I did this last week when I split 1st and 2nd place money.

I have been reading Phil Gordon's little green book. I like the way he gives his thoughts on how to play the different cards and what he would do. Makes you think about the way you play the cards and what to look for.

Lets hope for a good week.

What a week

My frame of mind this week has been really good in playing poker. I have played the right hands at the right time. I have been a little bit more selective on the hands and the position that I play those hands. When I get down to a short handed game I then try to open up the play and be mindful of how the other players are doing. How much in chips and where the button is at. What is the blinds at and what are the players doing.

Tonight the group playing at Jokers are very good players. I wanted to have a good showing. I know I can play with these guys. I don't do very much talking at the table. I might say something to the person next to me but very little to the whole table. I don't show my cards very often unless I have a really good hand and I feel I need to show the other players that I do get hands and that I don't play junk cards. I received pocket Aces tonight and won with them, and also got pocket 8's, pocket 6's and then pocket Q's. I even had a AK tonight and played them well. I kept building my chip count and was playing tight. When the table got down to the final 10 I felt good that I was not the short stack. Could I hang on and make it to the money. I still wanted to build the chip count up and show I belonged. This tournament was a $30 buyin and we had 19 players tonight.

I ended up splitting the pot with the person I was headsup with tonight. Yes, 1st and 2nd split the pot. He took the seat for the end of the month tournament. This was the first time I was able to get into the money and it felt good. This has been some week. Monday night I split the pot 3 ways and tonight split the pot 2 ways. I know this game is like golf. You think you are doing well and the next time out you are knocked down a notch. I have to keep this mindframe and hopefully build on this feeling and the way I played tonight.

Home Game

I was invited to play tonight in a $5 home game. I did very well tonight. I was able to play the people as well as the cards tonight. I even bluffed on one hand tonight and pulled it off. I had an A8 and the other player had A10. I put $2000 into the pot and she couldn't pull the trigger. If she would have called me I would have lost the hand. She knew she was bluffed when I showed the cards. That in itself was a perfect setup against her. The next time I went all in she decided to call me and I had 2 pair to her pair. I doubled up. I played very good hands throughout the evening. I had to change my playable cards when it got down to 3 of us left. At that point we decided to give 3rd place money. I just kept pushing and was building chips. Finally the offer was made to split the pot 3 ways. We all decided to do that. That was a nice split. Lets hope this will carry over to Wednesday night. This felt good.

Wednesday Poker

I sure didn't last long in the wednesday night tournament at Jokers. I did get some cards though. I was very impressed with the hostess, as when I walked into the table area she called me by name. Remembering me from playing only wednesday evening is really something. The group that was playing last night also knew each other very well and played to take your blinds and any chips put out on the table. The player next to me was going all-in almost everytime he played and I was getting tired of it. I finally got a pair of 6's and decided to call his all in. I got another 6 on the flop and the set held up. He was out of the tournament. I did win another hand with two pair and the guy next to me couldn't understand why I stayed in the pot. It was one of those where I just felt like I had the cards to beat. I was a little distracted last night as well as they only started 2 tables with 9 players on the alternate list. They must not have had an extra dealer. After I sat down to start playing I looked on the board and I thought I saw my name on the list as an alternate and I had taken someone elses chair. No one ever said anything but I was real conscious about it and I was not paying attention to the game as much. I also need to control the emotions a little bit better. I notice when I get a hand and I start to put chips in the pot I tend to start shaking a little and I hope no one notices that. I will have to work on that one next time I play. Calm, relax, and be the same when I play.

The hand that took me out was when I got 77. It ended up being 3 of us playing this hand. The flop came 8710c. The turn and the river where no help. I ended up going all-in calling and one of the guys had a draw for a straight and the other ended up with clubs for a flush. I was done for the night. I knew the flush was out there and I played it anyway. I knew better. I should have thrown my set away. This night I was 1-1 for sets.

Jokers has changed the area of the casino to be with the lounge and I think it looks better. The poker area has 4 tables. They do need better lighting in the poker area. Lets hope next week will be better. Have fun at the tables.

Back Home at Jokers Casino

I finally got to play at home at Jokers Casino and I didn't last long tonight.

It is so cold here right now. I do not like the snow and the very cold weather. I finally had to pull my heavy jacket out today and start wearing it.

Tonight was fun. I really enjoy poker whether I win or loose. I feel like I learn something each time I play. Controlling emotions and making sure I am not giving away tells to other people. I had some good cards tonight but never got anything on the flop to continue the betting. I had a lot of KJ's, AK's, and just couldn't pull it off. The hand that really crippled my chip stack was a good hand for me. I had KJ and the flop came AAA. I felt I had the best hand with the K and at the least maybe a split pot. The one card that could hurt me was the A. On the turn came K. I now had the full house and still I felt the A was the card that could bring me down. The River was X and I put in a good size bet. I turned over my Full House and the other guy turned over the A. I was really crippled now and a few hands after that I went out holding K8 and went all-in and lost the hand. There were about 30 players tonight at $30 buyin and I was 23 tonight. Can't wait till next Wednesday night and I will try it again.

I am reading Phil Gordon's Little Green Book. I am enjoying the book. I like his thought process and the way the book is written. I will more than likely read it a couple of times to get the information to sink in. We will see how that goes.

Turkey Holiday

I was going to take my parents back over the mountain Saturday and decided against it and wait till Sunday and make an over and back trip. When I woke up Sunday morning it started to snow and the pass was not looking good for travel. I was trying to get my parents back home and go to work the next day. We started out from eastern washington at 0800 and we arrived at the destination at 1400. It was a long day. The worst of the travel was from richland to yakima and then it was a little bit better driving.

I started back at around 1530 and was called on my cell phone that the pass had been closed. That meant I would have to stay in Auburn again. After I got checked in and got my computer up and running I went and checked the pass conditions and found out they had opened again. The traffic was very slow but at least they were moving. Since I had already checked in I decided to just stay the night and start out in the morning.

This gave me a chance to go back out to The Muck and try my hand at blackjack again. When I got to the casino they already had a poker tournament running. I went out looking for a table to play some blackjack. I didn't do so well this time. I like to sit at seat 7 and I had to sit at seat 1. I was up about $20 and then people started leaving the table until I was the only one left. I played one on one for a few hands and my chips went to half my stack. That was enough. I then went to another table and the guys at that table wanted to go have dinner and that would have left me by myself again. I stopped playing and cashed in my chips. I stopped by the poker room and watched them and also watched some poker game at a table where you play against the dealer. That was interesting to watch but still prefer the good ole NLHE Poker. I do think I need to start learning the cash game and play that one and see how I do with it.

Driving back today was interesting. I had to stop for about 30 minutes on the pass so the crew could do Avalanche stuff. They let of a very load boom that shook the vehicle and the ground. Once they were done they let us go again and the worst part of this trip was the top of the pass to Easton. Slow and lots of traffic again. It is nice being home. This trip took 4 hours this time. The truck is dirty and I will need to wash it today. Get ready to go back to work tomorrow.

Blackjack

I made a trip over to the west side of the mountains to pick up my parents and decided to arrive the day before I needed to be there and I would spend some time at the Muck. My intent basically was not to play poker but to play some blackjack. I used to play blackjack only and now I haven't played it for awhile. The casino here in town used to have tables for blackjack and now they offer other games and I can't find a table for plain blackjack.

The trip over the mountain was very entertaining. It was snowing up on the pass with rain on the west side. Now I remember why I don't live over there. I would get so depressed having to live in that stuff. I ate at a BBQ place called Longhorns in Auburn and the food was good. I really like the honey butter. I really ate too much.

When I arrived at the casino the first order of business was to find a parking spot so I could remember where it was when I got done. I found one that was close to the South entrance to the smaller casino. It has been awhile since I played at the Muck, but since I have been reading a blog by Seattle John I figured why not. They have added to the place. I walked into the smaller one and couldn't figure out where to go to go to the main casino. Of course being male I am not going to ask anyone for directions. I ended up walking back out of the south entrance and walking around the building and going into the main entrance to the bigger casino. I did find out that if I would have walked through the back doors of the smaller casino I would have found the main one. Walking in the rain was just flat out fun anyway. I walked around the casino looking for the poker room and just looking at the inside of the building to see what was offered. I wanted to see what if any type of blackjack tables were being played as well. I did sit down at a video poker machine and basically threw away $20. I am not a fan of the machines. I just wanted to get into the mood of gambling before I went to the tables.

I found one blackjack table at the $5 limit and decided to sit down. I sat in the #7 chair. That one is the one I like to sit at because it gives me a chance to see all the cards that come out before mine. That can be good and bad depending on the players before you. How are they playing and are they using cards that you could have used. I play a game that is pretty much straight forward and try to always stay in the game and not get busted. I started with $80 and I dropped down to about $30 and built it back up to $80 about 3 times while sitting there. I never went over the amount I started with. I sat at that table for 4 hours playing blackjack and met some nice people. I really never got any cards during the evening that I could string together some wins and pull out and add to my chips. The guy in seat 5 was doing very well and was splitting cards and playing the Lucky Lady 20 at the same time. He was getting 20 quite a bit. My cards were like 13,14, 15, 16 alot. I had to struggle and gamble quite a bit that the dealer would bust. Well, at the end of it all I finally decided I had enough when I took my chips up to $85 and figured it was time to go home.

It really ended up being a good night and I did have fun. I will do it again. I still prefer poker but going back and playing some blackjack was fun. They did have a poker tournament going but I was late getting into that and I am not a cash player. I should learn that style of play sometime to broaden my poker game a little bit. I know it is different. I have books available and need to read up on the way to play it.

I am back on the east side and the sunshine is nice to see. We have the wind to contend with today.

Poker

I played poker at the casino this evening for a $30 buyin. Tonight I wanted to stay away from the all-ins and play smart. There were 30 players tonight. I started out in the number 9 seat next to the dealer until a tenth person showed up after about 3 hands were already played. I played very tight, during the first part of the tournament I would play strong hands and won some pots. I was building my chip count. At one point I played 10Q and ended up with a straight which knocked out 2 players. Not too long after that we went on a 5 minute break. When we started up again we were down to 2 tables. The cards I was receiving were mediocre hands. I would have an AKQ and a very weak kicker. Or an individual would go all in or raise the pot and I would have to fold. I was getting blinded out and not winning any hands and I finally had a $500 chip left. The small blind was $500 and I played my last chip. I had a 107 off suit. Four individuals went in on this pot. The flop came x10x, the turn was an x and the river was a 7. I made two pair and earned $2000. At that point the other table lost a player and asked for the player behind the dealer button. That happened to be me. On the second hand at the new table I have QQ and I went all-in. Three other players called. The hand came xKx, turnX, River X. I turned over my pocket Q's and the person on the button turned over Pocket K's for a set. I went out in 14th place.

How would I have played this tournament any differently? I need to learn how to pick up pots early and build chips during the early rounds. I played good hands when they were dealt and stayed away from big pots that would drain my chip stack if I would have lost the hand. The only hand I raised was the straight draw, all other hands I would call with the best hand.

More Live Poker

I am trying to stay away from Online poker now. Since I can't tell if it really illeagal or not and then trying to get the money into the site. I am trying to play poker every wednesday night at the local casino.

This week I played a home game. The tournament was a $25 buyin. We started with $5000 in chips. I played tight and when I felt I had the hand, I would call, raise and go all-in. One of my all-ins was with pocket 2's. The other person had pocket 8's. I flopped a 2 and a 2 came up on the river. I was able to double up with that hand. On one hand the flop came up 444 so I lead out with a big raise. I wanted to give the idea I had the other 4. The guy next to me looked at me and told me I was bluffing. He said he knew it but yet he just couldn't call me to find out since I put out a big raise. He went ahead and folded. One of the people across the table told the dealer to hold up the deck of cards so everyone could see the bottom of the deck. When he did that the other 4 was at the bottom. Someone was paying attention and at least he didn't give information to the guy I was trying to bluff.

I did make it to the final table. There were 6 of us and the tournament was paying 1st to 5th. I was #4 in chip stack. I have AQ and the the big stack decided to call me. I ended up getting all of my chips in the pot and on the flop came x10x. He now has three 10's for a set. The turn was an x and the river was an A. I went out in 6th place.

I should have stayed away from the all-in and not play with the big blind to get myself into a situation of having to go all-in so close to the money.

Playing Poker Again

My second live tournament experience went well. I showed up at the casino at 6:15 afor the 7:00Pm tournament. I placed my name on the list and was number 20. We ended up having 54 players tonight. They broke us up into two groups of 27. We would play until we reached 20 and then the next group would play until they reached 20. I was in the first group. I was in seat 9 next to the dealer. Having not played in a live tournament since February I wanted to play tight and would not use the all-in like last time. I wanted to get into the main tournament of 40 people. I was able to play and win a few hands to build my chip count. I even threw away AK at one point. My best hand of the night was when we were down to 21 players. I was dealt AA. I called to see a flop and the player in seat 3 went all-in. I called immediately. We turned over the cards and he had Q9. The flop came xx9, the turn was x and the river was an x. I had eliminated the 21st person. We were down able to go on break until the next 27 were down to 20. We played for an hour to eliminate 7 people. The next group played 1 1/2 hours to get down to 20. The 40 people are now set to finish the tournament. The payout was for 1st to 5th. During the rest of my time at the table I was not getting anything to play. My 11,100 chip count was starting to dwindle down. I picked up a hand A8 and figured I needed to move in and the flop came A67. I moved all-in and one person called me. He had A10 and the next two cards did not help me. I went out 26/54. I have to keep from going all-in and learn to stop playing the Aces with a low kicker. If I would have just raised or called with the hand to see the next card I could have remained in the tournament.