Poker Tournament Notes

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I drove over to Turning Stone (our local casino) to play in a poker tournament today. The wife has banned me from playing the 8:30 PM game since I get home "too late" and she gets worried. Beautiful fall colors as I drove up (and down) 81, which helped soothe the fact that I didn't finish in the money. 

Anyway, I keep a record of the hands dealt and some miscellaneous notes, so here they are. I think there were 38 buy-ins for the noon game I played. 10,000 starting chips plus 2,000 more if you registered 45 minutes early, which I did. 

Noon start, 15 minute levels

Level 1, No ante, Small blind 25, Big blind 50 ... starting stack = 12,000

  1. UTG - Q7s
  2. BB - K6o
  3. SB - K9o - stack 11,925
  4. 63s
  5. 73o
  6. T5o
  7. K9s

Level 2 50/100 12:15

  1. B-5 (Button -5) AJo call K54 flops, fold to bet - stack 11,825
  2. 96o
  3. 95o
  4. BB - J9o fold to raise - stack 11,725
  5. SB - 95o
  6. J5o - stack 11,675
  7. 94o

Level 3 75/150 12:30

  1. A3o
  2. K7s
  3. T6s
  4. 96o
  5. A5o
  6. UTG - KJo (fold)

Level 4 25 ante, 100/200 12:45

  1. BB - Q8o
  2. SB - KK - raise, win 3,250 - stack 12,950?
  3. 72o
  4. B-2 99 call (limp) win 1,725
  5. 73o
  6. 64o - stack 13,700
  7. B-4 JTs call (limp), J flops, win 6,950?

Level 5 25 ante?, 150/300 my notes missed this change 13:00

  1. Q7o
  2. 86o
  3. BB - A3s fold to raise
  4. SB - 84o fold to raise
  5. Button - A5o fold to raise
  6. 83o
  7. Q9o fold to raise

Level 6 50 ante, 200/400 Clock: 13:15

  1. 97o
  2. Q4o
  3. A5o
  4. T7s
  5. BB - 72o fold to raise
  6. SB - AJo folded to raise, re-raise
  7. K9o

Level 7 75 ante, 300/600 13:30

  1. B-1 A9s call (limp) A flops win 6,075
  2. Q8o
  3. 73o - stack 17,450
  4. K3o
  5. 43o
  6. BB - T7s fold to raise
  7. SB - T4o

Break 13:45, 15 minutes, stack 16,325

Level 8 100 ante, 400/800 14:00

  1. J5o
  2. 83o
  3. B-2 AQo I raised?, BB called, flop AJ2, BB went all-in, I thought about it, folded, he said he had AK
  4. J7o - stack 13,600
  5.  K8o
  6. T6o
  7. UTG K3s

Level 8 200 ante, 500/1000 14:15

  1. BB - T6s fold to 4K raise
  2. SB  - T9s folded to 3,500 raise, T9 happened to flop, an 'argh' moment
  3. Button - 32s
  4. B-1 22 call (limp) J93 flop, fold to bet, - stack 10,800
  5. 43o
  6. 65s

Level 9 200 ante, 600/1200 14:30

  1. 97s
  2. 62s
  3. J6o
  4. BB - J6o fold
  5. SB - AJs folded to me, shove all-in final ~7,000 chips against BB, he calls with K9o, a 9 flops, I bust.

14:39 out ... wasn't paying attention to BB's stack, he was a new player who just sat down, I thought he was much shorter stacked, but it wouldn't have mattered, if I had simply called, he still would have won, and I was critically short-stacked already, so.... 

You can see that the number of hands dealt per 15 minute level is very low, only six or seven hands dealt before the blinds jump. 

The tournament structure only pays out the top four places, which I think is terrible ... I've found that at friendly final tables, people will agree to a more equitable split of the winnings ... in my opinion, anyone who gets to the final table should win his entry fee back, at least.