It's Crunch Time

The audit season here at work is coming to a close so all busy work for the biannual audit must be done by the end of next week. This is probably the reason why I’ve been literally passing out on the couch for the past week without the help of alcoholic beverages. Either that or I’m still battling this flu bug with no end in sight. Maybe its withdrawal and I need a quick trip to Vegas to refuel?


“Honey, I’m going to Vegas this weekend to get smashed for 48 hours straight, gamble away my poker bankroll and hit on that cocktail waitress with the watermelon size tits while you take care of Wyatt’s pee soaked Bob the Builder underoos and freeze your ass off”

Sounds cordial enough.

With the trip to South Carolina this summer, Vegas will have to be put on hold unless I go on some amazing rush between now and then at the tables and can afford both trips. Maybe the players at Full Tilt and PokerStars will be kind enough to fund both a trip to see my relatives and a trip to see my friends. Winning a new iMac courtesy of Full Tilt (remember bonus code Drizz99) would go a long way towards the funding.

I think my best chances of funding both trips will be at the $3/$6 and $5/10 tables nailing scoops versus the hold em’ players who mis-clicked into an O8 game. I’m sure they feel the same way when I take a night to play hold em’ and generally give away a buy-in while drawing to a nut low. That, or one night I could channel CJ and miraculously hit it big in a tournament with a buy in of more then 10 cents. The big weekend H.O.R.S.E. tourney at Full Tilt is getting my attention as a place to take my shot. I would not feel intimidated by the competition like I would in a NLHE tourney. But, the buy-in amount would be the biggest mental barrier as I’ve never entered a tourney online for more then a $50 buy-in (Thanks to CJ on that one), and that was only once. I’m a big pussy when it comes to bigger buy-in tourneys despite having the bankroll to enter comfortably into the $30-$50 range tourneys.

Why the mental block?

It’s not so much a mental block, but an expectation block. When I sit down at an O8 table I expect to win. When I sit down at a PLO8 SnG, I expect to cash/win (this is the only tourney exception because they truly are the worst players on the planet). When I play a MTT tourney I expect to lose, not necessarily to a suckout/beat/emu, but to lack of control. In a cash game, you control how much you bring to the table, how much you are comfortable with winning/losing, and how long you are going to play. In a tourney you lose that control as blinds are raised with the inability to reload your chips voluntarily (not counting the idiot with a pair of fours pushing all-in on your nut flush).

Is it worth it for me to “take a shot”?

Since I’m an auditor by trade, it’s my job to scan the books for things that don’t look right, and ways that the company can save money. I believe this has an effect on me “taking a shot” at higher buy-in tourneys. The WSOP is an exception since that’s more of a dream-shot, and crossing off something I have always wanted to do in my life. Not part of the daily grind of playing profitable poker to improve ones bankroll.

Tonight however I will be making an exception to the grind because frankly I’ve been in a rut during this month and need to divert my “woe-is-me” attitude. I will be setting aside $200-$250 tonight to play in MTT tourneys with a buy-in over $20 (unless there’s a mixed game tourney with a buy-in of $10) and “take a shot” relatively speaking. My expectation from these tourneys is exactly zero, I fully expect to lose the entire amount (as I did when I did my tourney challenge last month), but hope to take away a learning experience. So, if anyone has suggestions on what tourneys to check out tonight, I’m all ears.

Ok, enough with the me me me me me me me me today.

Thanks for dropping by, now if you have any burning life questions you’d like answered with a simple “Yes” or “No”, Wyatt will be guest posting tomorrow with his sage advice, at least till his nap time.