Those Kids Better Appreciate It

1 Buy-in $250
1 Rebuy $100
1 Add-on $100
Making it to the 3rd last table and coming in 26thish? Worthless.

For anyone who complains about the Blogger games being donkfests, please visit the next charity poker game in your area.

13 tables. Let's say around 100 or so players. Fantastic setting (I'll put a pic up later). Open bar and hors d'oeuvres. So the experience was worthwhile.

Some example hands:

1st hand, UTG, KK. Yah, that's going to go well. I raise it up, the table folds (this is a rebuy, albeit a pricey one) to the BB, who does a "might as well" call. Flop comes Axx and I know I'm beat. BB checks and I bet the pot, he calls and I shut down. Checks down and he flips over A2o. Yup, going to be one of those nights.

I was fairly card dead for the next hour, and when I did play some drawing hands, they didn't catch. I went all-in when my stack had dwindled and lost. Rebought, and went all-in on the last hand of the rebuy period with A4o. I ran into ATo, and a 4 turned to double me up. Add-on and I'm actually not sitting terribly at the table.

Oh, except for the horrid tournament organization. If you bring in pros, make sure they have a clue. It's a rebuy. There are 13 tables. With 15 minutes left in the rebuy period they break one of them... why? Because it was down to TWO FREAKING PEOPLE! How the hell do you let a table in an MTT REBUY drop to 2 players without balancing it out? Obviously one of them comes to my table with a huge stack.

We were lucky that he was a complete pre-flop calling station, post-flop aggrodonk who had no concept of blind:stack ratios and quickly donked it all off.

Then, because they started an hour late, they changed the structure midway through. Blinds shortened to 15 minutes from 20, and they skipped the first post-break level of 100-200, straight to 150-300. So after deciding my play based on the old structure (figuring a rebuy and add-on would still have me sitting around with an M around 18), they change it (M=11).

I upped the aggression and it was working well for a bit, but a couple acceptable beats to short-stacks, and the ever-increasing blinds started to hurt. Around 9:30 I was waiting for a hand that was worth pushing with so I could double-up or make it home for the Mookie. Of course, I end up surviving to the break at 10. Damn.

We get back from the break and the dealer thinks the blinds have jumped from 400-800 to 1000-2000. I point out that's ridiculous and it's 500-1000. She checks and I'm right. She was displeased that we weren't going to be done in 10 seconds apparently.

Second hand after the break I look down at AQo on the button (I was SUPPOSED to be the SB, but I wasn't going to complain). My buddy, co-worker, and fellow December Vegas-attendee goes all-in in MP with his small stack (M < 2), and our latest moron-boy figures out how to call with his good-sized stack. Of course, he hasn't seen a 1000 chip until they coloured him up, so he has no idea how to call (the wine may have aided in this idiocy as well). The dealer tells him what colours to use. I then push over the top for < 2x the bet and our moron struggles on counting out the number of 500 chips to use -- 4.

My buddy flips up As9c, moron shows J4 s00000ted, and I of course have AQo. Brick, brick, brick, brick, FOUR. Fuck me.

I figured my chances of winning were slim without a couple big hands (no way you can bluff these drunk fonkeys if they call pre-flop), but I really wanted to make the final two tables and play in the great hall, next to the Stanley Cup.

And of course, I make it home about 30min into the Mook. I debated on registering in the morning, but figured if I DID go deep then I'd just be donating. Damn.

All that said, it was for charity, so I can't be upset about the expense. It's the fact I lost to such shitty players that bugs me, not the money.

Speaking of shitty players and caring more about the win than the money - I'll be at the Riverchasers tonight. What shape I'll be in is up in the air, but I'm signed up and raring to go. Having missed the MATH and the Mook, and coming in 20th in the Big Game, I have some ground to make up tonight. It being Thanksgiving for you folks in the south, I expect extra-terrible play by a much smaller field than we've seen. Fantastic.