My First Live MTT

[lwestatbus]

The local (an hour away local) dog track has a pretty nice poker room and has daily tournaments with varying buy-ins and formats. Their cheapest is a $35 MTT NLHE at 2:00 and 7:00 on Tuesdays and I decided to give it a try and was able to get to the 2:00 tourny.

There were three full tables with a mix if geezers (including your hero) but I was also surprised at the number of twenty-somethings at about half the field. There was a mix of playing styles with some pretty aggressive play mixed with stolid.

I didn't last too long. I called a raise from a frequent raiser with KT suited in the big blind and the small blind also called. (I was new to the table so didn't have a read on the SB but the raiser had come from my original table. The flop came K-T-8 rainbow giving me top two pair on an uncoordinated board--WHOOOEEEEE. The SB checked, I checked, and the original raiser made a pot sized bet. The SB then went all in---Ooops!! Well, I put him on AK and shoved myself. The original raiser took a LONG time to fold so I put him on AK also (I asked him later and he said he'd had A-8). It turned out that SB had pocket tens for a flopped set of tens. I found out that one of my kings had been folded and the dealer couldn't come up with the case king for me. So I lasted about 40 minutes and one table break up.

The tourny was well run and friendly. I asked the poker room manager later if they would be continuing this tourny and whether it was covering its costs. It turns out that they lose money on the game but run it as a loss leader to get people started on tournys and into the room. I noticed that everyone who busted out headed straight for the ring tables.

[HalfSugar]

That is quite the cooler.

[lwestatbus]

I played in my second of these tournys yesterday and lasted considerably longer, over 2 1/2 hours ending up 8th out of 30 with only the top 3 in the money. I was not getting many hands and ended up as the short stack with an M of 2 as the blinds got larger. I shoved from the big blind with Q2 suited when the pot was worth gambling for. I actually flopped a queen but the villain (who was actually a nice guy and a solid player) made trip aces to bust me out.

I really enjoy the live tournys as I can do a much better job of remembering play styles with real faces than with avatars or names. I do OK with remembering online and do take extensive notes but I do much better live. I'm going to have to pay attention to my bankroll as $40/pop tournys with 10% getting paid will eat it up pretty quickly if I can't get in the money soon. So far I'm buying with winnings from ring games at the same venue and I do have about $600 saved from my PokerStars cash out.

The tournys are really friendly with some regulars who all know each other and the poker room staff.

[HalfSugar]

I was not getting many hands and ended up as the short stack with an M of 2 as the blinds got larger.

Unless you lost a big hand that left you like that, I think I can see where you are going wrong Larry................

[crack]

Glad you're enjoying live.