Since my last post, I’ve played a total of two tournaments at Online Casino Malaysia, and none anywhere else. The two that I played were tournaments that I wouldn’t have played in last week because they would’ve cost too much fake money.
I’m a bit more affluent now. I’m a play money multi-thousandaire over there now, which may be even more impressive than my play money multi-millionaire status at Full Tilt. My reasoning is due to my belief that the competition is tougher, and because of how hard it was to win a free month at PokerSchoolOnline. With my newfound pseudo-wealth, I can wager hundreds of fake dollars on a single tournament. I can, I did, it went well.
My first week at PSO, as far as my performance at the tables goes, was mediocre at best. If there was a such thing as play money debt, I’d have been hundreds of play money dollars in that. I played several tournaments, and my best finish was tenth out of 29.
Winning changes everything, or at least it certainly makes things easier.
In my first “high stakes” game, I dug an early hole for myself by overbetting a pair of kings. In a move of quasi-desperation, I bet all my chips with a pair of aces and an 8 kicker. I got called, and the caller held AQ. Luckily for me, my 8 was a diamond and I got a flush on the river.
That win improved my situation, but I certainly wasn’t comfortable. Soon enough, I was desperate again. I had the 2 and 3 of spades on the big blind, and the flop gave me (and everyone else) 2 spades and a 2 of a different suit. Faced with a small bet that seemed huge to me, I bet everything and got called by someone with a pair of sevens. The turn was another seven. Nothing could’ve saved me on the river but a spade, and I got it.
For the rest of the game, I used a combination of great luck and good decision making to outlast sixty out of the 64 players in the tournament. I reluctantly called all in with a pair of aces and queen kicker, and I was up against a total bluff. The bluffer told me that he thought that I’d fold because I was a new player at the school.
Just because I’m new doesn’t make me clueless. I obviously must be doing something right, because tonight I finished 3rd out of 66 in a tournament with a $200 play money buy-in. I didn’t have to pull off incredibly lucky river catches like the night before – except for the time and the end when it didn’t come. I did get lucky, like when i caught a straight on the big blind and I did get more pocket aces than usual, but luck is bound to happen over several hundred hands.
Why did I do well – apart from the luck that I had? I think part of it was the longer rounds, which means there’s more time to improve with a near certainty as opposed to having to worry about the blinds in the first hour or so of the tournament. I think playing a generally tight game also helped – both that less risks means less chances to lose and that I think it helped me get away with the occasional bluff. These longer rounds seem to be linked with the higher stakes, which is why I think I’m better off playing for bigger buy-ins
At the end of the tournament tonight, an observer who claimed to be a poker teacher said that we all (the final four that played close to an hour without anyone losing) played very well and observing the way that we played would help with upcoming poker lessons.
It’s nice to be good, but I might still have a long way to go before I can confidently play poker for real money. Especially since I’d need to make plenty of money before I can afford to bet with it.
