Over my head in big online poker tournaments

Looks like I forgot to post this draft over a week ago.....

Every few months or so, Full Tilt Poker (one of the best known online poker sites) runs a series of hi stakes poker tournaments - a series called FTOPS.

The entry fees range from a modest $129 or so to a slightly ridiculous $2500.

The prize pools are very large though and the thought of even a modest "cash" drives thousands of players to try to qualify their way into one of these events.

Today is the final day of the current $16 million series. I have won my way into FTOPS #24 which begins at 2 pm EST (so far the entry size is around 3000 players but I expect more than 9000 by the time we begin.)

Prize pool for this one is $800,000.

Later, at 6 pm is the big one - the Main Event - with a $535 entry fee and a first prize of more than $400,000, and a total prize pool of $2.5 million.

I have been trying unsuccessfully to win my way into this event - this can be accomplished by winning a smaller satellite tourney with entry fees ranging from a few dollars to as much as $109.

As I write I am taking likely my last stab at this. The event I am in cost $26 to enter and attracted 175 players. The last seven players standing will win their entry into tonight's main event.

At the moment my stack is around $3500 - and there are 110 players left. (We began with $1500 in chips)

Opps - stack update. I am now down to $2100 - losing 1/3 of my stack to a short stacked player who semi bluffed a flop of 665 (I had 88) - he held 109 suited (with only the potential of a runner runner flush draw or two overcards) and spiked a nine on the turn.

Oops again. Now I lost another $550 in a heads up confrontation between my AK suited and the short stack's JJ. I neither paired nor flushed.
91 players left and in the space of two hands I have dropped precipitously from 16th to 78th.

Better get back to work at the tables........

Update - one hour later....

Ach, I hate this game sometimes. How come when I have AK and I am in a "race" versus a pair - the opponents's pair always stands up or worse, he completes a set (3 of a kind) ?

Yet when I found my tournament life on the line just now, I was in the Big Blind ($200-$100 structure) with around $950 left and a big stack in mid position made it $500 to go.

So I decided now was as good as time as any to take a stand. I popped him all in with my pair of sevens, and of course he had AK.

The kill was swift as the first card on the flop was an Ace, and at that point, only another 7 would save my tournament skin.
No such luck, so I busted out 50th/175

(I find top third and top quartile placements are relatively easy to achieve, but generally they only pay out prizes to the top 10% or so)

OK so that leaves me two hours before FTOPS #24 begins.

Have a great Sunday folks!

Todays FTOPS event #24 at Full Tilt Poker
Cost of entry : $129 USD (comparable)
Number of entrants : 9,832 (more than an ACBL Nationals ?)
Tournament Location : Wherever you happen to be (No travel costs)
Dress Code : Whatever you want, as much or as little as you want
Duration of tournament : between eight and twelve hours (Not 2 weeks !!)
(AFTER SIX HOURS THE FIELD WAS ALREADY DOWN TO 370 PLAYERS)
Prize pool : $983,200 USD (yes there are cash prizes !!)
First place prize : $152,396
Second place prize : $103,236
Third place prize : $72,757
Fourth place prize : $52,306
Fifth place prize $38,345,
90th place prize $1,003
541 st place prize : $295
1350 th place prize : $148 (Yes, they pay up to 1350 th place !!)
Plus, every time you knock someone out you make a $20 bounty; and if you knock out a pro, you get a $120 bounty

Okay, okay.........Don't get me wrong.

I much prefer playing bridge for no money, in fact, at my expense, to a game of No limit Hold 'Em (NLHE) - but there are many who differ.

But NLHE has the attention of the masses; the enthusiastic embrace of the youthful; and it is easy to learn; easy to play; and luck plays more of a part in the final outcome.

I think as bridge aficionados we should be aware of what's going on out there, but don't think of competing with poker - there is no competition.
That's like saying the National Hockey League is going to take on the NFL for supremacy in the TV ratings

Post mortem

After only 2 hours and forty minutes, my avatar met it's fate in 4,216th place (from 9,832) - having fought the last hour bravely with a very small stack

The hand that crippled me was earlier when I held AQ suited in hearts and went head to head vs my LHO. The flop was a scary KH QC KD

Another heart came on the turn and the betting was firm but not overly huge. The river was a little heart giving me the nut flush but pairing my LHO's 8 who now had a full house (filled by his K8 suited)

I went from average stack to 40% of average stack size with that one hand, and could not get my groove back.

But I gotta tell you, it's not a bad way to while away a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. Sort of like playing a lottery with better odds and in a hands on fashion.