NDPT #1 January 23, 2009

I have scheduled NDPT Tournament #1 for January 23, 2009 all you folk and folkette! I've dropped the bounty from this year's format. In it's place, is an optional $5 per tournament which will be used to create a year-end tournament pot. Only those who pay the $5 up front AND cash on that given night, will be eligible to play in the year-end tournament. Your chip stack for this final game will be in proportion to the amount of your winnings throughout the year when you paid the $5. This is an idea borrowed (shamelessly stolen from the Yanok's game) which I and others really like. Nay-sayers can opt out, or kiss my ass whichever they prefer. So for some the price of poker will remain the same. For others I guess they're getting a $5 rebate. I don't know that I explained it very well, but it'll make sense after the first couple of tournaments for the year. I guess I get around to too many other poker games out and about and have become accustomed to the myriad ways that people host their games. Having played host now for a few years, I most generally keep my mouth shut about things when I play elsewhere. There are times when the host will look to me for a ruling or at least an informed opinion, and I can tell you more often than not my reply is... "It's your house, your word is law!" I've found this to be the best approach, never to contradict. Go with the ebb and flow of the game. Ultimately encourage hosts to read up on the subject. Over the years, I've taken the most of my cues for running a poker tournament at my house from HomePokerTourney.com. I used to be active in the forums and had several "friends" but work and other things took priority and so I've become more of a lurker. BUT, routinely come tournament time at cheer_dad's house behind the Tournament Clock window on the laptop, I've already fired up the browser and have the HPT site up and running, always at the ready with Robert's Rules of Poker, Payout percentages, and many of the other finer points of tournament play. There's a wealth of information there and I encourage you to check it out and use it for yourself.

Now, a detour from the tournament discussion. I played a little (okay Big Red would say a lot or even too much) online night before last, on Bodog. I was 4 tabling it in the kiddie pool section... okay it was .10/.25 Full Ring NLHE, max buy-in per table $25. I had been up earlier in the session, but dammit I'd planned on playing some cards and rarely will I quit before logging at least 200 hands or so. I ended up finally cashing out at around 350+ hands for the evening. For all my hard work, I was up only a couple of bucks and I was exhausted! This had to have been one of the most frustrating and trying sessions I've ever had at the tables. There were 3-4 players at the tables that I was seeing throughout the 4 tables I was playing. They were the loose-aggressors. They were having their way at the table. Obscure stuff too. Early position raises, with garbage despite the fact the 4-5 players were seeing the flop. I was watching preflop legitimate bets being thwarted by reraise All-Ins all over the place. Yeah, SB .10, BB .25, under-the-gun makes it .85 to go, and then WHAM some one in mid-position shoves for $25 or much more. Not just a one time thing but often. So, that was something to watch for. Then, I can't tell you how often I had pocket Aces!!! The odds of looking down at Rockets are like what, 220:1. I played around 350 hands and I know I saw 'em at least 7 times among the 4 tables! The kicker is... on 2 of those I was the BB, AND it folded back around to me, when every other hand normally had 4-5 players to a flop. Or my minimum raise got too much respect. I started having to play in a much more deceptive manner. I lost a big chunk at one table when I flopped a K, when I was holding AKos. I failed to keep the pot smallish, with just a pair. And I was at the mercy of the guy in front of me, who I couldn't really decide if the ever escalating bets were merely continuation or if he really had the goods. I've noticed lately a greater online move by players to go for the All-In jugular much too often, but more often than not they got the goods to go with it. SO, I was erring on the side of caution. Maybe that night, I was the fish... maybe. I didn't lose money, but for the level of effort it sure felt like it. I guess it could have been worse (a lot worse) but I had then sense to finally call it a night and hope for a better session the next time. There are things that I would like to try, should I run into those same players ravaging the tables again, which given their assessment of me on the night, could become profitable to me should they fail to re-evaluate my play, and stick to their guns. So, this one session was merely part of the "metagame" you know that one long poker game that we play throughout the course of our lives. Where not just the cards and chips in front of you are at issue, but the thing you did that one time, two or three sessions back against that same guy, or some other guy, that comes to mind. ALL of this ultimately influences the next move and then the next and so on.

I'm making my head hurt... but in a good way. Again, ya buncha degenerates NDPT #1 for this year is January 23, 2009 7:00pm at my house. The Yanok game precedes me on January 9th. Yeah, you'll all see me there too. Gotta build the bankroll for Vegas Baby!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad