Long Day's Journey Into Night
I played in the Golden Nugget's $240 NLHE deepstack "Grand" tournament today. It started at noon, and I busted out at about 11:30 pm, 18th of 201.
Here's the good news: I played my A game throughout. I was very pleased with the quality of the decisions I made, including several big laydowns, a couple of hero calls, and a few appropriate major re-raises or shoves. I do not know how to play poker any better than I played today.
Every big hit I took, I had my money in good. People had to beat the odds to beat me. Had the cards fallen my way I would have had an enormous chipstack heading deeper into the money. I have no regrets about my choices in this tournament.
The bad news: my net profit from almost 12 hours of playing was $80.
I am tired (really tired), but at peace. One of these days, I firmly believe, my good decisions will be rewarded proportionately, and I'll make a boatload of money.
The structure for the Grand series is exactly my sort of game: generous stacks and very gradual blind level increases. It rewards patience, observation, and strategic thinking. These tournaments are a VERY good value for the money. Their payout schedule, on the other hand, was ridiculous this evening. They paid 27 out of 201, with the bottom 7 getting their buy-in back. Ten hours of poker to get your money back??? They originally announced they would pay 18 and they should have stuck with that. If you make the money you should be guaranteed a profit on your buy-in.
The Nugget is also nickel-and-diming tournament players in a disgraceful way. The drinks service, for example, extends to soda, water, tea, and coffee only. If you want alcohol or Red Bull, be prepared to shell out additional cash. What's more, the Golden Nugget makes non-guests pay to park in their garage. That is just DOPEY, in my opinion. They should be doing everything possible to make it convenient and pleasant for people to play in their joint.
Tomorrow is a logistics and recreation day. My lodging situation has been sorted out (more on that in a future post), and I need to go shopping and stock up my larder. I'll also be seeing the Cirque du Soleil show "Love" in the evening, which I'm really looking forward to. I feel that I've finally got my feet under me, and should be able to get the kind of nutrition, sleep, relaxation, and exercise that will allow me to do my best.
Labels: Grand, tournament
posted by Cardgrrl @ 11:59 PM
7 Comments:
And I see your internet situation has also been resolved.
Looking forward to more updates!
/j.
As a close-up witness to the last, oh, 6 hours or so of this, let me just add a couple of notes. Cardgrrl had three really big all-in hands, and had the best of it each time, but lost two of them (Q-Q vs. A-7 and A-Q vs. 7-8). (The winner was 9-9 vs. A-J and A-Q, tripling up.) The opponents in the two she lost both made stupid plays and got stupid lucky. One of them would admit it; the other made himself look even stupider by vocally defending his action. She was rock solid throughout, and never made a bad decision that I knew about. It was impressive.
I have a question regarding things that help you stay mentally focused as a tourney wears on. Recently I played a 200 NLH at Mohegan Sun in CT. only 34 entrants. We did not chop at the end and played til the finish 7hrs and 4 minutes. I was mentally and physically exhausted. 4 hrs is a piece of cake for me now. I start to get loopy at 5.5 to 6hrs. Is it just endurance or are there things that I can do to help stay super focused as a tourney drags on in time? You dont have to answer now..I realize your quite busy at the moment.
If a downtown casino did not charge for parking, its ramp would be full of cars from those who work downtown and there would be few if any spots for hotel guests and those who come to play in the casino.
Congrats on your cash. Sounds like you made the right decisions and thats all you can do. I am really surprised about the drink service. Talk about being cheap!! Not sure why the Nugget would do that. It's not very good PR.
1. I just LOVE the Eugene O'Neill reference.
2. Congratulations on the cash! I know that you were looking for a deeper finish, but it sounds like you played fantastically. That big score is on the horizon. I know it.
3. Glad to hear that your lodging sitch has finally been resolved. That sounds like it was a horribly distracting nightmare.
4. Enjoy the show tonight! You deserve a night of non-pokery fun.
5. When are we gonna hang out again?
6. I have no idea why I went with a numbered list for this comment. Oh, right, I'm at work. We just love numbered lists at work :-)
Most casinos downtown do not charge for parking these days. Even the Plaza finally quit making you get the ticket validated.
I'm not surprised that the Nugget is making people pay, though. They nickle-and-dimed the dealers who dealt their inaugural tournament last year, too.
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