My first tournament win at a casino!

Bankroll: $2,380.05

I played the tournament again at Casino San Pablo and won first place! I'm feeling pretty good about my play now. Heh, there were some fun moments at the casino. I was playing $3/$6, while waiting for the tournament sign-ups, and check-raised this one guy. He wasn't very happy about it and left the table for a little bit to steam. My mentor introduced me to him later and it turns out he's the guy I'll be sharing a room with during the WSOP this summer. Well, at least we know each other now

The first table at the tournament was pretty intimidating. I got unlucky and ended up sitting next to a bunch of guys who made it to the final table with me last week. One guy in particular had me intimidated and was just dominating that first table. He bullied me around quite a bit in the last game, so I was on my guard. When our table broke up, we were moved to the next table and I got to sit to the left of that bully, giving me position on him. It took one key hand, where he tried to bully me with a bluff, to give me more chips than him. A round later, he tried the same thing again and I busted him for all his chips. That was satisfying.

His chips gave me just enough to maintain a nice lead into the final table. At the final table, everyone was just pushing all-in nearly every hand. Someone would push, everyone would fold, and the pusher would take down all the blinds & antes (which were huge at this point). One guy pushed and I almost called him with KJ, but decided to wait for a better spot. He told the table that he only had a trash hand, but needed to make a move before he got blinded out. The very next hand he was in the big blind and I was in the small blind. It was folded around to me and I had Q6.

I could push all-in, but I knew I'd only be called by a better hand. I really wanted to know if he had a good hand or not, so I just made a nice sized raise (I had enough chips to just raise without going all-in). I figured, if he goes all-in he probably has me beat. If not, he'll just fold. He called, which let me know he had something marginal. The flop came 7Q7. I figured I had the best hand, but what to do about it? If I bet, he'd probably just fold. But I knew from the previous hand that he was perfectly willing to bluff with all his chips. So I just checked. Sure enough, he pushed all-in and I quickly called. He turned over A4 and my hand stood up. I knocked him out of the tournament and scored another mountain of chips. A few rounds later, we were down to three. That tournament ends when there's three people left, and since I had the most chips, first place was mine.

I've been telling some people about my recent wins, but the responses I get are really starting to irritate me. Here's a sample:

“I'm glad you won, but I'm really starting to think poker is just all about luck.”

Well, thanks jackass. Sorry for thinking my studying is starting to pay off, when obviously I've just been getting luckier the more I play. This is from a guy who I played poker with in a home game. He was pretty lucky in that game, winning 20 pots in a row. He definitely was getting better cards than me, but the two times I had the better cards I took all of his chips. Must be luck.

”Gambling is bad for your soul. This one time we were in a casino with some friends. I won a bunch at the slot machine, but my friends lost hundreds playing blackjack. It ruined the whole trip.”

Ok, how is this relevant? I don't play games where the house has a built in edge. Mathematically, you're always going to lose in the end. In poker, you're playing against other people. The better players have an edge over the weaker players. It is not the same thing.

“My prediction? You're going to keep moving up in stakes and then go bust.”

I've tried to explain that the stakes I play are always proportional to my bankroll. It's simply not possible to lose all of my money in a single evening. It would require a very long losing streak, during which I'd drop down in stakes. But I guess people keep picturing that scene in Rounders when that guy loses his entire bankroll in one evening. That's not reality, people who play like that are destined to go bust.

“Poker has just an illusion of skill.”

So not only am I destined to go broke, but I'm delusional too. Thanks for the encouragement.

“I can't encourage you, because I knew this one guy who was severely injured and got a large settlement. He lost all of it playing poker. Now he's disabled and broke.”

While this is indeed a sad story, there is simply not enough information. Did he study? Did he play within his bankroll? Was he playing games he could beat? That last one is obviously a no. A majority of poker players lose, only a small percentage are consistent winners. Why do I get compared to the person who keeps losing? Someone got all of that guy's money.

Anyway, enough ranting. I've done better than I expected this year and I'll continue to study & practice, as delusional as that sounds. At least there are three people in my life who believe I'm actually doing well: my wife, my best friend, and my mentor. All three have seen me improve and give me the encouragement I need. I'll probably have to win a million dollar prize to convince the others.

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Chumps.

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You could win all the money in the world, but that wont help them to understand what they refuse to learn.

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Good play in the SB.
Poker is a skill game.

Sometimes you don't get cards to use your skill but luck is a much smaller part of it. you just need to win enough to stay well ahead of the rake.

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Congratulations!!

Poker IS a skill. If it was just based on luck you wouldn't see pro players consistently do well in tournaments. You mean to tell me all those pro players get lucky EVERY time. Yeah right.

Feel happy about your win, Pac, don't let the haters bring you down.

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Dude, you're hanging with some weird people! Those are some seriously wrong comments about poker, and not very supportive.
Screw them!! You are doing absolutely fabulous, your progress is remarkable, the hard work paying off.
I would hate to sit at a table with you for all my money!!

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