That’s my new slogan. At least for the next two months. Tournaments are definitely -EV for me at this point. If I’m going to reach my goal, I can’t keep giving my money away in tournaments. I was “suckered” into another one last night. A $30+3 on UB with $5,000 guaranteed. As I logged into my account and looked over the tables I noticed this tournament had 109 people and only 5 minutes left to register. Top 20 places were paying and unless 167 people entered, UB was going to be adding a decent amount of cash to the prize pool to reach that five grand. For some reason I thought UB cut off registration 5 minutes before the start of a tournament so I signed up. Well, 71 other people must have been thinking the same thing. When the tournament started there were 181 people and UB didn’t have to put up any dough. What at first looked like a 1 out of 5 people win money deal turned out to be no deal.

For the first three levels I saw exactly 0 hands out of the blinds. All I could find were unsuited low cards or marginal cards out of position. I think I managed to win one hand when I made what I thought was a great move with my big slick after the flop only to be called by another big slick and split the pot. As always seems the case, I ended up going in on a draw and lost. Out in 81st place. When will I get it through my head not to put all of my chips on the line for a draw? I do it over and over and over again in tournaments and it just doesn’t pay off. I always bluff at the wrong times too. I guess a draw is a semi-bluff, so no difference there. So the tournament set me back $33 or about 8 BB at my regular $2/4 game. Nothing huge, but it slowly eats away at the bankroll.

That’s it though. No more. I’m vowing to not play another online tournament (except WPBT events of course) until after the goal period is over and I can study some tournament strategy. I like tourneys and no-limit, but I suck at it. I know I suck, but I’m still playing and giving my money away.

I also played some of the $2/4 6-max games last night and lost about 30 BB. It’s always the same thing when I lose. I don’t want to show fear, so I call down a raiser or a check-raiser with my 2nd best hand and lose precious bets. Call it the “I don’t want to be bluffed syndrome.” Sometimes I feel like an incompetent plumber. I know the faucet is leaking and I know how to fix it, but I just sit there with my ass crack hanging out. Drip…drip…drip…

I made the final table in the limit tournament and finished 9th in a field of 162 for a $32.40 profit. My Mrs. Slick went down to a guy who called two raises pre-flop with his pocket threes and hit a third on the flop. I played well but didn’t really get any hands until when I was down to my all-ins. I couldn’t even get a hand to steal the blinds with. I did make two moves that allowed me to get to the final table though. An aggressive player on the button raised when nobody else entered the pot. I reraised with my pocket fives and bet the flop and turn to put myself all-in. I figured he was on a steal and he end ended up foldin the turn. Another time I stood my ground against a steal with TJo and bet the flop and turn again with no help on the board. I was all-in, but the player folded and I doubled up. I started the final table as the 9th stack I think, so it was going to be an uphill battle and I needed to double through soon with the blinds so high. You can’t win them all. I’m happy with the way I played and didn’t make any bonehead moves, so that’s always a good sign.

It’s kind of nice to be able to enter these cash tournaments with Ultimate Points that you earn while playing the real money tables at UB. Great practice and you can’t beat the price! I think I’m ready for the WPBT tournament tomorrow. Watch out for the defending champ! Boy, I’ll be glad when I can stop saying that. I can already feel the pressure to make a decent showing tomorrow. I’m pretty sure last time was a fluke. The other bloggers really are much better no-limit players than I am. I just happened to get cards at the right times.

I ended up 23 BB to the good at the $2/4 table I was playing, so it’s a nice positive day for the bankroll again. I had doubled my buy-in (always for 30 BB) in the first hour, but then my flopped set of 6s got beat by a 2 outter on the turn by a bigger set in a 19 BB pot (I’m glad the player ran out of money early on the turn). From there I didn’t get any hands for quite some time. I made a few steals, but the key was keeping my composure unlike last night. I was forced to fold my chip stack all the way back down to even, but stuck to my game and came out on top in the end. Imagine that…you do better without tilting.