Monday, April 27, 2009

I won the readers' HORSE tournament!

OK, well, I suppose that headline requires a bit of explanation. I didn't win in the technical sense--you know, as in being the last one left with all the chips. But that's an awfully narrow, snooty, exclusivist way of understanding what it means to "win," isn't it?

I won in the "Dewey defeats Truman" sense--an event that one had every reason to expect would happen, and then just didn't quite.

I won in the "had the most fun" sense. (I was thinking of saying that it was great but didn't last long enough, but then I shuddered when I remembered other contexts in which I have heard those words.)

I won in the same sense that modern schools make sure that every kid is a "winner," getting some sort of stupid ribbon or trophy that says "future winner" or something else equally vapid.

I won in the sense that I outlasted Cardgrrl, an important goal. OK, well, technically, once again, this isn't quite so, but I neglected to getting around to making the last-longer bet with her that I had planned to, and which I would have lost, so that means that I effectively won.

I won in the sense that I wasn't the first one out. Not quite.




See? There I am down there at #24, proudly having outlasted a full 14% of the field! I iz awesome.

Here's my inglorious bustout hand:



I was well and truly sandbagged into thinking I had the best hand, until it was way too late. Congrats to amjamieson59, who has already been transferred the $10 bounty I had placed on my own head.

For some odd reason, the other players didn't all just pack up and leave after I was out. They wanted to keep playing. Kind of strange if you ask me. I mean, really, what's the point? But they insisted.

Here's how the final hand went down:





Kudos to Sauza 262 for the W and for picking up a pretty decent $112 payout (for less than two hours' work).

Also a big "ty" to Cardgrrl for volunteering to bubble, so that everybody else could make the money. Very generous, that grrl. (Her observations are here.)

I have to say that I was disappointed in the uber-fast structure, even though I generally like PokerStars better than any other online site. In fact, it was exactly because I had discovered how much better Stars' HORSE single-table-tournament structure was than the competition (see here for details) that I just assumed, without checking carefully, that the same would be true for multi-table tournaments of the same game. Gadzooks had warned me that this would be so, in a comment to the tournament announcement post, but by then it was basically too late. Oh well.

Next time (whenever that may be) I'll probably move it back to Full Tilt, and also go back to NLHE.

DaFoundation emailed me this lovely screen shot from his first level. It's nice to know I have made some converts to the Gospel of the Holy Deuce-Four.




Thanks to all for playing. Frankly, 28 people was a lot more than I expected, and it delighted me. I wish I could have acquitted myself a tad better, but overall I still think I came out of it winner.

8 comments:

Bob / Sauza said...

Bob,

Thanks for hosting the event. It was great to play with some AVP'rs, Cardgrl, and everyone else. I NEVER expected to get into the money, since I was on the ropes once or twice, ok, 3 times fairly early in the game. It was a big scooped pot in Stud 8 that got me back into the game, and from then on I had a comfy stack to play with.

Thanks again, and I look forward to June, the AVP, WSOP, and DSE. I hope I get a chance to thank you again in person.

Sauza

gadzooks64 said...

I had intended to play this event but medicating a nasty cough that kept me up the night before caused me to hit the sack early last night.

Glad you guys had such a good time without me!

I'll do my best to make the next one.

WSOP Floor Supe said...

Thanks for hosting a spot for all of us to spend an enjoyable couple of hours. The damn draw games were the death of me. Except for the uber fast structure fun was had by all.

Looking forward to the next time.

genomeboy said...

Bob,

Wished I coulda made it, but my "roll" is all on Full Tilt. I look forward to the next grumpament.

Maybe I'll run into you this week. I'm at the Bellagio for a poker bender starting Wednesday-Saturday.

Jason

Alex said...

I'll take credit for launching Cardgrl on her comeback. I had her all in after 5th street on the Stud Hi/Lo but the two Aces she got on 6th and 7th street killed me.

Will also second the disappointment with the structure. Very quickly became a matter of picking a hand and going with it come hell or high water.

Paboo said...

Thanks for hosting.. was fun. Was on a heck a heater in level 1. That 24 hand I raised with one limper and called the SB's 3 bet. He had AK and was in a world of hurt with me holding the holy grail of a hand.

Harley raped me in the last couple levels and awarded me 3rd bubble boy.

Next time.

Paboo

amjamieson said...

Thanks for hosting this event and thanks for the bounty. I wasn't expecting it

Sorry for the sandbagging but that's the way i normally play and had to figure how to get the most chips from this hand on 5th street.

amjamieson59
mikek14--an AVP'er

Unknown said...

I dunno what you're talking about, I left as soon as you busted out. By which I mean, I went on a bad streak in the stud round and was broke.

On the other hand, at the same time I was losing in the grump tourney, I multi-tabled a 2-4 win!