What if you had a poker tournament and no one showed up?

The above photo I took is a shot of Harrah's Casino near where the poker room is.

The Friday night tournament I played in had only 26 players sign up and play. This tournament used to have 80 and 90 runners. The fact that the economy is really down the tubes is evident in everything. I hope it doesn't get any worse than this.

On one hand I was in late position with ♣A ♣J. There was one limper to me and I made a healthy raise. The limper called. The flop was 9-x-x and he checked. This didn't look like a flop that would help him. I forget my stack size, but I bet enough to put the other guy all in. He thought for a long time, then folded and showed me a 9!

On another hand I limped in with some bad hand that I don't remember now. The flop was 9-9-3. That didn't look like it hit anyone, so I fired at the pot to try and steal it. The next guy behind me raised. I pretended to think for five seconds, then folded. The guy who bet, now showed pocket 9s, he had flopped quads. Nice bet. Thanks for raising me and running me away. Quads, huh? Yeah, they were probably good.

One more hand. Fairly early when the blinds were 100/200/25, I picked up pocket kings in EP and bet 800. I got three callers! This is good! The flop was A-x-x, this is bad. It's almost a lock that one of those crazy ass poker players guys had an ace for sure. The first guy checked, I checked and the guy behind me made a large bet. The other two folded and I obviously did too. Say after me: weak and tight, weak and tight. Write it on the blackboard 50 times.

I had started with 10,000 chips with 25/50 blinds and 20-minute levels. After two and one-half hours, we were into Level 8, and the blinds were 600/1200/100. My stack had been as high as 18,000, but the blinds keep eating away, and I was down to 14,000.

There were 7 players left at two tables. It folded to the button who bet 10,000 (his stack was around 15,000). I had ♥K ♦Q in the small blind. Why would he make such a massive overbet? He had enough chips to make a regular raise. I decided he had a small pair, something like 6-6 and wanted to win the pot right there. He could also be on a steal. Twice I had seen him make a big raise with K-J, not exactly a powerhouse, and he could have some hand like that or A-rag. I finally decided to play with him, and so went ahead and moved in, knowing he would call. He turned over ♠9 ♣9, not too surprising. He flopped another 9 and it was all over for me.

I know I looked like a dope because it didn't work out, but I don't feel bad about it. Normally I wouldn't want to race for my tournament life, but at some point I would need to accumulate some chips and this seemed like a good chance. If I win this race, I've set myself up to have a good shot to win the tournament. A stack of 26,000 at the final table would have been average and this pot would give me more than that.

A guy name Bill was there with a tee shirt that listed the 10 commandments of poker. It turns out he wrote them for a contest for a web site (see below). I took a photo for both readers. It's a little hard to read, but you can click on it to take a look.


Since he was nice about letting me take a photo (during one of the breaks), I told him I would pimp the site where they sell them. You can buy one or look around if you click here. It's called Learn Poker from the Joes. Apparently there used to be two guys names Joe, but one of them bailed out.

One more photo of a facility on the Harrah's property called Kids Quest. This is an arcade for the children of grown-ups who come to play. I'm gusssing the kids lose less mobney$ than their parents.