Knocked Out

Well, I lasted into the 5th level today. I only won a few pots, all of them when people folded to bets that I made. The only showdown I was in, I lost, and it knocked me out. The blinds were at 200-100, I was running low on chips and felt I had to go all in on the "next good hand" that I got. I got KQ and went all-in with my 600 remaining chips. Unfortunately, two others in that hand had aces, and the both went all in also. One had AJ and the other AQ. An ace came up on the flop, then no other cards of consequence. The AQ knocked out both me and the AJ to win a huge pot.

It was a great experience. The players were of such a high caliber--very high skill level, no displays of anger, no "splashing" chips into the pot by tossing them, everybody helping the dealer keep the game moving along, players making change for others when somebody needed chips of a different denomination. There were 3175 in the tournament, which is still going on and will end on Tuesday with the final table. I figure I outlasted about 1000.

I saw 8 knockouts (besides my own), and 4 of the 8 were won by the player who had the lesser hand to begin with. For example, I saw AA knocked out by 555 and QQ knocked out by JJJ. That's the beauty and excitement of no-limit hold'em--fortunes can change in a second, with huge swings in momentum, and even though you play the probabilities the best you can, luck plays an element. The fact is, a hand with a 60/40 advantage does lose 40% of the time. That's what probability means. 

Coming up: Sue will get here on Tuesday, and we always have fun in Vegas. Our friends from Texas arrive on Thursday night, and on Friday, Roger and I will play in the Senior No-Limit Hold'Em championship. It will be the same format as the tournament I was in, and it should have about the same number of players. Roger is an accountant and figures the probabilities in his head, something I cannot do. He used to beat me more often than not in our old neighborhood games. It will be interesting to see how well he does in the big dance on Friday.

So far, the experience in this "bucket list" item has more than lived up to my hopes. Thanks Sue!!!