Arrogance and Greed at a Final Table

Pokerstars.com has this tournament called the Sunday million where thousands of hopefuls shell out 500 bucks for a chance to win $200,000+.

I was watching the final table and when it was down to 5 players, they talked of a possible chop. A chop is basically where they sum up the prizes for 1st to 5th and chop them in proportion to their current chip counts.

From the computation, the chip leader would get 150k and the other 4 would get somewhere around 100k-120k each. The chip leader, however, balked and asked for 20k more to get him to 170k.

The others didn't agree to do this and play went on. It dragged on as the chip stacks were deep compared to the blinds and antes. The chip leader lost two major major pots. At the end, he was eliminated in 5th place and went home with only 59,000.

So, he went from about to get 150k to going home with just 59. Losing an astounding $90,000. And that's because he wanted 20k more.

Arrogance and greed in it's raw form...

Free Expense Tracking Site

I've been tinkering with Google's iGoogle page where you can customize your page with small widgets. They include to-do lists, calendars, newsfeeds, etc... I found one that I think is very useful--an expense tracker.

The widget version is a plain-vanilla one and contains only basic features. The good thing with this is if you want more functionality, you can go to the author's site for more functionality. And since you will have to save data, you must provide a username. If you are not comfortable with providing data to another person, then you will be served to not use this.

I might try it for a few weeks, and see how much disciplined I will be in tracking my expenses.

Marathon Man

A couple of months before, I've talked to a friend about joining the Seattle marathon on November. Half seriously, half jokingly, I offered to run it with him.

I've been going to the gym a few times during that time and I think it would be a great idea to gauge your level of fitness by joining a marathon. Of course, I didn't realize how naive I was on what's really needed to run a marathon. In my mind, it wasn't that hard, since I "ran" one when I was in highschool. I ran a 10k one. On the contrary, an actual marathon is 42k.

Yikes! This is something I should take on more seriously. I researched on the Net and found a few regimens I can use. I definitely am not looking for those tough regimens. I am not looking to finish the marathon at a blistering pace, but simply just finish it. Good thing there was one for novice level. And I'm planning to follow that.

So, last Saturday, I ran for about 3.5 miles... It was a nice run. I notice immediately that this can potentially hurt my knees and ankles. But so far, they've held up. I just need to be careful and up the distance over the weeks slowly.

Then I had another run 2 days later which is for 3.1 miles. I thought it was going to be easier, but it turned out to be a lot tougher since the route I chose had a lot of uphill to it. My knees hurt.

But surprisingly, that's not what hurt the most. It's my mid-section.

Now, a few friends offered me an explanation. One said it was because of my breathing--in a marathon, your muscles are exerting an effort just to keep up the breathing. Another said it was because I swing my arms when I run and thus stretch those muscles. Well, whatever it is, it was the most sore part. But otherwise, I was happy my knees or ankles weren't giving me any problems.

So, that's that. It's a great start, and I'm excited of the thought of particating in a marathon. Hopefully I can continue to ramp it up...

Razz Champion

*cue "We Are the Champions" in the background*

I finally got a win! w00t w00t!

I've talked about a tournament just a few days before about a 2nd place finish. That was frustrating to me, because I was so close. The good thing is I learned a few tricks here and there and the mental discipline needed from that experience.

Funny enough the loss didn't really bother me except for that night. I completely forgot about it. I didn't expect to get into another final table for maybe more than a month.

[Early Tournament]
Last saturday, I casually entered another tournament. And since I had no expectations I just played loose and aggressive. The result was I became a short stacked right from the bat (lol). Oddly enough I caught two good hands in short succession that put me above my starting chips. After that, I figured to lie a little low and let the action come to me.

[Mid Tournament]
I built my stack to be one of the somewhat bigger stacks, maybe in the top 15% of the players.

[Late Tournament]
I can't believe I was still alive at this point. There was a point here where I got somewhat short stacked... I think there were were about 16 players left at this point, and I was probably around 14th place. Luckily, I got a few good hands when I caught people trying to steal the pot. Those big hands catapulted me to 2nd place around this time.

As we marched on the final table, however, I couldn't catch cards and all I could do was watch my big stack turn into a middle stack.

[Final Table]
Before the final table, I was feeling confident that I would see it again. There's still that possibility that I can be eliminated before that comes though. I've seen it happen many times. Big stacked players losing it all in 2-3 big hands that lost. I still could not make it if I'm not too careful and get trapped.

I couldn't catch cards for probably the last 15 hands dealt. (each round, you have to put in your ante, so your stack will dwindle a little bit each hand) Thankfully, I could afford to be patient as my stack was big enough.

Come final table, I was 4th out of 8 players. I was feeling uneasy. Could I do it again? In my previously final table, I even started lower--6th place I believe, and because of that, there was no pressure and I just started hacking away at people. But this time, it was different. Instead of looking to attack, I was looking to defend my position. I didn't want my stack to dwindle.

30 minutes of intense and tense play, we eliminated 2 people. We're down to 6. The thing about this tournament by the way is that only the final 4 get money. So, players are a little bit passive and want to get into the money.

A key hand came where a guy tried to steal the pot away from my bring-in. I'd have to go into specifics on this one. Basically in Razz, you're trying to form the lowest 5 card hand possible, given 7 cards dealt to you. Pairs are considered bad.
I showed a J, he was showing a 3.
4th Street:
I showed JJ, he showed 3Q

Now, at this point, most players would fold JJ. But to me, him having a Q gives me a lot of chances to outdraw him.

I don't remember the rest of the cards. I do remember I ended up with a 10-high. And it turns out it was a total steal on his part, as he showed KK on the hole, giving him a K-high. That crippled him and launched me into the chip lead.

For the first time, I was the chip leader at the final table. It was a good feeling. One thing I noticed once I become the chip leader is people stopped playing back at me. Instead, they play passively whenever I'm in the pot. It's a great position to be in.

After this, I didn't relinquish the position and pretty much mowed over the competition. There was a moment in heads up when I still had doubts if I can close this one out. I had about 65% of the chips in play, so I had him dominated 2-1. But still, anything can happen in heads up.

After the last hand, it was a relief. The doubts before were answered--I *could* close it! I have finally gotten a win!

A Single Desire

Awakeness is inherent
in all things and all beings
everywhere
all the time.
This awakeness relates to every moment
from innocence
from absolute honesty
from a state where you feel
absolutely authentic.
Only from this state
do you realize
that you never really wanted
whatever you thought you wanted.
You realize
that behind all of your desires
was a single desire:
to experience each moment
from your true nature.

-Adyashanti