West Side Poker Tournament of Champions -- here comes the blue chip

Oooooooooooh the blue chip, that special chip saved for when I just play like a complete ass.

This had to be some of the worst poker I had ever played. I showed up hoping for a field of at least 70-80 players and only 50 showed. My head was kind of sore at the start of the day, and I really didn't feel like playing for some reason. I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the venue, I guess I'm getting used to undergrounds having real tables, dealers, etc... Just to get my initial feelings about the setup out of the way -- the venue wasn't heated which was crappy, the tables were just kitchen tables, no felt and no rail at all. A few times cards slid onto the floor. Overall my waking up not feeling like playing wasn't combated by the lack of poker tables, etc. Top spot was only $2300 for a $160 buy-in, I was expecting more like $5k+, this didn't help either. Even with the short 50 player field I would think top spot would be $3-$3.5k.

Enough whining for now.

As for my play, the tournament had a great structure, start with 10,000 chips, blinds at 25 50 and 1 hour blind levels. I was impatient, cold, my head hurt...but basically I just played like shit. My table was 7-8 handed until I busted and was mixed with a couple calling stations, a couple of players wayyyy too tight to be playing successful tournament poker and a couple decent players. Lets just put it this way, first hand we are 7 handed and I look at AQs UTG. I make it 150 (3bb) to go, button calls (turns out to be a calling station) and blinds fold. Pot just under 400. Flop is 7hi rainbow and I bet 300 or so. Button calls. Turn is a lovely Q, I bet 800 or so into a 1000 pot, button calls. River K, it's early in the tournament and I have no clue about this player yet, I make a weak play and check and he bets 500, I call and he flips KQo for runner runner 2 pair. And that was one of the better hands for me in the tourney. I had NO, I mean NO cards in the 3-4 hours before I busted out. I should have sat back and waited and waited, the blinds were only 100 200 when I finally busted out, but I played frustrated and I didn't really feel like playing at all.

Obviously optimal strategy would have been to wait for hands against the calling stations, for some reason I just couldn't sit back and play a patient game, I really just beat myself.

Hey, here's an idea -- how about playing 10 20 to 20 40 like I'm supposed to be this month?

Man, these step tournies on Party are addictive and kinda fun, basically top 4-5 always get reseated at a given level and top 2 move through, so you play tight until 5 players left then you can play like a complete idiot with no real risk...fun! Well, kinda fun...I just droppped from level 4/5 in the ministeps down to level 2 when AA got beaten by QQ all in preflop.

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