Daniel - Poker Journal
I’m Going Home!!!
16 Jan 2005
I’m finally going home. After a trip to Bahamas, a detour to Grand Rapids, and a brief stay in Atlantic City I’m finally going home to be with my little buddy Mushu. Oh, and my mother and brother who are also out in Vegas right now.
I haven’t been away from my dog for this long ever. I don’t normally take such long trips anymore with out going home but I couldn’t get home till today. I’ll get to spend a week at home and then it’s a quick trip to Tunica.
When I heard about the structure for the event in Atlantic City I was very disappointed. Frankly, I wouldn’t have gone if I knew how fast paced the structure was. For a $10,000 buy in event I just don’t think it’s feasible to get it done in three days. We started with 10,000 in chips but skipped the all important 25-50 level. The blinds went up every 70 minutes rather than a more customary 90 minutes.
So going in I knew that this tournament just wasn’t for me. A tournament like that benefits tighter, “old school” type players. It takes away a lot of the strengths players like myself, Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, etc have which is playing after the flop. This event is designed for the move in specialist and I have no interest in screwing up my game in events like that.
I went broke in the first limit with 2-3 of diamonds. Actually when the money went in I had the best hand. The flop came 3-6-Q with two diamonds and I was up against Ac Qs giving me 14 outs with two cards to come. Ok so my pair of threes wasn’t the best hand, but with the draw I had my hand was a favorite over the A-Q.
I missed and was kind of happy about it. I know, I know bad attitude, but if I’m not going to win the tournament I’d rather get home to my dog.
So I’m at the airport now anxiously awaiting the long trip home. I had a great time in both Bahamas and Grand Rapids, but I can’t say that my experience in Atlantic City was all that pleasant. When I got her last night I was on a mad scramble trying to get a room, I had to head over to Borgata to cash a check, and somewhere along the line I’d need to get some sleep.
The news about the tournament made matters worse for me. Unless the structure improves dramatically over the next few WSOP stops I don’t think I’m going to travel for them. Playing with my dog would be time much better spent.
