12:17am: This was a great post I found on PocketFives, and decided to post it as an article here. If gbmantis has a problem with it, I will remove it no questions asked. I think he hit the nail on the head completely in respect to why we play the game. Someone told me today that they felt I played too passive (no names). If I could have posted a response in the PokerStars chat box, this would be it. Like I said before, grinding isn’t pretty. It isn’t for glory, fame or to live a pipe dream. It’s to pay the bills. Enjoy everyone.

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So i took 11th place in a WSOP event the other night (yeah, brag post blah blah whatever), got my heart broke by bubbling the son of a bitch, and my mind got wondering…….Why the fuck do we as poker players put ourselves through this shit? Obviously its all for the glory of the bracelet, or maybe even just the glory of taking down a $3 mtt like when I first started, its all the same…..as Herm Edwards quipped, “We play to win the game!” But are tournies really worth playing for the joy of it when you win? Does the “hapiness” that you receive from winning 1 in 100 or 200 tournies or whatever outweigh the other 99 times or so that end up in failure and frustration?

I went into thought about this at the pool today for quite a while and I really dont think that it is worth it. Or at least it isn’t worth it if the reason you play is to win the game. But what if the reason you play isnt for the win? What if you play to make the most money, to give yourself the greatest amount of total happiness, and improve your life, and give yourself additional freedoms? I think thats the reason why im playing poker professionally these days. Does anyone here honestly think that the most money is to be made in MTTs, whether online or live?

Additionally, is anyone going to make the argument that grinding MTTs professionally is a healthy lifestyle? You arent making your own hours when youre an MTT pro, you’re a slave to the schedule. You play when the big tournies are. If the WCOOP main event falls on your mothers birthday, ….you have to either be a bad son or a bad poker pro that day…. someone is gonna be unhappy, either you or mom. Cash games allow you to schedule your poker around your life. With tournaments, you schedule your life around poker. That’s no life, it really isn’t. It’s hollow.

Poker is a great game, the best one in the world, it really is, but there is more to life than that. I truly believe there are few MTT pros who are truly happy in their life. Many rich, few happy.

So why play tournies? Is the transition to cash games really THAT difficult?

Obviously, “tourney donks” will struggle when they first make a transition to cash games. The whole goal of the game is different, its not even the same game.
But a good poker player is a good poker player, I truly believe that. I think all of the best tourney players would be studs in cash games if they put in the time to learn.

I guess the only reason why I’m not a cash game personally is because of the dreaded downswong. They can be freakin brutal in cash games…..seriously uber freaking brutal, obviously. But you can go busto just as fast playing MTTs if youre not smart with it and play within your roll.

No real reason for any of this, just wanted to share my thoughts on no limit texas hold them tournies on the interwebz (and in real life i suppose).

In the end, I guess I really think tournies are super lame, and they promote and contribute to unhealthy lifestyles. I think after this WSOP im gonna learn cash games and pwn some n00bz. Is that even possible, or should i just stick to my day job?

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

6:33pm: With just four registrants, we decided to run the tournament because it was an even field. The first round featured KingMoush (moushegh on HFL) vs. thedrjayman (Johnnyvegas on HFL) and Jdbizzie (jdbizzie on HFL) vs. myself (trujm).

The first match between Moushegh and JohnnyVegas took around 20-25 minutes, while the first match between Jdbizzle and myself went on for nearly 45 minutes. I don’t go into the 75/150 blinds very often, but he took me there. In the end, the blinds were too high and he was forced to shove with A2, only to be called by my AJ suited. The hand held, and I moved on to the second round.

In the final round between Moushegh and myself, I missed around 90% of the flops that came out and Moushegh took the match without any real contest from myself. The match lasted about 25 minutes, and ended as my 66 couldn’t hold up against his KJ and Moushegh took the match and the prize money ($36).

The good news for everyone is because the field was so small, we all received a portion of our money back. 2nd place allowed me to break even (minus rake), and 3rd and 4th paid out $12 — resulting in a total net loss of $10, including rake, for those who lost their first match.

I was somewhat disappointed in the turn out for the HFL tourney, considering we have over 800 members to this site. That being said, I’m sure it being father’s day had something to do with it — in addition to the buy in being a little too steep for some. We will hold another HFL tourney next month, with a buy in that is a little more managable ($5). Hope to see A LOT more of you then!

Good luck to everyone playing tonight.

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

2:58am: HFL’s first ever tournament will take place today at 5:00pm EST. To register for the tournament, click “Tourney” then “Private”, and then find the tournament (”HFL Heads Up Tournament”) in the list of tournaments in the middle.

The buy in is $20 + $2, with 1,500 starting chips, 10/20 blinds and 10 minute levels. The payout structure will be the standard structure for all similar tournaments on PokerStars. If we have at least 20 people, I will add another $50 to the prize pool.

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Session Results:

Tonight was not a good night for me heads up. I started off the day as per usual (4-3), but then lost most of my remaining matches to finish 7-9 overall. There were a number of bad beats, but the worst luck of all was the fact that I kept playing players with winning statistics all night long. I wasn’t able to turn things around, and will end the night on a losing note.

I look forward to a better day tomorrow and hopefully a good showing in the HFL tourney. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! Good luck everyone.