Saturday, September 20, 2014

Dealing Final Table

I was asked to deal table 1 last night....the final table.  This basically means that you are there until the bitter end, usually between 10:30 and 11:00.  A little late for me, and way too much dealing, but...I had a nap and will basically never turn down a dealing request as too few people want to do it and it is my little part of supporting the main organizers.

The table had the wild child from last week who ran up his chips then busted out.  I had a little better cards than last week, but not much, and lost my tournament seat when down to about 12 players.  I open shoved with KQ off and was called by a big stack with A9 suited.  Could not find a pair and his high card prevailed.  I only had about 4 big blinds having come back from 1.5 blinds on a shove with AJ, turning a broadway straight with three callers.  Nice try for a comeback but not this week.  I watched the big stack who knocked me out try to make a deal with 3 players left....offering to take 1st and have them chop the balance.  They refused the deal, one was eliminated, then he went on a big losing streak heads up and ended in 2nd place.

A couple of quick observations:
1.  People play way too loose early in a tournament.  Saw lots of limping, calls with garbage, unplayable early position hands, etc.
2.  That said, I missed a huge opportunity by not limping in small blind (lots of limpers, so great pot odds) with 3/8.  Flop came down 3/3/8 and it was bet by wild child and raised big by the eventual tournament winner.  My shove there would have either eliminated him (or me if he caught his kicker).

Finished the tournament around 10:30 and got exactly $40 in tips, so it was a cost free evening for me.  The talk was about the "big" tournament in Seaside this week.  $200 buy-in with 23 players.  The wild child got 3rd for about $800 and two of the other guys chopped $3200.  I chose not to play as that is a pretty expensive tournament for so few players.  Would rather save the money for Wildhorse later this fall.

1 comment:

7 Dewey said...

I wholeheartedly agree that people play too loose early in tournaments. I know this is one of my major flaws and I'm really trying to work at it. At least you got to play (and work) for free LOL. I really have to try one of those tournaments someday. They sound like fun.