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Pre-tournament thoughts

The tournament restarts at 12:00.  According to Harrington, I am in the Yellow Zone:

1000/2000 blinds = T3000 per orbit

M = 42,900/3000

M = 14

My Q is about 2.  This should make for an interesting day.  I think people are going to go out pretty quick because the blinds escalate quickly from here.  Also, my table went from bad to fairly good over the course of three hours - and they do not plan to redraw for tables to start today.  I would much rather be at a different table, but I have to deal with what I have.  I am at table #9, so all in all, I should be moved fairly early on.  They will break table #10 first, then we will be next on  the list.  I would expect to be moved within the first level or two. Play continues until 4:00 or until the final table.  The final table starts at 4:30 in the old poker room.

Right now, I must go eat - and get in the Poker Zone.

After we got up from our long day of travel, we made our way down to the casino to register for the poker tournament.  We registered and got a T-shirt, a hat, and a pen.  They said that they were expecting about 200 people for the tournament.  We also received a copy of the rules and blind structure.  The rules are the pretty much TDA rules, so there were no surprises.  We ran into several people last night who were playing in the tournament as well.  Most were pretty cool, but there were a few arrogant schmucks.

The final structure looks like this:

25 minute blinds

T10,000 starting stack (I think - there was no indication of the starting stack in the papers we got)

Play starts at 6:00pm and goes for three hours today.  Tomorrow we start at noon and go until 4pm at which time there is a 30 minute break.  The final table starts at 4:30 in the poker room.

Prizes are as follows:

1. $10,000 cash + $1000 lodging allowance + championship bracelet ($10,000 value) + WPT Battle for the Season Pass Entry ($4200 value)
2. $5000 cash + Championship ring ($4000 value) + World Poker Showdown  Bahamas Main Event Entry ($2500 value)
3. $2500 cash + Championship Ring ($4000 value)
4. $1500 cash
5. $1000 cash
6. $600 cash
7. $500 cash
8. $400 cash
9. $300 cash
10. $200 cash

When 5:30 rolled around, Donna and I made our way to the Salon.  We found our tables and got settled in.  The tournament started with 100/100 blinds.  An announcement also said that they planned to play 6 levels or down to 100 people. 

I scoped out the table.  My initial reads said that there were 4 good players (including me).  It was not more than 10 minutes into the tournment when I picked up this hand in the cutoff:

A person from early position made it T500 to go.  I called.  Everybody else folds.  The flops comes:

The guy in seat #4 (who raised preflop) bets out T500.  I really need to find out where I am, so I raise it up to T1500.  He smooth calls.  I think he has a Queen, but is unsure of his kicker.  I do not like mine either.  A Jack kicker is not exactly a hand I do not want to go to the mat with.  The turn is:

This gives me a flush draw in addition to the top pair (with a crappy kicker).  Seat #4 checks.  I make another probe bet of T1000.  He calls.  I do not like my hand anymore.  The river is:

This card is definitley good news.  It gives me the second-nuts.  Seat #4 immediately goes all-in.  Wow - was he playing AQ or does he have the king-high flush?  He cannot have KJ of spades because I hold the Jack of Spades….  I put him on two pair and make the call.  He flips over:

I bust the first person in the tournment!  Way cool.

For the first two levels, I got hit over the head with the deck.  I could do no wrong.  It was a pretty good feeling.  We played 4 levels and then took a break.  At that time, Donna had T6000 in chips and I had T47,500.

Not more than 10 minutes after the break, Donna came over and tapped me on the shoulder.  She was out.  As for me, I did not get any cards to play in the next two levels.  We played down to 100 people, then the tournament was stopped until the next day.  I ended with T42,900 chips.  We started with 213 people, meaning the average chip stack has about doubled to T20,000.  I have twice the average stack, so I am in healthy shape.

Tomorrow we start at noon sharp with the blinds at 1000/2000.

More updates tomorrow!

When Donna booked the room, we immediately started watching for airfare. As it turns out, the flights to Nassau from Miami / Ft. Lauderdale are only about $70, but the taxes are another $90! Can you believe that? The taxes are more than the flight itself. Geesh.

We were able to get a flight from Albany, NY to Fort Lauderdale for $120 round trip each on Southwest Ding! Fares.  Way cool!  Our flight left Albany at 6:45 am, and we arrived in Nassau around 5:30 pm.

Upon arrival, we had to get a ride over to Cable Beach. The fare was $15.  The last time we were here, we took a shuttle which was $17 per person per direction.  I guess we are going to take a cab from now on.

We arrived at the hotel and the weather was beautiful!  Mid 80s, humid, and a nice breeze from the ocean.  We checked into our room, and it was just as promised - an ocean view from the casino tower.  perfect!  Here is what we see from our balcony:

Notice the stools in the pool on the left side.  You can actually stay in the pool, swim up to a stool, order a drink from the bar and never have to leave the water!  How cool is that? 

Donna wanted to play table games for awhile so off we went.  Her favorite game is Caribbean Stud Poker, however, they did not have that game here.  Imagine that - we are in the Caribbean and they don’t even have Caribbean Stud Poker.  We ended up playing 3 Card Poker and Let it Ride until about 2am.

Tonight the poker tournament starts.  I am excited - VERY excited!

We cannot wait for the poker tournament to start!

Donna and I have been to the Cable Beach Resort in Nassau, Bahamas a couple of times. The first time was when I played in the World Poker Tour Battle for the Season Pass I.    Donna loved it so much, she wanted to go back there for our honeymoon. So we went, and of course, we played in the casino. As a matter of fact, we spent a lot of time in the casino. We were very aware to use our players card when we played. When we were done, we ended up having over half of our room comped for us!

In July, we received a mailing from the Cable Beach Resort saying that we qualified for FOUR free nights at the Wyndham Resort and Crystal Palace Casino.   We both figured that the room was for a Sunday through Thursday stay, but we could not find that fine print that said such. So Donna called them and to our surprise, the four free nights were valid ANY TIME through the end of October. This was a pretty good deal because rooms go for about $170 per night plus tax. We looked over the schedule of events, and picked out target dates: September 27 - October 1. There was an “Everyone Wins Holdem Poker Tournament” that weekend. The operator verified that there was availability that weekend, and we booked an ocean-view room for a whopping $0. The only thing we needed to do was to find airline tickets.

Next on the task list was to find out more about the poker tournament.   I called the telephone number on the website and found out that the tournament was by invite only. The operator looked me up and said that Donna and I did qualify, but had to pay a $99 entry fee. She also told us that everybody who entered was given $100 in casino free play money. In essence, it was a freeroll.

I quizzed her on the payout. They pay the top 10 places according to the following schedule:

10th: $200

9th: $300

8th: $400

7th: $500

6th: $700

5th: $750

4th: $1000

3rd: $2500

2rd: $5000 + Gold ring valued at $2500

1st: 2008 WSOP Main Event Seat + $1000 cash for travel + Diamond championship bracelet valued at $8000

WOWIE! Not bad for a freeroll. I was curious about the chip stacks, blind structure, and number of players. She reiterated that not just anybody can enter. Entry into the tournament is by invite only. When I pressed about how many entries there typically are, she said about 150. Every player starts with T10,000 chips, the levels are 20 minutes long, and the blinds start at 50-100. I do not like the 20 minute blinds, but everything else seems great.

When asked about the playing schedule, her response was, “You play on the first day for three hours. If you do not bust out, you come back the next day for another three hours. If you still have not busted at that point, you take a 2 hour dinner break, then come back for the final table. The final table usually lasts another three hours.”

Am I hearing this correctly? You start with 10,000 chips, 150 people, and the tournament is over in 9 hours? Very Nice!

So, we are off to the Bahamas to play in a freeroll! We leave on Thursday the 27th. Check back for updates!