Well, the day started out good as I held ATs in the button, action folded to me so I popped a raise to 250. Blinds were at 50/100. SB folds and BB calls. Flop comes J59, rainbow. BB checks. I fire out 500, he calls. No worries, I’ll get him on the turn. The turn comes Qx, BB checks, I continue with a 500 bet. I hope he folds, f*** no, he raises to 1K. Oh shit. He must have a Q. Again, f*** him, I call. River comes 8. HAHAHAHAHA, I caught a straight. BB puts in ½ his remaining stack. I move all in. He flips over JJ for a set, I turn over my T and show him the straight. The lesson here: Every donkey has his day when a bluff turns good. Oh well. Life goes on. And f*** JJJ.

IBGPN

After a few more bust outs, our table breaks and I get moved to Table 4, Seat 4. To my right is a dude that reminds me of IBGPN, because he is wearing an Arkansas shirt, with a stain on it that I can only assume comes from a pig’s ass, as he straddled that live bacon to get some. Not sure how they let this guy into the casino. Security is lacking. Oh well, what can you do? I just hope he took a shower in this century, but it might be wishful thinking.

ChrisHiter

And the guy on my left looks exactly like the twitter douche known as ChrisHiter. This knucklehead is wearing a shirt that says “I’m with Stupid” and has an arrow pointing up. What a table. Stupid shirt guy drooled a bit on himself and the cards. New deck please.

Both these guys are short stacked, so they’ll be out soon. In fact, in the next hand, Mr. Inbred Jed of Arkansas goes out when this 89s was no match for KK with a K on the board. What was this cousin f***er thinking? Who knows and who cares. Oh well, he’s off to f***his aunt mom. No worries.

Next to leave the table was our very own stupid shirt guy. This guy actually tried to bluff 73o after a raise and a re-raise in front of him. Both he and the original raiser flat call. Flop comes out Ah6h6c. Reraiser moves all in, and after much thought and drool, our friend ChrisHiter calls his remaining chips. Other guy folds. Reraiser flips AcQh and wins. The lessons here: If you like to f*** cousins and your aunt mom, you suck at poker. And if you drool on your cards while wearing a shirt that proclaims you are stupid, by all means take a seat next to me.

I would eventually get to 3rd in chips and as the final four, we agreed to chop. I walked away with a bit more than $150. Not bad for two hours work. I guess the final lesson here is this: No matter how bad I suck at poker, I can still walk away with money at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa.

In poker tournaments, the poker stakes continuously grow and this determinates the players to adjust the way they play constantly. If they loose all chips, they have to leave the game. Throughout a tournament, some tables are eliminated, and the remaining players have to move around between tables. Many times, some players are already all-in before they even get the first card. Furthermore, the method of distribution of prizes makes the objective of a player to be different from the outcome of a regular game.

If you have a small amount of chips, you can’t afford risking them also by raising when your hand is not that good. Still, there is a paradox that offers enough opportunities for reverse psychology. When you chips are low, the other players will not call or re-raise you unless you hand is really good. This happens because they assume that you won’t be bluffing given the circumstances, and they won’t play against you when their hands are small because they think they won’t gain too much. So, your bluffing chances increase in this case. On the other hand, a player with a whole bunch of chips will be willing to play against you, because he won’t be risking too much and can get you out of the game. This is why knowing your opponent is especially important during poker tournament games.

When you play with a medium chips’ pile, you will have to take some very difficult decisions, because you are trying to enlarge the money you dispose of being careful at the same time not to lose all the chips. In general, it’s best to play the small pots and to avoid the very big ones.

Even when you have many chips you still have to pay attention, because your opponents will expect you to play more aggressively and they will try to catch you in a trap for a double bet. With many chips, you can afford to risk more. In No Limit Texas hold’em you can use them to put pressure on the opponents by betting, raising and re-raising.

If you are in the last stages of a tournament and you still have many chips, then you have an advantage that you must properly use. Only then you will be allowed to stand aside and play a bit more loose until you smell the money. You will have many opportunities to steal pots in poker games, because your adversaries will play carefully, trying to avoid getting poker bankrupt (Read this useful article about poker bankroll management). It’s best to play very aggressive and avoid confrontations with those players that have themselves many chips.

Before getting into any poker live tournaments, it’s recommended to spend a few hours playing online, just to get the necessary experience. Online you will be able to attend tournaments with re-buys or without re-buys. The usual online buy-in varies from $1 to a couple of hundreds, and so does the price. These online tournaments will allow you to gain the necessary experience, which can prove very precious when you get into a poker live tournament.