You've got to hand it to the Americans...they've now come up with another way in which to 'gouge' as much rake as possible to the ever present poker afficianados when it comes to playing tournaments!
The latest wheeze to hit these card rooms and no doubt soon to appear in our own European backyard is the tournament 're-entry'. The days of rebuys are over....you now have to 're-enter' which may not seem like a big deal...after all its only a change of word right...until you realise that the 're-entry' actually means you have to pay the reg fee again AND another few $$$ to get any bonus chips going!
This wonder was explained to me at a $95+$5+$30 ($130) tournament at Ceasars Palace on Friday night where I'd done my initial stack playing As-3s and missing my nut flush. The sign said it was a 're-entry tournament' so when I shouted chips and took out another Benjamin I fully expected the floor man to appear with another load of chips and a cheery smile. Instead I was told I had to physically go back to the cashiers desk and 're-enter'!
'That'll be $130 please', said the cashier, as I redrew a different table.
Commies....the lot of them!!
On Saturday, now having understood the rules of a re-buy tournament, I played in the DEEP stack (50k) event at the Mirage. Blinds stared at 500-500 so you still only got 100 BB's to start with. I ploughed through those like a tourist and 're-entered' with some winnings I'd won earlier with the Mirages 'bad beat' where if you get two 'same colour A-A' beat you 'win' $150.
After a quick moan about how I'd done 50 bucks with my A-A the kind dealer had shouted 'Jackpot' and a nice lady appeared with $150 giving me a $100 profit...anyway I digress...
Another $50k later and I was done with tournaments with the day and spent the next 4 hours playing the 'Sex & The City' slot machine and losing a grand total of $80 playing $2 a spin!
Sunday brought an event I'd been looking forward to and that was the Omahi Hi-Lo - $350 game! I'd not realised though, until I bought in, that the game was LIMIT! Feck me you couldn't lose a single player in ANY pot until the river card had made someones high hand, low hand or they missed entirely. While that may have been fun for the first hour or two once the blinds had reached 300-500-1000 (yes they have this level in Las Vegas) then my chip stack, which had reached a nice looking 18k (from a starting stack of 10k) suddenly didn't seem so high.
The following hand defined my day...
In BB I held K-K-Q-2. Five players called the 500. I raised to 1000. The next 3 players called. Player 4 raised to 1500. We ALL called. 7500 in the pot.
Flop was Kd-Qd-7h. Having made top set I bet out 500. There was an IMMEDIATE raise to my left to 1000 and two callers. I raised to 1500. The immediate player to my left made it 2500. One player dropped. One called. I made it 3k...capped...and both of the remaining players called. Over 12k in the pot already! Four of us in the pot at this time.
Turn card was the 8s. Nice card for me. I bet out 1000. Player to my immediate left calls. Player to HIS immediate left raises !!!!!! Player 4 drops out. I make it 3k. Player to my left calls. Player to HIS left raises!!! I cap it at 5k. Both players call.
They're now almost 30k in the pot. I myself have put in almost 8k and the one card I DON'T want to see on the river is a DIAMOND. What happens....the 3 of bloody DIAMONDS drops! I check. Player to my immediate left bets out. Player to HIS left just calls???? and I, of course, plop in another 1k chip to see that the player to my left has the Ad-4d while the player to HIS left holds the 10d-Jd!!!
What a fecker!! The 33k plus pot drifts to my left and the 8k I have left gives me one shot left which, needless to say doesn't last long. My time at the tournament table was over 5 hours and I got peed on from a great height!
Poker ehe...don't you just love it!!
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