I’m currently 15 minutes away from participating in my very first online poker tournament at PokerStars, which is something I’ve been planning for the past month. Being a cheapskate, I looked for the cheapest tournament I could enter (a No-limit Texas Hold ‘Em event with a measley $3.30 buy-in). I must say I’m pretty excited. So far, 500 other players have registered, and my modest goal is to at least make it past the top 60 cut-off point. I don’t really expect to win big, but I’d like to think that I have what it takes to at least finish with a bit more money than it cost me to play.
The champion of an event of this size gets 21.75% of the total prize pool, which would be around US$330. Not that I’m saying that would be me, of course, but it sure is nice to dream.
I haven’t participated in any kind of live competition since my Magic: The Gathering days, a game which I was only marginally good at (I did make it to the finals of 3 tournaments, and took home some small prizes though). Will update this entry as play progresses.
UPDATE #1
Ok, we’re at our first 5-minute break, and about half of the field of 794 players has already been eliminated. I was a bit overwhelmed during the first few hands and proceeded to lose 1/3 of my chips to bad calls. Thankfully, I made one big all-in that allowed me to bounce back. I’m nowhere in the top 100 at this point, but I’m still playing, so that’s something I guess.
I got moved to a different table after the first 20 minutes, and am currently the short stack, after mistaking a check-raise for weakness. The limits have gone up twice already (currently at 50/100) and I’ve only got about 1,600 to my name. I don’t know if I’ll be able to hit my goal with this tourney, but it’s been incredibly exciting so far :)
UPDATE #2
Well, I’ve been eliminated at 187th place, still quite a ways away from the 127th-place bubble. It turns out that the winner of the tournament takes home a hefty US$500, which is pretty decent all things considered. I’m going to try again just as soon as I have a chance, as this was some of the most fun I’ve had online since Starcraft :)