Satellites 2


Perhaps the most fundamentally flawed proposition in poker is attempting to satellite into a re-buy tournament. Only bad things can happen.

This thought crossed my mind as I won my seat in the £100 rebuy PLO FTOPS tournament on Saturday at the second attempt. I might have got in for $24 total, but what exactly did I think would happen when I got there?

If you can't afford to buy your way in, you shouldn't play in a rebuy, simple as that. At best you are scared deadmoney money trying to find a big hand which may or may not result in doubling up. If successful, what happens when it comes to adding on?

At worst you will end up rebuying and causing lasting damage to the bankroll. The further you go, the more likely you are to feel obliged to rebuy or add on, with the chances of cashing still miles away.

With this in mind I decided to double up or clear off, no rebuys, no add on. I failed in all respects but did manage to drag myself away after busting for the second time with just one wasted rebuy. So £124 wasted which would have been far more profitably spent elsewhere. Lesson learnt.


Bubble boy


I did manage to get to a final table in an $11nl tourny last night on FTP (7th for £110), which makes me feel a bit happier.

I have been bubbling tournaments (particularly $8 PLO tournys on Pokerstars) regularly for the last 2 weeks, so I tried something different - not looking at the prize money at any stage. I knew what 1-3 were going to get but not anyone else. I think it worked I didn't worry about the money or getting knocked out at all, just getting chips.

Having said that if I had known that the jump between 7 and 6 was $50, I might not have gone all in with 22 UTG when shortstacked with 6.5BB, I might have tried to wait out the other shortstack who had 5BB. But avoiding negative thoughts like that was the point of the exercise. Whether or not the 22 move was bad idea anyway, I'm not sure.

Incidentally the fear of failing to reach the money has not had anything to do with my persistent bubbling in PLO tournys - in fact the opposite is true - I seem to have an uncontrollable urge to play like a mad man in those as the bubble approaches.