By lakong on September 6th, 2007 (more posts by author)

I haven't played a live tournament since the end of June during the World Series of Poker. It's hard to believe it's now been over two months since I've played. How did that happen? I had planned on playing a few Legends events at the Bike, but it never worked out. Between vacations, kids events, party commitments, etc., I just never had 2-3 days. Why 2-3 days? Most of these tournament require 2-3 days. While I often could make the first day of a tournament, it would become a big issue if I made it to the following day since things would get very sticky if I had to cancel plans. Last year I played a Legends tournament and my wife was leaving at 6:30am in the morning with some friends for a weekend with the girls. I was doing great and made it down from 400 runners to about 50 when a critical hand came up around 4am. I had no good reason to call an all-in raise by my opponent, but I justified the gamble with the rationale 'how was I going to watch my children, if I was to stay alive in the tournament?'

I'll be playing at the Commerce in a $545 CA State Championship event at 7pm. The complete schedule is listed here. While I haven't been playing, I have been reading about, thinking about and discussing lots of poker lately. I'm looking forward to trying out some new strategies I've been thinking about trying. Stay tuned for an update on my experience.

- S