Life As Nick Starr

I play in local poker tournaments that are free. The first prize awards a certificate, second place gives you additional starting chips the following week. Every quarter or so, there is a regional tournament for all of the certificate holders. Starting off at $10,000 in chips, each additional certificate is an additional $1,000 to start off with. I had more certificates then I could find, but I did end starting off with $17,000.

I started off folding for quite some time, not getting anything even worth calling a poker hand. Early on I had AA, bet $1,200, when the blinds were $200/$400. No one called. A few hands later, I had the same hand. In the small blinde I raised to $1,200 and the big blind and one limper called. The flop was J/4/8 (rainbow). I bet somewhere between $2,000 and $3,000. Big blind folded, limper called. On the turn, a blank, I went all in. The limper pondered for a few minutes, and eventually called leaving me with only $3,000 left if I lost the hand. He flipped over KK and didn’t catch a King on the river. I was now around $35,000 in chips.

I continued to grow my stack to $40,000 at break, and $50,000 by the next break. I got up to around $65,000, with only 20 minutes left until the end of the day. Once the blinds reached $4,000/$8,000 they called it a day, counted your chips, and you qualified to come back Sunday for the finals. There were tournaments Thurs night, Friday night, Saturday morning and evening. I played Saturday morning. In an unopened pot, early position raises to $16,000 (big blind was $4,000). I re-raise to $40,000 with AK of hearts. He goes all in after pondering for a few minutes for around $50,000. I am make the call and see his 77. His pair held up, and I was left crippled. In a desperate move, the next hand I went all in after just seeing the Ace of spades (yep that’s what we call tilt). I had A/9 off, and the chip leader called with KK. I caught a 9 on the flop, and Ace on the turn.

After that I chopped a few pots with ace high against the board pairing with a player who often was caught bluffing. I ended the day with $25,000 in chips. Not great, but the only one from Midtown Sundries (where I play) to qualify in the morning shift.

Last night I spent the night in Sarasota, can’t really find anything to do here, but I did make it out to one of the most beautiful poker room’s I’ve seen down at the Sarasota Kennel Club.

I will post how I do tomorrow, with some players with over $100k in chips, I’m going to play as tight as I can, and hope for the best. Either way, it’s been a fun experience.