Getting back into a tournament play groove
Believe it or not I have actually been playing a little tournament poker this week. For those who know me well or follow my poker career, they all know that I have not had a chance to play a live tournament since the World Series this year. That means 4 months of no tournaments at all. So here I am at the Bellagio Five Diamond WPT event. Not only is it 4 months since I have played any poker tournaments but it is also 3 years since I have played a WPT event. I was involved in a dispute with them that got settled this year so I am pretty excited to be rejoining that tour.
On the completely out of practice note I don’t think people realize how important it is to be in the rove in these tournaments. I found the first day go by very slowly, which for me is very odd since poker time has always passed very quickly for me. I think I was having a lot of difficulty getting back into the swing of it, back into the rhythm of the table, the rhythm of calls and raises and folds and breaks and banter. By the end of the day I was feeling more in the groove but I am not sure I ever really got my feet under me. I have lost a bit of that rhythm and that rhythm is so important to feeling when to call, when to raise, when to fold in any give hand against any given opponent. I imagine it will all come back really quickly but I was definitely out of sorts.
By day 2, I found myself just not reading my opponents well. On both days I did fine. I didn’t do anything stupid and I played a very solid game. But that feel I usually have that allows me to pick up that extra edge with moves that require a sort of sixth poker sense it definitely rusty. I don’t think people usually think of poker as a game that you need to be in practice to play well. I imagine they just think you sit at a table, hope for good cards and play. But I am finding out keenly that this is not at all the case. Not even close. I have always known that but I have never taken this much time off from tournament poker so right now I am feeling that groove or lack thereof really sharply.
One of the main places I am feeling it is in knowing when to flat call a hand preflop and when to reraise. My timing seems to be off with that and I have found myself flat calling hands that I really should have put the pressure on with and reraising a few where I stepped into the fourth bet and had to fold. I am usually pretty sharp on my timing with that kind of thing but it is rusty for sure right now.
So I have to head into day 3 of a tournament where first place is $1.5 million and hope that after 10 levels of play I have my feel back when I walk into the room tomorrow. That is a big ask and a big hope but I am optimistic. That fact that I haven’t impaled myself on my own rustiness yet this tournament is encouraging. And I definitely have felt like my reads are returning as the tournament goes on. I am planning on playing a ton of tournaments before the WSOP so I believe the spring will sharpen my game enough for me to really be in stride of the most important time of the poker year. If I am not in shape in June then my poker year will be screwed. So let’s hope I don’t completely dump off on the way to tuning up for the summer.
hey cheers for that… very informative – i’ve added your blog to my netvibes account – thanks