I went to play at the weekly River Rock Casino’s Texas Hold’Em tournament last night. It’s only my second time playing at a casino tournament and I felt like I played really well up until I got into a weird mindset after coming back strong from being short-stacked and made a terrible play that knocked me out of the game. When the hand was done I literally looked up and thought out loud “Why the heck did I do that?” Andy Zieger thinks I was still in “desperation mode” from the short stack mode and hadn’t turned off into a more careful style of play, and I think he’s right. Oh well, lesson learned.
Other than that huge mistake, I played very well and stood up against some really experienced players and their attempts to bully me at the table. I bullied them right back a few times and I think I got some respect — at least until my final bonehead play.
Oh, and as I was waiting around for the tourney to get started, Roberto Luongo walked in and paid his entry fee. I never got to play at his table, but he outlasted me. The guy who knocked me out was his friend (not a hockey player, trust me) and they had arrived together. It’s a bit surreal to go “Hey, isn’t that guy one of the best goalies in the world? Oh yeah, that is him!”
It would have been fun to play against Luongo. The obvious jokes would have come out:
“Not even *you* could have saved that hand, Roberto!”
Then various comments about him trying to *pad* his hand or *mask* his intent, or taking a *shot* at the pot.
On second thought, I probably would have just annoyed him.