So, I was in a poker tournament last night (really - not a dream, not a poem, not a very tall tale! haha).
And out of 25 original players, I made it to the final table of 7.
But then I was to the first go, albeit after quite a few hands. :D
Two things about the game:
1) This was Texas Hold 'Em, where each player gets two cards of their own and the rest of the cards dealt are community cards in a 3-1-1 "flop, turn, and river."
2) The small blind, big blind, and minimum bet size went up every 20 minutes.
At certain points over the course of five hours, I had one of the largest stacks of chips on the table and was actually leading by a modest margin at one point (based only on eyeballing the stacks).
However, I am used to five-card and seven-card stud, where the cards are all yours, even though some are dealt face-up so all can see.
So thinking about how Hold 'Em changes the strategy, and especially bet sizing before the flop. This is when each player only has two hole cards and no one sees anything else. I was too conservative and the ones who stayed in went big on this at the final table.
Go big or go home. And some of them did go home! The winner won by a huge margin in the end. The dramatic separation came when the blinds went to 4000/8000.
Will be reading a bit more on strategy in the weeks to come, but if anyone here plays, happy to have insight.
And even if you don't play, feel free to add creative nonsense, anti gaming diatribes, and music to the thread.
(Because I know you probably will anyway!)
Edit: Just to clarify - this was for a good cause and no one lost tens of thousands of dollars at these tables. So, no worries... Hehe.