Oh If I Could Only Get Some Sleep (2)

As I said in a comment below, we haven't really got the hang of multi-day tournaments over here yet. Let's have a look at the two tournaments this weekend.

Gutshot/Sporting Odds kicked off their beanfest an hour late, I'm sure they were doing their best to start on time but it didn't happen. Adding two tables next door took some extra time to set up and also extended the time it would take to reach the last 18. At least they didn't make it 11-handed. Anyway, the lucky 18 bagged their chips at 7-30am. They must have been lined up under starters orders. "You have six and a half hours to get home, get some sleep and get back here again. Starting from ... Now !". Of course, some may have been in hotels, which wouldn't be so bad but bear in mind that's another £60 on your expenses, win or lose.

At the Vic, they made everyone assemble at 2-30 on Friday, only to tell half of them to come back again on Saturday. Doesn't anyone realise what a pain in the arse it is to fight your way through London on a weekday afternoon ? Maybe they were concerned that anyone drawn on the second day in advance would try to duck out. And quite rightly, seeing as they would be at a gross disadvantage in my opinion.

This works in America for two reasons. 1) They start at noon. 2) Almost all the players have rooms in the same building or somewhere close by. It clearly does not work in Central London. I can't play poker at 3am. I can barely see the cards. That's not an excuse for being eliminated last night, but it's a fact. I don't know what the solution is for cardrooms, but I have a fair idea what the solution is for me.

Personally, I didn't play well yesterday. I didn't have much to do until the key hand came up. At that point I didn't give enough thought to what my opponent held (to check-raise the pre-flop raiser). I'd still have done the same thing if I had, but that's not the point. The process is what counts. I struggled with 30 hands/hour when I'm used to 120. I was irritated by the number of people who knocked my shoulder or even my ear going back and forwards behind me. These are little things that shouldn't bother you when you're in the right frame of mind. I'm annoyed today to have done £550 all told, and taken 8 hours of my time to do it playing 90 minutes of poker. Against Willy Tann and Burnley John, when there are hundreds of people online who barely know that a flush beats a straight.

So you're welcome to it for a while. I'll have to get some practice in live before going to St. Kitts but that's all it will be. Live and learn ! Good luck to Richard G at the Vic today but he'll have a job finishing ahead of Tony Bloom who would have to be my favourite.

Finally many congratulations to Keith and Katherine on the birth of baby Jake. You can see a picture here. A poker wedding and a poker birth in two weekends ! What's the world coming to :-)