The Frustrations of Tournament Poker

I know. I know. Poker tournaments are ridiculous. You get in with the best hand time after time and eventually some numskull sucks out and you lose all your chips and out the door you go. It seems just ridiculous. All luck. Play for hours or even days and get nada.

I hear it all the time and its true. You need to have a very thick skin to play tournament poker. If you are cashing in one out of every five tournaments you are doing very well. But the suck outs over and over and over again can test anyone's ability to stick with it.

I just finished two rather frustrating examples myself. I'm in a shoot out. (A tournament where you stay at one table until three players are left then it consolidates into a regular tournament.) I breeze through the shootout phase. The next day there are 70 players left out of 204. That means that 20 get paid. I churn, grind and bluff my way down to 23 players. I'm short stacked. It's folded around to me on the small blind. The big blind is a gambler. I have A9 of spades - a 76% hand. The blinds are too big to just call. It's either all in or fold. I couldn't fold. I'm just the type of guy who has the hardest time playing soft. It might have been the best play, but I was playing to win, not simply to cash. I went all in and the big blind called me with 55. Two spades on the flop all the cards above a five. The turn pairs the board. I have the maximum number of outs or close to it - 21. But I don't get there and out I go in 22nd place.

Then two days later I'm in a $600 event. There are 99 players. I get down to two tables. Only 9 get paid. We are now down to 15 players. I'm on the big blind and short stacked. Under-the-gun (1st position calls). Two others call. I have 9/10 of diamonds. Now I could go all in, but I know the 1st position guy has a big big hand. So I check. The flop comes J/8/3 rainbow. I go all in with my open ended straight draw. The 1st position guy calls immediately. The rest fold. He has KK. A ten on the turn. More outs. Blank on the river. Home I go in 15th place.

I kick the dog and punch the wall, but really I'm not that upset. I made the right plays. I got lucky on a few coin flips along the way and I went as far as the cards could take me. Poker tournaments go like this: lose. lose. win a little. lose. lose. lose. lose. win a little. lose. lose. lose. lose. win a little. lose. lose. lose. win a little. win a little. lose. lose. lose. lose. lose. lose. lose. win a little. win a little. lose. lose. win a little. lose. lose. win a huge amount! lose. lose. lose. lose. win a little.

It's just the nature of the beast. If you played well. Won some coin flips. Bluffed successfully a half dozen times or so. Then you did all you could do and you should be satisfied. Its kinda like the salesman who knows he needs to call a hundred prospects to make one sale. You just have to shake off the losses. If you can't then tournament poker is not for you. Tennis anyone?