Finally. Blew up in my first potential qualifying round thanks to poor chip management, didn't quite have my head in the game. Had a great opportunity to split on my final hand but came up a lousy 25 dollars short, so I couldn't do anything but stand - and ended up placed second. Then I won my re-buy qualifier, and won my semifinal table. My final table experience was very cool. Unfortunately my cards were not. Plus, one guy at the table seemed to get a BJ every time he put out a max bet and I decided to chase. That ended up being a poor decision as more conservative play would have probably put me in 3rd instead of 4th, about $300 better take. But I wasn't the first to go out, I feel like I learned a lot and handled myself respectably. My only negative on the night were these two foreign dudes who kept ignoring the rules, trying to string bet, etc. In this tourney they do a count on hand 20 so we know where we stand, the dealer told them their count and when they went around the table to announce it to everyone they conveniently forgot. I probably made a pain of myself insisting that their chips be counted again, the dealer just kinda guestimated their totals, and I said "they have my exact count, I want theirs." Dunno if that was overly rude or not, but didn't seem like an unreasonable request, got a little bit of resistance but then another player backed me up. I really enjoyed myself and I am looking forward to doing it again. Nice having a money finish, and looking forward to more.
Congratulations on your first final table! Quite a heady experience, wasn't it? Keep playing, you'll become greedy for it! As far as the dudes who were bending the rules, don't worry about calling them on it. Matter of fact, if you get someone like that at your table - call 'em on it, then call 'em on it, then do it again! If they persist, don't be afraid to ask someone with higher authority than the dealer to personally oversee the game. They are not only trying to cheat, but they're also trying to throw you off your game by making you concentrate more on their actions than your own. You can return that favor by having the "heat" hovering over them.
congrats CONGRATS ON YOUR FIRST FINAL TABLE APPEARANCE AND SOME MONEY YOU WILL BE HOOKED NOW-KEEP LEARNING-THIS IS A ONGOING LEARNING THING TO DEFINE YOUR GAME-THE FINAL TABLE IS ALWAYS A GOOD PLACE TO BE ON YOUR OVERALL ATTITUDE TOWARD THE GAME LEARNING FROM YOUR MISTAKES IS ALSO VERY FRUSTRATING ALL IN ALL I THINK YOUR ARE HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION ENJOY YOUR NEW FOUND HOBBY I HAVE BEEN AT SINCE MAY OF 2005 AND STILL LEARNING-THIS IS A GREAT HOBBY AND PASTIME BUT SOMETIMES PRETTY DAMN EXPENSIVE SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS A RICH MANS GAME BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS PARLAY YOURSELF UP TO THE LARGER TOURNYS
It was way different than any tournament table I had ever played. Honestly - and especially because I was getting **** cards - I had one goal, and that was to not go out first. I did that! I tried not to set my goals too high and I exceeded them. Lots of fun. Any BJ player who disses tournaments clearly has never TRIED them.
