Paint
Flight B of the Millionaire Maker is today, so I have the day off as I wait for the Day 2 restart tomorrow. But after being out of the game half my trip, I'm still eager to play. I head to the Wynn for a single day tournament.
The tournament has thirty minute levels and a steep blind structure. It'll only draw a couple hundred entries, mostly recreational players staying at the hotel. Play is characterized by limped pots, unconventional bet sizes and telegraphed tells. Sharks are scarce.
One man confesses it's the first tournament he's ever played. A few hands later he pushes all his chips into the middle, with a cry of "gamble gamble!" He misses his straight flush draw and leaves the tournament area with a broad grin.
I do well in the first few hours, adding to my stack slowly but reliably. But the blinds catch up and I run into immovable opponents with premium hands. I'm back to a starting stack, now thirty big blinds deep.
A player to my right opens and I re-raise all-in with pocket jacks. It folds to the opener, who thinks for a full minute before painfully turning over pocket queens. He has me out-chipped, and I don't catch a miracle jack to survive.
I rebuy — I'm confident that my edge in the field is worth buying back in short. A few orbits in at a new table I flat an early position opener with the king and queen of spades.
The flop comes with two queens and a five and the opener leads out with a half pot bet. I decide to just flat, hoping to extract maximum value on a later street. A jack comes on the turn. Again my opponent bets into me. I don't have much more behind, so shove it to the middle.
He calls, turning over pocket fives for a flopped full house. I need a paint card — a king, queen or jack — to make a better full house. I send my wish into the universe as the dealer burns and turns. But the river is a meaningless eight and I'm out again.
In a way, it doesn't matter if I'm playing against crushers or amateurs. It doesn't matter what comes on the river. My only job is to make the best decisions I can, with the limited information I have. In the long run, the small edges from those decisions should add up to a winning career.
I end up in bed early after all, which is probably for the best. I need my energy for an early Day 2 tomorrow.