Well, the $50 tournament that I signed up for was on Saturday. It was up about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, at the VFW hall. Full story inside. Joshua and I got there in enough time to register and get our sticky name tags, pick up a rules sheet, and then walk down the street to get some pizza (the food that they were providing for us there was questionable at best). We started agonizing over the blind structure, which looked pretty brutal for the $5000 you started with. When we got back we were talking to my old co-worker "Steve":http://nascar.about.com/, and realized that we were dopes. Level 1 was $200/$400 _bets_, and we had read it as $200/$400 blinds. Actually, it was just $100/$200 for the small blind and big blind, which meant that you could sit back and wait for hands for the first few rounds. A side note: I barely recognized Steve, who has lost more than 100 pounds since I saw him last. The secret according to Steve? "Chasing after my kid."

Joshua, Steve and I were all at different tables to start, which was good because it meant that we wouldn't have to go against each other. I probably had the toughest table there. Directly to my left was Dennis, a sharp old codger that I didn't want to tangle with, and then there was Derek, a young hotshot that had been playing for about 5 years and had won large online tournaments in both Hold 'em and "Omaha":http://www.thepokerforum.com/omahaholdem.htm. To his left was a big guy Jason who had won a tournament a few weeks before at a similar event a few miles away. There were two Daves, one of which had never even played before; just watched on TV. I guess with the torrent of poker shows out there these days that's probably enough.

Ok, so we were underway. I was nervous, but not too bad. I had my strategy in my head: "Play tight, and push hard with good hands. Raise or fold, etc." There was some action early on that I wasn't a part of, and nothing happened until I was first to be in the big blind. I was dealt 97o, but since nobody raised I was able to see the flop for free. Flop came 9-8-7, and I raised about 3 times the size of the BB, and took down the early pot. Hey, this is easy! Not much else memorable from the early going, except for a hand where I had 99. Raised 3x, and Derek the hotshot was the only other person who stayed in. Flop came with low cards; nothing too scary, so I bet about $1k, just to see where I stood. Derek quickly called, so I put him on high overcards, like AK or AQ. River was still nothing scary, so I made a pot-sized bet... about $3k. Derek stared at me for about 2 minutes straight (good thing I wore contacts and brought my sunglasses) and then mucked. He asked me a few hands later if I would tell him what I had, and although I don't like to show cards often I told him about my 9s. He did indeed have AK, so I think I played that hand well.

Didn't have much else good happen in the early going. Dennis the scary old dude got knocked out (yay!), but they brought in Ed and his roughly $15k in chips to replace him (boo!). Ed was a big California-looking guy with a Don Ho shirt and everything... sorta like a healthy Gary Busey. I had some hands with good hole cards that nothing developed from, so I started to get whittled down a bit. Then I got hole jacks. I raise 3x, and Dave the TV guy calls. Flop comes with low cards, and I make a large bet. Dave calls and we get another card. Nothing scary, so more betting. Dave calls again. Last card, more betting, and Dave calls again. I flip over my jacks, thinking that he was holding high cards and waiting for a hit and then just calling the last bet out of frustration. Nope, he had AA. Ouch. There went most of my stack. At this point Derek was already out, and Jason's pile of chips was getting as big as he was. Oh, you have never seen fat until you've been to a local tournament. There were at least 3 guys who were well beyond 300 lbs... scary.

In Level 3, the blinds where $300/$600, and with me only having $1600 left, that meant I was pretty well committed the next time the blinds came to me. Before the deal started I announced I was going all-in "in the dark", which meant I was going to bet before I even saw my cards. That got a few blinks from the table, as well as "gutsy call" from Ed, when I think he meant "stupid call". Everyone folded around to Dave the TV guy, who looked at his cards and called. I finally looked at my cards when I flipped them over for the showdown. K3. I look over at Dave, and he's got 53. Flop comes with nothing, which means I'm still in the lead. On 4th street a king comes, which means I've doubled through and survived. Whew!

Few more hands that I raised on that didn't pan out, and I was getting low again; down to about $4k or so. I decided to go all-in next playable hand, and either double-through to a more comfortable stack or just get out and start playing in the side games. In the BB I get A3 and push in. Ed calls me, and flips over A10. I'm fucked. Flop comes x-10-x and now I'm really fucked. If an A comes, that's no help because he'll have 2 pair. I'm picking up my bag and ready to go. Turn is a 3. Ray of light. River comes another 3. Holy shit. Running 3s to stay in. I think the odds of that happening are something like 250-to-1 or something improbable like that.

A few hands later I get pocket 10s. Feeling like I'm still hopelessly short-stacked I raise 3x, and get a call from Dave the TV guy (who, by the way, kept his chips in a messy pile the whole night instead of the careful stacks that everyone else was making, which was strangely endearing). Flop comes with some face cards, and I start to feel impending doom. I bet strong into it anyway, hoping that I can scare him off the pot, but no dice... he calls. Turn card is another face card, and I move all-in. Dave calls with an ace to match one on the table, and I'm out.

I'm not entirely sure about what place I finished, but certainly I was in the top third out of the 80 or so people that were in. I don't think I played particularly poorly, except maybe pushing too hard with JJ, and certainly going all in with 10-10 when there were high cards out there, and I definitely had a good time.

I wandered around and watched what was going on at the other tables. Joshua had a few miracle all-ins to hang on by his fingernails too; I watched him pull more than a few rabbits out of his hat, but then finally he was done.

Steve had a heartbreaking evening. He finished 8th, which was the last non-paying spot. You'll make them pay next year, Steve!

There were cash games sprouting up all over between the losers, so I got in on that. There were kids betting all sorts of crazy and catching cards, so I lost my first $10 in fairly short order.

I played a stupid game of $.10/$.20 Omaha for a little bit and won a whopping $2. Joshua and I both sat in on another $10NL table with a few older guys (including Dennis from my table). I was up and down a bit, but Joshua was crushing everyone, and wound up taking about $100 from that table total.

I watched a little bit of the action at the final table. Steve didn't make it, but his neighbor did and finished a very respectable 4th. The big winner was a big fat cop named Mike, who pretty much had the biggest stack all night anyway. The turning point at that final table was when he took a huge chunk out of the next closest stack with quad 7s. Hell of a time to get 4 of a kind.

Derek the hotshot invited me to play at another tourney that he was hosting this coming weekend. I was pleased and flattered that he asked, because he said "it's nice to see someone who knows what "pot odds":http://www.pokertips.org/strategy/pot-odds.php are". I think I'll be visiting family in NJ this weekend, but if for some reason I'm not I'll definitely think about it.