Cause you gotta have goals...

Some of my friends/family who:

1) don't play poker or only casually play, but
2) do watch poker on TV

have become obsessed with asking me the following question:

"What is your goal for the tournament? What place are you hoping to finish?"

Well then. Honestly, I not sure if I know how to answer that question, and I'm not sure if non-poker players would understand the answer anyways. But here goes:



My main goal in the tournament is to not be kicking myself when I bust out. In some ways, that has to be the goal - the entire skill portion of the game is the ability to minimze your mistakes and maximize your opponents mistakes. There are only two ways to fully achieve this goal:

1) come in 1st, and thus never bust.
2) play the cards you are dealt well enough that you are satisfied you maximized your EV to the best of your ability.

People get all nervous about getting hit with a set under set and busting the first hour, but honestly that (knock on wood) wouldn't bother me (so long as my preflop action justified playing. If I bust set under set with 22 after cold calling a reraise preflop out of position getting thin implied odds, I'll be furious with myself.). There's just nothing you can do about it, and I've become (most of the time) zen enough about poker to not worry about it before it happens, and not be too disappointed after it happens. The same thing is true of (knock on wood) getting my money in with top set and getting drawn out on. It happens.

My real fear is donking off half my chips on top pair, top kicker when it's obvious by the turn that I'm second best. Those are the hands that, ceteris parabis, tend to differentiate the good amatuers who have a real crack at the money from the good amatuers who bust late on day 1. And that read - understanding out of position when AK is no good on a board of KJ83 rainbow that hasn't yet been raised and when it is very good - is one that I've never been great at making. I'm good enough to recognize in those situations when to go into check-call mode, but I'm never sure enough to actually lay it down getting those 2-1 pot sized bets to call. And that hurts me.

Of course, the other side of the coin that is difficult to explain to non-players is the non-linearity of poker tournaments. You can sit there and fold for the first 8 hours of the tourney, and you'll beat a ton of people. But you're not helping yourself. I don't play the $6 tournaments at the MB poker club trying to "outlast" people, and I'm not going to play the main event of the WSOP that way, either. The goal is to get all the chips, and I'm going to start trying to do that from hand one. Obviously, the structure of the tourament means I won't play as aggressively as I do in the loose, fast structure, home game tourneys. But I'm not going to become some weak-tight donkey, either.

This, of course, means I can't really concern myself with what place I come in. If I bust in the 2nd hour getting all my money in as a 65/35 favorite, I'll be happy. I'm not nearly good enough to be passing up 65/35 situations (only the very best players are that good, and that's even debatable). I need the chips. And I'm perfectly willing to bust out early trying to get them.

Similarly, I have no idea why people talk about "surviving the 1st day." That's so dumb. People actually talk about avoiding certain +EV situations late on day 1 just because they want to come back and play day 2. I can't imagine thinking that way.

Still, I guess I can't knock them that much, because I'm certainly not approaching this tournament with total seriousness. I just don't think it affects my $EV enough for me to do things that will be negative EV in terms of fun in Vegas. For instance, I'm not going to bed at 9pm every night, and I'm not going to refuse to talk to people at the table so I can "focus." I probably won't drink beer during the tournament, but I reserve the right to do so if the proper situation (Men the Master sits down; I'm at the final table and they have Schaefer) arises.

So, back to the original question. I guess I'd feel dumb busting out in the first hour or two, but only because I'll look really silly to a lot of people who don't understand tournament poker. But I won't feel bad about it personally unless I make some pretty dumb mistake, or drain my chips off like a weak-tight little girl. That would be embaressing.

At any rate, these are all secondary goals. My main goal is to somehow end up in a limo with Dennis Rodman, Bret Michaels, and 9 of their favorite groupies. Even if it's -$EV for the touranment.