Lately I’ve been talking about WSOP tourney selection strategies with friends, and I’ve mentioned that I plan on playing lots of non-holdem events. Almost everyone responded the same way.

“I didn’t know you played mix games”.

I actually started off as a limit holdem player, and I’ve done my share of dabbling in a bunch of mixed games. I actually think I’m pretty good at horse.

Yesterday (Saturday) I played my first ever live horse tournament. It was a $3,000 buyin, and it had 64 entries.

Things started off great. There were only 320,000 chips in play, but I had 75,000 chips when there were still three tables left. I was running hot (and playing well).

Any of you that have been reading my blog since the beginning will recall that I occasionally get bad migraines, even while playing poker, and that’s one of the main reasons I stopped playing many international tournaments.

Unfortunately, I got a really bad one at the table last night. I played really poorly for the last 90 minutes of the night, and dropped down to 36,000 chips. I wouldn’t say I completely donked off 40,000 chips, but I did make a bunch of loose calls that I definitely shouldn’t have, and I didn’t win a single one of those hands.

The migraine itself was really bad. The pain could have been worse (and usually is), but I was a lot more nauseous and sensitive to sound than normal. I just couldn’t concentrate. I was contemplating just leaving early (which in hindsight would have been better), but the night was almost over, so I stayed. Of course, when the last level ended, the players complained about coming back the next day without even being in the money, and the floorman gave them an extra level. I was the only objector, so the floorman went with the majority opinion, but I think he eventually saw how sick I was and compromised by ending the night halfway through that level.

Before play was even over, I took two Excedrin PM, and within minutes of getting back to my hotel room at the Bellagio (boy did that walk from Caesar’s to the Bellagio suck), I was passed out.

This morning I was super well rested and ready to play.

I had one super key hand in limit holdem. I raised QJs preflop. A blind called. Flop: A72. He check called a bet from me. Turn: 6. He led out. I didn’t think he would play an ace like this, and I had a flush draw, so I decided to raise thinking I most likely had 15 outs, as well as some crucial fold equity. Unfortunately, he 3 bet me, and I called. Luckily, I rivered my flush, and my opponent still led into me and even called a raise.

That hand was so “ugly” that one of the spectators was kicked out after dropping a few f-bombs trying to articulate how lucky I was. Lol. I don’t regret how I played the hand. I had a read, and a big draw, so I made the play I thought was best.

The only other crucial hand I can recall was in Razz. On 5th street, I had 346 showing, and my opponent, Joe Simmons, had something like 579 showing. I had a six already, and Joe paired on 6th street, so he was drawing dead. He must have assumed I paired a hole card, because he called me down anyway. The final pot was pretty big.

I definitely ran good, and hit more than my fair share of pots, but I also think I played well, and pulled off a few nice bluffs.

I got heads up against an Asian Lady named Spring. She was a cash limit pro, and her best game was coming up: O8B, so I decided to take her up on her chop offer. I made off with $51,000, which I’m happy about for my first ever live horse tournament.

The floorman had told me there wouldn’t be any Cardplayer points for this because it had less than 100 players, but it turns out the minimum is only 60 players. I should get 180 points for the second place that I have recorded, although it would have been nice to know that there actually were Cardplayer points when we discussed the details of the chop. Oh well, it’s not many points anyway, and I don’t think Spring was trying to mislead me or anything.