So I’ve wanted to start playing more cash games at Commerce, but I haven’t been home.

Last night seemed like a good night to start since it was Friday. I left a little bit after 3:30, and got there around 4:40, and I’d figured I would check to see if the 1k limit tournament had closed registration yet. Turns out they closed 5 minutes before I got there. No problem, I wanted to play cash games anyway.

But wait! They hadn’t locked the prize pool yet or something, so they allowed me to squeeze in… big mistake.

I built my starting stack of 3k up to 8k, then dropped down to 4kish when 7 o’clock rolled around. Why does 7 o’clock matter? Because some idiot at the commerce decided to put the dinner break three and a half hours after the start of the tournament.

I chilled for a bit in Rainkhans room since there was no open seating in cash games (except for lol 40/80 limit… rather be dead). They really should move that dinner break to 9, or just get rid of it all together. Nobody wants to be forced to pause for an hour that early in the tournament.

I built the 4k stack up to 13kish at my peak, before finally busting at 11pm. I was just so bored the entire time. There were only 150 players, so first place was only 42k. I think my hourly expectation would have been a lot higher in cash games if I had been smart enough to just not enter the tourney.

I played a few hours of 20/40 NL after that and won like 2.5k, nothing huge, but I’ll take it. I always find it odd that my hand reading skills are so much weaker in NL cash games, but I guess it’s just due to a lack of experience and knowledge of how the other players play. I’m still certainly +EV at these stakes, although I was a little disappointed in the game. I keep hearing how the NL games at the commerce are super juicy, especially on weekends, but there was only one real fish in the game.

I think I’m playing 4 tourneys next week: the $300 rebuy on Sunday, and the $2500 NL’s on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Honestly, if I’m below average before the dinner break rolls around, I’ll probably be looking for spots to get all my chips in as a 40/60 dog or better. I hate losing an hour of EV.