Foxwoods, Phil Gordon and some bad luck!

Interesting day. I went to Foxwoods to enter into the Pucks, Putters and Poker tournament hosted by Phil Gordon. It's a $250.00 entrance fee and i figured if I got lucky at a ring table 1/2$ table starting with $100 I could defray some or hopfully all of the cost. Well, I blew through the $100 in less than an hour with what I considered to be very tight play. I stole the blinds once for $3.00 and lost the rest in four seperate attempts with medium to low pairs.
The bright side was that I got to chat with Phil Gordon for about 3 minutes.

Well, sorry to here that you lost your $100.00 so easily, especially playing the tight game you describe. But you got to chat with Phil Gordon. That is totally cool. I am jealous. Too bad you couldn't win enough to play in the $250.00 tournament though. Did you get to see Phil play at all while you were there?

No, I left before it started. I'm not sure Phil was going to play. He was there as host and to promote his new DVD and book. I had spoken to him briefly on line a few days ago while some other observer was giving him a hard time. He remembered the conversation and said he was trying to get support to give him the ability to mute certain players without turning chat off completely. I was a little surprised because I'm pretty sure you can do that already with the Full Tilt software. It didn't seem right to argue the point. I mentioned CardsChat and he encouraged me to steer you guys toward Full Tilt. That was about the extent of the conversation.

I actually like the FullTilt software and the speed is OK as well. Tech support is non-existent though and it does not have a private table option...

Bought into full tilt this weekend for a private tourney, went in for 300 to see if I could make some bonus money. The multis are lame, unless you like to play stud, omaha, or razz. Only Nl tourneys I saw, had a sad number of players in them. No player base. I played some 2 and 4 and some no limit cash games off and on all weekend, they were so slow, I only earned 3.50 in bonus, ended up down about 30 bucks, cashed out and forgot about it. They have a long, long way to go to compare to Stars or Party.

You bought into the 1-2 no lim game with 50 big blinds. I'm thinking you were way within acceptable swing. If it happened in an hour, and you were playing tight, you could only have lsot a few big/medium size pots. In a game of that size I think you need to reload a few times. Maybe sit down with 400.
It sounds like you were a bit card dead.
Interesting when sitting at a 1-2 no lim game how much do you all bring with you?
Swinging 50 Big Blinds in no limit is fairly easy to do, and well within variance. Also, you didn't get any action on the pots you entered? Ive read your posts, I respect them highly. I conclude you were card dead, and a good decision to walk and live to fight another day.

Bill

You know Bill, for the most part that was true but I must admit, it was my 1st time at a real Table, Kitchen games not included, and while I was only involved in 5 hands, I'm not sure I played them as well as I should have. I reraised a $30.00 bet to $60 with middle pair Jack and folded against an all in with a K showing. Probably should have let it go to begin with. I raised w/6,6 and again folded to a large reraise. Won a small pot w/9,9 and and lost the rest when I raised on the button with 3,3 after a limp from 1st position. She went all-in. Again I should have let it go but I was getting down in chips and was tired of being pushed around. She showed 10,10 and it held up. Looks like its back to the freerolls for me.

It sounds like a good experience. I won't lie, I don't like your play on the hands mentioned above, but it sounds like you identified the key hands that you would have liked to have played better. Truthfully, they were all mucks. Here is some quick stuff, to consider.
Cash games are not tournaments. There is no pressure from rising blinds. In a cash game you are looking for specific strategic situations, you only need to win 2 hands a session, choose them wisely.
The average min hand required to win is 2 pair. Top pair top kicker is something you have to get away from once in a while. Forget second pair completely.
Your sixes Im guessing was a blind steal. Not bad maybe you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar. When they popped it up behind you, well you tryed got caught tap the table say nice hand, and muck it. Even if they are restealing, just throw it away.
The threes ugh a minor tilt? you mentioned you were tired of being pushed around.
You were definately card dead. If those were the spots you chose to make a move with, then better cards are in your future.

Plan on rebuys in cash games you should theoretically never be down in chips because you can reload anytime. Reload, or take your chips to the cage. If your short in a cash game, when you finally pull cards, you can't get paid in full for them.

Hang in there we all go card dead!
Cool,

Bill

The funny thing is, I doubt I would have played those hands the way I did on-line. I felt completely out of my element. I could'nt see the cards well, I had to keep looking at my own, I had to estimate the size of the pot and the stacks. But strangley enough, I wasn't nervous in the least. I will be nervous though when I have to tell my wife.

That is interesting. I mostly play live. I keep track of the pot as chips go in. The keep having to look at the hand thing, I watch for that. That is a huge tell, watch that next time. put something over where your cards are displayed on your monitor, to try and remember your cards.
Conversely, playing on the internet is differnet for me. I play very automatic online. Nothing too creative just super tight abc poker.

My wife plays poker, so its not so bad for me. She is pretty damn good too.

Bill