BROKE MY BULLET RULE DAY / PARX BIG STAX EVENT 1

 Date:                2014-02-22 11:00
 Location:            PARX CASINO 
 Game:                No Limit Hold 'Em Multi-table Tournament
 Length:              13h 0m
 Buy in ($):          1360.00
 Cash out ($):        0.00
 Number of Opponents: 1800
 Return ($):         -1360.00
 Win rate ($/hr):    -104.62

Session Notes: BROKE MY BULLET RULE DAY / PARX BIG STAX EVENT 1

11:00 AM

I broke my infamous bullet rule today and bought into a tournament twice in one day. My reasoning was simple; there were no other games I could get into at the time I busted out. I’ve played the first event at Parx 4 times now and I was doing once a day until today. I’ve never played more than one bullet in any event but a buddy of mine said playing on Day 1,2 and 3 was just like buying into another event. I bought into that line of thinking because I couldn’t come up with sufficient evidence to the contrary.

I find it very hard to judge what a player has in a tournament. I always pay off in those spots because I see so much bluffing. I always consider not playing tournaments altogether because I can win consistently at the cash games but haven’t had a decent tournament cash in years.

In these 4 attempts I have had two brutal situations where I played rather well and one situation where I played like a goof ball. Today’s final attempt remains to be seen. Needless to say, I’m trying to play a bit better. That usually means taking my time which is very hard for me to do for some reason. I think it’s because I see so many hands playing in the cash games were my decisions are automatic that I haven’t built up a mental game where I can take my time. Many of my decisions in a tournament are rushed. Often I get annoyed because people are taking so much time. I rarely think these guys are any good — I think they are playing like the people on television. So they think they are supposed to make an annoyingly long amount of time.

Maybe they are actually thinking. I don’t know.

9:00 PM

I busted out of the tournament making a move on a guy who raised in late position. I tried to pick a spot but truthfully I just got tired of being patient. I watched several people at my table play horribly and pick up chips getting lucky. I couldn’t take it anymore. I suck at tournaments.

That day I actually felt like a smoked out gambler. I played cash afterward when I was super tired and I played longer than I should after noticing the session wasn’t going to be a good one. I’m throwing money away going for the home run illusion in a tournament and making myself tired and frustrated in the process. I was averaging a decent hourly before this — given that the games have been good because of the tournament it’s likely I would’ve made a decent amount of loot.

I just backed off on Sunday and didn’t play at all so I could get my head straight. Tournaments represent good opportunities but I have to decide whether I wanna be a cash game monster or a luck box playing a lottery ticket contributing to other people’s prize pools.