oh, this is a very long entry about poker...

so i played in a poker tourney yesterday. it was one that was set up by a small group member to fundraise for our service activities. Since some of the proceeds were coming my way as financial support for my missions trip, i thought the least i could do was take part, donate my $20 buy-in, and have fun. =)

The set up was really organized - there were 4 different satellite groups. Each satellite group could have as many people that wanted to play, and for every 3 people, one person could advance to the final table. The final table was held yesterday at 8pm, so all satellite games needed to be done before that. In the end, there were about 12 people who advanced to the final table, and the top 10 received some sort of prize ranging from two U2 tickets (1st prize) to a used Van Helsing dvd (last prize). All prizes had been donated.

The satellite group i was assigned to was actually at the location of the finals. We met at 5pm to begin our game and since we didn't need to travel anywhere afterwards, we decided to play till 7:45. At that point, the 3 people w/ the most chips would advance.

It was interesting and different playing with new people. Since poker for me is about hanging out w/ friends, I've mostly played w/ the same group. I think out of my normal group, i'm one of the worst. I just have a lot of trouble reading people - the main problem being that i'm gullible. The other problem is that i'm incredibly risk-adverse. I'm not a "gambler" by nature, and most of the time, i just want to keep the chips i have and play as long as possible to continue hanging out w/o losing money. Granted, there are thrilling hands and i have nights where i walk away w/ some profit, but most of the time, i'm really happy at the end of the night if i've earned my $5 buy-in back.

At the satellite game, the first part was just feeling out the other players. It became clear pretty early on that some of the other players hadn't played as much... at first i was happy b/c i thought that my experience could help me exploit their weakness (haha!), but then i realized that i had absolutely no idea how (silly me). I haven't played w/ enough newbies to recognize their playing patterns and therefore got just as intimidated by some of their aggressiveness. I was putting them on higher hands than they had... so i became fairly low-stacked pretty early and then just tried to maintain. I was determined as the only girl, to represent and at least not be the first one out (not very high expectations, i know). But as the clock ticked and the 7:45 time limit drew nearer, I realized that i might as well play a little more recklessly b/c i had no hope of getting to the final table. It was at this moment that I hit a lucky streak of cards - woohoo! That built up my stack a little, and on the very last hand of the game, I hit a straight on the flop. The other bottom players just made a play at it to give themselves a chance at winning so two people ended up going all-in. Winning that hand put me from 7th place to 1st in the satellite game. I advanced up!

At the final table, we raised the blinds every 15 minutes and I eventually got blinded down to a pretty low stack - but the super aggressive people kept battling it out and knocking each other out. I couldn't believe it when it hit me that somehow, i was in the top 3! what?? I found out last night that the way i play, although weak in home games, is really well adapted for tournament style. I have a lot of patience for runs of bad cards, and even when i have a decent hand, i'm not resistant to folding it if i put the other person on a higher hand. I'm basically like a slug that sticks around for a long time, even when i don't have much money left. I had a miniscule stack of chips, but again, i didn't have to do any work b/c the top 2 went head-to-head and someone got knocked out. HAHA! I just laughed and laughed that I ended up in 2nd place! I really believe that skill had very little to do w/ it. =)

So my prize?? every one calling me a card-shark, and a brand-new Michael Chang tennis racket! such a weird evening. but fun. =)

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missions update: I'm at 100% support! WOW! God really provided abundantly! Now, i need to buckle down and pray a lot more in preparation!