You know, the words "Darren Robbins: Poker Pro" never sounded like they belonged together until a few moinths ago when I dove head first into playing Texas Hold 'Em. It was a game I had long been fascinated by, but had held off on because of some initial apprehension concerning my natural abilities to master the intricacies of the game.
See, I didn't want to just know how to play the game, or to play it as a hobby, I wanted to excel. If I didn't think I had the ability to do so, then why bother?
So, after once again getting sucked into the World Series of Poker coverage on ESPN, I decided to not just be a bystander anymore and completely submersed myself in all things poker, choosing to concentrate on Texas No Limit Hold 'Em.
Right off the bat, I began playing online for upwards of 8 hours a day. I also bought books by leading pros, watched any and all TV coverage of major tournaments, and began entering into local tournaments with very low buy-in's.
Along the way, I had many up's and down's, but never wavered in my dedication to the craft. Mere moments after getting knocked out of a tournament in the first nine minutes, I wasn't chiding myself as much as making mental notes on what had happened and how to grow from the experience.
This was weird for me because, to be quite truthful, losing has always sent me into a tailspin of sorts. This time, though, I was even-tempered, focused, and methodical in turning even the worst loss into a learning experience.
Still, I couldn't help but wonder where my game was at after three months of intense dedication. Was I still at square one? Had I made any head-way?
To get answers to those questions, I decided to enter into Four Winds Casino's Deep Stack No-Limit Tournament yesterday. I awoke early in the morning, thankful for the additional hour of sleep brought on by the setting of our clocks one hour back the night before.
I drove to the casino, entered the tournament, and made a vow to myself to stick to my game plan, even if my chips were running low.
My game plan, of course, was "tight is right". No crazy stuff, no super-aggressive play, no unnecessary chances. Doing so, I managed to make it to the next table, and the next...until finally reaching the FINAL TABLE.
After a dinner break, the final nine players reconvened at the final table. I took note that I had the four highest chip stack and that the tournament paid only five places. I could tighten up, play very few hands, and perhaps sneak into the money.
What I wanted to avoid was the sort of situation that can occur where you find yourself either forced to call when other players go all-in because they're emulating the play they've seen on TV, or to not play at all.
After being dealt some hands that were very easy to fold, I was hit with Ac-Kc. It was a hand that I couldn't NOT play. It was also a hand that had actually led to my early demise in many previous trips to the local casino, but I'd gotten some tips from some very good friends of mine and took a new approach in playing such a hand.
In other words, I got aggressive and maintained the upper-hand by betting large and forcing other players to jump in with hands that they couldn't walk away from.
In doing so, I slowly and methodically began to separate them from their chips.
In fact, before I knew it, I was one of the last three players at the table.
My chip stack was over $590K. The next highest chip stack was 51K. Third place was a guy who had befriended me by taking me to dinner at the private members-only Players Club at the casino. I had actually helped double his chip stack just moments earlier on a semi-bluff, but now I had another set of A-K and took him out of the tournament on bet of 45K.
As the crowd gathered around the table to watch the last two remaining players, the first thing going through my head was that it would be really embarrassing if I ended up losing to someone with less than 10% of my chip stack so I waited for the next hand...A-J suited clubs, and bet enough to force them all-in. They called my bet and showed Ah-7d. flop brought an ace, but the turn and river brought nothing either of us could use and I won with high kicker.
Strangers clapped, shook my hand, and an official from the casino walked me over to the cashier's cage where I ended up having to sign a bunch of papers, tax forms, and show proof of my identity in order to claim my First Prize winnings.
All that is left to do now is to prove to myself that this wasn't a fluke, and to keep on soaking up the knowledge in order to further my game.
Next stop...Vegas, baby! :)
