Giddyup

The $5 nightly HORSE tournament on Full Tilt has become something of an obsession for me (ask Chad). I first played it for fun. Nothing else. And I played it like I was having fun, loose and carefree.



Of all the tournaments I play regularly, this one has the most smack talk. It's hilarious. Doesn't help that FT re-arranges the hole cards in the stud games, something people haven't figured out yet, so every loss turns into accusations of chasing and catching. When players talk about how awful others are, I usually type in something like, "Yeah, usually it's only pros in these $5 events." Which amuses me. Endlessly.

But along the way, I realized I had an edge in this format and became obsessed with beating it. I tightened up and made a couple runs. But not good enough. I hadn't moneyed, bubbling once, in about 12 tries. I've not written about the suckouts here, but good lord. Like losing a Razz hand to a guy showing 6655 when I had a made 7 on
5th. Yummy. Or the time I bubbled when I ran aces up into trips not once, not twice, but three times in the span of Stud and Stud8 rotations. Lovely.

Well, I didn't exactly "beat it," but close enough.



Smaller field than usual (usually gets about 170 runners) and I did blow a 3-1 chip advantage heads-up (though I got him all-in twice with the lead only to be run down, once on 7th). Still, I think I'm not obsessed any more.