Fscking Donkaments!  

You want to know why I play almost exclusively cash games? You sure you want to know? Because, as much a cruel and unfair bitch as cash game poker can be, it could never measure to tournament poker's sadistic twists and turns. Be it only because of the mere fact that you have only one life, so to speak, and the deeper you go in a tourney, the more you put it on the line, literally. And when things go awry, it's all over. Period. Cash game poker is, on the contrary, a little like one's life, ironical ly enough; it never ends, until it does. Death is what ends one's life, of course, but only one's will to quit the Cash Game, to simply stop playing, can ever end it for that particular individual. Especially as long as there are penny games and micro stakes out there, the bankroll is not really an issue anymore!

Anyhow, having theoretically deposited on TitanPoker in the last 4 weeks, and having collected enough titan points, I got invited to the New Depositors Monthly Freeroll. So I figured I'd give it a go, mostly because of the rather small field: 333 entrants, 40 places paid. And a lot of sitters!! Things were going very well, starting by doubling up on the very first hand with Rockets. Then, something a little unexpected happened. A sitter, blinding his or her stack away, ended up all-in on the big blind, but survived. I didn't make much of it at the time, but when it kept happening, I got a little puzzled, and tried remembering other tourneys I had played... I am still not sure, but if I recall correctly my time with the Railbirds (thus, tournaments on either PokerStars or FullTilt Poker), if a sitter is short to pay the big blind and a player raises, the sitter's hand is folded and he or she is then eliminated. I'm actually really not sure about that, since I don't do donkaments that much, and when I do, I play mostly donkagos... I'd be curious to know whether this is indeed how sitters are handled on those poker clients, as well as in live tourneys, but I must confess not being very keen on the (read: my) general winrate at donkaments, and therefore do not really feel like doing the research :). In any case, on TitanPoker, sitters have a shot at every single pots or side pots created, and, thanks to variance, I must have witnessed at least a dozen hands where a blinded-out sitter survived.

Which brings us to nearing the bubble, when I remembered a little more clearly the tourneys I have played, strategically as well as rules wise. Then, it hit me: where the hell were the antes!!!! Blinds were 200/400 by then, just as another sitter (andreaXX, actually...) survived; antes are there for a couple reasons, one of which is fairness, in my humble opinion. Folding one's way in the money is something, something one can only do after some winning poker, at least, but with online poker and the zillion tourneys starting every single minute, some people tend to abandon their short-stack after bad beats and/or bad plays, which is fine by me. But it is still my honest opinion that a tournament structure should actually take care of these situations; those players should, in fact, simply go like Broomcorn's uncle, to use Doyle's old saying (Super System, of course for the curious).

Anyway, it also seems Poker Gods are meaner sons of bitches during donkaments; andreaXX and at least 3 other sitters made the money, while I put out a decent tourney performance and evidently did not.

And of course, all that to bust out on this humongous runner-runner suckout, 3 places shy of the money!!!! Fscking donkaments!!!!

Titan No-Limit Hold'em, Tournament (Titan HH Converter by Kreatief)

BB ($14,785.00)
UTG+2 ($6,840.00)
Villain ($13,800.00)
MP2 ($27,040.00)
Hero ($2,552.00) (Hero)
CO ($36,800.00)
BTN ($13,726.00)
SB ($12,690.00)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with K♦K♣
1 folds, Villain raises to 2600.0$, 1 folds, Hero raises All-In $2,552, 4 folds,

Flop: 7♠ 2♣ 2♣ ( $6,352 )

Turn: Q♠ ( $6,352 )

River: T♠ ($6,352 )

Final Pot: $6,352.00

Results:
Villain has K♠, J♠
Hero has K♦, K♣
Outcome: MP1 wins $6,352.00