Temporary success against the odds 😉

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I’ll save the normal monthly poker update for the end of the month, where it belongs. 😉

In the meantime, I’ll report on an interim success story, which might not have a happy ending, but at least had a happy beginning. 🙂

Today, I played in a tournament in the morning, and did OK, but didn’t make the money. When I finished, it was 1:56pm. I glanced at the tournament schedule, and noticed that there was a freeroll at 2pm (in 4 minutes), where the top 50 players got a free entry into tonight’s weekly semi-final tournament to win a free seat to a big tournament played in Aruba!

A freeroll is a site’s way of giving back (or sucking in, depending on your perspective), where you pay nothing to play in a particular tournament. Sometimes, they restrict the number of players, sometimes not.

I registered, and when the tournament started, there were 3500 entrants. That meant that the top 1.4% of the entrants would move on to the semi-final. Note that the semi-final doesn’t get you a seat in Aruba, it just gets you an entry in the final, which is the one that can get you in to Aruba.

Tourney started at 2:01pm, and at 6:23pm, I finished in 34th. First place and 50th are worth the same, so 34th doesn’t matter. In fact, once you’re safe, it’s idiotic to risk your chips against a bigger stack, because the only thing that matters in this type of tournament is finishing in the top 50.

Anyway, at 8pm, I’ll be in the semi-final. I have no expectations of moving on, but I’ll do my best. The fun part is that I got to play in a meaningful tournament, without risking a penny, got 4.5 hours of enjoyment and experience, and now get to try and repeat that feat. Cool. 🙂