Warning: Actual Poker Content

Online Forum Challenge

Today I played in one of the Online Forum Challenge tournaments. It was funny that even though there were 786 runners, fellow poker blogger Smokkee was seated at my table at the start. I only remember us going at it one hand.

I decided to play pretty tight since there is so much donkey play in these tournaments. The best I could do today, however, was 68th place. I was in the money, but missed all the bonuses and was not able to score any points for CardsChat. Hard to believe I actually won one of these some time ago.

A Day at a Rockford Charitable Games Event

Saturday was reserved for my first trip to a Rockford Charitable Games event in East Peoria. In Illinois, we have very few poker rooms. They are located in the riverboat casinos and are not exactly the greatest. Our only other legal options for playing b&m poker are organizations like Rockford Charitable Games. Charitable organizations contract with them to hold poker tournaments as fundraisers.

The event was held in a local VFW hall -- a common place for charity tournaments. The tables were not the best, but were functional. The dealers were all very good, however. Having only one person taking money for the opening tournament, however, made for a long registration line.
I played in the first tournament -- a $25 buy-in with a $5 add-on for the dealers. My table had people playing pretty tight, so I loosened up and won a few pots in the beginning. However, I spewed chasing a few pots and eventually went out when I flopped top pair but was out kicked.

The cash games were soft -- not surprising. I ended up a little bit ahead, but nearly what I had hoped. Several times when I flopped sets or had the nuts or near nuts I had no takers.

The highlight of the day, however, was getting to meet another poker blogger, the lovely gadzooks64 . I let her know that the event would be in our neighborhood, and she came out for a few hours in the afternoon. We didn't get to play together, however, but it was still nice meeting one of our fraternity.

I have been disappointed that Illinois Charitable Games, which used to be my main b&m "home game," has apparently gone out of business. Unfortunately, the Rockford group does not normally travel this far south. If they take over the territory, however, I think they will find that central Illinois is full of decent poker players -- and a fair share of people who like to play regardless of their skill level.