by Susan, HSM team writer

 Fortune favors the prepared mind. -Louis Pasteur

Every second Saturday of the month, game developer Digital Leisure kicks off a poker tournament weekend at their PlayStation Home Paradise Casino. This month (January) saw the eighth scheduled tournament in a series of I don’t know how many, and Paul Gold never has said publicly how long they will continue.

In December of 2013, Digital Leisure did something which I would say is out of the norm: instead of charging the usual $4.99 for an entry fee, they made the event free for everyone. I believe I saw a record number of people entered into it, with the SCEA region having over 3,300 people and the SCEE region coming in at over 4,000 people registered. When the tournaments first started, I used to see an average of over 600 people registering, but that number has slowly dwindled, and I guess the reason for the zero entry fee last time was to drum up some support and get people motivated for the tournament. But at this point I am merely speculating. When it comes to user retention and monetization conversion percentage in Home, Digital Leisure may just be the platform’s biggest success story.

The last tournament, in my opinion, was a free-for-all. It reminded me of the days of the EA Poker Room, when the noob poker players went all in with nothing, just to see what would happen. When people have no skin in the game they will have a tendency to do whatever, regardless of the consequences. I have been publicly known to say that free chips equals loose play. No matter how much I modify my gameplay, I still get those bad beats by people who think a Jack/2 is a hand to call a pre-flop raise with. Without luck, no one would be playing this game for the most part, and that holds true when there is no entry fee. Not complaining, mind you — Digital Leisure knows what they’re doing — but I’m just saying…it changes the game. In December’s tournament, I finished in 106th place — and for having over 3300 people entered, I’m more than happy with where I ended up.

$4.99 gets you into the game.

I’ve been lucky enough to reach the semifinal round of each tournament four times out of the last six attempts. As soon as you are either knocked out or win the table you are at, you must scurry around to find another table to play at, and this goes on and on. For six hours.  Every time you place in the top three at the table, you are awarded with more chips to play — which you need, as each table you play at costs 500 chips to buy in. Typically, the game at the table lasts about twenty to thirty minutes, and time is really against you. This last tournament, I spent almost thirty minutes just trying to find an open table to buy in at, and I was getting frustrated as I watched my name slowly descend on the tournament leaderboard as a result of the delays.

This month’s tournament had 132 people pay for entrance into the game and attempt to take all my chips away. Usually I am a talkative person at a poker table, but this month I employed a new strategy: to talk to no one and focus on the players in the game. I watched how each person was betting, and when. When it came to a showdown, I watched as they turned up their cards and made notes as to such. Texas Hold ‘Em No Limit Poker is about situational awareness, and I was trying to get into peoples’ heads as to why they were making the choices they did. Why were they folding, why were they raising, who was aggressive, loose, tight and who was easy pickings. It really is true: you play the hand of the person sitting across from you.

In day one I plowed through everyone faster than the daily land-speed leaderboard record at the S2 Velocity racetracks — and had either won or placed in all but three of the tables I was seated at. I ended up in 5th overall for the day and went to go study my notes for the next round. In day two at the semifinals, I saw who was placed at my table, realized I had beaten them all previously, and was feeling pretty confident about my chances of getting into the finals. I had not spoken to a soul, even though I was getting people spouting all the usual niceties to me after each hand. The semifinals are different than the qualifying round, because in the semis you only play at one of the six tables, and the winner of their respective table moves on to the finals. The last opponent at my table was someone I have played before in other tournaments, and I was tickled to eliminate him again because he seems to have a tendency to put down other players in the poker VIP room, talks smack and has no game to back it up. Hasta la vista, baby.

2008 WSOP Champion

At 10AM HST, the six contestants gathered for the final table of the tournament: myself, Joey112579, dswelli23, annteedee, XxIChallengeUxX and darkmoonrising25 were the finalists in this tournament, and out of all those only annteedee had me worried — even thought Joey112579 was talking about how he had fifteen years of gameplay under his belt. In the tournament, she was the one person whose gameplay had me stumped. The other players I had already beaten previously. She was playing what we in the industry call a loose gameplay, and I was having difficulty at guessing her hands. I even tried to “tighten” up my style, but lady luck was on her side that day.

A few hands into the game, the dealer dealt me pocket jacks. I was the first person to voluntarily put chips into the pot that hand, and my poker book said I should raise if doing so. I did, and got two people to call my raise, which had me hoping no aces, kings or queens would come out on the flop. The flop came with a 3, 5, 7 — all with different suits — and I raised large again, which got me one caller. With no flush possibilities on the board at that time — and since I held what was probably the top pair — I had figured that the caller was chasing a straight and I was sitting pretty in my mind.  The turn (4th street) came out, and it was a queen; I immediately went all in, which got me called again — and then my okole puckered. Maybe they had Ace/4 or Ace/6? But they were spending a lot of chips attempting to complete their straight. The river (5th street) was dealt, and it didn’t matter — because when the cards were turned up they indeed were holding 6/4 for pocket cards.

That person was annteedee.

And I had lost over half my chips in that hand. I was crippled, but not out.

One again I tightened up my gameplay as the blinds continued to rise; I won a couple more hands with some semi-bluffing, and soon we were down to three people. The men were eliminated first, but if you saw what they played and how, it wouldn’t have come at any surprise. I eventually ended going out in third place, as the blinds got so high I couldn’t keep up when I was forced all in with a suited King/9. Third place rewarded me 50,000 in casino chips, and I can’t complain.

Just to be able to get by everyone and make it to a final table is a huge accomplishment for anyone, in my opinion — even though darkmoonrising25 said it was her second time at the final table, and she actually ended up coming in second place, with annteedee taking top prize.

The six finalist in Poker tournament #8

Next month, I will again enter the tournament series, as I pursue that ever-elusive top prize. When EA had its poker rooms, it took me a long time to finally win the diamond bracelet at the black table, so I can assure you I don’t plan on giving up just because I got third place.

In the finals, though, I got to thinking how it could be different.

I would like to see a final table room with just one table in the center of the room — like you see on television. I think that it could be an arena setup where anyone could come, and where your friends might be able to swing by to cheer you on to victory. When you make it to the semifinal round, you would be rewarded with a nice tournament banner to hang on your wall. You only get one banner, no mater how many times you are lucky enough to make it to round two, and that should change. The poker bracelets we get for entering into the tournament are different, and I subscribe to the notion that the banners should be as distinctive as well.

I have read only one poker book in my lifetime, and it has been my trusty guide ever since. Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book has everything a person needs to excel at this game, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to delve into the world of tournament poker. World Poker Tour co-host Mike Sexton said it best: “No Limit Texas Hold-em takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.”

I hope to see you all in the upcoming Digital Leisure Paradise Casino Poker Tournaments, and may all your chips be mine.

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2 Responses to “All In”

1. Burbie52 says:

   January 14, 2014 at 10:43 am

   Congrats on the placing Sue. I like poker but not enough to really stick it out in something like this. I have never been the gambling type though, never been to any casino except the one in Home in my life. Nice article though. Good luck next time!

   Reply
2. Susan says:

   January 14, 2014 at 2:28 pm

   Thank you Burbie, it was an enjoyable experience. At the final table my hands were actually sweating because I was so nervous..I can’t wait to try again next month..

   Reply