Busting Out of Big Tournaments

Busting out of a big tournament is painful, and it generally is more painful the deeper you got into the tournament. Finishing in second place can often be the most painful spot to bust out, even when winning a substantial purse for coming in second. I have not seen a more prominent example of this than my good friend David Williams, who finished second in the final event of the 2004 World Series of Poker – by far the largest poker tournament in history to date.

I phoned David to congratulate him on his amazing finish shortly after the conclusion of the tournament, and I was surprised to find him in a solemn, wistful mood. David was genuinely upset that he did not win the tournament, despite the fact that he had just won a purse of $3.5 million! He was not upset about the $1.5 million prize money difference between first and second, but that he had missed a potential once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a World Series of Poker champion. David did not seem consoled when I mentioned that this was his first major tournament or that he was outchipped 3-1 when the tournament got heads up between Greg Raymer and him. For David, this tournament was about much more than money. He has one of the fiercest competitive spirits I have ever seen, and anything less than winning was a letdown for him. He understood how difficult it is to get deep into a tournament as big as the WSOP, and how few (if any) opportunities a professional poker player has to capture the most coveted poker title on the planet – World Series of Poker champion. He also knew that it was only going to get more difficult to win, due to the tremendous increase of poker players in recent years, which in turn makes the fields at the WSOP larger and harder to overcome. David didn't stay upset for too long (it is hard to stay upset when you're a 24-year-old multimillionaire doing what you love). He continued to have an amazing year after the WSOP, finishing second at the Borgata World Poker Tour final event and recently winning the $1,500 limit hold'em event at the 2004 Five-Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio.

One of the primary characteristics that lots of successful tournament players have is an extremely competitive spirit, which I think is very necessary to excel in tournament poker. At the same time, however, this competitive spirit often prevents them from being satisfied with any tournament finish other than first place, and I think that kind of mentality is unhealthy for any serious tournament player. Regardless of how good you are, you are not going to win the vast majority of big tournaments that you play. Oftentimes you will not make the money or even the second day of play. Beating yourself up over these finishes is just unnecessary and can cause much unneeded pain and stress.

When I bust out of a tournament, I always try to put my departure in perspective, whether I busted out at the final table or in the final minute of play before the first dinner break. I look at every tournament I play as a positive-expectation play. The frequent times that I lose money in a tournament, I do my best to try to quickly let go of the pain of busting out. I don't let it eat at me, and I console myself that there is always another tournament on the horizon in which I will have another opportunity to win. A few years ago, this was not the case, with several months elapsing between big tournaments, but now there is a big tournament every few weeks, so if you have a bad tournament, you know that you will have an opportunity to redeem yourself soon.

One of the key things that I do for myself to make busting out easier is to play a lot outside of tournaments. I have found that for me, it is a lot easier to lock up consistent wins in cash games. Most of my day-to-day play is cash games, not tournament play. I play tournaments primarily to feed my competitive spirit and because I find winning tournaments extremely satisfying and fulfilling. When I play tournaments, I do so with the understanding that I will often lose money, but that one good finish will pay for lots of early departures.

Personally, I like to buy into most of the tournaments that I play, as opposed to winning a satellite, since I have found that my time is better served in side games. When I do bust out of a tournament and lose my buy-in, it inspires me to play more cash games to win the money back, and winning the tournament buy-in back seems to help ease the pain of busting out.

There are great advantages of winning your way into a big tournament via satellites. Besides the obvious cheaper buy-in, people who get into tournaments via satellites often feel much less pain when they bust out than people who ponied up the full buy-in in hard-earned cash. And even better, if they do make the money in a tournament and got in via a satellite, even if they just barely make the money, they generally reap a nice payday. A player who puts up the entire buy-in and then barely makes the money usually gets just slightly more money than he invested, which is hardly much when considering the many days of difficult play it takes to make the money in lots of the big tournaments.

Have a happy new year, and if you're a tournament player, don't be too hard on yourself, as you will inevitably bust out of many tournaments in 2005. I'm sure that I will bust out of many tournaments this year, but I'm making a promise to myself to stay positive and my keep my spirits high, and I suggest you do the same. Playing the tournament circuit can be a very tough and grueling life, and you owe it to yourself to try to be happy!

Thomas "Thunder" Keller is a 23-year-old professional poker player and one of poker's young and rising stars. He can often be found playing at Ultimatebet.com under the name gummybear. To learn more about him, go to his website at www.thunderkeller.com.