BBT5 Play

I've been saying it for weeks, but the same people who have made their poker living as tight sorts of players are mixing it up early and often on a nightly basis here in the BBT5. It is so noticeable and I am not sure if these guys even realize it, but generally these are the donks who follow around the guy who had the temerity to beat their mediocre hands and bitch at them in the chat for their donkery or their worthlessness or their luck or whatever. In a blogger tournament.

Lost in the shuffle is the fact that you once again got it all in with a one-pair hand after the flop with some 50 big blinds in their stack. In a tournament that obviously matters to you. Why are you chasing someone around in the chat and smack talking them when you willfully got yourself in that situation? Invariably as I mentioned these are generally some of the tighter tournament guys out there, and that just makes this phenomenon all the more amazing to me, because it is not how most of these guys normally play.

Now, some of the people I'm talking about are pretty much known horrible players. But others have had some success in poker, be it cash, sitngos, etc. A few even make some decent money from the game overall. And in a couple of instances I am talking about guys I've seen have tons of success in past blogger tournament series. They're all a little on edge, a little bit out of the comfort zone. And it is clear as day what the reason is.

The BBT. I mentioned this previously, but the BBT -- and, I suspect, in particular the shortness of the series this time around -- has really got people jittery, and that is leading to a lot of people who are used to getting in ahead finding themselves behind or with easily vulnerable hands when the money gets in, especially in the earlygoing this time around. Christ, I saw Blinders bust out first or second in one of these tournaments last week, and he is the undisputed all-time king of folding to the points and then closing his eyes and praying. But this has been happening more and more of late with more and more people like that who are just ending up out early week in and week out, and they don't seem able to perceive what is so apparent to me about the difference in the way they are playing the game.

It's an awesome thing having won a Tournament of Champions seat so early in the BBT5. Though I participated in the ToC in BBTs 3 and 4 (obviously I only really earned the seat in the one BBT where I did not bribe my way in), but in neither case did I manage to find my way in so early in the series. Now I get to play these tournaments as a kind of experiment, or better yet, all just a means to the end of getting myself psyched up and in the right frame of mind for the series-ending ToC. If I happen to nab some more cash along the way or ruin some people's dreams, then all the better :)

Another guy won his way in to the ToC last night -- ooosssuuuuuuuuuu whateverhisnameis. That's another guy who is gonna get his aggro on for sure come ToC time, in what otherwise is not exactly the bastion of aggression so far. Take a look at who is in the ToC here with 11 of the maximum 24 seats now filled:

JJOK
Maigrey
VinNay
xkm1245
dignitasODEE
All In At 420
hoyazo
KeepFloppin
Texas April
NYRambler
oossuuuuuuuuu

Plenty of good players in that list so far, including self-proclaimed Professional Gaming Manager Michael O'Dell, and professional poker player Matt Stout, but otherwise what has been missing a little bit from the winners list so far is that hyper aggressive, take over the table kind of guy. But oossuuuuuuuu definitely rounds that out nicely and adds a little more aggropizzazz to the ToC field so far.

And for those keeping score, that is two confirmed A-Listers in April and Heather, and a few newbies or outsiders like those mentioned above, so it's also a nice smattering of the various generations of bloggers in our group.

Who will be the next person to claim his or her seat in the BBT5 Tournament of Champions? We'll know on Wednesday night when the Buddy is back in da house at 10pm ET. Tonight, sit back and enjoy another fine episode of Lost. Only three left and then the finale!