Dear Mark,
Even though I’m a rank beginner playing poker,
I almost made the
final table of a Texas Hold’em tournament, and
had I got there, I would have finished in the money.
Interestingly, with two tables remaining they had this
rule whereby one table had to wait for the other table
to
finish their hand before starting theirs. Of course,
I got beat going
"all in" holding trips with 14 players left,
which is a whole other
story, so I never made the final table. But what were
they trying to
accomplish with this rule? David C.
Poker tournaments involve
multiple tables, and as players are eliminated, tables
are combined, aiming at the eventual final table.
When enough players remain to form one full table,
that is the final table. The situation that occurs
near the end of a tournament in which only the last
two tables remain is that a few players must go bust
before the tables are combined to make that final
table. Because some players think they can guarantee
a place in the money by slow playing, hoping somebody
taps out at the other
table, the tournament
director can stipulate that whichever table finishes
a hand first must wait for the other table to
finish before starting the next deal.
Here’s an example,
David, of how getting to that final table can
be
very, very rewarding. When the original field
of 5,619 players that
began the 2005 World Series of Poker was narrowed
to nine, those top
nine places paid as follows: 1st: $7.5 million;
2nd: $4.25 million;
3rd: $2.5 million; 4th: $2 million; 5th: $1.75
million; 6th: $1.5
million; 7th: $1.3 million; 8th: $1.15 million;
9th: $1 million.
If they could, most
players in a position for a shot at a million
dollars minimum, would slowwww play, every time.
Yours Truly included
Good
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