Orleans Friday Night No Limit Tournament

I started playing poker semi-seriously in 2001 when I moved to Vegas. I was still in the Air Force and at the time I was making more money playing than in the Air Force, so poker became more than recreation...I started treating it as a profession. So from 2001-2004, as I was still in the Air Force, I was also a semi professional poker player.

Before the poker boom which sprung up poker rooms all over Vegas, The Orleans Friday Night No Limit tournament and The Mirage Tuesday Night No Limit were the signature events in the city. It wasn't unusual to see the same people play every week. Some of them have gone to play bigger tournaments and even win WSOP bracelets (Scott Fischman, being a prime example)

As for me, I played those tournaments nearly every week, and did very well...I've won the Orleans Friday night 3 times and the Mirage twice, with my biggest score being over 5K at the Mirage. I've also had numerous cashes.

I gained a lot of respect from the local poker pros and even had some of them want to stake me, but at the time I turned all request down. At the time, I didn't believe in staking. I figured if I can't make it on my own, I shouldn't be playing poker. Plus, I didn't want to share the prize pool if I did make a cash. Basically, I was working for me and only me!!

Fast forward 6 years later, after getting into a relationship and having a daughter, my poker playing diminished. I would occasionally play tournaments but not at the volume I did earlier in my career. But now, I'm started to get back into it, cause I've come to realize...this is why you got out of the Air Force...

So I feel I'm slowly back and last night, I went to play the Orleans Friday Night Tournament and got back into the groove. My strength in tournament poker is I know how to accumulate chips, my aggression, and I know how to play position. I was able to steal and take a lot of pots by simply betting in position. My biggest weakness in tournament is my aggression sometimes gets me in to trouble, because I sometimes use my aggression at the wrong times -- called meltdowns! LAst night, I had one of those meltdown when I made a bad call for all my chips in a situation where I knew better.

Even with my bad call in the end, I felt it was the only mistake i made...I think if I start playing that tournament more often, I will get the results I had six years ago...I need too....