I hate tournaments

I have had a love-hate relationship with poker tournaments my entire professional career.

It's almost time for a permanent separation.

Just busted out of my home game's Friday rebuy tournament. Never got anything going. Won one decent-sized pot with KK when I raised three limpers and one called and then folded on the flop. Lost most of my money jamming from the small blind against a tight big blind player who woke up to AQ.

These are not World Series of Poker or World Poker Tour events. You do not have four hours to patiently wait and chip up. The tournament is almost over after four hours.

The first three blind levels last 20 minutes, and levels last 15 minutes after that. Antes also kick in in the fourth level.

I am known to be squeaky tight in the cash games (and I adjust appropriately for that image), but I loosen up considerably in tournaments. Once the antes kick in, I am looking to open any pot with any hand that I would usually play in a cash game.

This includes premium hands, the so-called "trouble" broadway hands like KJ0, KTo, QJo, etc., and suited connectors, one-gappers and even two-gappers (T9s, 86c, 74h for example).

I won't open in early position with these very often, but from middle position and beyond, I am ready to play.

The problem comes when aggressive players are opening a lot of pots in front of me. Say blinds are 200-400 with a 50 ante. An aggressive player opens for 1200, and I have, say, KJ0 with 7000 behind. I know he's opening light, and chances are, he'll fold if I move in.

But I always feel a little silly if I move in and he calls with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, hands that a player can very well have opening the pot, especially considering I have nearly 20 big blinds left. I think maybe I should be saying "fuck it" and doing this more often.

A bigger problem is that I allow tournaments and tournament players to put me on such tilt. It just kind of riles me a little bit when people who are frightened to death to put their money in when they play a cash game all of the sudden have no trouble coming over the top or calling all of their money with 66 because all they can lose is their $100 they put into the tournament.

Poker is based on people risking something of value (money) to win something of value (money). When that relationship is distorted, the poker is just not that interesting.

Good, big-time tournament players talk about the need to be fearless, which I understand. But I believe they mean making the right play whether it is risky or not. Not literally not giving a fuck and jamming their money in just because they want to try to beat a certain player or not "get run over" in their minds.

Everyone has to be trying to win, with the feeling that there is a real consequence to losing.

"Tournament courage" doesn't impress me much.