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Shortly after 10 PM last night, 14 members of SMOFCon 41 gathered for the semi-traditional Probability & Statistics Seminar (i.e. Texas Hold-Em tournament). With a "lab fee" of $10 (fees to be redistributed among the participants based on their performance), everyone has some skin in the game, but nobody goes away feeling skint if they lose, which 11 of 14 participants (including me) did.
As usual, the first few rounds were low stakes, although I did end up going all-in once (I bought the pot). Eventually my luck ran out: with my stack starting to get lower that I liked, I went all in with 10-10, which is a decent play, but Tom Whitmore covered me with a better pair and the board didn't save me, so I went out in eleventh place, after which we took a break and formed the final table of ten players.
By that point, the blinds were getting high enough that by the time I got back from a bathroom break, three more people had gone out. The game continued until we were down to three people (the top three finishers cash). Skyler Crossman put up a valiant effort to come back with so few chips that he was all-in with just the big blind, but eventually finished in third place.
The heads-up final two faced off, and shortly after 2 AM, Sean McCoy finished second, while Tom Whitmore won the virtual bracelet of SMOFCon Poker Champion of 2024.
My thanks to Scott Sanford and Judy Bemis, who helped with the initial set-up, and with Sean and Tom, who helped me clean up, put the chips away, and carry the heavy cases back to my hotel room while I carried my computer and the video gear I had used to record Jim Wright's "keynote" talk on Saturday evening.
I finally got to bed around 3:30 AM and got around five hours of sleep. I've had lots of fun here at SMOFCon 41, but I'm glad it's only three days long, because I'm getting too old to have this much fun for too much longer than that.
As usual, the first few rounds were low stakes, although I did end up going all-in once (I bought the pot). Eventually my luck ran out: with my stack starting to get lower that I liked, I went all in with 10-10, which is a decent play, but Tom Whitmore covered me with a better pair and the board didn't save me, so I went out in eleventh place, after which we took a break and formed the final table of ten players.
By that point, the blinds were getting high enough that by the time I got back from a bathroom break, three more people had gone out. The game continued until we were down to three people (the top three finishers cash). Skyler Crossman put up a valiant effort to come back with so few chips that he was all-in with just the big blind, but eventually finished in third place.
The heads-up final two faced off, and shortly after 2 AM, Sean McCoy finished second, while Tom Whitmore won the virtual bracelet of SMOFCon Poker Champion of 2024.
My thanks to Scott Sanford and Judy Bemis, who helped with the initial set-up, and with Sean and Tom, who helped me clean up, put the chips away, and carry the heavy cases back to my hotel room while I carried my computer and the video gear I had used to record Jim Wright's "keynote" talk on Saturday evening.
I finally got to bed around 3:30 AM and got around five hours of sleep. I've had lots of fun here at SMOFCon 41, but I'm glad it's only three days long, because I'm getting too old to have this much fun for too much longer than that.
