Definition of Tilt...

My grandfather passed away unexpectedly on Thursday.

It was a shock and I will probably write more about it later. But I'm not quite ready so I'm going to get this back to poker. For now.

After spending the day with my dad and my grandmother, I got home, mentally and physically exhausted. So what did I do? Of course drink a bottle of wine and four-table full tilt. Not exactly Barry Greenstein's recommendation in Ace on the the River. I played like the world owed me pots. I played like every re-raise or raised blind was a personal affront. Omaha, PL Hold'em, HORSE...I had them all going at once. I bought directly into the 50-50 at 9:30.

I think you all know how this story ends. I lost at every cash table I played and busted out of the 50-50 around 300 or so and the top 153 got paid. All told, I took my account from around $260 to $70 in one ill-advised session. I stuck to my limits in cash games, but had far too many tables going and buying directly into the 50-50 was an obvious deviation.

Naturally last night, with my wife boozing it up at some fondue restaurant, I put the kids to bed and took my last $70 and bought directly into the 50-50. I know that was stupid, but let's ignore it for just a bit and let me just take a second to say that I absolutely love this tournament. You know how some golf holes are set-up perfectly for your game? Like the holes with fifty yards of fairway in front of you and 200 yards of fairway at a 90-degree angle just perfect for your slice? That's how I eel about the 50-50. I always wondered how pros could claim that if these tournaments were set-up right, they could cash 70% of the time. I truly feel that if I had the bankroll to play this tournament four or five times a week, I would cash two times and go pretty deep once.

All told, last night I finished somewhere around 60th when my nut flush draw didn't get there on the turn or the river. $140ish payout brings the account back up to $150. I haven't seen an experiment fail as badly as this one since (insert cliched failed experiment reference here..perhaps you prefer EuroDisney or New Coke or Crystal Pepsi).

Sure, I could use my grandfather's passing as an excuse, but in poker, there will always be a "tiltable" offense lurking to destroy your bankroll and "donkify" your game.

*sigh*