Hardest way to make easy money

All that is old is new again. I'm sure that if I read the old words of wisdom around no point in being the 10th best player at the table when the other 9 are also there hold truer than ever. I've never practiced game selection because I felt that I needed to train at altitude and the micro stakes don't hurt too bad. I enjoy live poker and the internet is increasingly where I train.

Well, this week I had the opportunity to play in the Sydney Champs where the PLO Event was a $770 buy in. It was very steep in my opinion and that was reflected in the turnout with only 38 entries. For me, having a quality event on my doorstep seemed worth the shot eventhough I would be massively -ve EV in such a small field. Sure enough a who's who of the casino regulars and the tournament pros showed up, minus the very best Lisandro, Assadourian etc. Surprisingly, I found the quality of play to be aggressive but not necessarily well timed at all. Problem is, like pub poker, one of them always wins and accumulates chips. With only 4 getting paid this became a real issue for me. I managed to increase my stack consistently but with 19 left I was on average and then with only 13 I felt like I was getting short. I then decided to take a stand with a flopped NFD which was a mathematically poor decision in the context of the hand but 3-way was a chance to get me back to where I could play PLO. Needless to say, I missed and was history. I felt that I was very aware and able to hold my own so roll on next year (hopefully with a smaller buy in and a bigger field).

In summary, only the top 5% make money and I'm just not there at the moment. The effort to get there is detrimental to other aspects of my life so I may need to retreat to the comfort of being above average and not much more.