This turned out to be a major fault in strategy. I decided to sign up for the 2nd round so that I could observe action in the first round to see how people bet. I made a huge mistake in determining which round to play. The winner of each table would move onto the second round. There were 3 qualifying rounds with 10 tables of 7 at each. The winner took 3k, 2nd took 1k, and the other 5 won small prizes. Buy-in was 40 dollars for 500 in chips with a bonus 200 in chips if you chipped in 5 dollars for the dealers.

The tournament had 5k in cash prizes, going to the 7 players that made the final table. This played into my strategy as it drops the HE from 7.xx% to 2.xx% on the pair plus.

Interestingly enough, Turning Stone is one of the few casinos in the country that still offers the full pay table with the relatively low house edge. The tournament took place last week at Turning Stone Casino in NY. It is quite lengthy and detailed, so you have been warned.

This is the story of my first 3 card poker tournament.