The Blue Pill

I tried one of the $1.25 Matrix tournaments on Full Tilt Poker. Interesting.

In case you don't know what they are, you pay one buy in and play 4 tournaments against the same set of players. You get points for finishing in the top 3 of each tournament, plus points for knocking out other players and lasting longer than other players. Each tournament has a payout for the top three finishers and the top three points leaders also get a prize.

I immediately noticed the convenience of four tables for a lot of players. If you get bad beaten on one table, BANG you have three more tournaments to GIVE THE GUY SHIT. Many players take advantage of this, but fortunately playing 4 tables at a time makes it tough to type.

Anyway, I finished fourth, third, second and second. Yeah, startlingly good heads up play. When all four tables were down to approx. 4 players, it was pretty maddening. When I lost the first table I had three going with three players at the same time. I can barely think when I'm playing one table, (okay, I can barely think when I'm playing zero tables) so this was quite a challenge. I busted heads up on another so I just had one table of two and another table of three. I lost a race to come in third and got to concentrate on heads up. I built up a 3-1 chip lead there and blew it vs. a guy playing a very straightforward game.

But 4th 3rd 2nd and 2nd plus knockouts was enough points to win first prize in the Matrix pool, which payed the same as taking first at a table.

I think the payout was about $2.30, so minus my $1.25 buy-in, I made a buck-oh-five.

If you do well in these you will always end up with a bunch of tables that are down to a few players, and I don't really like the hectic feeling I get when I'm in that situation. So I probably won't play them again, but it was fun to try out something different.