531 WORDS / 4 MIN READ / ORIGINALLY POSTED NOVEMBER 11, 2015 (EDITED)
After that win I reported to you last January (my second post here ever), I seemed to plateau in my efforts to ascend the heights of pokerdom, alternating wildly between running deep and busting out early. Well, FINALLY I booked a first-place win Sunday, November 16th, coming in FIRST out of more than 45 players and cashing USD 860 on a buy-in of USD 35 plus casino tips.
Actually I should’ve been paid the nominal first prize of USD 1,000, but that day I learned something new: Once the players who’ve made it into the money are decided, it’s not unusual for them to get together and negotiate how to divvy up the prize pool among themselves. Thus, while first prize may be touted as USD 1K, the first-prize winner may actually take home less, often much less. In this tournament, we negotiated two deals.
As advertised, the tournament would pay the first ten finishers. However, on the bubble with eleven players left, we made the first deal: We agreed to deduct USD 100 from the first-prize money and pay that to the 11th place finisher. That dropped the first-prize money to USD 900. Marcia, a friend who eventually finished fifth, reminded me that since I was chip leader (I had the most chips at the table and thus was most likely to finish first), I could veto that deal, and yes, I was tempted, because it seemed unfair to penalize only the first place winner. It would’ve been more equitable, I thought, if each of the ten winners contributed part of their winnings (say USD 10 each) to the 11th place finisher. But returning to the deal, I thought, why not? Eleven players remaining, no guarantee a beginner like me would come in first, I could come in eleventh, so I assented to the deal.
We made the next deal when three players including me remained. We agreed to end the tournament right then and prorate the prize pool per the number of chips each of the three finishers had. I was still chip leader, and as the math worked out, instead of the USD 900 first prize, I got USD 860, or USD 40 less. Again Marcia, who’d hanged around simply to try to protect Mr. Beginner me, again reminded me that as chip leader, I could veto this second deal as well and opt to continue play, but we’d been playing nonstop for over five hours and I was exhausted and wanted to go home, so I simply acceded to everything without trying to negotiate. I just said yes and yes.
Pro Jonathan Duhamel says poker pros have to keep themselves in tiptop physical shape, so I may have to restart the regimen I thought I’d dropped forever once I retired from martial arts competition— weightlifting and cardio, careful diet/nutrition, regular sleep habits, etc. I’ll report later if it indeed makes a difference. But I suspect not. I suspect that it wasn’t really exhaustion but my natural good nature that made me accede to both deals. I’m not really good at negotiating matters having to do with divvying up goodies like cash, a holdover from the Philippine culture of my youth.