Antes at the Final Table at KC's

I decided to play in the Sunday Ante at KC's American Grille. The tournament is different from the regular Red, White, and Blue Poker tournaments because we have 20 minute blinds, not 15 minute blinds, and we have antes.

If I haven't said it enough, I hate Antes. An ante is a small forced bet by everyone at the table before the cards are dealt. The sum of the antes at a full table will about equal the big blind. The reason I hate antes is because I am lazy. It doesn't fit in with my style of playing poker.

What I like to do, and often do, is accumulate a large stack of chips early in the game. Then I can be lazy and coast - not bother to play any hands unless I really like them. But with antes, I can't just ignore the hands, I have to bet when I am not in the blinds because I am losing chips with the antes. In the higher levels, this can kill me if I don't play.

Everyone could tell I was tired in this game, so my play was not optimal. I had lost a lot of chips to the antes and my stack no longer looked good.

So on Sunday when I moved to the final table I looked at my opponents and stated "It's time to stop playing cards and start playing poker."

I concentrated on my game, and I picked up most of the next few hands. People commented to me on how tired I looked, and before long I left the tournament with a 4th place finish. Greg finish first.

I hate antes. They killed my game and took my win from me. That is why I am playing in games with antes. With practice I can overcome this. I can beat the antes.

I first learned to hate antes at Caesars in Atlantic City. Antes are a part of all the big tournaments in the WSOP and WPT. Antes are in the big money tournaments I play online. I'll keep playing antes until I discover the guy across the table from me hates the antes more than I do.

Then I'll love the antes and gladly take his chips from him. :)