Another Seat

The Main Event 2008 is upon us...

Yours truly managed to win another seat to play in the biggest tourney on the planet. However, I decided that I would take the cash instead of trying to roll the dice against 8,000+ other rounders this weekend.

I played in the Full Tilt 150 seat tourney a few weeks back and made it into the top 150. That got me a $12K prize pack to the Main Event. They gave me the option of taking the money and playing in the tourney. The catch was that I would have to do all the leg work myself. I'd have to get my flight, reserve my room and buy myself in the tourney. Now, I come from the old school before sneaky laws were back doored on the last night. When I won my first seat, all that work was handle for me and I just had to show up. The other option was to not play and take the prize money in tournament dollars. I could later convert that into hard cash at a cost of 5% (thanks to Full Tilt last software upgrade).

Let's think about this for a minute. The first time I won a seat back in 2006, I never saw that money. It was just passed on right through to Harrah's and all I got was a receipt. This time around they are giving me the option to take the cash. If I choose to play in the Main Event, I am making the decision on my own to risk $10,000. Like I said, last time I never saw the money and the decision was made for me. This time around I really had to take some time to think about what was the best option for me at this time and place.

Needless to say, it was a no brainer to take the cash and pocket $12K. That to date is my biggest cash ever in my poker career. Good luck to all those playing this weekend from the Texas Poker Club. Next year maybe I can win two seats, that way I can play and pocket the cash from the other one.