Surrounded by donkeys

Played an 45-person, $11 tournament last night and found myself surrounded by some of the worst poker players in history.

One guy had played 25 tournaments and cashed once. Another guy had played enough to "win" $20,000 yet has never, ever had a winning month online. (Clearly, he has spent much, much more than $20,000 in entry fees.) Then there was the guy who thought A-6 suited was plenty good enough to reraise all-in early in the tournament (then mocked me for folding a hand later in the night) and the guy who called him with a worse hand. There was another guy who late in the tournament reraised post-flop and then called an all-in push with 8-4 suited. There was no eight, no four and only one of his suit when he called. I guess he was counting on runner-runner for a crappy flush.

For a while, I was mad at myself for not being able to take these guys — and the other suspect players — to the cleaners. Really, at one point while playing nine-handed there was really only one player, directly to my left, who I thought knew how to play.

In the end, I did end up cleaning up. First place in that one helped cover for an 0-for-3 effort Monday night and earlier Tuesday. The climb continues.

Current bankroll: $1,290.

OPR ranking: 98.41. (All-time high.)