Saturday night, I played a $3 rebuy to qualify for today's $200+$15 $500,000 guaranteed tourney.
I managed to qualify ... caught some good hands, hit a nice draw or two, and then coasted into qualifying, although it got a little hairy at the end when the blinds got to be monstrous.
By the time the tourney started, there were over 3500 entrants (which means almost $50,000 in fees for PokerStars) so the odds were pretty long, but 378 places paid. Top prize $140K ... as I type this, it's down to the final table.
I played pretty tight, didn't catch much early. Had QQ raised 5x ... called, by an early position limper, flop 789 ... I bet the pot, called ... turn K ... limper bets out, enough to put me all in ... and I have to fold.
Managed to double up a bit later to get back above water. Caught trips, up to 4500 chips. Then I went dead ... no cards, nothing hardly to even semibluff with. I caught AK and called a very short stack all in to give me a few more chips.
Finally, get 77 under the gun, the blinds are pretty big now and my stack is not that big. My raise pretty much commits me to the pot. Big stack comes over the top of me and he has TT. I busted out 1051st and never really a factor in the tournament.
The highlight for me was snatching the last few chips from Noah Boeken ... who my buddy Hank advises is a poker whiz kid ("EXCLUSIVE" at PokerStars). He was basically down to nothing when I eliminated him though.
Anyway, hopefully, this is the first of many of these tournaments for me. It was quite the adrenal rush. Watching the final table is crazy, AA v QQ for huge stakes, and QQ catches a Q on the flop. Looks like it's gonna end in a deal ... chip count chop at the final 3, 92K, 87K and 87K, leaving 10K on the table for the winner.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Back to the Big Boys
I have been spending most of my time at smaller sites, Absolute Poker, and BetonBet (both of which have good populations, but not like the Biggies).
Both Party and Stars offered some bonus money, and I love playing at both; so I jumped at the chance. Party has made some changes that have made a lot of serious poker players upset. They booted their skins from their network (Empire, Eurobet, others). The skins were offering rakeback deals, and anyone with half a brain who played a lot there would play a skin rather than Party.
By way of clarifying, a poker room skin uses the same tables as the main site ... it's like a separate door leading to the same casino ... just the sign over the door says "Empire Poker" instead of "Party Poker". By offering rake rebates, the skins (I am assuming) were drawing a lot of the serious players to their "door" instead of Party's.
I have never really played a ton there, except when I was playing sit and go's, so I didn't bother with it and just kept my Party account. Anyway, I digress ... Party and Stars were offering small bonuses ($50 Party and $125 Stars), so I threw some money at each site and have had good success. Up at both and about 2/3 through with Party, and 1/5 of the way done at Stars.
Party has also added blackjack, which is horrible for me ... blackjack is like crack. Once I'm done with this bonus, I'm withdrawing all my money from Party ... I usually keep a little money there in case I want to play a tourney or something; but those damn blackjack tables are too tempting. I have been playing a little, and as luck would have it (and with blackjack it is sheer luck) I'm up a small amount; but that was after being a couple hundred down and getting really lucky to claw my way back.
No tournaments lately for me to speak of; just not enough time. I have reached a new high water mark, which is excellent news.
Til next time!
Both Party and Stars offered some bonus money, and I love playing at both; so I jumped at the chance. Party has made some changes that have made a lot of serious poker players upset. They booted their skins from their network (Empire, Eurobet, others). The skins were offering rakeback deals, and anyone with half a brain who played a lot there would play a skin rather than Party.
By way of clarifying, a poker room skin uses the same tables as the main site ... it's like a separate door leading to the same casino ... just the sign over the door says "Empire Poker" instead of "Party Poker". By offering rake rebates, the skins (I am assuming) were drawing a lot of the serious players to their "door" instead of Party's.
I have never really played a ton there, except when I was playing sit and go's, so I didn't bother with it and just kept my Party account. Anyway, I digress ... Party and Stars were offering small bonuses ($50 Party and $125 Stars), so I threw some money at each site and have had good success. Up at both and about 2/3 through with Party, and 1/5 of the way done at Stars.
Party has also added blackjack, which is horrible for me ... blackjack is like crack. Once I'm done with this bonus, I'm withdrawing all my money from Party ... I usually keep a little money there in case I want to play a tourney or something; but those damn blackjack tables are too tempting. I have been playing a little, and as luck would have it (and with blackjack it is sheer luck) I'm up a small amount; but that was after being a couple hundred down and getting really lucky to claw my way back.
No tournaments lately for me to speak of; just not enough time. I have reached a new high water mark, which is excellent news.
Til next time!
Friday, October 07, 2005
The Black Hills and a Shorthanded Example
Well, I've been really busy ... so I haven't posted in a while as you can see.
I went on vacation with my wife ... a driving tour of South Dakota. Kindof an odd vacation, but very enjoyable nonetheless. It was driving distance for us, and could be done fairly inexpensively. The nice thing is that I paid for the vacation with money won from playing poker ... so it didn't put a crimp in our budget.
Custer State Park in the Black Hills was awesome, as was Mt Rushmore ... I even got in some poker at Deadwood; I lost a little money, but it was fun. The Badlands are a combination of bleak and beautiful ... truly amazing geology. If I had webhosting, I'd post my pics ... but alas, I'm a technilogical buffoon. The only disappointing experience was the Crazy Horse Memorial ... which is really pretty cool, but I didn't expect it to be the massive fundraiser that it turned out to be ... You can see it from the road, I'd recommend just driving past. If you have a camera with a good zoom, you're all set.
Back to poker, I have been selective with my play at higher limits with good success. My forays into 10/20 have been very successful, but they are few and far between. I am really looking for ideal conditions when I play those high limits.
My shorthanded play continues to be very good, and I have reduced the variance in my game at shorthanded play. I don't really know how actually, but I think it comes from a better understanding of the dynamics of short play. I am getting better at being selectively aggressive.
For instance, I had a hand the other night that I was extremely proud of and I thought typified how well my play has been. I had K9s on the button at a 5 player table ... 1 limper, I raise (this is short, and I mix my play up here b/w raising, calling ... even folding sometimes). The sb, bb and limper all call ... I have position.
The flop comes Q95 ... giving me middle pair. It is checked to me, and I bet with my middle pair. The SB folds, the BB calls, as does the limper. The turn is an 8 and it is checked to me again. Normally, I would bet middle pair again, no one has show any strength, but in thinking about the hand, I begin to consider what the two others were calling with. Remember, these are 5 player tables ... very loose, and sometimes very aggressive. A set is unlikely, people bet pocket pairs at 5 player tables; a Queen is possible, but it would have to be a Q with a good kicker ... enough to slow play in the face of a raise ... but again, KQ, AQ, even QJ sometimes, are raising hands at a short table preflop.
In the span of 10 seconds, I have a firm grasp on the fact that one of the two has TJ and has made a straight. I know that I may be wrong ... but I don't have squat anyway ... so why piss into the wind. Bear in mind, that I play aggressively at these short tables ... I win a lot of pots on triple bluffs (this is limit of course) ... bet preflop, flop, turn, and sometimes even river if it appears the other guy has missed a draw. I also fold a lot, so it's hard to put me on a hand. As such, my reads are very important. It is checked to me, and instead of my instict, which is bet ... I check ... the river is a blank ... the BB checks, and the preflop limper bets ... ez fold for me ... the BB calls.
Surprise surprise, the limper shows TJ for the nut straight ... I absolutely minimized my losses. A perfect hand, I was ahead preflop and raised ... ahead on the flop and bet ... the turn was a very bad card, but disguised, I recognized it and avoided the trap ...
Some out there may be thinking ... what the hell are you doing raising with K9s anyway? If you are one of those people, you don't understand shorthanded play. Yes, I may miss and have to lay it down, but K9s is a solid hand at a short table ... esp where no one has shown strength. It's a different ballgame from full table play.
It's late, but I think I'm gonna see if I can find a tournament to play ...
I went on vacation with my wife ... a driving tour of South Dakota. Kindof an odd vacation, but very enjoyable nonetheless. It was driving distance for us, and could be done fairly inexpensively. The nice thing is that I paid for the vacation with money won from playing poker ... so it didn't put a crimp in our budget.
Custer State Park in the Black Hills was awesome, as was Mt Rushmore ... I even got in some poker at Deadwood; I lost a little money, but it was fun. The Badlands are a combination of bleak and beautiful ... truly amazing geology. If I had webhosting, I'd post my pics ... but alas, I'm a technilogical buffoon. The only disappointing experience was the Crazy Horse Memorial ... which is really pretty cool, but I didn't expect it to be the massive fundraiser that it turned out to be ... You can see it from the road, I'd recommend just driving past. If you have a camera with a good zoom, you're all set.
Back to poker, I have been selective with my play at higher limits with good success. My forays into 10/20 have been very successful, but they are few and far between. I am really looking for ideal conditions when I play those high limits.
My shorthanded play continues to be very good, and I have reduced the variance in my game at shorthanded play. I don't really know how actually, but I think it comes from a better understanding of the dynamics of short play. I am getting better at being selectively aggressive.
For instance, I had a hand the other night that I was extremely proud of and I thought typified how well my play has been. I had K9s on the button at a 5 player table ... 1 limper, I raise (this is short, and I mix my play up here b/w raising, calling ... even folding sometimes). The sb, bb and limper all call ... I have position.
The flop comes Q95 ... giving me middle pair. It is checked to me, and I bet with my middle pair. The SB folds, the BB calls, as does the limper. The turn is an 8 and it is checked to me again. Normally, I would bet middle pair again, no one has show any strength, but in thinking about the hand, I begin to consider what the two others were calling with. Remember, these are 5 player tables ... very loose, and sometimes very aggressive. A set is unlikely, people bet pocket pairs at 5 player tables; a Queen is possible, but it would have to be a Q with a good kicker ... enough to slow play in the face of a raise ... but again, KQ, AQ, even QJ sometimes, are raising hands at a short table preflop.
In the span of 10 seconds, I have a firm grasp on the fact that one of the two has TJ and has made a straight. I know that I may be wrong ... but I don't have squat anyway ... so why piss into the wind. Bear in mind, that I play aggressively at these short tables ... I win a lot of pots on triple bluffs (this is limit of course) ... bet preflop, flop, turn, and sometimes even river if it appears the other guy has missed a draw. I also fold a lot, so it's hard to put me on a hand. As such, my reads are very important. It is checked to me, and instead of my instict, which is bet ... I check ... the river is a blank ... the BB checks, and the preflop limper bets ... ez fold for me ... the BB calls.
Surprise surprise, the limper shows TJ for the nut straight ... I absolutely minimized my losses. A perfect hand, I was ahead preflop and raised ... ahead on the flop and bet ... the turn was a very bad card, but disguised, I recognized it and avoided the trap ...
Some out there may be thinking ... what the hell are you doing raising with K9s anyway? If you are one of those people, you don't understand shorthanded play. Yes, I may miss and have to lay it down, but K9s is a solid hand at a short table ... esp where no one has shown strength. It's a different ballgame from full table play.
It's late, but I think I'm gonna see if I can find a tournament to play ...
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