I played in a $9 + $1 qualifier Friday night on PartyPoker for their $200 + $15 weekly $200,000 guaranteed tournament. Started with 471 entrants, with the top 19 winning a spot in the main event.
About a third of the way through the tourney I was down to about 500 in chips (started with 1,000), but then started doubling up. Whenever I had the best hand, it would hold up; if I was behind (i.e. A-K vs. lower pair), I'd pair up on the board. I made it up to about 30,000 in chips and decided to tighten my play and hold out to make the top 19.
Well Lady Luck was on my side and I came in 4th! I actually had the pleasure to knock out the 20th place finisher. Blinds were 1,500/3,000...I was big blind, small blind only had 1,200 left. Everyone else folded to us, and our hole cards are shown. He has J-7, I have Q-6; he hits his 7 on the flop, but I also caught my Q...and it holds up.
Now I know I haven't won jack diddly yet, but it felt good to have made the final table of a big tourney. I was planning on hitting the local sports bar with some friends to watch the UConn/Duke game tonight, but that took a back seat to the opportunity of winning 50 large!
I was on edge all day, waiting for the 10PM start time to roll around. A little over 1,200 people entered the tournament, making first place about $49,000. They were paying 120 spots, with the next 50 winning an entry into their Million Dollar Guaranteed qualifier. The clock finally read 10:00, and I was ready to rock.
Actually doubled up pretty early on with the following hand...I was in the big blind with plain awful 7-3 offsuit, but nobody folds so I get a free look at the flop. Lo and behold, it comes 7-3-Q, so I made a decent bet. One person called quickly, everyone else folds. I figured him/her for a pair of queens, so I'm feeling pretty good about my chances.
The turn card is garbage, so I bet $500 and get quickly called again. River is more garbage, so I go all in for about $350 and hope the other player didn't catch two pair. Of course I get called, and...they've only got Q-10. Now I can breathe again!
From that point on my luck steadily went south. I'm not catching any good starting hands, and getting raised whenever I bet. I'm down to about $1,200 in chips when I get dealt A-Q of diamonds in middle position. I'm ready to make a healthy raise when the guy before me (who has about $3,500) raises it to $500.
Now I'm in a tough spot: do I make my stand and try to double up again, or should I lay it down? Since this was the best hand I'd seen in a while, and the blinds were about to go up to $100/$200, I decided to go for it and go all-in. He called and showed A-K offsuit, which made him the 70% favorite (according to the www.cardplayer.com odds calculator...I love that thing!).
After the turn, the board was 4-5-6-7, which meant a 3 or 8 will give me a split, and a miracle Q will double me up. But alas, the river was another measly 4, and I'm out of the tourney in 430th place.
So now it's about an hour after I got knocked out, and I'm still wondering if I made the right call or not. I could've folded and tried to hang in there...have to figure a raise to $500 means at least A-J, A-Q, A-K, or a decent pair. But the guy also had a lot of chips, maybe he was bluffing. What do you all think?
Well the $50,000 dream is over for now...but now I'm dead set on making it into another one of these big money tournaments. To quote my fellow www.travel2vegas.com members, "Hold'em is crack!"
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Monday, March 08, 2004
A couple posts and five months ago, I tried my luck with online poker and lost $50 in a heartbeat. So I asked Santa for a second chance at internet hold 'em, and Jen, er I mean Santa obliged with a $50 cash present. This time I went to PartyPoker and deposited the cash. This time around has been much, much, much more profitable!
I started by playing one-table no-limit tournaments, where 10 people each pay $6 and get $1500 in tournament chips to start. Only the top three finishers win prizes ($25/$15/$10), but I found myself consistently "in the money." In fact, there was a stretch of about 20 tournaments where I never finished lower than 4th.
So by this time my $50 stake had doubled, thereby getting me back to even in the online poker world. One night, I couldn't get in a one-table tournament (all the tables were filled), so I decided to play a normal $1/$2 hold'em game. That's when the bankroll began to grow quite quickly. All the loose players who were catching their cards against me in Atlantic City; now the tables had turned and I was the one raking in all the pots. I won't tell you exactly how much I've won, but it's safe to say that PartyPoker's been "berry, berry good to me!"
I will soon have a PartyPoker banner on the site which people will be able to click on and get a $25 bonus with their first deposit.
I started by playing one-table no-limit tournaments, where 10 people each pay $6 and get $1500 in tournament chips to start. Only the top three finishers win prizes ($25/$15/$10), but I found myself consistently "in the money." In fact, there was a stretch of about 20 tournaments where I never finished lower than 4th.
So by this time my $50 stake had doubled, thereby getting me back to even in the online poker world. One night, I couldn't get in a one-table tournament (all the tables were filled), so I decided to play a normal $1/$2 hold'em game. That's when the bankroll began to grow quite quickly. All the loose players who were catching their cards against me in Atlantic City; now the tables had turned and I was the one raking in all the pots. I won't tell you exactly how much I've won, but it's safe to say that PartyPoker's been "berry, berry good to me!"
I will soon have a PartyPoker banner on the site which people will be able to click on and get a $25 bonus with their first deposit.
My wife is calling me a nerd...we're 9 short days from our annual trip to Las Vegas, and this time we won't be traveling alone. Our friends Luke, Kristen, Erik, Dave, and Christy are all coming along for some St. Patrick's Day-March Madness excitement...and we have plenty of activities planned:
- dinner at the Top of the World restaurant at Stratosphere Friday night
- tickets to see Carrot Top after dinner
and the coup-de-grace for the week....
- tickets to see The Price is Right in L.A.!
Between all the airline confirms, hotel and car rental reservations, ticket print-outs, coupons, etc...I have a TON of papers that need to accompany us on the trip. So to make sure that none of these papers get lost, I decided to buy a 1" binder to hold and organize it all. This has led to Jen using the word nerd on a daily basis...but when I look at that binder, I know there's a ton o' fun just a week and a half away...
- dinner at the Top of the World restaurant at Stratosphere Friday night
- tickets to see Carrot Top after dinner
and the coup-de-grace for the week....
- tickets to see The Price is Right in L.A.!
Between all the airline confirms, hotel and car rental reservations, ticket print-outs, coupons, etc...I have a TON of papers that need to accompany us on the trip. So to make sure that none of these papers get lost, I decided to buy a 1" binder to hold and organize it all. This has led to Jen using the word nerd on a daily basis...but when I look at that binder, I know there's a ton o' fun just a week and a half away...
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
I'm back from the blogging dead with a story to tell...
About a dozen of us from CT & MD (pro duckpin bowlers, a.k.a. the bottom of the athletic food chain) met halfway in Atlantic City for our annual pre-season meeting. Since I’m not part of the governing body, I had absolutely no intention of going to the meeting and every intention of playing some live Texas Hold’em…which is exactly what I did.
My long-time buddy Lou, wife Jen, and I all took half days from work on Friday and headed out for AC around 1:30. The trip usually takes 3 ½-4 hours from Hartford with no traffic, but the crappy Garden State Parkway cost us about an extra hour or so of drive time.
Nevertheless, we got into AC around 6:30. I had received separate room offers from Harrah’s & Showboat, so I booked both rooms and gave the one at Harrah’s to some of the other guys making the trip. Headed over to Harrah’s & checked in, nicely asked for and got a room in their new tower. Two nights for $79 plus tax, not too bad.
Hopped back in the car and went to Showboat to check into our room. Two nights for $59, also in their new tower. I picked Showboat over Harrah’s since it’s on the boardwalk, and right next to the Taj Mahal & their huuuuge poker room.
We had dinner reservations for 14 at the Harrah’s steakhouse, so the three of us made a small donation to Showboat’s slots and drove back to Harrah’s…by the way, all this valet parking is starting to put a dent in the wallet. All the AC casinos charge $3-5/day for parking, even in their garages…so might as well tip an extra few bucks and valet if you’re going to pay anyways.
Dinner was excellent, my weekend highlight (so what does that tell you about the gambling?!). Jen had the jumbo crab cake, and I had the king-cut prime rib. Also split a bottle of Australian cabernet with Lou. Good friends, good food, good times.
Harrah’s has a tiny poker room (6 tables) enclosed in glass walls, so my friend Luke & I decided to try our luck in The Fishbowl. Took us about 20 minutes to get on separate $2/4 Hold’em tables, and I broke even playing on a $5 Three-Card Poker table while waiting. Played for about three hours and took a $140 beating.
It was the loosest game I’ve ever played in; no matter how many times I would bet or raise my solid starting hands, at least half of the table would call. Even if I caught top pair on the flop, I still couldn’t get anyone to fold. Seemingly every hand I played to the end, somebody caught their straight or flush on the river. Very frustrating, but I figured if I kept playing on these types of tables over the weekend, the fishermen would stop catching and I’d win my share of hands…hahahahahaha!
Come to find out Luke took a similar beating...didn't win a hand & lost $100. His story of the night was being dealt pocket Aces. Everyone was raising, and still 7 people were in the hand after Luke made the final raise. Needless to say his Aces were no good in the end.
Woke up late on Saturday and made it over to the Taj poker room by about 1. More of the same No Fold’em craziness followed. The kid to my right kept digging into his pocket for $100 bills, and finally caught his diamond flush (on the river, of course) against my top pair with Ace kicker. The worst part was when he showed his hole cards: 9-4. I’m betting & raising the whole way w/AQ suited, and he’s calling with that crap?! By this time I’m down another hundred and red as a beet, so I’m outta there.
Lou is a heavy slot player & racked up some good comp at Showboat, so he treated six of us to their buffet. Another helping of prime rib for me…buffet-quality, nowhere near as good as last night’s hunk o’ beef, but hey…it’s free prime rib so it's all good!
We all go back to our rooms & get gussied up for our first trip to the new Borgata (Bellagio Jr.). It’s not Vegas, but it’s the newest & best AC has to offer. We stroll around the casino and check out the table games…$15 craps table is three-deep with people trying to get on; half of the blackjack tables are $25 minimums, with the rest $50 and up. Yep, definitely playing poker tonight!
Luke & I head downstairs to their poker room…easily the nicest one I’ve ever been in. The waiting lists are displayed on side-by-side flat-screen plasma TV’s. I put my name in for $2/4 and $3/6 Hold’em; Luke is sick of getting outdrawn on the lower limit tables, so he cowboys up and asks for a $6/12 game. My name is nowhere to be seen on the list, so I head back up to the casino to pass the time.
I actually found a bunch of 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker machines (quarters), so I gave it a shot. Didn’t win, but my $20 lasted a good 45 minutes or so. Back down to the poker room, and I get called for a $2/4 game. This table was much tighter than the others I played over the weekend and I won a few hands. We also had a friendly group of players and ended up celebrating last call with a round of Southern Comfort snakebites…nice & smooth!
I left this table about $20 to the good, but not before getting bluffed out of a hand. I’m dealt KK on the button, so I raise pre-flop & get 2 callers. Flop comes Q-5-4, all diamonds of course. I bet my top pair, next guy raises, other guy calls. I re-raise, both call. I figure at least one of them for a flush draw.
The turn is a 6 off-suit, so now there’s also a straight draw on the board. I bet, next guy raises again and the other calls again. Figuring my Kings are no good, even if I catch a third on the river, I fold. The river is the 7 of diamonds, meaning there’s 4 diamonds & an open-ended straight draw on the board….and a pair of Queens wins! Are you kidding me?! Luke ended up losing $80, not too bad for 3 hours of play on a $6/12 table.
Wake up late again on Sunday & head down to the casino to try some $10 blackjack. Seven hands and $60 later, I throw in the gambling towel for the weekend. The other weekend highlight was watching the Pats D shut down Manning and the Colts at the Showboat’s sports bar. Love them Pats, and love their chances in the Super Bowl!
By this time it’s snowing everywhere between AC and Boston, so we decide to stay an extra night. Showboat graciously comps us another room, thanks to the $$$$ Lou & my wife pumped into their slots. We are ALL DONE gambling, so we head straight for the room. They both fall asleep while I watch the Eagles blow their third straight NFC championship. Drive home on Monday was uneventful.
I’m not sure what I learned from my weekend of poker frustration. I know that playing conservatively in low-limit Hold’em should be profitable in the long run, but all those unlucky rivers sure did kill my confidence!
I’ll probably play a lot of no-limit Hold’em tournaments on the March Madness trip to Las Vegas, which is just 57 short days away! I’m more used to playing no-limit, where it’s less likely someone will call a big bet with a marginal/get lucky on the river hand.
About a dozen of us from CT & MD (pro duckpin bowlers, a.k.a. the bottom of the athletic food chain) met halfway in Atlantic City for our annual pre-season meeting. Since I’m not part of the governing body, I had absolutely no intention of going to the meeting and every intention of playing some live Texas Hold’em…which is exactly what I did.
My long-time buddy Lou, wife Jen, and I all took half days from work on Friday and headed out for AC around 1:30. The trip usually takes 3 ½-4 hours from Hartford with no traffic, but the crappy Garden State Parkway cost us about an extra hour or so of drive time.
Nevertheless, we got into AC around 6:30. I had received separate room offers from Harrah’s & Showboat, so I booked both rooms and gave the one at Harrah’s to some of the other guys making the trip. Headed over to Harrah’s & checked in, nicely asked for and got a room in their new tower. Two nights for $79 plus tax, not too bad.
Hopped back in the car and went to Showboat to check into our room. Two nights for $59, also in their new tower. I picked Showboat over Harrah’s since it’s on the boardwalk, and right next to the Taj Mahal & their huuuuge poker room.
We had dinner reservations for 14 at the Harrah’s steakhouse, so the three of us made a small donation to Showboat’s slots and drove back to Harrah’s…by the way, all this valet parking is starting to put a dent in the wallet. All the AC casinos charge $3-5/day for parking, even in their garages…so might as well tip an extra few bucks and valet if you’re going to pay anyways.
Dinner was excellent, my weekend highlight (so what does that tell you about the gambling?!). Jen had the jumbo crab cake, and I had the king-cut prime rib. Also split a bottle of Australian cabernet with Lou. Good friends, good food, good times.
Harrah’s has a tiny poker room (6 tables) enclosed in glass walls, so my friend Luke & I decided to try our luck in The Fishbowl. Took us about 20 minutes to get on separate $2/4 Hold’em tables, and I broke even playing on a $5 Three-Card Poker table while waiting. Played for about three hours and took a $140 beating.
It was the loosest game I’ve ever played in; no matter how many times I would bet or raise my solid starting hands, at least half of the table would call. Even if I caught top pair on the flop, I still couldn’t get anyone to fold. Seemingly every hand I played to the end, somebody caught their straight or flush on the river. Very frustrating, but I figured if I kept playing on these types of tables over the weekend, the fishermen would stop catching and I’d win my share of hands…hahahahahaha!
Come to find out Luke took a similar beating...didn't win a hand & lost $100. His story of the night was being dealt pocket Aces. Everyone was raising, and still 7 people were in the hand after Luke made the final raise. Needless to say his Aces were no good in the end.
Woke up late on Saturday and made it over to the Taj poker room by about 1. More of the same No Fold’em craziness followed. The kid to my right kept digging into his pocket for $100 bills, and finally caught his diamond flush (on the river, of course) against my top pair with Ace kicker. The worst part was when he showed his hole cards: 9-4. I’m betting & raising the whole way w/AQ suited, and he’s calling with that crap?! By this time I’m down another hundred and red as a beet, so I’m outta there.
Lou is a heavy slot player & racked up some good comp at Showboat, so he treated six of us to their buffet. Another helping of prime rib for me…buffet-quality, nowhere near as good as last night’s hunk o’ beef, but hey…it’s free prime rib so it's all good!
We all go back to our rooms & get gussied up for our first trip to the new Borgata (Bellagio Jr.). It’s not Vegas, but it’s the newest & best AC has to offer. We stroll around the casino and check out the table games…$15 craps table is three-deep with people trying to get on; half of the blackjack tables are $25 minimums, with the rest $50 and up. Yep, definitely playing poker tonight!
Luke & I head downstairs to their poker room…easily the nicest one I’ve ever been in. The waiting lists are displayed on side-by-side flat-screen plasma TV’s. I put my name in for $2/4 and $3/6 Hold’em; Luke is sick of getting outdrawn on the lower limit tables, so he cowboys up and asks for a $6/12 game. My name is nowhere to be seen on the list, so I head back up to the casino to pass the time.
I actually found a bunch of 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker machines (quarters), so I gave it a shot. Didn’t win, but my $20 lasted a good 45 minutes or so. Back down to the poker room, and I get called for a $2/4 game. This table was much tighter than the others I played over the weekend and I won a few hands. We also had a friendly group of players and ended up celebrating last call with a round of Southern Comfort snakebites…nice & smooth!
I left this table about $20 to the good, but not before getting bluffed out of a hand. I’m dealt KK on the button, so I raise pre-flop & get 2 callers. Flop comes Q-5-4, all diamonds of course. I bet my top pair, next guy raises, other guy calls. I re-raise, both call. I figure at least one of them for a flush draw.
The turn is a 6 off-suit, so now there’s also a straight draw on the board. I bet, next guy raises again and the other calls again. Figuring my Kings are no good, even if I catch a third on the river, I fold. The river is the 7 of diamonds, meaning there’s 4 diamonds & an open-ended straight draw on the board….and a pair of Queens wins! Are you kidding me?! Luke ended up losing $80, not too bad for 3 hours of play on a $6/12 table.
Wake up late again on Sunday & head down to the casino to try some $10 blackjack. Seven hands and $60 later, I throw in the gambling towel for the weekend. The other weekend highlight was watching the Pats D shut down Manning and the Colts at the Showboat’s sports bar. Love them Pats, and love their chances in the Super Bowl!
By this time it’s snowing everywhere between AC and Boston, so we decide to stay an extra night. Showboat graciously comps us another room, thanks to the $$$$ Lou & my wife pumped into their slots. We are ALL DONE gambling, so we head straight for the room. They both fall asleep while I watch the Eagles blow their third straight NFC championship. Drive home on Monday was uneventful.
I’m not sure what I learned from my weekend of poker frustration. I know that playing conservatively in low-limit Hold’em should be profitable in the long run, but all those unlucky rivers sure did kill my confidence!
I’ll probably play a lot of no-limit Hold’em tournaments on the March Madness trip to Las Vegas, which is just 57 short days away! I’m more used to playing no-limit, where it’s less likely someone will call a big bet with a marginal/get lucky on the river hand.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
