O-Poker

I came in 15th out of 188 last night in the UB/Pokershare $109 $18k guarantee tourney. Nothing to interesting happened other than the hand below.

Hand #9288233-247 at Fri9pmA-001 (No Limit tournament Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 28/Oct/05 23:57:15

sanjaysr2k is at seat 0 with 18330.
BigBalla1 is at seat 1 with 18970.
shattus is at seat 2 with 21630.
Big Jew is at seat 3 with 13795.
browerkid is at seat 4 with 10905.
rockit_man is at seat 5 with 10360.
BigChuck is at seat 6 with 4920.
cmitch1 is at seat 7 with 5745.
Prof Polo is at seat 8 with 3280.
robin65 is at seat 9 with 8160.
The button is at seat 5.

sanjaysr2k posts ante (50).
BigBalla1 posts ante (50).
shattus posts ante (50).
Big Jew posts ante (50).
browerkid posts ante (50).
rockit_man posts ante (50).
BigChuck posts ante (50).
cmitch1 posts ante (50).
Prof Polo posts ante (50).
robin65 posts ante (50).
cmitch1 posts the small blind of 200.
Prof Polo posts the big blind of 400.

sanjaysr2k: -- --
BigBalla1: -- --
shattus: -- --
Big Jew: -- --
browerkid: -- --
rockit_man: -- --
BigChuck: -- --
cmitch1: As Ac
Prof Polo: -- --
robin65: -- --

Pre-flop:

robin65 raises to 1900. sanjaysr2k folds. BigBalla1
folds. shattus folds. Big Jew folds. browerkid
re-raises to 4000. rockit_man goes all-in for 10310.
BigChuck folds. cmitch1 goes all-in for 5695. Prof
Polo folds. robin65 folds. browerkid calls.

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

browerkid shows Ah Ad.
rockit_man shows Kh Ks.
cmitch1 shows As Ac.


Flop (board: Js 4d 5s):

(no action in this round)


Turn (board: Js 4d 5s 6d):

(no action in this round)


River (board: Js 4d 5s 6d Tc):

(no action in this round)




Showdown:

browerkid has Ah Ad Js 6d Tc: a pair of aces.
rockit_man has Kh Ks Js 6d Tc: a pair of kings.
cmitch1 has As Ac Js 6d Tc: a pair of aces.


Hand #9288233-247 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
cmitch1 wins the main pot 9945 of a 19885 pot with a pair of aces.
browerkid wins the main pot 9940 of a 19885 pot with a pair of aces.
browerkid wins the side pot 9230 with a pair of aces.
----------------------------------------------------------------

I played the Bluff Poker Tour Pokershare event and the overlay was incredible. There were 127 players at $33/each for a prize pool of $3,810. Oh, but wait, there was also a $15k WPT seat to the Bellagio event in December plus airfare plus hotel for the winner. BAM!! HOLY HUGE OVERLAY BATMAN!!! I was a little too high on my guess of the number of entrants in the previous post.

POW!! - I was plugging along fairly well until I had to lay QQ down to AK when I just knew the guy had AK. Blinds 100/200 and he raises to 750 from early position. I decide to flat call with QQ - based on his bet and the way that he was playing I was 90% sure he had AK. If the flop doesn't have an Ace or King - I'm jamming it. The ugly flop come K92 rainbow. He bets 750 again. I am now sure he has AK and lay down my QQ.

My Logic
1. PREFLOP - If he has AK and I go all-in preflop, he is calling with AK and I'm racing for my tourney. I am pretty sure he has AK but if he has AA or KK, I am all but dead. He, also, could have JJ or 1010 - In which case I'm golden. I flat called and was putting all my chips in on the flop if it didn't contain an Ace or King. He would be first to act and would bet huge on the flop with AK (based on his previous play) or check-fold.

2. FLOP that contained a King - I figured if he didn't have a King, he was betting the pot or close to it. If he had a King, he was betting somewhere around what he bet preflop - he wanted a call. So, the flop bet confirmed my preflop thinking. If I call that bet on the flop, he is going to milk me on the turn and river or he is all-in on the turn. In my mind, it was all in or nothing. I thought he had AK, so I folded.

POOF!! - I trodded along for a while and was getting short stacked. I had 2,625 chips with 30 players remaining with the blinds at 150/300 with 25 ante. I get dealt AJo on the button and a player in late position minimum raises to 600 with 1 caller. There is now 1,850 in the pot. I raise all-in hoping to just win the pot, but don't mind racing against a small pair. I didn't think the original raiser was going to call unless he had a big pair (not likely) and the caller behind him would be left with 2k in chips if he called my additional 2,000. SB folds, BB folds, original raiser folds, last guy calls with A10o. I don't understand the call, but am very happy when the cards are turned over.....until the flop......contains one of his 3 outs.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=155690

GG me. Over and out. Didn't want to squeak into the money - wanted that seat. Maybe a WPT Bahamas seat is in my future instead.

Bluff Poker Tour – Pokershare Tourney

This may be a little late notice, but Bluff Poker Tour is running a $33 buy-in Tourney on Pokershare with a $15,000 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Seat at the Bellagio in December added.  This is right!!!  Winner gets the seat.  The seat is added to the prize pool – all other payouts are paid just as they would be in any other tourney!!!

The bad news (but not for me) is that you can no longer sign up for a pokershare account if you have an ultimatebet account.  I signed up for Pokershare before the change.

The good news (for me) is that this will limit the number of entries to the tourney.  As of 4:00 PM today (the tourney is at 9 PM), there are only 69 people registered.  My guess is that there will be around 150-200 people in the tourney.  That means that they are adding anywhere from $85 to $113 per person to the prize pool (package valued at $17k).

If you don’t have an Ulitmatebet account or Pokershare account, you can sign up for the tourney by downloading Pokershare (use bonus code opoker for 100% deposit bonus up to $250) and depositing at least $33 for the tourney.  You, then, need to email events@pokershare.com with “Bluff Poker Tour” in the heading and your Pokershare screen name and email address in the body of the email.

I’ll let you know how I fair.

Pokerstars WPT Bahamas Quest
I didn’t get a chance to play the $650 Super this past Saturday because we had company in town.  Hopefully, I can win my entry in the next couple of days for this weekend’s Super.  I have been really busy at work and haven’t gotten a chance to play any satellites.

NL Cash Games
I only played for a little while last night, but managed to suffer a couple of really brutal beats.  I forgot how fast they add up when you are playing NL cash games.  (  One time, a guy made a huge raise preflop and I just knew he had AK.  I put him all in with my QQ preflop and a King hit the flop.  A few hands later, my set was outdrawn by a flush – with all the money going in on the flop and the flush hitting on the river.  Gotta take the good with the bad and I’m still up quite a bit in NL cash games lately.

Good Luck at the Tables,
cmitch

Congrats to Twitch for his 2-0 first round win yesterday in the HUC2!

It took him all of 30 minutes to stick the salt covered serrated knife in my chest, yank out my heart and stomp all over it. After not playing for nearly a week, my usually superior skills were off by 1/1,000,000th and Twitch took full advantage. Job well done.

Good luck to all the second rounders!.

Loopy

Quick update on Stats. I played another double shootout and got knocked out 3rd at my table. At least I am kicking ass at the NL cash games and they are funding my attempt to win a seat to the Pokerstars WPT Bahamas tourney.

Week 2 RECAP - PS Bahamas WPT Quest
Starting Pokerstars Bankroll (10/10/05) $667
Overall Profit/Loss +$1,046
Current Pokerstars Bankroll (10/24/05) $1,713

WSOP 2006 Schedule. I tried to post the schedule, but it was all chopped up, so here is the link. Only 8 months to go. Wooooohooooooo!!!!!!!!

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051024/phm051.html?.v=17

I’ll update the stats for the WPT Bahamas Quest soon, but here is a hand that I needed to share in the mean time.

PokerStars Game #2885018516:  Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4) - 2005/10/24 - 20:37:15 (ET)
Table 'Mnesthus III' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Pernz14 ($160.30 in chips)
Seat 5: RosaBianca ($96.20 in chips)
Seat 6: sportingimag ($401.25 in chips)
Seat 7: lafdollard ($246.15 in chips)
Pernz14: posts small blind $2
RosaBianca: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to sportingimag [Ah As]
sportingimag: raises $4 to $8
lafdollard: folds
Pernz14: raises $152.30 to $160.30 and is all-in
RosaBianca: folds
sportingimag: calls $152.30
*** FLOP *** [Ac 9h 8d]
*** TURN *** [Ac 9h 8d] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [Ac 9h 8d 4c] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Pernz14: shows [6d 6h] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
sportingimag: shows [Ah As] (four of a kind, Aces)
sportingimag collected $322.60 from pot
lafdollard said, "wow"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $324.60 | Rake $2
Board [Ac 9h 8d 4c Ad]
Seat 1: Pernz14 (small blind) showed [6d 6h] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Seat 5: RosaBianca (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: sportingimag showed [Ah As] and won ($322.60) with four of a kind, Aces
Seat 7: lafdollard (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

cmitch – playing as sportingimag on pokerstars

Heads Up Challenge 2 (HUC2)
I played my first round opponent (TripJax) last night in the heads up challenge 2. For those of you that are not aware, TripJax is the reigning champion of the 1st HUC. We got a hold of each other last night after all our kids were put to bed. He has a 5 year old and a 6 month old and I have a 3 year old and a 1 month old. We decided to play turbo heads up SNGs. Thanks to a lot of luck (hence the horseshoe), I managed to defeat an extremely good player 2-0 (best of three).

First match – I noticed right off the bat that TripJax plays an aggressive style of heads up poker. This can be very hard to defend against in Turbo heads up SNGs. I decided that I would let him bet my hands for me until he slowed down a bit. I was down a little at first because I was letting him take control of the game and trying to wait for a hand or a pot where I knew he didn’t have a hand. I did call him down on a good sized pot with 3rd pair once for a win to let him know that he couldn’t win every pot uncontested. I, also, limped with aces, re-raised his flop bet, and showed my aces after he folded. I wanted to let him know that I sometimes don’t bet my big hands and he might be up against a monster if he tries to bluff after I check.

We were about even in chips until I flopped a Jack high straight to beat his 10 high straight. I was very surprised that TripJax didn’t lose a larger portion of his stack on that hand – a lot of players would have been all in with a straight there. I managed to catch another higher straight than him a few hands later and make a straight against his set of Jacks. He was crippled after those hands and I won the first match.

Second match – We were back and forth in the 2nd match when I made a big semi-bluff with an open-ended straight draw on a King high board. TripJax folded showing his K4 – whew. I think this was the pivotal hand of the match. I had him out chipped and put the pressure on. I definitely would have gone broke on the final hand, if I was in TripJax’s place. We got all the chips in preflop with my KK vs. his QQ – very rough hand. Game over, GG.

I think TripJax is a very skilled player and was a very tough opponent. If the luck had gone the other way, he would be advancing I would be out. His blog is very interesting and entertaining and I will continue to read it as often as possible. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s worth a look.

My next opponent – 100-2-infinity. Hopefully, I can find my horseshoe again before that match. (I think we need to wait for the first round to be complete before we start our 2nd round match)

NL Cash Games
I think I’m going to be playing a lot of short handed NL cash games this weekend. I played last night and did pretty well. There are some horrible players at pokerstars $1/$2 NL shorthanded cash games that are just looking to gamble. I won a huge pot when I made a straight on the turn (after no one bet the flop) and was cold called down by someone with 3rd pair. Did he think I was bluffing? I guess so.

Good luck at the tables,
cmitch

Heads Up Challenge
I signed up to play a heads up challenge against a group of other bloggers. (I guess I need to pratice my heads up skills.) Should be a lot of fun. I have played 3 heads up SNGs in the last month, one heads up match at a final table of a MTT for a win, and several times heads up at the end of full table SNGs. I liked johnybax's response when a railbird came to our tourney table a couple of nights ago and asked if he plays heads-up. His response, "I play heads up 3 to 5 times a day at the end of mutli-table tourneys." The funniest part of his response is that any given day that could be a true statement for bax. He is a chip vacuum in tourneys and ranked #1 by pocketfives for a reason.

Anyway, the heads up tourney has 16 entries and everyone puts up $25. Top 4 are paid - $200, $100, $50, $50. You are matched up with someone each round and play the best of three $5 heads up SNGs – winner advances. I get to play the winner of the last heads up challenge (tripjax) in the first round. I will either get some respect in the second round or be quickly forgotten. You can click here for all the details and match ups - heads up challenge. I will put links to all the challengers blogs soon, but screwed up the first time I tried. I am website challenged.

Bubble Boy
I played two satellites last night. The first one was a $73+$7 for a seat into the Saturday MTT $650 WPT Super Satellite. The tourney had 58 entries and paid 6 seats, 7th gets $175, and 8th gets $165. I busted out in 9th place. The guy to my left was going all in almost every time I limped or raised from the small blind. I was last in chips with 3,800 chips, but the blinds were still manageable at 300/600. I picked up 1010 and raised 3xBB. He pushed all-in and I called. He had A9. I was out on the bubble in 9th when the board came KKJJ8. Ugh, hard way to go.

The second satellite that I played was the $36+$3 MTT for a seat into the Sunday $215 tourney on pokerstars or $215 tourney dollars which can be used for any pokerstars tourney or SNG. The tourney had 88 players and paid 14 spots and 15th got $122. I was rolling along pretty good and then went card dead when we got down to two tables. The play was horrible. The small stacks at both tables were folded around to several times. When we reached the bubble the short stacks probably survived about 10 all-ins in a row. Suddenly, I was in big trouble. Any short stack loses one of their all-ins and I get my seat. The blinds were now 600/1200 and I needed to get a hand because the big stack at the table was all in almost every hand. I folded the 47o that I got in the big blind after two were all in behind me. The shorter stack won. Next hand in the small blind I get A10 and have no choice but to call the big stack – I was down to $1,250 in chips after posting the small blind. Big stack had 78 and the board came 23456 and I was out in 15th for $122.

Two satellites, 4 hours in front of the computer, Net profit $3!!!

I didn't fair too well last night. I Played the Bahamas Double Shootout and some NL cash games.

Bahamas Double Shootout
I decided to play the Bahamas Double Shootout last night with some of the profits from the NL cash games that I've made recently. I bought some W$ at a discount to save myself $20 on the entry fee. I drew a great table - I didn't recognize one player at the table. I am guessing that I had a few of the players that had qualified through the $5.50 turbo rebuy satellite because there were several all-ins during the first rotation. One hand in particular during the first rotation - I picked up 55 and limped. There were a few other limpers. The flop was 789 with two diamonds and the guy first to act went all-in for $1,400 into a $90 pot. Surprise, surprise - no one called him. WTF was he thinking? I think he still had that turbo rebuy mentality.

We were down to 4 players pretty quickly. Only one of my three remaining opponents had a clue. The guy with the biggest stack (happened to be to my left) had gotten all his chips when he was called two guys that were already all in preflop with his 1010 and his 10s beat AK and KK when a 10 hit the board. Another guy with some chips had called an all-in for 80% of his chips with A10 and beat QQ. I liked my chances. I lost a lot of chips when I got AKs on the button, didn't hit the flop, made a continuation bet only to have the big stack go all in.

We were still 4 handed after the first break. I had approximately 1,700 chips and made a play at a pot with Jd10d on a flop of 8s9d4d. The solid player comes over the top of me to put me all in. I had to call my last 700 into a 2,400 pot with the straight and flush draws. He had KK - I don't catch and I 'm out. I hit the straight or the flush and I have some chips to do some damage with. I had 15 outs that I thought might have been as high as 21 outs with two cards to come. Oh well - what can you do? Next time.....

NL Cash Games
I played some shorthanded NL cash games for a very painful 30 minutes last night. During that time I lost with two pair (top pair and third pair) vs. two pair (top pair and second pair) twice and KK once. The only positive was that I managed to keep the pot sizes relatively small and didn't give away more chips than I could have on those hands.

Day 9 RECAP - PS Bahamas WPT Quest
Starting Pokerstars Bankroll (10/10/05) $667
Overall Profit/Loss +$263
Current Pokerstars Bankroll (10/18/05) $930

Pokershare has a great concept for a poker site. They give 40% of the profits back to players. You are given a share of the profits each quarter based on the amount of points you accumulate - pretty cool idea. Click on the link below for a 100% sign up bonus up to $250.

Other than the well known female poker players seen on seemingly every WSOP broadcast on ESPN such as Jennifer Harman, Cindy Violette and everyone's favorite (yikes!) Annie Duke; here are a few less known "poker babes" worth mentioning.

Jennifer Leigh (aka Jennicide)

Jen is an up and coming player that has won a ton-o-money on PokerStars and other sites. She's a rare breed of cute blonde / gamer-girl / poker prodigy. I played in a $50 NL MTT on Stars with her at my left a few weeks ago and she was a very tough player... pushing all in over the top quite a few times to build a large stack going into the first break. Fearless!


Isabelle Mercier (aka No Mercy)

She is "that girl in the background" from the first 2 AVIATION CLUB DE FRANCE episodes on the WPT. She used to be the poker room manager there and has since decided to focus on tournament poker. Isabelle is also a relatively new member of the PokerStars team.

These ladies can play!

$22 NL Rebuy Tourney
I had incredibly horrible luck in the $22 NL rebuy tourney last night. I lost almost every race during the rebuy period. I lost with the following hands (usually all the money was in preflop):

AJ vs. 68 – All in on a Jack high flop; 68 made a straight on the turn
AK vs. AJ, AJ – all in preflop; Jack hits the board
78 vs.Kd7d, 47 – in the SB; flop 9d 5d 6h (flopped the straight); all the money went into a 3 way pot preflop; K7 rivered the flush
AK vs. 77 – all in preflop; no A or K
AQ vs. AK – no help
K9 vs. A8 – Flopped two pair; all the money in on the flop; A8 turns the flush
33 vs. A10 – All in preflop against guy that went all in every hand; Ace and Ten both hit
KK vs. AQ – All in preflop; Ace hits

I more than tripled up just before the break with 56s on a 456 flop. I was beginning to think that I wouldn’t win a hand during the rebuy period. I went on to finish 32 out of 448 (with 45 places getting paid) for a payout of $193 and a net loss of $169. (8 complete rebuys added up!!)

NL Cash Games
I won a $600 pot (net $400) in a short handed $1/$2 NL game when I made a boat with my QQ vs. KK and AA.

Day 8 RECAP - PS Bahamas WPT Quest
Starting Pokerstars Bankroll (10/10/05) $667.00
Limit cash games +$49
NL cash games +$886
SNGs +$177.00
Sats -$443.50
MTT -$171.36
Bonus +$150.00
Overall Profit/Loss +$647
Current Pokerstars Bankroll (10/17/05) $1,314

cmitch (sportingimag on stars)

WPT Bahamas Super Sat.
Well, I didn't win my seat in my one attempt this week - the $650 Super Sat. I started out well but fell apart in the 3rd hour when I lost more than half of chips when I flopped a set of Queens and got all the chips in on the flop against Kd,6d with two diamonds on board. The other guy hit his flush on the river.

Not long after that, I was against a super aggressive short stack. He always bet big when he missed/wanted others to fold and bet anywhere from minimum to 3x BB when he made his hand. He, also, raised about 50% of the hands if he was first into the pot. I was dealt Ks10s in the BB and decided to call his 3x BB raise. The flop came K93 rainbow. I checked and he big bet - bingo he missed. I put him all in and he called with QQ and hit a Q on the turn.

I was short stacked and got moved to another table - only problem was the chip leader was to my right. I had around 1,800 chips and he had 20,000 chips. I had seen him go all in when opening the pot in late position a couple of times. I get dealt A10 in the BB and it folds around the big stack in the SB. He immediately goes all in. I had to make a stand. A10 vs. his 77. No Ace or Ten - GG me. I'm out. (83 out of 215)

No Limit Cash Games
No Limit cash games on the weekends rock - there are so many players trying to make up for their losses, drunk, have watched one too many poker shows on TV, or a combination that the tables are easy pickings. I saw several people bluff all their chips into a pot with nothing only to be called by the nuts.

Week 1 RECAP - PS Bahamas WPT Quest
Starting Pokerstars Bankroll: $667
Limit Cash Games +48.50
NL Cash Games +427.80
SNGs +$177
MTTs -$2
Satellites and Super Satellites -$443.50
Bonus +$150
Overall Win/Loss +$357
Pokerstars Bankroll $1,025

Aces cracked by 2 outer on river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=148073

Don't think I played it wrong but any comments to the contrary are appreciated.

I won my entry into the $650 Super Sat. yesterday in the $25+$2 plus rebuys. The final table took forever. There were 46 entries paying 5 seats and the tourney took over 3 1/2 hours. The blinds were 1,500/3.000 when it finally ended. One step closer to the goal.

I played one multi-table tourney on Tuesday ($33 PL) and came in 14th out of 299. The $5/$10 Limit tables haven't been kind - I think I lost 6 huge pots on the river to people chasing flushes or hitting sets. I, also, finally cleared the $150 deposit bonus. Below is a recap of where I stand to date:

Overall Results:
Limit Holdem ($3/$6 & $5/$10) +$38.50
SNGs (1-3rd; 1-4th; 1-5th) -$80
MTT +$53
Bonus +$150
Satellites to WPT +$177 (including $650 Sat. Entry)
Total of above: +$338 (including $650 Sat. Entry)

Starting Pokerstars Bankroll $667
Current Pokerstars Bankroll $1045 (including $650 Sat. Entry)
Without Entry (Cash Available) $395
Net Profit/Loss +378

cmitch

I was playing some $5/$10 Limit Holdem yesterday at a full table. The table was an average table with several weak-tight players, a couple of tight-aggressive players, and a couple of loose calling stations. I tried to steal the blinds with Ad3d from the cutoff and both the Small and Big Blind called. The flop came KcQcJh. Checked around - It was very likely that one of those guys called the preflop bet with a Q or J and neither of them would fold to a bet. Turn was a 4d. Checked around. River was the 10s. I had the nuts, but didn't think I was getting anything but a split pot from it. I bet, SB (Trash Talker - TT) called, and the BB folded. I was very surprised when TT turned over 77. What did he think I had? Horrible Call on his part. He immediately made comments about how horrible I play. I did what I usually do when someone makes a comment like that - ignored him. I won a pot a few hands later and TT commented that I was chasing when I actually flopped a set and the other guy in the hand folded on the river. TT quieted down a little for about 12 hands. I was dealt QQ and raised TT's Big Blind. He went on a rant about how I was a chaser and folded. A few hands later, TT raised from early position and the small blind called and I called from the BB with AJo. The flop came AQ10 rainbow. Check, Check, TT bets - Call, Call. Turn is the K. SB bets. I call. TT raises. I raise. TT calls. River was a blank. SB checks. I bet. TT calls. SB calls. I won the pot with the straight. TT had AKo and SB got unlucky with his pocket 10s. This hand flipped the switch on TT from making comments to extremely abusive language.

TT was making comment after comment and I was laughing to myself. I decided to finally reply to one. After one of his comments, I said, "How long before this degrades to a heads up challenge?" He responded with, "I bet you likes 'heads up'." Which was immediately followed by another player saying, "Didn't see that one coming." I followed up with, "Can your Dad beat up my Dad?" TT was irate. He spouted over several more unoriginal comments. I replied with "If you stop making so many negative comments, you will find the world to be a much happier place." I was surprised - he didn't make any more comments. A few minutes later I was dealt AA in the big blind and he raised preflop. We capped it preflop and he called my set of aces all the way down with QJ when a Q flopped. Comments completely ceased after that hand and I bit my tongue (fingers) and didn't comment on his poor play. Why help him improve his game?

It doesn't pay to get upset at the table and berate others. It does provide entertainment for the others at the table while you are passing out your money. I am a big believer that a positive attitude at the table leads to success and this guy was an example of how a bad attitude equals poor play.

Good Luck at the tables,
cmitch

I got very little sleep Sunday night thanks to Charlie - I think he is a night owl. I didn't have the energy or time to play a satellite to the $650 WPT Super Sat on Saturday. I decided to play a some $3/$6 Full Table Limit and $5/$10 Full Table Limit to work my way towards clearing the $150 bonus. I could always "sit-out" without any consequences whenever Charlie woke up or needed attention. I played a Turbo $55+$5 SNG and came in 4th thanks to some bad luck, but mainly due to the fact that it became a crap shoot once we were 4 handed. I did well at the limit tables.

Results:
$3/$6 Limit +$144
$5/$10 Limit +$280
$55+$5 Turbo SNG -$60
Total for day +$364

Starting Pokerstars Bankroll $667
Current Pokerstars Bankroll $1,031
Net Profit/Loss +364

cmitch

Finished 15th in a $10+1 MTT tourney on Stars Friday night.

With much help from Cmitch and with a few big flops when it counted I was able to chip up when the blinds started skyrocketing to make it through to the final two tables. Unfortunately my AA ran into 10K off (yeah, that's right... 10K) with a flop of 10/10/7 and I was dead and out in 15th place out of 961. If that JUNK would have held up I would've been second in chips and most likely cruised into the final table.

Thanks for the help Cmitch, I owe you a beer or 10!
Loopy

I have decided to focus a majority of my poker playing for the next month and a half on qualifying for the Pokerstars WPT Caribbean Adventure in January at Atlantis on Paradise Island, Bahamas. I didn't have a lot of money in my Pokerstars account (thanks to moving a lot out when the baby was born), so the new 25% deposit bonus was just what I needed to move some of the money in my Neteller account to Pokerstars. I have quite a few cashes in tourneys lately but haven't cashed in the 3 tourneys that I played on Pokerstars in the last month. I deposited $600 so that I could take advantage of the maximum bonus of $150. I love the random bonus offers at Pokerstars. They are the easiest to clear of any site.

I'll post updates of my progress.

Starting Pokerstars Balance - $667

cmitch (sportingimag on stars)

Pokerstars is offering a great FREE tourney for Bloggers of all types. First place wins a trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas and they have several other prizes. You can get all the info at the link below:

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 1386547

I was beginning to get frustrated with Multi-Table Tourneys, because I haven't been able to take 1st in a while. In the last week and a half I have made 3 final tables and not finished higher than 4th. It always seemed like I got my chips in with best hand (ex - AK vs. A10) and got knocked out at the final table. I, finally, got the 1st place finish Saturday night in the Pokershare $44 NL $7,500 Guarantee for $2,100.

I felt like I played extremely well and was very focused during the tourney. If I have to pick one reason for my winning the tourney, I would have to say it was patience. I didn't try to force hands. I picked on the hyper-aggressive bullies when I had good hands. When we were down to two tables, I used my stack to my advantage and made some calls that I might not have made with less chips. I called an all-in from an early position raiser (shorthanded table) for 1/4th of my chips with 88, because it was the 3rd time in 5 hands the same person had made the play uncontested. He had A4o and my 88 held up.

When we arrived at the final table I was 3rd in chips. Again, I remained very patient. Six-handed - I folded a straight in a 3 way pot with 3 diamonds on board after a big re-raise and an all-in call. The raiser had the J high diamond flush. I was 4th in chips, but still had plenty of chips to work with, when we got down to 4 players. I felt like I had a good read on the other 3 players and could use that to my advantage if I got any cards. My patience paid off when I was dealt QQ in the SB. Every time I limped from the SB, the guy in the BB made a pot sized raise - every time. I was waiting for an oppurtunity like the QQ in the SB and limped. Like clockwork, the BB raised the pot. I flat called knowing that if I check the flop he is going all-in. The flop comes a harmless 10,2,6 rainbow. I check. He immediately goes all-in with K10 and my Queens hold up.

I am now 2nd in chips out of 4 - the chip leader is extremely aggresive and I am looking for my spot to get some of his chips. I get dealt AKo on the button and raise the pot to make the chip leader (in the BB) think that I am attempting a steal. He immediately goes all-in and I call. He has A10. My AK holds up and I'm now chip leader with 4 remaining - 2 of the remaining are now very short stacks. I kick it into hyper-aggressive mode and win about 5 uncontested pots in a row. I knocked two of the remaining players out when they tried to make a stand - one with my JJ vs. K9; the other with A10 vs KQ.

Heads-up lasted about 7 hands. I had the guy out chipped 4 to 1 and he only bet his made hands. On the final hand, I had a flush draw and he was giving me great odds to keep calling his bets. I hit the flush on the river and he went all in with his top pair. Don't know why he did it the pot was about 24k and he had 28k remaining.

I won the tourney because I was patient and trusted my reads on what other players had. I am glad to get over the hump again.

cmitch