Just donked off some money with a little two table S&G. Turbo Limit Stud H/L was the game and making the final table (top 8 of 16) was no problem, but staying alive longer was as both the ante and the blinds were raised every 5 minutes. So that leaves you with little choices as even calling down a hand can put you all-in quickly (after all there are 5 betting rounds)…I guess I should stick with normal tourneys or S&Gs when it comes to Stud…

Now I’m going to play in the “Donkeys Always Draw Invitational” over at PokerStars…this will be my second poker blogger tournament…more of this later on….

Oooooooooooooh yeah! Finally I came through over at PokerStars!

I entered the Omaha H/L Fixed Limit tournament that started at 18ET, with a Buy-In of 3$ + 0.30$. 378 players entered, so the total price pool was over 1100$.

As this was my first really big (> 300 players) tournament in Omaha H/L, I was a little unsure about how to play and sure enough I donked off quite some of the starting chips (1500) right in the beginning. Then I thought: hey, you won and won and won over the last few days by just playing the really good hands (A-A-x-x), (K-K-x-x), (A-x-x-x), (Q-Q-x-x), (J-J-x-x), (A-K-x-x) etc where x = low card (< 8 ) and ideally one of the x's of the same suit as the Ace or big card for that matter. That strategy served me well! I didn't play all that many hands, although I saw quite some flops as the blinds were still low, but the hands I played I won - at least for the most part. After an hour of play there were 232 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 10563, avg: 2443, me: 4731 - hands dealt: 41, showdowns won 6 of 8, Current position: 21st of 232 I continued to play solid poker and was even able to scoop some pots (taking down the high and low pot or the high pot when there was no low) and I was still in contention right at the second break. After 2h8min of play there were 79 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 22658, avg: 7177, me: 9671 - hands dealt: 92, showdowns won 13 of 18, Current position: 25th of 79 . Nothing out of the ordinary until the third break either...slowly but steadily grinding away and already in the money, since the 2nd break I've been able to make it to 4 showdowns which I all won! So after 3h18min of play there were 21 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 88723, avg: 27000, me: 20231 - hands dealt: 193, showdowns won 17 of 22, Current position: 14th of 21. Right after the third break it was getting tense as the blinds kept rising and I was desperate to make the next level (17th place at least, although my true goal was to reach 6th place). People kept dropping and we were down to two tables. I'm still looking good, but can't seem to catch a hand. Then the "miracle" happens just as we're about to head to the final table I look down at Ac-Ah-2c-3d in the BB. I check and then push (5 callers) and push (3 callers) and push (1 caller) - bad for him, good for me: board gives me the Ace high flush for the high and A-2-3-4-5 (wheel for the low), total scoop and I almost quintuple up to 94.000 chips and that's with what I head to the final table. The chipleader is sitting on a massive stack of 130.000, but I'm not worried as I hope to see the others drop out and hence making another few places. Exactly that happens as I watch people go up and down and finally two of them exit at once (9th + 8th place) - hey, my goal of 6th is almost reached and I'm still looking good. Played some hands won a few to go up over 100k then I loose a big one as I keep betting into the nut flush. The 4th break is good for me, after 4h25min of play it's hard to stay focussed, nontheless I feel that I've still got some in me left...so, there were 7 of the original 378 players remaining. High: 152.680, me: 76672 - hands dealt: 217, showdowns won 23 of 29, Current position: 14th of 21. Now I'm refreshed and sit out a few despite having the BB (12k), so I'm down to 64k but there are only 6 left! Goal achieved and maybe I can get even higher. Indeed I do as I just sit and relax as the other two "shortstacks" are eliminated. Good: I'm a sure 4th place finisher now; Bad: the others have massive chipleads on me. I try to wait for the big scoop, but to no avail - the blinds have been raised to 4000/8000 and with the limits now at 8000/16000 there's not much I can do anymore...I fold as long as I can and as I look down at the first half decent hand in a while (A-2-10-J) I decide to push...chipleader calls me down, so I push the remaining chips in the middle...no low...he wins...so I'm out in 4th place. I would have loved to get just one place higher, but hey this is my first top 5 finish in such a tournament so who am I to complain, especially due to the fact that I'm now up at PokerStars (I was down nearly 50$ prior to this tournament)

Buy-In: $3.00/$0.30
378 players
Total Prize Pool: $1134.00

Dear Ingoal,

You finished the tournament in 4th place.
A $90.73 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

0 Comments

What can I say, I couldn’t resist to test my card run over at PokerStars in Omaha H/L Pot Limit – after all the cards were falling the right way for me the whole day. Bad idea, I’ve never donked off a Buy-In so quick…2hands…great, just great…not a high note to finish the day with…

Seems I’m hitting rock bottom at PokerStars. Played a little 7 stud H/L turbo S&G (16 players, Buy-In 1.5$ + 0.25$ fee, top 4 in the money). Played my game as usual and was able to scoop some pots early on, then I kept running into the chip-leader three times in a row…busted out at the final table in 8th position. Argh!

After the cancelled tournament over Titan I decided to try my luck in my new favourite game, 7 stud H/L, over at Pokerstars and I gotta say the competition is good, maybe even too good for me today. Played three sessions: the first two at a 0.04$/0.08$ Limit table with a 0.01$ ante…see stats below:

During current Stud H/L session you were dealt 72 hands and:
– saw fourth street 50 times (69%)
– saw fifth street 37 times (51%)
– saw sixth street 30 times (41%)
– reached showdown 20 times (27%)
Pots won at showdown – 10 of 20 (50%)
Pots won without showdown – 6

Result: -1,30$

So I decided to look for another table and found a pretty tight 0.10$/0.20$ with a 0.02$ ante…caught some nice cards, but fell quick to some unbeatable hands…who could have thought that I was sitting with the “bike convention” 🙁

During current Stud H/L session you were dealt 9 hands and:
– saw fourth street 4 times (44%)
– saw fifth street 4 times (44%)
– saw sixth street 3 times (33%)
– reached showdown 3 times (33%)
Pots won at showdown – 0 of 3 (0%)
Pots won without showdown – 0

Result: – 2.00$

So, I decided that all the S&G playing wasn’t really paying off (I’ll try to combine statistics somewhere in the near future) – so “normal” play comes to mind. It wasn’t a good idea to play a mix of Stud, Omaha and Omaha H/L though. Switching between the two games put me a little bit off apart from the fact that I kept making good hands, but nontheless still run into even better hands. One example: I hit the diamond nut flush and keep betting and betting until I’m all in with one caller…sure enough he makes his diamond straight flush on the turn 🙁

Results: 4$ donkeyed off in less than 30 minutes…

Played a big freeroll today, not big in price money (top 27 would go on to a 1000$ tourney), but big in participating players: 5206 entered. I was able to stand my ground and even build up a huge stack (around 18k) putting me in the top 10…but then, after around 1.5h, I was my own self again…donkeying away my hard earned chips in less than 30 minutes…to bust out in 730th place. Gotta re-evaluate this thing…it’s not a good idea to bet into 4 hearts on the board and telling yourself “ah come on, he ain’t got the 5th heart”…

Played a little S&G in order to get a little more action…a cheap 1$ + 0.20, 45 players, top 7 pay. Played well and was constantly in the top 10 chip-wise, until my nemesis came to visit me again…I’m UTG and min-raise with my lovely hiltons (Q-Q), three callers, late position goes all-in, I put him on an Ace (and rightly so), took some time to think about the situation: either fold and stay in good shape (2520chips) or call with the possibility to double up or be crippled (120 chips remaining)…ponder ponder, call! He shows A-Js…and sure enough he doesn’t catch either A or J but three spades…6h-10s–3s-2c-7s…I’m crippled…look down at A-10o in the next hand and raise All-In, two callers…board is blank (highest card 8) and sure enough the two callers show A-8…split pot and cya…argh!!!

I think this is the fourth time that I busted out holding Q-Q…they’re just no good luck charm for me…note to self: lay down Q-Q when reraised All-In preflop in next MTT…

Not much going on today, only played one S&G. Didn’t catch any face cards at all for a while and sure enough was seated at the table with “the best” (or luckiest) players in the whole S&G…they busted out quite some players early on and were really up in chips (3k, 4k, nearly 5k respectively; starting chip count: 1500). I was able to double up of the chip-leader with my first real hand A-J he called my preflop All-In and showed his hiltons, luckily the board helped me out this time: 9-5-A-4-7. Up to 2110 in chips (32 minutes played). Didn’t catch much of a hand for a while then looked down at the lovely A-A, pushed, got reraised, over the top…he shows 5s-7s, for the OESD and long-shot flush draw.

Board: 8c-3h-6s-Qs-4s – Sure enough he didn’t make the straight, but can you spell runner, runner?!

Out after 46minutes…25th/45 🙁

Forgot to mention that I played another tournament after Dr. Pauly’s saturday tourney. A little 1$ + 0.10$ fee NL HEM…1731 players entered. Finished in 792nd. I pushed after the flop (9-3-K) with my Kc-Jh, one caller (AQc), sure enough the turn showed the A, river was blank (3s)…and I was out, yet again…argh!

So, I decided to play in the last event of Dr. Pauly’s Saturday tournament series over at Pokerstars. The Buy-In was 10$ + 1$ fee (my biggest tournament Buy-In so far). 51 players entered the tournament and I was beginning the tourney at table 7 with CJ, maudie and drizz. Won the first pot with pocket nines…played tight and picked my spots and was able to get up to over 2000 in chips with a higher straight (J-10-9-8-7 vs 8-7-6-5-4). Then I picked the wrong spot which kicked me out in 42nd place 🙁

Mid position goes All-In (361 chips) on the flop (K-J-5) , I call with A-Ko, late position re-raises All-In…I ponder and call…:

A-K vs. KJ vs. A-5
flop: K-J-5
turn: 7
river: 4

🙁

So I couldn’t improve and I’m out…not only of 11$, but out of playing time…busted out after just 45 minutes…that sucks…but that’s poker…what can you do? If you’re looking down at the top pair on board with the Ace kicker…would or wouldn’t you call?

My stats:

During current Hold’em session you were dealt 59 hands and saw flop:
– 5 out of 8 times while in big blind (62%)
– 1 out of 7 times while in small blind (14%)
– 3 out of 44 times in other positions (6%)
– a total of 9 out of 59 (15%)
Pots won at showdown – 2 of 3 (66%)
Pots won without showdown – 1

Nontheless I had (and still have) a great time, now as an observer, and I’m really looking forward to the next series of tournaments…although I should get into gear and develop a little (bank)roll until then..

Updates:

• Dr. Pauly just busted out in 37th place
• Players are in the first break: 33 are left, largest 5966, avg 2318, smallest 755
• 1h 15min: CJ is now the chip leader again with 11.165 chips (2nd: 5191 chips)!
• Drizz just busted out in 27th place when his A-Q didn’t improve vs a pair of Jacks
• 1h 30min: 21 players left, CJ still in the chip lead (11877, 2nd: 10090)
• 1h 45min: 16 players left, CJ still in the chip lead
• 2h: we’re near the final table: new chip leader MeanHappyGuy (10523 chips), 12 players remaining
• 2h 22min: Final table time! CJ just bubbled out after his J-8 flopped two pair but was sucked out at the river (10 for a set)
• 2h 45min: 5 players left, dietlime in front with 24491 (2nd: 19895)
• After 2h 58min we’ve got a winner Joanne1111!

Dr. Pauly’s wrap-up of the tournament