Sometimes you can do no wrong, other times you can do nothing but wrong. The latter happened to my in the last MTT over at PokerStars. The setup was similiar to my last Omaha H/L tourney at Stars: Buy-In 3$+0.30$ fee, 495 players entered, blind levels 15 minutes, this time top 45 in the money.

I took down some pots early on and kicked back into easy mode, before making some donkey moves within 3 hands – in the first hand I folded on the button after a raise and reraise in early position, I didn’t think my hand of 10-10-Q-2 would be any good as you are looking for possible high and low hands, what can I say…flop is 10-10-x…so I folded quads…great. In the following two hands I donked off a huge chunk of my stack when I bet into A-3 with my A-4…not a good idea. So I was in desperate position right before the first break (down to 800 chips with 100/200 limits, 50/100 blinds)…I took down a lovely pot when I rivered a set and was up to just under 2000 again as we headed into the first break.

Players remaining: 300, max: 10071, avg: 2475, me: 1928 (172/300). Right after the break I donked off some chips again and was soon stuck in desperate position again, but this time with 200/400 limits, 100/200 blinds. The end came slowly, in two hands, I look down at Ah-Qs-5s-2h and pushed UTG, some callers, flop is K-K-9…great…now I’m stuck in the BB with 200 odd chips left…All-In…and sure enough I hold the nuts flush on the turn, just to be sucked out by a river boat…argh!

Out in 203rd position… 🙁

So, as mentioned earlier on I played the Donkeys Always Draw Invitational over at PokerStars. What can I say, it’s really different to play NL with all the bloggers than playing at a regular table! There’s almost no limping or just calling the BB, but always a slight to huge raise out of various positions. I didn’t catch many cards so I folded most of the time and when I looked down at the first decent cards all night (A-Ko) on the button with 970chips left I decided that it was time…I pushed All-In as all folded to me, SB folds, BB (Pastmancer) calls and shows As-Js, no worries as the flop is: 4-9-7, turn brings a lovely 6, then the river bites me in the backside…yup the river was a J…and I’m out in 35th place 🙁

Now I could start to rant about outs and what not or call PokerStars Riverstars, but hey…it’s Poker, it can happen…although doubling up just prior to the first break would have been way nicer than to bust out after 53 minutes of play.

Side notes:

1. never underestimate the power of the hammer (7-2o)…WillWonka kicked a fellow player in the nuts when he rivered the boat vs. pocket Queens
2. Them Quads beetches! (penner42 – Alan screengrabbed it…I’ll post a link when I find it)
3. Beware of the river suckout at any times, ask Garthmeister, he was kicked in the junk two times on the river…
4. change100 won in the end…
5. Read more over at TripJax, HighonPoker

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

After the ups and downs of today’s Omaha H/L play I decided to play a little S&G (9 players, 0.50$ + 0.10$ fee, top 3 in the money) over at AbsolutePoker and what can I say, I dominated the competition!

Look down at the first hand (5-5-Q-J) and watch as the board developed my way…up from 1500 starting chips to 4620 in the first hand…not a bad way to start a tournament:

A few hands later I looked down at 2c-3h-5h-5c and once again the board developed beautifully, flop: Ac-4c-10d almost nuts already, turn: 2d, river: 3c for my first ever straight flush and the nuts/nuts, too. Yeah baby!

Just played the really promising hands afterwards hence building up my stack to a massive chip lead (around 9000 of 13500 when hitting the money) – although I gotta say that most hands were promising for quite a while as I kept hitting full houses all over the place. When heads up started I was even further in front (9700 to 3600) played some donkey hands, but then was able to finish the deal and come out on top. Finally a S&G victory again! Nice

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!

Another 7 Stud H/L tournament and another finish in the top 3 (of 7)…the best way to describe my playing: good. Just sitting around and waiting for good H+L hands to come around and at least taking down the low pot when I was in a hand…so no problem at all finishing in the top 3. Maybe I should have a look at the higher buy-ins (this one was 0.50$ + 0.10$ fee again).

I really pondered about entering tonight’s holiday bounty tournament over at Ultimate Bet. With a buyin of 10$ + 1$ fee the prices were quite nice: apart from the normal prices UB offered bounties for busting out their pros:

• Phil Hellmuth
• Annie Duke
• Antonio “The Magicianâ€? Esfandiari
• John Vorhaus
• Jack McClelland
• Roxci Rhodes
• Freddy Deeb

Price for busting one of them out of the tournament:

• $250
• UB Branded Poker Table
• UB Chip and Card Set
• 10 UB T-Shirts
• 10 UB hats

Nice, but I thought that with more than 2000 players the chances of even being at a table with one of them in the first place was slim to none. So I didn’t enter, but I watched Phil Hellmuth’s table…first of all he showed up late (like always?!), then he played some hands and busted out pretty quickly (A-9 vs. 4-4)…the best was not to see him play, but to see all the creeps crowding the chat and insulting the hell out of him…unbelievable…

Alrighty, back with more action on TitanPoker and my quest for a birth in the 100 Million Dollar freeroll. After the prior cancelled tournaments yesterday’s 21ET tournament went really smooth the whole time, so nothing to complain about, yet, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

This tournament was by far the most exciting tournament I’ve played in a while. The setup: 136 players competed for 5 spots in the main tournament (April 30th 2006). I entered and felt good, although it was already 3am (German timezone = ET + 6), and right from the start all seemed to be going really well. The fourth hand brought the first major hand and I couldn’t resist to go All-In with it. My Q-Q was called by two other players who both showed A-Ko…lucky me, no King or Ace showed up and I tripled up to 4460 – up to 3rd place in chips at that time. Nothing unsual happened for the next 60 hands and I stayed away from all draw hands to head into the break with 4360 chips (65 hands dealt, Average: 3517, my position 17/58).

Right after the break, hand 66, I decided to donkey off almost all my chips with an Ace high…ouch down to 770. Now that’s no way to start after the break, now is it? So, hand 67 rolls around and I hold A-Q, All-In…one caller showing 5-7…flop: 7-7-J (ouch!), turn: 10 (hmm), river: K (yes :-)) up to 1690 in chips and back in the race. Hand 68 gives me 2-2 sitting in the SB…I push…BB pushes…I put him All-In, he calls…he shows Q-3, board is: 8-J-K-5-K…nice…up to 3860 in chips. Hand 69: 7-7…I push…all other fold, up to 4310 chips. Nice!

People are dropping out left and right and I sit back and relax, waiting for the next “big hand”. Hand 96 brings me A-5 and I push as a shortstack moved in, to my dismay he shows A-K…lucky me as the board is: 5-9-3-3-2 🙂 Up to 6820 in chips. Hand 97 my Ace high holds up, up to 7420 in chips. Hand 100: Only 21 players left, I’m in position 12. Hand 102 A-J, I push, two callers K-Q and 10-10…King flops…down to 3660…Hand 108 blinds are getting massive now: 400/800. Hand 111 K-Qh…I push…one caller 7-9h…Jh-3h-5h gives me the higher flush…booya! Back to 5180 chips. Hand 114: only 14 players remaining…I’m stuck at position 14. Hand 118: blinds raised again to 500/1000 – time to get something going.

Hand 127: I’m sitting in the BB and look down at 10-10, two pushers, I reraise them…one guy is All-In, whatever!, so my 10-10 vs. K-Q and ?? (mucked), board: 6-K-A-10-Q, woot! Up to 12440 chips. Hand 134: I’m in the BB again and once again 10-10, All-In, one caller…who shows…10-10…lol…Hand 135: blinds are now 750/1500. In the following hands I go on a Ace in hand All-In spree (AJ, A7, AA) – up to 14940 in chips, 11 players remaining. Hand 152: A-k vs A-J, board 10-6-4-7-8 and I’m looking good now: 21630 in chips and I busted the 11th player, so it’s down to the final 10.

Final table
Woot, so I’m sitting at the final table of this lovely tournament. I’m currently fourth in chips and looking forward to see 5 others go. I slow play a little and wait for the second break. Hand 159 lures me into the pot with the chip-leader, I hold..10d-10h, Flop: Jh-Qh-Ah, check, he bets 3k, I call, turn: 9d, he bets 6k, hmm…I ponder and ponder and fold (in retrospect I still wonder what would have happened if I had called to see the river – there are different possibilities: 1. Kh comes up I hold the Royal flush, 2. any other heart and I hold a decent flush, 3. any K or 8 comes up and I hold a nice straight, 4. river is blank and I’m out of another 6k for the turn bet). So I’m down to 14630 in chips and I tighten up, maybe even a bit too much. Hand 173: blinds are raised again to 1500/3000. Hand 175 I hold 9-9, but I’m not willing to call an UTG All-In, sure enough he shows A-K, but flop is: 9-A-5…so I would have flopped the set and would have won the hand, d’oh! Hand 177 there are 7 players remaining. Hand 178: there are 6 players remaining, the chipleader is turning into the push monster. Hand 188: still sitting around with 14630 in chips, I wait for the short-stack to be knocked out, it never happens as he doubles up of the chipleader and yes, I’m the short-stack now. The others are waiting for me to be blinded out or make a move. I don’t catch anything…and when it’s my turn with the BB (which is 4000 now), they pressure me…so I’m left with 2 choices: 1. Fold and be down to 4000 in chips with the 2000SB in the next hand…2. Risk it all….I decide to go with the latter as the player 5th in chips has put me All-In…10-2c for me, K-Qo for him….board is: 7-6-K-2-4 🙁 🙁

Argh! So close and yet so far! After 2h35 minutes, 201 hands played I’m eliminated in 6th position, leaving me without a ticket to the main event and feeling sad, angry and hurt at the same time. How unlucky can you be? – On another note: I had a unusual streak of “good cards” and have never been all-in so many times in any tournament in my life, so I can’t complain about my fortune, but it makes you wonder what you could have done differently, especially in two hands mentioned above (royal flush draw folded on the river, pair of 9s not played). Nontheless it was a good tournament and I genuinely congratulated the other 5 players at the table before heading of to bed (after all it was already way past 5am)…and let me tell you something: I couldn’t get to sleep right away, the cards and decision kept coming back infront of my closed eyes…just thinking about the possibilities this ticket would have brought (after all there’s not only 500.000$ up for grabs, but millions in jackpots)…maybe I’ll try to play enough raked hands to enter another few of those qualifiers…

Now I’m really annoyed with TitanPoker!!!

Support got back to me and told me that there were technical difficulties yesterday, so they offered to enter the players of yesterday’s cancelled tournament to the regular 16ET qualifier and the replacement qualifier at 17ET, sounds fine to me…but then the whole thing was messed up again.

The tournament at 16ET starts and I look down at K-K, All-In from MP, one caller…he shows 8-9h, board is blank…I double up in the first hand (3020), second hand is crap, third hand is A-A, I raise to 300..all fold…argh…up to 3040. The following hands are all crap so I fold. 15th hand of the night is A-Qh so I push reraised All-In, call, he shows 10-10, board is once again blank…down to 1772 chips. 23rd hand A-Jd, All-In one caller, he shows K-Qo, my ace holds up, up to 3384 in chips. No the tournament is frozen…but the time is running and the blinds rise and rise…support message pops up: they’re on it…oh well…how long can it take…a long time…about 30min later play resumes with a jump from level 3 (30/60) to level 6 (100/200)…a short-stack pushes from MP, I look down at A-5 not a major hand but I test him…all-in…he calls…9-9 which holds up…down to 800…great…ooh we’re on break for 5 minutes…a total of 31 hands played…great…I donkey off my last chips after the break to focus on the other tournament (which has already begun and I’m not really good at playing two tourneys at the same time)…so I make an early exit…great… 🙁 🙁 🙁

Stats of the night:

• Players entered in 16ET: 324; Ingoal’s finish: 221
• Players entered in 17ET: 420; Ingoal’s finish: 322

Two thumbs down for this whole thing…Titan is starting to annoy me beyond believe…I’m really thinking about cashing out…

Update:
Now the status for both those tournaments is interrupted/cancelled…maybe they’ll restart it or better reschedule it…I’ll wait for a support message I guess…