Friday, November 04, 2005
Victory.
I shouldn't have to swim with Sherman Sharks anymore thanks to the following email.
PokerStars Tournament #14407977, No Limit Hold'em Super Satellite Buy-In: $3.00
Target Tournament #14113646 Buy-In: $215.00
21 tickets to the target tournament.
Dear bidzior, You finished the tournament in 1st place.You qualified to play in Tournament #14113646 and are automatically registered for it.
Congratulations!Thank you for participating.
Satellite tournaments are tough, tense and suspenseful, but when you win one they are well worth your while. I was lucky at times. I don't remember being sucked out once. Definitely not after we were all in. Really one huge hand early on got the momentum going.
http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=160281
QQ v AK v AK v AK! That has never happened to me before. That is unreal. What a feeling to know that a coinflip has turned into a 71.8% favorite with dead money coming from the AKs. It was really smooth sailing from there. Later on I called a decent raise along with 5 others with KQ0s. Q22 flop and I checkraise all in. Only a small stack calls with 55 and I am up to 12.5K. I take the add-on at the break and I am at 15.9K. Around 15th. Top 21 cash, 22nd receives almost $100.
After the break I get my first big break. 75/150 blinds. I have A9c and make it 450 from EP, folded to the BB who makes it 600 more. We are the table leaders, I have 16.9k he has me covered with 21k. Flop comes A43. Preflop raiser bets 600, I think about raising to see where I am at but call instead. Turn is the J and I am faced with a 1050 bet. About 1/2 the pot so I call hoping for a 9. It hits and I make my 2p but am disappointed when he checks. I bet about 1/2 the pot 2050 and he calls with AK. Rather lucky there. I am up to 22k.
I am up against the same OP 3 hands later at 100/200 blinds. There is a limp and then a push all-in by the previous opponent. I look down at AKo and instantly call. Flop comes 3 spades I have the Ace and there is no help for my OP. I am now the chip leader with 40k. That was a huge hand for me and that's really it for me for the next hour or so.
I am constantly trying to stay aggressive, making steals when I can. But the steals aren't working well and the cards are getting cold. The chip leaders are steadily moving ahead and I am getting blinded away. At 33k luck combined with poor OP play helps get me back in it. I have QdJd in EP and make it 3x to 2400 and the BB calls. 853 clubs on the flop. I make a continuation bet of 1600, he thinks long and calls. 9h on the turn he checks to me and I fire 2400, now he instantly calls and I know I am in trouble. River=Jh I bet 5600 he instantly calls with As8s and I am back up to 49k. "zing" "lucki as"
I keep trying to stay active as the blinds are high. Another lucky hand occurs when I am in the BB with Q6 and a MP tries to get tricky with AK and limps. Flop comes 6 high and i make a decent value bet on the flop and a small bet on the river and take down a 10k pot when he calls with the AK unimproved. If he plays it right I am not going to win that one.
Now comes my first big hand against my rival for this tourney, a loose player who is catching. I have Kh9h he limps and i limp behind him trying to see some flops and keep that stack growing. 5c9d10d Rival bets 1200 I min raise to 2400. First mistake, should've raised to about 4k. 5s on the turn and he minibets and I make another mistake and just call. I guess now I am trying to see the showdown cheaply. Jc on the river and he makes another minbet I call and he has J8. He starts with an OE that hit TP on the river. I am down to 41 K and get AcKc next hand. Rival limps and I raise to 4800 hoping it looks like tilt. No help on the flop but I fire out 3600 he calls. We check the turn and a K falls on the river. I bet 6k and he calls with A3 no improvement! 57k.
Another blind stealing attempt goes wrong. At the CO i make it 3xBB and the SB calls. I bet 2xBB on the flop he calls then pushes the turn and I have to fold. Down to 42k. Its getting late. I am below the average now.
Down to 37k after bumping heads with the rival again. Now there are 40 left and I know I need to win at least one more flip to make it. I remember thinking I'd rather make the flip sooner then later because I'd hate to be bubble boy. The opportunity arrises a couple hands later. Once again I have AKo at 1/2k blinds. 2 limps and then the short stack goes all-in for 12k. I am very happy with that and then even happier when the semi-maniac rival doubles it to 22k. This looks like an obvious isolation play and I know he is loose enough and his stack is large enough at 90k to make this move with AQ-A9, JJ-77. I push it all in from the SB and he calls with 99. The classic coin flip. I walk away and return to see the chips sliding to my stack. K on the flop. The short stack had A10 and I nearly triple up to 94k.
I am in right? It is close. I should be able to make it now but instead blunder. A9 in the BB for 3k. Folded to the SB(rival) who limps. KK9 flop, he checks and i bet 3k he check raises to 6k and I call. Mistake. Blank on turn and he bets 3k I call again. Ace on the river. I call a 15k bet. Poor play and I am down to 66k. In trouble once again. Maybe 15k ahead of the bubble. Two hands later I get it back with QQ. Rival limps and I make it 5x to 15k, he calls. AcJc6h flop, we check. Tc, we check again. Qs on the river giving me trips. There is now a 4 straight on the board and a 3flush. Luckily he bets the min and I decide to call. He has 55 and I am OK again. 88k. Almost there.
Playing tight now I have 33 in the SB and the rival limps on the button for 4k. I call and the BB is sitting out with a tiny stack. Q42 flop He minbets 3k I call. Ace on the turn, same thing. 5 on the river and i check. He bets 12k and I call with the straight. Only 63 beats me so why not raise? I figured this call puts me in the tourney so why risk it... after all he could have anything. Now over 100k and the rival would soon be on his way to being Bubble Boy.
No all-in suckouts. Some luck. And a victory. I'll take the tournament dollars and maybe move up to some higher SNGs. It has been fun. Later.
Brian
PokerStars Tournament #14407977, No Limit Hold'em Super Satellite Buy-In: $3.00
Target Tournament #14113646 Buy-In: $215.00
21 tickets to the target tournament.
Dear bidzior, You finished the tournament in 1st place.You qualified to play in Tournament #14113646 and are automatically registered for it.
Congratulations!Thank you for participating.
Satellite tournaments are tough, tense and suspenseful, but when you win one they are well worth your while. I was lucky at times. I don't remember being sucked out once. Definitely not after we were all in. Really one huge hand early on got the momentum going.
http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=160281
QQ v AK v AK v AK! That has never happened to me before. That is unreal. What a feeling to know that a coinflip has turned into a 71.8% favorite with dead money coming from the AKs. It was really smooth sailing from there. Later on I called a decent raise along with 5 others with KQ0s. Q22 flop and I checkraise all in. Only a small stack calls with 55 and I am up to 12.5K. I take the add-on at the break and I am at 15.9K. Around 15th. Top 21 cash, 22nd receives almost $100.
After the break I get my first big break. 75/150 blinds. I have A9c and make it 450 from EP, folded to the BB who makes it 600 more. We are the table leaders, I have 16.9k he has me covered with 21k. Flop comes A43. Preflop raiser bets 600, I think about raising to see where I am at but call instead. Turn is the J and I am faced with a 1050 bet. About 1/2 the pot so I call hoping for a 9. It hits and I make my 2p but am disappointed when he checks. I bet about 1/2 the pot 2050 and he calls with AK. Rather lucky there. I am up to 22k.
I am up against the same OP 3 hands later at 100/200 blinds. There is a limp and then a push all-in by the previous opponent. I look down at AKo and instantly call. Flop comes 3 spades I have the Ace and there is no help for my OP. I am now the chip leader with 40k. That was a huge hand for me and that's really it for me for the next hour or so.
I am constantly trying to stay aggressive, making steals when I can. But the steals aren't working well and the cards are getting cold. The chip leaders are steadily moving ahead and I am getting blinded away. At 33k luck combined with poor OP play helps get me back in it. I have QdJd in EP and make it 3x to 2400 and the BB calls. 853 clubs on the flop. I make a continuation bet of 1600, he thinks long and calls. 9h on the turn he checks to me and I fire 2400, now he instantly calls and I know I am in trouble. River=Jh I bet 5600 he instantly calls with As8s and I am back up to 49k. "zing" "lucki as"
I keep trying to stay active as the blinds are high. Another lucky hand occurs when I am in the BB with Q6 and a MP tries to get tricky with AK and limps. Flop comes 6 high and i make a decent value bet on the flop and a small bet on the river and take down a 10k pot when he calls with the AK unimproved. If he plays it right I am not going to win that one.
Now comes my first big hand against my rival for this tourney, a loose player who is catching. I have Kh9h he limps and i limp behind him trying to see some flops and keep that stack growing. 5c9d10d Rival bets 1200 I min raise to 2400. First mistake, should've raised to about 4k. 5s on the turn and he minibets and I make another mistake and just call. I guess now I am trying to see the showdown cheaply. Jc on the river and he makes another minbet I call and he has J8. He starts with an OE that hit TP on the river. I am down to 41 K and get AcKc next hand. Rival limps and I raise to 4800 hoping it looks like tilt. No help on the flop but I fire out 3600 he calls. We check the turn and a K falls on the river. I bet 6k and he calls with A3 no improvement! 57k.
Another blind stealing attempt goes wrong. At the CO i make it 3xBB and the SB calls. I bet 2xBB on the flop he calls then pushes the turn and I have to fold. Down to 42k. Its getting late. I am below the average now.
Down to 37k after bumping heads with the rival again. Now there are 40 left and I know I need to win at least one more flip to make it. I remember thinking I'd rather make the flip sooner then later because I'd hate to be bubble boy. The opportunity arrises a couple hands later. Once again I have AKo at 1/2k blinds. 2 limps and then the short stack goes all-in for 12k. I am very happy with that and then even happier when the semi-maniac rival doubles it to 22k. This looks like an obvious isolation play and I know he is loose enough and his stack is large enough at 90k to make this move with AQ-A9, JJ-77. I push it all in from the SB and he calls with 99. The classic coin flip. I walk away and return to see the chips sliding to my stack. K on the flop. The short stack had A10 and I nearly triple up to 94k.
I am in right? It is close. I should be able to make it now but instead blunder. A9 in the BB for 3k. Folded to the SB(rival) who limps. KK9 flop, he checks and i bet 3k he check raises to 6k and I call. Mistake. Blank on turn and he bets 3k I call again. Ace on the river. I call a 15k bet. Poor play and I am down to 66k. In trouble once again. Maybe 15k ahead of the bubble. Two hands later I get it back with QQ. Rival limps and I make it 5x to 15k, he calls. AcJc6h flop, we check. Tc, we check again. Qs on the river giving me trips. There is now a 4 straight on the board and a 3flush. Luckily he bets the min and I decide to call. He has 55 and I am OK again. 88k. Almost there.
Playing tight now I have 33 in the SB and the rival limps on the button for 4k. I call and the BB is sitting out with a tiny stack. Q42 flop He minbets 3k I call. Ace on the turn, same thing. 5 on the river and i check. He bets 12k and I call with the straight. Only 63 beats me so why not raise? I figured this call puts me in the tourney so why risk it... after all he could have anything. Now over 100k and the rival would soon be on his way to being Bubble Boy.
No all-in suckouts. Some luck. And a victory. I'll take the tournament dollars and maybe move up to some higher SNGs. It has been fun. Later.
Brian
