Sunday, March 18, 2007

Not this time either

Nope, it didn't work out in the satellite I wrote about earlier. It was a Turbo tournament, with 408 participants and 9 prizes (entry into a $750.000 prize money Guaranteed tournament). I really only made two plays.

First one was TJ on the button. Just call it unraised and no raises. Hit a T on the flop, mini-bet, the blinds fold and one caller. Check on the turn. The river is a king, I just make a mini-bet again. He (just) calls and has KT.

Nothing playable after that. Changing tables, pay the blinds, flat call and don't hit any flops. I'm down to about 1000, starting with 1500 and the blinds are now 60/120. Middle position, one raiser in early position to about 3 times big blind. I have AKo... Ace of clubs and King of diamonds. I might as well make a move now if I'm going to have a shot at a better position. All in. All fold except for the raiser who calls and has 77. Such situations (AK vs pair) are about 50/50, which is shown by what the board became.

2TJ9, out of which three are clubs. I still have a shot. But the river is not an Ace, King, Queen or club. It's an eight of hearts, giving him a straight to really rub it in and I'm out at 233rd place.

But I will not stop trying.

Could work, could work...

I've made more attempts at the WSOP freerolls at Full Tilt Poker, as I've written about earlier.

Then I laid my eyes on another opportunity. From my January attempt at the Iron Man Challenge (where I in the end ended up in the money (a pittance) but did not win it going on to lots of money) I had a healthy supply of Full Tilt Points.

There's the Sunday $750000 Guarantee tournament. I made several attempts this weekend at satellite tournaments costing Full Tilt Points and...


  • Attempt 1: A 54-player Sit&Go tournament costing 50 points, with 1 prize. Eighth place.
  • Attempt 2: Same thing, 54 players, 50 points, 1 prize. Second place! But only one prize.
  • Attempt 3: 9 players, 300 points, 1 prize. Fourth place.
  • Attempt 4: 9 players, 300 points, 1 prize. Second place again.

Well, it's going well, but not well enough. Second place is best loser, especially when there's only one prize.

  • Attempt 5: 54 players, 50 points, 1 prize. First place, winner, da man, qualifier, entry gained.

Yes, finally went on! Practice makes perfect. IMHO, I must be doing something right.

On to what? Well, another satellite, but/and I like the odds. In the satellite (which you can buy in to directly for 2500 points), the final table, 9 players, go on to the big game. At least that what it looks like now, could be more places "paid" if more qualify for the satellite. Since I've gone far (but, alas, not far enough apparently) in other tournaments recently, I feel I have a shot. I don't have to win, just place high. Anyhoo, the big game I'm talking about is the $750000 Guarantee tournament (which you can buy in to directly for $500), and I like the numbers there as well. Last time I checked, 430 were already registered and 216 places were paid.

It's doable. Finishing "in the money" twice more today, and I have a shot at six figures. Or three. Last time I checked, first prize was $141000 and last ITM was $750. Anything is a plus for me, the low stakes dreamer.

Just don't play like a total donkey.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Shameless panhandling

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Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Giveaway

Since last weekend I've been struggling, fighting, kicking and screaming at Full Tilt Poker's WSOP Giveaway.

Yup, they're giving away WSOP Main Event seats, but not without effort. For a while now, they've been having Sit&Go Freerolls continuously, with 315 (named .COM) or 630 (named .NET) participants. One prize, and one prize only, in each of them - the winner gets entry into Round 2 next Saturday, the rest get absolutely nothing.

I see that for Round 2 there's max 5000 participants, but it's still only half full. In Round 2 the whole final table (9 players) get entry into the final on Sunday, the real WSOP Giveaway where there's two (2) WSOP Main Event seats up for grabs.

And there are other ways to get a WSOP seat by way of Full Tilt, check it out.

So how have I done? Well, I've played three dozen or more of these freerolls. One third place, one fourth place, one sixth place, two eleventh, two fourteenth and some more "last three tables" and generally often high placements (if it had been "normal" tournaments where about the top ten percent gets paid, I probably would have made a profit. But here it's only one prize and... second place is best loser.

Anyway, I must be doing something right if you look at how I've placed. It's worth a shot. I could go all the way. I wanna go to Vegas again! And again!