Shots Across The Bow

Poker Stars Bloggers Tournament is On!

The tourney starts in 5 minutes. I'll report back on the breaks, if I actually make it to a break this year. Last year I played crazy aggressive and busted out way too early. This year, I hope to play a bit smarter.

But we'll see how it goes.

UPDATE: It's 5PM and I'm still in the game. I've gotten good cards and I'm up, but only by a couple hundred chips. Our table is at a disadvantage because 4 of the 9 players didn't show. That means every pot is roughly half the size, which means we're falling behind the rest of the tourney in chip count.

I'm playing OK, mixing tight play with some aggressive calls in the right situations. I was close to being eliminated at one point, but a good card on the river, followed by another good pot got me back into the game.

We'll see how the next hour goes.

Stats:1497 out of 2247 players remain. Average chips, 3002. Largest stack 26,450.

My stack 2255.

Wish me luck!

UPDATE 6:05: Ok, hour 2 is done and I'm still in it. I was falling behind when I got a couple of great hands, doubled up twice, and wound up 52nd in chips. Then came disaster. I was sitting with 16,000 chips with big slick (AK) and a guy with 7000 went all in pre flop. I had to call, and the flop missed me. His pair of 10s held up and I was crippled.

Then I was moved to a new table. I had 2 hearts in the hole, one of which was a queen. I missed the flush but flopped another queen. I was heads up with a guy whose betting told me he was on the come, so I called his all in, which put me nearly all in myself. My queens held up, and I'm back in the top 100 with about 15,500 chips.

Stats 350 of 2247 players remaining top stack: 50,570 My stack: 15,460

UPDATE 7:15: Still alive, and in 100th place in the chip count. This hour has been a roller coaster of a ride. I've been as high as 15th in the count, and as low as almost out. Here's an example. I was small stacked with 11,000 chips and doubled up when my pair of tens held up to an A high. The very next hand, I got pocket kings, but lost on the turn when an ace showed. I misplayed the hand, slow playing to try and get the most money out of a good hand, but when the A came on the turn, I knew I was in trouble. I called the guy on the river on the off chance he was bluffing, but no such luck. He was holding A rag, so if I had come out stronger after the flop, he probably would have folded. That dropped me from 22,000 back down to 13,000. Since then, I've improved just a bit, but I'm going to need better cards to survive the next hour.

Stats: 115 players left out of 2247. Large stack 137399, average 39078

My stack 17,220 98th place in chip count

UPDATE 7:30: Game over man! It's all over but the cryin'. At least I went out in memorable fashion. Since I was short stacked, I had a choice. I could play very very conservatively and hope to make it into the top 52, and win a jacket or something, or I could play aggressively and try to fight my way back into the hunt. As small stacked as I was, I knew my chances of limping into the prize pool were pretty slim, so I decided to go out with a bang.

I folded through about 10 hands, watching my stack shrink from blinds and antes until I got a hand worth going all in with, AJ suited. I went all in and was called by a guy with about 60k in chips. He turned over big slick, AK unsuited, and I figured my game was over. The flop came and paired our aces along with a Q 10. The turn was a blank and I was down to my last card. The King came on the river, giving him top 2 pair, but giving me an A high straight!

I was still in the game, and I'd doubled up to 17K in chips.

3 hands later, I got it again, AJ suited, and still being short stacked, I went all in again. This time the chip leader at our table called, and when we turned over our cards, once again, I was staring at Big Slick, this time suited.

What are the odds of coming up against AK twice when you're holding AJ?

For me, it's 100%!

My luck did not hold this time, and I was out of the tournament just that quickly.

So, I'm out, lasting just over 3 hours and outlasting 2154 other entrants, finishing 93rd. I didn't win any prizes, and I'm not going to the WSOP, but I did meet my goal of finishing in the top 100, and playing better than I did last year. I still made some bonehead moves that I wish I could go back and undo, but on the whole, I'm happy with my performance.

And there's always next year!

So, any RTB bloggers want to get up a game?

Posted by Rich at June 18, 2006 3:54 PM | TrackBack