Sunday, February 27, 2005
Vegas in June and a Decent MTT Score
This week CJ at Up for Poker announced the next live WPBT event. It's Saturday June 4th at the Aladdin in Vegas. Hopefully I'll be able to attend. The timing isn't great, but it isn't horrible either. Right now our summer plans are pretty open with the exception of June 11th. We're flying to North Carolina over that weekend for my sister's wedding.
I'd love to get out to Vegas and meet some of the other poker bloggers. Plus the $1500 NL WSOP event seems like a good stretch goal in my poker progression. I've never paid more than $1000 buy-in before and don't know if I'm ready for a tournament of that caliber. The slew of recent online bonuses and several MTT cashes have put my bankroll in solid shape and from that perspective this would be a very good time to take a shot at something bigger.
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Finally a Freeroll Worth the Effort
As Grubby mentioned earlier in the week Intertops Poker is running some fantastic Freeroll events. From Thursday - Monday every night includes a $10,000 freeroll. I busted out low 30s in the WSOP freeroll (1 spot given away), didn't qualify for the VIP event, and made some cash in the general freeroll last night.
I ended up finishing 3rd of 1523 players and finally had another MTT cash worth taking about.
#Game No : 1655377672
***** Hand History for Game 1655377672 *****
NL Hold'em Trny:9925086 Level:23 Blinds (20000/40000) - Sunday, February 27, 03:03:18 EDT 2005
Table $10,000 Freeroll(228848) Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 3: run_dog ( $245234 )
Seat 6: chinchog ( $1023686 )
Seat 10: IgnacioElrey ( $254080 )
Trny:9925086 Level:23
Blinds (20000/40000)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to run_dog [ Ah 9c ]
run_dog is all-In [245234]
chinchog calls [225234].
IgnacioElrey folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qs, 4d, 2c ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jd ]
** Dealing River ** [ 7h ]
run_dog shows [ Ah, 9c ] high card ace.
chinchog shows [ Qh, Qd ] three of a kind, queens.
Player run_dog finished in 3 place and received $800
There's another $10,000 freeroll tonight and the much smaller (currently less than 100 entrants) affiliate freeroll tomorrow.
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Poker League Season 3
I just saw in the comments below that Mr. Decker is curious how our local poker league works. Since we're starting Season 3 next week it seemed like the appropriate time to answer his question.
The league is basically a pokerized version of the existing pool and dart leagues at a local lodge. Each player pays a small fee each week, $10 in our case, and the league lasts for 16 weeks. Each week we play a NL HE tournament and the players receive points based on how they finish. We're currently using a points system very similar to PokerStars TLB.
Because this is a league there are no cash prizes each week. All prizes are handed out at the end of season banquet. The other big difference from most normal poker tournaments is that everyone gets some payout at the end. This means that first place only gets 16 or 18 % of the total prize pool. This is done to be consistent with most normal leagues in our area. Players are required to drop their two lowests scores. That way if you miss a week or two you're not penalized as much. We also require players to play 8 weeks in order to be eligible for prizes and the banquet.
Season 1 we had 18 players and season 2 we had 20 players. I'm guessing that season 3 will grow again, but we don't want to get too big. We need to be able to finish the tournament in three or so hours to get people home at a decent time.
I can't stress enough how much fun this league is. We have a great group of people and I've met tons of new friends by helping to organize these events. The risk and reward are both small from a financial standpoint...but as I've mentioned before I don't play poker primarily for money. And even if you do it's hard to beat having fun with friends!
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Also, from this point on Baby Royal will now be referred to as Little Royal. My big girl does not like to be referred to as a baby any longer... :)
This week CJ at Up for Poker announced the next live WPBT event. It's Saturday June 4th at the Aladdin in Vegas. Hopefully I'll be able to attend. The timing isn't great, but it isn't horrible either. Right now our summer plans are pretty open with the exception of June 11th. We're flying to North Carolina over that weekend for my sister's wedding.
I'd love to get out to Vegas and meet some of the other poker bloggers. Plus the $1500 NL WSOP event seems like a good stretch goal in my poker progression. I've never paid more than $1000 buy-in before and don't know if I'm ready for a tournament of that caliber. The slew of recent online bonuses and several MTT cashes have put my bankroll in solid shape and from that perspective this would be a very good time to take a shot at something bigger.
--------
Finally a Freeroll Worth the Effort
As Grubby mentioned earlier in the week Intertops Poker is running some fantastic Freeroll events. From Thursday - Monday every night includes a $10,000 freeroll. I busted out low 30s in the WSOP freeroll (1 spot given away), didn't qualify for the VIP event, and made some cash in the general freeroll last night.
I ended up finishing 3rd of 1523 players and finally had another MTT cash worth taking about.
#Game No : 1655377672
***** Hand History for Game 1655377672 *****
NL Hold'em Trny:9925086 Level:23 Blinds (20000/40000) - Sunday, February 27, 03:03:18 EDT 2005
Table $10,000 Freeroll(228848) Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 3: run_dog ( $245234 )
Seat 6: chinchog ( $1023686 )
Seat 10: IgnacioElrey ( $254080 )
Trny:9925086 Level:23
Blinds (20000/40000)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to run_dog [ Ah 9c ]
run_dog is all-In [245234]
chinchog calls [225234].
IgnacioElrey folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qs, 4d, 2c ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jd ]
** Dealing River ** [ 7h ]
run_dog shows [ Ah, 9c ] high card ace.
chinchog shows [ Qh, Qd ] three of a kind, queens.
Player run_dog finished in 3 place and received $800
There's another $10,000 freeroll tonight and the much smaller (currently less than 100 entrants) affiliate freeroll tomorrow.
-------
Poker League Season 3
I just saw in the comments below that Mr. Decker is curious how our local poker league works. Since we're starting Season 3 next week it seemed like the appropriate time to answer his question.
The league is basically a pokerized version of the existing pool and dart leagues at a local lodge. Each player pays a small fee each week, $10 in our case, and the league lasts for 16 weeks. Each week we play a NL HE tournament and the players receive points based on how they finish. We're currently using a points system very similar to PokerStars TLB.
Because this is a league there are no cash prizes each week. All prizes are handed out at the end of season banquet. The other big difference from most normal poker tournaments is that everyone gets some payout at the end. This means that first place only gets 16 or 18 % of the total prize pool. This is done to be consistent with most normal leagues in our area. Players are required to drop their two lowests scores. That way if you miss a week or two you're not penalized as much. We also require players to play 8 weeks in order to be eligible for prizes and the banquet.
Season 1 we had 18 players and season 2 we had 20 players. I'm guessing that season 3 will grow again, but we don't want to get too big. We need to be able to finish the tournament in three or so hours to get people home at a decent time.
I can't stress enough how much fun this league is. We have a great group of people and I've met tons of new friends by helping to organize these events. The risk and reward are both small from a financial standpoint...but as I've mentioned before I don't play poker primarily for money. And even if you do it's hard to beat having fun with friends!
-------
Also, from this point on Baby Royal will now be referred to as Little Royal. My big girl does not like to be referred to as a baby any longer... :)
Friday, February 18, 2005
Running Good, Running Bad, Just Keep Running...
The banquet was excellent as expected. Mrs. Royal and Baby Royal even came along for the dinner and awards ceremony. Baby Royal had a great time showing off her new walking skills! The food was good; the people were great and best of all we even found time to play some poker.
The tradition now is a special season ending tournament following the awards ceremony. This works out pretty well because everyone is guaranteed some money back for the league. All this cash influx needs to see some action! I busted out 4th winning just over 3x my entry fee.
Afterwards we took off to Shadow's house for a quick SNG and some $0.10/$0.20 ring game action. A.I. got destroyed and put the entire ring game on tilt. Taking a hint from Iggy at his home games I had plenty of the drink myself, but also seemed to find the nuts left and right. Every time A.I. made one of his huge over-bet-the-pot moves I had cards. I had a great time hanging out with friends...crushing the game didn't hurt either.
While my live play is doing great, my online plays takes a 180 and I find myself in the midst of a 70BB downturn playing $1/$2. One of the most interesting things about playing poker is how much it alters my mood. I guess the better description would be "magnify my mood." The famous 20 questions from Gambler's Anonymous hits right on this one. When I'm running good at poker it makes up for a crappy day at work. When I'm running poor it makes the bad days horrible. As an engineer, a scientist if you will, I'm a logical thinker. It makes no logical sense that losing $140 should alter my mood. It's really not a large sum of money to me in the real world and it's not a large sum of money to a bankroll that's fit for $15/$30. Yet it still bothers me to lose $140. I think for me it's my competitive nature. I hate to lose and any prolonged bad run translates into losing.
After a week of piss poor days, mostly work related and magnified by poker, I get home once again in a foul mood. I say hi to the girls and head downstairs to check my email and read a few blogs. Unlike most poker bloggers I don't read or write at work. I see that Iggy has part 7 posted and know that I have time to play a few hands while I read through that bad boy. 20 minutes later I'm up almost $90 combined on two tables of $2/$4 and $25 PLO.
Strangely enough I'm in a good mood again...
The banquet was excellent as expected. Mrs. Royal and Baby Royal even came along for the dinner and awards ceremony. Baby Royal had a great time showing off her new walking skills! The food was good; the people were great and best of all we even found time to play some poker.
The tradition now is a special season ending tournament following the awards ceremony. This works out pretty well because everyone is guaranteed some money back for the league. All this cash influx needs to see some action! I busted out 4th winning just over 3x my entry fee.
Afterwards we took off to Shadow's house for a quick SNG and some $0.10/$0.20 ring game action. A.I. got destroyed and put the entire ring game on tilt. Taking a hint from Iggy at his home games I had plenty of the drink myself, but also seemed to find the nuts left and right. Every time A.I. made one of his huge over-bet-the-pot moves I had cards. I had a great time hanging out with friends...crushing the game didn't hurt either.
While my live play is doing great, my online plays takes a 180 and I find myself in the midst of a 70BB downturn playing $1/$2. One of the most interesting things about playing poker is how much it alters my mood. I guess the better description would be "magnify my mood." The famous 20 questions from Gambler's Anonymous hits right on this one. When I'm running good at poker it makes up for a crappy day at work. When I'm running poor it makes the bad days horrible. As an engineer, a scientist if you will, I'm a logical thinker. It makes no logical sense that losing $140 should alter my mood. It's really not a large sum of money to me in the real world and it's not a large sum of money to a bankroll that's fit for $15/$30. Yet it still bothers me to lose $140. I think for me it's my competitive nature. I hate to lose and any prolonged bad run translates into losing.
After a week of piss poor days, mostly work related and magnified by poker, I get home once again in a foul mood. I say hi to the girls and head downstairs to check my email and read a few blogs. Unlike most poker bloggers I don't read or write at work. I see that Iggy has part 7 posted and know that I have time to play a few hands while I read through that bad boy. 20 minutes later I'm up almost $90 combined on two tables of $2/$4 and $25 PLO.
Strangely enough I'm in a good mood again...
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Time for the Feast
My local poker league wrapped up season two last night. I was crippled early when my KK ran into 78o. I could not recover and ended up bowing out early with no chance of moving up to first place overall. I wanted to stick around and see whether I held onto second place, but the KK incident had me in an unusually sour mood. I took off early and got home before Mrs. Royal went to bed.
The morning email confirmed my second place finish...barely.
Saturday evening brings us the awards banquet and post banquet tournament. It's leagues like this that make me glad I'm not a professional player. The stakes at these events are way to low versus the time you need to invest. Fortunately I play poker for fun. I mentioned many posts ago that while I expect to make money at poker I play for fun and friends. That's what this league is all about - fun and friends.
In other news Baby Royal is full toddler. She's been walking some the last month, but she really turned it on the last two days! ...and we thought she was tough to keep track of before...
My local poker league wrapped up season two last night. I was crippled early when my KK ran into 78o. I could not recover and ended up bowing out early with no chance of moving up to first place overall. I wanted to stick around and see whether I held onto second place, but the KK incident had me in an unusually sour mood. I took off early and got home before Mrs. Royal went to bed.
The morning email confirmed my second place finish...barely.
Saturday evening brings us the awards banquet and post banquet tournament. It's leagues like this that make me glad I'm not a professional player. The stakes at these events are way to low versus the time you need to invest. Fortunately I play poker for fun. I mentioned many posts ago that while I expect to make money at poker I play for fun and friends. That's what this league is all about - fun and friends.
In other news Baby Royal is full toddler. She's been walking some the last month, but she really turned it on the last two days! ...and we thought she was tough to keep track of before...
Thursday, February 03, 2005
WPBT 02/02/05
I'm extremely proud of my 4th place finish in the latest WPBT event. Truth be told I caught lots of good starting hands and was able to ride them to victory most of the time. What I did right, besides catching good cards, is play a very tight aggressive game. When I put my money in I was raising and most of the time it never got to showdown. The only bad beat I took was losing QQ vs. JJ when one of the Aprils spiked a J on the river. It was a crippling blow, but fortunately I doubled up shortly and continued the chip climb.
Some stats from Poker Tracker:
Total Hands: 286
Vol. Put T$ in Pot: 12.24%
Cold Call PF %: 0.00%
PF Raise %: 10.49%
Thanks for the fun evening everyone. Good luck next tournament!
I'm extremely proud of my 4th place finish in the latest WPBT event. Truth be told I caught lots of good starting hands and was able to ride them to victory most of the time. What I did right, besides catching good cards, is play a very tight aggressive game. When I put my money in I was raising and most of the time it never got to showdown. The only bad beat I took was losing QQ vs. JJ when one of the Aprils spiked a J on the river. It was a crippling blow, but fortunately I doubled up shortly and continued the chip climb.
Some stats from Poker Tracker:
Total Hands: 286
Vol. Put T$ in Pot: 12.24%
Cold Call PF %: 0.00%
PF Raise %: 10.49%
Thanks for the fun evening everyone. Good luck next tournament!
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
That whole chair / chip thing...
Last night was week 15 of 16 in my local poker league. Heading into the night I was in 4th place out of 22 players and needed a strong finish to keep my chance at first alive. It was another solid turnout with 17 players competing for the points.
If you haven't seen my league updates before here is a quick synopsis of how we play:
-NL Hold 'em Tournament Format
-Each player starts with $100 in chips
-Blinds start at $1/$2 and go up every 20 minutes
-Tournament usually last ~3 hrs
-Players get points based on how they finish (point system similar to PokerStars TLB)
I'm looking pretty good early when I make a flush and get the player who paired the ace on the board to pay me off with about $30 of his stack. Then with the blinds at 3/6 I pickup AKs in the BB. Everyone folds to the SB who limps in. This player had recently moved to our table and had been aggressively over betting the pot. Twice he had moved all-in for $80 with only the 3/6 blinds in the pot. Trying to look like a steal, I pull his trick and raise to $25. He thinks for a few seconds and then moves all-in over the top of me. I call and his KQ does not crack my dominating hand.
The blinds slowly tick up and I see nothing. To my left is an aggressive player who is not easy to steal from. My stack bleeds away until I have $180 left as we consolidate to the final 8 players with the blinds at 10/20. The current league leader, and strong player, is seated to my left and makes it $60 on the first hand. I put him on a decent hand, but not wanting callers. He also respects my play and will not call my re-raise with a medium pair or ace. I find ATs and move in over the top of him. Unfortunately my read was off and he did not fold his AA. I manage to survive only because I've got him covered by $20.
His play here is a great example of why aggressive players tend to do better overall. He would make this raise with virtually any pair or ace and that's exactly what I put him on. The good player to my left even commented on how he thought it was a steal as well and might have moved in if I had not...
Two hands later I find TT and my last $20 goes into the pot calling the BB. There is one other caller and the SB is also all-in for only $5. The SB makes a straight and my TT holds up to win the side pot putting me up to $45. The next hand I pickup KJ and move all-in for a slight raise. I get called by QT and my hand holds up. I'm now over $100 and have some ammo to play with.
I pickup a few more decent hands and start taking the blinds. I build up to close to $300 in chips without ever seeing a flop. The hands keep coming and I start playing terminator. The short version is that I come back to win the whole damn thing. The comeback congratulations were sincere and while I got some help I'm also extremely pleased with my play. It was my 4th win of the season and by far my most satisfying.
I'm now in second and just out of first place. Next week will conclude this exciting season!
Last night was week 15 of 16 in my local poker league. Heading into the night I was in 4th place out of 22 players and needed a strong finish to keep my chance at first alive. It was another solid turnout with 17 players competing for the points.
If you haven't seen my league updates before here is a quick synopsis of how we play:
-NL Hold 'em Tournament Format
-Each player starts with $100 in chips
-Blinds start at $1/$2 and go up every 20 minutes
-Tournament usually last ~3 hrs
-Players get points based on how they finish (point system similar to PokerStars TLB)
I'm looking pretty good early when I make a flush and get the player who paired the ace on the board to pay me off with about $30 of his stack. Then with the blinds at 3/6 I pickup AKs in the BB. Everyone folds to the SB who limps in. This player had recently moved to our table and had been aggressively over betting the pot. Twice he had moved all-in for $80 with only the 3/6 blinds in the pot. Trying to look like a steal, I pull his trick and raise to $25. He thinks for a few seconds and then moves all-in over the top of me. I call and his KQ does not crack my dominating hand.
The blinds slowly tick up and I see nothing. To my left is an aggressive player who is not easy to steal from. My stack bleeds away until I have $180 left as we consolidate to the final 8 players with the blinds at 10/20. The current league leader, and strong player, is seated to my left and makes it $60 on the first hand. I put him on a decent hand, but not wanting callers. He also respects my play and will not call my re-raise with a medium pair or ace. I find ATs and move in over the top of him. Unfortunately my read was off and he did not fold his AA. I manage to survive only because I've got him covered by $20.
His play here is a great example of why aggressive players tend to do better overall. He would make this raise with virtually any pair or ace and that's exactly what I put him on. The good player to my left even commented on how he thought it was a steal as well and might have moved in if I had not...
Two hands later I find TT and my last $20 goes into the pot calling the BB. There is one other caller and the SB is also all-in for only $5. The SB makes a straight and my TT holds up to win the side pot putting me up to $45. The next hand I pickup KJ and move all-in for a slight raise. I get called by QT and my hand holds up. I'm now over $100 and have some ammo to play with.
I pickup a few more decent hands and start taking the blinds. I build up to close to $300 in chips without ever seeing a flop. The hands keep coming and I start playing terminator. The short version is that I come back to win the whole damn thing. The comeback congratulations were sincere and while I got some help I'm also extremely pleased with my play. It was my 4th win of the season and by far my most satisfying.
I'm now in second and just out of first place. Next week will conclude this exciting season!
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