World Blogger Championship Results

Yesterday (Sunday, June 18th) was the 2nd Annual World Blogger Championship on Pokerstars. The tournament started at 4:00pm, but I thought it started at 6:00pm. However, my buddy sent me a text at 4:30 asking how I was doing in the tournament, to which I replied "What tournament?".

After figuring out he was talking about the Blogger Tournament, I fired up my computer and logged on to PokerStars. I'm not sure what the starting stack size was, but I'm guessing it was 2,500 as my stack was down to about 1,950. The first had I was dealt was AA, an omen of good things to come.

I started off playing aggressive figuring I'd either get a decent stack to play with or bust out and hang out with the family. I was able to quickly get my stack up to around 3,500 with good cards and good flops. One hand that sticks out im my head was Q10 which I called a raise. I flopped an open ended straight draw and called a big bet by my only opponent (very clearly a really loose call!). The turn made me my straight and we got all the money in. My straight held up against his top 2 pair. This hand put me up to 8,500±.

From this point I kept catching cards and was able to run my stack up to 15,500±. Continuing my loose play, my stack dropped to 9,000, 7,000 and then to 3,000. I was all-in, and double up t0 7,000±. To say the least it was a yo-yo tournament for my stack. Fast forward, I was able to run my stack up to 25,000. Then a huge hand came up. The big stack at the table had just lost a big hand, and came in for a raise the very next hand. I was dealt A6 suited on the button and called the raise. The flop was perfect, giving me the nuts. The tilting player then pushed the rest of his stack (had me covered) and doubled me up with his QJ offsuit. I was now 9th in chips in the entire tournament with 58,000±.

As the blinds climbed, and I missed some flops, my stack was back down to 28,000 (about half the average stack) with 65 players left, the top 54 get prizes. I decided that I had a very minimal chance to go really deep (final table) and set my sites on "cashing". I was able to fold my way into the money (at one point folding AQ suited) and had about 17,000 as the bubble burst. With 48 players left I raised consecutive hands with Ax, winning the blinds and antes (about 11k each hand) increasing my stack to 36,000. A few hands later I pushed with QQ and was called by AK. My queens held up and I was up to my tournament high point of 85,000 and in 21st out of 41 players remaining.

A couple of ill timed bets/raises and I was back down to 38,000. With the blinds at 6,000-12,000 and a 200 ante, I was dealt AJ spades and pushed. I was dominated as I was called by AQ, but held some hope as I flopped a flush draw. However, my run ended as I bricked the turn and river. I went out in 28th place, good enough for a 4GB Ipod Nano (too bad I already have one).

Thats my (long) story, and I'm sticking to it.

Why I love party poker!

First hand I play at a $50NL table on Party.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

SB ($30.60)
Hero ($50)
UTG ($16.75)
MP ($49.50)
CO ($58.85)
Button ($42.60)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Kd, As. SB posts a blind of $0.25.

UTG calls $0.50, 1 fold, CO calls $0.50, Button calls $0.50, SB (poster) completes, BB raises to $2.5, UTG folds, CO raises to $5.5, Button folds, SB folds, Hero calls $2.50.

Flop: ($12.50) Ah, Jd, 7d (2 players)
Hero bets $8, CO calls $8.

Turn: ($28.50) 3d (2 players)
Hero bets $20, CO calls $20.

River: ($68.50) 2d (2 players)
Hero bets $16.50 and is all-in, CO calls $16.50.

Hero shows [ Kd, As ] a flush, king high.
Sabres0325 shows [ Td, 6c ] a flush, jack high.

Final Pot: $98 (excluding rake)

Party Poker Sunday Million and WSOP ME Qualifiers

I've been trying to qualify to both the Party Poker Million Dollar Guarenteed Tournament held ever Sunday, as well as the $215 WSOP satelite, also on Party Poker.

$1,000,000 Guarenteed
The first attempt was a $20+2 rebuy about a week and a half ago. I am not a huge fan of rebuy tournaments, but I decided to enter as only 19 others were in the tournament. I played very tight as it seamed that someone was all-in every hand for the rebuy period of the tournament, and one guy rebought 7 times and was in for a total of $162 and didn't even make the final table. I was lucky enough to double up with KK and make it to the final table. At the final table I was short stacked the majority of the time, but picked up the blinds 3 times in a row to stay afloat. With 7 people left, and 5 seats being given out, I picked up QQ and pushed pre-flop. I got two callers and busted when one rivered a straight. I got $17 for 7th place for a net of -$5.

The second attempt was a $11+1 which is capped at 60 people with two seats given out. I played good, won some key races and was near the top third in chips for most of the tournamnet. Early on I was the chip leader when I floped and open-ended straight flush draw which hit on the turn and took 2 people out. I easily made it to the final table, but busted out third when I was short chipped and pushed with A3 (suited) and was called by QJ and the flop was JJX. Third place payed $85 (+$74).

WSOP Satelite
Last sunday I played in a $6 MTT (multi-table tournament) on Party which was capped at 130 people. I made it to the final table, but was short chipped. I had an above average chip stack for a large portion of the tournament, but went card dead for the better part of 45 minutes. With 8 people left (only 2 seats awarded and cash to 3-5), I pushed with J10 UTG for $8K (blinds were $1K/$2K and about to go up) and ran into QQ.

Last friday, I was checking out the FCP fourm when I saw a note that FCP was offering bonus money for signing up for the Stage 1 and 2 qualifiers for their $215 WSOP ME satelites. I hadn't played on FCP for awhile and fired up the software. I found a Stage 2 qualifier ($50+4) which started in 10 minutes with only three people signed up. This tournament offers one seat to the $215 for every 5 entrants, but guarentees 1 seat for a minium of 3 players. I figured I wouldn't find a better spot to try to qualify and jumped in.

One of the players was away, so we basically played 3 handed. I started out slow and lost some chips on a continuation bet with a low pocket pair and a flop of high cards when I was raised. I was down to $1,250 from my starting stack of $1,500. I picked up a few small pots before I made my first big hand.

Seat 2: tobytobeyFCP ($1,365 in chips)
Seat 6: blcnole ($1,805 in chips)
Seat 7: gilbertology ($1,400 in chips)
Seat 9: qbikal ($1,430 in chips)

ANTES/BLIND
Sqbikal posts blind ($10), tobytobeyFCP posts blind ($20).

PRE-FLOP
blcnole folds, gilbertology folds, qbikal bets $60, tobytobeyFCP calls $50.

FLOP [board cards AS,6H,7H ]
qbikal checks, tobytobeyFCP checks.

TURN [board cards AS,6H,7H,5S ]
qbikal bets $90, tobytobeyFCP bets $250, qbikal calls $160.

RIVER [board cards AS,6H,7H,5S,3S ]
qbikal checks, tobytobeyFCP bets $300, qbikal calls $300.

SHOWDOWN
tobytobeyFCP shows [ 6S,AD ]
qbikal mucks cards [ AC,QC ]
tobytobeyFCP wins $1,240.

The very next hand, I took out qbikal when my Q4 out of the SB makes quads!

Seat 2: tobytobeyFCP ($1,985 in chips)
Seat 6: blcnole ($1,805 in chips)
Seat 7: gilbertology ($1,400 in chips)
Seat 9: qbikal ($810 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
tobytobeyFCP posts blind ($10), blcnole posts blind ($20).

PRE-FLOP
gilbertology folds, qbikal calls $20, tobytobeyFCP calls $10, blcnole checks.

FLOP [board cards QH,QS,8C ]
tobytobeyFCP checks, blcnole checks, qbikal checks.

TURN [board cards QH,QS,8C,QD ]
tobytobeyFCP checks, blcnole checks, qbikal checks.

RIVER [board cards QH,QS,8C,QD,AH ]
tobytobeyFCP bets $120, blcnole folds, qbikal bets $790 and is all-in, tobytobeyFCP calls $670.

SHOWDOWN
qbikal shows [ AD,4H ] Full house, Queens over Aces
tobytobeyFCP shows [ QC,4S ] Four of a Kind, Queens
tobytobeyFCP wins $1,640.

Down to three handed. We battled back at forth (third guy was STILL AWAY). My chip stack ranged from $2,500 to $3,500 while villian ranged from $1,100 to $2,100. I was lucky to lose the minium when I rivered a straight and villian rivered a flush which left me only a $400 chip lead $2,100 to $2,500. I regained about a $1k chip lead winning some small pots. It got down to heads up with the following hand.

Seat 2: tobytobeyFCP ($3,405 in chips)
Seat 6: blcnole ($1,950 in chips)
Seat 7: gilbertology ($645 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
blcnole posts blind ($15), gilbertology posts blind ($30).

PRE-FLOP
tobytobeyFCP bets $95, blcnole calls $80, gilbertology folds.

FLOP [board cards 7S,QC,4S ]
blcnole checks, tobytobeyFCP bets $115, blcnole bets $1,855 and is all-in, tobytobeyFCP calls $1,740.

TURN [board cards 7S,QC,4S,3S ]

RIVER [board cards 7S,QC,4S,3S,2H ]

SHOWDOWN
blcnole shows [ 10H,QD ] Pair of Queens, 10 kicker
tobytobeyFCP shows [ QS,AH ] Pairs of Queens. Ace kicker
tobytobeyFCP wins $3,930.

Heads up actions went quickly as the only player left was away. The WSOP satelite is scheduled for Saturday, June 17th. I am looking forward to it, and am keeping my fingers crossed.

World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 4810602