grandgnu
06-30-2005, 03:05 PM
When last we left off, AJ was starting his semi-pro Omaha Hi/Lo online poker "career". It had it's up and downs, but recently it's been ups and my bankroll has been growing quite reasonably.
I've interspersed some tournament play as well, to keep things interesting. But mostly because on Empire they have some nice overlays. In a tournament with a certain prize pool guaranteed, Empire puts up the extra dough if there aren't enough players to reach that amount. So that means less players for you to beat, and more money for you to win. I'm pretty sure that over on Party Poker and PokerStars the overlays aren't as nice because they likely have larger fields competing.
The other day I finished up 17th out of 305 players in a $25+$2 MTT, winning $85 (first place was $2500, 10th was $100 and moved up about 100 bucks each spot thereafter)
Then I played a one-table Omaha sit n' go and finished in 4th place, one out of the money. I had also finished up 10th out of 74 in a NL speed tournament, where I could have easily moved up another 3-5 paying spots, had I not blundered my first hand (it's folded to me, I have 4/4 but know that the big blind will call my all-in, I could've waited for others to lose since I had great position, and everyone was short-stacked at that point)
I entered another $27 tourney the other night, not realizing that it was a rebuy and add-on event, whoops! More than I wanted to spend, so I didn't rebuy or add-on, still built my 1K stack up to over 3K by the time the add-on was over. I find A/J and raise pre-flop, get four callers. Flop is A/K/J and someone bets and I push, run into a guy who had A/K (the idiot who bet AND called the two all-ins had J/9?????) So I didn't make any money there.
So anyway, today I played a $5+$1 $500 guaranteed tourney, and snagged 1st place out of 70 players. About midway through the tourney I secured a chip lead such that the next closest player in the entire game didn't even have half my stack.
By the time the final table rolled around, I saw my chip lead disappear as my K/Q ran into A/K with a King-high flop. Then I was bumped down to 3rd in chips, but eventually fought my way back into the lead.
When I finally got heads-up, it was against a college student who had been at my original table. He was a cool kid, we had been chatting it up and encouraging one another the whole time. I had told him I was hoping it would be us heads-up, and it was.
I got him all-in pre-flop three times where I had him dominated, and he won two of them. Luckily the one I won I needed to win:
A/K vs. A/7 and he catches two 7's on the flop. A king on the river adds insult to injury, he takes the chip lead for the first time.
A/10 vs. A/7 (very next hand, this time I double up and move up to 54K in chips, with only 70K total in play)
A/Q vs. Q/5. He was getting tired and had offered to split the prize money, but I felt like playing it out and figured I could beat him. He hits his 5 on the flop, and of course to add insult to injury we both snag our Queen on the turn.
The final hand I had 9/9 vs. his A/9 and he didn't improve and it was over, $140 for me, $85 for him. Now if only I could secure a 1st place in one of those tournies where you win a few thousand, THAT would be sweet. In the interim, I'm extremely happy for my good fortune and playing, been wanting a 1st place in one of those for awhile now.
And to those who might have heard reports that a poker site allows the larger stacks to win so that shorter stacks are eliminated, I'll disagree. While I did get quite a few lucky hands to take down some shorter-stacks, I had a few unlucky ones myself. The key factor was that I had so much of a chip lead that I could call a players all-in with semi-marginal holdings and hope to outdraw him, and if I lost it didn't hurt my stack so much.
One REALLY lucky hand for me I had A/K suited and another player smooth-called my raise pre-flop with 4/4. The flop is K/10/4 and we get all our money in. I catch A/K on the next two cards and he goes home, whew was I lucky there!
Anyway, just wanted to share my good fortune (i.e. brag) about my winning a measly $5 game. You won't hear from me when I lose, so that all the results look skewed. w00t!
Of course, when some donk who was short-stacked limped from UTG with A/Q suited and I held 8/3 in the BB and found a flop of 3/8/3 and checked, it didn't hurt me much that he pushed all-in (this player was a known bluffer who I had pushed off of many bets previously, this time he made a huge mistake, as I typed "I have you now" and eliminated him)
I've interspersed some tournament play as well, to keep things interesting. But mostly because on Empire they have some nice overlays. In a tournament with a certain prize pool guaranteed, Empire puts up the extra dough if there aren't enough players to reach that amount. So that means less players for you to beat, and more money for you to win. I'm pretty sure that over on Party Poker and PokerStars the overlays aren't as nice because they likely have larger fields competing.
The other day I finished up 17th out of 305 players in a $25+$2 MTT, winning $85 (first place was $2500, 10th was $100 and moved up about 100 bucks each spot thereafter)
Then I played a one-table Omaha sit n' go and finished in 4th place, one out of the money. I had also finished up 10th out of 74 in a NL speed tournament, where I could have easily moved up another 3-5 paying spots, had I not blundered my first hand (it's folded to me, I have 4/4 but know that the big blind will call my all-in, I could've waited for others to lose since I had great position, and everyone was short-stacked at that point)
I entered another $27 tourney the other night, not realizing that it was a rebuy and add-on event, whoops! More than I wanted to spend, so I didn't rebuy or add-on, still built my 1K stack up to over 3K by the time the add-on was over. I find A/J and raise pre-flop, get four callers. Flop is A/K/J and someone bets and I push, run into a guy who had A/K (the idiot who bet AND called the two all-ins had J/9?????) So I didn't make any money there.
So anyway, today I played a $5+$1 $500 guaranteed tourney, and snagged 1st place out of 70 players. About midway through the tourney I secured a chip lead such that the next closest player in the entire game didn't even have half my stack.
By the time the final table rolled around, I saw my chip lead disappear as my K/Q ran into A/K with a King-high flop. Then I was bumped down to 3rd in chips, but eventually fought my way back into the lead.
When I finally got heads-up, it was against a college student who had been at my original table. He was a cool kid, we had been chatting it up and encouraging one another the whole time. I had told him I was hoping it would be us heads-up, and it was.
I got him all-in pre-flop three times where I had him dominated, and he won two of them. Luckily the one I won I needed to win:
A/K vs. A/7 and he catches two 7's on the flop. A king on the river adds insult to injury, he takes the chip lead for the first time.
A/10 vs. A/7 (very next hand, this time I double up and move up to 54K in chips, with only 70K total in play)
A/Q vs. Q/5. He was getting tired and had offered to split the prize money, but I felt like playing it out and figured I could beat him. He hits his 5 on the flop, and of course to add insult to injury we both snag our Queen on the turn.
The final hand I had 9/9 vs. his A/9 and he didn't improve and it was over, $140 for me, $85 for him. Now if only I could secure a 1st place in one of those tournies where you win a few thousand, THAT would be sweet. In the interim, I'm extremely happy for my good fortune and playing, been wanting a 1st place in one of those for awhile now.
And to those who might have heard reports that a poker site allows the larger stacks to win so that shorter stacks are eliminated, I'll disagree. While I did get quite a few lucky hands to take down some shorter-stacks, I had a few unlucky ones myself. The key factor was that I had so much of a chip lead that I could call a players all-in with semi-marginal holdings and hope to outdraw him, and if I lost it didn't hurt my stack so much.
One REALLY lucky hand for me I had A/K suited and another player smooth-called my raise pre-flop with 4/4. The flop is K/10/4 and we get all our money in. I catch A/K on the next two cards and he goes home, whew was I lucky there!
Anyway, just wanted to share my good fortune (i.e. brag) about my winning a measly $5 game. You won't hear from me when I lose, so that all the results look skewed. w00t!
Of course, when some donk who was short-stacked limped from UTG with A/Q suited and I held 8/3 in the BB and found a flop of 3/8/3 and checked, it didn't hurt me much that he pushed all-in (this player was a known bluffer who I had pushed off of many bets previously, this time he made a huge mistake, as I typed "I have you now" and eliminated him)