PokerStars Sunday Million
Ran quite well in this.
281/6964 - good for a $835.68 cash, which is excellent, considering it cost me all of $11.70 to enter this thing.
More later.
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PS Sunday Million - NCAA picks
After some thought (actually not much), I’ve decided to play the PokerStars Sunday Million. With the family out of town, it’s a no-brainer.
We’ll see what happens.
My NCAA bracket is looking pretty decent so far. Missed four first round games, and one second round game through Saturday night’s games (UCLA/Indiana pending).
UPDATE: Nailed the UCLA game also.
PokerStars Sunday Million
Q: So what do you do when you are wide awake at 12:30 in the morning?
A: Qualify for the PokerStars Sunday Million, of course.
I haven’t played on PokerStars in a few months. I cleared out my account there a few months ago because I decided to exclusively play at Full Tilt while clearing a bonus there.
Wanting to get in on some of the tourneys Stars is offering, I decided to reload my account. I haven’t made a deposit there since “The Act”, so wasn’t sure how to do it
A few clicks, and I discovered that I could deposit using my debit card. Lucky me. In the past everything I’ve done has been through NetTeller. In fact, my entire online poker bankroll, including all withdrawals I’ve made, has been seeded with an initial deposit of $100 into Party Poker back in 2003. After that, it was just a matter of transferring money between sites.
I’ve heard about the Double Shootouts on Stars, and how easy it can be to qualify for events through them, so I thought I’d give this one a shot. You can check out the screencap for tourney details.
With 54 entrants, it didn’t take long to dispatch my initial table of five. The final table was an exercise in restraint while the donkeys shoved and shoved with garbage like A-5 off and the likes.
I did execute a pair of massive suckouts to launch myself into the final four players with a chip lead, and from there it was just waiting for the right spot to call these pushmonkeys.
So I’ve qualified for the Sunday Million, but this leaves me with a question that I’ll have a few days to ponder.
Do I play the Sunday Million, or do I take the T$215, and play other things, like smaller buyin MTT’s, or perhaps some SnG’s, which I tend to do well in?
Pros for Playing the Sunday Million
* I would never buy in to a $200 event, so why not take this opportunity to play the biggest weekly online tournament?
* Mrs. Numb, and Numb Jr. are leaving town on Friday, and won’t return for nearly a week, giving me the opportunity to play long stretches, uninterrupted by the normal day-to-day family duties that being a husband and father require me to do (just so we’re clear, I enjoy these duties). This is a rare occasion to play some hardcore poker this weekend (as well as drink some hardcore Guinness).
* Come on man, the prize pool is ONE FREAKIN MILLION DOLLARS (or more).
Cons Against Playing the Sunday Million
* I would get more play for my T$215 if I spread it out a little bit more.
* I would more than likely convert most of that T$215 into actual cash if I played SnG’s with it.
* I’d feel sick if I busted out before the money, which, even though I’m confident in my abilities to run deep in a deep stack tournament (this thing is a deep stack tournament, isn’t it?), is a real possibility.
So what should I do? Any comments will be appreciated, particularly from any of you who have played this tournament before. I’ve never played a large online MTT with more than a $10 buyin in my life, but I do have the patience and skill to do more than donk out in the first hour.
Paul Wasicka
Seems like Paul Wasicka is on quite a rush.
Aussie Millions - 12th place - $95,434
L.A. Poker Classic - 4th place - $455,615
NBC Heads-Up Championship - 1st place - $500,000
Paul has a pretty decent account of many of the key hands from the L.A. Poker Classic on his site, as well as a pretty good running summary of The NBC Heads-Up Championship. It’s definitely worth a read.
Add in his appearance on High Stakes Poker, and it looks like he’s the real deal.
Bracelet Races
I had an unused $24 token just sitting around in my Full Tilt account, so I decided to give the Bracelet Race a shot. With 212 runners, and 2 WSOP event packages at the top, and a total of 8 places paying, I liked the layout of the tournament.
I’m not doing any hand-by-hand analysis on this one, because there isn’t enough to tell.
I pushed my stack to around T2200 early on with JJ. The flop was all undercards, and one person called my 3/4 pot sized bet. A queen hit the turn, and I bet 3/4 pot again and he folded.
After that, I did nothing but watched donktacular play after play in front of me. Just praying for a decent hand. But, as it turned out, the deck decided to completely ignore me. On the rare occasions where I was able to take a flop, it missed me completely.
Shortly after the first break, I had a stack of T1,205, and the blinds were at 50/100. I raised to 450 on the button with QsQh. A little bigger raise than normal for me, but hell, I hadn’t had a chance to raise yet in the tournament, so nobody knew that.
The cutoff is the only caller, a player who was completely donking it up earlier, and had a stack of T3,805 coming into this hand. We take a flop of 6s-Kc-Js. Villain checks to me, and I really have no choice at this point but to shove. Villain calls with KhQc, and I receive no suckout love (as if I expected it).
I end up 84th of 212.
I don’t know if I’ll play any more Bracelet Races. I’ll think it over and see how they look in the coming weeks. With $24 tokens so ridiculously easy to come by via the 18 person SnG’s, I can’t see why not.
A Little Mookie Fun
Last night was a pretty good time at The Mook. with 36 runners, it was a lighter crowd than usual, but that didn’t prevent the usual display of donkery, hammery play that makes these things so fun.
I managed to final table this thing again. That makes six final tables in nine Mookies for me, including one victory and five cashes. I don’t know why I consistently place so well in this particular tournament. I haven’t played that many MTT’s in the past. My modest poker income was made grinding away at low limit SnG’s. I guess my MTT game shaping up a little bit.
Here’s a recap of last nights festivities.
Blinds 15/30 - T1,500
First hand of the tournament. joaquinochoa raises 13x the BB preflop to set the tone for the table. HomelessShelter calls, and then pushes on a flop of 4h-Qd-Qs. joaquinochoa folds, and the table is off to a loosey-goosey start.
Blinds 15/30 - T1,440
One EP limper. Schaubs raises to 90 from the cutoff. I call on the button with QcTc. The BB raises to 390, everyone folds, and he takes the pot with AcKc. No need to get crazy this early.
Blinds 30/60 - T1,070
After doing nothing but folding for three orbits, I raise to 180 from the button in an unopened pot with AdQd, and the blinds fold.
Blinds 40/80 - T1,160
Five hands later, I min-raise to 160 UTG with AcKh. I like to make this play once in a while. I had built some fold equity due to the fact that I hadn’t really picked up many hands to play so far in the tournament . If I miss the flop, I can release and not be hurt too badly, but if I hit the flop at all in this position, I’m usually pretty willing to get all my chips in the middle. The reason I like the min-raise from EP with AK, is that the hands that I want people to bring in against my Big Slick are the hands that would only call this bet and not re-raise. Like I said, if I miss the flop, I’ll release, but if I hit the flop, the likely range of hands I’ll be up against that would have only called the preflop min-raise are either dominated, or outflopped. If I get re-popped preflop with this move, then my play is determined by the usual factors…stack size, what type of player is the re-raiser, etc…I don’t like this play with anything but AK though. If you start doing this with AQ or lower, you’ll run into all kinds of problems postflop. I utilize this play, maybe 30-40 percent of the time. a lot depends on the table conditions at the time.
Back to the hand, Maudie calls the extra 80 from the BB. The flop comes Ad-7d-3s. She checks to me, and I throw out a bet of 400, and she calls. At this point I’m thinking she’s got A-x, or suited connectors that are diamonds. I briefly consider whether or not she flopped a set of threes, but I’m not getting that vibe here. My read (and from previous tournaments with her as well) is that she would have re-raised my pussy pre-flop bet with pocket sevens. That leaves the possibility that she’s flopped Aces up. At this point I’m pot-committed though. I know all of my chips are going into the middle with the next flip of a card. The turn brings the 8h, and I push with my remaining 600 chips. No sense pussyfooting around now with so few chips left to manuever with, either I have it, or I’m out. She calls, and shows As9s, and the river is blank, and I’m chipped up to T2,360.
Blinds 40/80 - T2,200
I open from the button for 275 with Ad2s. BB calls and we take a flop of 9d-4c- Kd. lptjuggernaut check-calls my post-flop bet of 320, and we both check the 2h on the turn. River is the Qd, he bets 400 and I fold. Down to T1,605 at this point.
Blinds 40/80 - T1,605
On the very next hand, I find the lovely AdAs staring back at me. Don Morris limps from MP, and I raise to 275 from the cutoff. The button and blinds fold, and Don calls. The flop comes Kh-7d-Jd. Don checks, then calls my 325 chip bet. After the turn is the 7h, Don checks once again. I push with my remaining 1,005 chips, and he folds. I’m up to T2,325 now, which is right in the middle of the pack.
Blinds 50/100 - T2,245
From the button, I call a bet of 350 with 10d10s from kaellinn18 who’s UTG+1. I flop a set on the rainbow, Ace high board. kaellinn18 leads out for 400 chips, which is a third of his stack. I push, having him covered by about 1000 chips or so. After a little pause, he folds, and I’m chipped up to T3,145, and starting to feel good about my chances of making it deep. I don’t remember for sure, but I’m thinking there were around 20 players left at this point, and I was in the middle of the pack.
Blinds 50/100 - T3,145
The next hand, four of us take a flop after limping. Amazingly, the hand is checked all the way to the river. Even more amazing, my Kd10c take the pot with King high.
I steal the blinds a few times in the next few orbits, but nothing spectacular happens…for anyone. It was like the table had died. No action, lots of walks… just a whole lot of nothing. Play was tightening up quite a bit as we slowly approached the final table.
Blinds 60/120 - T3,615
Patchmaster raises to 360 from UTG +1. I raise it up to 675 from the cutoff with a pair of red aces. He calls, leaving himself with T686. The flop comes 7d-2d-Js. He checks, I push, he calls. His AsKh has no chance, and I’m up to T5,156.
Not much happens until we make the final table. Here’s the chip count as the final table commenced.
1. 17,542 - lptjuggernaut
2. 8,516 - lucko21
3. 8,404 - Joe_13
4. 6,345 - Maudie
5. 3,545 - BigSlickNut
6. 3,380 - NumbBono
7. 2,580 - mookie99
8. 2,440 - Schaubs
9. 1,248 - DontKnow
Blinds/Ante 120/240/25 - T3,480
On the very first hand at the final table, I pick up red queens in MP. I bump it to 800, and the table folds, and I’ve increased my stack to T3,915.
DontKnow is the first elimination of the final table on the next hand, when his QQ falls to BigSlickNut’s AK (what else) rivers quads. Yikes.
Eight hands later, mookie99 is bounced when Joe_13’s Ad9h rivers a set of nines to beat his AcQc, and we’re down to seven.
Blinds/Ante 150/300/25 - T3,305
Twelve hands in, I’m on the shortstack now. Here’s the chipcount.
1. 15,702 - lptjuggernaut
2. 10,694 - Joe_13
3. 9,491 - lucko21
4. 3,545 - BigSlickNut
5. 4,855 - Schaubs
6. 4,810 - Maudie
7. 3,305 - NumbBono
lucko21 raises to 900 from the cutoff. It folds to me in the BB. I decide to push with my meager 3s3c. I’ve seen Lucko run over tables with his aggressiveness, so I decided to make this move. I felt that the range of hands he was holding was so wide, that even a small pair could have a chance. Being short-stacked made the decision even easier. So he calls with Js9s. I flop a set, and it holds up. I double up to T6,885 with this hand. Lucko comments “try that next time“after the hand is over.
Blinds/Ante 200/400/50 - T6,585
Hand 22 of the final table. Still seven players remaining. I raise to 1450 from MP with AcAd. Table folds and I’m at T7485.
Blinds/Ante 200/400/50 - T6,885
Hand 34 of the final table. Seven players remaining. I open for 1,200 in the SB with As5h. A short-stacked Maudie pushes for 3,735 total. I call, hoping she wasn’t strong, playing KQ or something similar. She shows Ad5d, and we chop. I consider this the worst hand I played throughout the tournament, although the result was harmless.
Blinds/Ante 250/500/50 - T6,910
Hand 36 of the final table. Seven players remaining. For some unexplainable reason, I open-push from MP with AdKs, and the table folds. Up to T8,010 now.
Blinds/Ante 250/500/50 - T5,910
Hand 49 of the final table. Seven players remaining. I open-raise to 1,650 from the cutoff with 3d3h, the table folds. Now up to T6,960.
Blinds/Ante 300/600/75 - T6,710
Hand 54 of the final table. Seven players remaining. One MP limper. It folds to me in the BB with Qc4d, and I check my option. Flop comes 5s-Ac-Qh. I bet 1,500 and the MP limper folds. I now have T8,060.
On the next hand I pick up JhJs in the SB. BigSlickNut pushes from MP with his KhQc for 1,933 total. I call and a King comes on the flop, taking me down to T6,052.
Next hand dealt, I pick up QsJs on the button. It folds around to me, I call and Maudie, who has about T10,000 thinks, then raises to 1,500 from the SB. The BB folds and I make the call. The flop comes 9d3dQc. She checks it to me, and I put out 2,700, slightly less then the size of the pot, and she folds. Now at T8,602
Blinds/Ante 400/800/100 - T7,177
Now at the 64th hand of the final table, still with seven remaining. No real short stacks at the table. It’s a pretty tight race at the moment. Lucko pushes from UTG+1 for 5,411 total. Schaubs shoves his 6,061 in directly behind him, the rest of the table folds. Schaubs has KhKd, and his cowboys hold up against Lucko’s Qc7s, eliminating Lucko in seventh place.
Blinds/Ante 400/800/100 - T5,377
Jump to the 70th hand of the final table, and here are the chip counts.
1. 14,589 - Joe_13
2. 9,345 - Maudie
3. 9,302 - lptjuggernaut
4. 9,271 - Schaubs
5. 6,116 - BigSlickNut
6. 5,377 - NumbBono
I pick up AcKd in the cutoff and open-push, and take the blinds/antes, pushing my short stack to T7,877.
Two hands later, Schaubs limps in the SB, and I check from the BB with Jd9c. The flop hits me in the face with 9s-Jh-Qs. Schaubs checks, and I bet 1,700 into the 2,400 chip pot and take it down, bringing me to T8,977.
Four hands after that, lptjuggernaut is eliminated in sixth place by Maudie. We’re now on the money bubble, with the top four places paying out.
Blinds/Ante 400/800/100 - T8,277
We’re now on hand 77 of the final table, and here’s the chip counts.
1. 15,131 - Maudie
2. 10,471 - Schaubs
3. 10,332 - BigSlickNut
4. 9,789 - Joe_13
5. 8,277 - NumbBono
I bump it up to 3,100 from MP with As10s, and Joe_13 pushes from the button. I think about this one, and I’m on the fence on whether to call or not. On a gut feeling, I call, hoping I at least have two overs to whatever pair he may have. He shows 9h9c, and it’s a coinflip. I’m saved on the river when the lovely Ad hits me in the face, bringing me to T17,654, and the chip lead.
Joe_13 is bubbled out just a few hands later when he runs his AhKc, into BigSlickNut’s KsKd
Blinds/Ante 500/1,000/125 - T15,779
I manage to hang on the chip lead for a total of three hands, when this happens on the 81st hand of the final table.
I raise to 3,500 from the button with AcQc, and BigSlickNut (T11,819) calls from the BB. The flop comes Ts-Kh-2c, and he pushes. I thought about calling, but the range of hands I put him on included the likes of A-10, and K-Q, and I wasn’t quite ready to blow my stack off with Ace high.
On the 85th hand, Maudie flops a set with Presto, and gets her money in good after the flop against BigSlickNut, who’s holding rockets. Ace on the river, and Maudie is down to T337 when the dust settles.
Just six hands later, Maudie is right back in it, after she miraculously turns her T337 into T7,191
But on the 95th hand of the final table, Maudie’s incredible comeback falls short, and her Ad7d falls to Schaubs Kh10h when the 10c hit the turn, sending her to the rail in fourth place.
Blinds/Ante 600/1,200/150 - T8,755
Here’s the chip counts with three of us remaining.
1. 22,712 - BigSlickNut
2. 22,533 - Schaubs
3. 8,755 - NumbBono
For some reason, it was pretty much push-or-fold poker at this point. For me, that’s really all I could do anyway, but these other two guys would do nothing but shove and fold. I held up for a while, but on the 123rd hand of the final table, I was down to T4,305, and the blinds/antes were at 800/1,600/200. I got my chips in before the flop with my Ks6h up against Schaubs Kd5c. I was figuring a chop would be the result here, but my hopes were lifted when the flop came 6d-5d-Jd, and I took the lead in the hand. The dreaded 4d came on the river giving Schaubs the flush, and ending my hopes for a second Mookie victory.
The tourney was decided with just one hand after that (and here I thought all that shoving when we were three way was to get rid of me so these guys could go at heads-up, after all, their stacks were pretty close in size). Here’s Matt’s (mclarich from Just Another Donkey) account of that hand. Matt handled the live-blogging duties this week.
And it’s over on the next hand! On a 2769 board, BigSlickNut bets 1600 and Schaubs raises to 6400, BSN calls. The river is a 2. The hammer’s looking prime here. Schaubs bets out 8200 and BSN goes all in. Schaubs calls, and BigSlickNut shows 58 for the straight. Schaubs goes home in second and BigSlickNut takes down the Mookie this week.
I also managed to take runner-up honors in the Mookie Second Chance for the fourth time out of the last five times it’s been run, and the fifth of eight total starts in it. In the eight times I’ve played both the Mookie Main Event and the Second Chance, only once have I failed to cash in one or the other, and I’ve double-cashed twice.
