I finally did it. I decided to play in my WSOP Step 5 tourney tonight. After playing a couple of Step 2 and 3 tourneys tonight, I felt like I was playing quite well so I decided to give it a shot. And wow did I get lucky.
I was the short stack with 7 players to go. The blinds were at 100/200 and I had only 800 chips. Luckily for me, the 2 players just above me in chips went to battle in the blinds with A8 against Q2. The player with Q2 had fewer chips so I was hoping for A8 to win so that we'd be down to 6 players.
The structure of the tourney is 1st & 2nd place win a step 6 ticket, 3rd & 4th win a step 5 ticket and 5th & 6th win a step 4 ticket (7th, 8th & 9th place get nothing). If it were down to 6 players I would at least be guaranteed a step 4 ticket.
Of course the Q2 player hit a 2 on the river to win but the other player became the short stack below me. On the next hand he was in the small blind and I was in the big blind. Everyone folded until he went all-in for his last 360. The blinds had moved up to 150/300 so it was only another 60 for me to call.
I called and my Q6 dominated his 56. I won and eliminated him in 7th place. Whew - I made it to 6th place at least. I was still the short stack though. That is, until about 3 hands later I got my first decent hand with QQ.
The under-the-gun player limped (stupid play) and I shoved all-in. He called and turned over 66. I won and quickly moved up to 2nd place. I was stunned to say the least. Now I actually had a chance to win a step 6 ticket.
Since the blinds were so high, other player were pushing all-in and getting called rather quickly and we were down to 3 players. One player had about 6500 in chips and the other 2 of us had about 3000. On the first hand of 3 handed play I got AK and raised but got no callers. I was hopeful this was going to go well.
Unfortunately I didn't get anything remotely close to a playable hand after that. The big stack still had about 6500 and the other player had moved up to about 4000 while I had dropped to about 2000. It was not looking good for me.
Until...I was on the button and folded and the chip leader in the small blind raised to 900. The big blind (2nd in chips) moved all-in and the big stack called. It was QQ (the big stack) against TT and I suddenly had all my fingers and toes crossed.
The big stack's QQ held up and I backed into 2nd place and earned a step 6 ticket. I don't feel at all bad about backing into the win. I played as best as I could so I still feel I earned it.
My one observation on the last hand is that the big blind (2nd in chips) should've played a little slower and not shove all-in pre-flop. Just call the small blind raise and see what happens on the flop. If an Ace or King or maybe even a Queen came on the flop, he could at least fold to a decent size bet. Thankfully he didn't do that and the flop came down Kc 6d 4d and then the wonderful Qh came on the turn to seal it for me.
Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight. I'm a little pumped up right now.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Bad Luck and Bad Flops
I have not played in a WSOP Step 5 tourney yet. Mostly because I haven't earned another ticket but I'm getting close. I have another Step 4 ticket so I'm getting close. I think I'm running out of time for this as well.
A week from today I leave for Vegas so I have 6 more days to play in these tourneys before I leave and I think PokerStars may be ending these tourneys soon. So I probably only have about 2 more weeks to try to win Step 6.
I watched a Step 5 tourney and it didn't seem that much different than any of the tourneys I have played so far. There usually seems to be 1 or 2 donkeys who try to make a move early in the tourney and lose against a made hand. Otherwise there seems to be a lot of tight play and it comes down to a lot of races where 1 players goes all-in with a pocket pair and the other calls with a big Ace (AK, AQ or even AJ).
I have still been playing in a bunch of these Steps tourneys but mostly at level 2 or 3. I have been having terrible luck in all of my races and haven't been able to get more than the 1 additional ticket to Step 4.
This brings me to some examples of the terrible flops I've seen lately. A couple of nights ago I was playing in a Step 3 tourney and we were down to 4 players. The blinds were pretty high and I was the short stack. The other short stack who just barely had me covered pushed all-in from UTG (first after the blinds). I called from the button with AJo.
Since he was short stacked also and next to hit the blinds I was hoping to be against a worse Ace than mine or a small pocket pair at best. After the 2 blinds folded, he turned over AcJc so we were basically even. He was probably slightly ahead since his cards were suited.
At least that was the case until the flop came down KcQcTc. Yes, he flopped a royal flush. I think that's the first time I've ever seen that and I know it's never happened against me before.
On the same night, I was in about the same situation except I think there were 5 players remaining. I was on the button with TT and the UTG player pushed all-in pre-flop. The player after him also pushed all-in. I was 4th in chips and thought this was a decent opportunity to triple up. My only fear was that one of the 2 all-in players would have a bigger pocket pair than me.
I decided to call and to my surprise, the big stack in the Big Blind also called all-in for over half his stack. If he loses he's still alive but without very many chips. Then to my incredibly pleasant surprise, all 3 of my opponents turn over AK!
Unless the board comes with QJT, they have 2 outs between the 3 of them to beat me. Then to my horror the flop comes out AKx. I don't even remember what the 3rd card was because I was so shocked. So the 3 of them end up splitting the pot and I go out in 5th place :(
Those hands seem to be the turning point for my bad race results lately. It seems I'm on some sort of streak where I can't win a race and therefore can't win any of these tourneys. Of course this comes after I won a bunch of races to earn my Step 5 ticket so I can't complain too much.
And I definitely can't complain since I'm leaving for Vegas in a week!!!!!!
A week from today I leave for Vegas so I have 6 more days to play in these tourneys before I leave and I think PokerStars may be ending these tourneys soon. So I probably only have about 2 more weeks to try to win Step 6.
I watched a Step 5 tourney and it didn't seem that much different than any of the tourneys I have played so far. There usually seems to be 1 or 2 donkeys who try to make a move early in the tourney and lose against a made hand. Otherwise there seems to be a lot of tight play and it comes down to a lot of races where 1 players goes all-in with a pocket pair and the other calls with a big Ace (AK, AQ or even AJ).
I have still been playing in a bunch of these Steps tourneys but mostly at level 2 or 3. I have been having terrible luck in all of my races and haven't been able to get more than the 1 additional ticket to Step 4.
This brings me to some examples of the terrible flops I've seen lately. A couple of nights ago I was playing in a Step 3 tourney and we were down to 4 players. The blinds were pretty high and I was the short stack. The other short stack who just barely had me covered pushed all-in from UTG (first after the blinds). I called from the button with AJo.
Since he was short stacked also and next to hit the blinds I was hoping to be against a worse Ace than mine or a small pocket pair at best. After the 2 blinds folded, he turned over AcJc so we were basically even. He was probably slightly ahead since his cards were suited.
At least that was the case until the flop came down KcQcTc. Yes, he flopped a royal flush. I think that's the first time I've ever seen that and I know it's never happened against me before.
On the same night, I was in about the same situation except I think there were 5 players remaining. I was on the button with TT and the UTG player pushed all-in pre-flop. The player after him also pushed all-in. I was 4th in chips and thought this was a decent opportunity to triple up. My only fear was that one of the 2 all-in players would have a bigger pocket pair than me.
I decided to call and to my surprise, the big stack in the Big Blind also called all-in for over half his stack. If he loses he's still alive but without very many chips. Then to my incredibly pleasant surprise, all 3 of my opponents turn over AK!
Unless the board comes with QJT, they have 2 outs between the 3 of them to beat me. Then to my horror the flop comes out AKx. I don't even remember what the 3rd card was because I was so shocked. So the 3 of them end up splitting the pot and I go out in 5th place :(
Those hands seem to be the turning point for my bad race results lately. It seems I'm on some sort of streak where I can't win a race and therefore can't win any of these tourneys. Of course this comes after I won a bunch of races to earn my Step 5 ticket so I can't complain too much.
And I definitely can't complain since I'm leaving for Vegas in a week!!!!!!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Step 5 Finally
It took about 9 tries but I finally won a WSOP Step 4 tourney tonight and now have a ticket to a Step 5 tourney. It definitely wasn't easy though. I was lucky enough to win each "race" that I was involved in tonight and that's what propelled me to victory.
I doubled up rather early when I got all-in with AA against my opponent's KK. I was under-the-gun (right after the blinds) and made my standard pre-flop raise. My opponent was in late position and made a standard re-raise. I assumed he had at least a pocket pair or maybe AK.
The flop came down Qh4h3c and I checked to him. He made a standard continuation bet and I raised him. He pushed all-in and I called of course. My aces held up and I was now the chip leader with 8 players left.
At this point I became rather aggressive. Everyone seemed to be very timid any time I raised so I won most pots uncontested. When we were down to 7 players, I called an all-in raise when I had 55 in the big blind. The raiser turned over AJ and my pocket 5's held up to win my first race.
I continued the aggression and won a race with my 33 against AQ. On the previous hand, another player had won a race (not against me) and doubled up to take over the chip lead from me. We were down to 3 players at this point.
I have finished in 3rd place 6 times so far (including 1 other time today) and I was determined to win tonight. I had about 4500 in chips as did one of the other players and the 3rd player had about 3000.
I finally won when I had 77 in the big blind and the short stack pushed all-in from the small blind. I called and he turned over 33. He had only 2 outs until the flop came down 456. That took away his original 2 outs as another 3 now gave me a straight. But now he could catch a 2 (4 outs) or a 7 (2 outs) to win. Lucky for me the turn and river didn't help him.
I am so relieved to have finally won a Step 4 tourney but I doubt I'll be using my Step 5 ticket very soon. I would really like to get at least 1 more Step 5 ticket before I play in one of the tourneys. This seems to help me psyche since I don't feel the pressure to win or be done.
I also think I'm going to watch a Step 5 tourney before I try one so that I get a feel for the caliber of play. I was initially very surprised by the ability of some of the Step 4 players and I don't want to be surprised during a Step 5 tourney.
I doubled up rather early when I got all-in with AA against my opponent's KK. I was under-the-gun (right after the blinds) and made my standard pre-flop raise. My opponent was in late position and made a standard re-raise. I assumed he had at least a pocket pair or maybe AK.
The flop came down Qh4h3c and I checked to him. He made a standard continuation bet and I raised him. He pushed all-in and I called of course. My aces held up and I was now the chip leader with 8 players left.
At this point I became rather aggressive. Everyone seemed to be very timid any time I raised so I won most pots uncontested. When we were down to 7 players, I called an all-in raise when I had 55 in the big blind. The raiser turned over AJ and my pocket 5's held up to win my first race.
I continued the aggression and won a race with my 33 against AQ. On the previous hand, another player had won a race (not against me) and doubled up to take over the chip lead from me. We were down to 3 players at this point.
I have finished in 3rd place 6 times so far (including 1 other time today) and I was determined to win tonight. I had about 4500 in chips as did one of the other players and the 3rd player had about 3000.
I finally won when I had 77 in the big blind and the short stack pushed all-in from the small blind. I called and he turned over 33. He had only 2 outs until the flop came down 456. That took away his original 2 outs as another 3 now gave me a straight. But now he could catch a 2 (4 outs) or a 7 (2 outs) to win. Lucky for me the turn and river didn't help him.
I am so relieved to have finally won a Step 4 tourney but I doubt I'll be using my Step 5 ticket very soon. I would really like to get at least 1 more Step 5 ticket before I play in one of the tourneys. This seems to help me psyche since I don't feel the pressure to win or be done.
I also think I'm going to watch a Step 5 tourney before I try one so that I get a feel for the caliber of play. I was initially very surprised by the ability of some of the Step 4 players and I don't want to be surprised during a Step 5 tourney.