Pulled Off a Decent Cash in SCOOP Event #1

I played the first SCOOP event on Pokerstars today and managed to cash in the top 10% of the field. It was the NLHE 6-max $5 rebuy and had a whopping 27000+ entrants. Initially there were only 4 players at my table and two were sitting out so I immediately began raising every pot and scooping up the dead money. Stupidly, I had failed to rebuy right out of the box, and so after about the first half-hour I ended up donking off a bunch of chips (with top pair no kicker vs. top pair good kicker) just so I could rebuy and get up to 5000 chips. Shortly after that I chipped up nicely when a player on the button tilt-shoved 50BB's with Ace-4 off and I snap-called with QQ in the blinds and it held. I made it to the end of the first level with 12000 chips after the add-on, which was slightly above average. Since I only had to rebuy once, I used $15.50 of the W$22 I had, leaving me with W$6.50 and making this tourney a freeroll as I had invested only $6.20 in the satellite to get the W$22.
The only big mistake I made on the day came halfway through the 2nd level. An opponent who played a lot of pots limped and I saw a free flop from the BB with 9-2 off and about 14000 chips. The flop came Ace-9-5, he min-bet, and I called (an image call - he could easily have no hand and it was a cheap call). A 9 turned, I checked again, and he checked. When the river came with a 5 I made a solid value-bet of about 400, hoping to get called by his probable ace-rag or even mid-pair but instead he raised it up to 1400. I thought that he was capable of making that raise with a big Ace or even a 5, and since he had called light a few times before I made it 3100 to go, only to have him fire back and make it 5100. I cried and called and hoped for a chop but oppt had slow-played Ace-9 and I lost over a third of my chips. I guess I could just call his first raise but I HAD A BOAT for cryin out loud...By the end of the level I had rebuilt my stack to 14500 thanks to the LAG on my right who finally played back at me when I had QQ. He was raising about half the hands preflop and I had reraised him a few times with big hands only to see him fold. This time he had raised to 300, I had reraised to 800 with about 8k behind, and he re-reraised me another 1200 or so, which was the first time he had 3-bet me. I decided to just call, see a flop, and basically hope it didn't have and Ace or King in it before I comitted the rest of my chips. The flop came 8s-8x-3s, he bet about 2200, I insta-shoved my remaining 6k or so, and he folded. I won a couple of small pots after that and got up to about 14500 by the end of the level.
The next 2 levels were like a kiddie roller coaster. At one point I had lost most of my chips on a failed bluff but then doubled up on the very next hand with AA. I then went on a heater, getting KK QQ and JJ in the course of about 5 hands. I doubled up off the LAG with KK in the small blind after he had reraised a 1200 raise and a call to 4200 with Ace-6 and called my 14k shove. Shortly after that LAG got knocked out and my table broke.
By the time we got close to the money bubble(a giant 5400 spots paid) I slowed down to ensure that I cashed. I played it pretty close to the vest as there were players who had me seriously out-chipped and I still had 20+ BB's so I could be patient. Just before the bubble I made a HUGE fold which turned out to be a GREAT fold. I had KsKd UTG, raised pre-flop, and got flat-called by the big stack. He had shown up at the table with over 100k chips, had chipped down to 90k or so by this time, and seemed to be playing super-tight despite his chip stack. The flop came Jh-Ts-6s, I bet out 3k with about 24k more behind, and he immediately made it 9k to go. I looked over at my wife and said "now what?" She said "call and see a turn card", and I agreed, so I did, the 7h. I checked and he shoved. At an earlier or later point in the tourney I probably go with my hand, but here, so close to the bubble, I thought instead. He saw me raise, bet the flop, and call a raise on the flop, but yet he still shoved the turn, so he's not scurred by whatever I'm holding. The only hands I really beat here that could make that play are QQ or AsJs, and he's not been out-of-line with any of his plays so even those hands seemed unlikely. After using about a minute of my time bank, I folded and typed "kings" in the chat box. He SHOWED AA. Nobody at the table could believe I'd folded Kings. But it's true.
I was able to survive thru to the end of level 5 on a very short stack. First hand back from the break, I'm UTG with about 10k chips at 800/1600 and have two red 9's. ONE more person needed to be eliminated for me to move up to the next money level, so I time-banked until that happened and shoved. A player behind me reshoved AQo, and the board came 7-A-7-10-x. I ended up in 2380th place, good for $39.15. I was extremely pleased with the way I played, and am very satisifed to have done well in a 6-max event as short-handed games are not my strength. Next up - the Saturday VIP freeroll and $11 Omaha at 1430. C U at the tables !

Playing in SCOOP $5 Rebuy Thursday

Thursday is my day off AND I won W$22 in a satellite so I am playing in the $5 Rebuy SCOOP event tomorrow on Pokerstars. It starts at 1430 Eastern time and I may do some Twitter updates in the first few hours, assuming I last that long. I will rebuy at the start and will do one double-rebuy if I lose all my chips. That'll cover most of the W$ and I can pay for the add-on. I invested $6.20 in the sat so the max I'll be in for is $9.70. That works. And yes I do plan on playing in the VIP and Omaha tourneys on Saturday.

2 For 2 On Saturday

I played in the VIP NLHE freeroll and the $11 2K Guaranteed PL Omaha on Saturday on Pokerstars at 1430 and managed to squeeze out a cash in both of 'em. At one point early in the freeroll I managed to win 5 pots in a row without having to show my hand once (I did show the 4th of 5 because it was the second hand in a row I had reraised a limper preflop and I wanted to show off my red Aces) and that run doubled my starting stack. I then treaded water until I got KK and managed to triple up vs Ace-2 suited and 66. As the bubble got close I didn't have enough chips to maneuver with so I just folded my way into the money (except when I shoved AK once and AA once), ending up about 1050th/6900+ for a min cash of $6.
The PL Omaha tourney had close to 300 runners and paid 45 spots. Although I rarely play Omaha, I did manage to Final Table the same type of tourney a while back so I felt pretty confident going into this one. Early on, my tablemates wanted to see a lot of flops, and then not bet them, so I was able to steal some pots in position and also get paid a lil bit when I hit a few big hands. I also ran really g00t, getting it in with KK76 vs AAK3 and making 7's and 6's vs his AA, and sticking it in with KK-10-x vs 10-7-x-x on a 10-7-6 flop and turning a King. The roller coaster hand of the day occurred about an hour in. Several players limped for 50, I potted it to 650 with A-Ah-10-6h, and got one caller. The flop came 9-8-7 with two hearts, he bet 2K, and I obviously shoved my 4000+ with the nut flush draw and the 2nd nut straight. He insta-called and showed me 8-8-7-6 and after a blank turn we CHOPPED when a non-heart Ten came on the river. Could have been worse...
Once we got close to the money there were two kinds of stacks left in the tourney - monsters and survivors - and I unfortunately was in the latter category after suffering a bad beat with about 60 players left. Since the blinds were still low I basically shut it down and waited for either a monster hand or for a bunch of limpers to give me a chance to see a flop. With about 50 left I somehow managed to find AA45 in the small blind, chose to just complete after a bunch of limpers, and potted for 3200 on an Ace-3-7 flop only to see eveyone fold behind me. At the time that was exactly what I wanted (gimme the pot now, I have the nuts but I don't want to get sucked out on and not cash), but in retrospect, since my hand and redraws were SO strong and there were 4 or 5 other players in the pot I should have given one of them the chance to stab at it and in the process enrich me further. That being said, if an opponent had had a set, two pairs, or something like Ace-4-5-6 they probably would have called off anyways so maybe I didn't lose much in the way of equity. In addition, although the tourney paid 45 spots, the pay bump for getting to 36th and then 27th was only about $1.40 (it was like 17.20/18.60/20) so it was more in my interest to just survive the bubble. After that hand I had enough chips to easily make the money so I continued my folding ways, finally shoving about 2.5BB's in early position with Ad4d3d4x and losing to AKJ6 on the obv A-J-6 flop. I did manange to make the first pay jump as I finished 35th.
This weekend I will probably play both of these tourneys again. CU at the tables !!

Made it to Silvah Stah

Just made my 1200th FPP for the month so I am now a Silver Star on Pokerstars. Been playing 90% Hi-Lo Stud to get there and am down about a c-note, mostly thanks to one session where I could not hit a single hand and lost about 80-90 bucks. Half of that loss however was the $50 deposit bonus I earned a couple of weeks ago. I will definitely be playing in the VIP weekly on Saturday at 1430 eastern, and if I get up early enough I might try to qualify for the monthly.

The More Things Change...

...the more they remain the same. Except for this blog's layout LOL. Still waiting for that big breakthrough. At one point I was considering the $300 shootout coming up next Monday at the Foxwoods Poker Classic because they had also offered me a free slot tourney entry (so there was added value in going) but obv the seats for the slot tourney filled up quick so I missed out. The last time I played at the Woods I continued my streak of cashing in every sit-n-go I've ever played there by luckboxing a 3rd in a $100 one-tabler.
I went on a trip to Disney World during February school vaction with my wife, her parents, her sister, and my niece and nephew. I hadn't been there in 30+ years and we all had a fantastic time. On Wednesday of that week the wife and I, along with her dad, headed down to the Hard Rock in Tampa to play in a $100 daily tourney that runs at 12:30. Sadly we all whiffed, as my wife was out EARLY with AK < QQ AIPF, while I maintained an average stack for several levels until finally losing with AQ < Jd9d after he limped UTG, I shoved, and he robo-donk-called for like 1/2 his stack and was rewarded for his donkishness with a Jack-high flop. I lost about 3 60/40's like that, but it was nothing compared to what happened to my father-in-law. He had about 7500 chips and just shoved 'em in preflop with AA after a raise to 400 and a couple of callers. So with maybe 1700 in the pot and a raise of 7000 more a guy calls off half his stack with - get this - 7d3d ! The board came Ad-x-Qd-x-5d and flopped trips got rivered. The worst part (per usual) is that the guy was a truly terrible player and just bled chips - in one hand he called a pot-sized flop bet with a pair of deuces in the hole and no help on the board ! It doesn't matter where you are, live poker is FULL of terrible players just gettin their gamble on.
Since PokerStars lowered their Silver Star requirement to 1200 FPP's this month I've been playing a lot of hi-lo stud trying to get there. I'd been running pretty badly up until today, when in not even a half an hour I managed to win over 60 bucks at $1/$2. On one table I sat down with $40 and left with $88 !! I'm gonna try to grind a lot of hands later this week since I'm only about halfway there.
And one more thing - Twitter. It's way too much fun. I just joined in the past week. You can check out my page at twitter.com/DJELove .

Another Live Cash

Well I played me another one of them there Foxwoods daily tourneys today and gol-durnit I actually cashed this time ! My wife and I headed on down to the 'Woods Tuesday, played a few slots, went to the "Price Is Right" show, and didn't win anything (but didn't lose much either). Today we both entered the 11am daily $100+20 tourney they run, the same type of one referenced in the previous entry. In that previous tourney, I finished 12th out of exactly 100 entrants, missing the money by 2 spots. Sadly, if there had been ONE more entrant in that tourney it would have paid 15 spots and I would have cashed. Today's tourney attracted about 73 entrants and also paid 10 places, with a top prize of over two grand. Unfortunately my wife finished in the middle of the pack after having built up a nice chip stack early, but I survived long enough to make it to the final table. I played great and had a lot of good hands that essentially played themselves, and I was only involved in one raised pot that I can recall where I folded post-flop.

In the first level I was able to amass a pretty good stack early, once making the nut flush and getting someone else to bet it for me and also repopping limpers with AA in the blinds and getting flop and turn calls on a 10d-8d-2x-2x-10x board. I then went card dead for an entire level + but won a late pot to carry about 10k (we had begun with 5000) to the first break.
The second 4 levels started with me folding for about 20 minutes and then picking up a bunch of pots, usually with a pretty good hand. I was fortunate to pick up a lot of premium pairs today, get action on them, and get them to hold. I beat an all-in from the button's K-8 when I woke up with JJ in the small blind, and just before the second break repopped a "serial" limper on the button with KK and got the shorty next to me to shove with 77. I obviously called and he was drawing dead on the K-K-3 flop :). He was a nice enough older guy who methinks was tilting a little after I beat him with 6-4 suited on a 6-3-5-K-4 board (he had bet the turn when the king came and checked the river) a few hands earlier. I went to the second break with over 20k.
Once we got to level nine, there were about 23 players left and I was probably in the middle of the pack. I hunkered down and maintained my stack as the shorties fell one by blessed one. When we got down to about 13 left, 2 of the 3 shortest stacks were to my immediate left, and I turned into a card rack, waking up with KK, QQ, AJ, 88, and JJ everytime they were in the blinds and just shoving and getting folds. I finally did double up the very shortest stack when I shoved 77 on the button and he called with 10h8h in the blinds and hit a 10, but that was a small hit. I felt pretty good about cashing until I raised AK off to 8k at 1.5/3k with about 22k behind, got a call from the chip leader in one of the blinds, and had to fold when he shoved the 10-9-4 flop. He showed QJo for some reason, probably to get back at me for having been very active recently, but in hindsight even if I had KNOWN what his cards were I might not have made the call as we would have been flipping (he had 3 K's, 3 Q's, 3 J's, and 4 8's as outs), so I was not upset about the fold. After that dent to my stack I was forced to re-tighten to ensure that I made the money, and was very pleased to see the shortest stack at the other table finally bust a few hands later, sending me to the final table.
At the final table the two shorties from my earlier table were all-in in a three-way pot and both got eliminated by the chipleader's Ace-Ten when he spiked a Ten on the turn after an Ace-high flop and beat 66 and AQ. The chipleader had been running like Usain Bolt, really, having hit a two-outer set in one hand, having tripled-up with KK vs. QQ and JJ, and of course he made me his next victim. Blinds 2000-4000, I'm most likely the shortest stack with 11,900, chipleader limps in early position, I look down at 10h10c, and instashove. They guy next to me ponders for a few seconds and flat-calls my all-in, and the chipleader calls as well. I am 100% sure that my hand is good and am just hoping it holds up. The board comes Qd-3d-2x-4d-Qc, they both check it down, and just as I am about ready to sit back down and start stacking my chips, the chipleader says "flush", and flips over 6d7d. I uttered a few choice obscenities (I think "you gotta be f'ing kidding me" was one), talked about donkeys for a minute, and then went to the window to collect my 8th-place prize of $283. "At least I got my money in good..."