MIJB#19
09-10-2006, 05:26 PM
Oh man, I didn't realize poker could be so much fun. The past five weeks were my first experiences with the game and I really liked it. With the get-in-touch of it partially being through FOFC, I thought it would be neat to share my fun experiences so far. Shameless self-promotion? You betcha! (This maybe does deserve a long-post warning!)
How it began
We go back to about 5 months (not weeks) ago. Every Monday I have a late night volleyball training session. Usually when I get home, I can't sleep and turn on the tv to relax and hopfully get tired after the adrenaline boost. At some point I happened to catch some poker program. It was an English show covering weekly 7-player tournaments. It was kind of catchy and I watched it a couple of times, without further intentions to play some.
Then, not so long ago it appeared to me FOFC was getting swarmed with poker threads. Well, maybe it was just the trip to the WSOP by some other guys, but it was a fun read. It re-injected my interest that had faded away in May due to the end of volleyball season. And this time, with some time on my hands, I decided to check out poker sites and the possibility to play some for fun, with no money involved.
Through good old Google, I stumbled upon PokerStars. With no money to invest (yet?), I decided to look for free play options. PokerStars apparently had it and I decided to try it out. I signed on in early August, which now is about five weeks ago.
How it continued
With Texas Hold'em being the only thing I've seen, I decided to stick to just that for now. With 1,000 free play chips from signing on in my pocket, I decided to take a look at the lowest stakes tables (5/10). After having lost the chips, I feared my fun was over, but PokerStars is kind enough to give you an additional 1,000 chips every time you go broke. But knowing this shouldn't continue, I tried to find my way of play and ask others for help (Vince, Primelord).
Still snooping around PokerStars' options, I discovered the Sit'n'Go tournaments. After having had a bit of luck at the tables (I built a stack of about 6,000 chips in bank), I signed in to one of the 300+20 chips entry fee tournaments for 27 players. Despite being eliminated in 23rd place, I thought this was more fun and decided to jump onto the 45-player Sit'n'Go tournaments. With a lot of luck early on in the all-in battles, I fought my way through the tournament and finished 8th. One place out of the 'money', but at the final table nevertheless. I was hooked.
With a bad run in some more tournaments after that, I finally finished in the money at 4th later on that day. Inspired by that ranking, my hunger for more grew. The following day I once again had some luck early on and ended the day with two tournament victories. It was all a fluke. In the next two weeks, I actually lost chips, no longer covering the fees with prize money. I needed some luck at the normal tables to keep my play money bank balance above the initial 1,000.
I knew there was still a lot to learn, especially in the mental department, as well as recognizing outs and learning how to get reads on opponents. I went onto the internet and grabbed my pen and paper (and some excel) to learn more about the odds of the game. I tried a lot of playing styles, trying to figure out what my own style should be. In a sense of feeling good, I decided to forget about the 300+20 stuff and jump into a 2000+110 chips Sit'n'Go.
Following a surprising first place in the end, I no longer had to worry about entry fees (31,500 chips). Granted, it's play money, but I tried to make myself play like it was real money. This as a means of preperation, me having the idea that one day I might jump into real money poker. More importantly, the victory gave me a huge confindence boost, knowing that at this level I can bluff, make good reads and make others think I'm holding bad cards. Granted, there's always some all-in luck involved, but that's poker, no?
I figured that 45-player tournaments were not good enough anymore. Granted, if I have only 2 hours to spare at most, that's the way to go, but I felt the need for a new challege. Supported with a nice run in the 300+20 tournaments, my interest was shifting towards the $2.5M Moneymaker Tournament. But at the same time, I figured that 90 minutes was my attention span, how would I be able to survive 6 hours of play? Simple, try other long tournaments.
Afterwards feeling stupid, but somehow I had ignored the PokerStars Tourney section so far. I decided to join some Hubble's Hold'em Freeroll tournaments and later on some 300+20 FreePlay Hold'em No Limit tournaments. After numerous early exits, a 144th place in a Hubble Tournament gave me another confidence boost and made me realise I was making progress. I finished twice more in the Tournament Leaderboard Points with the Hubbles, but failed to finish in the 'money' in the 300+20 entry tournaments. Up to today.
How it continued today
After an early exit in a Hubble Tournament, I entered another 300+20 FreePlay tournament for up to 5000 players. The first two hours I bounced around in the middle of the pack on te chips leaderboard. Granted, over the course of the tournament I needed the river to bail me out once or twice, but in return I saw my stack get robbed several times that way as well. That's poker, no?
Anyway, I kept playing and didn't have to worry about surviving at all. Usually I play pretty tight, but somehow I ended up gambling a lot pre-flop and even managed to bluff myself into winning some hands (overall I won about 10 of about 250 hands without showdown though). Thanks to a luck run here and there I worked my way up into the top10 players after 4 hours. At that point I made the last 270, who all win at least 900 chips.
Believe it or not, the next 25 minutes I didn't play at all due to a diner break. When I returned, my stack was down to 80% of before the break. After some bad calls, my stack dropped and I was getting short stacked. The chips leader joined the table and freaky enough that saved my tournament. On pre-flop all-in bets with A5s and KK in back to back hands, with only the chips leader calling both times, things were looking bright again. Ironically, I knocked the same guy out later on in the tournament.
With the money made, people were flying out left and right. Personally, I was playing really tight at that point, waiting for pocket pairs and Ace high hands to see flops. Again with ups and downs, I managed to survive and battled my way into the last 81. Then things went fast and the final 45 were reached. The last 36. Last 27. Last 18!
Then it became hard to knock people out. There were three players really high in chips, while three were incredibly short stacked and about nine others were going up and down all the time, including me. I shifted to being less tight, limping into some pot wins with pairs of kings or queens on the turn or river. Then, a perfect hand (what, I don't remember) occured to knock the 11th and 12th stack out. With someone flying out at the other table as well, the final table was reached.
From there on, it was all too good to be true anyway. Into the last 9 of 5000 players, I mean, rookies or pros, that's pretty neat, if you ask me! The guy with the shortest stack kept talking about how he was surviving while others were knocking the second shortest stack serveal times. Personally, I kept playing as I had done all tournament and climed up to 3rd in chips. And with a knock out of #5 and #4 in the same hand, I moved up to second.
How it ended today
The last few hands were a long series of cautious play without big pots. Until what turned out to be the last hand of the tournament. The chips leader had 3.47M, I was second with 2.29M and the short stack was 1.73M, with the blinds being 30K and 60K, ante 3K. Sitting in the big blind I was dealt 8 and 4 of clubs. Not a great hand, but the big stack and short stack (in the small blind) both called to make it an easy check to hopefully luck into something on the flop.
Flop comes AQ7, all clubs. But before I could even make my move, the short stack goes all-in. Thinking he was bluffing, I decided to call. But then, the chips leader raises to all-in as well. Looking back, maybe I should have folded there, but I just couldn't throw a flush away, knowing 160K vs 500K isn't impossible. I didn't even make a serious attempt for a read, although I'd probably would have guessed two pair. Showdown comes, short stack turns out to have another Q, but the big stack has 10 & 6 of clubs, giving him the winning flush and giving me zero outs on the turn and river. The cards come and the short stack doesn't get his queen, making my run end at 2nd place.
2nd out of 5000. Yeah, it's just play money, but I was pretty excited, I still am, bite me! Whether I'll move on to money is still up in the air. I'm hooked on poker now, free play, that is. I'll try to sneak my way into the top27 of Hubble Tournaments to get free entries into money tournaments from here on and continue to train for my one shot at the 2.5 Million Moneymaker Tournament. Honestly, I would have never guessed that poker could be so much fun. Back to suckiness and 3000th places...
How it began
We go back to about 5 months (not weeks) ago. Every Monday I have a late night volleyball training session. Usually when I get home, I can't sleep and turn on the tv to relax and hopfully get tired after the adrenaline boost. At some point I happened to catch some poker program. It was an English show covering weekly 7-player tournaments. It was kind of catchy and I watched it a couple of times, without further intentions to play some.
Then, not so long ago it appeared to me FOFC was getting swarmed with poker threads. Well, maybe it was just the trip to the WSOP by some other guys, but it was a fun read. It re-injected my interest that had faded away in May due to the end of volleyball season. And this time, with some time on my hands, I decided to check out poker sites and the possibility to play some for fun, with no money involved.
Through good old Google, I stumbled upon PokerStars. With no money to invest (yet?), I decided to look for free play options. PokerStars apparently had it and I decided to try it out. I signed on in early August, which now is about five weeks ago.
How it continued
With Texas Hold'em being the only thing I've seen, I decided to stick to just that for now. With 1,000 free play chips from signing on in my pocket, I decided to take a look at the lowest stakes tables (5/10). After having lost the chips, I feared my fun was over, but PokerStars is kind enough to give you an additional 1,000 chips every time you go broke. But knowing this shouldn't continue, I tried to find my way of play and ask others for help (Vince, Primelord).
Still snooping around PokerStars' options, I discovered the Sit'n'Go tournaments. After having had a bit of luck at the tables (I built a stack of about 6,000 chips in bank), I signed in to one of the 300+20 chips entry fee tournaments for 27 players. Despite being eliminated in 23rd place, I thought this was more fun and decided to jump onto the 45-player Sit'n'Go tournaments. With a lot of luck early on in the all-in battles, I fought my way through the tournament and finished 8th. One place out of the 'money', but at the final table nevertheless. I was hooked.
With a bad run in some more tournaments after that, I finally finished in the money at 4th later on that day. Inspired by that ranking, my hunger for more grew. The following day I once again had some luck early on and ended the day with two tournament victories. It was all a fluke. In the next two weeks, I actually lost chips, no longer covering the fees with prize money. I needed some luck at the normal tables to keep my play money bank balance above the initial 1,000.
I knew there was still a lot to learn, especially in the mental department, as well as recognizing outs and learning how to get reads on opponents. I went onto the internet and grabbed my pen and paper (and some excel) to learn more about the odds of the game. I tried a lot of playing styles, trying to figure out what my own style should be. In a sense of feeling good, I decided to forget about the 300+20 stuff and jump into a 2000+110 chips Sit'n'Go.
Following a surprising first place in the end, I no longer had to worry about entry fees (31,500 chips). Granted, it's play money, but I tried to make myself play like it was real money. This as a means of preperation, me having the idea that one day I might jump into real money poker. More importantly, the victory gave me a huge confindence boost, knowing that at this level I can bluff, make good reads and make others think I'm holding bad cards. Granted, there's always some all-in luck involved, but that's poker, no?
I figured that 45-player tournaments were not good enough anymore. Granted, if I have only 2 hours to spare at most, that's the way to go, but I felt the need for a new challege. Supported with a nice run in the 300+20 tournaments, my interest was shifting towards the $2.5M Moneymaker Tournament. But at the same time, I figured that 90 minutes was my attention span, how would I be able to survive 6 hours of play? Simple, try other long tournaments.
Afterwards feeling stupid, but somehow I had ignored the PokerStars Tourney section so far. I decided to join some Hubble's Hold'em Freeroll tournaments and later on some 300+20 FreePlay Hold'em No Limit tournaments. After numerous early exits, a 144th place in a Hubble Tournament gave me another confidence boost and made me realise I was making progress. I finished twice more in the Tournament Leaderboard Points with the Hubbles, but failed to finish in the 'money' in the 300+20 entry tournaments. Up to today.
How it continued today
After an early exit in a Hubble Tournament, I entered another 300+20 FreePlay tournament for up to 5000 players. The first two hours I bounced around in the middle of the pack on te chips leaderboard. Granted, over the course of the tournament I needed the river to bail me out once or twice, but in return I saw my stack get robbed several times that way as well. That's poker, no?
Anyway, I kept playing and didn't have to worry about surviving at all. Usually I play pretty tight, but somehow I ended up gambling a lot pre-flop and even managed to bluff myself into winning some hands (overall I won about 10 of about 250 hands without showdown though). Thanks to a luck run here and there I worked my way up into the top10 players after 4 hours. At that point I made the last 270, who all win at least 900 chips.
Believe it or not, the next 25 minutes I didn't play at all due to a diner break. When I returned, my stack was down to 80% of before the break. After some bad calls, my stack dropped and I was getting short stacked. The chips leader joined the table and freaky enough that saved my tournament. On pre-flop all-in bets with A5s and KK in back to back hands, with only the chips leader calling both times, things were looking bright again. Ironically, I knocked the same guy out later on in the tournament.
With the money made, people were flying out left and right. Personally, I was playing really tight at that point, waiting for pocket pairs and Ace high hands to see flops. Again with ups and downs, I managed to survive and battled my way into the last 81. Then things went fast and the final 45 were reached. The last 36. Last 27. Last 18!
Then it became hard to knock people out. There were three players really high in chips, while three were incredibly short stacked and about nine others were going up and down all the time, including me. I shifted to being less tight, limping into some pot wins with pairs of kings or queens on the turn or river. Then, a perfect hand (what, I don't remember) occured to knock the 11th and 12th stack out. With someone flying out at the other table as well, the final table was reached.
From there on, it was all too good to be true anyway. Into the last 9 of 5000 players, I mean, rookies or pros, that's pretty neat, if you ask me! The guy with the shortest stack kept talking about how he was surviving while others were knocking the second shortest stack serveal times. Personally, I kept playing as I had done all tournament and climed up to 3rd in chips. And with a knock out of #5 and #4 in the same hand, I moved up to second.
How it ended today
The last few hands were a long series of cautious play without big pots. Until what turned out to be the last hand of the tournament. The chips leader had 3.47M, I was second with 2.29M and the short stack was 1.73M, with the blinds being 30K and 60K, ante 3K. Sitting in the big blind I was dealt 8 and 4 of clubs. Not a great hand, but the big stack and short stack (in the small blind) both called to make it an easy check to hopefully luck into something on the flop.
Flop comes AQ7, all clubs. But before I could even make my move, the short stack goes all-in. Thinking he was bluffing, I decided to call. But then, the chips leader raises to all-in as well. Looking back, maybe I should have folded there, but I just couldn't throw a flush away, knowing 160K vs 500K isn't impossible. I didn't even make a serious attempt for a read, although I'd probably would have guessed two pair. Showdown comes, short stack turns out to have another Q, but the big stack has 10 & 6 of clubs, giving him the winning flush and giving me zero outs on the turn and river. The cards come and the short stack doesn't get his queen, making my run end at 2nd place.
2nd out of 5000. Yeah, it's just play money, but I was pretty excited, I still am, bite me! Whether I'll move on to money is still up in the air. I'm hooked on poker now, free play, that is. I'll try to sneak my way into the top27 of Hubble Tournaments to get free entries into money tournaments from here on and continue to train for my one shot at the 2.5 Million Moneymaker Tournament. Honestly, I would have never guessed that poker could be so much fun. Back to suckiness and 3000th places...