Big Win

Wow, what a day! I started the day by looking through all the upcoming tournaments on Pokerstars and decided to play in 4 of them. The first one was a $11+Rebuys Omaha tournament. It started with 200 players and I was doing great until we got down to around 25 players. I ended up busting out in 19th place, and only the top 18 paid out.

The second tournament was a $33+Rebuys WSOP qualifier. It started with 266 players, and only 1st place would win the WSOP package to Las Vegas. 2nd to 15th place paid the same exact amount, $650. I played very solid until we got down to 10 people. By then there were some monster stacks and I was in the middle of the pack. I decided to take a few gambles and I ended up getting knocked out in 10th place.

PokerStars Tournament #21471402, No Limit Hold'em
Super Satellite
Buy-In: $30.00/$3.00
266 players
Total Prize Pool: $20580.00
Target Tournament #21016818 Buy-In: $10000.00
1 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started - 2006/03/21 - 15:00:00 (ET)

Dear mysterio6044,

You finished the tournament in 10th place.
A $650.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

The third tournament was a $55 freezeout. There were 354 players. Once again I played very solid poker and I just couldn't make a mistake. After a few hours, we were down to the final table and I was the chip leader. I made a few well-timed bluffs and got paid off a few times when I did have a hand. Then we were down to 3 players, and I was 2nd in chips, when this disaster happenned:

PokerStars Game #4367774168: Tournament #21579045, Hold'em No Limit - Level XVI (3000/6000) - 2006/03/21 - 19:08:07 (ET)
Table '21579045 29' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 4: mysterio6044 (164332 in chips)
Seat 5: wendy_md (259018 in chips)
Seat 7: BreakRibs (107650 in chips)
mysterio6044: posts the ante 300
wendy_md: posts the ante 300
BreakRibs: posts the ante 300
wendy_md: posts small blind 3000
BreakRibs: posts big blind 6000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mysterio6044 [Ac 9c]
mysterio6044: raises 12000 to 18000
wendy_md: folds
BreakRibs: raises 89350 to 107350 and is all-in
mysterio6044: calls 89350
*** FLOP *** [Kh 6h 5c]
mysterio6044 said, "thought so"
mysterio6044 said, "omg"
*** TURN *** [Kh 6h 5c] [7s]
mysterio6044 said, "8?"
*** RIVER *** [Kh 6h 5c 7s] [3c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BreakRibs: shows [As 5h] (a pair of Fives)
mysterio6044: shows [Ac 9c] (high card Ace)
BreakRibs collected 218600 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 218600 | Rake 0
Board [Kh 6h 5c 7s 3c]
Seat 4: mysterio6044 (button) showed [Ac 9c] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 5: wendy_md (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: BreakRibs (big blind) showed [As 5h] and won (218600) with a pair of Fives

Just sick, A9 vs A5. That crippled me and I was knocked out soon after.
I would have been chip leader against one other player. That hand cost me around $5000. Instead I finished in 3rd and won around $2000.

PokerStars Tournament #21579045, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $50.00/$5.00
354 players
Total Prize Pool: $17700.00
Tournament started - 2006/03/21 - 15:00:00 (ET)

Dear mysterio6044,

You finished the tournament in 3rd place.
A $1,964.70 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 293.42 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/tlb_tournament_rankings.html


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

The fourth and final tournament I played was the $3+Rebuys. $3 doesn't sound like much, but there are so many players in this tournament and so many rebuys, that the prizepool is often higher than most of the $55 and $109 rebuy tournaments! The total number of players who joined this tournament was 1354. That's a pretty massive field to weave through. I played normal poker for the first 5 hours, and I was sitting in the middle of the pack with around 100 players left. Then I got a few good hands and all of a sudden I was in 1st place when were down to 30 players. Then I just started to run over the table with my stack. I had over $1 million in chips, and the next guy had $500k. I took quite a few bad beats but I just kept rebuilding my stack by stealing pots. By the time we got to the final table, I was in 1st place with $1.5 million in chips. Then came the following hand:

PokerStars Game #4368876543: Tournament #21579041, Hold'em No Limit - Level XXIV (30000/60000) - 2006/03/21 - 20:37:11 (ET)
Table '21579041 156' Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: pkjack1 (1541788 in chips)
Seat 2: GodPanix (711574 in chips)
Seat 3: RI Tony (937692 in chips)
Seat 4: Bergzilla (349693 in chips)
Seat 5: dogsballs (1540618 in chips)
Seat 6: temerityj (1487444 in chips)
Seat 7: mysterio6044 (1547355 in chips)
Seat 8: TruemperWay (1134448 in chips)
Seat 9: stretch2win (380888 in chips)
pkjack1: posts the ante 3000
GodPanix: posts the ante 3000
RI Tony: posts the ante 3000
Bergzilla: posts the ante 3000
dogsballs: posts the ante 3000
temerityj: posts the ante 3000
mysterio6044: posts the ante 3000
TruemperWay: posts the ante 3000
stretch2win: posts the ante 3000
temerityj: posts small blind 30000
mysterio6044: posts big blind 60000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mysterio6044 [5s Kc]
GodPanix said, "gg bro"
TruemperWay: folds
stretch2win: folds
pkjack1: folds
GodPanix: folds
RI Tony: folds
Bergzilla: folds
dogsballs: folds
temerityj: calls 30000
mysterio6044: checks
*** FLOP *** [Ah 2h Kd]
temerityj: bets 60000
mysterio6044: calls 60000
*** TURN *** [Ah 2h Kd] [5c]
temerityj: bets 60000
mysterio6044: raises 180000 to 240000
temerityj: calls 180000
*** RIVER *** [Ah 2h Kd 5c] [5d]
temerityj: bets 60000
mysterio6044: raises 480000 to 540000
mysterio6044 said, "whats ur kicker tem?"
temerityj: calls 480000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mysterio6044: shows [5s Kc] (a full house, Fives full of Kings)
temerityj: mucks hand
mysterio6044 collected 1827000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1827000 | Rake 0
Board [Ah 2h Kd 5c 5d]
Seat 1: pkjack1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: GodPanix folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: RI Tony folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Bergzilla folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: dogsballs (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: temerityj (small blind) mucked [7c Ad]
Seat 7: mysterio6044 (big blind) showed [5s Kc] and won (1827000) with a full house, Fives full of Kings
Seat 8: TruemperWay folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: stretch2win folded before Flop (didn't bet)

That shot me up to $2.5 million in chips. Soon after, I had $6 million and the next guy had $1.5 million. When we got down to 2 players, I had $6 million and player 'pkjack1' had $3.5 million. This was the final hand:

PokerStars Game #4369731417: Tournament #21579041, Hold'em No Limit - Level XXVIII (60000/120000) - 2006/03/21 - 21:43:18 (ET)
Table '21579041 156' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: pkjack1 (3533246 in chips)
Seat 7: mysterio6044 (6098254 in chips)
pkjack1: posts the ante 6000
mysterio6044: posts the ante 6000
mysterio6044: posts small blind 60000
pkjack1: posts big blind 120000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mysterio6044 [Ks Kd]
mysterio6044: raises 240000 to 360000
pkjack1: calls 240000
*** FLOP *** [2h 5c Ts]
pkjack1: checks
mysterio6044: bets 480000
pkjack1: raises 2687246 to 3167246 and is all-in
mysterio6044: calls 2687246
*** TURN *** [2h 5c Ts] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [2h 5c Ts 9h] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pkjack1: shows [6c Tc] (a pair of Tens)
mysterio6044: shows [Ks Kd] (a pair of Kings)
mysterio6044 collected 7066492 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7066492 | Rake 0
Board [2h 5c Ts 9h Jh]
Seat 1: pkjack1 (big blind) showed [6c Tc] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 7: mysterio6044 (button) (small blind) showed [Ks Kd] and won (7066492) with a pair of Kings

I don't think I've ever ran over a table like that, it was the best feeling in the world. I rarely had to show any of my hands, and just kept building my stack with pure pressure on my opponents. This is the biggest tournament I have ever won, beating 1353 other players.

PokerStars Tournament #21579041, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $3.00/$0.30
1354 players
Total Prize Pool: $18429.00
Tournament started - 2006/03/21 - 14:10:00 (ET)

Dear mysterio6044,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $3,455.44 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 556.32 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/tlb_tournament_rankings.html


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

What a day!