No Luck

Well, Sunday turned out to be a pretty bad day. I played in a couple of low buy-in tourneys and the $1050 Sunday $1 million guaranteed. I couldn't keep track of how many times I got rivered by 3-outers, and it totally threw me off my game. I couldn't recover and ending up busting out in the early stages. On top of that, I forgot to register for the $650 WSOP Main Event Qualifier. That was pretty smart. Ended the day in the minus for $1360.

Monday was a better day. I decided to switch gears and play some $2000+$50 Heads-Up Sit & Go's. I ended up playing most of them against a player named 'stevesbets'. I used to think I was a pretty loose/aggressive heads-up player. I no longer think that. This guy is an absolute maniac. I ended up 5-4 for the day for a profit of $1550 and won the single $1000+$30 Heads Up Sit & Go I played. Total profit for the day was $2520.

Much Needed Break

I played in 4 more tourneys on Thursday, and made it deep in 2 of them. The first one was the $109+Rebuys, I finished in 16th place for a payout of $540.

The other was a $22 128 person heads up NL tournament. I won all 7 of my matches and ended up winning the tournament. It paid $768.

I played a couple of small satellites on Friday but I really wasn't into it after all the poker I had played in the 3 previous days. I really needed a break and decided to leave town for the weekend.

Well now I'm back and today is a big day for online tournaments. At 4:30p.m. there is a $1000+$50 NL tourney on Pokerstars with a $1 million guaranteed prizepool. Then at 6:00p.m. there is a $615+$35 WSOP Main Event Qualifier.

I hope my rush keeps going today, we'll see.

On Fire

Okay, I thought Tuesday was a good day. I played in a few tournaments yesterday and made the money twice. It seems lately whenever I make it deep into a tournament, I am able to close the deal. I'm not sure what I'm doing differently, but for one I am extremely confident right now. As long as I have been playing, I still feel my game is improving every day.

Pokerstars recently added a new type of tournament, a $50+$5 NL 90 person sit & go. They start as soon as it fills up, and I thought I would try them out. On my second try, I found myself at the final table. Not long after, I found myself heads up with the chip lead against my opponent. My AK held up against his AQ, and I won the tournament.

PokerStars Tournament #21757240, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $50.00/$5.00
90 players
Total Prize Pool: $4500.00
Tournament started - 2006/03/22 - 13:26:21 (ET)

Dear mysterio6044,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $1,350.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

The other tournament I made it deep into was the $55+Rebuys. I started with 200 players and by the end of the rebuy period I was in for $250 and sitting with an average stack. Then came the turning point:

*********** # 120 **************
PokerStars Game #4377440679: Tournament #21579120, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII
(200/400) - 2006/03/22 - 17:09:48 (ET)
Table '21579120 9' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: tigerlady9 (6678 in chips)
Seat 2: micon (18857 in chips)
Seat 3: mysterio6044 (12972 in chips)
Seat 4: gr33dy (2955 in chips)
Seat 5: AaronC (29028 in chips)
Seat 6: killerkp (6475 in chips)
Seat 8: Ubsolute (12600 in chips)
Seat 9: stbrandal (36177 in chips)
tigerlady9: posts the ante 25
micon: posts the ante 25
mysterio6044: posts the ante 25
gr33dy: posts the ante 25
AaronC: posts the ante 25
killerkp: posts the ante 25
Ubsolute: posts the ante 25
stbrandal: posts the ante 25
AaronC: posts small blind 200
killerkp: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mysterio6044 [Ad Qs]
Ubsolute: folds
stbrandal: calls 400
tigerlady9: folds
micon: folds
mysterio6044: raises 1200 to 1600
gr33dy: folds
AaronC: folds
killerkp: folds
stbrandal: calls 1200
*** FLOP *** [9s Td 3h]
stbrandal: checks
mysterio6044: bets 3200
stbrandal: calls 3200
*** TURN *** [9s Td 3h] [5c]
stbrandal: checks
mysterio6044: checks
*** RIVER *** [9s Td 3h 5c] [9d]
stbrandal: bets 8800
mysterio6044: calls 8147 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
stbrandal: shows [7s 8s] (a pair of Nines)
mysterio6044: shows [Ad Qs] (a pair of Nines - Ace kicker)
mysterio6044 collected 26694 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 26694 | Rake 0
Board [9s Td 3h 5c 9d]
Seat 1: tigerlady9 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: micon folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: mysterio6044 showed [Ad Qs] and won (26694) with a pair of Nines
Seat 4: gr33dy (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: AaronC (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: killerkp (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: Ubsolute folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: stbrandal showed [7s 8s] and lost with a pair of Nines

With the board reading 9T359, he put me allin on the river, and all I had was AQ (Ace high). The way the hand played out, I just knew he was on the straight draw. I honestly put him on QJ and not 87, but I was sure he had nothing. I've probably made some better calls in my time, but I've never been so certain.

I cruised to the final 2 tables, where it was me who finally got lucky. My 33 beat KK when I hit a 3 on the flop. I went to the final table with the chip lead, with $400k to the next guy's $150k. I took 4 or 5 really ugly river beats, but thanks to my big stack I was able to rebuild each time. When we were down 2 players, my opponent had $680k in chips to my $530k. 1st place paid $11,500 and 2nd paid $7500. I felt I had a significant advantage over my opponent, but he had the chip lead and the blinds were very high. Why risk $4000 to only make an extra $1300? So what we did is agree to each take $9000, and leave $1200 on the table to play for. It only took me a few hands to beat him, and I ended up taking home $10,200 for this win.

PokerStars Tournament #21579120, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $50.00/$5.00
200 players
Total Prize Pool: $38400.00
Tournament started - 2006/03/22 - 15:15:00 (ET)

Dear mysterio6044,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $11,520.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 382.00 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.

Notice it says I won $11,520, but I really only won $10,200 because of the deal we made. It also gave me 382 tournament leader points. Right now I am in 6th place for this week. The winner at the end of the week gets to play heads up for $1000 against a Pokerstars pro such as Tom McEvoy or Joe Hachem for free, and also gets his picture posted in the Pokerstars main lobby for a week. I am still 1200 points behind 1st place, but with a few more good finishes I should have a good shot at it.

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!

Welcome

Well I figured I might as well start a blog, since all the cool people do it. ;)

Actually, I've had about 20 people ask me to start one, but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to. If I think about it, I've been using http://www.pokerpoker.ca as my blog whenever I'm at a major event, so I might as well have my own. I'll still post on pokerpoker though.

I'll be using this blog to post interesting hands in cash and tournament play, results of tournaments I make it deep into, and regular updates whenever I'm in a major tournament anywhere in the world.

In the past 5 months, I have played in tournaments in Sarnia, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Bahamas, and Monte Carlo. My next destination is Las Vegas on April 4th. I'll be trying to qualify for the $25,000 WPT Championship.

Until then, I'll be playing mostly online at Pokerstars under the name 'mysterio6044'. In preparation, I'll be focusing only on tournaments. I had a good start yesterday, placing 1st out of 235 players in a $33 Omaha tournament. It paid around $2000, which is still pretty good for a $33 buy-in. I also came so close to qualifying for the $10,000 WPT Foxwoods event. The qualifier started with around 300 players, with the top 2 players winning the package. I ended up busting out in 5th and only made $175.

PokerStars Tournament #21184952, Pot Limit Omaha
Buy-In: $30.00/$3.00
235 players
Total Prize Pool: $7050.00
Tournament started - 2006/03/19 - 17:45:00 (ET)

Dear mysterio6044,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
A $1,938.75 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 380.29 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.