July 26, 2009 Poker Stars Sunday Million Tournament

As has become my tradition I will post the final table analysis of the Poker Stars Sunday Million Tournament from July 26th, 2009.

I actually played in this Sunday Million. I made it to the Top 40% before being eliminated - and that was a good accomplishment for my first Sunday Million.


So without further ado...

(Sorry...I removed the video from post to speed up page loading. Go to http://www.pokerstars.tv/channels/5VS/sunday-million.html to view this Sunday Million Tournament)

I Won A Satellite Into The Poker Stars Sunday Million Tournament

It took me five years to do it, but on Sunday, July 26th around 12 noon I won a ticket to the Poker Stars Sunday Million Tournament. Woo hoo! I won the ticket in a $11 + $0.70 double shootout sitngo. I failed the first double shootout but I succeeded the second try.

The second double shootout I actually placed 1st. When it got down to just 3 players, the other two players got into a battle and I won by default. Top two places got tickets.

I was very excited!

Now, I should have probably sold the ticket for Tournament dollars or cash, since a $215 ticket represents roughly 50% of my bankroll right now. But there is just no way I could not play. I had to play at least once.

I did okay for my first Sunday Million. I made it through a couple breaks. I went out in about 3140th place of about 8300 or so players. That is in the Top 40%.

One thing I learned in these large field deep stack tournaments is high cards go down in value and suited connectors and pocket pairs go way up in value. Top Pair Top Kicker or pocket AA or KK can be your doom in the early part of the tournament. It is better to play more hands with those suited connectors and pocket pairs and try to flop a monster. You want to pay a lot of attention to implied odds.

For example, I also played in the monthly Turbo Takedown on Poker Stars an hour or so before the Sunday Million. I went out in about the 5th hand. I did not do enough research and overplayed pocket AA. Stacks started at 3000 chips, so it was considered a deep stack tournament. The guy who took me out had pocket 44 and hit the set on the turn. I only had unimproved overpair AA. I ended up all in on the turn and lost the tournament.

I did not make that mistake in the Sunday Million. But I once again overplayed over pair and did a big bluff. I had Top Pair Top Kicker - Queens. But, my opponent was calling my raises. When the river put three clubs on the board, I bluffed the flush draw and my opponent called with a K high flush. All I had was those queens. Sad Sad Sad.

I lost both tournament by over playing over pair. I should know better.

In these large field tournaments you should only play trips or better past the flop. That is not a hard fast rule, but if you don't have a read on your opponent it is a good idea.

But just playing in the Sunday Million was enough for me. Now I have accomplished that goal. Next time I win a satellite into the Sunday Million I may trade it for T$ or cash because my bankroll needs the boost.

I could have parlayed that $215 into 215 Tournament Dollars and parlayed that into even more money.

Anyways, I am now in full scale moving mode. We move in 9 days. I won't get much if any poker time until after the move, August 7th. Then there is the unpacking and getting internet installed.

Placed 5th In A 90 Man Sit N Go

I played 3 tournaments yesterday. I did pretty good in two of them and got stupid in one of them. I final tabled at one and was 7 positions away from ITM at another

180 Man $10 +1 Sit N Go - placed 25th (Not ITM)
180 Man $4 + $0.60 Sit N Go - Placed around 120th
90 Man $5 + $0.50 Sit N Go - Placed 5th.

The $10 +1 180 man would have been nice to final table. I had a good chip stack but I got involved in a hand with KJs and my opponent had AJ. We both hit Top pair good kicker on the flop. This was late in the tournament, down to 3 tables, so the blinds are killers. By the time you raise, get called, and bet the flop - you're pretty much all in. That was a bummer. I really thought I would final table.

The $4 + $0.60 180 man - I was doing good. I doubled up early. But I honestly just got stupid. I don't remember the hand, but I had gone from 3000+ chips to 500 and when I lost, I felt I deserved to lose that game.

My highlight of the evening was the $5 +$0.50 90 Man Sit N Go. I did well throught this tournament. I had a couple big coin flips that I won. Almost the entire tournament I was ahead. I final tabled. Around the last 27 players I was ranked #1. I kept that rank until the final table, when I fell to 3rd. The other two players in 1st and 2nd only were ahead of me by the blinds or so.

My last hand was a very good hand - considering it was 5 handed (short handed) and the blinds were at something like $350/700 + $50 ante. I had about $24,000 chips. The top two players had about $70,000 chips each. The other two players were below my chip count, around $15,000 or so. So basically none of us were short stacks. We all had wriggle room. Hands were getting to the flop about half the time. People were not blind stealing with all-ins.

Basically you needed a decent hand.

I got dealt pocket JJ's. I think I was UTG. I raised the pot up to $4000. The cutoff called and so did the big blind. This was good news for me assuming a low flop. The flop came some thing like 9,7,4 rainbow. Sweet!

The pot was around $13k and I was first to bet. My stack stood at $20K. I figured this is a good flop for me, but I am vulnerable to higher cards falling on the turn and river. I bet around $5000. The cutoff raised it up to 10,000 and the big blind thought about it before finally folding.

I had a good overpair on an uncoordinated board. I figured my opponent made a pair or was bluffing the pot. But honestly it didn't matter. I needed to make a stand with this hand. I was already ITM and it was shorthanded. If I won this hand, I would have doubled up to $50K and had a good chance at winning the tournament.

As luck had it, my opponent had pocket 77's and flopped trips. By the river the board paired and he ended up with a boat.

I am still happy with that hand. Had he not flopped trips, I think I could have stacked him nonetheless. He probably would have called the $5000 bet instead of raised it. When the turned paired the 9 he would have had two pairs but I would have had the higher pair.

So three decent field size tournaments and one final table. I consider that a good poker night. I find that I place in the top 15% in large field tournaments fairly often - maybe 70% of the time or so.

This Sunday I will be playing in the Poker Stars Million Dollar Turbo Take-down tournament. Guaranteed $1 Million dollar prize pool. Top 33% get ITM. There will be 30,000 players. So 10,000th place gets about $35. Final table starts at $4000 and first place gets a whopping $40,000.

The only way to play this tournament is with 2000 FPP's. I won a single table tournament satellite for my seat. I parlayed 800 FPP's into a 2000 FPP ticket.

The best part of this tournament, besides the 33% ITM, is there is a knock out bonus. If you knock out a pokerstars Team Player you get up to a $480 bonus. The earlier you register, the more the bonus is worth. I registered weeks ago, so I should get about $400 for each knock out.

Just knocking out one team players would be a nice payday!

I will be interested to see how well I do in this large field tournament.

There has not been a lot of poker time this week. I think I would like to try to play the steps tournaments again to see if I can win a step 4 ticket and play the Sunday Million.

Poker Stars Sunday Million Tournament 7/19/09

Continuing the tradition, here is the Sunday Million tournament from Poker Stars for July 19th, 2009.

I played very little poker this week, so I did not even try to get in this game.

This was a really good final table to watch. 1st place won $240,810. Wow.

Watch Online Poker Show: Sunday Million - July 19th, 2009 on PokerStars.tv

Great Poker Quotes

"You have got to learn to play poker, not cards, you need to learn to play their hand not yours."
- Anonomous

Playing Cash Games Without Looking At Your Cards

Once you have been playing poker for a while you learn that you need to pay more attention to your opponents playing styles. You need to put them on hand ranges, you need to see if they are playing TAG or LAG or Fishy.

Anyone who has seen my favorite poker movie Rounders remembers the line that he could play poker blind. Meaning most of the time it doesn't even matter what his cards are, he plays the player.

Think about it. How profitable would it be to know your heads up opponent is on a flush draw with Top pair? Forget that you have nothing but high card. If you know your opponent is playing the draw and you are successfully representing two pairs, when the turn and river don't complete the flush draw, you can bet into them. As long as your opponent believes you have the two pairs, they will throw away the best hand.

That is a very simplistic example, I know. But you can get very good at reading your opponents and can learn when to bet into them or when to fold. That is much better than only playing your own two cards and the board.

Well this is a cool little experiment I think is worthy to try.

I have heard of this idea before, but I found it again on another persons poker blog. I am going to use his word for word and give him the credit. I only changed the acronyms to there full words - for example - ATC is an acronym for Any Two Cards. I don't expect all readers to know all the poker lingo.

http://www.lowlimitforum.com/index.php?topic=6017.0

In his first book, Arnold Snyder talks about the value of practicing position play without looking at your cards. Online you could do this by sticking something over the screen where your cards are normally displayed.

It seems to me that this would be great practice in cash games also, since you'd really have to focus on your image, hand reading and knowing the tendencies of your opponents.

So preflop for example you fold most hands from Early Position (mixing in the occasional open if you haven't played a hand for a while), but open Any Two Cards on the button, and maybe 50% in the Cut Off. Small Blind open-limps, you raise. The Cut Off has been opening like crazy, you three bet his Cut Off open from the button some of the time. Donk limps in the Hi Jack, you isolate on button. Two limpers, you limp behind on button or raise to take it down. Nit ( A Very Tight Aggressive Player) opens and you cold-call on the button, then float conducive flops. Loose Agressive Player opens, Tight Agressive player cold calls, you squeeze. You get the idea.

Postflop you'll almost always be in position, so you can use the board texture and your opponent's reaction to decide the best course of action, whether that be to check/fold, or to double barrel shove, or whatever.

I've been thinking about this because it seems to me that often my own cards just complicate matters, and I'm sure I get bluffed off more than my fair share of hands by aggressive players who are just playing ME, not their cards. The most important factor in any hand is my opponent's range and tendencies, and it's easy to forget that and just focus on your own holding.

I think you would learn a lot. You should break even at worse. But even if you loose a couple buy-ins - I think it would pay for itself in the wisdom and skill you gain.

Here is what I think you would learn:

1. Ability to put playing styles on your opponents - TAG, LAG, Fishy, etc.
2. Ability to put opponents on hand ranges.
3. Ability to detect betting patterns of opponents
4. Discover which players are only playing their own two cards and which players ar paying attention to what two cards you play.
5. Ability to have better table selection based on where the fish are playing.
6. Ability to have better seat selection at fishy tables. (Always better to have TAG's to your left and Fish to your right).
6. Understand how playing position effects your table image and what cards you play.

I am going to give this experiment a try. I will probably play $10NL. I'll let you know the results.

July 12th Poker Stars Sunday Million Replay

I have taken a couple days off from playing. After a bad poker weekend, mostly due to my own mistakes, I thought it wise to take some time off.

But I want to continue the tradition of posting the Poker Stars Sunday Million tournament here.

This was a much better final table than last week.

First place took home a nice $231,360. Wow.

Even third place took home over $100,000.

Watch Online Poker Show: Sunday Million - July 12th, 2009 on PokerStars.tv

What's Next?

So after a terrible weekend and such a big blow to my bankroll, I have to ask myself, "So Jay, What is next?"

Well I cannot say right now. Let me clarify that I am not on a bad run of cards. I am still getting the good cards (along with the not so good). My problem is I started playing bad bad bad. Too much bluffing, too much impatience.

So I need to step back and remember that TAG is what it is all about. I have been playing like a fish.

I think the plan now is to grind $25 NL (4-6 tables) and play the step tournaments until I earn a step 4 ticket.

For grinding $25NL I am going to avoid blind stealing - not completely of course. I will limit my blind stealing to the hijack and button and maybe the blinds depending on the circumstances.

Preflop it is open bet, raise, re-raise or fold. Continuation bet the flop most of the time. Outside of a CB on the flop, I will only play the turn and river with trips or better. Basically two pair and below gets me in too much trouble on later streets.

Starting this weekend I start packing. We are moving to another apartment on August 7th and I need to start getting organized. Obviously this will effect the time I can log playing poker. Considering my bad play and recent tilt lately, perhaps that is a godsend.

Terrible Poker Weekend

What a terrible run of luck. Friday I 4 tabled $100NL and within an hour was down 4 buy-ins. Ouch.

That was the beginning of a bad poker weekend. I had many wins, have no fear. But for every win there must have been 2 or 3 losses. To give you an idea of how many losses that is - I won 9 tournaments. That means I probably lost 18-27 tournaments. Sheesh. That is not including the cash table bad luck either.

I did play the Step tournaments. I think I did pretty good. My first try I won the tournament and got a step two ticket. I then lost the step two tournament, but won a step one ticket. I then won another step two ticket. Then I won the step two tournament and won a step 3 ticket.

That was great! It was one hour before the start of the Sunday Million tournament and I have a Single Table Tournament that pays two Step 4 tickets. Step four tickets can be used to enter the Sunday Millions tournament.

Step three pays to 5 places. First and Second gets step 4 tickets. Third, Fourth, and Fifth place gets step 3 tickets. Those are some great odds! As long as you aren't in the bottom 4 places, you either win a step 4 ticket or get to try another step 3 tournament.

But....my weekend had already suffered through two and a half days of terrible poker. I believe I was a little bit on tilt and my play was certainly effected. I made a bad bluff on the river and got called with top two pairs. I finished in last place! That ended my chances. I was devastated. But, it was my own fault for playing tilty. Sigh.

I must say I like the step tournaments. I think they offer excellent odds for winning a Step 4 ticket to the Sunday Millions. The only downside is you cannot trade the step tickets for cash and if you win a step 4 ticket you either play a step 4 tournament or a $215 tournament. What is nice about winning a Sunday Million ticket on the cash tables is you can unregister from the Sunday Million tournament and sell the ticket for 95% cash or use the T$ for other tournaments.

With my bankroll suffering so much this weekend, I would probably have preferred to sell the Sunday Million ticket for cash. Sigh. That is assuming I was lucky enough to even win one.

July 5th Sunday Million

I didn't get to play poker last night...major bummer. Instead me and the wife took advantage of a 14 day pass at 24 hour fitness.

But...tonight is Friday and the weekend is here. My goal, as will be my goal every week until I reach it, is to win a ticket to the Sunday Millions. Lol.

I am going to try to embed the July 5th Sunday Million Final Table recap below.

Watch Online Poker Show: Sunday Million - July 5th, 2009 on PokerStars.tv

Okay - well that embed worked as planned. I will probably post these every week for you to watch now. Also, you can click the button and watch this video full screen - which is cool. I like watching these final table replays with commentary. One day perhaps you will see me at that final table. Even second place is 6 digit prize money.

Okay - I just watched this video. I just want to say the heads up match was silly. The USA player who lost was just gambling, not playing smart at all. Just because you make it to the final table, especially heads up, doesn't mean you should start bluffing away. I personally don't think you should over bluff or completely use the ICM (Independant Chip Model) at the Sunday Millions heads up. At heads up with the title at stake, it is much better to play more post flop and learn how to trap your opponent when you HAVE good cards. A middle or bottom pair is a good hand - but it doesn't qualify for calling an all-In re-raise.

I saw a lot of over-aggression at the final table. The chip leader at the final table, when there were 9 players, did the same thing and within ten hands was out of the tournament. It is so much smarter to have patience when you are so far ahead of the blinds. Why risk so much and play the luck card? Better to use psychology to trap your opponents when you catch the nuts.

I've played a lot of heads up and the reason skill wins over luck is because your goal is to trap your opponent. You fall into a routine with how you bet and you're waiting for the nuts for your opponent to foolishly play back at you. BUT if you don't have the nuts and your opponent plays back at you - you fold and start over.

The only exception to patient trapping is when you are very short stacked compared to the blinds. IF you get to the point when your opponent(s) have 3 times more than you and you have less than 3 orbits or so to play - then it makes sense to use the ICM and short stack strategies.

Silly. Amatuer, IMHO.

Sunday Million Satellites

So last night I was in the mood to try to win a Sunday Million tournament ticket. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the cards for me - yet again.

After spending 800 FPP's to win a ticket to the Turbo Takedown, I only had 450 FPP's left. The only FPP satellite to the Sunday Million in my FPP range was a 36 Player 375FPP -only one ticket to the Sunday Million. That is a bit of a crap shoot and there was only 3 registered and it wasn't climbing.

So I figured FPP's weren't going to be much help tonight.

I opted instead to try a cash satellite to the Sunday Million. But I didn't want to dip below $600 in my bankroll. Don't know why, but I like being above $600. I consider trying for a Sunday Million ticket a bit of a crap shoot since I either get my money back or loose normally.

So I decided to first try a $5.50 heads up tournament. If I won, my bankroll would sit at $615. There was a $10+1 36 player SitNGo with one ticket up for grabs for the Sunday Million. So I figured if I won the heads up match I would play the $10 + 1.

Luck was with me and I decimated my opponent in less than 10 minutes.

I did not win the Sunday Million ticket though. I ended placing in 14th place and just barely got my $11 back. I thought I placed in 15th and only won $2, but two other players at other tables went out and one of them went out before me. Funny how that worked - I thought I bubbled out!

The rest of the night wasn't anything special. I played another $10+1 heads up match and lost. Then I played another $10 +1 heads up and won. Basically I didn't loose or gain anything bankroll wise.

Pretty insignifant night, other than winning a ticket to the July 26th Turbo Million.

Lately I have only been in the mood to play sattelite tournaments into bigger games. It is a bit exciting. I have done very good at not loosing any money playing these satellites. If I dip, I play a couple heads up matches and get the money back.

I believe I will win a Sunday Million ticket in the next few days if I keep trying. I prefer the satellite tournaments that give you at least 2 tickets to the Sunday Million. Heads up is always a little risky.

Another thing I want to try is playing step tournaments. These seem pretty easy since first two spots wins a ticket to the next step and usually 3rd place wins a ticket to the same step again. A few of the levels even pay out to 5th place to early steps.

Step 4 is the $215 level and can be used to play in the Sunday Million. I might have an easier try winning progressively to a step 4 ticket. Step one tournments cost $7.50 or 500 FPP's.

I figure I could play a heads up $10 + 1 and if I win then play in a step 1 tournament. Keep playing the step tournaments on my original $7.50 investment until I either win a step 4 ticket or bust out. Rinse and repeat.

$1 Million PokerStars Turbo Takedown

Last night's highlight was I won a satellite tournament into the $1 Million PokerStars Turbo Takedown on July 26th. The entry fee for the Turbo Takedown is 2000FPP. I guess you have to use FPP's and there is no cash alternative entries.

There are a bunch of satellites to win a ticket to the Turbo Takedown and I chose a more aggressive approach. I played a Super-Turbo 6-max that cost 800FPP's to enter. First and second place won a ticket to the Turbo Takedown and 3rd place got there 800 FPP's back.

This was a super aggressive super fast tournament. The blinds went very quickly and you only started with 500 chips.

At first I was wondering why my opponents were going all-in so often. Any two decent hole cards put most people all-in.

Within a few orbits the blinds were at $25/50 and I was down to $375. I realized then that I only had 5 orbits before I was blinded out. Now I understand.

So I started taking chances with pocket pairs above 66 and AK, KQ. I tried not to go all in in early position with smaller pairs than 66. I won a few uncontested pots and a coin flip or two.

Soon it was down to just 4 of us. Then 3. Once it hit 3, I at least got my 800 FPP's back. But almost a minute after it got to 3 players, the other two players went all-in and I just watched.

This was a very easy tournament. I barely played at all and just let the other opponents take most of the risks and knock each other out. I won a ticket to the Turbo Takedown almost by default.

The turbo takedown is going to be a huge donkfest for the first 1/2 - 2/3. One in three players will make ITM for $35. The tournament is capped at 30,000 players and will fill up. I hear it used to cost 10,000 FPP's to enter this tournament. This time around it is only 2000 FPP's and ITM is 33%. Wow.

First place prize is a cool $40,000. Final table starts at $4000.

I am not sure how I will do since this is a Turbo tournament. But normally I am good for the top 15% - which means if the turbo doesn't get out of hand, I should make at least $70.

This tournament happens every last Sunday - so I may play this each month.

500 FPP 27 Player Satellite To The Sunday Million

I noticed yesterday a 500FPP satellite to the Sunday Million. That is what I wanted to play last weekend but could not find. I am going to take a look tonight to see if I can find it again. I have about 2 tries to grab a ticket.

$6.50 Turbo Heads Up SitNGo

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful poker night. My wife's sister was in town and we ended up in National City for some Filipino food.

By the time I got back home, it was almost bedtime. A trip to National City is never just about one stop. There are many places to buy Filipino snacks and what not, so it is usually a multiple hour trip.

This cold still has me bewildered.

Before I called it a night, I decided, "I must play some poker!" So I decided on a $6.50 Turbo heads up match. My opponent was out skilled and I dispatched him in about 10 minutes.

It is not much, but it is a win for the night.

The plan tonight is to play some turbo sitngo's. That has been the plan for the past 3 nights - to no avail. So, we'll see where it goes tonight.

Going To Grind $10 +1 Sit-N-Goes

I discovered yesterday that I could make Silver or Gold VIP on Poker Stars by grinding out tournaments. You earn 5 VPP points for every $1 in rake. So if I play $10 + 1 SitNGo's that is 5 VPP per tournament. I can 4-6 table these sitngo's. If I play 10 tournaments a day, 5 days a week, I will earn Silver VIP.

To earn Gold VIP I would either need to play 30 $10 + 1 tournaments a day or move up to $20 + 2 SitNGo's.

Bascially here is the break down:

$10 + 1 Tournaments

Silver = 240 tournaments a month or 60 per week
Gold = 600 tournaments a month or 150 per week

$20 + 2 Tournaments

Silver = 120 tournaments a month or 30 per week
Gold = 300 tournaments a month or 75 per week

So at my current bankroll I could earn 36 VPP per hour 6 tabling $50NL cash tables or earn 20VPP per hour 4 tabling $10 + 1 SitNGo tournaments.

Bankroll requirements for tournaments is at least 50 Buy-Ins. I have a $600 bankroll so that puts me squarely at $10 + 1 tournaments.

Bankroll requirements for cash tables is at least 25 buy-ins. That puts me at $25NL.

Having said that, I know I am a good enough player to 6 table $50NL and buy-in at $35 instead of $50. I can also 4 table $20+2 tournaments.

The only problem with playing slightly above my bankroll is if I go on a bad run of luck.

A winning tournament player should place ITM 40% of the time.

So here is the plan. I will 4-table $10 + 1 SitNGo's. I will see how I am doing after 10 of them. If I am at least break even, I will do another ten. After twenty I if I place ITM in at least 8 of the 20 I will know I can successfully grind tournaments.

Once my bankroll reaches $700 I will test the waters with $20 + 2 SitNGo's.

Played Another Large Field Tournament

I am still a little under the weather from the flu. This flu is just dragging. So last night I had planned on 4 tabling $10 + 1 STT (Single Table Tournament) but changed my mind. I just didn't have the energy.

So instead I did another "fun" poker night where I looked at what big tournaments were playing. The pickings were far and few but I found a $4 + 0.40 large tournament starting in about 10 minutes. There ended up about 430 of us. I quickly doubled up in the first few hands. People play very loose in these low buy-in large field tournaments. I guess they figure they are willing to take big chances and double up and are willing to go out early if that is not going to happen.

With these big tournaments I have learned that patience is a virtue. I too am looking to double up, but I know I can wait for good cards and a good flop before trying. So many people are throwing all-in's that if you time yours just right, you are almost certain to get a caller.

Unfortunately, I did not place in this tournament. I played about 2 hours and went out in 117th place. ITM was 103. Doh! I can honestly say I got stupid at least two times towards the end and that is what cost me the tournament. I was sitting very comfortable at $7500 with $150/200 blinds. I raised a LAG player who was constantly blind stealing and he called me. The flop gave me two overcards. I had AQs and the flop was J, 4, 7 rainbow. I was the big blind and the opponent was on the button. I raised the flop and he called me. Basiclly I kept raising with nothing but overcards, trying to represent TPTK or two pair and he just kept calling me. I checked the river and he called. He had paired the 7. That was just bad play on my part. He also played lousy too since I have been very TAG the entire tournament.

Another thing I have learned in the large field tournaments is 90% of the time it is flop or fold. There are too many calling stations in these large tournaments to try to bluff.

I repeated the same mistake a couple hands later and ended up loosing the tournament.

I played another tournament at the same time. It was a $5 + 0.50 45 player tournament. I also doubled up pretty quickly in this tournament. But I ended up not ITM here either. I made it to the final table and went out in 9th place. My last hand was my last $300 and the blinds were $200/400 + $25 ante. LOL. I actually would have been better off waiting until the next hand. I was UTG so the blinds would have hit me next hand. But this particular hand had 3 All-In callers. I had 3,7o. My opponents had TT, JJ, AA. Good god! My only hope there was landing trips 3's or 7's - which did not happen.

The funny thing was since this was the final table, had I waited till the next hand, I would have made it ITM. ITM started at 7th place. Those two opponents would have been taken out and I would have survived to place in the tournament. But when you are down to $300 and the next hand will blind you out of the game - your position is the worst possible. Ironic way to go.

Any ways. My wife's sister is visiting us from Florida and she is staying with us for the next couple days. But I hope to be able to 4 table $10 + 1 sitngoes tonight.

Poker Tournaments

Last Wednesday I caught the flu. Sucks to be sick. It was a 4 day flu.

No better way to spend time sick than playing poker right? Ahem. Well, in between sleeping and feel down right awful, I managed to play quite a bit of poker.

I figured since I was sick and may not be in my A-Game, I should play tournaments. Loosing several buy-ins at the cash tables while having the flu probably isn't the best medicine for getting better.

I played too many tournaments to list but I will say I was running hot. I did not make thousands of dollars but at one point I was ahead $170. Not bad for a $510 bankroll. In the end though I ended up $105 ahead.

Tournament Highlights.

Wednesday

1. Took first place in a 27 player $10+1 tournament. ITM $100. Wow.

Thursday

1. Took 4th place in a 68 player $10.70 + 1 tournament. Top 3 winners got tickets for the Sunday Million tournament - a $215 dollar ticket. Notice I placed 4th. Doh! That was upsetting. One more place and I would have won the ticket to play in the Sunday Millions! I did place ITM for $35. Still trippled up my buy-in.

2. Took 14th in a 180 player $10 + 1 tournament. ITM for $21.60. That is pretty good for a 180 player tournament. I have never placed in one of those before.

Friday - played, but did not keep track of winning tournaments

Saturday

1. I played in a 4146 MTT (Multi-Table Tournament). This was the weekly $30,000 Silver VIP tournament for 100FPP. I placed ITM at 439th place for a $15 win. For my first major tournament, that is pretty darn good. That is top 10%. I turned 100FPP into $15 - that is $.015 per FPP - which is outstanding!

2. Took 2nd place in a 27 player $10 + 1 tournament. ITM for $72. That was another nice ITM...would have been nice to win 1st.

Sunday

1. Took 2nd place in a 18 players $13 + 1 tournament. ITM for $19. First place won a ticket to the Sunday Million tournament. This was dissapointing. I was heads up and had $17500 compared to my opponents $8000. I should have won this tournament. My opponent was tight and tricky and she outplayed me for sure. Still a good win considering 18 total competitors.

2. Took 4th place in a 27 player $10 +1 tournament. ITM for $28.

3. Took 3rd place in a 18 player $10 + 1 tournament. ITM for $36.

So those were some of the highlights. I played at least another 8 tournaments that did not win. One other highlight is I played a 48 man 500FPP tournament. First place got a ticket to the Sunday Million. I placed about 5th and just won back my 500FPP.

I played about two of those FPP tournaments for the Sunday Million - one I got my FPP's back and the other I lost completely.

I also played several other satellite tournaments for the Sunday Million. One 18 player $28 + 1 SitNGo. I did not place ITM. Bummer. Top two spots won tickets to the Sunday Million too.

I played in a couple other Sunday Million Satellites - none panned out.

Obviously, I decided to try to win a ticket to the Sunday Millions. This weekend did not pan out for playing in the Sunday Millions. But I can VERY close to winning that ticket in at least 3 tournaments.

I played 4 tournaments last night before I went to bed. 3 at the same time and then I added the 4th while the last of the 3 was playing out. I lost 3/4 tournaments. Actually, I placed ITM in one of the first 3 and that paid for all three. The fourth tournament I placed ITM but just $8 over what I paid to enter the tournament. Overall, I barely made over what I invested in those 4 tournaments.

I was either running hot all weekend in tournaments or I have vastly improved my game. I never placed ITM so often in tournaments before.

Perhaps my cash game skills have improved my tournament game?

At this point I am at a crossroad. I increased my bankroll from $511 to $600 over the weekend. I could have done that with cash games. If I was running good, I could have done much better with cash games. Of course, I could also have done much worse too.

I now need to decide if I will continue playing tournaments or start playing cash games again. Tournaments are more fun and the big tournaments have much better payouts. But cash games are supposedly more lucrative.

Perhaps I will do both. Not sure.

For certain, If I want to get FPP's or make Gold VIP I will need to 6 table cash games at least 15 hours a week. I will have to look into how much FPP's I earn playing tournaments. If I were playing $100NL I know I can earn $25 FPP's per table per hour. I don't think tournaments can come any where's close to that earning potential.

Poker Goals

The goal for this week are:

1. Earn 750 VPP points
2. Increase bankroll to $875.
3. Win a Sunday Millions Satellite (Cash of FPP)