Archive for May, 2007

I busted out of the $400k guarantee last night at Full Tilt after 4+ hours and barely any hands.  Received AA once in the first round, which just took the blinds with a 3x bet.

A total of 2597 players entered to bump up the prize pool to $519,400.  First place was $95,283.

When Daniel Negreanu won $100,000 ($20,000 of his own) at “Poker After Dark,” Shana Hiatt asked what he planned to do with the money.  He said maybe buy a CD.

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My credit card redeposit into Full Tilt at the beginning of the month has been working well.

After playing some 250 sit-n-gos so far, I finally broke even.

Since I don’t have rakeback, you could say it’s all been for naught, and you’d probably be right.  Much wasted time, sleepless weekends, and bad beat cursing occurred to hit that $0.00.  But considering it was from a fall of almost $2000, I’ll take it.

My next step is to reach the $1000 mark, the moment where I first started to drop.  My goal is to do it in the next 200 games.

If I can stay away from cash games and multi-table tournaments, I should be okay.

I managed to do this through low-limit grinding of the $22s, plus place in the top 125 of the Full Tilt SnG leaderboard.  Points are given if you cash in each SnG, and a couple consolation points are also given to 4th place so the bubble isn’t a complete loss.  Though if a choice between cash or points, I’d take the cash.

Purely out of a sense of competition, I’m hoping to crack the top 100 by the end of the month.  Full Tilt also awards free SnGs to everyone in the top 100.  From 51st-100th, you get one free SnG at the level you’ve most played.  At 50th, two SnGs are given.

First place, currently being held by an insane guy who has almost twice as many points as 2nd place (and 10 times as many as I do), gets 20 free SnGs.

I checked his progress and it looks like he’s doing it all on the $6 SnGs.  That’s some mad multi-tabling, and I can’t think of anything more boring.  He’s currently on a bad run, perhaps by playing more than he usually does to chase the prize.

Speaking of chasing, I’m also trying for the $400k guaranteed satellite leaderboard.

The $400k tournament is tonight, and if you get more satellites to it than anyone, you’re awarded $400.

I currently have three; the leader has six.

The best place to do it where I feel I have the best shot is the $69+6 SnGs where the top 3 get a seat (or $216 if already qualified).

Having to win three more to tie may not be worth it because the tournament starts in 6 hours.

But satellite SnGs are generally softer than regular SnGs anyway.  I’ll shoot for two more, and if I win one of those, I’ll go for it.  I need to win about 1 out of 3 to break even, and worst case scenario is playing 12 of them to get to the top of the leaderboard.  Problem is, they’re slow to start (and usually includes at least one of the players already on the leaderboard), and I don’t see 12 running between now and the start of the tournament.

Full Tilt keeps reeling me in with these excellent promotions.  Now if they’d just offer a redeposit bonus, I’ll head to Moneygram immediately.

The next couple weeks I’m playing like a madgrub trying to qualify for a WSOP seat. If not the main event, one of the other events.

And I’m prepared to go bust again in the process.

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Thanks much to change100 for secretly sweating me and to roah for the cheering comments.  You can believe that if I had final tabled this thing, I would’ve shared.

If this is the first post you’re reading, I live blogged my progress and strategy thoughts in Full Tilt’s FTOPS main event all day today. At $500+35, it was the most expensive tournament I’ve yet played… until next month, when I hope to play one of the WSOP or Venetian events.

Part 1 is here, with Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and now this final part.

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We’re now coming up on T500/1000 blinds with T125 ante.  Average stack is T27,089 with 701 remaining.

Top 522 pay.

And I have to pee.

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I’m continuing to live blog my play at the FTOPS main event, and we’re now entering the third hour.

First post here.

Second post here.

“Only” 1376 left with average stack T13,800 and me sitting on T20,458 in the top 300.

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(Here’s Part 1, posted an hour ago.)

When Stars held their $1000 trivia freeroll, over 12,000 players entered and I wound up in the top 100 which paid a little over a dollar.  If anything, even through donkfest crapshoots like those freerolls, I can survive.

We’re now at break #2 in the FTOPS main event.  If I can just hang on a couple more hours and my stomach doesn’t begin eating itself.

A couple weeks ago I found myself in a similar situation with no food and a refrigerator full of Taco Bell hot sauce packets.  A friend suggested I could make stew.

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Last week, I took the train to visit a shady part of town, with people hanging out on the street, “for rent” signs for cheap, and storefronts in a different language.

Was I buying drugs?  Was I looking for a crack whore?

No, I was depositing to an online poker site.

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If I’m not playing slots, the next best thing for me is watching people play. Anytime I see people winning I’m happy. I always hope for them to win and win big.

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Bear with me, I’m still reminiscing about the last Las Vegas trip the first week of April.

And man, do I love the town. I loved it before I moved there, while I lived there, and after I moved away. I appreciate it more now that I’m away, as you can tell by my stretching out these trip reports.

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