Grubby at PokerWorks

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.

I practiced tight play and all my showdowns I was ahead and held up.  Unfortunately, tight pay only gets you to cash at the bottom, but at least it’s a cash (made more by the fact I entered through a satellite).  I did two moves that could’ve gone the other way when the Button raised and I pushed from the blinds.

Final hand was against pro Stuart Paterson who raised all-in on the cut-off.

I was BB and was ready to call with A10o.  Him pushing there (for 20x my stack) seemed a big overbet and I felt my Ace high was good.  Besides, I’d let myself blind out and had enough chips for just one or two more rounds.

However, players were dropping like flies and I thought I could fold one more round to last two more levels (another $100).  While I was letting my 15-second clock run out, five more people dropped.

I won a satellite into this tournament and was on the leaderboard with having won 5 or 6 total (for some reason Full Tilt took it down just as the tourney began).  ArtieRufio31 — who ended up at my table later on — was in 1st place ($400) at 9 satellites, but some others and I were shooting for 2nd place ($200).

I think GallopingGhost squeaked into 2nd with about 7 or 8.  We were at the same table in a satellite where 1 out of 4 got in, and he said he won two other SnGs while we were playing.

Playing those $69+6 satellite SnGs where the top 3 get seats are fun.  The prize is a little more than what you’d get for 2nd place in a regular $69+6 SnG.  The last two I played I placed 1st, so I felt like I lost $100 each in the comparable $69+6, but this was countered by squeaking past the bubble in two others.

I kept track of my fellow satellite leaderboard players and I believe I outlasted all of them.

Back to the hand — I’m five away from moving up to the next level, about $50 more.  That would’ve put the prize at $415, or $15 over the 1st place for most satellites won.

My other thought was that even if I doubled-up, it wouldn’t have been enough to be threatening.  I may as well keep folding up the money ladder.

Railbird chat followed Paterson and they told me to call, that he was bluffing, that it was my only chance to double, etc.  This included people chatting at my own table who should’ve known better.  Annoying as anything.  Poker Stars at least disables chat while a player is all-in.

Ultimately I called because I wanted to see what Paterson would push with in that situation, and it’d be fun to crack him.  But with 55, he had better than Ace high, and there was no cracking.

For his part, Paterson admonished the player at the table for talking during the hand.

That player lasted to 204th for $415.

I was out in 222nd for $363.

Paterson finished 71st for $831.

Played limit to try to bump that up to $400 but lost a couple hundred in the process.  I’m terrible at cash games.

Tonight is the $50k Memorial Day tournament.  It’s $50+5, and I’d planned to play five $7+0.70 satellite SnGs to get in.  If I could win just 1 out of 5, I’d be ahead.  Plus, 2nd place pays a little more than money back at $10.

I won the first one I played, so I’ll be entering the tourney $47.29 ahead.  Cashing in this tournament isn’t as significant (about $75), so I plan to play looser and bust out or double-up early.

I’m so hooked on these $0.5m+ tourneys that its prize money at 10 percent will pale in comparison, but still, 1st place will pay at least $10,000.

That’d be enough for two CDs.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 28th, 2007 at 6:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.