Posts Tagged ‘satellite’

Last week’s double float cost me about half my chips on the first hand of the $700 NAPT-Los Angeles satellite and was not so popular with the commenters. Here’s a similar bluff somewhat deeper in the same tournament this week. Our Villain is a slightly better target: I couldn’t tell you much about his playstyle, but overall I believe he’s a better player than last week’s Villain. I described the previous opponent as a 3rd tier Pocket Fiver, and this guy would be closer to top tier, maybe tier 1.5

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 250/500 Blinds 25 Ante (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t38150)
CO (t19145)
Button (t46070)
Hero (SB) (t15484)
BB (t40291)
UTG (t10654)
UTG+1 (t16138)
MP1 (t29062)

Hero’s M: 16.30

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, K
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t1250, 4 folds, Hero calls t1000, 1 fold

Flop: (t3200) 4, 8, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

Turn: (t3200) J (2 players)
Hero bets t2468, UTG+1 calls t2468

River: (t8136) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t6666, 1 fold

Total pot: t8136

Results:
Hero didn’t show A, K (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t8136  Read the complete post...

3 spots pay

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 109 Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 50 Ante (4 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (UTG) (t8288)
Button (t219)
SB (t4401)
BB (t17092)

Hero’s M: 10.36

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 8, 8
Hero calls t400, Button calls t169 (All-In), SB calls t200, BB bets t17042 (All-In), 2 folds

Flop: (t1569) Q, 10, K (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t1569) J (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t1569) 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t1569

Results:
Button had 8, 10 (one pair, tens).
BB had A, A (straight, Ace high).
Outcome: BB won t1569

Anything other than checking it down all the way here is just preposterously bad and demonstrates a really fundamental lack of understanding of satellite strategy. This was surprising because Villain is a Team PokerStars Online Pro who plays a ton of these things and had otherwise played quite well as we approached the bubble.

None of us here has an interest in anything other than maximizing the odds of busting the short stack on this hand.

There was a rarity on Poker Stars on Sunday: substantial overlay in one of their major tournaments. They ended up contributing nearly $100,000 in overlay to reach the 40-seat guaranteed in the $700 PCA satellite. This hand occurred with 114 players remaining. The average stack was 20K, and I figured my 15K gave me about a 50/50 shot at a seat.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 300/600 Blinds 70 Ante (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t18789)
UTG+1 (t12630)
MP1 (t35373)
Hero (MP2) (t15444)
MP3 (t15640)
CO (t6981)
Button (t16283)
SB (t3596)
BB (t42214)

Hero’s M: 10.09

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J, J
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t1777, 1 fold, Hero raises to t15374 (All-In), 5 folds, UTG+1 calls t10783 (All-In)

Flop: (t26650) K, Q, 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t26650) 10 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t26650) 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t26650

Results:
UTG+1 had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Hero had J, J (one pair, Jacks).
Outcome: UTG+1 won t26650  Read the complete post...

I’ve been spending most of my time these last few weeks camping, most recently at an amazing site in Arches National Park, and emerging only occasionally to play poker and catch up with the outside world. Annoyingly, this means I’m often at the mercy of either a hotel internet connection or my Aircard, neither of which provides quite as good of an internet connection as one would like when one is playing poker for thousands of dollars. So today the Poker Stars lobby was running at a crawl and I was trying to register for some tournaments while playing other games at the same time. I selected the $200 Sunday Million and clicked OK… or so I thought.

Half an hour earlier than I was expecting, a window popped up with my table. “Welcome to the $2000+$100 single table PCA satellite” it read, or something to that effect. Whoops.

It was definitely too late to unregister through the Poker Stars client. I quickly surveyed my opponents. They were a who’s who of high stakes sit-and-go sharks: Zangbezan, ActionJeff, busto_soon, stevie444, a few others recognized, and two I did not. Even the ones I recognized weren’t necessarily soft spots. For all I know, they could have been fantastic sit-and-go specialists. I hate the things myself and haven’t played them regularly for years. I was sure my proficiency with the proper and shoving and calling ranges was going to be rusty.  Read the complete post...

“Super Satellite
Buy-In: $665.00/$35.00 USD
585 players
Total Prize Pool: $389025.00 USD
Target Tournament #201001051 Buy-In: $14130.00 USD
25 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started 2009/11/01 18:00:00 ET

Dear foucault82,

Congratulations – You have won a package for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) 2010 Main Event. The PCA is at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas! You’ll be checking in at the Atlantis on Monday, January 4, 2010, and checking out on Tuesday, January 12. Your hotel reservation covers you and one guest.”

I go back and forth on whether it’s even worth playing the satellites for these big buy-in international tournaments. By the time you pay travel expenses, currency exchange vig, etc., the tournaments aren’t generally such a hot investment. Not to mention the variance that comes with playing these things on my own money.

I’m usually able to convince myself that the satellites themselves are usually a uniquely good value. They tend to be some of the higher buy-in events offered on Stars, and I think my edge is particularly large in the satellite format because so many people tend to play so badly on the bubble.  Read the complete post...

Went out to the Rio last night, primarily to meet Nate from 2+2. Traffic was atrocious, so it took me like twice as long to get there as it should have, but I still had about two hours to play. I got a seat in a new game, and when I got there, there were like five people at the table and three other piles of chips with no player in sight. The dealer asked if we wanted to get started, and I was of course all for it, but this thirty-something Jewish dude on my left who looked like a giant prick said he wouldn’t play until a sixth got there. He sounded like a giant prick when he said it.

There were 61 players remaining in a Poker Stars $650 satellite, and 51 seats to be won. We were already at the point where we’d be getting our buyins back. I was in like 49th or so place with 25K chips at 1250/2500 and had a nice spot for stealing. On my right were a far too tight short stack and a guy with a huge stack who was just folding virtually everything. On my left were two stacks about equal to my own, and the guy two to my left was someone I knew to be a successful tournament player. Action folds to me on the button, I shove J9s, “decent” tourney player calls me with AT and wins the flip.

He had me covered, but barely, so it was very near to being a flip for his life. Even if he puts me on any two, which isn’t correct but not an unreasonable assumption, he’s only a 68-32 favorite. As a good player at this stage of the tournament, he’s probably got at least a 70% chance of winning a seat if he folds this hand, and of course busting me doesn’t guarantee him a seat anyway.

Thinking about this river play cheers me up a little though:  Read the complete post...

Big congratulations to my friend and former student Todd, who just won a $12K WSOP package in a Poker Stars $10 rebuy satellite. Just days after completing my inaugural group seminar, he effectively quadrupled his bankroll. Naturally I take full credit.

In all seriousness, though, Todd’s a bright, hungry player, and he definitely had a big score coming to him.

It’s been a big month for my former students, with Diego also winning a WSOP package and final tabling the FTOPS main event. I wish I could play so good. I guess those that can, do…

By the way, I’ve just wrapped the first group seminar, which went very well, and I only have one individual student at the moment. So if you’re interested in coaching, this is a good time for me to pick up a few new students.

Cost for individual lessons is $250/hour. I probably won’t run another group seminar until after the WSOP, but when I do, cost will likely be $100/student/hour. I generally aim to work with students for 5-10 hours over the course of a few weeks, and the lessons are designed to run very efficiently. There’s a lot of content packed into every session, ensuring you a ton of value for your money.  Read the complete post...