I was looking for a low buyin MTT to play on PokerStars a couple of weeks ago. I was a bit surprised to see some new 20 table/ 180 player tournaments have been added.
There's now a turbo $2.20 180 man tournament. That looks promising with the $2.20 4 table sats to the Sunday Hundred apparently now gone. The buyin is right for my bankroll so I've tried out playing in some of them.
The standard of play is pretty bad. Opponents will stack off light both preflop and postflop. Of course when people call all in so often there will be more crazy beats and variance. KQ is the nuts in this tournament when it comes to calling an all in preflop. I can't believe how often I've seen people call all in with good stacks with KQ. The turbo format increases the randomness. Variance is great when you're stacking off bad players but bad when it knocks you out. From what I've seen this should be a profitable game to be in.
Although it seems it should be profitable, I haven't had much success yet. In 15 attempts I have just one cash, a 12th place. My ROI is -87%. The sample size is small but it may be a combination of running bad and not playing well. I may need to make some adjustments for push/fold mode with M in the range of 3-8. With the 10 and 15 minute levels I was used to there was more time when short stacked to wait for a pretty good hand to move all in with. I may need to open shove with a bit wider range and be more willing to gamble to keep my stack healthy even though I know opponents will call very light.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Monday, May 05, 2008
Stars WSOP freeroll
This year PokerStars is giving away 80 seats in a WSOP Main Event freeroll. I've been taking my weekly shot at this. I enjoy playing in freerolls. There's something relaxing about them.
This is the first year I've noticed PokerStars has given away WSOP seats without having to spend any money. In previous years you at least had to spend $3 in a preliminary rebuy satellite qualifier, followed by a $33 satellite, followed by a $650 satellite for the seats.
This year the barriers to winning a seat are much lower. You only have to beat out other freerollers to win a seat. From playing in them, these play like your basic, well, freeroll. Bad clueless players, play money players, people being silly and playing like donkeys. While average and good players are free to participate in this event, the fields are dominated by really bad players. Which means that bad players are going to win seats; and a bad player can win a seat by only having to face other bad players along the way. That wasn't the case last year. While the $3 event may have been a donkament, the $33 and $650 levels were tough and very tough competition.
I usually play in the Friday 11 PM EST event. The field is around 2500 people. Since 50 people advance to the next round you need to finish in the top 2% to qualify for the next round. That's actually not that daunting as I've been able to finish in and near the top 2% in a number of big MTTs. So it is certainly doable; especially since the level of competition in this freeroll is lower than that even in a $1 MTT.
So I was hoping I could at least get through a round 1 event and win an entry into the weekly final tournament where the seats are awarded. Of course the weekly final would be a very long shot but I really just wanted to be in a tournament with the big prizes to be won.
I came pretty close last Friday. But I feel I messed up and may have blown my best chance of getting through a round 1 event.
I was having a nice run. My good hands were holding up, and I managed to stack a number of bad players. There were 117 left of around 2500 entrants. I had 45,000 chips. The average stack was around 30,000. I was around 25th in the leaderboard. Not quite enough chips to fold into a seat but getting closer. The top 50 finishers advance to the round 2 final tournament. Then this hand happened.
Poker Stars, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,500/3,000 Blinds ante 300, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter
SB: 88,775
BB: 35,656
Hero (UTG): 44,990
UTG+1: 46,493
MP: 3,132
MP: 50,809
CO: 14,668
BTN: 3,738 (sitting out)
Pre-Flop: (6,900)
Dealt to Hero (UTG) [Ac Kc]
Hero raises to 7,500, UTG+1 calls 7,500, MP calls 2,832 and is All-In, 5 folds
--> In a turbo with an effective M less than 6 the best move was to shove. I'd just moved to this table and had a lapse in thinking and made a standard raise.
Flop: (24,732) 7h 4h 7d (3 Players - 1 All-In)
Hero bets 37,190 and is All-In, UTG+1 calls 37,190
--> On the flop we both have around a PSB left. Most flops miss most players so I tried to take it with a go and go. Unfortunately he had hit his miracle flop and I was knocked out.
Turn: (99,112) Ks (3 Players - 3 are All-In)
River: (99,112) 3h (3 Players - 3 are All-In)
Results: 99,112 Pot
Hero showed Ac Kc (two pair, Kings and Sevens) and LOST (-44,990 NET)
UTG+1 showed 6s 7s (three of a kind, Sevens) and WON 99,112 (+54,122 NET)
MP showed Jc Qc (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-3,132 NET)
I wish I had shoved preflop. Then UTG+1 would have folded and I would have chipped up by another 10K and would have been very close to being able to qualify with a top 50 finish. I wonder if this will prove to have been my best chance of reaching the weekly final.
This is the first year I've noticed PokerStars has given away WSOP seats without having to spend any money. In previous years you at least had to spend $3 in a preliminary rebuy satellite qualifier, followed by a $33 satellite, followed by a $650 satellite for the seats.
This year the barriers to winning a seat are much lower. You only have to beat out other freerollers to win a seat. From playing in them, these play like your basic, well, freeroll. Bad clueless players, play money players, people being silly and playing like donkeys. While average and good players are free to participate in this event, the fields are dominated by really bad players. Which means that bad players are going to win seats; and a bad player can win a seat by only having to face other bad players along the way. That wasn't the case last year. While the $3 event may have been a donkament, the $33 and $650 levels were tough and very tough competition.
I usually play in the Friday 11 PM EST event. The field is around 2500 people. Since 50 people advance to the next round you need to finish in the top 2% to qualify for the next round. That's actually not that daunting as I've been able to finish in and near the top 2% in a number of big MTTs. So it is certainly doable; especially since the level of competition in this freeroll is lower than that even in a $1 MTT.
So I was hoping I could at least get through a round 1 event and win an entry into the weekly final tournament where the seats are awarded. Of course the weekly final would be a very long shot but I really just wanted to be in a tournament with the big prizes to be won.
I came pretty close last Friday. But I feel I messed up and may have blown my best chance of getting through a round 1 event.
I was having a nice run. My good hands were holding up, and I managed to stack a number of bad players. There were 117 left of around 2500 entrants. I had 45,000 chips. The average stack was around 30,000. I was around 25th in the leaderboard. Not quite enough chips to fold into a seat but getting closer. The top 50 finishers advance to the round 2 final tournament. Then this hand happened.
Poker Stars, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,500/3,000 Blinds ante 300, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter
SB: 88,775
BB: 35,656
Hero (UTG): 44,990
UTG+1: 46,493
MP: 3,132
MP: 50,809
CO: 14,668
BTN: 3,738 (sitting out)
Pre-Flop: (6,900)
Dealt to Hero (UTG) [Ac Kc]
Hero raises to 7,500, UTG+1 calls 7,500, MP calls 2,832 and is All-In, 5 folds
--> In a turbo with an effective M less than 6 the best move was to shove. I'd just moved to this table and had a lapse in thinking and made a standard raise.
Flop: (24,732) 7h 4h 7d (3 Players - 1 All-In)
Hero bets 37,190 and is All-In, UTG+1 calls 37,190
--> On the flop we both have around a PSB left. Most flops miss most players so I tried to take it with a go and go. Unfortunately he had hit his miracle flop and I was knocked out.
Turn: (99,112) Ks (3 Players - 3 are All-In)
River: (99,112) 3h (3 Players - 3 are All-In)
Results: 99,112 Pot
Hero showed Ac Kc (two pair, Kings and Sevens) and LOST (-44,990 NET)
UTG+1 showed 6s 7s (three of a kind, Sevens) and WON 99,112 (+54,122 NET)
MP showed Jc Qc (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-3,132 NET)
I wish I had shoved preflop. Then UTG+1 would have folded and I would have chipped up by another 10K and would have been very close to being able to qualify with a top 50 finish. I wonder if this will prove to have been my best chance of reaching the weekly final.
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