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.