Poker Stars WSOP $1 Million giveaway: Weekly Final Live Blog

10:00 am I qualified into this tournament on Tuesday in one of the hourly tournaments that Poker Stars is running. The actual qualifying tournament was pretty much a super turbo rush job. I was surprised when I looked at the tournament info at the $5,000 starting stack and the blinds starting off small and lasting for 15 minutes. It's actually somewhat of a real tournament and not just a poosh fest. I don't know if that's good or bad for me. It's a half an hour before the tournament starts and there's already over 7,000 runners.

It's funny how excited I am about this tournament. It's the same feeling I get when I buy a lotto ticket. I get to dream about what I would do if I won. I'm picturing myself driving out to Vegas, entering into my suite at the Palms, hob nobbing with all the poker glitterati, you get the picture. Ahhh, dreaming. I don't do as much of it as I used to. So for a couple of hours I get to dream.

10:30 am 7,795 runners start it off, people are already playing 10x the blind on the first couple of hands. Sigh.

10:45 blinds up to 15/30 I'm at 4,800 in chips. Saw a couple of flops but nothing happened. Stack: largest 20355, smallest 10, average 5261 Your current position is 5195 out of 7424.

11:00 am blinds 25/50 I'm at 6,895 in chips. Won a couple of hands and split a plot to get up above the starting stack. Stack: largest 29325, smallest 100, average 5841 Your current position is 384 out of 6681

11:15 blinds 50/100 I won another couple of pots to double my starting stack. $10,445. Feeling pretty good about my play right now. Stack: largest 35610, smallest 180, average 6239 Your current position is 814 out of 6263

11:30 first break blinds 75/150. I'm at $10,945. Was a slow level for me. I actually got check-raised out of a pot that somewhat hurt. OK, got to go pee. Stack: largest 41595, smallest 70, average 6881 Your current position is 759 out of 5664

11:50 blinds 100/200. My first huge all in bluff works. Thank God. $14,570 in chips. I'm also at a new table, a couple of stacks larger than mine. Stack: largest 77640, smallest 50, average 8003 Your current position is 560 out of 4880

12:13 I'm out. The stupid hand that crippled me. I don't know what the hell I was thinking, couldn't lay it down. I hate myself right now....

PokerStars Game #18443112332: Tournament #84389993, Freeroll Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (125/250) - 2008/06/28 - 15:07:35 (ET)
Table '84389993 974' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: raster1 (13410 in chips)
Seat 2: Marto28 (3380 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 3: ashhardwares (11109 in chips)
Seat 4: Nuscas (3275 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 5: bub66ohm (14270 in chips)
Seat 6: MrSiggs (21243 in chips)
Seat 7: Cigman420 (3525 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 8: headsuppkr (9400 in chips)
Seat 9: SLOWHANDS59 (12158 in chips)
raster1: posts the ante 25Marto28: posts the ante 25
ashhardwares: posts the ante 25
Nuscas: posts the ante 25
bub66ohm: posts the ante 25
MrSiggs: posts the ante 25
Cigman420: posts the ante 25
headsuppkr: posts the ante 25
SLOWHANDS59: posts the ante 25
MrSiggs: posts small blind 125
Cigman420: posts big blind 250
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to bub66ohm [8c Jc]
headsuppkr: folds
SLOWHANDS59: calls 250
raster1: calls 250
Marto28: folds
ashhardwares: calls 250
Nuscas: folds
bub66ohm: calls 250
MrSiggs: calls 125
Cigman420: folds

*** FLOP *** [5h Jd Js]
MrSiggs: checks
SLOWHANDS59: checks
raster1: checks
ashhardwares: checks
bub66ohm: bets 800
MrSiggs: folds
SLOWHANDS59: folds
raster1: calls 800
ashhardwares: folds

*** TURN *** [5h Jd Js] [2s]
raster1: checks
bub66ohm: bets 1600
raster1: raises 1600 to 3200
bub66ohm: raises 9995 to 13195 and is all-in
raster1: calls 9135 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (860) returned to bub66ohm

*** RIVER *** [5h Jd Js 2s] [6d]

*** SHOW DOWN ***raster1: shows [2h Jh] (a full house, Jacks full of Deuces)
bub66ohm: shows [8c Jc] (three of a kind, Jacks)
raster1 collected 27995 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 27995 Rake 0 Board [5h Jd Js 2s 6d]Seat 1: raster1 showed [2h Jh] and won (27995) with a full house, Jacks full of DeucesSeat 2: Marto28 folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 3: ashhardwares folded on the FlopSeat 4: Nuscas folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 5: bub66ohm (button) showed [8c Jc] and lost with three of a kind, JacksSeat 6: MrSiggs (small blind) folded on the FlopSeat 7: Cigman420 (big blind) folded before FlopSeat 8: headsuppkr folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 9: SLOWHANDS59 folded on the Flop

There it is. In a live tourney I probably only call in that spot and then get out of the way. Here I think I can push someone off of a hand, he obviously check raised me with something and I wasn't going to get him off the hand. Shit. Oh well, maybe next year. I think I'm going to go play some live cash at the Lady Luck as soon as I cool off.

Tournament re-cap

Ho hum. Yet ANOTHER final table appearance by yours truly. That's 7 final tables in my last 12 live tournaments. I really should play live more often. Maybe it's just where I play. Although I went 2 for 4 in Vegas in February.

I wish it would transfer to my online playing. I don't think it's because I'm a great reader of people that I play better live. It might be because I don't make a lot of bored donkey moves in a live tournament for fear of embarrassing myself. I have no such fear when I'm playing online. I really have a hard time keeping my concentration up over a couple of hours in online MTT's. Playing live I really watch what's going on around me and rate the players I'm playing against much more than I do online. Who knows. Maybe I just catch cards live. I caught a few today.

First level of the tournament. The guy two to my right raises to $200 from 25/50 blinds. I look down at 10-10. I call the $200 to see the flop, everyone else folds. The flop comes Q-10-x. Dude is first to act and bets $1,000. The tournament starts off with $3,000 in chips. I'm not going to call, I can't see him having queens, maybe a-q? I push the rest of my stack and declare myself all in. He looks at me, and calls saying he hopes I don't have a queen because I'm in trouble if I do. He tables A-A I flop over my set, he doesn't improve and I've doubled through him. The amazing thing is he is the son of the guy I doubled through back in the $100 tournament I played at viejas in December. Really cool guy, he's in a wheelchair but plays some great poker. The really amazing thing is that he only had about $150 in chips after that hand but played himself all the way back to the final table himself. It was a win - win situation which was pretty cool cuz I like the guy a lot.

I take down a couple of more pots including knocking a guy out when my 8-3 in the big blind turned into a full house on the river and he got all of his chips in with A-8. Guess he should have raised me out of the pot. Eventually we color up and then the table is broken.

The blinds are moving up faster now. I'm down to about 9 $500 chips after the $100 chips are colored up. A lot of stealing going on. Finally, I'm in the small blind when a guy to my left goes all in with K-Qo. I look down and find A-A. I call (I think I have him out stacked barely), he doesn't improve and for the first time that day at the tables I sat at AA didn't get cracked. Whoo, I have some breathing room now. I steal a couple of blinds, I'm up to about 24 or 25 pinkies, then this hand happens.

The guy opens from UTG or real close with an all in for about half of what I have. I look down at A-Q suited. I think about it for a minute and finally call. everyone else folds. He turns over 6-6. Flop A-J-6. I can't catch him and he takes down half of my chips. the blinds at this level I believe are 3-6 pink.

We are down to 3 tables when we color up to.... um I'm not sure what that color is. Some kind of ugly light green, not the dark green which equals $25. Anyway they are $2,500 chips. After we race for chips and I don't catch a one, I'm left with 3 of the puke green chips. Actually it must have been broken down to two tables, twenty players left in the tourney. I'm in the big blind with my 2 chips and one behind. The small blind raises me and I call blind. He has 9-6o. I have 10-3o. We both wiff on the flop, the turn, and the river. Whoo-hoooo!!! Double up for me but I still have a lot of work to do.

Maybe the pivotal hand for me is one I don't play at all. The wheelchair guy raise to 6 chips (blind are 1-2 Puke greens or pg's) I look down at A-J suited. There's only about 13 of us left and if I call I only have 3 chips behind and if I raise he is sure to call having me out stacked. I lay it down. I was figuring him for a pocket pair and didn't want to get in a race. After the tournament he told me he was holding A-Q. Good thing I didn't call. A few hands later an all-in 3 way occurs, 2 guys bust and we are into the final table.

At the final table everybody decides to chop even. It was unbelievable. There were 3 stacks that were easily ahead of the others. I don't know if it was me. I was probably in the middle somewhere but was more than willing to take 4th place money without playing a hand.

How about that? Some actual poker content. I'm going to have to start making notes when I play because there were some better hands that I was involved with but can't for the life of me remember. Including a couple I lost.

The bad thing is that I donked off a couple of buy ins on those gosh darned one armed bandits. If I could stay away from those I'd probably be a winning player.

Tomorrow I'm entered in to some Poker Stars Free Roll. The top 4 prizes are are an entry into the 2008 WSOP Main Event. Wish me luck, I'm going to have to lay a bunch of bad beats on a lot of people to take that one down.