Well, today I decided to take another shot at winning a PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) seat. It was the same tournament that I won last time. This time though, the tournament guaranteed 30 seats. I had to beat out a field of 677 for one of those 30 seats…….and well, I did it again! I won!
This time though, since I already have a PCA seat, which is worth $15,130; I get to keep the cash! It really is helpful since I really am still in bankroll-building mode.
This time, unlike last time, I got really lucky in 2 key hands in the middle stages of the tournament. I was extremely card dead for the majority of the tourney too. All of this, then as we approached the bubble I finally caught a couple good hands and was stealing successfully. By the end of the tournament, I was one of the big stacks, and was able to push pretty much any 2 cards.
Whew, what a great last month!
Again, a parting shot of the Atlantis (where the PCA is held):
Oh….and if you want to take a shot at winning trips like this click on the PokerStars ad you see at the top of this web page and download the software. It would be a nice way of supporting my site!
I just got finished playing the $700 tournament to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure held at the Atlantis in the Bahamas, a package worth $15,130……and I won!!!!!! Just like the win of the step 6 for the World Series of Poker back in June, I am sooooo excited. This time though, I am not taking the cash (which I don’t even think is an option) and am going to treat myself to a nice little trip in January.
The tournament started with 562 runners and only 24 were going to be Bahama-bound. The tournament ended up lasting just over 7 hours. When it was all said and done, ‘NoMeNot’ was in the final 24!!!!
In the tournament I got really unlucky at times, but for the majority I never took any real bad beats. My hands held up. In fact, at one time well before the bubble I was down to under 5 big blinds and managed to crawl myself back into it. Very similar to the WSOP step 6 win. Maybe I should play more tournament like I have a stack under 5 BB’s.
So happy, don’t know what to do with myself. So I will leave you with a parting shot of the Atlantis, where I will be come January:
So I left off talking (last post) about how I was lucky enough to turn four step 4′s into a step 6. I actually went ahead and decided to play my only step 6 on Sunday afternoon. Well to make a long story short, I won my seat to the WSOP! It is a package that is worth 12 thousand dollars!
I am so excited, even 24 hours later, I don’t know where to begin.
As I was browsing the lobby at PokerStars, I saw a step 6 had 10 of the needed 12 players signed up. The field was tough as what would be expected in a step 6, but I didn’t care. Something inside told me that this was the one to play. So I listened to my gut and signed up.
The game moved along incredibly slowly since we started with pretty deep stacks and the blinds were not escalating as they would in a turbo. There was definitely plenty of play. Some players obviously knew this as I noticed alot of deep-stack-type plays such as “floating.” I had to adjust pretty quickly.
It was nearly an hour later and only 1 of the 12 starting players had been knocked out, and you could sense other players making moves to try and chip up. When the following hand came up:
Depending on how you look at it, AK is really a tough decision here. I could easily make a case for folding. However, I really thought that the button (M555SSM) was making a move. Up to this point he had shown he is not afraid to reraise pre. I thought he was just making a squeeze play here, and well Wes was cold calling all day. I also felt that the SB who pushed all in knew this as well. So I thought his range of hands here could easily be behind my AK.
I took up quite a bit of time as I finally made the decision to call. Unfortunately it didn’t work out, but I am still happy with my call. So it looked like this tournament was not mine to win as I was left with 7 big blinds as the blinds moved up to 75/150 the next hand. I was really in dismay thinking that it was over. But I never gave up!
I slowly worked my stack back up to find myself in the final 3. It was then that I was confident that the seat was mine. I knew it was just a matter of time. A little while longer, the other two stacks played a huge hand in which one player got lucky to win. It was a hand that I was shocked to see played out the way it was, but I was elated as the player that won had more chips than the other; meaning we were down to 2 players. The game was over. I won a seat (two were up for grabs).
I was jumping up and down like a school girl at field day. I took a desktop pic of the lobby after I won to just make it official as I was still pinching myself.
So now I am 12 thousand dollars richer! I have since decided to take the cash and opt out of playing in the the WSOP. I might however attempt to win another seat. If I do win another, I will definitely play the main event then.
I also want to note that a poker goal of mine that I set in October of ’07 has FINALLY been reached. It was my 100 to 10k goal. I was up to 5k within 6 months and nearly lost it all and then I basically had to start over. I was starting to question if I would ever make it. Now, I am looking forward to my next goal 10k to 100k. Wish me luck!
Oh….if you wanted to see the full hand history of the step 6:
I just fired up a $20 180 man SNG and managed to take it down for a cool $1080. It definitely helped as I have been losing a little more than I would have liked as my BR had gotten back down to the $1500 mark. (was at $2200)
I am definitely happy with my play. I have also decided to play more satellites with the hopes of making a really big score. It seems that almost every satty I play, I win. So, I have played in a few $100-$150 MTTs. I haven’t cashed, but reviewing my play I am pleased with some of the decisions I have made. I am confident I will eventually get a big (5 figure) win.
Also, I have been playing more cash games and been doing pretty well on that front too. 5 card draw has been good to me recently as well as .25/.50 NLHoldem.
One last thing that I have been doing more of is playing more steps. I have played a total 82 step 1s and I have 26 step 2′s ready to go. I have gotten first or second 32% of the time, and nothing at all only 43%. That is pretty close to the numbers I expected and achieved last year. Again, I hoping to get a number of step 6′s saved up to play when the WSOP steps start. If you would like more info on the steps system check out www.pokerstars.com.
Outside of that, the baby date is getting closer and closer, and I can really feel her kicking when holding my wife’s stomach. It’s crazy.
I just got finished playing the $4.40 Limit Draw MTT on Stars for the second night in a row, and for the second night in a row I walk away as the winner. Tonight I bested a field of 120 for another $144.
When I got to the final table I was chipleader but I had my doubts. I really didn’t like my table position based on the stacks or the players’ styles. I slipped down to last place with four people left, only to change my strategy.
After a long fought battle at the final table I made it headsup with a 5-4 chip deficit. Then I played one of my tougher HU’s. Not only due to the opponent, but every time I seemed to put him in, he would have a slightly better hand than me. To take a quote from rounders, he truly had alligator blood. It was back and forth a ton, and at one point I had my whole stack in the middle to only get lucky to outdraw his hand. That would be the one and only time my chip stack was put all in for the whole tournament.
I am really pleased with my play, and though it is not for the amounts of money that I have played for in the past, I am excited to win two in a row!
*Knock on wood* I have been absolutely killing limit 5 card draw cash games this weekend. Is it skill? Not sure, it could just be a hot run of cards. One thing is for sure, I am up. I have won about $800 in 5/10 and 10/20 Limit 5 Card Draw.
I also have been getting really deep in some of the NLH tourneys I have played as of late. I just haven’t gotten to a final table, which is where all the money is. It gets really frustrated at the levels that I am at (3-30 buyin level) because the fields are soooo large. I sit there and play for over 6 hours just to bust out in the final 3 tables on some ridiculous beat and not much of a payday.
But I know that if I can just continue to get deep in these things, I am bound to break through with a big win. It is just a matter of time.
On another note, I have played in some more WCOOP steps but not as much as I hoped. I have maybe profited $30 dollars in those in the past week. I haven’t been really good at record keeping as of late, which is probably not the best thing.
Another thing that I have been doing is trying out PL 5 card draw mtts. It is totally different from limit. I find that I am too much of a calling station in PL. Calling what looks like bluffs can be a good thing in limit, but one wrong decision in PL and I will be grasping for my tourney life. The main reason I have been doing this is due to Pokerstars offering only a PL draw mtt in the upcoming WCOOP (which I plan to play in).
