Monday, February 22, 2010

Going on a bit of a poker hiatus...

Well, it's been about a year into the endeavor of frugality now, and things have been going decently for the most part. I recently redeemed enough points for the hat I described about 10 months ago and also some iron man points for a jacket. Woot...

However, the cash game action has been a real downer lately. I won't bore with bad beat stories, but the pace of Rush poker really makes them come at an increased rate. Getting it all in good and losing three consecutive buyins to three outers is fantastic. Which is why playing poker is clearly a game of skill. The skill to suckout on me I guess.

Looking forward to redeeming my PokerStars SCOOP tickets compliments of the blogger tourneys last month, otherwise there will likely not be much transpiring here. Unless of course I get into discussing the home game action. :D

Monday, February 1, 2010

January 2010 recap

I figured I would give a quick update on the advancement of the endeavor for January. Here are the results, mostly thanks to Rush Poker :D

WBCOOP 2010 Recap

So, being firmly entrenched in the frugal poker endeavor, I am always looking for a way to start/build the bankroll with no risk. Thanks to a heads up by the illustrious Oh Captain, I was notified that PokerStars (which I have $0.00 of real money at) was holding a series of freerolls for active bloggers. (Amazingly this blog qualified even with the lack of action for >6 months). I ended up actually participating in three events, without making it on for the main event on Sunday.

The first event that I participated in was on Wednesday, January 27th at 5 pm in my time zone. Although I missed the first 45 minutes, I sat down with still a little over 1000 in chips. Two hands later, I was over 4000 and after folding for about 5 more hands, I busted both of the remaining players (because in my table of 9, only 3 were actually playing) with pocket kings... From there it went relatively decently until my AK was broken by J10 getting the Ace high straight on the turn, leaving me with a draw to a full house, which of course was not fulfilled. But...
PokerStars Tournament #280000003, No Limit Hold'em
Freeroll
1843 players
$5096.50 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $5096.50 USD
Tournament started 2010/01/27 18:00:00 ET


Dear deebakes,

You finished the tournament in 81st place.

You have won an admission ticket to 'SCOOP - $11 Entry'. This ticket allows you to participate only in a tournament of this type. Tickets are not redeemable for cash or Tournament US Dollars; if you register and then unregister from the tournament, your ticket will be returned.

To view your available tournament tickets, go to Requests > Tournament Tickets in the main lobby.

You earned 18.98 tournament leader points in this tournament. For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/


The second event I played in was on Friday night, January 29th. Because I am a degenerate, I signed up for this 8-game tournament, having no experience with most of the mixed games on a website at the least, and I don't think I have ever played Limit Omaha H/L (what a screwy game this is). Since I had no experience (and because I reached my Full Tilt Iron Man goal for the month of January), I played some play money 8-game at PokerStars on Thursday to get a sense of how discards are handled in 2-7 triple draw (which I crushed at in the tournament) and a little more Stud experience, while quadrupling my play money chips. I did okay in the stud versions during the actual tournament, and by okay I mean not losing a ton of money and probably breaking even in the end. Where I felt I had the biggest edge was in the PLO (which I have played a ton at Full Tilt) and the 2-7 triple draw, which I need to play more in the cash game after I get knocked out of my monthly poker group :) When was all said and done, here are the results:

PokerStars Tournament #280000005, 8-Game
Freeroll
1536 players
$5096.50 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $5096.50 USD
Tournament started 2010/01/29 19:00:00 ET


Dear deebakes,

You finished the tournament in 23rd place.

You have won an admission ticket to 'SCOOP - $33 Entry'. This ticket allows you to participate only in a tournament of this type. Tickets are not redeemable for cash or Tournament US Dollars; if you register and then unregister from the tournament, your ticket will be returned.

To view your available tournament tickets, go to Requests > Tournament Tickets in the main lobby.

You earned 32.52 tournament leader points in this tournament. For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/

23rd place! WTF! I'll take it for the first actual 8-game mixed action of relevance.

The last tourney was the Saturday No-Limit Hold Em event. Pretty blah for the most part (again missing the first 30-45 minutes with responsibilities) and played conservatively and again made the "ticket" group:

PokerStars Tournament #280000006, No Limit Hold'em
Freeroll
1939 players
$5096.50 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $5096.50 USD
Tournament started 2010/01/30 15:00:00 ET


Dear deebakes,

You finished the tournament in 100th place.

You have won an admission ticket to 'SCOOP - $11 Entry'. This ticket allows you to participate only in a tournament of this type. Tickets are not redeemable for cash or Tournament US Dollars; if you register and then unregister from the tournament, your ticket will be returned.

To view your available tournament tickets, go to Requests > Tournament Tickets in the main lobby.

You earned 17.52 tournament leader points in this tournament. For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/leader-board/


Two $11 tickets and one $33 ticket to this years SCOOP. Can't wait to look at the schedule and figure out how I can perhaps make the frugal endeavor reap benefits over at Stars! Wish me luck...