Donkey to Pro Blog

Newton’s PL 5-Card Draw Freeroll (PokerStars):

I had the “wonderful” luck of having 4 of my opponents sit out for the first 50 or so hands. This did give me some much needed heads-up practice but when my largest pot was $180, it’s a bit hard to build up a solid stack. After over 2,000 players were eliminated I finally got onto a real table.  There I got a wheel straight flush draw which unfortunately only netted me $750. About ten hands later, I got a full house, threes full of queens for $1,950. I picked up another $1,950 pot with three queens.

Unfortunately, my inability to build a stack early thanks to my inactive opponents caused me to get behind the curve. I basically had to wait to take a shot at doubling up. I lucked into quad fives worth $1,895 but I couldn’t build my stack any further. I took a shot at the wrong time and busted out in 1,221st place (out of 6,000).

National Heads-Up Freeroll Round 2 (PokerStars):

I played in two of these before but was booted early both times. I definitely wanted to improve on those performances this time and I definitely did. The tourney didn’t start well for me though. I ran into a maniac early and had to fold a few decent hands (pocket 7’s the best). I’m never good at playing this type of player since I play very tight and don’t like to call large raises unless I have a hand. I also got the pleasure of being stuck with several players that would go all-in nearly every hand. I’m not exactly sure how they qualified for the second round but I met several of them throughout the tourney.

After having nothing early on at all I finally hit three eights on the flop. Unfortunately, I only had one opponent who didn’t call my bet. I continued to get junk hands as the blinds continued to rise. I eventually had to take a shot with K/10 suited and lucked out when I hit a king and ten on the flop (I had the weakest hand before the flop). I won $2,065 on this hand then doubled up on the very next one. I definitely shouldn’t have won since I ran into a pair of aces against my nines. Luckily, I turned my hand into a full house and doubled up to $5,570. Before this bout of good luck, I had won a whopping one pot (which didn’t even go to a showdown).

After another streak of bad hands, I was able to milk $1,950 out of a player even though it should have been pretty obvious what I had. I didn’t exactly hide the fact that I had a good hand but my opponent called all my bets. This built my stack to $6,500 and put me into the top 100.

Yet again I ran into a long streak of bad hands. I eventually doubled up with two pair, queens and jacks which put me up to $9,880 in chips. Soon after I thought I had a good hand when I flopped a flush. Unfortunately, a fourth hit the board and I had to lay down when the other players went all-in. It was a good thing I did since my 10 and 9 would have placed third to an ace and a king. Pocket kings then helped me double up to $23,460, which put me 14 out of 390. I had to sweat it out though as my opponent only needed one more spade for a flush.

Later on I blew over half my stack calling a guy with pocket jacks (I had top two pair after the flop). I then lucked out when I went all-in with an ace with a lower kicker than my opponent. Luckily the board paired and we split the pot. I lucked out again when I went all-in with ace/queen and my opponent had a pair of 7’s. Luckily, the river brought a queen and allowed me to double up to $28,268. At this point I was #38 out of 191 players.

Even though I was in a good position at this point, I still managed to find a way to blow it like I always do during the middle and end of tournaments. I didn’t play many hands at all and I got aggressive at all the wrong times. Eventually, I tried to double up with a open-ended straight draw but my luck finally came to an end. I finished in 147th place, just 91 places away from a ticket to the final round.

Unfortunately, the tournament didn’t end the way I wanted but I’m still proud of myself since I at least managed to play pretty well in the middle and late stages. Other than two or three hands, I had pretty much nothing to work with either. If it weren’t for a tremendous amount of luck, I wouldn’t have even made it into the top half. Overall, I think this is probably the best I’ve played in a tournament thus far.

National Heads-Up Round 1 (PokerStars):

Since I’m out of round two tickets I tried to win myself another one for next week and I was successful. I started really well getting my first pocket aces of the day early in the tourney. I bled a lot of money from my lone opponent to get up to $2,400 quickly. I then followed that up with a pair of tens which turned into a flush that another player ultimately won.

Other than that my only real loss came when my pocket eights lost out to jacks. Luckily, I got it all back and more when I got a flush while all-in. I then flopped a straight soon after but unfortunately only got one taker when I went all-in. Soon after I got another straight, netting me a $4,000 pot. I also somehow won $1,400 on a flush where four hearts hit the table. Three other players didn’t have a heart and I won it with a low heart. At this point I have $9,645 and am ranked 78th out of 2,357 players. I then doubled up to $17,490 with a pair of sixes that my opponent called with just an ace and a six. The luck continued when I got a full house, aces full of seven and took $10,400 from the stacks of my opponents.

The most boneheaded opponent of the day award goes to someone who kept calling my large bets with just a king/jack and no help until the river. My aces easily beat his pair and I took the $20,550 pot. At this point I have well over $30,000 and am #29 out of 472. I know I’m safe and promptly fold just about every hand until only 200 players remained. This is the fourth ticket I’ve won to the National Heads-Up Round 2.

Hubble’s No Limit Hold’em Freeroll (PokerStars):

Lucked into pocket aces with a lot of opponents on the third hand. Unfortunately two other players had straights and I was quickly eliminated.

Hubble’s No Limit Hold’em Freeroll (PokerStars) Attempt #2:

After countless bad hands, I doubled up to $2,545 with a pair of sevens which turned into a straight. I then managed to milk $1,895 out of three players when I flopped a straight draw. Only managed to get $170 out of pocket aces turned trip aces though. The only other interesting hands were when I doubled up to $5,230 with a whopping ace high then gave most of it right back to the exact same player. Other than that, nothing really happened and I quietly busted out in 1,334th place (out of 9,000).

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