Mookie Final Table

To say that Wednesday's Mookie started out well for me would be a massive understatement. In the first level I called four raises with pocket pairs and flopped a set EVERY TIME. I also had AA on the button once and raise but got no action. After the first level I only had 3975 to show for it.

The next couple of levels I stood steady until 30/60 with 3705 to start the hand. I raised 55 UTG to 150 and was 3bet by Alceste to 450 and I called. Flop q105hhh, I check, Alceste bets 880 leaving 1400 behind and I ship, get called, and see QQ with the Qh. I fade the turn and river and I am sitting at 6537. The rest of the first hour I don't think I won a single pot. I raised 3-4 times and was 3bet every time and had to give them up. At first break I had 5625. You would think I might have a little more after flopping 5 sets and getting aces once.

I was chipped down all the way to 4815 1/2 way through the second hour when I picked-up AQ at 100/200 and raised it up to 600 and summer_babe flatted from the button with a stack just under mine. I check the As3s6c flop with the full intention of getting it all in. summer_babe bets near pot to 1200 and I CRAI and get called by, wait for it, 88! OK, turn and river brick off and I am up to 9565. The rest of the second hour is rather uneventful and I have 10,470 at the break.

In hour 3 I blind down just south of 9k and call a 4k stack shove with 1010 and see AK. I hold and have around 11k after the hand. I was cruising along well having it as high as 16k before I dropped to 13k and the big hand of the tournament happens. I get QQ in the bb and willwonka shoves 5.6k into me from the sb. I call and see AJcc. Flop gives him a gutter, turn is the A and I am knocked down to 7800 and near the bottom of the 13 players remaining. After that hand I end up folding into the final table with about 5600 and 7bbs.

At the final table I was down to 3900 in the sb and it was folded to me and I shoves 97 and was called by Loretta8's K10. I flopped the 9 and got the double to 8500. After a lot of folding and 4 shoves that were not called we were down to 7 handed. Lorett8 raises UTG and I shove my 13k stack in with 1010. Loretta calls and I see QQ. Board bricks out and I am done in 7th.

Considering my lifetime record in the Mookie I was happy with the result. Also, congrats to nzgreen who was on the call with loser64 and myself. He played the $4k gtd HORSE tournament at the same time and finished 2nd for around $750.

Steps are going OK for me. Right now I have the following:

Step 4 - 1
Step 3 - 2
Step 2 - 3

I am going to try and play them by Saturday and see if I can get in the WSOP satellite on Sunday afternoon.

Mission Live Blog

07:15 - Signed up for the first 18 man of the day. Going to start up a 9 man as well. Off we go...

07:31 - Out in the 9 man. KQ lost to K7 on a KJ7 flop. UTG limp no good vs blind, finished 8th.

07:54 - 7th in the 18 man good for a redo. 1010 vs AK with a K on the river all-in pre.

08:04 - One last 18 man before I need to get some work done.

08:35 - I'm going to fucking puke. 5k pot when it all went in on the turn. A10 vs A2 on a 6J3A board. River 2 to cripple me. Fuck me, out in 9th good for a redo.

09:28 - 12 left in an 18 man 99 vs 77 AIPF QJ10X7 - Run good continues. Also played a Super Turbo and out early.

14:01 - I just 4bet shoved AQ in the 1st level of a 9 man and was called by 92. Of course they hit the 2 which was good.

10:10 - When I lose every flip and even lose when I have them dead to 2-3 outs I'm in trouble. Played 3 more, a small $0.60 return is a Step 1 Super Turbo and redos in a 9 and 18 man.

10:35 - It just never fucking ends. QJ loses to Q8 AIPF. Lucky it was vs a short stack.

13:11 - Through 9 Step 1 buy-ins I have cash back to enter another one along with 3 Step 1 tickets. So I am a net 5 buy-in loser with zero Step 2's to show so far.

14:28 - Holy shit!!!! I won one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14:47 - Is two in a row considered a streak? If so, I'm on one. I have 5 buy-ins left and 2 Step 2's to show for it so far.

15:38 - Taking a break and will be back at it tonight. Probably playing the Mookie as well.

18:40 - Brag: Won 3 in a row; Beat: I'm still -ev; Variance: Had Little Caesars for dinner.

22:38 - 4 in a row. I was a short stack with 13 left and then got KK, QQ and AA.

22:38 cont - Mookie - 4 sets and AA once in the first half hour. More than double my starting stack already.

23:00 - 1st break of the Mookie with t5625. My last three raises were 3-bet.

23:55 - Hour 2 of the Mookie in the books. I have t10,470 good for 6/31.

00:35 - QQ loses to AK soooted to knock me in half and I am now the shorty with 13 to go.

00:35 - Final table as THE short stack. And I mean short.

00:55 - Out in 7th 1010 couldn't outrun Loretta8's QQ.

That ends the live blog for the day. I will be back at it tomorrow probably without live blogging. Anything interesting I will throw up in twitter.

Mission Briefing

I am going to spread the mission over two days due to possible work issues. I am investing 15 buy-in at step 1 along with my 2 step 2's and 2 step 3's . I plan on playing one "entry" until I bust it or advance to level three and then restart. Then I will start with all of the step 3's and play it by ear from there. I will live blog it starting tomorrow morning.

Mission Main Event

I guess you could call the title a little misleading. One day this week I am going to spend the day trying to get all the way up to step 6 (a $640 value). I will use the steps that are in the bank right now (2 step 3's and 2 step 2's) along with $50 to try and reach my goal. If I am fortunate to win a second step 6 ticket I would probably keep it for the 150 seat guaranty satellite in late June. If I am running like god and get a 3rd one I would go ahead and play it to try and get a step 7.

I am a massive longshot to get it up to a step 6 but hey, i have done it before, and I am going to do it again. Should be a fun little ride. I will live blog it throughout the day along with the Mookie that night, if I do in fact so this on Thursday. What kind of odds you think I would be? I give myself 3:1 to get there and probably somewhere around 20:1 to actually win a main event seat.

Edit: Oh yeah, one other thing. If I am fortunate enough to win a seat I find it highly probable that I will not plunk down $10k to play in the main event. I might take $1-$2k and try some satellites and take the rest for a family vacation. I am thinking either Australia or Europe.

PokerSlut Tour XVIII Razz

Mookie Recap and Steps Progress

The Mookie was the first BBT5 event I entered this week. Before the event I was trying to decide whether to go loose aggro or play the nit. I opted for the latter. At the end of the first hour I was a 10/3. I had zero interesting hands in the first hour. The only think close to interesting was calling a 3x raise with AJ against who I have tagged as a spew monkey. Flop came Jxx and I threw in a check raise to take the pot. That's it, nothing interesting.

At the start of the second hour I had t2760. I was able to steal from on of the blinds early to get above my starting stack and hunk in there until I won my biggest pot of the night. At 60/120 niktak just lost an all-in hand vs BuddyDank the hand before shoving over Buddy's raise with A9. That left niktak with 900 and and open shove the next hand. I re-shoved from the button with AK and was up against 105. The board ran out 5J3Q10 for the rivered straight and I was up to t3900. Unfortunately that was the last hand that I won. I raised 3x to 480 at 80/160 with JJ and was 3bet to 1120. I opted to shove for 3720 and was up against QQ. Board bricked off and I was out in the 60's.

My steps progress has been going fairly well. I have played a total of 28 step 1's earning 11 step 2 tickets and 6 redo's. I have since played 3 step 2's with 1 advance to step 3 and a small cash out ($0.05). I have 6 step 1's, 8 step 2's and 1 step 3 in the bank right now. I am going to play as many step 1's before the month is over and I lose my free balance. I will probably play out the rest of the balance in step 3's before it expires.

I have played limited steps on Stars so far. I played 2 step 1's and advanced in both. I have since played 1 step 2 but failed to advance or get a redo. On Full Tilt I have been playing some Rush Poker and whatever profits I am making I am putting back in the steps. Right now I have 4 step 2's and 1 step 3. If I can get up to a step 6 on Full Tilt I'm not sure where I would go from there. I think I may opt for the MTT satellite at that spot compared to the STT route. Guess I will worry about that if I get there.

Steps, Steps Everywhere

It looks like Full Tilt is the last major site to jump into the steps bandwagon. Now them along with Poker Stars and AP/UB have steps to get you to the WSOP or other major events. As most of you know I have always been a fan of the steps. I started playing them on Poker Stars around a year and a half ago. I was able to make it to step 6 (the top level) twice but never able to convert it into anything.

One problem that has happened in the step system is that the sng sharks sit at the top level and buy in directly and take all of the low level players' money once they make it to the top couple of steps. One player I can think of in particular is busto_soon on Poker Stars. He played virtually every step 6 that went off for the 2009 WSOP. Poker Stars did try and help out the situation a little later on last year when they offered a step 6 that paid a seat to 1st and cash to 2nd through 7th (I think) that paid less than the actual buy-in. One thing I would love to see is a step series where you could not buy-in directly to the steps above, you have to start from the bottom and work your way up. I'm sure the problem with that logic is volume. It would take 286 step 1's to go off to generate one step 6 to go. guess I should post that on 2+2.

Since most of the people I know are lazy and I really don't want to watch another minute of cartoons this weekend (thanks Reecey), I have put together a spreadsheet for each of the sites showing each step and the prizes for each level.

Poker Stars Step System

Above is the Poker Stars steps. They offer a few versions of step 6 and I just listed one of them. you can play the steps as regular or turbo all the way up to the top. I did an educated guess for step 6 based on last year. They are not going to offer WSOP step 6's until SCOOP ends in May. If the step 6 cash was different last year post it in the comments for me. In my opinion the hardest step to advance is step 4. With only the top 3 at least getting a redo bouncing around between steps 3 and 4 is a distinct possibility, especially considering the easiest step is step 3. I have spent many step tries bouncing between steps 3 and 4. I am going to try and generate a step 6 ticket on stars this year. It remains to be seen whether I try for a WSOP seat or keep it and try for a LAPT or APPT seat instead.

Full Tilt Step System

I have just dabbled in the steps at Full Tilt since they were recently started. Above is the single table route but they offer a ton of other routes including multi-table steps, 6-max and heads-up. They offer these in regular speed, turbo and hyper-turbo. I watched a hyper-turbo step 6 go off a couple nights ago. Nothing like flipping in a $640 buy-in sng. It remains to be seen how popular these are going to be but I am guessing they will be a huge success. I probably won's invest too much into these cause Full Tilt hates me.

UB/AP Steps System

By far the cheapest (and longest) way to get into the WSOP is through the step system at UB/AP. I really like the way these are structured. Once you reach step 5 all you need to do is finish in the top 4 to get a redo. You can play these regular, turbo ultra-turbo and ultra-turbo with 500 chips. The ultra-turbos are only offered at the low levels. The structures for these are tremendous. Their turbos are equivalent to the regular speed ones on Full Tilt and Poker Stars. I received a free $10 to use on AP the other day and I have been grinding the step 1's. I am surprised at the quality of play considering the buy-in is only $0.11. I have played 13 so far with 6 step 2 tickets and 2 redos. A good start but a long way to go.

There you have it. Plenty of options to get your seat in the WSOP main event for a fraction of the cost. Post it the comments how you are doing. Good luck.

Poker Slut Tour XVIII 7 Game Mix

Tonight's Game: 7 Game Mix

It's On

I might have some comments about this in the coming days.

PokerSlut Tour XVIII PLO8 DS

Sustainable

Rush has been going pretty good so far during Take 2. Through the first 5 days I have played enough $10 NL just to get my 5 points and then quit for the day. I am up 3 buy-ins including 2 today (at 1185bb/100). Think that is sustainable?

Last night I went and played at Harrah's. I played in a $65 single table satellite which didn't go exactly as planned. The first hand I played was in a multi-way limped pot and I had AJ in the BB. Flop comes J104 and I lead t125 into the t150 pot and get called by a very loose and passive player. Yes, I knew what kind of player she was after about 6 hands. After the call she has t600 of her t1500 starting stack. Turn 9 and I lead for t200 and she ships for an additional t400. I know I HAVE to fold in that spot as I am ahead approximately 0% of the time. Also if I fold I still have around t1100 and am in plenty good shape still. Like the mook that I am I call and she has 109. I miss the river and am down to t700. Shortly after that I have roughly the same stack and a very tight UTG lady raises to t300 at 25/50 and i find 88. I fold and see that I flop a set and would have nearly tripled up. I busted in 8th shortly after that.

On to the cash games I sit in a 1/2 game with $100. I dropped $30 immediately and then bumped back up to near even. I then lost another pot and was down to $40 before I added another $100. It was slow going after that but I eventually got it up to $210 before falling to $160 and staying there for a couple hours. What was going to be my last lap at the table there is an ep raise to $10 (standard for the game) and one caller before it gets to me. The ep raise was from a youngish kid who loved to bet and show the bluffs. If he was called he fired one bullet and gave up. First to call knew the same thing I knew. I call and there is one other call (we will call him tourney Guy) from the blinds and we take the flop 4 ways. Flop A85 rainbow and ep leads for $20 and all of us call. Turn is a brick 2 and it gets checked all the way through. River 9 and Tourney Guy leads for $50 (he has me covered). UTG folds, next guy folds and I take 20 seconds or so and ship my last $135. He thinks for maybe 10 seconds and calls. I show and he mucks what I assume is a rivered set (?????). It is tourney guy so he may have only had 2 pair there.

Only one other interesting hand happened after that. Youngish kid leads for $12 again and I choose to flat with QQ. Guy in 10 seat raises to $48 (he had done that earlier with JJ) and it folds to me. I tank for a bit and call. Flop comes K10x and I check. He bets $60 and I tank for a little and fold. They way I play the hand I really have no idea where I'm at. Maybe I should donk for something like $30 or something, maybe I need to 4bet pre and then fold to a shove.

I ended up +$117 in the cash game after about 4 1/2 hours and call it a night.

I am going to play AIPS and ZIPS online tonight. Rest of the trip might be canceled though as my son is having some serious bowel issues and I might have to catch a flight home if he has to go into the hospital. Think good thoughts for my little one.

Misc Items

I played in a $2 HORSE MTT on Full Tilt yesterday and ended up making the final table and finished 6th/116. I made 5x the buy-in but unfortunately that's only $10. In the first hour of the tournament I won only two hands. I picked-up a 1/2 pot in O8 with the nut low and the other winning hand was a scoop in Stud8 for a double up. I picked-up some hands in the middle stages including taking a 5k stack from an opponent in stud in two hands when I made a boat vs his rivered straight and trips vs his two pair two hands later. I was in the top 8 stacks from about 50 left all the way to the final table. Entering the final table I was 4th/7 (2 busted on FT bubble) but never picked-up any hands. I busted with split 10's vs buried aces in Stud.

I was able to get in a short live session at the track. I am guessing the table started fairly recently. When I bought in for the full $100 I was the 2nd biggest stack at the table. The table was playing ultra nitty. In a multi-way limped pot I decided just to check my option in the BB with AJ. Flop comes Jxx and I look for a check raise. MP bets $10 and gets 1 caller before me and I kick it up to $25. MP has raising chips in his hand but he elects just to call as does the other player. Turn A and I lead for $35 and I get two folds. MP said he had KK. Nice limp pre-flop. Not much happened after that and what I view as one of the tougher players came and sat to my immediate left so I ended up calling it a day after only 1 hour with a $46 profit. With a couple of winning sessions lately I am really looking forward to St. Louis next week.

Take 2


Full Tilt is running Take 2 again. It starts today and is running for the next 9 days. If you play at least two tables, and this includes Rush, and earn 5 points for 5 days you get $5. If you earn 5 points all 9 days you get and additional $20. It's super easy to complete this. I was able to get my points within 8 minutes 3 tabling Rush 0.05/0.10. You could probably fold every hand and wind up profitable.