MIKECOMPTON.COM

So I got in that blogger tournament over at PokerStars yesterday. 1337 entries.

I played well and was in the top 1/3rd of the players for the first 40 mins or so, then comes the gross injustice….

I raise 5x the big blind, in pretty good position, blinds fold, 1 caller (well, raiser)

after all is said and done, my pocket aces vs. pocket two’s. yeah, who do you think won? he has a 2 outer, and we’re all in, of COURSE he hits the 2. GROSS

there were 3 of my friends in the tourney too. Larry/Dannie fared better than me, but Cliff made it to just about the top 25%. Ah well, there’s always next year :/

So last night I got into a 10,000 player freeroll poker tournament at Pokerstars. It’s a satellite tourney to a $1k freeroll next Sunday. I had just hoped to do well, increase my skills, play tourneys better after reading a little of Phil Gordons LITTLE GREEN BOOK. I’m only into the book 30 pages, but already its made me more wiser on what to play/ when to play /why to play, etc. A few HOURS (yes hours) into the tournament, I’m completely holding my own. 9,000 players already gone, ok I’m in the top 10%, not bad. Did I mention only the top 27 get the satellite tournament ticket? More pressure, but I play on. Down to 250…. down to 100, now 65… Down to 65 and it gets INTENSE. In the 50’s… and you realize you’re at the top .006 percent of the players. NUTS. K, down in the FORTY’S now. Everyone starts playing really tight so that they can make the cut of 27. Now is when Phil Gordons book pays dividends. "If you’re in position, near the bubble/money line, get aggressive" I’m at about 250k chips about that place, and get super aggressive. When it gets that low, the tables play hand for hand, and I have the chance to bring myself right into the 27 w/ knocking out a short stack. I have an Ace, they’re blinded ALL-IN, I raise to bump out other players, and BAM, Ace hits. 28th player, eliminated.. and I did it! w00t, I’m in… top 27. With all that aggressive play, I’m actually in the top five in chips….10,000 players, top FIVE…. So a few guys go crazy… ALL IN here, ALL IN there… down to ten. Now we’re at the FINAL table. The top .001% of the players, all good. I beat a few, a few drop by others… now down to three. Tension is KILLING me at this point.

I’m at $12 million chips, player 2, $2 million, player 3, $1 million. my hand. pocket 6’s. Pocket pairs in 3 player, I’m going for it. I shove ALL IN. Two callers. UH OH. player 2, pocket ACES… ouch, player 3, pocket 2’s… pallatable at least. So I figure I’m losing.. but not out. Flop comes. K68, all spades. TRIPSSSSSSSSS….. and nobody has spades. Next 2 cards, I truthfully dont even remember I was so estatic.

I just won a tournament of 10,000 players. Insanity. Best poker moment *ever*

And just think, next Sunday is the satellite. Wish me luck

So the past 2 months or so I’ve been playing online poker from the client at Pokerstars.net

It’s pretty cool. You get like $1000-2000 in play money, and then you can find tables for anything from No-Limit Texas Holdem, Omaha, etc. There are a few other poker games that I’m unfamiliar with, so I steer clear of them. After poker got big in the past few years, I’ve followed it more on tv, and played it any opportunity I could. I’ve played a few home games with good results, and one time at the boats, also, good results. But this whole online poker craze thing was a lot bigger than I thought it was.

When you watch the World Series of Poker on tv, you always see the ads for it, Play for free this, that. I’ve always found the play for free stuff to be scams, starting with ok, give us your credit card # for verification of your age, etc, but truth be told, Pokerstars is legit. Its completely free, no credit card verification, etc. Never even had to enter one to get an account. Don’t get me wrong, they have another client on which you can play for $, but of course that’s illegal in the U.S. and nobody would do that haha. But I’m content just playing a few hours here/there when I get the chance, and I feel my game is improving too. I’ve entered 5 of their tournaments they call ‘freeroll’, which is just that, free tournaments for fake chips, just to see how you match up w/ other players. Granted this is to give you the gambling bug and get you to download their client on which you can play for cash, but the play alone is satisfying my poker bug. Anyway, the last 5 tournaments went like this. Tournament 1, I took a bad beat IMMEDIATELY and got bounced. Tournament 2 & 3 I got deep into the field and just missed placing. Tournament 4, I played an Omaha tournament, placed 107 of 1750, ‘cashed’. Last night, a No-Limit Texas Hold-em tournament, 5,000 entries.. yes, 5000, I placed 223rd, finishing ‘in the chips’ Although its play $, its still good to know my game is improving as I play more. From starting w/ $2000 chips a few months back, I’m around $24000 chips now. If ONLY that was real $. Dang