Best Ever Tournament Finish

[monkeymagic]

Having only played in 2 online freeroll tournaments before and not finished anywhere, I was very happy to record my first two results this week...

First I played in a $1000 Freeroll yesterday, and finished 63rd out of 600 players...

And, at the time of writing I've just finished 27th out of 1,727 players in a $200 Freeroll tournament...

When entering a pay-to-play tournament (say a $20 + $2 one) is the level of competition much harder?

[FreeZey]

When entering a pay-to-play tournament (say a $20 + $2 one) is the level of competition much harder?

General rule. The higher the stakes the better players.

I’m not saying there aren’t fish but if you finish in the top 1.5% you’re doing pretty damn good

[DoubleBluff]

Well done Monkey!

Fancy some private games then? Sounds like you're someone to be reckoned with! Nice to see people improving their game. Personally I've reached a bit of a plateau, can't seem to improve anymore!

Mods / Admins, when is the poker room launching again?

[FreeZey]

Managed 26th of approximately 300 on the weekend. NL Texas, $3 + $1.

Last hand:
Hole KT.

Flop K 6 T (rainbow)

Pot was large enough to make a move. Went all in and was called by one other player with KJ.

Turn A
River A

The board pair nullified my tens. So now we both have Aces over Kings and my Ten kicker gets beaten by his Jack kicker.

[monkeymagic]

Hey FreeZey

Nice tournament finish... What a nightmare result your last hand was though! It really gets me when I lose to a kicker, especially one that is just one card higher..

The turn and river did you no favours at all...

What does Rainbow mean by the way?

Monkey

p.s. Played a $1,000 freeroll on Friday and finished 20th out of 600ish... Had a lot of luck until the last hand when it ran out! :P Can't remember the exact cards though...

[FreeZey]

It’s gutting but I try to console myself with the idea that bad beats are the best way to lose (if there is a good way to lose ).
The money starts at 20th too so I could of waited it out and got back my stake * 3 but it’s more fun to play for the more significant positions with a much better return.

NB: Rainbow refers to a collection of cards, in this case the flop, where no two are of the same suit. I.e. If the river is dealt and the board is a rainbow you know there’s no danger of a flush.

I only play on Ladbrokes and I don’t think they hold freeroll tournaments May I should look around at some of the alternatives. How does it work, free to enter and first place gets free entry into a $1000 tourney?

[monkeymagic]

The $1000 FreeRoll poker tournaments I play in are at Microgaming Poker Rooms on the Prima network (basically every Microgaming poker room apart from Ladbrokes. e.g. 32Red, Aztec Riches, etc).

To enter the tournaments you have to have played 50 raked hands on tables with blinds of 25c / 50c or above in the previous 24 hours. Usually between 500 and 600 people enter each of these type of $1000 Free Roll - and they run about 3 of these a day. The other type of $1000 Freeroll, where you don't have to have previously played any raked hands, attracts anything up to 3,000 entrants. There are about 3 of these a day too..

On the $1000 Free Rolls where you have to have played 50 raked hands before entering, the prizes are distibuted between the top 80 players like this: 1st = $250, 2nd = $120, 3rd = $85, etc.. All the way down to 80th = $3.

It seems the non-qualifying $1000 FreeRolls are currently offering 1st = $500, 2nd = $300, 3rd = $200.. But, to play against 3,000ish people and to finish in the top 3 means you are going to have to finish in the top 0.1% of entrants.. Not worth my while, as I can play for 2 hours or so, and finish 30th - still no way near the prize money!

[FreeZey]

Played in a £5 rebuy tournament in Cardiff last Tuesday and missed the final table by one seat.

I was short stacked and tried to steal the blinds with KT suited. I got called by one player who turned over AQ off. The board brought two low pair and it came down to his ace kicker over my king.

Generally I was happy with the way I played, except for a couple of hands.
One was caused by a bad beat. I made top pair on the flop (jacks) I raised to knock out any chasers but was called (all in) by KT off. He hit his king on the river and it riled me a little. Since this was post freeze-out and it should have meant saying goodbye to another player.
Two hands later I bet into him hard after flopping middle pair with a nut flush draw. He called with top pair all in and I knocked him out when I hit my flush on the river. I picked up a nice pot but it was a foolish bet that I doubt I was getting the odds to make it.
My other big mistake was a missed bluff opportunity. This was not long before I was knocked out and the blinds I could have picked up would have made a big difference. Generally I don’t like trading on my reputation as a tight player, I’d been playing tight all night and people still happily called my all in bets.

[monkeymagic]

Played yesterday at William Hill. The software was slightly unstable and crashed once in every tournament I entered. But, the level of play seems to be a lot easier than that at 32red (the other room I play at). I think this is due to William Hill being more of a UK based brand, therefore avoiding many of the American players who tend to be very experienced compared with us Brits on the whole!

I finished 4th out of 90 in the main tournament I entered, and won $100.50 off a $10+$1 entry fee. The prizes rise quite steeply after that so I was a little disappointed to go all in on my K K to find I get beaten by pocket A A. I perhaps could have held on and let the other players knock each other out, as I was 2nd largest chip pile having led for some time.

After that tournament I entered a 10 player $30+$3 tournament and won it easily! ($150 first prize) Had hand after hand of good cards, flopping flushes, straights, even a set of quads when playing a 2s 2c hand for a laugh!

I had a go on Poker.co.uk poker room a couple of days ago, and noticed they had a $100,000 guaranteed prize fund for a tournament only costing $50 to enter! However, it had unlimited rebuys in the first hour - probably not worth the temptation

[FreeZey]

Just came 10th (final table) of 293 in a $5 - $1 NL Texas.

Final hand:

Me [A][5]
Lefrenchman [A][T]

> thelomen posted small blind (2,000)
> LukeTheDuke posted big blind (4,000)

> Game # 110,184,862 starting.

> Dealing Hole Cards

> monkeymagica folded
> mcmc folded
> Lefrenchman called for 4,000
> Dogface1973 folded
> Petter_S folded
> kmlkml folded
> FreeZey called for 4,000
> superscrew folded
> thelomen folded
> LukeTheDuke checked

> Dealing the Flop(AH 5H 7C)
> LukeTheDuke checked
> Lefrenchman bet for 8,000
> FreeZey went all-in for 10,892.34
> LukeTheDuke folded
> Lefrenchman called for 2,892.34

> Dealing the turn(10H)

> Dealing the river(7D)

> Lefrenchman wins 35,784.68 with Two Pair, Aces over Tens
> FreeZey has left the tournament in 10th place, winning $18.31

I was a bit aggravated to go out on a bad beat when I was in a situation where every position meant an exponential improvement in return. But then again I lucked out a couple of times to get there :/

The worst hand was when I went for a foolish bluff (my one and only of the night). Unfortunately for me I was up against pocket kings which took me down from 10K to 1500. To my surprise I managed to claw it back though and stuck to playing only legitimate hands from then on, which paid off.