Tag Archives: blogger championship

WBCOOP — Out

By lytspeed Posted in Poker 2 Replies

(I had a full post ready to go, and then my web host decided to go offline. Joy. This post is a distilled version of what I had already written.)

I finished 153rd in the WBCOOP on PokerStars. I was doing well until about two hours into the tourney, when I went all in with Big Slick (ace & king of spades) and my opponent had a pocket pair of jacks

*********** # 117 **************
PokerStars Game #23130684510: Tournament #170000000, Freeroll Hold’em No Limit – Level XI (125/250) – 2008/12/21 16:53:08 ET
Table ‘170000000 26’ 9-max Seat #3 is the button

Seat 6: AllJyn92 (3077 in chips)
Seat 9: Lytspeed (9055 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Lytspeed [As Ks]

AllJyn92: raises 2797 to 3047 and is all-in
Lytspeed: calls 3047

*** FLOP *** [8c 9s 5c]
*** TURN *** [8c 9s 5c] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [8c 9s 5c 6s] [Td]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
AllJyn92: shows [Jh Js] (a pair of Jacks)
Lytspeed: shows [As Ks] (high card Ace)
AllJyn92 collected 6739 from pot
Lytspeed said, “nh”

After that, I was short stacked, and had to make a move. Twenty-two hands later, I followed two other players all in with 99, which was good until the flop. When we showed hole cards, both had Aces, and one had AK. The flop held two kings, giving the latter three of a kind (kings.) I hoped for another nine on the turn and river to make a full house, but I guess I didn’t hope hard enough. He caught an Ace on the river to make his own full house.

Ah well. That’s poker. At least I won a ticket to a Step 3 tournament in the qualifier. That’s worth about $82 overall, and gives me a chance to win real money without having spent a dime.

But next year … next year will be different.

WBCOOP — Qualified!

By lytspeed Posted in Poker Leave a reply

I played in my qualifying tournament for the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker today. Here are the results:

PokerStars Tournament #124189663, No Limit Hold’em
Freeroll Super Satellite
549 players
Target Tournament #170000000
72 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started 2008/12/20 15:00:00 ET

Dear Lytspeed,

You finished the tournament in 16th place.
You qualified to play in Tournament #170000000 and are automatically registered for it.

Yep, 16th out of 549, well within the top 72 to qualify for the Finals tomorrow. I also placed well enough to receive free entry into a $75 + $7 Step 3 tournament, but I haven’t received the registration ticket for that in e-mail yet. The chances of coming away with a prize of some kind in tomorrow’s finals are good. There are only 369 entrants at this point, and the payout table (near the bottom of the page) goes through 100 places.

Looking forward to it! If you have a PokerStars account, drop by and watch me play at 1:00 PM MST. You can find me through Requests | Find a Player in the PokerStars software, and my username is Lytspeed.

PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

By lytspeed Posted in Poker Leave a reply

It’s that time of year again. I’m registering for the WBCoOP, assuming the Powers That Be approve this entry. I entered 2007 and 2005, as well, but didn’t do so well either time. This year has been better for me in the world of play money tournaments; the highlight was one of the giant freerolls that PokerStars hosts, the Hubble No-Limit Tournament. Out of 12,000 people I took 5th place. Yow! Here’s a paste from the results e-mail (emphasis mine.)

PokerStars Tournament #95460789, No Limit Hold’em
Freeroll Super Satellite
12000 players
Target Tournament #95435810
99 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started – 2008/07/17 – 22:32:00 (ET)
Tournament finished – 2008/07/18 – 01:43:32 (ET)
1: SirKenin (Unmouse me heathen), (qualified for the target tournament)
2: edabbott (orlando ), (qualified for the target tournament)
3: aleman 72 (berisso), (qualified for the target tournament)
4: mariellexx (cornwall), (qualified for the target tournament)
5: Lytspeed (Federal Heights), (qualified for the target tournament)

I’m hopeful that the incoming Democratic presidential administration and Congress will repeal or at least revise the stupid law (link goes to PDF file) hindering online poker that were passed in October of 2006. I hear that Obama is a pretty good poker player himself. Here’s hoping the Poker Players Alliance, of which I am a member, will gain some traction in the next few years.

Flushed Royally

By lytspeed Posted in Poker Leave a reply

Well, I got the invitation to the PokerStars Blogger Championship that I mentioned in the last post, so I figured I’d better brush up on my game.

I joined a single table Sit-N-Go game, and did pretty well, hanging out in the top three for at least half the game. Going into the hand, blinds were 100/200, I was chip leader in middle position, and I was dealt pretty good cards: [Ks][Qc]. When it came around to me, I called. The next player went all in. Since he had been making monster bluff bets all game, and since I had plenty of chips to cover him, I called. We turned them up for the showdown, and I was surprised to see he had a decent hand too: [Ac][Jd].

The flop came [7d][Kd][Td], so I was pretty happy. I had top pair (kings), and as long as he didn’t get any diamonds or an ace, I had a good chance of winning the hand and knocking him out of the tournament. Unfortunately, the turn card was a [Qd], which gave him the flush. As I was typing “nh” into the chat bar, the river card came up: [Ad].

I caught a flush on the board, and he caught a Royal Flush on the river.

Nice hand, indeed. A very nice hand. Some would say I suffered a bad beat; that I had a good hand, but was beat by another player’s luck. In this case, I disagree. Yes, I had a decent hand on the flop, but when the Queen of Diamonds showed up on the turn, it was all over. He had me dominated before the river card ever came.

As it turned out, I went on to finish fourth in the tournament (one spot out of the money, of course) and he was knocked out sixteen hands after hitting his Royal.

Ahh, poker. I’ve missed it.

PokerStars Blogger Championship

By lytspeed Posted in Poker Leave a reply

It’s time once again for the PokerStars.com Blogger Championship, and though I haven’t said much about poker recently, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been on my mind.

I’m still livid about the legislation banning U.S. funds transfers to online poker sites that was passed at about this time last year, but I’m pleased that the Poker Player’s Alliance continues to lobby for changes to the laws, and that former Senator Alfonse D’Amato stepped up to the plate to chair the Alliance.

I will probably not even place in the Blogger Championship, but I will play anyway, and I will have fun doing it. I hope to see you there.