Sunday, December 28, 2008

Railing Moneymaker

I was waiting for a tournament to start and didn't have anything to do so I tried to Find a Team PokerStars Pro. There were 5 of them online, Alexandre Gomes, Chris Moneymaker, Humberto Brenes, Lee Nelson and Marcin Horecki.

I was going rail either Moneymaker or Nelson, but Nelson was playing 3 single-table double or nothings so I elected to watch Chris Moneymaker play the Nightly Hundred Grand. I thought I'd try to learn something watching a pro.

He finished outside of the money in that tournament. What I learned was he seldom let his dealer or cut-off position go without a raise if everybody folded to him. But without knowing what his cards are, I really can't say what he's exactly doing. It was just fun railing a pro.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Last Sunday of 2008

December 28 will be the last Sunday of 2008. This means that it will be the last Sunday Million tournament for the year. As a year-end bonus from PokerStars, guarantees for the Sunday Warm-Up and the Sunday Million have also been increased to $1 Million and $2.5 Million respectively.

I'm thinking of using one of my $215 tickets for one of these tournaments. Hopefully I get deep and make it ITM.

Monday, December 22, 2008

PokerStars Bonus Code for 2009

PokerStars will be changing the bonus code for first time depositors for 2009. The bonus code itself will change but the bonus itself remains the same. The first deposit bonus is still 100% up to a maximum bonus of $50. This is dependent on the account holder earning FPPs equal to 10x the bonus amount after depositing.

If you don't have a PokerStars account yet, Sign up for a PokerStars account now.

Starting Jan 1, 2009, the new PokerStars first deposit bonus code will be stars50.

WBCOOP 2008 - Main Event

I just busted out of the WBCOOP tournament at 115th place out of 169 players. Everything was going well until the tournament chip lead sat to my right and started bullying the table. I stood up to him but the cards didn't cooperate.

Hal888 finished at 114th place
Novagalaxy finished at 157th place
Atshu finished at 192nd place

So much for the Philippine WBCOOP contingent. Let's do better next year.

WBCOOP 2008 - Main Event Prologue

According to the PokerStars Blog, there are going to be 369 players for the main event. Only 4 are from the Philippines: abaddon_ross, atshu, hal888 and novagalaxy. All 4 are members of PokerManila.

GL to everyone. Let's take this down.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

PokerStars goes for Guinness Record

On December 28, 2008, 15:30 EST (December 29, 2008, 4:30 MNL), PokerStars is going to attempt the World's Largest Poker Tournament. It's a NLHE tournament which guarantees a total pot of $500,000. Buy-in is at $10+$1.

There are several satellites available to get a seat for the main tournament, Tournament ID 126551369.

WBCOOP 2008 - Last Qualifier

I wasn't able to join the 5th WBCOOP yesterday because I fell asleep. But I was able to make up for it today. For the last qualifier of this event, I made FT and I finished 2nd out of 549 players.

I won a seat to the Blogger Finals and 2 $215 tournament tickets.

This is my first FT finish with more than 100 players. Cool!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

WBCOOP 2008 - Third Qualifier

So close. I ended 89th out of 396 players in todays qualifier. It was a PLO8 event and I was short-stacked. I pushed with AKK7 and got a caller AQQJ. He hit his Queen on the flop and I wasn't able to get my King.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

WBCOOP 2008 - Second Qualifier

I finished 388th out of 559 in the NLHE qualifier for the WBCOOP. I missed a level and a half because I had to feed Obiwan. Then my QQ went up against KK and I tilted. So I logged out of PokerStars and just blogged.

I just have a minor concern about this tournament. The PokerStars email said that this second qualifier is scheduled for 17:00 EST but it actually started 19:00 EST. Now that's fine because it was later than what was advertised. But what if for the next tournaments, it was actually earlier than what was on the email. Then a lot of people would've missed it.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

WBCOOP 2008 - First Qualifier

I finished feeding my son in time for the 1st qualifier for the WBCOOP. It was a PLO Hi tournament which wasn't my strongest game but I think I did pretty well. I made a big mistake in one hand which caused me to finish at 155th place out of 450 players.

I checked the finalists to see if there were Filipinos but I didn't find any. If there were, it's either they changed the city beside their nick or I didn't recognize the city. Hopefully, there would be a Philippine representative in the main event after all 6 qualifiers are done.

GL to everyone. Let's win this.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Metro 75 - My Personal Unicorn

I was browsing the Metro website earlier and I chanced upon the Metro 75 Winners Gallery. It was filled with players from the pre-Metro and Metro regulars. It just shows that tournaments will almost always be won with skill.

For 2009, I'll be aiming for 1st place in a Metro 75. I haven't been playing this tournament much this year but this time it'll be different. If I have some poker money, I'll use it for a Metro 75 buyin instead of buying in on a cash game or any other tournament.

NL 2-7 Single Draw

PokerStars offers a new freeroll. Ptolemy's NL 2-7 Freeroll is part of the constellation series of freerolls.

I've never played this poker variation before and I thought I'd give it a try. Also because WBCOOP has an 8-game qualifier which includes 2-7 Lowball.

Just like other forms of poker, the rules are easy to learn. It just took some getting used to because unlike in Razz or in other low games, an Ace is not considered as the lowest card. But aside from that, 2-7 Single Draw is fun.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

WBCOOP 2008 - Here I come

My registration for WBCOOP is complete. I received my tickets to enter the following tournament qualifiers.

124189658 - Dec 15, 14:00 ET - Dec 16, 3:00 MNL - PLO
124189659 - Dec 16, 17:00 ET - Dec 17, 6:00 MNL - NLHE
124189660 - Dec 17, 22:00 ET - Dec 18, 11:00 MNL - PLO Hi/Lo
124189661 - Dec 18, 14:00 ET - Dec 19, 3:00 MNL - NLHE
124189662 - Dec 19, 17:00 ET - Dec 20, 6:00 MNL - 8-Game Mix
124189663 - Dec 20, 15:00 ET - Dec 21, 4:00 MNL - NLHE

Each qualifier awards 72 places with the following prizes.

1st Place  : Sunday Majors Platinum Package + Seat in Final
2-9 Place  : Sunday Majors Gold Package + Seat in Final
10-27 Place: Step 3 Ticket + Seat in Final
28-45 Place: Step 2 Ticket + Seat in Final
46-72 Place: Seat in Final

This means that there will be a maximum of 432 players for the final event.

170000000 - Dec 21, 15:00 ET - Dec 22, 4:00 MNL - NLHE

This tournament pays 100 places with the following prizes.

1st Place:    $14,300 PCA Package
2nd Place:    €5300 EPT Package, $1000 Cash, SCOOP Main Event Entry, and Step 6 Ticket
3rd Place:    €5300 EPT Package and $1000 Cash
4th Place:    SCOOP Main Event Entry and Step 6 Ticket
5th Place:    Step 6 Ticket
6th Place:    SCOOP Main Event Entry Ticket
7th Place:    $1050 Tournament Entry Ticket
8th Place:    Step 5 Ticket
9th Place:    $530 Tournament Entry Ticket
10-18 Place:  $320 Tournament Entry Ticket
19-27 Place:  $215 Tournament Entry Ticket
28-45 Place:  $109 Tournament Entry Ticket
46-100 Place: Step 3 Ticket

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

World Blogger Championship of Online Poker 2008

It's back! I didn't have the chance to join the last WBCOOP but this time I'll be able to. It's open to all bloggers with updated blogs that are older than 2 months. If you're a blogger but don't have a PokerStars account yet, Sign up for a PokerStars account now or click on the PokerStars banner to your right.

Online Poker

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

All bloggers can play in this exclusive online poker tournament.

Registration code: 436043

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

World Cup 2008 - No Bahamas for Philippine Team

Winroy finished 9th in his table which gave the Philippine team 1 point for his efforts. Charmer1973 had a better finish in his table with 3rd and contributing 11 points. Bmumali also finished 3rd in his table and adding another 11 points. Gumasta finished 10th on his table with 0 points. 

Total for Team Philippines, 23 points. Leader for this division after all tournaments was Team New Zealand with 47 points.

GG boys. Let's win it in 2009.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

World Cup Division Finals Tournaments

The Division Finals will be held on Dec 7, 8:00am EST. There are 4 STT's to determine which team will advance to the Carribean.

The list below shows the 4 members of the team and some details.
winroy (Cebu) placed 1st in the TLB and will lead the team as team captain. He will play in tournament 125051904.
Charmer1973 (Paranaque) placed 2nd in the TLB. He will play in tournament 125052024.
bmumali (Tagaytay) placed 1st in the World Cup freerolls. He will play in tournament 125053099.
gumasta (Quezon City) placed 2nd in the World Cup freerolls. He will play in tournament 125053303.

By the end of Dec 7, the scores will be tallied and the final list of teams who will advance to the main event will be final. Let's hope that the Philippine team makes the list. I encourage everyone to show their support for our local poker players. In other words, let's rail. :)

Friday, December 5, 2008

Metro Tournaments this December 2008


All Ladies Tournament
Seldom is there a female who joins this tournament who doesn't know how to play. Expect some good plays.

Metro Team Tournament
The structure has changed from last Team Poker. It's now a freezeout just like the original one. My team's problem is that Rini won't be available to play this year. We haven't finalized our roster yet.

Murphy's Law

It always happens that the river changes everything. And it's always to my disadvantage. Picture up top shows my KK vs villain's QQ. All-in preflop. Everything was good until the river. Damn you, Murphy!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Again, wacha gonna do?

Don't you just love a straight flush on the flop and villain bets on every round?

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Marian Rivera Playing Poker

A friend told me that Marian Rivera was at the Metro playing 100/200 last November 30, 2008. God, I wish I was there.

A by-product of playing poker is that you can look at anyone on the table without them getting offended. You just have to wait for them to bet and wait for your turn, then tank for minute while looking at them. I'd probably go on Time Bank mode on every other hand if I was playing with Marian. I don't mean any malice, she's just so pretty. 

There was this one time when there was a beautiful girl in my table and she was wearing a sleeveless top with a plunging neckline. When she'd bet, people would take a tad longer "thinking" before acting.

Downside is that I seldom win when there's a pretty girl on the table but then again, there's probably 1 girl for every 15 guys in a poker room. Most of the time they're wives or girlfriends of other players. Still, men lose a lot of money to pretty girls even off the felt anyway.

Oh, and Dingdong Dantes was there too.

Monday, December 1, 2008

World Cup 2008 Philippines Finalists

Half of the Philippine team have been determined. The 18 players who have qualified through the Philippine freerolls played the Philippine finals earlier. In this tournament, bmumali finished 1st and gumasta 2nd. Monpablo finished 3rd and will be included in the team if either of the first 2 players will be unable to make it.

The other 2 team members will be announced after the TLB have been tallied.

Next stop for the team is the team score round on December 7, 8:00am EST. Each member of the team will play against each members of teams Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Armenia, South Africa and Lebanon. Each of members' finish will earn them points which will be totaled and the team with the highest number of points will advance to the main event.

Well, wacha gonna do?

Hang around the poker room smoking area long enough and you hear the same stories told. But it still sucks when it happens. I have KK in the screenshot below. Money went all in after several raises for all 3 players pre-flop.