PokerStarts to Buy FullTilt?

Here's a brief article from the Wall Street Journal implying that Poker Stars might be buying FullTilt Poker. I would welcome that as it combines my two favorite poker sites into one that is hopefully run with more integrity. No mention of what happens to the still owed player's funds.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Game 12

Its official. I'm going to vegas to be participate in one of the $1500 NL Holdem events.

Going into the final tourney of our league, the only way I wouldn't advance to the WSOP is if Shane won and I finished in fifth place or worse. That would tie us for the points total and I think he would have ended up winning on the second or third tie breaker.

I got off to a good start though and he got short stacked fairly early. He hovered around 5-10 BB for a while, winning just enough pots to stay alive, but ultimatly he couldn't keep up. I even got to be the one to deliver the final blow.

I managed to finish in second place, with Rich avenging his last heads up battle with me. He went in as th chip leader, and increased his lead a little before I flopped two pair to his straight.

Here are the final standings for the league. Smack and I will be playin in the $1500 event on June 23rd.

Week 12

1. Rich
2. Me
3. Smack
4. Archie
5. Cookie
6. Shane
7. Jason
8. Aaron
9. Noah

Totals

1. Smack (104 Points)
2. Me (98 Points)
3. Shane (73 Points)
4. Rich (72 Points)
5. Archie (72 Points)
6. Cookie (71 Points)
7. Aaron (64 Points)
8. Noah (54 Points)
9. Jason (48 Points)

Totals minus the worst two games

1. Smack (102 Points)
2. Me (88 Points)
3. Shane (71 Points)
4. Rich (71 Points)
5. Cookie (67 Points)
6. Archie (67 Points)
7. Aaron (61 Points)
8. Noah (52 Points)
9. Jason (47 Points)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Game 11

Game 11 started off great for me. I'm in solid second place in the standings so all I have to do is make sure the same person doesn't win the last two games to guarantee my making it to the WSOP.

Noah got off to a huge chip lead and used it to bully the table. That was fine by me because he is already mathematically eliminated from a first or second place overall finish. He knocked out Rich in a hand which probably saved me a bunch. I flopped an open ended straight draw with TJo, three handed with Noah and Rich. I checked, Noah bet and Rich pushed all-in. I got out. Noah had top pair, Rich also had TJo. He failed to complete the straight and went out first, eliminating himself from contention.

Aaron goes out shortly after that to also get eliminated. Aaron suffered a few bad beats during the tourney, both involving pocket Jacks. Lets just say he was not happy.

The other players I still need to worry about at this point are Cookie, Shane and Archie. Archie and I are both doing pretty well, Cookie and Shane are going to get blinded out any moment.

A few hands later I have AA in the big blind, and Archie raises preflop to $T240. I pop it up to T$600 and he calls. The flop is Q high. I check, hoping Archie will try to steal the pot. He has about as many chips as the are in the pot, I have about $T1000 more. He goes all in. It was exactly as I would have drawn it up had I been able to plan this hand. There is no way he bets all in if he thinks he's ahead, and if he doesn't think he is ahead, then I have dominated. I insta-call. Except instead of clicking the call button I click the fold button.

I could have just taken the chip lead and knocked out one of the contenders for my Vegas spot all in one move. Instead, I gave him a ton of chips and crippled myself.

A few hands later Archie doubles up again, through Noah when Archie rivers a full house while Noah catches his straight. Noah goes out soon there after. The good news is there are only four of us left, meaning I pick up another point. The bad news is Shane and Archie have huge chip stacks. Smack is of course still hanging around and I am in all-in or fold mode.

I last a few hands before pushing with pocket snowmen. Shane calls with KQ and proceeds to flop two pair, so I'm out in fourth place.


Archie goes out when he and Smack go all-in pre flop.  Archie has 99, Smack 44.  Smack spikes a four on the flop. Archie gets a nine on the turn and the Smack gets the case for on the river.  Archie is now also eliminated, meaning only Shane has a chance to catch me.  Smack of coarse is running away with this.

The heads up battle between Shane and Smack goes on for quite a while, but ultimately, Smack comes out ahead.

Here are the standings after week 11.

Week 11:

1. Smack
2. Shane
3. Archie
4. Me
5. Noah
6. Jason
7. Cookie
8. Aaron
9. Rich

Totals after week 11:

1. Smack (96 Points)
2. Me (87)
3. Shane (69)
4. Cookie (66)
5. Archie (66)
6. Aaron (62)
7. Rich (57)
8. Noah (53)
9. Jason (45)

Totals minus their worst two performances (Its been a long weekend so there is a chance my math is off here);

1. Smack (94 Points)
2. Me (77)
3. Shane (67)
4. Cookie (62)
5. Archie (61)
6. Aaron (57)
7. Rich (54)
8. Noah (52)
9. Jason (44)

The worst I can do is 82 points since right now one of my two worst is a five pointer. The best Shane can do is 82 points, if he wins next week.  We haven't discussed tie breaker scenarios, but I think I my overall score should be enough to beat him, or maybe we play heads up, in which case I'm reasonable confident I'll win.

The last game is scheduled for tomorrow so we'll know then.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Game 10

I'm goin' to Veeeegas
I'm goin' to Veeeegas.

Ok its not definite yet, but after this week's game it's looking pretty likely. Noah finally cashed this week taking first place, and I finished in second. Which means I increased my lead on the rest of the pack and makes it very difficult for anyone else to catch up. It will take cashing in both of the remaining events and me finishing worse than fifth in both for any one else to have a chance.

I'm getting ahead of myself though.

Back to the action:

Things went slowly this game. I think especially for me and possibly others that the format of the event has a lot to do with it. I knew that I was comfortably in second place overall, and as long as I could outlast some of my nearest competitors, and/or finish above my previous worst scores of 5 points, I'll be that much closer to winning the WSOP entry. That fact coupled with the absolutely abysmal cards that I got meant that I didn't play very many hands. There was no reason for me to risk chips with anything less than a premium hand. This enrages Aaron who really wants me to go out early as he realizes that I'm standing between him and a WSOP entry. That alone makes folding hand after hand somewhat enjoyable.

As a result of my super tight play, the few hands I did get into resulted in me winning and allowed me to stay a little bit ahead of the average chip stack. I didn't blow a lot of chips on speculative hands as I might often do.

Our points leader Smack had a rough night. He plays very aggressively and if he doens't at least get some cards to back up his play he can find himself in trouble pretty quickly. He was forced in to all-in or nothing mode fairly early, and while he managed to get all-in with the best hand, Noah hit a runner runner straight to knock him out.

After that, no one was eliminated for quite a while. An absurdly long time There was a lot of back and forth plays, and a three players, Archie, Rich and Jason, struggling to keep their heads above water. The blinds would eat away at their short stacks, and they would finally make a move and steal some blinds or win a small all-in to start the cycle over again. They hung around for a long time before luck finally caught up with them.

I really think PokerStars wanted me to win this one though. Like I said earlier I got horrendous cards. However, most of the time, and way more often than usual, had I played those cards I would have flopped a monster. Not only that, it would have been a monster that no one would have seen coming, because who plays 53 off under the gun? Of course I was playing exceptionally tight so it was all for naught.

Noah was getting cards this game, and for once not getting them cracked. He was the big stack for most of the tourney and used it to effectively bully the rest of the table. Eventually it came down to just us two. He had me by 5 or 6 to one, but his luck finally started to wear out. We battled for quite a while and I whittled down his lead when he finally got me all in. I had a pair of sixes, he had wired tens. I congratulated him on a good game and was about to log out when I rivered a third six to nearly cripple him. Like I said, PokerStars wants me to win.

We battled back and forth for a while longer still. I think this had to be the longest heads up battle of the season. Finally Noah is able to win a few large sized pots and suddenly I'm on death's door again. I don't remember what the final hand was, but he managed to knock me out. It was late I was content with a second place finish and a non-contender ahead of me so the final hand didn't seam to be worth remembering.

Here are the current standings.

Week 10:

1. Noah
2. Me
3. Aaron
4. Shane
5. Jason
6. Archie
7. Rich
8. Cooke
9. Smack

Totals:

1. Smack (81 Points)
2. Me (81)
3. Cookie (63)
4. Aaron (60)
5. Shane (58)
6. Archie (58)
7. Rich (56)
8. Noah (48)
9. Jason (41)

Total (minus worst two)

1. Smack (79)
2. Me (71)
3. Cookie (59)
4. Aaron (57)
5. Shane (56)
6. Rich (54)
7. Archie (53)
8. Noah (47)
9. Jason (40)

The interesting thing here is that the totals section represents the worst case scenario for each player. If, for some reason someone doesn't play the next two events and gets 0 points, what they currently have in the totals section will be their final score. This means the worst I can do is 81 points. Looking at it from the other side, the best someone can do is their total minus the worst two + 30. This means even if Noah or Jason win the next two, they can't catch me, or Smack.

For Archie to qualify, he will need to win the next two and then have me finish no better than fourth.
Rich also has to win the next two. He can tie me if I finish third and fifth or worse, or beat me if I do worse than that.
With a first and second place finish, and me not doing better than fifth, Aaron or Shane could still go.
Cookie can tie me with two second place finishes and me not doing better than fifth.

I think that except for Smack and myself, whoever doesn't win the next event is eliminated. I think all Smack has to do is not finish last in both of the next games and he is in. Even if he does finish in last he is still probably in.

Now we'll have to see how my wife feels about me ditching her with an infant for 3-4 days so I can go play poker. Maybe if I promise to buy her something nice with my winnings she'll let me go. Otherwise I'll have pick a stand in. My instincts for fill in would be Archie and then Noah, but neither of them have done very well in this format so I'm not so sure. Maybe the live format suits them better.

No game next week since Archie will be out of town, but we're thinking of doing two the following week so that we can finish up the season and figure out which event we are going to play this summer, and start making travel plans.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com