Small Prizes, big picture

[RogerZzz8979]

For four years I've been playing poker as a recreational player at PokerStars. From the beginning I performed very well at Sit&Go-Tournaments with 18 players (two tables); there's a winner in 45 minutes and with the right combination of patience and aggression you have a pretty good chance to at least break even on the long run. It was that aggression that I lacked at the bigger games, because reaching the prize pool is far less certain. At R/A-games I was and still am a disaster.

Late 2011 I changed my approach to the bigger tournaments (45-180), and to play less passive as before, which paid off; on a rainy evening in November I collected $82 for a 2nd place in a $2,50 180 player tournament, and more decent results followed. And this is all very nice, but it's not where I want to be.

I've set my sights on the bigger tournaments, like the Daily Hots and Bigs PokerStars is hosting, but with an insane amount of participants and late registration and all that sh*t it requires a lot of adaptation in order to consistently finish high in the ranks.

From this thread I'll let you guys know how I'm holding up!

[gimmeabrew]

ahhhhhhh i miss ps and ft crack some heads for me

[RogerZzz8979]

Freerolls

The first thing I need to do is to gain as much massive tournament-experience as possible. Luckily this is not too hard, because there are al lot off Freerolls where complete tribes gather to battle it out over a few measly pennies. I used to hate Freerolls for the known reasons: the prize money isn't worth the time and the bingo-players and noobs frustrate the chance of a proper game of poker. But after a week of playing mainly freerolls I have changed my opinion.

Indeed, there are a lot of bingo-players and noobs out there, but after 20 mins or so the worst is over. The skill-level of players is lower than at most money games, but when you compare it with $0,02-$0,99-games it doesn't make much of a difference.

[RogerZzz8979]

Communities

There are a lot off Freerolls available on PokerStars. The one PokerOwned organises feels very underground with that 20-second window, which is a good thing. Too bad there is only held one per day on PS, I considered opening accounts on other sites, but I like PS and this works for now.

Although I very much like the courses of the Online Poker School, I don't think the Open Skill League gives a realistic representation of a 'real' poker-tournament. It has something to do with the points system I guess where it's all about preservation and going out as late as possible. In a real tournament, if I don't have a chance to make it to the prizes, I couldn't care less about where I finished.

The Freeroll that comes across most frequently is currently the BRM Leaderboard $25,- Freeroll (sorry for mentioning the enemy Zab, but the truth is not a plug, right ), and when you register there you can win extra prizes if you make it to the leader-board. BRM it is then!

[RogerZzz8979]

Moneymaker-effect

Although you obviously need some luck at some point during a poker-tournament, I'm convinced that it's more a game of skill rather than luck. And with that belief comes the wish to bag some big prizes. Last week I saw the Online Poker Show which features highlights of the final table of the Sunday Million for the first time.

Too me, the Sunday Million is like the Grand Prix of Monaco (or the Indy 500, if you will, I'm a petrolhead ) of online poker. A tournament like any other, but at the same time so unlike any other. Win it and your class is undeniable. A month or so ago a countryman won it, and he made the newspaper! This is something PokerStars is very aware off.

In the Online Poker Show, the password for their weekly Freeroll on Thursday-night is revealed, and the winner of that tournament takes home a ticket for the Sunday Million. Sounds pretty sweet, wouldn't you agree? Throughout my entire poker-career I have never witnessed a massacre similar to what I say out there. 25000 players chewing it out in the most disgusting fashion. It was 'pre-flop all-in or bust' the whole time, and there was no chance of playing a normal hand, not even for the chip-leaders. Insane! I got kicked out of the tournament early when I called an allin from a guy with J8 off-suit or something while I was holding QQ .

But the most cruel part of the story is the prize-pool: only the top 9 finishers get something out of the tournament, and there were 25.000 players. Even with Blinds that increase every 5 minutes, it still takes a solid four nerve-wrecking hours to get to the final table. As I said before, the winner gets an entry to the Sunday Million. But the top 2-8 only get a lousy Step 1 ticket to a Satellite-tournament worth $5,50! Come on! PokerStars is taking the expression 'to the Victor, the spoils' to a whole new level.

But in the meantime, there is a deal made on every Final Table of the Sunday Million and the Champion never takes home the biggest prize. Now that's consistency for ya.

Anyway, next Thursday the gloves are off again, and I will take part like any other loser. If you can win the ticket, you've got a good shot at the Cup See you there!

[mint4322]

What are you talking about?

[pacopeca]

no se de que habla solo entendi que lleva 4 a?os jugando en pokerstar

[RogerZzz8979]

Special people

The BRM Tournament Leaderboard is still far away, but I manage to finish in the top 15% on most of my runs at the BRM $25,- FR which is more or less positive. Like I said in an earlier post, I was positively surprised to see that after 20 or so most of the players out there are really in it to win it, and not looking for a way to pass their time and annoying as many people possible doing so.

Sadly, the same can't be said about the "Bonusbonusbonus$10,- FR". You think the name's bad? The name is perfect, because with a name like that you can be sure that it's understood clearly by the mentally deficient, which the average player at that tournament seems to be.

So basically the only massive tournaments I can consider are:
- BTM Freeroll $25,-
- 100k Depostitor FR

From my winnings I played some Hot $0,55's. No spectaculair results, but an enjoyable ride and the first prize is huge compared to the buy-in. Wouldn't it be cool to turn a few pennies won at a Freeroll into a couple of hundred bucks in one afternoon. That's something you can brag about for the rest of your life! I would

[RogerZzz8979]

First Blood!

Finally a decent result! I found out along the way that 5 minute blinds don't suit me in the bigger games. Therefore I have decided to withdraw from the BRM and just go for the 100k Depositor Freerolls. This month PokerStars is hosting 8 tournaments per day, and you can win a lot of money considering it's a freeroll.

Tonight I started a game at 22:00, and 7 hours later I finished in third place taking home $189,-. The field was 20,000+. My strongest run yet, I'm happy with the progress I'm making! Now I'm off to sleep 'cause I'm exhausted.

PokerStars Tournament #554076520, No Limit Hold'em
Freeroll
20232 players
$1000.00 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $3780.10 USD
Tournament started 2012/05/01 22:00:00 CET [2012/05/01 16:00:00 ET]


Dear RogerZzz8979,

You finished the tournament in 3rd place. A USD 189.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.



Congratulations!

Thank you for participating.

[OUatown]

Gl with your goals! Just be patient and play hands in position. gl at the tables