Life and Times of a Poker Addict

Computer has been on the fritz this week, so I hadn't been able to check my emails for about four days. I finally get that taken care of earlier this afternoon and as I'm going through everything I click open an email from Party Poker. Since I hadn't played there in a while they had given me a $25 bonus deposit into my account, which brought my grand total to around $28. So after sorting everything out, I decide to fire up Party and see what's happening. I'm feeling really good about my tournament game lately, so I'm going to be playing a bunch of satellites and see if I can get my way into some big events coming up.

Well, as soon as I log on I find a $5+1 rebuy qualifier for the Million Dollar Guarantee that's about to start. I register and proceed to fold for the first level and a half. I finally get a hand, pocket tens and I'm waiting for my chance to act but when it gets to me none of the action buttons are on my screen. So for the next twenty minutes I'm logging on and off Party Poker and my computer trying to figure out what's wrong. I finally get the software to work with about 13 minutes left in the rebuy period. I still have over 1800 in chips since I did a rebuy as soon as the tourney started, and then I pick up pocket eights, limp and smooth call a raise in early/middle position. Flop comes Ace high and I decided to try a stop and go, only this guy had raised with pocket fours in late position and flopped his set, so I'm busted on the first hand I play. Double rebuy with not much time left in the level.

I finally win a hand to get to 2100 in chips at the break and after my add-on I have T3600. The first hand out of the gates I'm in the small blind and pick up Aces. We're at 75/150 and it gets raised to 600 by the guy who flopped his set against me, he gets called in two places and then I push, which he calls with sevens. My Aces hold up and I'm sitting at T7200 and in pretty decent shape. About three minutes later I'm one off under the gun, UTG limps, I raise to 600, it folds around to him, he moves in for 2000, and after I call he proceeds to crack me by hitting a set of Jacks on the turn.

I spent most of the next hour hovering between 5000 and 8000 in chips, and people are rocketing by me in stack size. But I am able to steal here and there, and pick off a few pots after the flop. I got lucky when I pushed with QdJd with about 6BB's left and rivered a set of queens versus the Ac10c that had called me and flopped his Ace. I basically just stole blinds all the way to the final table from there. I saw some truly ridiculous play that never ceases to amaze me on Party Poker. People limping K4 from UTG and check-calling all the way to the river on AKx flop, calling with connectors under all three cards on the flop and going runner-runner straight, etc.

I picked off a few pots when we got down to seven handed then picked up Aces twice in three hands and had moved my stack up to about 65,000 which was good for fifth place. Top two got seats, third through fifth got some cash back. Chip leader had about T110,000, 2nd had about 95,000 and the rest of us we're pretty much even. When we got to six handed I picked up pocket Jacks in the cutoff and raised to 18000, which was 3x the BB. I got called in two places and the flop came J 10 9 rainbow. UTG had called and checked to me, and I led out for $25,000 into the $55,000 pot and he called. The turn was an Ace and I knew that we were going to get all our money in there. I had him on a drawing hand like AQ on the flop, or he had flopped the nuts and I was pretty screwed, but he checked again, I moved him in for another 19,000 and he called, turning over AQ. I dodged the Kings and Eights and we were five handed and I was the new chip leader.

We got down to three handed pretty quick and the 2nd place stack and I worked the other guy all the way down to 2.5 BB's before he caught cards in two big pots and got us all back to even at over 100K in chips apiece. Then the guy who had been 2nd got stuck in a rut and lost all his money in a pot to the other guy.

So after four days of no computer, Party gives me $25 free dollars which I then turn into a free seat in the Million Dollar Guarantee. All in all, not a bad day or a bad tournament to be freerolling.