No Cruise for You!

The PSO Poker Criuse Freeroll went off last night, I wish I could say without a hitch.

It started when I got home and logged in one hour before the tourney. I also joined the chat room from PSO and people were freaking out. It seems when Party Poker created the tournament, they made it a freeroll instead of a restricted freeroll. OOPS! As soon as registration opened, non PSO people started registering for the tourney. The poor freeroll starved Party Poker people were JUMPING at the opportunity to play for a free Cruise. OUR FREE CRUISE. After about 15 minutes and 300 people registering, the Party Poker staff canceled the whole thing, and re-created it correctly before the kickoff.

The only other technical glitch was when it went to hand-to-hand with 50 players left, instead of 40. The payouts started at 30, so when 50-40 went out, it took forever as all tables had to wait for play to complete at all tables. But when it was 40 left, it resumed normally. So someone could "theoretically" stall their way into the money. Nobody did though, as most of these folks know each other from the PSO forum.

I really wanted to beat a user called "bouncer" who logs on to Party Poker as IGotASet. I did manage to finish higher than him, but He finished 30th, just barely in the money and I finished 21st, the highest spot to make EXACTLY the same amount as 30th. Oh well. At least I got done at a decent hour so I could get 5 hours of sleep before going to work.

It was the tightest freeroll I have ever been in. I barely saw a showdown the entire night. I never caught much in the way of cards all night. I got KK once on the Big Blind, but the table folded around to me before I could even attempt a raise. The small blind folded to me at least a half dozen times, even when I had 92o. I stole the blinds from the button with King high a few times, and went all in with a naked ace quite a few times too. Every time, it was folded to me.

Finally someone called me when I tried to steal the blinds with king high. I had KQo and got called with ATs. Neither of us improved and I went out 21st. I probably could have folded the button and lasted at the very least until 20th place, almost definitely higher, for more money. But I thought I could steal and it was a good percentage play that backfired. C'est la vie.

KingLucky busted out fairly early, in the 160's I think. He took a big lead on me from the beginning when he held 88 and the board flopped KT8. He re-raised MSOCougar all in and got called because Cougar held KT. MSOCougar finished just in front of me, 20th place despite this bad beat.

KingLucky took a tough blow when he held KK against AA. It knocked him down to around T1400, about the same as what I had. But he went a little bit on tilt and went all in with QJ and got out drawn. I think he knows better than to put his tournament life on the line with top pair and a decent kicker, but there were still a couple of crazy players left, and sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Minor tilt, and I think KingLucky was still in the freeroll mentality.

I was definitely NOT in a freeroll mentality on this game. I played it like I payed $1000 entry fee. It's really important to me that I put in a decent showing to these people. I spew poker advice contantly on PSO's forums, and I want to back that up with some decent poker play when they can actually see me. I think I have done at least that, cashing in both PSO freerolls so far, in addition to TGCs rookie freeroll that a lot of those folks played in. I also bubbled out on both Forum Challenges in which I represented PSO, but I did beat thousands of players to get to the bubble.

My multi play continues to improve. I'm playing more and more "foxy" and less "bricky". I still look for the opportunity to play VERY weak opponents, but fortunately for me there's plenty of them around. I adjusted to this very tight environment well, capitalizing on fold-ready opponents to keep myself alive for a long time. A few better decisions and a couple of better hands would have put me at the final table.