Taking
my 1st free shot at one million dollars
at Paradise Poker.
Wish me luck everyone! This Saturday, December
3rd Paradise Poker.net is holding their
2nd free million dollar poker tournament
and I've got a seat! Sure, I've only got
to beat out somewhere around 5,000+ players
but hey, most freerolls have 2000 players
for a total prize pool of $25 bucks! Click
here to read more about how the million
dollar freeroll works.
The tournament structure was awesome!
2500 in starting chips and the blinds started
out at 5 / 10. Each round was 30 minutes
long, so you had plenty of chips compared
to the starting blinds and you had plenty
of time. There was plenty of time to feel
out the table and get an idea of how you
should play. Top notch multi table tournament
setup. They also employed antes when the
blinds reached 100/200 which I really liked.
I'm aggressive pre-flop anyway so the more
money in the middle for me to take the better.
The antes went up slowly but did add a little
juice in the middle for everyone to compete
for.
I had a great table position starting out.
The two guys who acted after me were both
away from their computer. Not only did I
get to steal their blinds uncontested a
few times, I more importantly recieved 3
total hands as the button in each round!
It was a huge advantage and once I switched
gears I did build my stack with pure aggression
and stealing small and medium sized pots
from position.
About three hours in, I'm dealt QQ in the
small blind. Suddenly, the player who had
been away for the past three hours suddenly
arrives at the table and pushes all in under
the gun for his remaining $1052 in chips.
I had been stealing his money all night
and figured he just realized the tournament
was going, logged in to see he had lost
over half of his chips and was just saying
'screw it' and pushing in. I quickly call
with pocket queens and he turns over Ace
9 offsuit.
I'm ahead until the river with the ace falls
and I double him up. The next hand I recieve
ATs and again I raise, he moves all in again
and I muck it. I don't know if he is an
idiot or not, but I didn't want to call
off most of my chips with ATs, even if I
was in the lead. This turns out to be exceptionally
bad for me later as he bluffs me out of
a pretty large pot when my AK doesn't improve
and he bets 90% of his stack into a a fairly
large pot that I've bluffed at twice with
my unimproved AK.
My stack was up and then down all
tournament long.
I would go from a relatively short stack
at the table to near the chip lead at the
table, and then back down, over and over
again. I couldn't maintain an acquired chip
stack until I my M moved to around a 7 or
8, and then I would employ an all-in strategy
that would build my stack back up, which
would then slowly get wittled back down.
It was an aggressive tournament pretty much
the entire time. Most pots were raised pre
flop.
I made the money!
It was a huge field! 4871 players and I
finished in the first money tier of $50
bucks. I played and concentrated for over
6.5 hours to bust out 291st. I liked the
fact that I made it deep into the tournament,
my multi-table tournament skills are improving.
The tournament started out unlike most freerolls.
I'm sure it is the huge 1st place prize
of 1,000,000 bucks that made most everyone
play different that the typical types of
freerolls that most of us have experienced
with, with idiots going all in with any
2 cards at anytime. My table played so tightly
that we didn't lose a single player for
over an hour and a half.
This tournament was a great experience
Even though I'm pretty dissapointed with
my finish. I got all in with Queens and
someone turned over Aces and then I imagine
I was fairly tired and maybe on tilt when
I re-raised a somewhat aggressive player
all-in with pocket 6's. He called with queens
and I didn't get lucky. Good tournament
but I sure wish I had made the top 10, where
I'd be guaranteed at least $10,000 and my
shot at one million dollars.
If you want good multi-table tournaments,
consider Paradise Poker. Here is Paradise
Poker Signup Guide. and here
is a review
of paradise poker. If you're looking
for a new poker room then you should take
a look at this great online poker room.
You can go to Poker School with Caprice,
your personal poker coach.
Play at Paradise Poker and get a Kick
Ass deposit bonus 25% up to $100!
Paradise
Poker Review
P.S.
In the 1st free million dollar poker tournament,
one player tried to cheat
paradise poker.
P.S.S. Paradise Poker is
having World
Series of Poker Online Qualifiers.
Thanks and we'll see you at the tables!
KAP
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