Having played APL for the last 2 years (almost), I enjoy the structure of tournaments and enjoy the thrill of taking on so many players ... as opposed to the grind of ring games. I came across the 90 man games on PokerStars and even tho the $1 level is a turbo, I thought I'd give it a go as the payoff is more worthwhile time-wise than the 45 man games. Whether it was beginner's luck or not, I finished my first tournament in second place pocketing $17. Since then I've had another 2nd place and a 7th.
I've also played in a few of the $2 90 man games that is not a turbo format, but hadn't done very well until last night. I was virtually out of the tournament half-way through but fought my way back to be chip leader when we were down to 2 tables left. Things seemed to be working for me and I comfortably made it down to the final 3 and had a good chip lead. I made a couple of mistakes that cost me dearly but still finished 2nd (I'm good at 2nd, not so good at first) and took home $33.
The costly "mistakes" were:
1. With about 7 players left on the final table, under the gun (who was short-stack) pushed all-in and another re-raised over the top for about half my stack when I was a blind. I had pocket queens, ummed and ahhed for a minute and decided to stay out the way. Under the gun turned over rubbish, the re-raiser turned over pocket 8's and the rubbish won. I could've taken them both out and chipped right up.
2. Three handed, I had ace 8, ace came on the flop so I bet, got one caller. Ace on the turn, I bet and get called, 8 on the river for my full-house, I bet and get re-raised. I think for a second and instead of pushing all-in which would knock out the smaller stack, I just call. He turns over 2nd pair for two pair. That player who likely would've called my re-raise and lost went on to win the tournament.
3. Heads up against the above player he raised strongly from the small blind. I have ace ten and just call. 3 diamonds come on the flop and I have the ten of diamonds. Being first to act I bet steadily on the first 2 streets and re-raises on the river. I have hit nothing including the flush draw so I have to fold. He turns over middle pair with suited 7, 8. I realise now that I should've either pushed all-in pre-flop and he likely would've given it up or I should've not got involved in the hand at all. Just calling was the weakest/worst play.
Still, lessons learned and happy with the $33 cash.
One final note, I was checking out the PokerStars blog to see how the EPT San Remo was coming along. If you don't already envy the life of the top poker stars, check out Maya the wife of Patrik Antonius ...
, Raymer made a standard opening raise and was called by Aaron Kanter, who held 
. The flop came down 6-5-3 rainbow and Raymer made a half-pot continuation bet. Kanter called. The 
on the turn put two hearts on the board and Raymer bet 330,000—again, about half the pot. Kanter raised to 900,000 and Raymer set him in for the 700,000 he had behind. Kanter called with only the flush draw but caught lightning in a bottle when the 
hit the river. Raymer's stack was decimated and Kanter doubled up. Had Raymer won that hand, he would have taken the chip lead. Instead, he was eliminated a short time later in 25th place.
. D'Agostino found two black tens in the big blind and called almost immediately, giving a little fist-pump when he saw Corkins' cards.
, making Corkins trips.
hit the turn, making Corkins quads and leaving D'Agostino drawing stone dead. It took a few tries to get the correct count on Corkins' and D'Agostino's stacks and when all was said and done, D'Agostino was left with a single, red 1,000-denomination chip. So utterly punch-drunk not only by that beat but the series of beats that had taken him from top of the pack to all but out, D'Agostino let out his frustration by shoving his chips toward Corkins, knocking most of the stacks down in the process. Hey, a man can only take so much.
