OMG I actually won a tournament on pokerstars!

[dflamzer]

Had to share it with the world. Been playing sit and go's and a few tournaments on a nightly basis and finally finally end up winning one.

$15 Holdem NL - 180 entrants. First place prize $795.

I have to say having won this I can see what goes into winning a tournament is a combination of luck, timing and the right cards.

I owe the win to a KK hand I got and somehow ended up getting the chip leader at the time to call and another guy to call both holding AQ and AJ. Luckily no Ace and I took a huge lead that I never really lost.

That being said how many of you here play on the site and do many of you win tournaments or is this a pretty rare occurence?


Up until now I had hit the final table at the 180 player tournaments maybe half a dozen or so times. From what I'm looking at I've been in the money in 12% of the 160 tournaments I've played in. Have to admit this totally gave me a lot more faith...

[Jetta-2.0]

its a nice feeling winning any thing in my book lol

[Type_S1]

I hate pokerstars (I 100% believe the odds are fked and games can be rigged by mods) but sometimes still do play on it.

From my spreadsheet I cash from 20-25% of the time in tournys (all of them added up, different player counts). I like playing live more because it cuts down the random "swings" of luck I feel pokerstars has.

Sounds like you are doing alright as long as you are up $$. I log my hours, investment, cash's etc to see if playing is even worth my time. I have done alright in the last year with Live+online mixed but overall I am trying to cut down because of the frustration and stress that sometimes come with it haha.

Edit: I do not usually win tournaments...I have only won 4 tourny's online in the last year. Not a very good stat haha.

[dflamzer]

I'd figure the odds of winning actual tournaments on a consistent basis wouldn't be that good. I think your odds of going far though increase drastically if you are able to double or triple up early so you aren't sitting all in more than you need to be.

I used to think the same thing with pokerstars as the swings were so bad, I mean so damn bad. I realized more and more it was just the cards I was playing with and the fact I thought hands like AJ and A8 were really good lol.

I played in the tournament at grey eagle this past week, the big $300 once a month tournament. I was one of the first eliminated on a horrible set of circumstances which leads me to believe online and live poker is just as random.

5th hand in at the grey eagle tournament I'm given pocket queens. Blinds are still minimum so how the heck do you get value.

I raised 5 BBs just to get something, and low and behold 4 callers... WTF I'm thinking....

Flop.

K clubs, 3 diamonds, J spades.

All I'm thinking is one of these guys has a K. They all check. I bet out a 10 BB raise. All but one guy folds. I instantly think he has the AK or KJ or AJ or something along those lines.

Turn card. Q clubs....

I get my set. Boy I'm happy but I don't want to scare him off. So I bet 20 BBs. He doesn't even hesitate calling....

So I'm confused, did he hit a straight or something?

River is the J clubs...

Jubiliation is going through me. I have a full house. How the fark can I lose. I'm thinking well he could have a straight, could have a flush, well, could have pocket jacks, but I think no chance in that.

I shove, he instantly calls.

Dealler calls out full house and straight. The other player instantly says, NO, its a straight flush.

The guy literally pulled runner runner for a straight flush all while giving me the exact cards I would have wanted.

Ever since that I can no longer view live and online as being different. They are literally the same.

[dflamzer]

Beginning to wonder what's going on. I've won 6 straight $100 HU sit and go's since winning this tournament. All the sudden the cards love me!

[JLau]

just know when to push your luck and when to back down..or you will end up giving it all back, thats all i have to say

[sexualbanana]

Originally posted by Type_S1
I hate pokerstars (I 100% believe the odds are fked and games can be rigged by mods) but sometimes still do play on it.

From my spreadsheet I cash from 20-25% of the time in tournys (all of them added up, different player counts). I like playing live more because it cuts down the random "swings" of luck I feel pokerstars has.

Sounds like you are doing alright as long as you are up $$. I log my hours, investment, cash's etc to see if playing is even worth my time. I have done alright in the last year with Live+online mixed but overall I am trying to cut down because of the frustration and stress that sometimes come with it haha.

Edit: I do not usually win tournaments...I have only won 4 tourny's online in the last year. Not a very good stat haha.

20-25% is a pretty good cash rate in tournaments. The swings you mention are just as pronounced live as they online. I've had shitty online swings that have lasted weeks (which is months online), and vice-versa.

The thing I've found with online is that my swings are more psychologically bearable because the hands move faster. In the time it takes me to fold 25 straight shitty hands pre-flop live, I would've probably had 2 or 3 playable hands online in that same time frame because I would've played hands at 4x the rate online.

[dflamzer]

I take it all back now after getting royally screwd last night. I mean ROYALLY. Playing in the $162 nightly fifty grand. Things are going well. I'm sitting top 10 in chips 3 hours into it. So around 60 players remain at this point. Top 36 places are paid. Top prize is 10k.

I get a pair of sixes in my big blind. Guy raises to 3 BB. I call.

Flop is...

6 4 Q

I start out with a 2 BB bet. He insta shoves....

I think for a few seconds. Did he just out flop me with a set? Certainly I think it's rare as all heck to see it happen.

I nearly max the timer out and call.

He shows a A J off suit. He's literally shoved with nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Then the fun, just how random can it be that somebody shoves with nothing and then proceeds to hit a K on the turn and a 10 on the river for a straight. Quite literally the only two outs he had.

I started looking at the odds and math on it and I got literally screwd. I really don't understand how some people just seem to know what cards are going to come. It's beyond amazing.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Originally posted by dflamzer
I take it all back now after getting royally screwd last night. I mean ROYALLY. Playing in the $162 nightly fifty grand. Things are going well. I'm sitting top 10 in chips 3 hours into it. So around 60 players remain at this point. Top 36 places are paid. Top prize is 10k.

I get a pair of sixes in my big blind. Guy raises to 3 BB. I call.

Flop is...

6 4 Q

I start out with a 2 BB bet. He insta shoves....

I think for a few seconds. Did he just out flop me with a set? Certainly I think it's rare as all heck to see it happen.

I nearly max the timer out and call.

He shows a A J off suit. He's literally shoved with nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Then the fun, just how random can it be that somebody shoves with nothing and then proceeds to hit a K on the turn and a 10 on the river for a straight. Quite literally the only two outs he had.

I started looking at the odds and math on it and I got literally screwd. I really don't understand how some people just seem to know what cards are going to come. It's beyond amazing.

Was he on a flush draw?

You can only do the right thing, which is what you did do. Remember you cannot hold your sane standards to those who are playing against you otherwise you'll go nuts. I'd make your call 100 times in 100, if the villain has pocket QQ so be it as this is the only hand killing me on the flop.

Lick your wounds, get back on the horse and have a short memory of the luck bucket.

[dflamzer]

No flush draw. It was a rainbow flop. I felt pretty safe with the exception as I mentioned being the pocket queens. I'm really lost for words on it all. My thinking is when your 3 hours into a tournament you stop making stupid moves.

So when somebody calls you 3X BB bet you'd understand they either have a pocket pair or an A + or two face cards. So for him to literally shove on that board was bordering on insanity.

I almost knew the second I saw that king on the turn that I was screwd. I mean well the guy now actually has 4 outs and go figure.

The real part I find odd about this is the guy was the chip leader by quite a good margin. I don't usually see chip leaders get that high up being that stupid lol.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Is he a winning player (I highly doubt it)? Check at PokerOptimizer or Sharkscope, etc.

[dflamzer]

There wasn't a lot of data on the name he had. Almost like he was a new player playing in a fairly big $162 entry tournament. It just seemed really fishy. I watched him for a good 30 minutes after I was knocked out and he was making odd ball calls and constantly hitting on the turn and river.

One hand in particular I watched him call a 5X BB bet with 9 7 off suit and he hit trip 9's on the flop against AK suited. I mean sure its great to get lucky cards but how does a person just know when to call at a stupid spot. He wasn't even in position lol.

[mugensix]

Once on pokerstars my pair ace lost to some guys full quad 2's boy was i mad! I never win good on ya!

[dandia89]

anytime i hear people complain about bad beats i just think about that video with ray romano where the guy lost quad aces to a royal flush

[dflamzer]

Except the Ray Romano video the guy physically had a reason to keep calling and when you hit quads you shouldn't be the aggressor as you really want your opponent to do all the damage themselves.

In this particular case it was literally drawing to a runner runner. I was around a 98% favorite on the flop. It doesn't really razz me as I'm up nearly $4,000 this week but still it was just the WTF aspect.

[Spoons]

Originally posted by dandia89
anytime i hear people complain about bad beats i just think about that video with ray romano where the guy lost quad aces to a royal flush

I've seen it happen a few times at the casino.

One was tough, guy had J of hearts J of diamonds other guy had K of spades and some garbage card I can't remember. Wasn't even a hand to play as I remember JJ came out hot pre-flop. But paid off.

Flop: A of spades - 10 of spades - J of spades

JJ obviously bit on this, and the guys with the K chased the royal flush at this point. I remember him betting heavy earlier which I thought was weird, but I don't think these guys were the greatest poker players either.

Turn: J of clubs

Quad jacks. I mean stupid not to play. I'm not the greatest poker player, but to me though I would have seen that MAYBE there is a royal flush out there. Quad jacks went all in and the K immediately called. I mean he is river chasing, but fuck it how often does it happen.

River: Q of spades

Guy hit on the river. Quad J Still won bad beat though, so he came out a winner. I think around 7 grand he won off that hand. I wasn't sitting at the table at the time, just watching which sucks cause everyone gets paid on bad beat. It was a fucking intense hand to watch though. People jumped out of their chairs after the river flipped.

[dflamzer]

Hit another top six finish this morning. Then while in another $15 sit and go tournament it happens again........


Down to 15 players. Always the chip leader, always for some reason. I'll never get it but whatever.

I get pocket 5's. I'm sitting 12/15 in the tournament so it's a shove situation. I just call to see the flop being a little cautious.

Flop.

5 10 10

I flop a full house.

I shove.

Other player thinks about it. Calls within about 2-3 seconds with..........

K Q off suit...

I'm like oh yeah, its mine. He'll need two runners.

Get this.... what are the bloody odds...

Turn.

10.

River 10.

Quads on board and his K players. Seriously unreal I tell you. At least I cashed on it but still a major WTF. Seem to find this in 25% of the tournaments I'm KO'd from.

I couldn't care that it happens. I accept it, but omg.


Currently sitting 1st in a tournament with over 5200 entrants 1 hour in. I must be doing something right.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Start posting these "Perfect Storm" villain hands using Boom! (hand sharing) on PS. You are running into some real head scratchers, I can see terrible players making the plays against you but players running late in a tournament (must have some skills) should not be able to have success in really bad odd hands.

Too bad Kobe was not on Beyond a bit more, I'd be interested to read his views.

[dflamzer]

Yeah I was reading the blog he had while he was still updating it. I find early on in the tournaments you see a lot of idiots and if you capitalize on it you can easily double or triple your chip stack. Just a matter of not playing stupid hands or making stupid bets.

I'm still just a novice I would say but I think I'm doing fairly well. Just about every tournament I've played in I've managed to crack the top 10 early on and then often sustain it past the bubble. In my books thats gotta be good lol.

Told my wife I'd really love to try the WSOP next year just for fun. I think it would be awesome to participate in even if nothing came out of it. In the last week though I've been in the money on 37% of the tournaments I've entered.

Could be I've started seeing things I was doing wrong and certain cards that honestly just work.

I'm still beside myself sorta on some of these hands I've seen. Not sure why but the players that do these odd ball shoves are always from Russia.

[-relk-]

Originally posted by Spoons
Guy hit on the river. Quad J Still won bad beat though, so he came out a winner. I think around 7 grand he won off that hand. I wasn't sitting at the table at the time, just watching which sucks cause everyone gets paid on bad beat. It was a fucking intense hand to watch though. People jumped out of their chairs after the river flipped.

What do you mean by everyone gets paid on a bad beat? The guy that lost the hand still got cash? I could imagine the commotion that hand would cause though, thats a once in a lifetime hand!

Anyone ever experience someone raging after a bad beat in the casino? I have never seen it, but I can imagine it happening. When I used to play PS a couple years ago, I would flip shit on bad beats from people who made stupid calls.