OT: Kinda cool

[SinfulWeeper]

Back in March, after watchin the travel channel WSOP Texas Hold'em in Aruba. I seen the link on there for ultimatebet.com. I went to their web site, downloaded their poker program (which is far superior to the party poker program advertised here if any of you play it). I have been entering in their 'freeroll' games regularly. Placing around the top 40's in their tourneys for TEC's (Tournement entery chips), bonus dallars ('vapor money' that can be converted to real money by playing real money games, which I have not yet done so. But so far I have $1534.80 bonus dollars ) and UP (ultimate points) games and tounements.

So far I have amassed 8 tournement entry chips for $100 dollar or higher games buy-in games. A hoard of Ultimate Points which can be used for some pretty interesting stuff for free, including $10,000 in real money providing I get enough.

But last night, I placed first place!!! in the Aruba super satelite to make it to the semi-finals happening on July 3rd. If I mannage to place first place on that, it is off to Aruba I go . If I make it to the top 10 in the Aruba game, you all might get a chance to see me going for $1,000,000 first place finishing prize on the Travel Channel and ESPN .

Of course I know the odds of me making it to the Aruba island are slim as I will be playing against only the finest 2000 players who also all made it to the semi-finals, either through paying, or placing in the top 25 freeroll's like I.
But last night's first place finish was a real spirit lifter. We all start with 1000 chips. By the time I finished, I was the chip leader with 195,320 chips. Second place finisher was in at a mere 76,940 chips. Not only did I finish first place in that tourney, but I had more than double the second place runner up in chip value.

My playing statagy is simple, I only play when both my cards are 10 or over, or pocket pairs. ei.., if I have ace/9 suited, I do not play it because the kicker, the low card is too low. Even though many people will play it as most consider that a 'playable hand'. I'll play a pocket pair 3's, dueces or any value so long as the initial pre-flop raises is not large to see if I catch my tripples. If not, I fold them... though sometimes they do come on 4th street or river . One last thing, I never bluff. I only play if I have it. Otherwise I do not play at all.

It surprises me how many people I take out because the play their aces, which is a ruling card with such a low kicker. They will play that ace with a duece, 3 and bet it like the have a top kicker. Most people believe I will try and pull a bluff, but I have not done that yet. Most of the time it does not pay off. If the flop comes with with 2 or more cards higher than 10, people just do not realize I will mostly have a top pair with top kicker, a srt8, or tripples.

Not to say I do not lose any hands, there have been many hands in which I lost that I thought I had the 'nutz' on, but lost to something better. However about 79% according to my player stats pop-up I win. Which is also very very high, rivals some of the pro's on T.V..

Anyways just saying I am very excited for July 3rd, and I have confidence I might to the finals in Aruba. Whether or not I will win or place in the top ten on that one is very hard to say. That is where most of the pro's are that you see regularly on T.V. But I hope to be that like that russain who won it all not to long ago by going in on $25. Only difference is, mine would be totally for free .

Not to mention I managed to turn $1k of a friends money into $4k as he had confidence in my playing abilities (of which I got a large cut to pay for my attorney's down paymant). I just wish I were at a more comfortable income level then I am now. I hope by September to put in my $1k and see what I can turn it into, and cash in on those bonus dallars that I am amassing

Anyway just thought to share some fun news, and my hope to become a millionare. The odds are very small, but you can't agrue if it is for free .

 

[ProviaFan]

Gambling for free is not risking anything, and thus, by definition, not gambling.

Good luck on your venture!

 

[MDE]

That's awesome. I have a friend that plays on PokerPages.com and won enough bonus points to convert them into over $2000 to pay some of his tuition. I'll be rooting for you!

 

[Confused]

Good luck

I'd remove some of your tactics from that first post though, you don't know who is looking in

Good luck, and glad that you're getting some money for your attourney fees


Garry

 

[The Reaper]

Man that's kickass! I'm just now getting poeple around here playing in Taxas Hold'em games. Good luck, and keep us informed!

 

[Coquito]

Well at least now I know who never to invite to poker night.

Best of luck in the next round.

 

[Mardeth]

Heheh. This must be one of the most intresting threads Ive read in a LOOONG time. You know why? Because I have been trying to do the same thing, only with less succes. I play at www.pokerpages.com which I also like more than party poker. I dont think you can win the entry fee to WSOP playing free directly but you can win money and then pay the very small entry fee of 2$+0.2$ for the first round.

Im going to try your tactics since they seem to have worked for you. I easily play to top 100 of 500 but after that I usually drop pretty quickly, it just is too hard to win hands. Best placing until now is 38th of 408 players and the prices start from 27th onwards.

One thing I dont like about party poker is you cant observe tables or tournaments as far as I know, is that possible at ultimatebet.com? What is your handle?

Btw, do you play A + (number) suited? Im just thinking because it doesnt matter what the lower number is because you have the ace and if anyone else gets the flush youll still win.

 

[MDE]

Mardeth, I can also get into the top 100 out of 400 pretty easily on PokerPages, but also drop like a fly afterwards. The key is to figure out when the idiots are mostly gone and then change your play style a bit to compensate for the higher intelligence of the players still in the game. I play Ace + # suited but only if I can get in cheaply. if someone more than doubles the big blind I'll fold unless I have a gut feeling. PokerPages seems to like aggressive play when you have a draw to make and will screw over a made hand. Case in point, last night I was losing pretty badly (was the shortest stack at the table) had 3 of a kind, and went all in to get screwed by an ace high flush on the river.

 

[OverVolt]

Hey Congrats, you have some real skill there! I'll be rootin for ya in Aruba. If you get the $1,000,000 remember to buy some crunchers !

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Mardeth, in one short answer, the freerolls @ ultimatebet.com are exactly that, Freeroll's.
Every month since mid-late March when I downloaded the program, I have played the freerolls on a regular basis. This is my first time making it in the top 25 which proceed to the end of month finals, there is no $2.00 + $0.50 freeroll of that type. Those are entery satelites in which I can pay to get into if I so desired, but have not yet done so. You can learn more about ultimetbets freeroll structure @ http://www.ultimatebet.com/promotions/aruba/freeroll.html

But yeah your right. Depending on what freeroll you enter. It is very easy to progress in rankings because of the 'stupid, crazy' players. Unfortunately when I lose in a tourney it is usually early in the game because of them. Once I get past them though, it is usually easy sailing upwards.
I have not watched the DVD, but I have bought Phil Hellmuth's poker book. Not sure if you know him or not, but he is a 9 time WSOP champion. I read the book and at first I thought, this was a waste of $12 off of ebay. One day during the last ending days of school, my adopted brother came to me wanting help for a book report on a book he just read. I read it and really started thought what cheap crap. How can an author legally publish such garbage and make money off of it . But then I started picking his brain and all of a sudden, an excellent book report came out on a worthless book (though he failed the eport because of the subject matter :|, but in person the teacher had told my parents he is really sharp, but that was not appropriate stuff for a 5th grader :|.

So then I started thinking hard about his book like back when I was in school, and I read the book again, only this time 'reading between the lines'. Short of what is clearly printed, there is a lot of very unnoticable things that can only be seen by long hard thought. If he clearly printed why he is a 9 time WSOP champion, that could be the end of his days. Very clever strategy in there in which I my game increased 5 fold just by following his stratagy. Then I came to my sences, I need to come up with a new stratagy and will nearly be fully effective (in poker there is never a fully effective stratagy, but there are some that come close) blending my new idea's with his. So don't worry Confused. The players from ultimetbet.com can read this post and see what cards I play. But there is also much more to the way I 'play' my cards. I one last thing I can safely point out is I make them think they have the best hand, or if I fear they do which happens often, I try a couple other things that make them think I have the ruling hand. Which is where only playing 10-A comes in. They see it, they know it, they fear it when high cards come and I am playing.

The only real drawback of playing 10-A like me is sometimes I put in a big preflop bet, which scares away the people with the smaller cards of the like of J/6 except for the crazy stupid people who never win the tourneys and will play a 9/4 The flop comes and shows no high cards. Then they get the lucky low pair, but again watch out. Who says I did not land a low pocket pair during preflop and have tripple's, or a high pocket pair which beats his lower pair anyways .
But I'll leave you all to decide how to play your big cards, you don't want them to fold after all, you want them to bet since you have a powerful hand. How you get them to do that, you'll have to figure out on your own.

BTW, should any of you decide to download ultimetbet's poker program, can you all do me a very big favor and put in SinfulWeeper as the refered by person .Should you decide to play real money, we will both get bonus dollars And one last thing, do not buy in with less the $200, or else you will be against the crazy people wanting a quick buck. The higher you buy-in amount the higher games you can play. Which does not have nearly a quarter as much of those dumb types who go broke. But hey, they might be lucky with you and with a small buy-in you will think your skills lack when most likely indeed it is them.

 

[Unforgiven]

july 6th at 9 pm est begins the WSOP coverage on ESPN i think this is an awesome thread and i wish you all the luck in the world. ive never played texas hold em but im heading to vegas at the end of september to play some for the first time and i cant wait! all the best to you man, bring that cash home and buy all new cruchers as your reward :beer:

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Ahh, two more things Mardeth... the tourneys in ultimetbet's tournement structure are between 800-2000 people. Most freeroll's are 800. But some are higher, if you only play those cards, and play them right, do not be over agressive and make your opponent fold, milk the sorry SoB for as many chips as you can that doesn't hurt you in a really bad way. And the second, yes you can easily obseverve the tourneys when I play either by chance of being in the same room, or by observing the room that is playing.

And A+ suited, only of the kicker is 10 or higher again. Flushes are not all that common. Hoping for one is a sure way to lose chips most of the time. So if you have an A/7 suited, I think the odds are somewhere like 400-1 of landing a flush, if you get it, cool for youif not, you will quickly understand what I mean .

 

[SinfulWeeper]

How many crunchers can $1 mil buy after fed-imcome tax?, of course I would buy some, I'd even fill up a cabinet full of 1U's , I love the TeAm and think you are all a great bunch of people and would keep up my TeAm spirit

I just checked my email from Ultimet bet, for getting in on a freeroll I will start with only 500 chips, + the amount of ultimetpoints I earned in non-tornement games. Which is only 138, so I will be starting out with 638 chips. Very short stacked compared to the people who buy in and get 1000-5000 chips . The odds will be very hard for me to get first place with such a low starting stack. I hope on my 1st-6th betting that I at least double or tripple up. THere will be many new faces there who will not know me from prior tourneys and do not know how I play. Hopefully they will think I am a bluffer. I'll need to get to a comfortable 7000 chip stack ASAP if I am to have any chance of winning. It will be much harder than I thought. Perhaps it is time to use those TEC's.... but I want to give me methods a couple more months of play before I use them as the are 'worth' $100 each at their games.

 

[Mardeth]

MDE, with what name do you play?

Well, good luck to you SinfulWeeper, Ill probably try to find you and see how far you get in the tournament. I did actually put you as the referer so I hope you get something out of it. Also, Ill probably buy some books too since Ive heard that they can be a great help.

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Just a slight update peeps, I started with 638 chips, now I am @ 6705

 

[Mardeth]

How far did you get? I just saw the end, some guy called yawannabet won the tournament next round will be mine .

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: SinfulWeeper
Just a slight update peeps, I started with 638 chips, now I am @ 6705

Go SW!

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Them bastages. About 35 minutes after I posted my reply to this thread. Work had called me back in as we had 5 people call in sick. I told them I am in middle of the tourney that I had forwarned them about and I would like to remain off. They had let me off of work earlier in the day to do this. But I was 'recalled' so to speak. I told them I can go in after the game is over, but then they 'told' me, what is more important, that game, or my job. I chose the job as it is not anywhere close to guaranteed that I will make it all the way to Aruba next month, even less chance to win there.

I was in 38th place when they called, out of 1922 people. The next 24 hands, I went all in preflop, even with crap. I feel sorry for most people who called. Out of those 24 people, I kicked 17 of them out of the tourney... I kinda feel sorry for them, they had far better hands than me. Just for some reason the flop-river was siding with me. Those all in bets brought me to second place in chips before the odds finally caught up with me. So out of 1922 people, I finished 145th and did not get to see the ending. I can only guess how much farther I would have gotten had they not called me back

I am going to be participating in the Aruba freerolls more often, and THIS TIME!!!, I am going to make sure I am scheduled off for the day of the tourney.
If I fail to get in on this months EOM Aruba trip by the freerolls, I still have all my TEC's to buy into the $100-$300 dollar buy-in games which not only let me goto Aruba should I place first. But also gives me cash for winning that particular tourney

I'll update this thread when I qualify for a EOM freeroll though

 

[OverVolt]

I would be seriously pissed at my work, that kinda stuff has happened to me before, the person who makes the schedules 'lost' my request off slip, im sure :roll:

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Did it again, I am in the EOM Aruba tourney by finishing a respectable 15th place last night. I could not even come close to matching the chip leaders chip count this time though. The new updates in UB's servers allow upto 2500 people to join in the freeroll qualifiers from the previous 800. I was waiting patiently for my cards and actually made it there by playing skill... from what I could tell the top 5 chip leaders had no skill skill. They used their mountain chip count to get people to fold... the ones who didn't fold and were 'forced' to go all in had much better cards then them. So come the finals on the 7th, when we are just starting off. I hope to take those rookies out.

One more thing... I AM going to make sure I have the full day off for this tournement. It is the last chance to get in on a freeroll. If I fail to do it in this tourney... well I have enough TEC's to buy my way into real money entery game and see if I can make it . But with smart aggressive play, I hope to make it in for free... which would be so sweet

 

[amdxborg]

Wow! Great news Anthony! Good luck man, hope you win BIG

 

[RaySun2Be]

Best of luck to ya!

oh, and on the day of the tourney, be sure to unplug the phone, take the batteries out of the pager and turn off the cell phone. And no matter what, DO NOT answer the door! Well, unless the Prize Patrol shows up, or it's a pizza delivery.....