I have decided to make it my mission this week to qualify for a big event through an online satellite. Why, I’m not really sure with Vegas just round the corner (T-18!). But I’ve not had much time to play poker lately and I decided that if I was make time to play this week then I’d do it with a mission.
I’m still not going to be able to throw myself at this, with hundreds of other real world things to get done before we go away, but any poker I play will be focused on The Mission. I’m going to try to (gasp) single-table these games too, something I haven’t done for quite a while. Occasionally two quallies I want to play will overlap so I might make an exception, other than that I’ll have to see just how good my patience is!
I have identified four possible satellites that I want to get into as cheaply as possible:
OnGame Poker Classic:
Stage 1: $6+1
Stage 2: $50+$4
Stage 3: $300+20
Final: $5000+$200 on Sept 2nd played online down to 45 players
Final 45 play live in Barcelona Sept 28th-Oct 1st
Aruba Ultimate Poker Classic:
Sub-qualifiers to satellites costing $200 or $1000
Event is Sept 23rd – Oct 1st
$10,000 package includes $5,200 entry plus travel and accomodation
Camp Hellmuth:
Satellites are $109, package worth $3000
Event takes place in Vegas Aug 11-13
Camp value $2000 + $1500 expenses paid
Ultimate Bet WSOP $3k Satellite:
$30+$3 rebuys or $50+$5 freezeout.
Prize is $2000 in WSOP entries + $1000 cash.
I’d use this for a main event satellite and another preliminary event.
I’ve so far played four qualifiers, and so far managed to keep to one table at a time without getting itchy fingers!
PokerRoom $6+$1 Poker Classic Stage 1. I began at lunchtime with the 12:10 qualifier and it was short and sweet, but thanks to a masterpiece of misplanning this early in my quest I’d already put some bacon in the George Foreman grill before I realised it was about to start and would have been distracted by food shortly afterwards anyway. 8 minutes in and I was busted with QQ, moving in on the flop with my overpair vs two flush draws which both hit on the turn. I was pleased to see I was ahead but didn’t really like the move as my all-in came after I got raised and called by the other two players. The bacon factor, along with seeing that there was only one seat and one cash place in this satellite with 24 players almost certainly influenced my decision.
$11 feeder to Camp Hellmuth satellite. I survived 59 minutes before busting out in 6th place – hey at least I didn’t have to sit through the break with hardly any chips left… There were only 9 entrants in this giving us a small overlay on the seat value, but meaning that it was first place or nothing. With a minimum raise to 120 under-the-gun and one caller I reraise to 340 with 44. If the min-raiser actually has a hand and comes to life I can get away from this with 865 chips remaining. The raiser folds, but the weak caller wants to see a flop and I feel I have to move in on the flop when he checks to me as long as the board doesn’t look too scary. He instacalls with JT on a J62 rainbow board (couldn’t ask for much better without a 4!) and I’m done.
$20+$2 satellite to $109 Tournament. As UB now offer tournament dollars, even though this was not a Hellmuth satellite I would be able to use the seat value to play in the event I wanted. This seemed like good value, with one seat for every five and a half players (I have had decent success in a similar structure on PokerStars) however it was a turbo tournament with 5 minute levels. In total there were 38 players for 6 seats and $106 cash, but I went dry when it mattered and got called by a rag ace when I needed to steal some blinds. I went to the rail in 16th place.
PokerRoom $7+$1 Satellite to $50+$4. This seemed to be a bit better value than the Stage 1 qualifier, with the same value ticket prize. Finally, things go right and I land a ticket for just over 2 hours work. I have more detailled notes about this one, and depending on whether it sounds vaguely interesting when I read it back I might post some hands later. However when I went to register for the Stage 2 tournament, it wouldn’t let me use this ticket! My next mission is to find out why…
Summary:
Played: 4
Cost: $48
Won: $54
Not exactly impressive yet. About even 🙂
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