Ultimate Bet Tourney

I am very new to the online poker world. Tried my luck at a UB Friday night tourney. A total of 270 players. Played super tight for 2 hours and built my stack with a nice river straight just before the break. Flopped trip sevens to triple up a little later and then put it on cruise control for another hour. I stole several small pots with my new found stack and clawed my way to second place with 50 players left and the top 40 getting paid.

That's when the big cards starting coming. AQ unsuited early. I make it 3x to go and everyone folds except the biggest stack who is seated at my table. The flop comes all low cards. I put in 1/2 pot size bet and the big stack goes over the top. I stall for a while and then fold. There goes 25% of my stack. I stall a little more and decide to again wait for only good cards. The button passes around and again I get AQ unsuited. Again, I make it 3x to go and this time the big stack goes ALL in. There are 44 players left and I am not interested in going broke. So, I fold. The blinds are now rocketing up with the antes. I am not quite desperate but getting close with now 42 players left and me in the small blind. That's when I get 44. Everyone folds except the button who makes it 3x to go. I think for a long while. Do I limp in? Do I reraise? I am not going to fold. Not getting any real world clues, I decide that it isn't enough just to make the money. I want to be in the top 5 or better. My stack is half his so I chose to put him to the test and went all in. The big blind folded and he called in light speed flipping up KK.

I am out before I can spell Bubble....

Any thoughts?

Surgical Poker

Ted Forrest wins Shooting Star

Ted Forrest outlasted the talented field in one of the longest WPT events ever. He took home over a million. In his CardPlayer interview he said he doesn't have any plans for the money. I suggest we start a list of ideas and send it to him. Hey Ted, I am looking for a sponsor to the WSOP main event. Can you spare $10,000?

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Final Table of Shooting Star $2000 Event

This is the final table of the $2000 Bay 101 event. There are mostly pros at this table but can you spot the Bay 101 regular who is mixing it up with the best??

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Clonie Gowen at the Bay 101 Main Event

Clonie Gowen, one of Surgical Poker's favorite players at the Shooting Star. She was at the same table as David Williams. Later, on Day 1 she was out. Hopefully, she'll be back.

Bay 101 Shooting Star Day 1A

This is a view from the floor of the Bay 101 Card Room about 2 hours into Day 1A of the Main Event.

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Phil Hellmuth Playing the Shooting Star

Phil playing in the Shooting Star, Day 1. Unfortunately, much later that day his AK suited got cracked by pocket rockets and he was out.

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Phil Hellmuth at Bay 101 Shooting Star

AM here with Phil Hellmuth as he enters the Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose, California.

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Ms. M makes the Top Ten at Bay 101 $2000 Event

I was one spot away from the WPT Spotlight Link (World Poker Tour) http://www.worldpokertour.com/players/?x=womenplayers&womenplayers=1

As most of you know I fallen on the Poker wagon and have been doing pretty well with it. I mostly play no-limit cash games but wanted to play the WPT-WSOP that San Jose Bay 101 is hosting this week. I occasionally go to Bay 101 and play some cash games where I've also met some new friends.

On Sunday I played my first WPT Event for a buy in of $2000, which half was staked. If I place in the money I would give the sponsor 40%. My current sponsor is a player that I met at Bay 101 who usually plays the $100-$200 limit game. The game started with 250 players and about 40 pro players (Todd Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Gavin Smith, Steve Wong, Miami John etc.) with everyone starting with 10,000 in chips at 11:15 am.

I got down to the final table of ten players (seven of the ten were pros) with $70k in chips, with the average chip count at $300k. At this point it was 2:00 am with a few breaks in between, sitting next to Todd Bronson, across from Miami John. The next player eliminated would end the days round for the true final table on Monday 3/12 at 4:00 pm. The first hand we played at the ten seated table was with a guy who was short stacked going all in and the larger stack next to him going all in as well. The short stack shows pocket queens, the large stack shows pocket kings. (I'm thinking to myself “wow, I'm really going to make the final table tomorrow.�) the flop is a blank, blank, blank, turn is a blank, river is a queen. I was sick…. Another short stack goes all in, gets called from a larger stack with a worse hand, and doubles up the short stack. The blinds are at $4000-$8000, ante of $200 and I'm in the small blind looking at A-8, in seat six. Seat two limps in; I call the four thousand and big blind checks. The flop is 2-2-2 at which point I'm first to act. I'm thinking my ace is best and bet out half my stack, big blind folds and seat two goes all in. I'm in a dilemma, which I'm now pot committed, I call, seat two shows pocket tens I don't get any more help and I'm out of the tournament. My payout was $7500, with 1^st place receiving $175k.

If I would have been able to make the next day, I would have at least made an additional $2500 or much more, had an article in Mercury News (this writer from Mercury News was preparing this story about me if I made the final table), I would also have been tracked by WPT with my wins on the website.

M

Comment from AM: Next time I am willing to stake Ms. M. Or, perhaps she can give me some lessons!@

Surgical Poker

Ultimate Bet No Limit Post

This is a post from Nar PowPow, a Surgical Poker Correspondent who plays online at Ultimate Bet and Full Tilt Poker. This is a recent hand of no limit. Please post any thoughts.

narpowpow posts the small blind of $.50.
rbsx posts the big blind of $1.

narpowpow: Qc Qh

Pre-flop:

CompanyBot folds. thefifthman calls. Barthozzz
folds. blackNmild84 folds. narpowpow raises to $4.
rbsx folds. thefifthman calls .

Flop (board: 7c Ts 7h):

narpowpow bets $9. thefifthman raises to $36.

okay...nervous that he caught trips, but, again, donkey...hoping he was bluffing. he'd done it several times and gotten caught, showing crap or folding. so i decide to be aggressive...too aggressive, granted.

narpowpow goes all-in for $83.65. thefifthman goes all-in for $67.25.

OKAY...figured i'm screwed now, and that he had called my pre-flop raise with 2 7 or some such crap and caught trips or 10 7 and flopped a boat.

Turn (board: 7c Ts 7h 9c):

(no action in this round)

River (board: 7c Ts 7h 9c 5h):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

narpowpow shows Qc Qh.
narpowpow has Qc Qh 7c Ts 7h: two pair, queens and sevens.
thefifthman shows 3d Td. HOLY CRAP...not only did he call my preflop raise with shite, he went all in with top pair/pathetic kicker.
thefifthman has Td 7c Ts 7h 9c: two pair, tens and sevens.

Hand #37041367-186689 Summary:

$3 is raked from a pot of $143.50.
narpowpow wins $140.50 with two pair, queens and sevens. mmm, mmm tasty.

Black Bullets Drag Monster

I was playing at my usual 2-5 spread limit game at Bay 101 and frankly getting beat up by a couple loose aggressive players. I was a little intimidated and slightly on tilt after my AA-99 lost a big pot to trip fives. I bought in again and settled in waiting for a hand to play against one of the very good players.

When I looked down at the black bullets in my hand, I knew it might be my time. Someone ahead of me made it $25 to go and I promptly put it up another $100 hoping at least one but no more than two people would call. Everyone folded except the guy earlier who took $200 from me with the trip fives. He called. The flop came out K97, all clubs. I unfortunately or fortunately had to act first. I knew he might have a made flush but with the Ace of clubs in my hand, I felt like I had to put the pressure on him.

I made it $200 to go and he immediately called. I only had about $55 left so I am not sure why he didn't put me all in. Now, I was convinced he had a flush and that my aces had been cracked. The turn came out with a five of diamonds. I tossed my last chips in and told him I had the flush. He called anyway. The river was a beautiful 2 of clubs giving me the nuts. I flipped it up and he showed his buddy and then mucked. Later I found out he had QQ with the Q of clubs. The pot was juicy and my biggest ever.

I am not sure if I learned anything on this hand but it obviously made my day......

AM SurgicalPoker.com

Bay 101 Super Satellite for the WPT Shooting Star

Sucks outs beat skill. On President's Day, I played in the Bay 101 Super Satellite. The top 6 players received a seat to the $10,000 WPT Shooting Star. My initial table was 3-4 loose aggressive players mixed in with a maniac and 3 rocks. I was simply trying to survive in the middle of the tourney when the button came around to me. At that point, I was a short stack but not THE short stack. I looked down at 2-4 of diamonds. Everyone quickly folded to me. That left the maniac small blind and the super tight big blind. I had a pretty tight image so I went for it and pushed all in simply to steal the blinds. The small folded but the big blind thought FOREVER and then called with pocket eights.

I said "you got me". The flop comes out Q-5-3, no diamonds. Okay, now I am praying for an Ace to make a wheel. The turn is an eight, making my rock friend trips. I start to get up from the table as a six floats on the river giving me my straight and life. The Rock didn't like what I was cooking on that hand. More later on he got back at me....

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