Started playing on PokerStars and UB tonight. I’m in the market for a new playground. I’m wondering if these other sites might have better tourney structures for my buy-in range. So far I like Stars because you get more chips and the levels are of a reasonable length, including their SNG’s. UB, not so much. Seven minute levels (??) and only 1000 starting chips. Bleh. Anyway, I’m not sure if I’ll ultimately switch over completely (so far Party’s live game lobby seems far easier to navigate, probably because it’s what I’m used to), but it’s good to explore new corners of the online poker world.



Another problem with UB: the “bet pot” button. Now I can’t claim to be the first person to notice the awful-ness of this button, as that was my boyfriend, Chris. But he’s damn right, people. I find that I often hit the “bet pot” button by accident instead of “bet it” when I’m in a hand. Maybe this happens to others as well. In any case, UB’s interface is not very user friendly.



Played the Stars 5+.50R this evening. It was a nice tourney. I busted out ten from the money, but hey, I wasn’t in it for 63rd place anyway. I love rebuy tourneys. At first I thought I would hate them, but after playing a few, I find them to be glorious. For example:





PokerStars Game #1108517012: Tournament #4653078, Hold’em No Limit – Level V (75/150) – 2005/01/21 – 19:52:00 (ET)

Table ’4653078 38′ Seat #3 is the button

Seat 1: Dr.Kivorkian (3355 in chips)

Seat 2: #1 WARLORD (9050 in chips)

Seat 3: liquid7282 (17945 in chips)

Seat 4: AcezEmpty (10355 in chips)

Seat 5: deckcoll (6720 in chips)

Seat 6: Meesy (11275 in chips)

Seat 7: NDogg6 (8470 in chips)

Seat 8: JoshNjuice (9450 in chips)

Seat 9: Hero (5600 in chips)

AcezEmpty: posts small blind 75

deckcoll: posts big blind 150

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Hero [Th Qh]

Meesy: folds

NDogg6: folds

JoshNjuice: folds

Hero: raises 350 to 500

Dr.Kivorkian: folds

#1 WARLORD: folds

liquid7282: folds

AcezEmpty: folds

deckcoll: calls 350

*** FLOP *** [Qd 3c Qc]

deckcoll: checks

Hero: checks

*** TURN *** [Qd 3c Qc] [2s]

deckcoll: checks

Hero: checks

*** RIVER *** [Qd 3c Qc 2s] [Tc]

deckcoll: checks

Hero: bets 1000

deckcoll: calls 1000

*** SHOW DOWN ***

Hero: shows [Th Qh] (a full house, Queens full of Tens)

deckcoll: mucks hand

Hero collected 3075 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 3075 Rake 0

Board [Qd 3c Qc 2s Tc]

Seat 1: Dr.Kivorkian folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 2: #1 WARLORD folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 3: liquid7282 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 4: AcezEmpty (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 5: deckcoll (big blind) mucked [As 9c]

Seat 6: Meesy folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 7: NDogg6 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 8: JoshNjuice folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 9: Hero showed [Th Qh] and won (3075) with a full house, Queens full of Tens

I mean, “Whaaaaaah?” Granted I slow played the hell out of this, but come on. He has NO PIECE of this. But through the beauty of rebuys, he tosses the chips in there. Give me all of them.

To be fair, I must demonstrate how the rebuy structure affects my own play. Behold:

PokerStars Game #1108355639: Tournament #4653078, Hold’em No Limit – Level III (25/50) – 2005/01/21 – 19:14:22 (ET)

Table ’4653078 38′ Seat #3 is the button

Seat 1: Dr.Kivorkian (4280 in chips)

Seat 2: superd7.3 (3000 in chips)

Seat 3: liquid7282 (2555 in chips)

Seat 4: AcezEmpty (4770 in chips)

Seat 5: deckcoll (3000 in chips)

Seat 6: Meesy (4100 in chips)

Seat 7: farmington (7045 in chips)

Seat 8: JoshNjuice (2110 in chips)

Seat 9: Hero (5525 in chips)

AcezEmpty: posts small blind 25

deckcoll: posts big blind 50

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Hero [Th Td]

Meesy: calls 50

farmington: calls 50

JoshNjuice: folds

Hero : raises 150 to 200

Dr.Kivorkian: folds

superd7.3: folds

liquid7282: folds

AcezEmpty: folds

deckcoll: calls 150

Meesy: calls 150

farmington: calls 150

*** FLOP *** [4h 2s 3d]

deckcoll: checks

Meesy: bets 100

farmington: calls 100

Hero : raises 500 to 600

deckcoll: folds

Meesy: calls 500

farmington: calls 500

*** TURN *** [4h 2s 3d] [2h]

Meesy: checks

farmington: bets 6245 and is all-in

Hero : calls 4725 and is all-in

Meesy: folds

*** RIVER *** [4h 2s 3d 2h] [4d]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

farmington: shows [6s 6c] (two pair, Sixes and Fours)

Hero : shows [Th Td] (two pair, Tens and Fours)

Hero collected 12075 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 12075 Rake 0

Board [4h 2s 3d 2h 4d]

Seat 1: Dr.Kivorkian folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 2: superd7.3 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 3: liquid7282 (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 4: AcezEmpty (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 5: deckcoll (big blind) folded on the Flop

Seat 6: Meesy folded on the Turn

Seat 7: farmington showed [6s 6c] and lost with two pair, Sixes and Fours

Seat 8: JoshNjuice folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Seat 9: Hero showed [Th Td] and won (12075) with two pair, Tens and Fours

Now, I definitely play this the same way in a non-rebuy tourney. But I sure as hell chew a few more Tums when I do so! Who knows how this guy is gonna play is QQ or his set. I don’t know him from Adam. Mmmm, yummy chips…argharhgarhgh (a la Homer J. Simpson).

Okay, I’m still in the UB one-table SNG, and I have no clue what I am betting, how big the pots are, or what the hell is going on. Am I supposed to be able to count these tiny virtual chips?! I don’t want to frigging move my mouse all over the place to find out what the action is. This blows. Will be cashing out as soon as I collect my refer-a-friend bonus.

Edit: After an hour of confusion and random “bet pot” mania, how did I bust out of the SNG on UB, you ask? Finally got a decent hand, KK. Guy with QT calls my PF raise. Flop: Q2x. I push, he calls. Turn is a Q, river is a deuce. It’s not just Party Poker, kids. Must go vomit now.

Played SNG’s today. Placed third in two and lost on the bubble in one (so far…). In the one where I bubbled, I did so because I made a very irritating mistake. The player sitting to my right had not tried to steal the blinds once the whole time. In the big blind, I’m dealt A3o. (Predict what’s coming next). My friend the tightwad raises big, and what do I do? After just making a mental note that he had not tried to steal the blinds all night? I reraise all-in. Of course he has AJs and my three never comes. The worst part was that I had him covered and so I had to sit there on my short stack feeling bad for myself until the blinds took the rest of my chips.



If I’d been concentrating on the SNG, rather than the star-studded Tsunami Relief concert, I never would have made that call. So Brad Pitt and you other celebrities…you owe me 22 bucks.



Or how about if I just frigging concentrate on the game?! Damn it.

So exactly how disastrous of a move was this:



One table SNG on the bubble. I have 1400 and the blinds are 100/200. I’m starting to feel that special anxiety when you see the blinds coming around and have less chips than you’d like. However, I’ve also been practicing my patience lately, and so I haven’t done anything crazy despite this anxiety.



I’m dealt 99 in the small blind. UTG limps. He’s a tricky player and this should send danger signals flashing through my brain. It gives me even more pause when the next player in (the button since we’re four-handed at this point) limps as well. But here I am in the small blind with 99, a strong hand four-handed. And my stack is dwindling. Of course you know the rest. I pushed all-in. BB folds, UTG types “nice” and goes all-in himself (for about 2300). I take issue with this “nice” because the button folds, but I figure he was probably going to anyway since he only had UTG covered by like 100. Of course he had AA, of course I felt like a moron because that was the most likely hand for him to have and limp UTG on the bubble, of course I got no help and busted out fourth.



Could a better player have laid those nines down and waited for a better spot? Most likely. I’m sure it was an extremely incorrect play. In fact I *know* it was. But I couldn’t afford to just call, and I don’t think I could afford to fold. Or could I have? I’m sure a better player could have, and I’ve probably read somewhere in my study of the game that I’m an idiot for going up against a big stack with 99 on the bubble. So I guess I’ve answered my own question. Anyone who knows mathematically or theoretically how stupid my move was, please feel free to comment below so that I can know *exactly* what a fool I was, especially since I wasn’t surprised to see him turn over that AA. Duh!