$0.01 NL Hold’em Hyper-Turbo Tournaments on Pokerstars are Addictive

A while back, I cashed out the majority of my bankroll at Pokerstars, leaving just a couple of dollars in the account. I’ve a big fan of building a poker bankroll from almost nothing to something substantial. I also enjoy reading the stories of other online poker players attempting the same. Although I do plan to start a new bankroll challenge as a part of this website, that’s not what this post is all about.

When I logged in to Pokerstars earlier to work on my WCOOP day 1 update, my balance was a measly $2.37. I decided to look around at different games to get some idea of what kinds of stakes I’ll be able to safely play with my (wimpy) bankroll.

That’s when I noticed $0.01 No Limit Texas Hold’em Hyper-Turbo Tournaments. They are 990 person, multi-table sit-n-gos that cost a penny and have no fee at all. That’s right, no juice on one cent Texas Hold’em poker tournaments!

Blinds starts at 25/50 and your starting stack is just 500 in chips. With the blinds going up every 3 minutes these things are all-in donkfests for sure. The other cool thing is they only last around an hour (if you make it to the end).

The top 40 places payout.

• 1^st $2.20
• 2^nd & 3^rd $1.10
• 4^th to 6^th $0.50
• 7^th to 10^th $0.25
• 11^th to 40^th $0.10

These are great if you what some crazy action, have a tight bankroll, or have poker A.D.D. and get bored easily.

On my lunch break today I played in 4 of these tournaments. I thought the first one was going to be handed to me after getting pocket aces the first two hands in a row! I went from 500 to 5000 in the first two hands. Those were my only big hands the rest of the tournament besides AQo one hand. I ended up going out right before the money on the first one.

The second and third ones I didn’t do much of anything, but in the fourth one I cashed. I seemed to pick my spots well and got lucky a couple of times. I went out 29th place winning $0.10. Now my bankroll is at (a still wimpy) $2.43.

With these tourneys, you HAVE to get extremely lucky to win. You either have to pick up some big hands earlier and double – triple – quadruple up, or get in there and gamble it up with everyone else and hope build a stack.

I don’t think there’s a definitive strategy for these $0.01 Hyper-Turbo poker tournaments, but I’m going to keep playing them and I’ll post my results and any tips I can give. If you get a chance, try them for yourself, they’re addictive!

WCOOP 2009 Main Event Day 1: So much for Pokerstars Pros

The WCOOP is ON at Pokerstars! As the Stars Blog puts it:

By far, it is the pinnacle of the year in online poker. The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event is the largest online tournament of the year by virtue of its $10 million guarantee alone. The money in play and the prestige of the WCOOP title combine to bring some of the game’s absolute best to the tables, and PokerStars is inundated with fans observing the tables, railing their favorite players, and getting a glimpse of the high-stakes action.

Well that’s exactly what I intend to do! Day 1 of the WCOOP Main Event is in full effect at Pokerstars. Well over 2000 players signed up for the premier online Texas Hold’em poker tournament to compete for a shot at the 10 million dollar prize pool. I’ll be following the action of Pokerstars pros Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu , Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, and Peter Eastgate.

Hour 1 – 2: Raymer Out and Hachem on the Ropes
It’s been just under an hour and already Joe Hachem and Greg Raymer have taken big hits to their stacks. Hachem lost half his stack ($10,000 in chips) with pocket queens against Andy McLEOD who held 76s on a board of 7c 4d 6c 10s Jh. Hachem raised to $150 in early position and McLEOD called from the small blind with 7s6s. On the flop, McLEOD led into Hachem with a $350 bet. Hachem raised to $1,150 and McLEOD called. McLEOD check-called the turn and river to take down the $20,950 pot.

In hour two, Hachem as yet to gain any momentum, getting involved in several tough spots, and is now down to less that $5000 in chips.

Another Pokerstars pro, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer has already been knocked out. After losing most of his stack early, and never quite gaining momentum, Raymer finished the WCOOP in 2107^th place.

Daniel Negreanu has been using his small ball poker strategy throughout the beginning stages of the tournament and is staying about even. He’s been picking up a lot of small pots and not getting involved past the turn for the most part.

Hour 3 -4: The Negreanu blowup – Hachem and Eastgate hit the rail as well

Like I mentioned earlier, Daniel had been playing a very calculated game thus far. Then a guy named “bootman” appeared in the chat box flaming Daniel with insults. He and Daniel went back and forth a few times and the moderator was called (presumbably by Negreanu). Then, in two hands Daniel goes from a contender to a spectator. It was so crazy I had to write a separate post about Daniel Negreanu’s 2009 WCOOP.

Joe Hachem ended his WCOOP when he got all-in with a queen high flush draw against an opponents ace high flush draw. Neither player improved and Hachem was eliminated from the tournament.

Peter Eastgate, winner of the 2008 WSOP Main Event was the last of the Pokerstars pros I wanted to watch. With his extremely aggressive style of play, he had large swings throughout the tournament, but seemed to be doing well overall. He got involved in a few big hands and lost over half his stack, when this hand sent him packing.

Yoitsmedude ($43,971 in chips) raised in early position to $1,100 with pocket queens and Eastgate called on the button with Jh9h. The flop came 5cJs5S. yoitsmedude bet $1,600 and Eastgate called. The turn was the 3c. yoitsmedude bet $4,000 and Eastgate moved in for $13,992, and was instantly called. The final card was the Qc improving yoitsmedude to a full house and eliminating Peter Eastgate from the event.

So now what? Well according to the Pokerstars Blog Day 1 update, the only Team Pokerstars Pro still in the running is Jan Heitmann.

Meanwhile, Team Pro Jan Heitmann of Germany had been sitting near or at the top of the leaderboard through the better part of the day, making an impressive run toward the second day of the Main Event. His chip stack fluctuated throughout the latter part of Day 1, though he didn’t take a big hit to his stack until late in Level 21 when he lost a 232K pot to pakd650.

I may follow his tourney in addition to some other online poker pros.

What did you think of the performance of Team Pokerstars Pros at this year’s WCOOP?

Why People Who Berate Other Poker Players Suck

One of my pet peeves when playing live poker (not-so-much when playing online poker) is when a decent, yet egotistical, poker player belittles, berates, and insults other players for what they perceive as poor play.

The worst thing you can do is berate a poor player for what you perceive as a bad play.

Here are a few reasons why it’s generally a bad idea to berate others.

1. The negativity is asinine and will make the entire table feel uncomfortable.
2. If the player being insulted is a decent player, he will undoubtedly try to play better against you.
3. Bad players make poker profitable for good players. Berating poor players may result in them leaving, which is the worst thing that can happen.
4. Maybe you’re wrong and you opponent played the hand correctly. If other players know that you were the one who played the hand poorly and still feel the need insult the other guy, they’ll think you’re a douchebag (because you are).

I certainly understand the frustrations of losing a big pot to a bad player. I recall a past hand I was in during a live Limit Hold’em game.

I limped in with a suited ace and several others limped as well. The button raised and everyone called. I flopped the nut flush and decided to check to the raiser. The original raiser bet and maybe one person in front of me called. I check-raised and the woman to my left cold-called two bets, which left me scratching my head. Everyone else folded.

I bet the turn – she called. The river paired the board and I bet – she raised. I called and she showed a full house. The frustrating part was that she called two bets cold on the flop with bottom pair, made two pair on the turn, and rivered the full house.

As frustrated as I was, I mustered the best “nice hand” that I could.

From now on, try thinking of worse players as “customers”. If you’ll start doing that, you’ll realize that berating them is just bad business.  If you work at the casino where you play, berating players is just plain stupid.

Here’s a personal example about how one poker dealer will permantely lose money from my wife and I.

A poker dealer we know got off work and started playing at the low-limit table we were at. Knowing that we are friendly, tipping customers he still berated my wife openly for outdrawing him with a flush draw in a big pot.

I feel like she played the hand well, but he could only talk about how that was the “worst hand he’s ever been beaten with”. He continued spewing these comments until we both decided never to tip the toolbox again.

Is there ever a time when it might be good to berate another player? Maybe, if you’re trying to put other thinking players on tilt.

If you can say or do something, like showing a bluff, and cause another good player to get angry and play emotionally, it will cause him or her to make more mistakes.  I don’t like attacking other players personally, but I’m in full favor of showing a well-timed bluff when I think it will tilt my opponent, or talking smack in a heads-up tournament on Pokerstars.

What do you think? Is it wrong berate opponents at the poker table (live or online)?

The Daniel Negreanu Blowup at the 2009 WCOOP Main Event

As I was writing a report of Day 1 of the WCOOP Main Event on Pokerstars, I witnessed Daniel Negreanu completely donk off his entire $21,000+ stack in back-to-back hands. After seeing this blowup firsthand, I felt the need to write a separate article highlighting the events that led to the Daniel Negreanu blowup.

First off, everyone that knows Negreanu, knows that he’s a fan of “small ball” poker strategy. This approach to deep stack Texas Hold’em poker is to play smaller pots with a wide range of hands, then outplay your opponents after the flop. Daniel has had a lot of success with his approach. Throughout the first couple of hours of this year’s WCOOP I witnessed him using the strategy to take down a lot of small pots without committing many chips of his own.

Another factor was the fact that Daniel had been having problems with his Internet connection the entire tournament. After getting disconnected every few minutes for most of the tournament, players at the table and in chat started joking with him about buying a better connection.

Then, an update about changing computers set off an exchange that appeared to put Negreanu on tilt, which would lead to his 2012^th finish.

Player “Bootman” gives Daniel a dose of haterade
Here’s the exact chat that took place prior to Daniel blowing up and getting busted out of the WCOOP. Bootman was a spectator who I hadn’t seen post anything before this exchange started.

KidPoker: I switched comps but this one is tiny and hurts my eyes
Bootman (observer): drop the small ball, that will help
KidPoker: Bootman small ball rules
Bootman (observer): people will call 5x 6x raises, why not do that with aces, minraise no good
KidPoker: you are wrong. End story
Bootman (observer): tell that to my banker
KidPoker: I did, your bank(er) is cleaning my toilet right now
Bootman (observer): guess he is on community service at a local slum
KidPoker: no he said he can’t make dues with his (clients) so he had to pick up extra shifts
Bootman (observer): guess laundering all my big pot poker cash got him to the suburbs of canada
KidPoker: ya he retired on your $2400 deposit
Bootman (observer): your $2 tip won’t help either
(After moderator called twice)
Bootman (observer): see dani, don’t call your dad again
KidPoker: where you from child?
Bootman (observer): rich town, you don’t know it

That’s when the following hand took place between Negreanu and “H_Brasil”.
Daniel was in the big blind. Bizool raised to $300, H_Brasil called, KidPoker reraised to $1,300, both players called – pot was $4,040.

The flop came 6s, 4h, 2c. KidPoker checked, Bizrool bet $2,500, H_Brasil called, KidPoker raisesd to $7,000, Bizool folded and H_Brasil called – pot was $20,540.

The turn was Kd. KidPoker went all-in for $12,775, H_Brasil called. KidPoker showed 10h10c, H_Brasil showed 4d4s for a set. The river was the Jh and Daniel lost the $36,660 pot. He was down to $4,715 in chips at that point.

Bootman (observer): so much for small ball
KidPoker: bootman must be like 15 years old
Bootman (observer): blame it on me

Then the next hand Daniel shoves 97 offsuit after Nicole Katz raised to $300 with pocket nines. Nicole Katz called and Daniel busted out.

Daniel Negreanu is easily one of my top 3 favorite poker pros, but I can’t make sense of what I witnessed tonight. I was totally disappointed to see him blowup like that for no apparent reason.

What do you make of the Daniel Negreanu blowup at the 2009 WCOOP Main Event at Pokerstars?

Pokerstars Replaces Isabelle Mercier with Fatima Moreira De Melo

Last week, the poker world got some disappointing news as poker pro Isabelle Mercier reportedly quit as a Team Pokerstars Pro.

In an email to Pokerlistings, Mercier said she was leaving the online poker giant to “take on new projects”.

While I’m sure there’s more to it than that, the news that Mercier will be replaced with another poker hottie immediately “picked me up”.

Poker Babe Fatima Moreira De Melo Joins Team Pokerstars

+1 to Pokerstars for signing Dutch field hockey star, Fatima Moreira De Melo.

That’s right guys, she plays hockey AND poker. De Melo is a virtual superstar in Holland.

She led hockey team to a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics and started a singing career in addition to signing with Pokerstars as a “Sportstar” player.

She models a little in her spare time (obviously).

What do you think about Isabelle Mercier leaving Stars? What do you think about their decision to add Fatima Moreira De Melo to the team?

Pokerstars Now Allowing Fractional FPPs

Pokerstars recently updated website owners and players with some great news. Stars will now allow micro-stakes players to earn fractional Frequent Player Points.

In the past, it was difficult (if not impossible) for players who play low stakes cash games to clear the Pokerstars deposit bonus. With this new announcement, Pokerstars with definitely see more players take advantage of the 2009 Pokerstars bonus code they released earlier this year.

This win/win solution benefits all parties involved. For players, the benefit is obvious as they can now earn FPPs no matter what limit games they play. For website owners, this means more advertising revenue as they are now going to be credited with more qualifying players. As for Pokerstars, although it may cost them more money in the short term to offer partial FPPs, the fact that they listened to what affiliates and players wanted will generate more loyalty across the board.

All of this is possible because of other webmasters making their voices heard on PokerAffiliateListings forum. That combined with the swift action of the team at Pokerstars, has made it where all players can now earn FPPs to go toward a Pokerstars bonus or merchandise in the VIP store.

Using the fractional FPPs to buy something for yourself

With all these new FPPs filling up your account, how will you spend them? Here are a few suggestions.

Build your library of poker books
Getting some extra poker education is a great way to invest your FPPs. When I started out, I purchased many many Texas Hold’em poker books from the Pokerstars VIP store.

Get some nice Pokerstars swag
Of all the poker sites, I really like the different clothing and gear you can get at Pokerstars with your FPPs. For just 600 FPPs you can get a new Pokerstars t-shirt or Flexfit Hat. For 10,000 FPPs you can get a brand new leather jacket.

Get some custom accessories
Save up enough FPPs and you can get some cool customized poker gear such as a pure silver card protector with your name on the back (6,500 FPPs) or a custom stainless steel money clip (8,000 FPPs).

Or if you’re in the mood for something really sweet, you can get a cookie basket filled with various sweet treats for 3,800 FPPs. No, I’m not kidding. Pokerstars really offers a cookie basket (colorful bow included).