Session #47 - Fighting For a Seat at the World Series of Poker Main Event!!!

Oh man, I'm so stoked!! I just finished in the top 3 of a 250 person $3 + Unlimited Rebuys and one add-on tournament on Poker Stars to win a seat in the Sunday World Series Main Event Qualifier!!! I win that and baby, I'm off to Vegas in July to compete for an estimated $10 million US first place prize. About 3/4 of the way through the tournament I took the chip lead with some bold plays, well-timed bluffs and a bit of luck and never looked back. I had one scare late in the tournament where I called trip nines with my top pair and knocked off 2/3 of my stack but I persevered and eventually knocked out bubble boy when we went all-in preflop with my AQ suited vs his 10-K offsuit and nothing hit to help either and I took it down with high card ace.

The following is a copy/paste of the hand that I think swayed the whole tournament in my favour. It was a pretty ballsy call on my part but I just couldn't put the guy on top pair which made me the best so I had to call. If I hadn't of called, I would have taken a big hit to my stack. Instead, it catapulted me to the top.

PokerStars Game #4557755241: Tournament #22204008, Hold'em No Limit - Level XV (3000/6000) - 2006/04/08 - 02:19:10 (ET)
Table '22204008 2' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Player One (209234 in chips)
Seat 2: Player Two (114568 in chips)
Seat 4: Xorply (243999 in chips)
Seat 5: Player Three (227981 in chips)
Seat 6: Player Four (137635 in chips)
Seat 8: Player Five (101083 in chips)
Player One: posts the ante 300
Player Two: posts the ante 300
Xorply: posts the ante 300
Player Three: posts the ante 300
Player Four: posts the ante 300
Player Five: posts the ante 300
Xorply: posts small blind 3000
Player Three: posts big blind 6000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Xorply [Td As]
Player Four: raises 18000 to 24000
Player Five: folds
Player One: folds
Player Two: folds
Xorply: calls 21000
Player Three: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ks 9d Tc]
Xorply: checks
Player Four: bets 30000
Xorply: calls 30000
*** TURN *** [Ks 9d Tc] [6h]
Xorply: checks
Player Four: bets 54000
Xorply: raises 54000 to 108000
Player Four: calls 29335 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [Ks 9d Tc 6h] [5h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Xorply: shows [Td As] (a pair of Tens)
Player Four: shows [Ah 9h] (a pair of Nines)
Xorply collected 282470 from pot
Player Two said, "damn i had KJ"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 282470 | Rake 0
Board [Ks 9d Tc 6h 5h]
Seat 1: Player One folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Player Two (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Xorply (small blind) showed [Td As] and won (282470) with a pair of Tens
Seat 5: Player Three (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: Player Four showed [Ah 9h] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 8: Player Five folded before Flop (didn't bet)

So the "value" of this win is $650 but it's not cash so I won't count it towards my monthly/yearly totals. Although I am contemplating selling it via www.sellyourseat.com for $540 US. But a shot at the big show!!! Ack!!!

Here's a copy of the email I received from Poker Stars:

PokerStars Tournament #22204008, No Limit Hold'em Super Satellite
Buy-In: $3.00
214 players
Total Prize Pool: $1965.00
Target Tournament #22203528 Buy-In: $650.00
3 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started - 2006/04/07 - 22:30:00 (ET)

Dear Xorply,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.
You qualified to play in Tournament #22203528 and are automatically registered for it.
See Tournament #22203528 Lobby for further details.

If you choose to unregister from this tournament your account will be credited with 650.00 W$. W$ can be used to buy into any qualifying special PokerStars event.
Visit our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/tournaments.html for more details.



Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.