Texas Holdem Strategy

ciaran · Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 5:03 pm Post subject: WSOP Qualifiers from ITH

The current list of qualifiers is:

WSOP ME

mchilger paid out of pocket
chillin411 qualified at Bodog Poker
ciaran qualified at Poker Stars
Mets2602 qualified at Poker Stars
yankees31 qualified at Ultimate Bet
gwijos4611 qualified at Blue Square Poker
Primitive qualified via the ITH People's Championship
pdxjim qualified at Pacific Poker
ebo8b qualified at Poker Stars

Preliminary Events

mchilger Events 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 39 (tentative schedule, subject to change)
nardo11 Event 40, qualified through ITH WSOP league
last place Event 27, qualified at Full Tilt Poker
poker_Elmo Events 2 and 6, qualified through ITH league and Bodog Poker
nsidestrate Event 2, paid out of pocket
ChrisJP Events 2, 6, 17, 19, 27, 31, and 37, paid out of pocket
Tanya Peck Events 2, 4, 5, 13, 22, 23/24, 25, 31, 33, 35, 37, paid out of pocket
jfletcher Event 27, paid out of pocket
yankees31 Events 37, 40, 41(pending ME results), paid out of pocket
chillin411 Events 33, 37, paid out of pocket

I'd like to update this list with as much information as possible about any ITHer playing in any event at this year's WSOP, so feel free to contact me directly with any info you have (links at the bottom of this post).

SANDSSTORM · Joined: 29 Aug 2003 Posts: 613 Location: Peachtree City, GA

We are starting this thread to recognize (and know who to cheer for) everyone who qualifies for the upcoming 2006 World Series of Poker. We will continue to edit the list as you guys let us know when you qualify (support@internettexasholdem.com).
Let's get the forum username and the qualifying event - you can include your real name if you want to.

I am very proud to start the list off with one of our own:

chillin411 who qualified through Bodog Poker - Congratulations Chris!

We'll update this as often as possible with new ITH Qualifiers and of course we will include our very own ITH Poker League Champion Qualifier Smile

DrNo888 · Brain Surgeon Joined: 01 Sep 2004 Posts: 706

Awesome!

Grats Chillin!

angel-fish · Joined: 27 Dec 2004 Posts: 709

WTG CHILLIN!!!!

nsidestrate · Suited's Love Monkey Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 22401

Congrats, chillin! I think I've seen at least one other such post in the last month or two.

chrisjp · Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 4:12 pm Post subject:

BigPoppa in the Big Dance also!. Obviously a very good player. Check out his posts.

Good luck to chillin411 and BigPoppa.

Chris

DTheater · Posted: Wed May 03, 2006 12:45 pm Post subject:

nice one guys!!!

dammnnnn, i must have missed chillns adventure in the IRC, that woulda been fun to watch!!

chillin411 · Joined: 22 Jan 2005 Posts: 804 Location: Florida

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it Smile

I actually was a bit quiet about it in IRC - I think we had three major tournaments going on there at the same time. I'm working on getting some of the hand histories together though for review. There are some great concepts I think can be applied, mainly patience in the early levels (I dropped 40% of my chips within the first 10 minutes) and uber-aggression in the later levels.

As for anyone looking to qualify, I really recommend Bodog. They are adding seats basically every weekend (they added two seats in my tournament), and the structure is great - 2500 starting chips and after the first hour, I think blinds were at 30/60 or something nice. There's a lot of play in there, and the players are pretty passive.

jeffnc · Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 9:45 am Post subject:

Awesome Chris - livin' the dream!

chillin411 · Joined: 22 Jan 2005 Posts: 804 Location: Florida

Part of it at least... those dreams usually end pretty well, so let's hope that continues, heh. Wink

BigPoppa · Joined: 25 Dec 2005 Posts: 214

This is a trip report I wrote after winning my WSOP seat through ChecknRaise (a Pokerroom skin):

This was the 2nd CTM freeroll through ChecknRaise poker.
Winner got $1000 in cash and a buyin to the WSOP main event.
2nd got jack shit.

This is all from memory, so a few details may be wrong.

Folded for a few circuits, then I got a good flop and doubled up early through the chipleader. After that, I used my stack to bully the table mercilessly. Once the BB hit T100, I raised preflop 2-4 times per circuit, taking the blinds almost every time and taking the pot with a continuation bet on most flops.

My plan was to use my stack to keep the pressure on, but avoid calling all ins without premium cards. Ended up catching people playing back at me once when I had AK and 3 times with QQ (lost only one of those).

A few key hands, all against the same solid player (who knows that I'm pretty solid myself):

BB at T30, I limp from EP with 77.
Player O raises to T100, I call.
Flop comes 799.
I check, player O bets T200, I raise T500 more
(the reasoning behind this overbet is that it looks more like I'm trying to steal the pot and less like I'm milking a strong hand)
Player O immediately goes all in, I call
Player O flips over KK and my hand holds up.

BB at T100, everyone folds around to me in the SB
I raise to T400 with AJo, player O immediately goes all in for T2400 (my stack is T5000)
I think for a very long time and fold, telling him I had AJ
(the reasoning here is that I'm doing great with the bigstack at the table, using it to max advantage by stealing a ton of blinds and do not want to give that advantage away)

BB at T200, I raise to T500 from MP with AJo.
Player O raises to T1100, I call
(here I was getting immediate 2:1 odds on my call, so was much easier decision)
Flop comes J36, I check
Player O goes all in for T1500, I call
Player O flips over 88 and my hand holds up
(I noticed Player O say in the lobby immediately afterwards, "I didn't think he'd call a reraise with AJ", so I think my earlier fold set him up)

Other than the flopped boat with 77, the hand below is the only hand in which I was all in with fewer chips than my opponent the entire tournament. We had the two largest chipstacks by far and I never would've made this play if the format wasn't winner-take-all (and if my opponent hadn't been showing down total crap hands after sucking out on people).

This made me massive chipleader at Final Table (against donkey who's been mini-betting preflop then showing down Ace-rag type hands):
BB at T1000, Mini-raising donkey mini-raises from Button
I call from BB with A9s
Flop comes 973 rainbow
I check, Donkey bets T2000, I go all in for T18000
(I'd seen him fold to aggression multiple other times, he'd gotten most of his chips by making big bets rather than calling them)
Donkey thinks for a very long time, then calls
(I wet myself from fear when he called)
Donkey flips over 910o and my hand holds up
(I was in shock when the guy called off all but T2000 of his stack with top pair and a 10 kicker, not that I minded)

It got down to three handed and I figured my chances were good.
The smallest chipstack seemed pretty solid (if a bit too conservative) and the middle chipstack was another donkey who thought Ace-rag was the stone cold nuts. I'd folded hands like AJ and A10 to his all in reraises a couple times earlier even though I might've been way ahead, but didn't plan to do so again with a reasonable hand. The donkey donked off almost all of his chips with A7 against the conservative player's AQ, and I eliminated him a few hands later with a pocket pair in the BB that stood up to the ever-present Ace-rag.

Then it was 2, with me having about a 3:2 chip advantage.
Once again, my plan was to just wear down my opponent with small bets while avoiding loose calls of all in bets. Luckily, I'd been playing heads-up SNGs on Stars all weekend and was feeling on my game.

I raised 3xBB a little over half the time I was on the Button, with him only calling 1 out of every 4 or so. I limped every other time (never folded my SB once). Position is very important heads up, almost more than the cards (since with only two players, the odds are that we both have utter crap hands that missed the flop). I bet the flop 3/4 of the times he checked to me, regardless of my cards. Most of these times he folded. If I didn't have shit, I checked behind on the turn and folded the river (once his stack got small, he kept pushing the river in these situations).

From the BB, I only raised strong Aces and medium pocket pairs (never got a big pair). In these cases, I was raising 4xBB since I preferred taking the pot and not haing to play out of position. He folded every single time I raised. My opponent was surprisingly passive from the SB, only raising a couple times and mostly limping in.

I made 3/4 pot bets every time I got any piece of the flop, most of which took it down. Never once did he raise my bet. If I improved or had top pair, I bet the turn also. If not, I checked. A few of these got checked down and I took them with utter crap like 83o on a KJ852 board (after a while, I think he just started calling me with nothing at all because he was sick of folding). He eventually started pushing the turn almost every time I checked after betting out on the flop (unfortunately, not the time I had 35s on a A24 flop). I folded these even though I could easily have been ahead with middle pair, as I had no intention of doubling him up.

Eventually, I wore the poor guy down to around 5 BB. I had K10 (I think) in the BB and the flop came down J105 rainbow. I checked, he bet, I pushed, he called with 810 and that's all she wrote. Chalk one up for smallball.

wako · Joined: 01 Aug 2005 Posts: 578

congrats all. Nice read BigPoppa, gotta love it when a plan comes together!

mchilger · Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 6:37 pm Post subject:

Chlling and Poppa, congrats on your big wins. See you at the final table!

Matthew

RiverCascade · 53o Joined: 02 Aug 2004 Posts: 3492 Location: Lovin' Life~

I am SOOOO proud of you guys! Gotta wear your ith shirts! August is just around the corner. Can't wait! Awesome job! May this list ever-grow.

chrisjp · Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 4:37 am Post subject:

Poppa,

Great tournament report! You will be a force to be reckoned with this Summer. Good Luck. I hope to be there too.

Cool

Chris

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