Won a NL hold'em tournament for the first time...

[Drakken]

With play money on PokerStars.net, I registered into a 45-participants multi-table SnG tournament late this evening. I took my time, being patient and playing like a rock except with great cards which I played aggressively. And in the finale, I won my first NL tournament ever against 44 other opponents, while being the underdog on head's up!

On the last table I gutted a player with an all-in, and bidded my time confortably being between 2nd and 4th rank in chips. I went behind the log afterwards. I was by far one of the most aggressive, yet with the hands I selected I usually went all in when I knew I had the nuts from the flop. The rest of the time I folded my sucky hands and watched the others slice one another.

From that experience I learned that 1) I could win at poker, and 2) That I am most comfortable with playing NL.

Does that mean now that I am ready for real money? :P

[kingjames07]

With play money on PokerStars.net, I registered into a 45-participants multi-table SnG tournament late this evening. I took my time, being patient and playing like a rock except with great cards which I played aggressively. And in the finale, I won my first NL tournament ever against 44 other opponents, while being the underdog on head's up!

On the last table I gutted a player with an all-in, and bidded my time confortably being between 2nd and 4th rank in chips. I went behind the log afterwards. I was by far one of the most aggressive, yet with the hands I selected I usually went all in when I knew I had the nuts from the flop. The rest of the time I folded my sucky hands and watched the others slice one another.

From that experience I learned that 1) I could win at poker, and 2) That I am most comfortable with playing NL.

Does that mean now that I am ready for real money? :P

nicely done....but as for real money....i would try winnin some free real money and use it b4 puttin your own money up.....unless you got the money to deposit and lose...not sayin that you would lose but everybody does at some point and losing ur own money early could crush ones "poker self esteem"...but that is just my opinion

[jctm1988]

I would like to congrat you for this awesome win , i havent won anything lately .

So your doing a good job, keep it up.

Keep us informed , love to hear more of your game .


If it's a cash game or sit and go or tournament , just keep us posted !




JCTM1988

[derringer007]

Good job on your first win. Just remember that playing real $$ vs. play$$ is like day & nite. if you noticed 70% or more of players in play$$ see the flop with rags. (aka donkey's) players in real$$ play a lot tighter. I also play very tight aggressive 15% of the flops. Very good job your win your on the right track. remember tight is right

[Drakken]

Thank you all for your support.

Just as an example about how to read an opponent, let me resume how I beat my opponent on heads-up.

Neither her nor I was willing to risk chips upfront in a duel. If she raised high pre-flop and I had anything save a handgroup 1 or 2, I would fold. If I raised, she would fold. So, I had to use my head to trap her if I wanted to win.

I noticed that she would usually only call pre-flop when she had the SB, letting me see the flop either for free (with the BB) or cheaply. IMHO that was a tactical blunder. Given that she dominated me 3-to-1 chip-wise, it allowed me to see more hands that I should have given my position. As the blinds were quite low (250/500 + 50 ante) she basically allowed me to pick and choose my hands. She had the chip advantage and could have wanted to choke me to death if she had wanted.

I thought perhaps she was on tilt, by that I mean that she was so afraid to lose her advantage that she was unwilling to use it. She was waiting for a way to pull me out cheaply, bidding her time at the expense of letting me choose my cards. She had time to observe me before reaching heads-up and could have concluded (with some reason) that I was a rock.

So I used reverse psychology to lure her in.

I waited until a I had at least a Group 4 hand and checked or called my way to a flop. Usually she would check as well, allowing the flop at a rebate. If I was sure I had a good chance of either having or gaining the nuts on the flop I would check to lure her into a raise. I would call that semi-sandbagging.

When she had a playable hand, I abserved that she would usually raise either on the turn or the river. Rarely on the flop itself. Reading what I had and what she could have been holding, only then I would check-raise through the roof or go all-in. That put her into a dilemma, as she was faced between losing a few thousand chips for nothing or calling and risk to lose it all. In the end she called two of my all-ins. And twice she lost the showdown, the second time saying that she thought I was bluffing. Nope, I had a double AT with a fourflush draw while she had only QQ with a 8 as kicker. So in the end I was the one to suck her chips like Count Dracula in a blood bank.

The moral of the story is: even if you are heavily dominated and your chips go dry, you may never know what weapons future hands might give you to win. And if you lose, well being 2nd gives a nice profit on your buy-in.

[GOOZIE89]

congratulations on your first win and may you have plenty more . good job!!!!

[wixx]

Congrats on the win. I have to say that I actually hate winning play money tournies, because you could have gotten a nice bankroll going if that had been a $1 tourney instead. I keep thinking man if I were in a real money game Iwould have won $$$. Same reason I do not play any type of poker 'game' that is not a real $ poker site. My friend has a holdem game on his blackberry and he is like Dude I am up $10.000 and I am like no you are not....heh heh Congrats though and keep us informed of your play!

[ozyychich]

very nice on your win i played a heads up sitngo on stars actually it was 2 of the one was razz the other was nlholdem buy in was 2.20$ but fairly cheap but it was fun and easy wins so keep up all of the hard work on the poker scene

[dmabe31]

congrats on your first win. i still remember my first online poker win. its a good feeling. real money or not, its still intense.