Tag: Tournaments

$25 Million to Renovate TPC-Sawgrass

Nick Momrik2 Comments

According to ESPN.com the TCP at Sawgrass will undergo renovations costing an estimated $25 million. Plans involve changes to the stands on the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes, a new water drainage system, and new technology around the course. Technology improvements would include video screens around the course as well as a radio system for fans to listen to the action (maybe XM since they broadcast the PGA Tour).

Hopefully, it translates to a tournament that all of our tournaments can look at as a model, and that’s where the bar is set in terms of fan experience, player experience and sponsor experience.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem

For full details visit ESPN.

Nicole Perrot Wins Longs Drugs Challenge

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Nicole PerotChile’s 21-year-old Nicole Perrot finished the Longs Drugs Challenge at -14, good enough for a one stroke victory over Hee-Won Han. With her victory Perrot becomes the tenth first time winner on the LPGA Tour this year. While looking through her bio I noticed she shares a birthday with me…December 26th.

2005 has been quite the year for the young women in the golf world. Paula Creamer made headlines by going pro after graduating high school, winning a tournament, and then dominating another tournament. Earlier this week Michelle Wie announced she was going pro at the age of 15. It’s great to see the game of golf becoming more and more popular for the younger females. Maybe the big TV networks will take notice and show LPGA tournaments in prime time a little more often.

Tiger Woods Wins American Express Championship

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American Express Championship TrophyWith a first prize of $1.3 million on the line, the greatest players in the game of golf teed off this weekend in the American Express Championship of the World Golf Championships. The world’s #1 golfer, Tiger Woods, hoisted the trophy when John Daly missed his par put on the 2nd playoff hole.

Even though the end of the tournament was a letdown, golf fans everywhere got to watch two of the most exciting players in the game battle down the stretch. John Daly and Tiger Woods are two of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, but both also have great short game skills. Tiger Woods is my favorite athlete in any sport and maybe the most recognized athlete on the planet. John Daly is a golfer most of us weekend hackers can relate to, so he is also very popular among spectators. Watching these two go head-to-head was as exciting golf as I’ve ever watched on TV. The team of Nick Faldo, Paul Azinger, and Mike Tirico do an excellent job with their commentary and analysis because they get just as excited as some of the fans.

Back to limit

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Lately I’ve been trying to build my bankroll back up after a horrible streak of bad beats online in the past week or two. I was playing .25/.50 no-limit hold ’em on Full Tilt, but was getting a pretty bad run. After visiting the casino these past weekends, I decided to try my luck at limit hold ’em again, playing mostly 1/2 tables. It’s worked pretty well so far, as I’ve won money each time I’ve sat down so far. Even if I play for 10 minutes between classes, I usually win $5-10, which is nice. So far I’m up about $120 in the past 3-4 days, and only played a total of about three hours.

I also played a $50+5 this weekend and finished just inside the bubble, 8th place for $99, which was pretty damn good considering I was down to 150 chips less than an hour into the tournament, so it was quite the comeback. I made a stupid play after I was reraised preflop when I had JJ, so I called. The flop came down all rags, but pairing the board, so I bet and was reraised all-in, I had a feeling I was beat, but called anyways, and sure enough he had KK. That was the beat that took me down to 150, but I made it to the final, and won some money, so I can’t be completely disappointed.

One-on-One

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Tonight I played a total of 6 heads-up SNGs on Bodog, ranging from $5 to $30. I won 4 out of 6 and finished up $25 for the night. I’m going to concentrate on playing a lot of these for awhile as well as other SNGs and MTTs. I need a change from the limit games for a bit. Maybe I’ll be able to shake off the bad beats I kept running into at the 6-max games.

I felt good about my play tonight. One of the losses came when I had to push with KsJs againstac2c. After the turn I had an open-ended straight draw, a flush draw, and a K or J for the win. That’s 21 outs if I added right. Can’t ask for a much better draw.

I find that in these heads up battles I fare the best if I’m aggressive, because then I’m able to trap the other player at some point. They see you raising and raising, so when you don’t come at them, they won’t believe you when you come over the top of them. All they remember is the constant aggression and when you come out with the passive play it automatically means weakness. This doesn’t work against the aggressive opponents though, so I just try to use their constant aggression against them with a few bluff raises.

If I had some long term results I think I’d find out that I win much more often against passive players than aggressive ones.

Drunken Poker

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After a night out I got home at 2:30 and for some reason thought it would be a good idea to play some online poker. SNGs on Bodog were the game of choice. After placing 3rd in one out of 4, I decided to try some heads-up. I won a $50 and then a $20, both in less than a 10 minute period. I won’t be playing poker for the rest of the day, so I finally have a winning day on the books. Wooohooo!! The players in the heads-up SNGs are usually pretty bad. Just before I won the $50 SNG last night the other player commented in chat, “Do you raise every hand?”

Here fishy fishy…

A Good Showing

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A quick post. Last night Bodog had a $7,500 guaranteed for $10+1, so I signed up. There were only 571 playing, so nearly $2,000 was added to the prize pool. I was short stacked most of the tournament, but as we approached the money (top 54) I finally went above average with a nice rush. From there I went up and down.

With the blinds at $1,000-$2,000 I had about 7 big bets and found 99 in the big blind. 4 other players limped in. I figured I had the best hand but decided to check and see what the flop brought. If I had pushed there was one small stack that would have to call and I thought at least one other player would call. I didn’t want to take my 9s against 2 players. The flop came 2-4-2 and I was happy. I pushed out a bet of about half the pot. The small stack called and the button raised. I pushed the rest of my chips in. I was up against A9 and 55. The turn brought a 5 and the river a 3, so I lost to a full house and a straight. I went in with the best hand and that’s all I can ask for.

Looking back, I wish I had either pushed as the first to act after the flop. I still think I would have ended up against the same two players because A9 didn’t have a choice with barely over $2,000 left and 55 had a large stack where he could take the risk. Pushing would have been my best chance at getting one of them to fold. Betting half the pot could have looked like a steal. If only the small stack would have called I would still have been in the tournament with about 5 BB and on the small blind for the next hand.

That was the end of my tournament though. 17th out of 517. Not a bad showing. I think I’m going to concentrate on some tournaments a little more until I can get through this cold streak trying to beat the 6-max games.

Review: Harrington on Hold'em – Volume I

Nick Momrik5 Comments

Harrington on Hold'em: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments (Strategic Play)I finally finished reading the best poker book available on tournament play. Dan Harrington has done the poker world a great service by writing Harrington on Hold’em. I would have finished the book much sooner, but it was my bathroom reader, so I was only reading 10-15 pages a day.

Harrington breaks down the game of no-limit just like any other author by pre-flop, flop, turn and river. What makes this book stand out though are the awesome Problems presented at the end of each chapter. Dan uses actually hands that he’s run into or observed over the years. He lays out the hand and then asks you questions along the way. He describes what you should be thinking as you make you decision. It’s great to see what a world class player and World Series of Poker Champion is thinking during a poker hand.

Volume I is a great book for any poker player of any level. The attention to details is fantastic and the book is easy to read. I can’t wait to get my hands on Volume II for some of the more advanced topics and moves.

Harrington on Hold’em: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments (Strategic Play) definitely gets an A+ from me.

Highs and Lows

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Poker is a funny game. You can play it for high hand, low hand, or high/low. You’ll also run into many emotional highs and lows over the course of long hours at the tables.

On Saturday I continued playing at Empire to clear my bonus. Four tables of 6-max $25 No-Limit was once again the game of choice. Early on I was stuck about $100, but I clawed my way back and was up $100 just before I was about to clear the bonus. This is where I usually fall apart with loose calls. It happened once again and I lost the profit I had worked so hard to earn over the course of 3 hours of play. I still finished ahead for the session, but it was disappointing. I cashed out $100 ahead for the bonus and somewhere over $200 ahead for play at the tables. Not bad for 6 hours of play, but it should have been so much better.

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