The Gerk Wins UB Friday 7AM NL Hold'em $5.00+.50

Congratulations! You finished in 1st place. You won $78. You received 3 Ultimate Points for buying into this tournament. You also converted .10 Bonus $ into cash. Thank you for playing.


Damn that feels good.

I woke up with Carrie this morning around 6:00AM and got on UltimateBet, looking to recoup yesterday's losses in PLO. I haven't updated in a while, so here's what you've missed. Like I mentioned previously, I have more than doubled my deposit on FullTilt, playing .10/.25PLO and .10/.25 NL Hold'em. I like the site and I think the games are softer than probably both Pokerstars and UltimateBet. But since my $70 win a couple days ago, I haven't logged on to the site. I've been playing PLO on UltimateBet. I dropped two buy-ins yesterday in like 10 minutes, and then quit because I was totally steaming. This morning it was much of the same, not winning 60/40s and the like. But I was still up for the day, then in a course of 4 hands lost it all to the same guy. I admit I was on absolute tilt, but he was hitting everything and I couldn't muscle him out of a pot to save my life. It started when I potted preflop with KsJhQsQh, and he called on the button. The flop was Kh-8d-Ts, and I potted. He repotted, and I called it all off knowing I wasn't trailing even top set by very much. The turn was the 7h and the river the 6d. He showed T-6-9-5, for middle pair and the donk gut-shot that he hit on the turn. Yikes. Then it was all down hill- I potted with naked Queens and he called, flop came T-T-x. I checked, he checked. Turn was an under, I potted, he called. I pot the river, he calls with a ten. Whatever. Then the very next hand he got it in with the nut flush draw to my top two and third-nut flush draw, BAM Th on the turn and I'm fucked. The very last hand I had like 3.50 and potted with Aces, he called and flopped top pair of queens and a gut shot, then two-paired on the turn once all the money was in. I was pretty pissed. I bought into the 6:30AM tournament with a 1.00 bounty on every player's head, and I don't think I even lasted through the first level lol.

It looked like my day was done on UB, but I got some coffee and checked to see if there was one more tourney I could play. It was 7:05 and they were accepting alternates for the 7:00 NL Hold'em tournament, so I said "fuck it." I didn't even get in until like the third level, but when I did I decided I wasn't going to donk around AT ALL. I muted Sportscenter, loaded a playlist of soothing music on Ares p2p, and zoned in. Before long, I lost a big pot that I three barreled and was down to 600. I pushed the very next hand when I picked up QQ, making it look like a steam raise. I got two callers, with AJ and like 77 and I held to triple up. There was no looking back. I caught QQ once more, KK twice, and AA once on my way to the final table, playing poker like I was going to be executed if I didn't FT. It helped that the cards were running with me, I flopped three sets in an hour and a half, pretty fucking stellar. When we reached the final table, I felt like I had just played the best hour and a half of my life. I showed down like 3 hands, two of which I was all-in with KK and QQ. I was button raising, continuation betting, bluff re-raising, calling flops bets with rags and raising a bet on the turn... everything that makes me a good player. And all the pieces fell into place, and I was on a murderous tear. No one was going to stop me. I had over 13k when we made it to the final table, and I relinquished that lead only once, after doubling through a medium stack with K7 on a K-2-3 flop where he woke up with K9. I bulldozed the final table. I was aggressive. I was tight. I was loose. I was smart, I was crazy. I did it all and manipulated everyone at that table. When we got it three handed I had only 25k, versus two opponents with dangerous 15k stacks. I ran my stack up to 30, then 35, then fourty thousand. I busted the second biggest stack in a mammoth pot where I WON A RACE!!! I was a 53% favorite and held, and now had 53k against 7k of my opponent, GhostsofWar. I knew he was pushing the first hand, and I got it in with K3. He woke up with an Ace, and flopped top pair to double up. The every next hand he button raised to 2600 and I pushed with 88. Now, if I lose this pot, he is suddenly the chipleader. He thinks for a split second and calls with AdJd. I dodged the flop and the turn, but the river... was also a blank. I win!

I survived 38 other players (not a huge field) to take my first major tourney on UltimateBet. Back in my freeroll days, I had final tabled in three 1500+ player tournaments (one was as high as 2400 I think) on my way to finishing in 7th, 4th, and 3rd.

I think UB owed me this one. It is so refreshing and wonderful to see that when I don't take many crushing beats, my playing style is good enough to win a tournament. Not since I won that 4.40 180 person S&G on Pokerstars in the spring have I felt this confident. It's not to say that I didn't take any bad beats, because I took several. I got a shortstack all-in with 77 against my 99, and he flopped a set in a 3.5k pot. When we were down to three players at the final table, I had both of them one card from elimination before they sucked out to stay alive. I turned the nut straight against mvourin's top pair and gut shot, and he rivered a Q (one of my hole cards of KQ) to split it with me. Then very soon after, GhostsofWar buttoned raised like he did a million times, and I looked him up in my BB with K9. The flop was 6-3-3 and we both checked it. The turn came a nine, I bet the 3k pot, and he moved in. After some thought I called, and he showed J9, dead to 3 outs for a win and 4 for a split. The river was the Ace of diamonds and we chopped. Those hands tilted me a bit, but I kept my head on straight and took it down.

Sidenote: I called Ian at like 8:45 when we were 5 handed and I had over half the chips in play. Usually Ian is a loyal railbird for me every time I go deep, but it was definitely a little too early for him. I told him to look me up and watch me, or go back to bed. And after a pause, he said... "I think I'm going back to bed dude." HAHAHAHA From now on maybe I won't tell you to come rail me, now that I've finally won a fucking tournament, ironically the only one you weren't watching.

Good luck at the tables!

-The Gerk-