WSOP Wannabe

Guinness and Poker Blog Tournament

2004-10-21T19:42:00.000-04:00

My wife is so cool she told me about a Poker Tournament for Bloggers tonight. She read about it over at Wil Wheaton.net. It is called "Guinness and Poker Blog Tournament" and is being held over at Poker Stars.

Quite a few of the infamous poker blogger types will be there. A few are even paying Bounties if you knock them out of the tournament.

For more details (and the password) visit Iggy's Blog.

I'm going to offer a bounty for my own head. My PokerStars id is "Lassiter".

I can't think of anything good? What do you think about this? Anyone who knocks me out will win Doyle Brunson's brand new updated Super System II. The book should be do out any day now and is the first time the Bible of Poker has been updated since 1977.

I'll post again after the tournament tonight!

See you in the poker room!
- Fittsy

WSOP Satellite finish 10 of 222

2004-10-11T17:40:00.000-04:00

Last night I played in another World Series of Poker Satellite over at Bugsy's Club. I was doing awesome! Out of 222 players I placed 10th. Unfortunately only the top 4 players make it into round 3. However I did win back 4x the amount I put in. So I have enough to play in quite a few more satellites.

It was pretty fun. I tried to play a bit more aggressive. One of my primary problems is playing to tight. I can survive awhile but in the later rounds I don't have enough chips to be competitive.

One of the things I noticed early on was that my table was playing really tight. Literally something like 30 or 40 people were knocked out before anyone at our table.

So I started to play a bit more loose. I won a couple of pots bluffing people out. I won a few hands with some mediocre cards. I also won a few hands with some very nice cards. Flopping a straight when I had AJ off suit for example.

I was among the chip leaders for the first two hours or so. Then I noticed I was getting bullied a bit even though I was among the chip leaders. It wasn't a big deal for me to bet 2,000 or even 5,000 when I had over 100,000 in chips. However I had some sort of mental roadblock when it got to 10,000 or more chips. I wasn't keeping up. I was playign tight again. I lost a couple of hands that I probably should have gone all in on and forced the other guy to make a tough decision. Instead I folded. I wasn't playing aggressive enough.

However I did manage to make it to 10th out of 222. I feel pretty good about that.

Here is how the Bugsys's tournaments break down.

There will be 4 Round 1 events per day Monday thru Friday, at 1.30am, 1.30pm, 8.30am, and 8.30pm CDT.

For every 5 entries 1 person wins their way into round 2. They also hold occasional Sit N Go's where the top 2 win their way into round 2.

Round 2s are held on the weekends. If you didn't win your way from a round 1 event you can buy your way into a round 2 for $10 + $1. Round 2 consists of eight weekend events (every weekend until the round 3 finals), Saturday and Sunday at 1.30am, 1.30pm and 7.30pm, 10.30pm CDT.

The next round 3 finals are: Saturday 4th December 2004 and Sunday 5th December 2004 at 2pm CST (8pm UK time).

So I was only 6 places away from making it into the round 3 finals! I'm going to make it. I have over $50 in my bankroll. Thats enough for at least 5 more round 2 events!

I'm also going to check out a couple other poker sites soon. I checked out a bunch of poker magazines and saw a bunch of ads for people with WSOP qualifiers. I'll keep you posted as I learn more.

For now, if you want to try Bugsys use this link to earn a 20% bonus on your first deposit at Bugsys.

About Bugsys. I'm not totally happy with them. I'm used to their software but I think I prefer Poker Stars . However the cool thing about Bugsys is there are not as many people playing there. My odds of winning a WSOP (World series of poker), WPT (World Poker Tour), or EPT (European Poker Tour) entry are higher because there is less competition.

One of the things I wasn't happy about was coming close to winning my way into a satellite I couldn't attend. I wanted to divert my entry into a tournament at another date. However I couldn't do so. I could only enter that one satellite this weekend. On Poker Stars I could withdraw from the event and keep the winnings as tournament money to pay for more tournament entry fees. I could not withdraw it but I'd at least be able to enter a tournament on another date.

I do like Bugsys. I like their notes better than Poker Stars and I like my odds that I am going to be able to win a qualifier. I've got $50+ on account so I'm definitely going to be playing there a bit more.

Is there any particular site you think I should review next? I was thinking about Party Poker? I know a lot of people like that site. My friend Gabe says that if I had hit my Royal Flush there they would have paid me $500. That sounds pretty cool to me!

See you in the poker room
- Fittsy

Bugsys WSOP Qualifiers

2004-10-03T07:52:00.000-04:00

This is how Bugsy's World Series of Poker qualifiers work.

For those of you that don't know Mattias Andersson won his entry from Bugsy's Club and Poker School Online. Matt finished in 8th place and won over half a million dollars at this year's main event!

Bugsy's will give away three World Series of Poker $10,000 seats in December.

Round 1 qualifiers $2.20 + $.20
1 winner per 5 entries + Prize Pool
30 winners guaranteed.
Multiple Round 1 qualifiers per day

Round 2 qualifiers $10 + $1
4 winners make it to the Round 3 finals
$2500 guaranteed prize pool
Multiple weekend events

Round 3 finals 2 events.
No buyin allowed. Entries can only be won from the satellites.
Winner of each event will win 1 $10,000 seat plus a share of the $2500 guaranteed prize pool.
Max number of entrants is 500 and will probably be much less based on duplicate qualification entries. (People who win entries in more than one round 2 event.)

All Round 3 finalists can compete in both events.

Round 3 finalists earn ELITE points.

Elite Satellite Tournament
50 + 5 elite points (elite points can also be purchased from the cashier)
Winner will win entry into the elite finals.

Elite Finals
Max of 34 entries
Winner will win a $10,000 seat to the World Series of Poker and will win a part of the $2500 guaranteed prize pool.

Qualifiers for December finals going on now.
Spring qualifiers for 4 more WSOP seats begin in November.

Pretty cool right?

I mean a 1 in 500 shot is pretty good.

A 1 in 34 shot is awesome!

And you can win some prize money along the way?

In a week or so I'll check out Poker Stars to see what their qualifiers are like. Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, and David Williams, all won their entries through Poker Stars.

Want to join Busgy's Club to win a WSOP seat? Use this link to earn 20% off. Plus you'll help me out a bit by helping me earn more entries into the WSOP qualifiers!

Thanks!
Fittsy

How to Qualify for the World Series of Poker at Bugsys Club

2004-10-03T07:26:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned yesterday I started trying to qualify for the World Series of Poker at Bugsys Club. Bugsys is affiliated with Poker School Online and several of the WSOP players from 2004 qualified from there.

Out of 2576 entries at the World Series of Poker Main Event
8th place Mattias 'PokerMats' Andersson

44th place Desmond 'JCastle' Portano

198th place Michael 'OTLDOC' Fillat

SO I decided to try my hand at Bugsys. I am already a Poker School Online member and have learned a lot there. The quality of play is the best "freeroll" play online. In addition you have poker lessons from the likes of Daniel Negrenau who was the top points earner in this year's WSOP.

This is how Bugsys does their qualifiers.

This is the qualifier for December where they will give away 3 seats.

They will hold another Qualifier in the Spring and give away 4 additional seats to the WSOP.

Round 1. $2.20 + .20 satellites
For every 5 players 1 entry wins their way into Round 2. 30 entries guaranteed.

Round 2. $10 + 1 qualifiers.
Top 4 players win their way into round 3 finals. In addition top players win part of the cash prizes available.

Round 3. Finals! 2 events
No buyin allowed. You can only win your way in from a round 2 event
Max of 500 players will qualify and probably less players will qualify due to duplicate qualifiers. Winner wins not only a $10,000 entry into the WSOP but can also win part of the $2500 in cash prizes available.

In addition Round 3 entrants will earn Elite Points towards the WSOP Elite Tournaments.

Winners of the Elite satellite tournaments will qualify for the Elite Finals. Only 31 entries allowed per final.

Winner of the Elite final also wins a $10,000 seat PLUS a share in the $2500 prize pool for that event.

Sounds great right?

I've entered both round 1 and round 2. I actually bought entry into round 1 because I was 10 places shy of winning qualification yesterday :(

In addition the WSOP events count towards league standings at Bugsys. I'm well on my way to winning some additional money from Bugsys based on my league standings. If I enter a few more events I should be able to break into the money!

Got questions about how this works? Email me!

- Fittsy

http://www.bugsysclub.com/club/register/bcregister.htm?aid=32575">Want to join Bugsys? Then please use my link so you can earn a 20% bonus on your first deposit and I can earn a few dollars towards my bankroll to enter more WSOP qualifiers!

My first World Series of Poker Satellite

2004-10-02T10:17:00.000-04:00

Today I embarked on my quest to WIN entry into the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

I joined Bugsy's Club. I used that link to qualify for a 20% deposit and I deposited $67.50 because that happens to be what I had sitting in my Neteller account.

However you don't need to deposit money to win a WSOP seat from Busgy's! Just open a free Bugsy's account. Then they'll allow you to play in free tournaments over at Poker Pages where you can win Bugsy's Club bonus points. You can use the Bugsy's bonus points to enter in other tournaments and WSOP qualifiers.

Since I have some money on account at Bugsy's I'm going to enter a few of their "pay" world series of poker qualifiers. Why? Because I have to win fewer tournaments to get into the WSOP! For example:

A $2.20 + .20 to the house entry gets me an entry into a WSOP satellite. I'd then have to be in the top 30 out of 150 players. If I do that I win entry into another WSOP qualifier that costs $10 + $1 to the house. The top 4 people in that tournament then win their way into the official WSOP qualifier event.

So if I don't mind risking $10 + $1 I only have to do well in 2 tournaments in a row to win a WSOP seat.

If I want to get in cheap I need to be in the top 20% of another tournament. If I want to get in for free, I probably need to play in two or three more events at least. So I might need to win/place 5 or 6 straight events to win my way in.

Does that make sense?

We'll see how I'm doing.

SHIT!!!!!

I just got a ROYAL STRAIGHT FLUSH! SPADES! NO SHIT! Too bad the only guy in the hand was someone short stacked so I only won 1000 chips.

Argh!

I'm at 7100 chips.

The ante is 200. Blinds 500/1000. Only 47 players left. The top 31 make it into the next WSOP qualifier. Can I hold on?

- Fittsy

6 of the top 10 players are online players!

2004-09-30T07:39:00.000-04:00

The purpose of this BLOG is to share my story as I try to win my way into the World Series of Poker. The ideal would be of course to not only win a satellite entry into the WSOP but to actually WIN the WSOP!

For those of you that don't know, Something like 6 of the top 10 players in this years World Series of Poker (WSOP) won their entry online. The winners of the main event both this year and last year won their way into the WSOP by participating in online satellite tournaments. Both Greg Raymer & Chris Moneymaker won their way into the tournament by playing in satellites over at Poker Stars. In addition I've found out that David Williams who finished second this year also won his entry at Poker Stars. So far I've also been able to determine that Mattias Anderson also won his entry from an online site called Bugsy's Club. Complete results of the 2004 World Series of Poker.

Keeping that in mind, I'm going to start a quest to learn about how to win my way into the 2005 WSOP. Keep in mind that Harrahs and ESPN have already announced that the World Series of Poker will actually become a 7 tournament circuit where the top players will be invited back to anticipate in the big final event at Binon's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. Full article on the WSOP circuit at Yahoo News.
This means to me that there are going to be at least 7 different tournaments next year and that means even more possibilities for myself to win my way into one of the events. The best possible scenario would be to win my way into several events so that I have a better chance of making it to the final.

My goal right now is to find every web site, casino, sweepstakes, etc. That is offering entry into the WSOP.

I'm also trying to play my way in. So far, I have managed to win my way into some bigger tournaments. I have not yet entered any WSOP qualifier/satellites. That is my next step now that I have honed my skills in some smaller tournaments.

Do you know any sites that offer WSOP satellites? What about sweepstakes? I know the Official Harrah's World Series of Poker web site has a sweepstakes where you can enter every day to win your way into the WSOP. Do you guys know of any similar sites?

So far the only casinos with WSOP qualifiers are Bugsy's Club, and Poker Stars. I'm sure there are more! I'm going to start searching online and I'll keep a running tab here of places that offer WSOP qualifiers.

Thats all for now! I've got a lot of research to do!
- Fittsy

Today begins my quest to make it into the WSOP

2004-09-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

My name is Fittsy.

Today begins my quest to win myself entry into the World Series of Poker.

Bah Humbug you say?

Guess what? The last two winners of the WSOP main event both won their entries by playing in online "satellite" tournaments!

My goal in this blog will be to discuss the various satellite tournaments and my experience trying to win my way into the WSOP.

I invite you to join me here every week and I'll share my results with you and tell you how you too can enter into some of these same tournaments to test your skills.

About me. I'm just an average guy. I played poker for fun as a kid with my friends and my sister. As a 20 something some friends and I would occasionally pay for nickles, dimes, and quarters. More often than not I won or broke even. I consider myself an ok poker player.

I've also played a bit at the casino playing 7 card stud, and I've played a lot of the regular casino games like Carribean Stud, craps, blackjack, etc.

Then came all the poker on television. The World Series of Poker, Celebrity Poker Showdown, The World Poker Tour, and even Strip Poker on pay per view.

That is when i decided to try and learn to play better poker and I created my own blog called Learn Poker Strategy. So far I've gone from being a player who looses every single game, to a player that has won a satellite entry into a $250,000 tournament, and a player who sometimes finishes in the money.

Now I'm trying to win my way into the World Series of Poker!

- Fittsy