Katrina Tournaments on PokerStars

I played in the Wil Wheaton-sponsored Katrina Relief poker tournament last night - a $5 buy-in, where 2212 entered. The winner won $22.12, one penny for every entrant. The other $4.99 each from our entry fees was matched 100 percent by PokerStars, working out to a grand total of $22, 075.76 to be donated to the Red Cross.

I finished 336 in the field, a number probably a little better than my actual play reflects. A lot of people apparently signed up as a show of support, with no intention of playing, and for much of the 1st hour I was playing 3-handed No-Limit with two other players. In the second hour my King-high flush was cracked thus...

PokerStars Game #2562888800: Tournament #11976228, Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2005/09/12 - 22:55:19 (ET)

Table '11976228 225' Seat #9 is the button
Seat 2: ricoM (4260 in chips)
Seat 3: capt_trip37 (1365 in chips)
Seat 4: NHTinPusher (49450 in chips)
Seat 5: JJules (3920 in chips)
Seat 6: udflyers86 (26950 in chips)
Seat 7: sanfran1283 (365 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 8: ashtar (325 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 9: Doak08 (6015 in chips)
ricoM: posts small blind 100
capt_trip37: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to ricoM [Jh Kh]
NHTinPusher said, "i really want that 22 bucks lol"
Doak08 said, "yep"
NHTinPusher: folds
JJules: folds
ricoM said, "can tell"
udflyers86: folds
sanfran1283: folds
ashtar: folds
cocmoney is connected
Doak08: raises 200 to 400
NHTinPusher said, "so rico...you play locally offline?"
ricoM: raises 200 to 600
capt_trip37: folds
Doak08: calls 200

*** FLOP *** [9s 7h 9d]
ricoM: checks
Doak08: checks
*** TURN *** [9s 7h 9d] [3h]
ricoM: checks
ricoM said, "Foxwoods now and again"
Doak08: bets 400
ricoM: calls 400
*** RIVER *** [9s 7h 9d 3h] [4h]
NHTinPusher said, "never the charity tourneys?"
ricoM: bets 2200
Doak08: raises 2200 to 4400
ricoM: calls 1060 and is all-in
Doak08 said, "wow..watch"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Doak08: shows [9c 9h] (four of a kind, Nines)
ricoM: shows [Jh Kh] (a flush, King high)
Doak08 collected 8720 from pot
ricoM [observer] said, "Up in vnh"
udflyers86 said, "woooooooooow nh"
NHTinPusher said, "wow"
NHTinPusher said, "ouch"
ricoM [observer] said, "gg"

"Wow," and "ouch," pretty well sum it up, although with nuts quad 9s at the flop, Doak08 played me like a fish. At some point I'll realize that the board pairing is a danger signal to play slow. Four of anything is unusual, but there was a potential full house there too, which I ignored, only concerned that he had pulled the Ace flush. But, too many ways to lose in retrospect to be betting 2200 at the River.

I'm always a much better player after losing the hand.

It was a fun night in any case. The table was light on trash talk, and spiced by getting cheered on by one of my imaginary friends, as well as railbirding another. I fizzled out before I could get into the blogger ring game, but maybe another time.

PokerStars is hosting another tournament tomorrow, and I believe there's two more too. Some details here, and if you're a PokerStars player look under the tournament/special tabs to find them.