Logged on to PokerStars and saw that the 5$ rebuy satellite to tomorrow’s 700k guaranteed tournament was about to start, so I hopped in and the wild ride began.

FYI: I’ve never played such a thing before and I really dislike rebuy tourneys as it seems that the more money some ppl throw at it the higher you can get (or fall). So my strategy was clear: no rebuy and no add-on, play tight/solid poker and try to take advantage of the rebuy-donkeys early on an you should be fine.

Sure enough my strategy payed off early on as I was getting some nice hands and the rebuy-donkeys were more than willing to “take a shot” with all sorts of crap shoot hands (like K-2o, etc). The fourth hand I look down at bullets, woot! Two callers, one showing Q-Q and one showing (Q-3), hehe…sure enough I take it down and have a nice stack of 3610T$ (starting chip count 1500T$). The next few hands are blank until I look down at K-K in the 16th hand…I push, but noone wants to deal with me, so I take it down and I am sitting on 4420T$, nice! The 29th hand brings me back to A-A…one caller with 6-6…my bullets shoot him and I’m up to 5980T$ and slowly I’m feeling the rush.

Sidenote: there were two-three rebuy-donkey-monkeys at the table who were on their fourth-fifth buy-in already.

The 31st hand brings me KQd and I check in the BB to find a nice flopped straight, J-10-9 rainbow board, one poor soul pushes and shows trip Jacks…to bad buddy – up to 9110T$. In the 50th hand I hold K-K, also again, and take down a nice pot vs Q-To, up to 14410T$. Shortly after that the first break begins:

• players remaining 447/647
• hi: 33595T$
• avg: 7880T$
• me: 14310T$ (45th of 467)
• Hands dealt: 56
• Showdown: 4 of 4, 1 without showdown

People are adding on like crazy, but I stick to the original plan and don’t buy another 2000T$ for 5$. Nothing much to report from the next hour of play as I’m literally card dead, nontheless I’m able to steal some blinds so not all that much change at the second break:

• players remaining 219/667
• hi: 57153
• avg: 16803
• me: 14560 (107th of 219)
• Hands dealt: 122
• Showdown: 4 of 4, 4 without showdown

As blinds and antes are rising now it’s time to make some moves. In the 137st hand I look down at K-Jo, not great but I limp in to find a J high flop, sure enough I push a little, although the two hearts scare me a little. Opponent calls, turn brings another heart. Hmm…he checks, I check (maybe I should have pushed a little here to see where I was at?!)…he calls. He leads out after the river…I ponder and call as I didn’t think he would slow-roll me, sure enough he did though (with a lovely 9h-2h hand, argh!) – down to 4610T$ and now I’m in a desperate situation.

Sidenote: the guy slow-rolling me busts out in the next hand K-K vs A-A…way to go…argh!

The following hands:

• 140th hand: 7-7, I push, one caller A-J, board 4-7-J-4-6, yeah baby up to 10220T$
• 151st hand: Q-Q, I push, one caller 2-2, board J-J-8-7-6, up to 30098T$
• 161st hand: Ah-9h, I push to pressure a short stack in the BB, sure enough he calls with K-Jo and wins the hand
• 162nd hand: Ac-8c, I push, once again another short-stack thinks K-Jo is good enough and wins the hand…argh! Down to 9803T$
• 167st hand: K-10 is good enough to steal the blinds and antes, up to 11228T$
• 170st hand is the final chapter as my A-10o get no help against J-J, board: K-8-8-9-6

…and I’m out in 118th place – first 21 would have been a ticket to the tourney tomorrow (worth 530$), 22nd would have been 515$. Ah well, I had fun for almost three hours, I guess I just used up my good cards and luck earlier on…