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Blowout Series Followup
Hey everyone in Rec Poker Nation,
Just thought I would post a follow up on how the Blowout Series went and how I went about making my decisions. First off I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to comment on my first post. It was great to get feedback from everyone to see what everyone’s thoughts on it was. A big shoutout to @Jim and the rest of the podcast panel for selecting my post for the pod! As a fan boy of the pod from the start its always exciting to hear you guys talk about big hands and other poker strategy.
So of course I played every event. I didn’t sell any of the seats and I don’t think I ever seriously thought about selling any of the tickets. For me it was too juicy to try and make a big score so I thought I would take the time to talk about each tournament.
First up was the $109 Blowout. This one I did register on time and didn’t find it too bad of a session. All 4 of these MTTs I played had a $5 000 000 GTD and this first one overlayed by a whooping 1.2 million!! This MTT was the one I felt most comfortable in but as the poker gods have it I did not make Day 2 or cash (all events played multiday). Afterward seeing the overlay I kind of wish I had ponied up another $109 for a second bullet but the field was huge (over 30 000 total runners) so skipping out on that much variance considering its a larger buy in than I would normally play was probably a good idea.
Next up was the $215. This was when I decided to sell some action. With so much in buy ins I figured at least selling a small percentage would lower the variance especially given that the first MTT was such a massive field. I also decided not to late register this MTT just like the $109. This time however I played a few other MTTs earlier in the day that I ended up running deep in so it turned into a monster session (over 12hrs!!) I had a lot of ups and downs throughout the day and ended up playing through most of it short stacked compared to the other players at my table. I was shocked at how much limping was going on for such a large buy in especially when everyone was super deep with 200bb+ (almost more limping than in the $109) Even through all the limping we battled to Day 2 and managed to make a min cash for $389.26. There was 31 855 runners and I finished in 4 232.
The Sunday following my min cash in the $215 was the $530. This one I had the most anxiety about playing for a few reasons. First on my mind was this summer I fired at the WSOP $400 Forty Stack and lasted 3 hands and even though I wasn’t paying the $530 to play in this MTT I certainly did not want to repeat the events back in August. The other reason was my ultimate poker goal would be able to play in this online stake MTT ($500 plus buy ins) regularly so to get a free chance to test my skills at this particular level was very important to me. So when I made Day 2 through more ups and downs (and a new favourite expression called “happy tilt”) I was more than excited. We were very short stacked but managed to squeak out another min cash for a solid $1 128.19. More important than making the cash to me was being able to last through players good and bad at that level. I also made the decision to late register this MTT especially after such a long grind the week before in the $215. There was 12 938 total runners and we finished in 1 547.
Last but not least was the $1 050 which made up for the majority of the buy ins. It was by far the smallest field but still had quite a few players. Right away I could tell I was in with better players because there was almost no limping early on compared to the first three I played. I had a few big hands and some more of the ups and downs of the first three and I felt like I played well. In the end we failed to make what would have been the biggest Day 2 for me so far in my poker career, lasting late into Day 1.
Overall I had no regrets about playing any of these events and it was an incredible experience being able to play in a few monster events that I would normally never play. Last but not least a big shoutout to @PetVet for swapping/buying action. It was great to have someone with your experience to talk strategy with and to go over hands. I hope we continue to collaborate together in the future! Again another big thanks to everyone who commented on my original post and a big shoutout to everyone who watched it all play out live on Twitch! Hopefully we get the chance to play in big events in the future!
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5 Replies
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Ben, I loved reading this… pretty exciting stuff. What a tremendous experience!
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Heck Yeah! Nice result Ben.
I remember tuning in when you cashed the $530. Was a fun experience even as a viewer, bet it was even better as the player.
Keep the Run Good going!
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keep an ear to the group for a pod episode on this in March – nice one buddy
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