Well, I contacted Poker4ever and they offered me a suede Poker4ever jacket. Sounds good! I'll take it. Pretty good for a loser! :P

Poker4ever had a promotion last month. Get 5k rake points and you get a 500 hu freezout with Men the Master. It took a long time to get 5k rake points, but I went for it because it was an opportunity to get 500 for free if I won and to play against a very strong player. You could also get a t-shirt that said "I Beat the Master" or something like that if you won.

Men the Master was this year's Card Player player of the year and is regarded as one of the strongest tournament poker players on the circuit today.

I played him today.


Well, I lost...

Everyone is thinking surprise, surprise...

But, I was happy with my play save one hand.

Men did a few all in overbets early at the lowest blind level. So, when chipstacks were 3400:600 (my favor early), I bet the flop w/ K6 on 643 board. He bet the turn which was a jack, then bet again on the river for the max. He flipped 52o for the second nut straight. I feel this was the one serious mistake of the match. I was probably underaggressive at the highest blind levels we reach 75/150 with a short stack (500 at one point), but otherwise was happy with my play.

I got Men all in preflop w/ 22 against overcards, t8s versus his KJo (pot committed after stealing fr button, flopped at 8 top pair, he 4 flushed), my 99 versus his AJo, AKs versus his AJo, and 55 versus his AQo (last hand of match almost even stacks, flop 588, turn q, river 8 I lost--had thought I'd won the hand and probably the match, d0H).

In all the above cases except the last one, if I'd won the hand, I would have won the match. I was all in (and called) twice other than the last hand with a possibility of being eliminated. In one case I was ahead preflop (pair versus overcards). In another I was way behind on the flop and saved by a miracle river. I had QQ preflop, raised and was called. Flop came K4x to Men's K4o. He bet, I push all in (for tiny bit more) and rivered a queen.

In one hand, I called after limping w/ 45s for a pot-sized raise. Men bet the 3 flush flop, my suit, I instantly all in reraised (assuming he'd call the remaining 300 in a 2700 pot), Men paused and folded!