Anyone playing Step on PS?

[slapdash]

Originally Posted by happyhornet

Question for those who have go on through the levels. What is the standard like as the Steps progress?

I've only played once at Step 5 and about three or four times at Step 4, so I
only have a small sample to judge by. At those levels, and to a lesser extent
at Step 3, people seemed to play a lot tighter. Above Step 3 it's no longer
turbo, which may have something to do with it, but also the difference
between coming last and coming somewhere mid-field (for a replay at the
same level or one below) is more significant in absolute terms, and it felt as
if people were less willing to take the risk of crashing out early. I can't
say I've noticed much difference in the standard between Steps 1 and 2.

Certainly there were fewer players at the higher levels who seemed
*really* bad, though even at Step 4 I saw a few people making decisions
that seemed lunatic to me, especially calling all-ins in the late stages (with
three left, two to qualify, and roughly equal stacks, I saw people calling
all-ins with hands like QJs!).

Even at Step 5 I didn't feel out of my depth (though I only finished 6th, so
maybe I was!).

[chapman]

Got myself from $3 buy in Step 1 through to Step 5 on Party Poker a couple of days ago, $170 buy in which will be my biggest so far by some way, only been playing a few month's, need to finish in the top 2 to qualify for Step 6, which is where the money is - 4th-5th = $500, 3rd = $700, 2nd = $1000 and 1st = $2000.

I'll leave it a day or two before play Step 5 but hopefully all going well I'll get through, I'm not the best player in the world as I'm only just really starting to get into my Poker - but I found it reasonably simple to get this far, I'm sure the majority of quality players here at PL would have no trouble working their way up for a $3 buy in!

I'll let you guy's know how I get on with Step 5.

[chapman]

Well I played the Step 5 game tonight and got knocked out in 4th - which gives me another go at Step 5, reasonably happy to have squeezed into 4th for another go as my cards were useless throughout the game.

Will crack on with another go tommorow.

[slapdash]

Are these the standard Party Steps that you're playing, chapman? If so, then
they're a pretty bad deal for rake. Until you get to Step 6, you're paying more
than 10% rake each round.

A player who bought in at Step 1 for $3 and was average at every level (I'm
not saying this is a realistic assumption, it's just to compare the rake) would
leave with $1.21 on average, so would lose almost 60% of his buy-in.

The special WSOP Steps on Party are better. My fictional average player
would only lose about 45% of his Step 1 $10 buy-in on average.

The WSOP Steps on Pokerstars are slightly better still. There the average
player would only lose about 41% of his Step 1 $7.50 buy-in.

If you like this kind of thing, you might want to check out Rounders on
Prima/Microgaming. That has the big advantage that you only play rake
once, when you buy in, so my fictional average player would only lose $0.50
on average of his $5.50 Level 1 buy-in. Also, you don't have to move up
the levels when you win: you can use your tokens at any level above the
first. So you can try to build up a "token" bankroll by repeatedly playing at
Level 3 or 4, and you effectively pay no rake at all. The big disadvantage
is that there's much less activity, so you often have to wait a long time for
a table to fill, especially at the higher levels.

[chapman]

Slapdash - Thanks for the advise, I'm fairly new at the game (been playing roughly 2 months now) so I havn't really taken the rake side of things into consideration, your point is a very valid one when you look at those figures admittedly, its clear how Party make their money from it, I only really looked at it as a $3 buy in but it is a lot of work to go through before you get the chance of a potential pay off, you need get all the way through and finish in the top 5 of Step 6 before you get paid.

I'll be looking into joing numerous other sites in the very near future and as I say the rake you pay at each one is not something I really thought about so thanks for bringing it to my attention.

As for my Step 5, I had my 2nd attempt at it last night and this time I finished 3rd, better than 4th place previously but still only gives me a another attempt at Step 5.

Was pretty annoyed with myself this time as I was shortstacked by some way when we got down to the last 3 and after a long period of grinding it out I managed to get myself on par with the other 2 players, only to almost instantly get busted out due to having a weaker kicker (Q 10 V Q A), really felt as though I blew a great chance of getting to Step 6 there and then but got over confident at the worst time.

[heniek31]

Had another go few days ago. Two attempts. Yesterday got to Step 4 and finished 3rd. Today played again and 3rd again. 3rd attempt straight away and got in.
Will play sometime next week

PokerStars Tournament #88676086, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $200.00/$15.00
9 players
$6.00 added to the prize pool by PokerStars.com
Total Prize Pool: $1806.00
Tournament started - 2008/05/17 - 10:01:26 (ET)

Dear heniek31,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.

You have won an admission ticket to 'WSOP Step 5'. This ticket allows you
to participate only in a tournament of this type.

[Fonzie14(BPP)]

Nice one Hen, GL mate.

[heniek31]

Had a nightmare game, but managed just to drop to Step 4. Played and back again to Step 5 . "Maybe tomorrow, I will...."

PokerStars Tournament #89041524, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $200.00/$15.00
9 players
$6.00 added to the prize pool by PokerStars.com
Total Prize Pool: $1806.00
Tournament started - 2008/05/20 - 09:21:26 (ET)

Dear heniek31,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.

You have won an admission ticket to 'WSOP Step 5'. This ticket allows you
to participate only in a tournament of this type.

[heniek31]

PokerStars Tournament #89150988, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $670.00/$30.00
9 players
Total Prize Pool: $6030.00
Tournament started - 2008/05/21 - 08:15:29 (ET)

Dear heniek31,

You finished the tournament in 1st place.

You have won an admission ticket to 'WSOP Step 6'. This ticket allows you
to participate only in a tournament of this type. Tickets are not redeemable
for cash or Tournament Dollars (T$); if you register and then unregister from
the tournament, your ticket will be returned.

[Fonzie14(BPP)]

Nice one Hen.

GL with the BIG ONE

[Samba_SamPa]

Good luck Heniek

[happyhornet]

Well done Hen, and good luck with Step 6.

I've spent what has seemed an age bouncing between Steps 1 and 2, but last night managed to finish in the top two and finally go on to Step 3.

[heniek31]

Thank you guys .
I have just looked at Step 6. 6 players registered and one of them...Barry Greenstein .
But Im a chicken .

[heniek31]

I have just played Step 6 and the journey is over.

Game was extremely tight and to nearly every raise there was a fold.
After 45 minutes, I see red aces and there is raise and re raise in front of me . I pushed all in and they both folded, but still nice pot. The very next hand I get black aces .



The guy that re raised in previous hand, raised again and I pushed, with him calling. And then



Not much too say. Thought, will go on the bubble, but managed to squeeze twice and hanged on. With 200/400, I was left with 1.6k in BB and A5 in hand. Stevie went all in (seen him doing that minutes earlier with J5), so I called. He showed Q8o and hit on the flop.
$1k aint bad but still disappointing

[morlspin]

Well done Hen!!

Im now on level 5 on Party Poker after receiveing a free level 1 token via email last week.

[chatoman]

Congrats Hen..

Extremely bad luck on those hands specially the AA vs KK but standard beat, he wouldnt fold kings (maybe on wsop )

Congrats shark

[morlspin]

from a free step 1 token ($3)

Wish me luck all

[Guppie]

Unlucky hen but well done

Well done morls and good luck on next step

[heniek31]

Nice going. Good luck G .

[Myrie16]

Ul Heniek, tough beat but the way you been winning recently wouldnt be surprised to see you climb back up the steps again

Are you giving it another shot ?