One frozen Poker Mountain

Poker Mountain is offering freerolls for those who have collected enough of their Summit points. Seeing how they may be running only this week, I decided to pop into one on Monday night. Final table was being paid starting at $20 and moving to $300 for first.

I started off on a bad note giving up 600 chips when my A K didn't improve and Q Q won the pot. That set the them for me. Lose big stacks and fight back. That happened to me twice when I was aggressive with a flopped 2 pair going up against a set. Ouch! But staying aggressive is the way to win.. Twice as in I was able to chip back nicely. Even got up to 3rd before the place fell apart.

Literally. When we reached 34 players (four tables), two tables froze up and couldn’t play. But I will get to that in a bit.

Tables were really tight. Players were folding to any raise. I was stealing at least once per round. The table I was at had 3 big stacks (over 3500), 3 medium stacks (1500-3500) and 3 short stacks (in the hundreds). I would have been able to steal more but some players were being stupidly aggressive. They were raising out of position with any two suited cards. It was stupid because there were always short stacks behind them, calling and doubling up. There was at least time I would have knocked one guy out if some hadn’t raised with their 8 6 suited. Hey, I will try and steal all the time, but I want a hand that can hold up and not have a good chance of doubling up the short stacks. I don't think these guys realized that the short stacks in the blinds were going to be committed to the pot.

I am able to double up and move to the 4000 range. I catch 9 9 in the SB. Problem is the BB-who has just been moved to the table- is the tournament leader with over 10k in chips. And he is using them, grossly overbetting pots to take them down. Flop comes 8 7 4. I bet out 600 and he calls. Turn is an A. Bad card. I check. He bets slightly under the pot, 1000. I think it is a steal and I call. River is a 4. I bet out 1000 and he calls and mucks. This pops me up to 3rd place and in great position with 50 people left.

I then give half of my chips away on some bad beats. I call an all in raise from the button with A Q simply because of the hands this guy has already played. He shows A J and fills his straight on the river. Of course it is the Q that fills it so it is like rubbing salt into the wounds. Same thing happens when J J run into A 10 and the J hits the river to give the straight.

Then with 34 people left, other players start chatting in the box saying that their tables are frozen. Sure enough, you can’t look at their tables and their chip stacks don’t change over 15 minutes. Not a soul from Poker Mountain is responding to what is happening. WTF? An hour after I sent an email about the problem, they respond, saying the tournament will play out. Didn’t matter as I was knocked out in 32. Or was it 12? 20 players couldn’t play. More than half the field isn’t playing and they expect the other 14 to go at it. I wonder what happens if they get their system fixed. These players have missed blinds and they have gone up tremendously since they were frozen. Welcome crapshoot!

I felt I had played pretty well. My calls were good except for the last one (of course). I had Q 10 hearts in the SB and called. Flop came Q high. I bet out the pot and get re-raised 2/3 of my chips. That should have told me that my 10 was no good. He showed A Q and knocked me out.

Having two tables freeze up and not telling players how to fix or make them whole is unacceptable to me. I have taken my money out of Poker Mountain. Site is too unstable to be trusted.