I was reading SG's blog the other day (see link to right) and he was talking about how he grinds away in STT's and cash games and looks to give a big boost to his bankroll by finishing well in a MTT. Now this is basically what I have been doing for the last couple of years, playing $5/$10 MTT's on the side looking for that big win. However, what SG looks to do is satellite into bigger buy-in tournies which makes alot of sense.
So I enter a $4 rebuy turbo satellite to a $55 13k guarenteed tourney and lo and behold qualify comfortably! When I play rebuys online I usually limit myself to an immediate rebuy if there's one available and an add-on at the end of the rebuy period. In this particular satellite I have an outlay of $8 max and therefore only have to qualify once in 7 attempts to make it profitable.
So to the $55 tourney and it was a story of making the big hands pay. The big hands being aces, which I got 3 times in the first 2 hours, doubling up each time I had them. The other playable hands I had were AK, which I had 5 times in the first hour! I broke even on these AK's, winning 3 small pots, losing a small one and losing a medium one when I ran into aces luckily on a scary board. After the second break however the cards just dried up, I had about 25bb's at one stage but this was whittled down to 10bb's, with stealing and restealing opportunities very limited in what was a very aggressive tournament. Then UTG pumps it to 3xbb, I look at QQ in late position and push over the top and get called by the UTG player who had AQ and spiked an Ace on the turn to send me packing in 41st out of 220 with 30 getting paid. A shame as I think winning that hand would have pretty much guarenteed a cash at my first attempt in this level of tournament. One thing I noticed when playing this tournament was the number of bad, and I mean very bad, players. I'm talking about things like min-raising from the button when there have been 3 limpers in front, calling pot-sized all-ins on the turn with bare flush draws it was almost embarassing at times. I was paying full attention to this tournament and making notes on each player categorising them into "bad/rubbish/solid/tricky" and then making notes of how they played particular hands, something I would definately recommend doing, especially at this sort of level and below when it is very rare that someone will mix up their game meaning that you can pretty much guess their hand by looking back at betting patterns. Obviously this is a very simplistic view with rising blind levels greatly changing the dynamics of play but it certainly helped me and also made sure I kept concentrating.
Anyway on my first table I made notes on all the players and I categorised just one as "solid", one as "tricky" and the rest were either "rubbish" or "bad" and I was loving it. Unfortunately I got moved from this table to one with a slightly better standard but still nothing special and my first impressions are certainly that I can make this a profitable tournament for myself, especially if I can keep qualifying for so little. I tried qualifying from the same rebuy on Friday night and finished 9th with the top 8 getting seats having seen 4 short stacks be all-in before me with the worst hand and suck out, it was sickening to watch as I knew what was coming...
ps. Get in there Tottenham...5-1...Spurs are on their way to Wembley, Tottenham's gonnna do it again...(The Cannon will appreciate that I'm sure).
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
A week of Cashy...
Played quite a few interesting sessions since my last post and doubt I'll be able to cover it all in one go. Items on the agenda are:
1. Satellites and SG
2. "Lucky $13k" tourney from Wednesday.
3. Wednesday night cash game feat. CashyP
4. Friday night cash game feat. CashyP
5. Sunday night cash game feat. CashyP...and the man that runs hotter than the sun....the CANNNNNNNON....
6. Future live poker events - Cannon's and Big Tone's home game / RSOP / maybe WaSOP.
In actual fact I have no time to blog about these now, but I will hopefully get round to it sometime this week. Something the people (all two of you) who read this to look forward to...
1. Satellites and SG
2. "Lucky $13k" tourney from Wednesday.
3. Wednesday night cash game feat. CashyP
4. Friday night cash game feat. CashyP
5. Sunday night cash game feat. CashyP...and the man that runs hotter than the sun....the CANNNNNNNON....
6. Future live poker events - Cannon's and Big Tone's home game / RSOP / maybe WaSOP.
In actual fact I have no time to blog about these now, but I will hopefully get round to it sometime this week. Something the people (all two of you) who read this to look forward to...
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Neither the bridesmaid or the bride...
i.e. not in the top 2.
I managed to finshed 3rd in 3 consecutive SnG's last night, two on Party and one on Stars. While this may suggest that I'm just limping into the money all the time that was not the case and all 3 bubbles played out differently. Firstly on Stars one big stack had about 9k in chips with the other 3 of us having around 1.5k eack at the 100/200 blind level and it took a while for the big stack to knock someone out as the was little flop playing and it just took for 2 reasonable hands to be up against each other. The big stack then raised pretty much every hand and when I took a stand with AJ that was no match for his JT.
In the first Party game 4-way had a lot of play in it as all 4 players were between 4k and 6k at 200/400 blinds. Eventually I picked up KK and knocked out someone who held 8's and then I was the big stack and putting pressure on the other two. Then lost a 50/50 and ran my 9's into 10's and I was out in 3rd. The other Party game was crazy and we were 3-way at the beginning of the 100/200 level and I literally hadn't played a pot and was on about 1500 and first hand I play was AQ, all-in pre called by deuces and obviously they hold up.
So tonight I fire up another $11 table on Stars hoping for a fourth consecutive cash. Build my stack with a flopped Q high flush from the BB in the third level then lose a 50/50 with AK to a short-stack's 10's with blinds still at 50/100 to leave me on 10BB's. It continues to amaze me how slowly people go out of these tournies on Stars and tonight was no different as only 1 person had exited before I lose my second 50/50 of the night with KQ against JJ, even hitting 2-pair was no good versus his set. But over the two nights I'm up $14 despite winning 0/4 of the 50/50's I got in. If only I ran like the Cannon in 50/50's, I believe his record is something like 2,408 won and 13 lost. I know 2,421 is only a small sample size and I'm sure these figures will even themselves out in his lifetime but it's still pretty ridiculous...
I managed to finshed 3rd in 3 consecutive SnG's last night, two on Party and one on Stars. While this may suggest that I'm just limping into the money all the time that was not the case and all 3 bubbles played out differently. Firstly on Stars one big stack had about 9k in chips with the other 3 of us having around 1.5k eack at the 100/200 blind level and it took a while for the big stack to knock someone out as the was little flop playing and it just took for 2 reasonable hands to be up against each other. The big stack then raised pretty much every hand and when I took a stand with AJ that was no match for his JT.
In the first Party game 4-way had a lot of play in it as all 4 players were between 4k and 6k at 200/400 blinds. Eventually I picked up KK and knocked out someone who held 8's and then I was the big stack and putting pressure on the other two. Then lost a 50/50 and ran my 9's into 10's and I was out in 3rd. The other Party game was crazy and we were 3-way at the beginning of the 100/200 level and I literally hadn't played a pot and was on about 1500 and first hand I play was AQ, all-in pre called by deuces and obviously they hold up.
So tonight I fire up another $11 table on Stars hoping for a fourth consecutive cash. Build my stack with a flopped Q high flush from the BB in the third level then lose a 50/50 with AK to a short-stack's 10's with blinds still at 50/100 to leave me on 10BB's. It continues to amaze me how slowly people go out of these tournies on Stars and tonight was no different as only 1 person had exited before I lose my second 50/50 of the night with KQ against JJ, even hitting 2-pair was no good versus his set. But over the two nights I'm up $14 despite winning 0/4 of the 50/50's I got in. If only I ran like the Cannon in 50/50's, I believe his record is something like 2,408 won and 13 lost. I know 2,421 is only a small sample size and I'm sure these figures will even themselves out in his lifetime but it's still pretty ridiculous...
Monday, January 14, 2008
New High for Party Poker
Party Account: £443.18
This is the peak thus far of my Party career. Went to the Party Points Store to see what I could do with my 4,500 points and found out I could use them to get tourney tickets at 100 points per dollar. So I "bought" an $11 STT ticket and won it for $50 in style. So I've got 3 "freeroll" STT's left so hopefully will be able to get at least $30 from them which will take the value of my points to almost $2 per 100 points.
Played a few $5.50 STT's on my Stars account, finished 2nd, 4th and 5th for a $3 loss. The one thing I noticed was that these tournies seem to go on a lot longer than the Party ones and it's hard to have under 10bb's even after about 40-50 minutes. Patience is therefore a much bigger factor in these games and hopefully that will suit my style although I don't know how much I'll play on Stars as I prefer my roll status on Party and think generally the standard of play is poorer, especially at the $11 level from what I have grasped so far.
The main reason that I will play on Stars is to try to clear the $50 bonus by getting 500FPP's. I signed up with Pokerlistings.com as well and they had a deposit code that doubles the bonus although I've had no confirmation that the added bonus is going to work, but potentially there's a free $100 to unlock.
To do this however I'd have to play 100 $11 STT's or 160 $5.50 STT's. That means my total outlay will be between $1100 and $880.
So if I continue with the smaller games, assuming an average cash of $15 I'd need to cash in 59 of the 160 to break even which is around 37%. Cashing in 50% of games I play will produce a $300 profit but considering that the games take about 75 minutes to complete and I will probably start playing 4 at a time it will take 50 hours of play to clear the bonus! Now this does not sound too good so I may take the $11 route to match the levels I'm playing on Party.
With these games I assume the average cash to be $30 and again to just break-even I'd have to cash in around 37% of games with cashes in 50% yielding a $400 profit. This will just over 30 hours to complete but is much more reliant on a good start to boost the bankroll as a 8game losing streak to begin with will end the roll before it even had a chance.
So I'll weigh up these options and see what the best course of action is. I'm thinking play a few $11's to start with but if the roll goes below $50 then switch to the $5.50's until I either bust or have enough to move back up.
As for my plans this week I've got football tonight so won't be able to play but Tuesday and Wednesday should fit in a couple of hours so will update then.
Wow, I didnt realise how long this post was getting with me just rambling on...should really get back to work...
This is the peak thus far of my Party career. Went to the Party Points Store to see what I could do with my 4,500 points and found out I could use them to get tourney tickets at 100 points per dollar. So I "bought" an $11 STT ticket and won it for $50 in style. So I've got 3 "freeroll" STT's left so hopefully will be able to get at least $30 from them which will take the value of my points to almost $2 per 100 points.
Played a few $5.50 STT's on my Stars account, finished 2nd, 4th and 5th for a $3 loss. The one thing I noticed was that these tournies seem to go on a lot longer than the Party ones and it's hard to have under 10bb's even after about 40-50 minutes. Patience is therefore a much bigger factor in these games and hopefully that will suit my style although I don't know how much I'll play on Stars as I prefer my roll status on Party and think generally the standard of play is poorer, especially at the $11 level from what I have grasped so far.
The main reason that I will play on Stars is to try to clear the $50 bonus by getting 500FPP's. I signed up with Pokerlistings.com as well and they had a deposit code that doubles the bonus although I've had no confirmation that the added bonus is going to work, but potentially there's a free $100 to unlock.
To do this however I'd have to play 100 $11 STT's or 160 $5.50 STT's. That means my total outlay will be between $1100 and $880.
So if I continue with the smaller games, assuming an average cash of $15 I'd need to cash in 59 of the 160 to break even which is around 37%. Cashing in 50% of games I play will produce a $300 profit but considering that the games take about 75 minutes to complete and I will probably start playing 4 at a time it will take 50 hours of play to clear the bonus! Now this does not sound too good so I may take the $11 route to match the levels I'm playing on Party.
With these games I assume the average cash to be $30 and again to just break-even I'd have to cash in around 37% of games with cashes in 50% yielding a $400 profit. This will just over 30 hours to complete but is much more reliant on a good start to boost the bankroll as a 8game losing streak to begin with will end the roll before it even had a chance.
So I'll weigh up these options and see what the best course of action is. I'm thinking play a few $11's to start with but if the roll goes below $50 then switch to the $5.50's until I either bust or have enough to move back up.
As for my plans this week I've got football tonight so won't be able to play but Tuesday and Wednesday should fit in a couple of hours so will update then.
Wow, I didnt realise how long this post was getting with me just rambling on...should really get back to work...
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Luck at key times...
Tonight has been a case of getting bad luck just at times when things are setting up quite nicely in a tournament.
First of all was deep into a $5k 500 runner tourney with about 75 left and 60 getting paid and I was chip leader on the table. Then in the space of 5 hands I'm out to 3 hands I get all-in pre-flop with. Firstly KK vs 99, secondly AA vs QT and finally AK vs A5.
It doesn't help that I only won 1 out of 5 coinflips tonight in the 7 tournies I played. I even managed to avoid a lot of coinflips and got my money in way ahead only to get outdrawn.
The main reason for the blog title was the way I went out of the last tourney I was in, a £2 freezeout on Sun with about 220 runners and £144 for 1st. I got to the final table in great shape, 3rd in chips with over 30BB's and then a few hands in this happens:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1931424
My reason for shoving preflop was that I'd played with the 2 big stacks throughout the tournament and had constantly seen them showdown mediocre hands so knew my AK was good and was happy to just take down the 15k in the pot and show a good hand against the all-in short-stack. Then to my surprise the cold-calling big stack makes the call for over half his chips...with Queen Ten. WOW! Obviously the Ten hits the turn and instead of having 113k and being chip leader and well on my way to a nice finish ,I'm picking up a tenner for finishing 9th. Painful.
In other poker related news I've set up an account on Pokerstars. I found £45 in my Neteller account so thought I may as well put it to use so we'll see how far that roll can grow, or probably shrink. Played an $8 MTT on it this evening but didn't fare too well and most players seem very passive pre flop making it hard to get big hands paid.
In non-poker related news it's mine and Jo's 4 year anniversary together which is quite an achievement, just thought I'd let the couple of people that read this blog know!
First of all was deep into a $5k 500 runner tourney with about 75 left and 60 getting paid and I was chip leader on the table. Then in the space of 5 hands I'm out to 3 hands I get all-in pre-flop with. Firstly KK vs 99, secondly AA vs QT and finally AK vs A5.
It doesn't help that I only won 1 out of 5 coinflips tonight in the 7 tournies I played. I even managed to avoid a lot of coinflips and got my money in way ahead only to get outdrawn.
The main reason for the blog title was the way I went out of the last tourney I was in, a £2 freezeout on Sun with about 220 runners and £144 for 1st. I got to the final table in great shape, 3rd in chips with over 30BB's and then a few hands in this happens:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1931424
My reason for shoving preflop was that I'd played with the 2 big stacks throughout the tournament and had constantly seen them showdown mediocre hands so knew my AK was good and was happy to just take down the 15k in the pot and show a good hand against the all-in short-stack. Then to my surprise the cold-calling big stack makes the call for over half his chips...with Queen Ten. WOW! Obviously the Ten hits the turn and instead of having 113k and being chip leader and well on my way to a nice finish ,I'm picking up a tenner for finishing 9th. Painful.
In other poker related news I've set up an account on Pokerstars. I found £45 in my Neteller account so thought I may as well put it to use so we'll see how far that roll can grow, or probably shrink. Played an $8 MTT on it this evening but didn't fare too well and most players seem very passive pre flop making it hard to get big hands paid.
In non-poker related news it's mine and Jo's 4 year anniversary together which is quite an achievement, just thought I'd let the couple of people that read this blog know!
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Lately...
Back at work so not much time for pokering. Plus the fact that I played Call of Duty 4 on the xbox 360 and am now hooked on it and would rather play that than poker at the moment. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon though, but it is an absolutely amazing game. I haven't been a huge fan of COD or Medal of Honour games in the past but I think this one appeals to me because it is set in the present day rather than WWI or 2 like the others.
Pokerwise I did manage to fit in a couple of STT's at the weekend, finishing 5th and 3rd to just get my money back. I might start tallying my STT results so I can see how I'm doing in them. Currently I think I've made about $5 profit!
Pokerwise I did manage to fit in a couple of STT's at the weekend, finishing 5th and 3rd to just get my money back. I might start tallying my STT results so I can see how I'm doing in them. Currently I think I've made about $5 profit!
Friday, January 04, 2008
Busted in 4th
Couple went out quickly after last post but then we played six handed for about 35 minutes with nothing really happening, I was on the right side of a couple of coolers for once when first my JJ beat TT then my QQ beat JJ, both time doubled through off the big stacks. But they were to my right and bullying my blinds so I rarely got a walk or to see a flop with bad cards so just got ground down permanently. The big stack took out the 2nd place to get a monster and get 5 way but the cards were still pretty dry and nothing much was happening for me.
Then there was a massive 3-way pot where the button pushed all-in with AQ, SB called with QQ and had him covered and the BB called with AJ and also had him covered. K high flop and SB checks and BB pushed all-in - what a muppet. SB makes a great call only for BB muppet to hit runner runner to a four flush.
So down to four and I find KQ in SB and push my 7BB in the middle to get called by A2 in the BB, KQ on the flop looks good until J and T fall to complete broadway and I'm out in 4th for $212 and missing out on my target of a top 3 finish by one position.
Oh well, ended up just under $100 up so that tourney rescued my night as I was stuck $100 before it. Feels good to get a decent score under my belt, hopefully the start of things to come!
ps. Cashy, I am off work still but feeling a bit better. Hopefully be back on Monday.
pps. Jo - looking forward to joining you in a minute, I wonder if we will have banter.
Then there was a massive 3-way pot where the button pushed all-in with AQ, SB called with QQ and had him covered and the BB called with AJ and also had him covered. K high flop and SB checks and BB pushed all-in - what a muppet. SB makes a great call only for BB muppet to hit runner runner to a four flush.
So down to four and I find KQ in SB and push my 7BB in the middle to get called by A2 in the BB, KQ on the flop looks good until J and T fall to complete broadway and I'm out in 4th for $212 and missing out on my target of a top 3 finish by one position.
Oh well, ended up just under $100 up so that tourney rescued my night as I was stuck $100 before it. Feels good to get a decent score under my belt, hopefully the start of things to come!
ps. Cashy, I am off work still but feeling a bit better. Hopefully be back on Monday.
pps. Jo - looking forward to joining you in a minute, I wonder if we will have banter.
Not what I was hoping for...
The title says it all really I only cashed in 2 of the 12 multi's I played, the first was not very substantial and the 2nd I am still in but short stacked with about 30 left and will probably be out by the time I finish this post.
The night started off ok, fired up a couple of $11 sit and go's on Party to get me in the mood and finished 2nd in one and 5th in the other for a nice $8 profit start to the night.
Then started up the first few multi's for the night and will take you through each site.
Noble
By far my worst site of the night, dropped $55 in the 6 tournaments I played and failed to cash in any.
Went out early in the $35k guarenteed $11 rebuy in the rebuy period when my AJ of spades failed to hit one of my 17 outs on the Ks9s9x board versus 88 all in on the flop.(Finished:1310/1419)
In the $6 rebuy I finished 451st of 1059. Got a little short stacked and pushed from button with 99 and the BB calls for basically his whole stack...with J7, which is obviously good for the pot.
So to the freezeouts and I lose with AA vs Ak all in pre in the early $6 to finish 1103rd of 1622 runners and in the later $6 finish 337th out of 880 in sick fashion just before the hour break. I pick up AK and pop it up 3.5xBB (my stack is 35BB), UTG+1 pushes allin for another 3 or 4 BB and it folds to the BB who thinks for ages and then flat calls. So it's back to me and I insta-shove for the rest of my stack, he has about 50BB's and times right down before making the call...with J5. No that is not a misprint he really did call with Jack Five! Flop gives short stack a set of 2's but it's the side pot of about 50BB's I'm looking at and the sickening Jack on the river means it's moving towards the chump in the BB.
Played a couple of $11 freezeouts as well was doing ok in the early one which had 1212 runners but busted when I ran 33 into 77 in the blinds, pretty unavoidable considering stack sizes/positions so not too upset and finished 263. The later one I was absolutely card dead for the first hour and had played just one hand to pick up a little pot to end on starting stack. Doubled up quickly after that and again soon after and trod water for a little while and was looking for spots with just 10BB's and 80 odd left of the 502 starters when I pick up AQ on the button. Gets folded to the cutoff who shoves for 15BB's and I almost folded but didnt thin I would be in too bad shape thinking he probably had a small to medium pocket pair, Jacks at most, and I didnt mind racing. So imagine my suprise when he turns over A2off! And imagine my anger when the deuce hits the river to send me out in 83rd.
So that was fucking Noble Poker...
Onto Sun Poker and things started well in the $2.5k guarenteed headhunter tourney when I pretty much trebled up in one hand without knocking anyone out when my AQ kept on improving to turn from pair to trips to boat from flop to turn to river. Always nice when that happens! Got pretty deep without really doing much then picked up QQ, standard raise got 1 caller, 9 high flop perfect for the push, insta-call from caller with wired 9's. Ouch, out in 124th of 655.
Played a few £2 tournies that attracted between 240 and 290 runners finishing 95th and 96th in the first 2. Pushed KJ into KQ when short in one and in the other made the only play that I was unhappy with afterwards all night. 5 people limped to me in the SB and I have 15BB's and pocket 6's and decided to shove. Unfortunately the BB woke up with Aces and that was that but when I thought about my play I just don't think it was the right thing to do as I'm going to be 50/50 at best if I get called and more often than not someone will have limped with 7's to J's and I'm in very bad shape.
So onto my first cash of the night (ps I'm doing ok in the tourney I'm still in and should just limp to the final table, 12 left) and it came in the 3rd £2 tourney I played finishing 12th out of 240 for a mighty £4.80! The manner that I went out in annoyed me, not so much because my Q9 didnt hold up against his J8 as I'm used to losing 60/40's on a regular basis, but because he flat called after it was folded to the SB so I push for 8BB's which was half his stack and he calls with little deliberation. I just don't like his play there and think he either needs to push first or fold in that spot to give himself another way of winning the hand, calling with J8 just isnt a very good play.
And finally my old nemesis Party Poker.
I only played 2 multi's on Party the $10k guarenteed $6 rebuy (which is producing prizepools of around $15k again nowadays). I went out in 211th of 818 when the button raised and I pushed for 18BB's with AJ, he had AK and the QJT flop left me with little hope and I was gone when I didnt improve. Shame really as I was doing alright and there are so many chumps with big stacks in the tourney.
I am still in the other tourney I played and am 7th out of 8 on the fnal table of the $6 freezeout that attracted 709 players. I'm guarenteed $70 but need 7th place to break even for the night and could really do with getting the $850 for first!
Will let you know how I got on next time...
The night started off ok, fired up a couple of $11 sit and go's on Party to get me in the mood and finished 2nd in one and 5th in the other for a nice $8 profit start to the night.
Then started up the first few multi's for the night and will take you through each site.
Noble
By far my worst site of the night, dropped $55 in the 6 tournaments I played and failed to cash in any.
Went out early in the $35k guarenteed $11 rebuy in the rebuy period when my AJ of spades failed to hit one of my 17 outs on the Ks9s9x board versus 88 all in on the flop.(Finished:1310/1419)
In the $6 rebuy I finished 451st of 1059. Got a little short stacked and pushed from button with 99 and the BB calls for basically his whole stack...with J7, which is obviously good for the pot.
So to the freezeouts and I lose with AA vs Ak all in pre in the early $6 to finish 1103rd of 1622 runners and in the later $6 finish 337th out of 880 in sick fashion just before the hour break. I pick up AK and pop it up 3.5xBB (my stack is 35BB), UTG+1 pushes allin for another 3 or 4 BB and it folds to the BB who thinks for ages and then flat calls. So it's back to me and I insta-shove for the rest of my stack, he has about 50BB's and times right down before making the call...with J5. No that is not a misprint he really did call with Jack Five! Flop gives short stack a set of 2's but it's the side pot of about 50BB's I'm looking at and the sickening Jack on the river means it's moving towards the chump in the BB.
Played a couple of $11 freezeouts as well was doing ok in the early one which had 1212 runners but busted when I ran 33 into 77 in the blinds, pretty unavoidable considering stack sizes/positions so not too upset and finished 263. The later one I was absolutely card dead for the first hour and had played just one hand to pick up a little pot to end on starting stack. Doubled up quickly after that and again soon after and trod water for a little while and was looking for spots with just 10BB's and 80 odd left of the 502 starters when I pick up AQ on the button. Gets folded to the cutoff who shoves for 15BB's and I almost folded but didnt thin I would be in too bad shape thinking he probably had a small to medium pocket pair, Jacks at most, and I didnt mind racing. So imagine my suprise when he turns over A2off! And imagine my anger when the deuce hits the river to send me out in 83rd.
So that was fucking Noble Poker...
Onto Sun Poker and things started well in the $2.5k guarenteed headhunter tourney when I pretty much trebled up in one hand without knocking anyone out when my AQ kept on improving to turn from pair to trips to boat from flop to turn to river. Always nice when that happens! Got pretty deep without really doing much then picked up QQ, standard raise got 1 caller, 9 high flop perfect for the push, insta-call from caller with wired 9's. Ouch, out in 124th of 655.
Played a few £2 tournies that attracted between 240 and 290 runners finishing 95th and 96th in the first 2. Pushed KJ into KQ when short in one and in the other made the only play that I was unhappy with afterwards all night. 5 people limped to me in the SB and I have 15BB's and pocket 6's and decided to shove. Unfortunately the BB woke up with Aces and that was that but when I thought about my play I just don't think it was the right thing to do as I'm going to be 50/50 at best if I get called and more often than not someone will have limped with 7's to J's and I'm in very bad shape.
So onto my first cash of the night (ps I'm doing ok in the tourney I'm still in and should just limp to the final table, 12 left) and it came in the 3rd £2 tourney I played finishing 12th out of 240 for a mighty £4.80! The manner that I went out in annoyed me, not so much because my Q9 didnt hold up against his J8 as I'm used to losing 60/40's on a regular basis, but because he flat called after it was folded to the SB so I push for 8BB's which was half his stack and he calls with little deliberation. I just don't like his play there and think he either needs to push first or fold in that spot to give himself another way of winning the hand, calling with J8 just isnt a very good play.
And finally my old nemesis Party Poker.
I only played 2 multi's on Party the $10k guarenteed $6 rebuy (which is producing prizepools of around $15k again nowadays). I went out in 211th of 818 when the button raised and I pushed for 18BB's with AJ, he had AK and the QJT flop left me with little hope and I was gone when I didnt improve. Shame really as I was doing alright and there are so many chumps with big stacks in the tourney.
I am still in the other tourney I played and am 7th out of 8 on the fnal table of the $6 freezeout that attracted 709 players. I'm guarenteed $70 but need 7th place to break even for the night and could really do with getting the $850 for first!
Will let you know how I got on next time...
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Self Assessment...and tonight's goal...
Was just wondering how my bankroll has changed since I started this blog so looked back to a previous post which informed me how much I had in my 3 main accounts to start with:
Party: £200
Noble: £720
Sun: $890
So about £1350 in total.
Now I withdrew £400 from Noble so realistically my Noble roll was £320 and total roll £950.
And here are my current account sizes:
Party: £310
Noble: £225
Sun: $715
Which is about £875 total for a £75 loss over about 6 months. I think the reason for this is that my best game is multi-table tournies, and obviously they require substantial time to play, but since I've been working I've had no time to play for long periods and so played cash games which I tend to grind out a small win in but nothing substantial and then lose a lot in a quick period which puts me back to break-even or worse. I know myself that cash games do ot really suit my game and so I'm going to try and avoid playing them and hopefully play more sit and go's and, time allowing, multi's.
Basically in what I'd call my "heyday" of poker I'd grind out small wins playing sng's whilst waiting for the big scores in the multi's which generally came at least once or twice a month. When I say big score I'm talking $300-$700 for a top 3 place in a $5 or $10 tourney. Obviously I was playing a lot more then and it feels like years since I had a big cash like that and I want another one. So tonight I am dedicating myself to finding that win and have targeted a number of tourneys ranging from £2 freezeout to $10 freezeouts on Sun, $5-$10 rebuys and freezeouts on Noble and the $6 rebuy on Party for old times sake even though Party tournies and I do not get on.
So hopeful my next blog will be detailing my achievement of finishing in the top 3 in one of these tournies. I'll be happy with a final table appearance the way my luck has been recently though...COME ON!!!!
Party: £200
Noble: £720
Sun: $890
So about £1350 in total.
Now I withdrew £400 from Noble so realistically my Noble roll was £320 and total roll £950.
And here are my current account sizes:
Party: £310
Noble: £225
Sun: $715
Which is about £875 total for a £75 loss over about 6 months. I think the reason for this is that my best game is multi-table tournies, and obviously they require substantial time to play, but since I've been working I've had no time to play for long periods and so played cash games which I tend to grind out a small win in but nothing substantial and then lose a lot in a quick period which puts me back to break-even or worse. I know myself that cash games do ot really suit my game and so I'm going to try and avoid playing them and hopefully play more sit and go's and, time allowing, multi's.
Basically in what I'd call my "heyday" of poker I'd grind out small wins playing sng's whilst waiting for the big scores in the multi's which generally came at least once or twice a month. When I say big score I'm talking $300-$700 for a top 3 place in a $5 or $10 tourney. Obviously I was playing a lot more then and it feels like years since I had a big cash like that and I want another one. So tonight I am dedicating myself to finding that win and have targeted a number of tourneys ranging from £2 freezeout to $10 freezeouts on Sun, $5-$10 rebuys and freezeouts on Noble and the $6 rebuy on Party for old times sake even though Party tournies and I do not get on.
So hopeful my next blog will be detailing my achievement of finishing in the top 3 in one of these tournies. I'll be happy with a final table appearance the way my luck has been recently though...COME ON!!!!
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
5 months on...
Finally found the password to this blog again...
How life has changed since my last post...some things never change though, most notably my luck at poker. It has literally been unreal tonight, first time I have played since before christmas and I only loaded up a few multi table tourneys just while watching the football (Bolton-Derby) and just sat there for about half an hour absolutely card dead then whammy:
I lose JJ vs TT all in pre, AK vs AT all in pre and then KK vs 66 vs 33 again ALL IN PRE. All these within about 2 minutes of each other and I'm out of those tourneys and feeling robbed especially the last one where I should have tripled up and would have been 3rd in chips in the $3.5k guarenteed (still long way to go I know but still!)
So I then sit down at a $0.02/0.04 table on Party just looking to muff about and this happens:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1885578
Hit the trips and apply the check trap method which works 99 times out of 100 a this level and of course it works a charm...until the miracle river brings him his 2-outer and with it the pot. I run so bad that I don't even think I could beat this level at the moment...so sick.
To make matters worse I've got gastro-enteritis, and have had the whole of the christmas period. This involved me being at home along on christmas day and boxing day in bed feeling like shit when I wasn't with my head down the toilet throwing up or throwing up at the other end if you get what I mean. Basically a christmas to forget and it doesn't even feel like I've had one to be honest. Ah well... life goes on...
Since my last post I've settled in nicely to my job as a Transport Planner...still don't know what I do really although I am enjoying it. Am off work obviously at the moment.
Played a "live" poker tournament for the first time in AGES in early december. I use inverted commas because it was hosted by my house and had 20 runners for a £10 freezeout. I took it down (why else would I mention it) in some style, came to the final table of 8 with probably over half the chips in play having busted the Cannon with my Kings against his Queens and then one of the first hands of the final table Big Tone ran his Jacks into my Queens before I won a race against the Point to basically knock the only experienced players out with only Alpy not feeling my wrath out of my mates, he got knocked out by a couple of girls. Kudos to my missus's little brother Mick who came 4th to double his money in his first ever game of poker for money!
Wonder how long it will be before anyone actually checks to see that I've updated?
The Point will be the first without doubt...he has nothing better to do at work. "Got to account for every 6 minutes" my arse...
How life has changed since my last post...some things never change though, most notably my luck at poker. It has literally been unreal tonight, first time I have played since before christmas and I only loaded up a few multi table tourneys just while watching the football (Bolton-Derby) and just sat there for about half an hour absolutely card dead then whammy:
I lose JJ vs TT all in pre, AK vs AT all in pre and then KK vs 66 vs 33 again ALL IN PRE. All these within about 2 minutes of each other and I'm out of those tourneys and feeling robbed especially the last one where I should have tripled up and would have been 3rd in chips in the $3.5k guarenteed (still long way to go I know but still!)
So I then sit down at a $0.02/0.04 table on Party just looking to muff about and this happens:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1885578
Hit the trips and apply the check trap method which works 99 times out of 100 a this level and of course it works a charm...until the miracle river brings him his 2-outer and with it the pot. I run so bad that I don't even think I could beat this level at the moment...so sick.
To make matters worse I've got gastro-enteritis, and have had the whole of the christmas period. This involved me being at home along on christmas day and boxing day in bed feeling like shit when I wasn't with my head down the toilet throwing up or throwing up at the other end if you get what I mean. Basically a christmas to forget and it doesn't even feel like I've had one to be honest. Ah well... life goes on...
Since my last post I've settled in nicely to my job as a Transport Planner...still don't know what I do really although I am enjoying it. Am off work obviously at the moment.
Played a "live" poker tournament for the first time in AGES in early december. I use inverted commas because it was hosted by my house and had 20 runners for a £10 freezeout. I took it down (why else would I mention it) in some style, came to the final table of 8 with probably over half the chips in play having busted the Cannon with my Kings against his Queens and then one of the first hands of the final table Big Tone ran his Jacks into my Queens before I won a race against the Point to basically knock the only experienced players out with only Alpy not feeling my wrath out of my mates, he got knocked out by a couple of girls. Kudos to my missus's little brother Mick who came 4th to double his money in his first ever game of poker for money!
Wonder how long it will be before anyone actually checks to see that I've updated?
The Point will be the first without doubt...he has nothing better to do at work. "Got to account for every 6 minutes" my arse...
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