PokerPurity

POSTING ON 2+2

2009-10-04T22:56:00.000-07:00

Posting on 2+2

The whole reason for writing a blog is – for me at least – to have an outlet. You know, to broadcast victories, losses and everything in between. Also (and I’ve said this before), it’s one of the ways in which I’ve been able to improve my performance, because the nature of having to, truthfully, broadcast your play to an audience after-the-fact, leaves you a little less inclined to do something stupid! After all, nobody WANTS to admit that they 4-bet-shoved 96o into QQ because they hadn’t been paying attention to the villain’s tendencies!

Now, since it’s been quite a while since my last blog – one might speculate that I’ve had nothing to brag about/confess to as of late. One would be wrong though, as both (unfortunately!) hold true for the undersigned. I’ve simply found another way of working through both challenges & upsets.

The answer is 2+2. I’ll admit, I found posting on the site pretty intimidating the first time I tried (under a different nick) back in 2006-7. My understanding and reasoning back then was even more flawed than it is today and the few times I ventured a response to a question or even posted something myself, I remember being met with condescending responses like, “LOL dude. mg, ez shove ftw ldo. Next!” and annoyed feedback like, “this has been covered in thread #u67xqd19. Please don’t clutter the forum!” I remember feeling pretty exasperated by the tone in the forums and after only 30-40 posts, quit the forum entirely.

It’s a shame really, because my return to the infamous forum has shown me what so many others have raved about already. If you’re willing to put in the hours, read a lot of threads and build up a presence (I suggest start in one of the forums, e.g. MTT or STT), there’s a lot to learn. The tone can be pretty harsh at times (and perhaps feel even more so if you’re asking questions that some might consider elementary knowledge) but I’ve found that most are less insensitive than what I thought they were a few years ago – just ignore the baboons.

TAKING STOCK

2009-08-16T22:27:00.001-07:00

Time to review my results once again. The last time I performed this excercise, I had a meager 190-200 rows of data to work with, whereas I'm now at a more considerable 731 rows, ranging from MTTs, STTs, a few cash game sessions, rakeback etc etc. If you don't know what I mean, I'm basically talking about a massive excel spreadsheet, in which I record every tournament & session I play. It keeps me focused and I find it valuable in terms of keeping myself honest. Let's be frank, most of the time you're not able to say EXACTLY how much you've spent in buy-ins after a session of sitngos, am I right? Yeah, me neither and unfortunately, it's almost always more than one might think.

So, I've got 731 rows in my spreadsheet. My action has been split as follows:

Rakeback/Bonus Rows: 25 (Total Profit: USD 293.74)
- that's obviously a lot of money. Money that you'd be pretty stupid not to claim for yourself as a player. These days, it's so easy.

Cashgame Rows: 15 (Total Profit: USD 81.01, split across 1227 hands)
- this is actually a bit of everything. Boredom led me to play 4 tables of NL20 at one point, which went absolutely disastrous! Lost more buy-ins than I care to remember. There is however also a quick $1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha in there, in which I clawed back most of my NLHE losses. According to the spreadsheet, 178 hands and 300 bucks profit.

Double Stack STT Rows: 8 (Total Profit: USD 66.50)
- this seems silly now, but right when I started tracking myself I was getting into these sitngo's where they start you off with double stacks. It was on the ipoker network and basically the only kind of STT I wanted to play there. Felt I needed to differentiate between normal sitngo's and these.

Matrix STT Rows: 8 (Total Profit: USD 13.28)
- same as the above. You're probably familiar with the 'Matrix' STTs on FullTilt. If not, it's one sitngo, in which you play the same opponents but on 4 tables simultaneously. There are then prizes per table, but also for how you do overall. Mostly when I'm bored, I'll change things up a bit with one of these.

MTT Rows: 319 (Total Profit: USD 2,306.62)
- well, I've done quite well if I have to say so myself. I feel more than 300 tourneys is enough of a sample size to give an indication of ability/skill. I'm sure downswings can last for longer than 300, but still - I guess I must know a thing or two about poker. I'll break this one down even further later on.

$4, 180-person STT Rows: 22 (Total Profit: USD -11.84)
- same as before. Felt this was a very particular type of tournament. Always the same number of entrants, low buy-in on PokerStars with a pretty high level of skill. 22 is nothing to go by, but I kind of got tired of them and moved on. Eehh...

STT (sitngo) Rows: 334 (Total Profit: USD 688.85)
- This is pretty much anything else. Varying buy-in sizes, a lot of 2-table, 3-table & 45-person STT alongside the 'original' 9 or 10 player sitngos. Before adding these up, I was seriously unsure whether I'd get a positive or a negative figure in the end. Glas it wasn't the latter.

I'll break apart the MTT and STT rows a bit in my next blog. Feel like I have enough information in order to derive some conclusions. If not conclusive, at least some insight into which pokersite I should be favouring, what buy-in size has yielded the most success etc etc. I have an idea, but perhaps the figures will surprise.

Later.

MAKING SURE YOU'RE NOT SPEWY

2009-07-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

If you - like me - feel that you're a fairly accomplished poker player, who knows his/her own game very well, but also recognizes his/her own limitations, I think you'll be able to recognize one of the following sentiments, after you've played a session:

- Damn, that was just one beat after the other.
- Wow, variance really bitch-slapped me today.
- I guess I'm happy he called me with Q9 offsuit, but still hard to believe.
- Phew, need a break after that. One more suckout and I would've started to tilt.

...or something along those lines! :-) The point here is that you're the sort of player who recognizes how ridiculously small the edges that we chase sometimes are - thusly also resulting in extreme swings. You've come to accept this fact and still choose to play poker, because you're certain that in the long run you'll come out on top.

That's all good. But HOW SURE are you that it's all variance after a session? Most of us don't have time (or the willpower) to go through hand histories and dissect every single time we defended from the blinds with 87 of spades. I don't and yet I do it sometimes - just to make sure that it's them - not me, whose to blame.

So, I just played out 9 sitngos on FullTilt at a total buy-in of $49.50 and cashed for a total of $36. As I write this, I haven't looked at what went wrong, so I might have to fess up to some spewyness here - I hereby promise to do so, if that's the case. Won't leave anything out.

1st STT (18-person): Finished 13th. Final hand.

7-handed, I'm in the BB with KcQd (stack 1620). Blinds 20/40. No SB in this hand. UTG (1650) limps, UTG+1 (910) limps. Folds to me. I check.

FLOP: 3s Qc 3d
I check, UTG bets 120, UTG+1 calls and I raise to 385. UTG calls, UTG+1 folds.

TURN: 9h
The pot is a little more than 1000 and I bet all-in for 1195. He snap-calls with 99.

Oh well. Against these types of opponents ($5 buyin) I would play this hand exactly the same way. Chalk one up for variance here.

2nd STT (18-person). Finished 5th. Final hand.

5-handed (obviously). My stack is 4470 and blinds are 200/400, going up to 250/500 in less than a minute. I'm in the SB with QcJc. Folds to me and I shove on the BB (stack 7680) who calls me with AsTs. His hand holds up.

Again, this is pretty standard. I'm not folding this hand, so of course I shove. Minraising or 2.5xing accomplishes nothing.

I will say though that prior to this hand I did 'suck out' once, but it was all standard as well. With blinds 150/300 I was in the big blind with Ts6d and the shortest stack at the table moved in for 830 total. Fold to me, I call (getting nearly 2.5:1) and beat AK. Shrug?

3rd STT (18-person). Finished 4th. Final hand.

Blinds 200/400 and I hold 4c6c in the BB with stack of 4455. Chipleader (cirka 12K) is first to act and limps. Folds to me. I check.

FLOP: 6d Ad 3s
I check, he bets 400 and after some deliberation I move allin. He snaps me off with AT.

Obviously not my finest moment. My only defence is that he had done the limp-bet thing once before against me (also A-high flop) and I'd let him have it then. Still - call and evaluate on turn should've been my move. Folding isn't horrible either, I think.

4th STT (27-person). Finished 23rd. Final hand.

7-handed and I hold 6h6d UTG+1 (stack 1040). Blinds 15/30. UTG folds, I raise 3x, CO (1350) calls and the BB (1500) calls.

FLOP: 4h 5s Qd
The BB leads 200 (pot 285) and I should've thought twice about this. Weak players lead flops all the time with marginal holdings, but they give it away with their bet sizing. Some will just min-bet (i.e. 30 at a pot of 3o0) and others will fire one-third of the pot. Those situations are so easy. Just raise the crap out of 'em, no matter what you're holding and they go away 95% of the time. The subtle difference here is the 2/3 pot bet. At this level - it means he has it and I shouldn't be moving in with 66. He calls with KQ and I don't suck out. Poor play.

5th STT (18-person). Finished 9th. Final hand.

This tourney had exhibited RIDICULOUSLY tight play, to the extent that the final table had just gathered and blinds were at 200/400. That's 7.5BB average stack (!) for those of you who don't know the structure. I had just been keeping afloat, stealing as much as I could, but never really getting any big hands.

In this case I've got 3490 chips to start the hand with and pick up 55 in the CO. When it folds to me, I shove and the button happens to wake up with QQ.

Variance 3 / Poor Play 2

6th STT (27-person). Finished 18th. Final hand.

I've got 1730 in my stack. Blinds are 40/80 and 9-handed. UTG I raise AhQc to 200. UTG+1 calls, as does the BB.

FLOP: 2c 4h Ts
2 hands before this I had raised AJ and when the flop came KQ4 with a flush-draw (that I didn't have) I had check-folded, so I figured I should get more respect this time. I lead 390 at the pot which was 640 total. UTG+1 calls very quickly and BB folds. In my opinion, small/medium pairs that haven't connected are now a HUGE part of his range - just from experience. So....

when the TURN is: Kc
I move in for 1140 (about 80% pot). He snaps me off with AK.

*sigh* I don't regret this play one bit, as I think it has a high success rate - the KING being a great card for me (from his perception, normally). He just happened to play AK really oddly in this spot. This is variance to me, but if you disagree - voice your opinion and I am happy to discuss.

Variance 4 / Poor Play 2

7th STT (18-person). Finished 2nd. Final hand.

Ok, so heads-up play at the end of a sitngo can be pretty swingy, due to the low stack/blinds ratio and this was certainly the case here. My stack: 10540, his stack: 16460. Blinds 500/1K

He limps from the button and I check Qh9s from the BB.

FLOP: Ts 7s 6d
I check, he checks.

TURN: 8c
I bet 1K, he calls.

RIVER: 7h
I bet 2K, he raises to 4K. I guess you could make a case for just calling, but if I do and lose, I'm practically dead anyway. I move in and he calls with TT for the boat. Nh sir. At these blinds, variance again in my book.

Variance 5 / Poor Play 2

8th STT (18-person) Finished 9th. Final hand.

Blinds are 120/240. My stack: 2350. I hold AcJh in the BB. UTG, 8handed (stack 3915) minraises to 480. Folds to the CO (stack 10K) who calls. Folds to me, I reraise allin. UTG deliberates briefly and calls. CO folds. UTG shows AT.

FLOP: 8d 3s Td
TURN: Ts

Lights out pour moi. Normally, my reraise shouldn't buy me much fold equity if you do the math, but based on the level of play that is standard in these tourneys it does surprisingly often, which is why I confidently shipped it in with AJ there. Also, the player in UTG had been making some horrendous plays, so I was quite confident that he was raising a wide range.

Variance 6 / Poor Play 2

9th STT (18-person) Finished 18th. Final hand

Stack 1455, blinds 15/30. I hold 5s6s on the button. UTG+1 opens to 120, HJ calls, I call and BB calls.

FLOP: 7h 6d 3d
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, HJ checks and I bet 325. Only BB calls.

TURN: 2s
BB bets 1010 and is allin. I call, which is kinda spewy - I know, but his line didn't make sense to me and at this level he could just as easily have 44 as AQ. He happened to have A6 (hmm?) and I was out pretty quickly.

There you have it people. So, definitely some things that could've/should've/would've, but also a few others over which I had more control and should have done better with.

STRUGGLING ON FULL TILT

2009-07-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

It's the weirdest thing (or perhaps not, in case someone knows something I don't) but out of all the poker sites, I struggle on Full Tilt the most. Since I started this challenge, I'm down $891 on the site and a week ago had almost completely depleted my funds.

Bear in mind, $891 in the red is actually worse than it sounds, because for the past few months I've also received $158 in bonus/rakeback, so the true state of affairs is much more dire. As a result, I decided something had to change and dropped my buy-in to $5 or less on FullTilt alone. A technical aspect concerning rakeback made me not wanna deposit (essentially shift funds) on the site again, so I figured this was the only way of rebuilding my bankroll.

Now, as a result I've been focusing most of my attention on the 18 and 27-person STTs ($5) and trying to come out on top there. So far, it's going above expectations as I'm able to muster a 154% ROI but because the sample size so far is laughable, I'm not even gonna tell you over how many tourneys that is. I chose the 18&27 over the regular 1-table STTs, because I simply can't stomach (edit: I lose patience) the tight-ass play that occurs once play becomes 5-handed. Essentially, the players are waiting for JJ+. You might argue that a skilled player would be able to take advantage of that and I might actually agree with you, but for whatever reason it doesn't suit my playing style. I can change gears, but going uber-uber-aggressive has never been my thing.

Anyway, I've also taken a shot at the occassional $3 rebuy or - as was the case today - try my hand at something completely different. A $2 6-handed freeze-out. I urge everyone to sign up for one of these at some point - if for nothing else, then the laugh-attack you get from some of the plays you see, should be reward enough! Sidenote: I came in 10th out of 381 and cashed for 14 bucks! WOO-HOO! Score...

Anyway, better fire up another $5 STT - where else can I see someone limp J8o on the button & bubble with 7BBs and fold to a shove? LOL. You gotta love it and for the record:

- Yes, I showed him the K2ss
- and Yes, I figured I had about 85% fold equity, which is the best part.

RECHARGING

2009-07-13T16:56:00.001-07:00

I think it’s almost inevitable that some sort of decline will follow after big successes. The days after my 4-figure score on PokerStars certainly felt just like that, as I wasn’t able to get much going in terms of deep runs. Certainly not many cashes and not a single one worthy boasting about.

What I ended up doing was get away for a few days. I’d love to say I’m the kind of person to do something like that spontaneously, but the truth is my girlfriend and I had planned it for some time. On the occasion of our two-year anniversary, we had booked a beach cabin on the coast – a mere 4 hour drive south of Sydney.

The key thing here – no internet. Hmmm… All other modern amenities, including satellite TV, dishwasher and even a full-size jacuzzi in the bathroom, but not a single broadband wave in the air for a laptop to pick up. Thusly, no poker for a full 4-5 days and what pure bliss that turned out to be. I finished the latest book by one of my favorite authors (Indiana Jones meets Da Vinci Code meets Jason Bourne – sound good? – check out James Rollins), enjoyed walks on the beach, interaction with local wildlife (kangaroos on the front porch of our cabin – seriously) and recharged my batteries.

…and now I’m back and hungrier than ever! So fellow players, expect big things. I am. Later.

15K GUARANTEED WIN, ANALYSIS PART6 - FINAL TABLE

2009-07-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

Buy-in was $30+3, 666 entrants; the whole thing took 7.5 hours and 1st place was $3,746.
_________________________________________________________________

When the final table eventually comes together I am fifth in chips with the line-up looking as follows:

Seat 1: 441,800, came from the other table. Very aggressive, likes to see flops but also 3-bets quite a bit.
Seat 2: 196,736, came from the other table. No reads.
Seat 3: 53,451, came from the other table. No reads.
Seat 4: 115,538, from my table. Good TAG player, but not tricky.
Seat 5: 283,323, from my table. Tricky player – the guy who I beat with AQ vs 66 two hands before FT.
Seat 6: 212,697, from my table. On the tight side, but competent.
Seat 7: 56729, came from the other table. No reads.
Seat 8: YOURS TRULY.
Seat 9: 440,778, came from other table. Seems very competent – has been in in-fight with Seat 1, before FT assembled.

Hand #396
Seat4 busts Seat7 when KJ hits a J on the river and beats AT. 9th place paid 282 dollars. Down to 8.

Hand #405
Seat3 busts Seat5 when 55 holds up against AK. Seat5 had however brought it on himself, when he bluffed off most of his stack, by check-raising with QT on a A7K board and getting snapped off by AT. 8th place paid 449 dollars.

Incidentally, the first 20 hands of the final table have now been played and the best I’ve seen is AT in early position, which I folded. I do however still find myself playing a bit scared, as the jumps in money become bigger and bigger. As a result, I’ve almost certainly missed out on a few 3-betting opportunities, when others were opening light.

Hand #406 – Stack 168748, blinds 3500/7000/a700
-and my 20-hand sit-out is probably why I thought I’d be able to pick up blinds/antes with the very mediocre 9c7h. Unfortunately it was not to be. In the CO, I open to 16500 and get called by both SB (Seat1) and BB (Seat2).

(Pot 54400) FLOP: 2h Ks Qd
What a horrible board. They both check and I check behind. No way I’m c-betting air into two guys and especially not Seat1, whom I had already deemed tricky.

(Pot 54400) TURN: 6s
The SB bets 29200 and we both fold.

Hand #409 – Stack 150148, blinds 3500/7000/a700
UTG I open Ah9c to 16500 and finally get some respect. I pick up blinds/antes.

Hand #412 – Stack 152948, blinds 3500/7000/a700
UTG (Seat2) opens to 21000 and I’m a little perplexed by the large raise-size. The table has been content to open anywhere from 2.3x-2.6x, so 3x seems a little excessive. Because of that and because of my position, I elect to call on the button with QhJs. We see a flop:

(Pot 57400) FLOP: 8s Jh 3s
He bets 21000 and I just call. I like my hand, but don’t love it yet.

(Pot 99400) TURN: 3c
He checks to me and I think for a few seconds before betting 56000. He folds.

Hand #418 – Stack 199148, blinds 3500/7000/a700
The table is still very active and I’m just biding my time. This hand it folds to me in the SB and I feel Jd8h is good enough to open with, so I make it 21000. The BB (Seat9) calls.

(Pot 46900) FLOP: 7s 2h As
I like that flop a lot as I feel like my image is tight enough for him to consider Ax a huge part of my range. I bet 28000 and he folds.

Hand #427 – Stack 208248, blinds 3500/7000/a700
On the CO I find acey-deucey of hearts and open to 16500. My smile is turned upside down, when both blinds decide to call (Seat1 and 2).

(Pot 54400) FLOP: Qd Ts 4d
Another ‘great’ flop. *sigh*. Doesn’t matter though as the BB leads 21000 into the flop and I fold. Interestingly enough, the SB check-raises to 59800 and the BB gives it up.

Hand #430 – Stack 189548, blinds 4K/8K/a800
UTG I decide to open Kc5c to 18500, because… well, hey it worked well the last time I opened UTG. Again, everyone folds and I pick up blinds/antes. It’s not a standard play, but I did it deliberately, because at the time all the opens were coming from the CO/button and I figured I’d get a huge amount of respect.

Hand #443 – Stack 172748, blinds 4K/8K/a800
Almost two full orbits and not a single playable hand in sight. That is, until I find KcKd in MP. I open to 24000 and pick up blinds/antes.

Hand #444 – Stack 189548, blinds 4K/8K/a800
When it rains, it pours. Not that Ad6s is as pretty as KK, but I elect to open anyway (this time from UTG) and I pick up blinds/antes.

Hand #446 – Stack 197548, blinds 4K/8K/a800
In the SB I hold 5c8d. So? – you’re probably thinking. Yeah, well – I figured it was time for me to get into the 3-betting dynamic that dominated this table and I figured my overall image was good for re-stealing. UTG (Seat1) opens for 18512, which he had been doing quite a bit. It folds to me and I make it 48800. He considers briefly, but folds. Much needed chips and a warm fuzzy feeling is what that kind of a move will get you!

Hand #448 – Stack 228060, blinds 4K/8K/a800
On the CO I open JhJd to 20000 and pick up blinds/antes. You might have noticed different raise sizes during this level and I can’t really explain it. Think I opened to 24K with KK earlier because I was still a bit timid, but was back in my comfort zone and therefore made it a more ‘normal’ 20K with JJ this time.

Hand #452 – Stack 242460, blinds 4K/8K/a800
Think this is pretty standard, but I’ll mention it nonetheless. UTG opens to 20K, CO re-pops to 56K and in the BB I fold 55. UTG folds as well. Maybe a shove is in order with 99+? Not entirely sure.

Hand #455 – Stack 228060, blinds 5K/10K/a1000
On the CO I open 6h6d to 22500 and it folds to the BB (Seat2, stack 321015) who calls.

(Pot 57000) FLOP: Th Tc Qd
He leads 30000 and I call. At a different point in the tournament, some people might (!) lead into this board with a ten in their hand, but it’s still a very unusual play. At a final table, I don’t ever see it happening. If he has a queen, I think he’s fairly happy to check-call or check-raise even, which is why I called. I wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Plus – my flatcall can mean almost anything to him, so I’m not giving away much by choosing the passive route.

(Pot 117000) TURN: 7h
He bets 30000 again on what I can only perceive as a MAJOR BRICK. The 7 shouldn’t change much. I consider raising here, but I felt like a) his bet exuded weakness, b) another smooth call would look even stronger and c) I might still have the best hand.

(Pot 177000) RIVER: 4c
Another brick and this time he checks. I decide my sixes are good and I shove for value. Well, I shove MAINLY for value. I couldn’t help wondering about the 7 on the turn. A7 hit that? Would’ve been so gross to lose the pot that way, so I factored that in before I shoved. He folded pretty quickly and I felt like I was on top of the world.

Hand #456 – Stack 321560, blinds 5K/10K/a1000
Again, things seem to be going my way as I once again find AsAc – this time in the HJ. I open for 22500 and once again both blinds (SB stack 237515, Seat2) (BB stack 252287, Seat3) come along. Three players.

(Pot 74500) FLOP: 6h 7d Jc
The SB leads for 30K and the BB calls him pretty quickly. I consider my options. There’s now 135K in the middle, I’ve got 298K behind, the SB has 184K and the BB 200K. Against effective stacks any raise will be committing. Folding is not an option… I mean, I have AA. Apparently, a very good hand. Calling just seems pretty weak and there are a lot of ugly turn cards that will put me in a really difficult spot. Actually, getting it in is my only option, but I am genuinely concerned about the BB smooth call, as it could easily be a set. The one thing that leads me to believe it’s not, is the fact that he called really quickly. A set might need a bit of time to consider as well…? Anyway, I shove it in and the SB tanks.

He uses quite a bit of his time bank, but finally calls. The BB gets out of the way pretty quickly and I’m delighted to see the SB turn over AdJd. The 5h on the turn seals the deal and I move into the chip-lead after that pot! Seat2 took home 649 bucks for 7th place. Down to six players.

Hand #459 – Stack 604575, blinds 5K/10K/a1000
When it folds to me in the SB, I decide to take a different line than usual and limp my As2h. The BB (stack 177327, Seat9) checks.

(Pot 26000) FLOP: Td Ad Th
I check and he checks. Don’t think there’s much value in leading this flop.

(Pot 26000) TURN: 9c
Now another draw is out there and I bet 14500. He folds.

Hand #466 – Stack 598575, blinds 5K/10K/a1000
I get a little frisky here with my big-stack-status and open 8h6h to 22500 from the button. Seat1 (stack 536978) calls from the BB.

(Pot 56000) FLOP: 2h Kc Jd
He checks and I bet 28K. He calls. Oh well. A heart for a flush draw?

(Pot 112000) TURN: Tc
Hmmm, guess not. He checks, I check.

(Pot 112000) RIVER: 4h
He checks and I guess I could try to bluff at this, but elect not to and check. He shows QJ and takes it down.

Hand #468 – Stack 546075, blinds 5K/10K/a1000
I open QhQd to 22500 from the HJ and take blinds/antes.

Hand #469 – Stack 566075, blinds 5K/10K/a1000
I open KhQh from UTG to 22500 and take blinds/antes.

Hand #473
Seat9 had become pretty short and shoved 117K from the button. The SB (Seat1) called immediately with AK and beat As4s. Seat9 out in 6th place, which earned him 849 dollars.

Hand #475
Seat3 decides to shove 152K (still 5K/10K/a1000) from the button and gets looked up by the SB (Seat4) who shows AcQd. Seat3 only has Kc5d (hmmm?) and fails to improve. He’s out in 5th and takes home 1048 bucks.

Hand #476 – Stack 565075, blinds 5K/10K/a1000
Seat1 (stack 789805) opens to 22805 from UTG and I call from the BB with Ah2h.

(Pot 54610) FLOP: Qd Ac 5c
I check and he bets 31000. I call.

(Pot 116610) TURN: 8h
I lead 58000 into him – as a probing bet and he folds immediately. Wasn’t very well thought through, cause I have to fold to a raise and check to him on the river, if he just calls. Anyway, I saw a safe card and decided he didn’t have it.

Hand #481
Seat4 busts another player when it goes raise, shove, call and 55 is enough to beat KJ. Seat6 departs in 4th place and picks up 1498 dollars for his efforts (I sound like Vince van Patten, don’t I? LOL).

SIDENOTE: AS WE GET TO THREE-HANDED PLAY NOBODY IS REALLY SHORT AND TO BE HONEST, I KIND OF FELT LIKE I WAS THE LEAST PROFICIENT PLAYER OF THE THREE, EVEN THOUGH I DIDN’T THINK EITHER OF THEIR EDGE ON ME WAS HUGE. CHIPCOUNTS:

Seat1: 714,600
Seat4: 686,520
Seat8: 596,880 (yours truly)

Hand #482 – blinds 6K/12K/a1200
On the button I open Qh8d for 26500 and Seat1 3-bets me to 67400. I fold.

Hand #484 – Stack 577580, blinds 6K/12K/a1200
I limp the SB with As2h and fold to a bet on the J-high flop.

At this time however, Seat4 asks in the chat, whether we’d be up for a chop. I quiz him a little bit as to what kind of chop (cause I felt like I would have the most to gain from chopping at least some of the pool), but before we get into it, Seat1 politely declines and says he wants to play it out. Fair enough – so we do.

The remaining prizes were:
3rd - $1,998
2nd - $2,697
1st - $3,746

Hand #488 – Stack 542780, blinds 6K/12K/a1200
I open Ac7h from the button to 26500 and take blind antes.

Hand #489 – Stack 563180, blinds 6K/12K/a1200
Seat1 opens to 26600 and when it gets to me in the BB I 3-bet to 69500 with 9s5s. ;-) He folds.

Hand #494 – Stack 569380, blinds 6K/12K/a1200
I open Qc9s from the button to 26500 and take blind antes.

Hands #497 – Stack 590980, blinds 6K/12K/a1200
I open ThTd from the button to 26500 and both players call. First 3-way flop, since 4th busted:

(Pot 83100) FLOP: 2h Ad Ts
I am almost literally drooling. They both check to me and I bet 48K. Seat1 calls.

(Pot 179100) TURN: Jd
He checks again and I bet 96K. He calls.

(Pot 371100) RIVER: 6s
GREAT card. He checks a third time and I figure my best bet is to continue my bet-sizing line and just double my last bet again. I bet 192K and he calls. It turns out he made two pair on the river with Ah6h. Biggest pot of the tournament so far and I move into the chip-lead!

Hand #501 – Stack 960780, blinds 6K/12K/a1200
I hold Jd8c in the BB and when Seat8 opens to 34000 from the SB I decide to call.

(Pot 71600) FLOP: Jc 6s 7c
He bets and I of course bet it, considering the numerous draws. I make it 38000 and he folds.

Hand #502 – Stack 997980, blinds 6K/12K/a1200
I open 9d8h from the SB to 35500 and Seat1 folds. I primarily did this to reach the 1million chip mark! First time! LOL.

Hand #503 – Stack 1017180, blinds 6K/12K/a1200
Now on the button I hold AcQs and I open to 36500. Seat1 shoves on me for a total of 325701 and I figure I have the stack to take a gamble with his range, which hardly ever is QQ/KK/AA – so I can’t be in horrible shape, unless he has AK. He shows 6c6h and it’s a classic.

FLOP: Qh 7h Ad – BOOYAH!!!!
TURN: 7d – ONE TIME DEALER!!!!!!
RIVER: 4c – HEADS UP, HERE I COME!!!

Seat1 busts in 3rd and now only two are left.

SIDENOTE: AS WE BEGIN HEADS-UP PLAY I HAVE A 2:1 CHIPLEAD OVER SEAT8, BUT IT WASN’T THAT COMMANDING, CONSIDERING HE WAS STILL WORKING WITH ALMOST 55 BIG BLINDS. AS A RESULT, I ASKED HIM ABOUT A CHOP ONCE MORE TO WHICH HE AGREED. THE DEAL WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE SEEN HIM TAKING 3000 DOLLARS AND ME THE REST (3450), BUT WHEN THE POKERSTARS MODERATOR GOT TO THE TABLE, SOMEHOW IT BECAME 3K EACH AND PLAY OUT THE TOURNAMENT FOR THE REMAINING 450. I SHOULDN’T HAVE TAKEN THAT DEAL, BUT ENDED UP NOT SAYING ANYTHING. I SUPPOSE I WAS A LITTLE SHELL-SHOCKED AND JUST WANTED TO SECURE A 3K PAYDAY. WITH THAT TAKEN CARE OF WE WENT INTO HEADS-UP PLAY FOR THE LAST 450 BUCKS.

The heads-up portion lasted for about 85 hands, but was fairly uneventful. I basically made sure I maintained my chip-edge over him and in the end we got it in, him coming over the top of my raise with QTo and me calling with 99.

The fat lady started to sing and I pocketed a total of 3450 dollars for my largest tournament win to date! Dear God, please don’t let it be the last – that feeling is simply too awesome, not to experience again!

Thanks all for reading – hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me. Later.

15K GUARANTEED WIN, ANALYSIS PART5

2009-07-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

Buy-in was $30+3, 666 entrants; the whole thing took 7.5 hours and 1st place was $3,746.

Hand #284 – Stack 66328, blinds 1K/2K/a200
Another tight play from yours truly. The very next hand after tripling up with aces and I pick up 9c9d in the SB. For some reason I’m always a little apprehensive about playing two big pots in a row, which has elicited some weaker/tighter plays in the past, compared to my ‘standard’. Anyway, in this case Mr. Aggro from before minraises UTG with a stack of 56538 and it folds to me. In retrospect, perhaps flatcalling isn’t such a bad idea at this stage of the tournament, but against this guy I just didn’t feel comfortable doing it. I folded. *shrug*

Hand #286 – Stack 64928, blinds 1K/2K/a200
Will you believe it – I pick up ‘dem rockets’ one more time. I’m in the CO seat this time. UTG (stack 80488) bumps it up to 5100 and before it gets to me, MP2 (stack 42838) has re-raised him to 14000 (yes, seriously – I am that lucky!). It folds to me and I decide to shove. Even though I’m practically telling the entire table what I hold, I don’t see any other option. If I were to make it e.g. 32000, that just looks even stronger, so I think my play is fine. UTG folds, but MP2 calls for his tournament life. He shows KK and I fade the two-outer!

Hand #290 – Stack 116466, blinds 1K/2K/a200
I now have the largest stack at the table and as a result, I’m looking to put it to good use. This spot seems like an opportune moment. We’re playing 8-handed and it folds to the CO (stack 71588) who opens to 5100. I’m in the BB and hold KdJd. I decide to go with the old maxim of, “late position raiser – he probably doesn’t have it” and I therefore make it 14800. I think the amount is big enough to put him to a decision and still leave me room to fold comfortably, if he shoves. He lays it down however pretty quickly.

Hand #293 – Stack 122566, blinds 1K/2K/a200
We’re now only 7-handed and it folds to me on the CO, where I hold Ah7c. I raise to 4800 and take down blinds/antes.

Hand #294 – Stack 126766, blinds 1K/2K/a200
Only play 7-handed for ONE hand, as we’re back to having nine players at the table. It folds to me in MP2 and I raise again to 4800 with TcTd. The seat immediately to my left now shoves all-in for a total of 22189. It folds back to me and I call.

FLOP: 3d Qd 5d
TURN: 3c
RIVER: 8h

I beat 66 with no complications.

Hand #298 – Stack 152655, blinds 1250/2500/a250
I’m in the SB and hold AdTc. We’re back to 7-handed as the tables are constantly being balanced. One of the ‘new’ players at the table, opens for a raise when it folds to him on the CO. He makes it 7500 with a starting stack of 65485. With my big-stack-status I decide this is another case of him being full of it and when it gets to me, I therefore 3-bet to 20700. When it gets back to him, he pretty much insta-shoves and I’m not loving the spot I’ve put myself in. I decide however that I can’t fold this now (didn’t do the math at the time, but just did now and I’ve almost got 2-1, so it wasn’t all bad) primarily because of the table-dynamic and the fact that I want my 3-bets to garner respect with the other players. I CALL and he shows me ThTd. Aww crap.

FLOP: Ah 9c Jc – this we like…
TURN: 2c – we still like…
RIVER: As – we absolutely like…

Won’t comment further. I know I got lucky there, but the 3-bet preflop is still good, I think.

Hand #304 – Stack 218140, blinds 1250/2500/a250
I guess I was a little drunk with power or something with this hand, feeling like I could push anyone around. Anyway, in the SB I decide to raise Tc5s to 7500, when it folds to me. The BB (stack 57104) calls.

(Pot 16750) FLOP: 2h Qc 6h
I auto-c-bet 11111. He insta-shoves on me. I fold. Oh well.

Hand #306 – Stack 199029, blinds 1250/2500/a250
A player who I’ve deemed is pretty solid, open-shoves 41K (16BBs) from MP2 and I fold 55 on the CO. I really didn’t know at the time. Because it’s an overbet-shove, I feel my pair probably has pretty good equity against his range and I have the stack to ‘take a shot’ at busting him, but I couldn’t pull the trigger. Maybe completely standard fold to some – just know I wasn’t sure at the time.

Hand #310 – Stack 198029, blinds 1250/2500/a250
I splash a little bit, when I call Mr. Aggro’s minraise from the BB with 7h5s. The flop comes down KJ4 all-hearts and when I check he moves all-in for 53K. Meh… I really wanna call and pick off 33 or some other random hand like that, but of course let it go.

Hand #314 – Stack 190779, blinds 1250/2500/a250
Mr. Aggro is starting to annoy me, which is the main reason for me playing the following hand the way I did. From the HJ, I raise AcQs to 6250 and Mr. Aggro (stack 67158) smooth calls on the button.

(Pot 18000) FLOP: 2c 9h Th
I elect to check, but I won’t give you a speech about some grand plan I might have had. I wasn’t really sure what to do because of my opposition. He bets 12500 pretty quickly and instinctively (can’t really explain it any other way) I re-raise allin. Now, this line doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I just figured he was full of it and the kind of player to bet any two cards, when checked to him. Anyway, he calls right away with KhTd (don’t agree with his preflop call, but whatever) and I don’t suck out.

I was steaming. Really fucking annoyed with myself and had to use a bit of time to compose myself after it. Even though I still had plenty of chips, I was thinking stuff like, “you blew it – that was your shot. Game over” etc etc. Ridiculous. Anyway, not much else to do but move on.

Hand #315 – Stack 123631, blinds 1250/2500/a250
Very next hand I pick up QdQc and when UTG opens to 7500 (stack 111185) I’m already preparing myself for the risk of going broke over the course of two hands. In the next seat, I make it 2100, but thankfully UTG insta-folds, when it gets back to him. Phew… actually just what I needed, to calm down after the AQ hand.

Hand #317 – Stack 136121, blinds 1250/2500/a250
Whether it was because of a quick succession of bust-outs or perhaps just a good tournament structure, I don’t know – but the stack to blinds ratio was quite high at this point. Playing 7-handed, the shortest stack at the table was sitting on 31 BBs. Perhaps as a result, this limp-hand ensued. MP, HJ, CO and SB all limp. In the BB I don’t figure I’ll be able to get rid of all of my opponents with a raise, so I elect to check my AcTd.

(Pot 14250) FLOP: 3c Ts 2d
So, I flop top pair but I’m actually quite suspicious of the limping-ranges of the other players, so I decide to try and keep the pot small and check. Everyone else checks to the HJ (stack 80251) who bets 8750. Only I call.

(Pot 31750) TURN: 8d
Seems like a safe card, but I’m still happy to keep the pot small and actually expect a check from him a lot of the time as well (as he would also be looking to exercise some pot-size control). So I check, but he bets again – this time 16500. I may be over-analyzing here, but whereas his flop-bet seemed fairly confident, this half-pot bet didn’t look quite as strong. To be honest, I probably should’ve given the hand some more thought, but I didn’t at the time. The bet made me think he didn’t have it, so I shoved on him. I could try to make a case for a few hands that I beat, which will still call me when I shove, but in reality I don’t think it’s the best play. If I think I have the best hand, a smaller raise is definitely best. It gives him a chance to do something spewy and then I can snap him off. Oh well, he thought for a long long time, but eventually gave it up.

Hand #320 – Stack 170771, blinds 1500/3000/a300
In the CO I hold AdKs, 7-handed. Two to my right (stack 99040) opens to 7400 and I 3-bet him standard to 21200. He folds immediately when it gets back to him. I was actually kind of hoping he might consider my raise to be of the ‘light variety’, because I myself felt like I’d been pretty active, but no such luck.

Hand #326 – Stack 178741, blinds 1500/3000/a300
We haven’t seen a flop since my AT hand. Someone raises, everyone folds. I’ve got Kc7d on the button 7-handed and do the same. No resistance this time.

Hand #334 – Stack 178171, blinds 1500/3000/a300
Mr. Aggro and I finally have a show-down. We’re down to the final two tables and are back to 9-handed. I have the chip-lead at my table. It folds to me on the button and I raise 3h3s to 7200, which has been my standard. In the BB Mr. Aggro now shoves for a total of 52981. I’m only getting 7-5 odds of making this call, but against this guy I felt like his range was CONSIDERALY wider than the rest of the table. So, whereas I might lay it down some of the time, I decided to call here. He showed 9dTh.

FLOP: 4c Kc Jc
TURN: Ah
RIVER: Js

BUSTO! I think the call is completely situational and opponent-specific, so it’s hard to debate for/against. If he shows me his hand, obviously I call and I felt like he probably only had two overs, considering his past actions. It felt good to get rid of him and I now had a monster-stack.

Hand #336 – Stack 236252, blinds 1500/3000/a300
Already, back to 7-handed as the people have been busting on both tables. At this point, I of course also have the other table up on my screen and am taking a few notes about some of the players. This hand isn’t noteworthy though. Folds to me on the HJ, I raise Ah8c and everyone folds.

Hand #339 – Stack 238952, blinds 1500/3000/a300
6-handed now. It folds to me in the SB and I raise Jd5c, because I’ve noticed the BB to be tight. He folds.

Hand #340 – Stack 243452, blinds 1500/3000/a300
I hold Ah3h on the button and apparently have been a little too active. I open-raise to 7200 again and the SB (stack 188786) 3-bets me to 26455. Big bet. Wow. I let it go. Nh sir.

Hand #343 – Stack 235152, blinds 2K/4K/a400
Still 6-handed, I pick up Ac9s and open from UTG to 8800. Blinds have just gone up and some are now even shorter than they were during the last level. One such player shoves for 36000 from the SB. Of course I call, but find myself up against two red queens.

FLOP: Ts Qs Jh – king one time, dealer…?
TURN: 7d – still waiting on that king, dealer…?
RIVER: 7s

The dealer must hate me (!) and he doubles up deservedly so.

Hand #345 – Stack 193022, blinds 2K/4K/a400
The button opens to 12K (stack 121435) and I decide to fold 33 from the SB. No explanation available. He hadn’t been extremely tight, but not overly active either. He might have had it, might not have. It just didn’t ‘feel’ right, so I folded. Who knows.

Hand #347 – Stack 190222, blinds 2K/4K/a400
Folds to me in the CO and I raise KdQd to 8800. I pick up blinds/antes.

Hand #351 – Stack 201422, blinds 2K/4K/a400
Folds to me in the SB and I raise AdJc to 10K (I make my raises slightly larger in blind-vs-blind confrontations, compared to other opens). BB folds.

Hand #352 – Stack 207422, blinds 2K/4K/a400
On the button, I open-raise 3d3h to 8800 and the SB (stack 201757) calls. We take a flop:

(Pot 24000) FLOP: Ks 3c Th
Holy crap… I’m re-living a wet dream of mine. What a time to flop a set and what a board. He checks to me and I lead 14500 at the pot (same as I would with a range of other hands). Come on! Have KT one time!! He folds. *sigh*…

Hand #353 – Stack 222222, blinds 2K/4K/a400
UTG (stack 51460) opens to 11900 and on the CO I hold AsJc. What to do? He’s raising, not shoving with a 13BB stack which is usually strength, but folding AJ 6-handed seems awfully nitty. Flat-calling seem awfully weak. I decide to go with it and make it 28000. Back to him and he insta-shoves. Fuck. Please not AA. He shows AdKh.

FLOP: Kc Ks 6c
-and no runner-runner for me. Nh sir.

Hand #354 – Stack 170762, blinds 2K/4K/a400
Even though I felt like I was completely at peace with having run AJ into AK, I guess I couldn’t have been as this hand will demonstrate. On the HJ I open KdJd to 8800. The CO (stack 192157) calls and we see a flop.

(Pot 26000) FLOP: Qh 2s 6d
A fairly innocuous looking flop and one I should be c-betting. Instead I check, as does he.

(Pot 26000) TURN: 9h
NOW I lead at the pot with a 14K bet. He considers briefly, before min-raising to 28K. Oh crap, I hate that play (hate being faced with it, that is – the play actually works quite often in my experience). It’s usually always strength as only very few players have the creativity to bluff with a min-raise. Still, I call – not wanting to be pushed off a hand.

(Pot 82000) RIVER: 3d
This is where my meltdown culminates. I now LEAD at the pot with a bet of 36000! Obviously, when I call the turn, I’m not looking to hit my gutshot (although that would’ve been nice) – no, I’m looking to bluff the river, but it’s just such a horrible play. Hands that MIGHT make sense (from his perspective) would be something like pocket 3s, but even that doesn’t add up all too well. I’m not even going to spend more time on the hand – it was awful from start to finish and he ends up shoving on me anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. I blow almost 40% of my stack on that hand. Stupid, stupid, stupid and I knew it.

Hand #362 – Stack 97162, blinds 2K/4K/a400
In the BB I wake up with KsKh, but the last 8 hands haven’t seen any action (I even got a walk in my BB), so I’m not overly excited. Until the HJ (stack 99392) opens to 9999, that is! It folds to me and I make it 25500 (which in hindsight is probably a little smaller than some of my other 3-bets and therefore might be a leak I need to address). He doesn’t seem to notice though, as he shoves. SNAP! – and I now need to hold against Ac7d!

FLOP: Jd Kc 9h
TURN: 7s
RIVER: 8h

Oh yeah baby, back to the top end of the leader board with that pot!

Hand #365 – Stack 195124, blinds 2500/5000/a500
The guy who had A7 in the last hand is now in the SB and after posting, only has 3700 left. Therefore, I elect to raise Ac2c form the CO to 12000, looking to get a call from him. It all works out and I’m up against Qs5h.

FLOP: 3c Td Qd… hmmm.
TURN: Ks… Jack/Ace?
RIVER: 8d.

I double him up.

Hand #369 – Stack 181934, blinds 2500/5000/a500
I’m not impressed with the way I played this hand, but in hindsight it might not be that bad. I hold JsTs in the SB and playing 5-handed, I call the UTG (stack 109160) raise, when he makes it 12250.

(Pot 32000) FLOP: Kh As Td
I check and he bets 16410. I did catch the bottom end of the flop and I think peeling one off (despite being out of position) isn’t too bad. I call.

(Pot 64820) TURN: 5d
I check and he moves in for 80K. Ok, ok… you don’t have to tell me twice. Nh sir. I fold.

INTERIM NOTE: I DON’T MIND ADMITTING, THAT I’M PLAYING A LITTLE SCARED AT THIS POINT. I REALLY WANTED TO MAKE THE FINAL TABLE AND WAS THEREFORE A LITTLE TIMID WITH WHAT HANDS I OPENED AND WHICH ONES I DIDN’T.

Hand #383 – Stack 131274, blinds 2500/5000/a500
As just noted, I’ve tightened up a bit and haven’t played a hand for almost 3 full orbits. To be fair, I haven’t had much to open with, but the table has opened up quite a bit, with a lot of 3-betting going on and I can’t figure them to have had AA/KK all the time, so bottom line: I’m scared and they’re not! I decide enough is enough, when I pick up the monster-hand that is: QdTc in the BB. The CO opens to 12455 and I raise him to 30500. Almost immediately he comes over the top for all of his chips: 316K. LOL. Way to pick my spots. I fold and feel like I just got soul-read.

Hand #385 – Stack 96674, blinds 3K/6K/a600
On the button I this time have a legitimate hand and I open AsQS to 15000. It folds to the BB (same guy who shoved on me last hand) and he shoves again. I call immediately and find myself in a race against 6h6d.
FLOP: 8h Ad Jc… sweet, sweet Ace! How glad am I to see you.
TURN: 8d… come on now, no six!
RIVER: Qc

CHA-CHING!! I let out a huge sigh of relief as I was – literally – holding my breath when the community cards were coming down.

Two hands later, a guy busts in 10th place and we’re down to the final table! I don’t have much going in, except for a medium stack and a few dreams. LOL. Sorry guys – a little corny. Couldn’t help myself. See you back here for the Final Table!

EVIDENCE OF MY WIN

2009-07-04T22:53:00.001-07:00

15K GUARANTEED WIN, ANALYSIS PART4

2009-07-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

Buy-in was $30+3, 666 entrants; the whole thing took 7.5 hours and 1st place was $3,746.
____________________________________________________________________

Hand #226 – Stack 35501, blinds 600/1200/a125
There hasn’t been much limping going on, so when I see 4d5d in the BB, I don’t expect to be able to see a flop with it. I am proven wrong yet again, as UTG+1 open-limps with a 70566 stack behind. I’ve mentioned this guy before. He had been quite active and definitely seemed like a tricky player. He had also just doubled up, when he called a huge shove (for his tournament life) with 44 and beat AQs. Everyone else folds to me and I check.

(Pot 4000) FLOP: 4h 6d 7s
This flop is too good for me, so because of my read on the guy I decide not to lead at it (fear of check-raise and then what do I do with bottom pair?). Instead I check, planning to call a bet. He checks as well.

(Pot 4000) TURN: 4s
I’ve made trips, but that’s actually irrelevant here. Against most players (not this one, but he doesn’t know that), I’d probably lead here and try to pick it up, whatever my holding. I bet 2000 and he smooth calls.

(Pot 8000) RIVER: 2c
That card misses all draws and because I see him as aggressive I consider checking to let him bluff at it. It’s a play I use rarely and with very mixed success. In the end, I feel like there are still lots of likely holdings which will pay me off, so I bet 4000 for value. He folds.

Hand #230
I raise AcTs from the HJ (8-handed) and take the blinds/antes.

Hand# 236 – Stack 39451, blinds 600/1200/a125
I don’t actually play this hand, but thought the situation was interesting nonetheless. I’m on the button with AhTh, when it folds to MP2 (9-handed again) who shoves for 11647. Normally I’d be the first one to advocate a call here, but all of the sudden It dawned on me that the guy shoving was probably the tightest one at the table. It just felt like he had been biding his time and finally had the big hand, he’d been waiting for. I decided to lay it down, only to see the aggro guy from the last hand snap-call him with As5c! LOL. Turns out I was right this time, as MP2 had AcQc – but perhaps I still need to call against his likely 9.5BB shoving range.

Hand #245 – Stack 36526, blinds 600/1200/a125
I hadn’t played a hand for almost two full orbits, so when I pick up Kc6c on the button, I felt like my raise might get some respect. The only problem is that online players are notoriously suspicious of button-raises. I think everyone instantly puts your range on any-two-cards. LOL. It folds to me, I open for 2800 and both blinds calls. Incidentally, the SB is the aggro player from before. His stack has grown to 81150, whereas the BB is sitting on 37500 at the start of the hand.

(Pot 9400) FLOP: Js 8c 6h
SB checks, BB checks and even though I caught a small piece, I check as well.

(Pot 9400) TURN: Kd
GIN! SB checks and the BB now leads 4800 into the pot. I think he might be doing this with air, but the board is so coordinated that I feel I’ve gotta raise my two pair. I eventually make it 13500, which I think is just about right. It leaves me with 20K to value-shove on non-threatening rivers, commits me to the pot (in his eyes) and still makes him pay for any draws. Unfortunately, my cunning math-skills are wasted as he folds.

Hand #250 – Stack 47276, blinds 800/1600/a150
UTG I hold AcQd. I might seriously consider folding, but the blinds have just gone up and I feel like I’ve gotta play this hand. I make it 3600. “Mr. Aggro” is next to act and he 3-bets me with very little deliberation to 8000. Before I can consider what my move is, it has folded to the BB who re-raises all in for a total of 17208. I now confidently fold and see Mr. Aggro out-race the BB with AQ (!) vs JJ. Still the correct play by me I feel.

Hand #253 – Stack 42426, blinds 800/1600/a150
I open-raise Ac3h in the CO (7-handed) and take down blinds/antes.

Hand #264 – Stack 41826, blinds 800/1600/a150
I haven’t found many hands to open, but then pick up AcQc in UTG+1 (8-handed). Before I get to act however, UTG has moved in for a total of 24396. Can’t call that obviously, but it’s amazing how tempted one is, when it’s been a while since you’ve seen a decent starting hand.

Hand #266 – Stack 41526, blinds 800/1600/a150
In the BB, I hold 9s2h. It folds to the SB (stack 26246) who limps. This was an odd move for him, as he had been raising every other time he opened a hand. With that in mind, I raise to 4800 and he snap-folds. Well played me.

Hand #269 – Stack 43076, blinds 800/1600/a150
Still 8-handed and when it folds to me in the CO, I decide to raise my 3c3s to 3800. I wasn’t loving it, because I felt like my stack was exploitable, but fold a pair in that spot? Not in my playbook. The button calls, before Mr. Aggro (now two to my left) makes it 12800. I was really starting to hate that guy. We both fold.

Hand #278 – Stack 35176, blinds 1K/2K/a200
This hand comes with a little bit of history. A few hands prior to this, I had folded Ac9d in the CO after MP1 had shoved his short-stack of only 8 BBs. I was torn by this decision, feeling like it was a close call (blinds were still 800/1600 at the time) – no pun intended – but eventually laid it down. Anyway, feeling like I may have just missed out on some value, coupled with the fact that my stack-blind-ratio had just dropped, I decided to play my Ts7s from the HJ. It folded to me and I raised to 4800. The BB called me and we took this flop:

(Pot 12400) FLOP: Kd 4h 9c
The BB checks and I fire 8000 at the pot, which in retrospect is way too much. A bet of 7000 or maybe even 6500 accomplishes the same objective. He min-raises me and I have absolutely nothing to battle him with. I fold and am now officially short. Crap.

Hand #283 – Stack 21376, blinds 1K/2K/a200
I hit the jackpot when – in the BB, as if it weren’t good enough already – I pick up AcAd. It only gets better by the fact that Mr. Aggro 3x raises from UTG+1 (stack 77914) and then MP2 3-bets to 16000 (stack 106424). Well, ok then gentlemen. I ship in my stack and they both call.

The board runs out kinda ugly: 8d Qd 9c – Jd – 8s, but it matters not as I easily beat their AsJs and 77. TRIPLE ME UP BABY!!

Stack back in order – ready to move towards the final table. More to come. Thanks for reading!

15K GUARANTEED WIN, ANALYSIS PART3

2009-07-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

Buy-in was $30+3, 666 entrants; the whole thing took 7.5 hours and 1st place was $3,746.
_________________________________________________________________

Hand #137 – Stack 7993, blinds 200/400/a50
On the button, I hold 3h5h and when it folds to me I raise to 1050. At the time, the SB is sitting out and the BB had a stack about the same size as mine, making it awkward for him to 3-bet. Also, I couldn’t remember him playing too many hands, so I figured the steal was well calculated. He did in fact fold and I took it down.

Hand #138 – Stack 8993, blinds 200/400/a50
This might be a little nitty, but I felt I had to give the guy credit for a big hand. I’m in the CO and have AsJs. It folds to the HJ who, with a stack of only 5130, raises to 1000. Maybe this guy had no clue about stack sizes and implications associated hereto, but I felt folding was – though tight as hell – still the best play.

Hand #140 – Stack 8893, blinds 200/400/a50
I open JcTc from MP2 and take down the blinds. Nothing special to note, except the fact that the two short stacks of the table (re-stealing size) were on my right and had folded. Everyone on my left had at least 35 BBs and could still 3-bet, but are probably more likely to call and suited JT plays quite well after the flop.

Hand #143 – Stack 9793, blinds 200/400/a50
I pick up two queens UTG and raise to 1050. Take down blinds/antes.

Hand #145 – Stack 10343, blinds 200/400/a50
On the button I hold AhQs. It folds to the HJ who raises to 1200 (stack 11827) and when it gets to me I jam my stack in there. I’m not overly thrilled by this play as I feel it’s a bit excessive to shove my stack against his raise. I merely felt that I had two options, fold or raise and a standard re-raise would’ve been committing, so I just closed my eyes and shove. Lucky he folded after a few seconds of deliberation.

Hand #156 – Stack 11243, blinds 200/400/a50
I had completely forgotten about this hand. I hold TsTh on the HJ. UTG raises to 1055 (stack 39420) and it folds to me. I elect to fold as well. I guess a case could be made for 3-betting to something like 2800, because it’s a big stack opening who had been active, but I was thinking more in terms of standard ranges and felt TT was a minimal hand in that spot. Oh well, will never know.

Hand #157 – Stack 11193, blinds 200/400/a50
On the HJ (again the HJ – only 8handed, last hand – now 9) I have QhQc and open-raise to 1050. It folds to the SB who re-raises and makes it 3200 (stack 15870). Given the positions, I felt I had to go with my hand here, so I raise all-in and he folds fairly quickly! Phew. Kinda glad that I didn’t have to sweat a hand like A9 there. Nice pad to my stack as well.

Hand #165 – Stack 13943, blinds 300/600/a50
Play has tightened up considerably as we approach the bubble and I therefore elect to raise Ac7c from the HJ, when it folds to me. I make it 1550. The button decides to call this time however (stack 13631) and we take a flop:

(Pot 4450) FLOP: 2d 3c 5h
It’s coordinated but it’s still a good board. I c-bet to the tune of 2800. He folds and I pick up a nice pot.

Hand #167 – Stack 16743, blinds 300/600/a50
In MP1 I hold AcKd and open-raise to 1550. It folds to the BB (stack 21783) who calls.

(Pot 3850) FLOP: 4h 5s As
He checks to me and I bet 2500 to take it down.

Hand #171 – Stack 18243, blinds 300/600/a50
Once again I feel like I take advantage of stack sizes. I have Qs8d in the SB and raise to 1800 when it folds to me. The BB has just over 20BBs and it’s therefore awkward for him to 3-bet-steal-all-in. He folds and I take it down.

Hand #190 – Stack 15668, blinds 400/800/a75
On the button I’ve got a very mediocre Jd5h, but we are almost literally on the bubble and I decide to abuse it and raise to 2100 when it folds to me. It works and I pick up highly needed blinds/antes.

Hand #195 – Stack 17093, blinds 400/800/a75
UTG I pick up KK and take down the blinds/antes when I raise to 2200.

Hand #196 – Stack 18818, blinds 400/800/a75
The very next hand I hold AA in the BB. It folds to the SB who completes (stack 18002) and I consider just checking, but decide to 3xraise like I would if I had a mediocre hand. Sadly, he folds.

Hand #198 – Stack 19668, blinds 400/800/a75
Still very much on the bubble (believe only 2 players left before cracking the bubble) and I hold 4c7c on the button. In the blinds, the SB has an 8BB stack and the BB an 11BB stack. Both have been playing tight and I expect I can pick up the valuable blinds/antes almost all of the time – so I shove, when it folds to me.

Oops. The SB has woken up with KK and snaps me off. Well, that’s not good…

FLOP: 7s 8c 7d… or is it?
TURN: 2c
RIVER: 3d

I give out a horrendous bad beat – on the bubble. I’ll bite my tongue the next time I complain about losing a 70/30. Still, in the situational context I think I’d probably do the same if ever faced with a similar situation. The few times I get called are a risk I’m willing to take on – as you’ve seen, I’ve got mad flopping skills to help me out.

Hand #204 – Stack 26074, blinds 500/1000/a100
We’re no longer on the bubble and a few surviving short-stacks are trying to double-up. I’m in the SB in this hand and hold KsJc. It folds to the CO who shoves for 7052. In my experience, I’m ahead of his range here, so I call and even flop an unnecessary king to best his QJ.

Hand #205 – Stack 34826, blinds 500/1000/a100
Once again I pick up KsJc, this time on the button and when it folds to me I open to 2400. The BB calls (stack 36703).

(Pot 6100) FLOP: 7c 5h 9h
The BB checks and that flop is simply a bit too coordinated for my taste, so I check back. Also, the guy in the BB had been very active and I suspected he’d be highly capable of floating and/or check-raising me.

(Pot 6100) TURN: 3h
He moves all-in. Well, fair enough. You win sir.

Hand #208 – Stack 32126, blinds 500/1000/a100
UTG+1 opens to 2500, leaving himself with only 12000 more. In MP2 I find AcKd and decide to 3-bet standard to 7500, bearing in mind that there are several others left to act behind me. They all fold, as does the original raiser.

Hand #221 – Stack 32626, blinds 500/1000/a100
I haven’t had many spots to steal in the last orbit and a half, so when I pick up 4s4h on the button I’m already eyeing stack sizes in the blinds. However, it folds to the HJ who limps. That’s odd. Haven’t seen a limp in a long time… Also, the limper started the hand with only 10653 in chips, making it an even stranger play. I decide this play is weakness 50% of the time and AA the other 50% and raise to 3800. He folded pretty quickly, but if he had shoved I guess I would’ve puked ever so slightly and made the call.

Time to leave you again. Next part will be up tomorrow. Stay tuned.

2009-07-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

I finally broke my online cherry and reached the 1 million mark in a tourney for the first time!

15K GUARANTEED WIN, ANALYSIS PART2

2009-07-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

Buy-in was $30+3, 666 entrants; the whole thing took 7.5 hours and 1st place was $3,746.
_________________________________________________________________

Hand #54 – Stack 3740, blinds 50/100
UTG I hold AsJd – and fold it. Something new-ish I’ve been doing more of lately. Since I’m UTG this should be at the very bottom of my opening range and maybe even not in my range at all. I elected to fold here. However, also part of my decision were the stack sizes of the HJ, CO and SB – all perfect re-stealing sizes. Just seemed like the best and lowest-risk play at the time.

Hand #70 – Stack 3365, blinds 75/150
I’ve folded for almost two orbits and now I’m UTG+1 with AdKc. UTG is sitting on a fairly big stack (8368) and has been pretty active. He opens to 375 which has been his standard. Because of his level of activity, I think I have to 3-bet here. If some uber-tight nit (guess that’s redundant) had opened, I think I might have just called – although just the thought of only flatting with AK is a little sickening. Anyway, I needn’t have worried. I make it 1050, it folds around and he insta-folds.

Hand #80 – Stack 3740, blinds 75/150
I hold 6c6d UTG – and fold it. Basically, the same argument as #54, plus now blinds have gone up and I feel like 25BBs is simply not enough to warrant raising 66 in that spot.

Hand #85 – Stack 3590, blinds 100/200
In MP1, I pick up AhQc and open-raise to 500. It folds to the button who calls all-in for only 125 chips. Folds to the BB (stack 5720) who also calls. 3 players:

(Pot 1225) FLOP: 2d 4s 5d
The BB checks and I bet 800 for value against both players’ ranges. If the BB raises, I’m folding and if he calls I’ll re-evaluate on the turn. He folds however and the button reveals AsTh. A ten on the turn gives him the main pot, but the side pot is bigger, so I’m quite happy.

Hand #86 – Stack 4640, blinds 100/200
The very next hand I raise AsJs from UTG+1 and take down the blinds. The difference between folding AJo UTG and raising AJs UTG+1 might be minimal, but I feel it’s enough to warrant two different plays.

Hand #91 – Stack 4640, blinds 100/200
I THINK I played this correctly. Really not sure though. I’ve got black nines on the CO. UTG (stack 6940) opens to 600 and it folds to me. I fold. I thought about it for a bit, but this guy had not been out of line and if he’s an average tight player, the part of his range that I ‘beat’ is probably limited to AK (MAYBE AQs, but not even sure that’s in there with this guy). I guess I just figured, I could find a better spot later in the tournament.

Hand #97 – Stack 4340, blinds 100/200
The better spot presented itself only six hands later. On the button I pick up QsQh and open-raise to 500. The SB calls (stack 2760) and the BB folds.

(Pot 1200) FLOP: 2s Jc 3s
He leads 800 into the pot and I’m considering my options. With this flop, I definitely want to play for stacks with this guy. He has 1460 left, but I’m afraid he might fold if I move in (he obviously don’t understand stack sizes, considering his preflop call). I therefore elect to call and get it in on the turn.

(Pot 2800) TURN: 2h
He shoves the rest in and I snap him off. He shows Ks9s, so probably wasn’t folding that flop – EVER! Need to fade a king and a spade.

(Pot 5720) RIVER: Jd – BOOYAH!

Hand #104 – Stack 6950, blinds 125/250/a25
I’m on the CO and hold QsJc. I make it 625 and pick up blinds/antes.

Hand #117 – Stack 6850, blinds 125/250/a25
I’ve been folding the last 12 hands, which included semi-good starting hands like Ah9h and other Ax hands in middle position that I had to let go due to action in front of me. As a result – I think – I make a speculative call from the BB in this hand. I hold 8c9h. It folds to the SB who 3x raises to 750. He has a stack of 7255 and I actually think a reraise is the best play, IF I should in fact choose to get involved. I could make it approx 2000 and still be able to get away from it, should he shove. Instead I just call.

(Pot 1700) FLOP: Ks Jc 2s
He bets 1000 and I consider floating, but think better of it and just fold. Gave away 500 chips unnecessarily.

Hand #119 – Stack 5925, blinds 125/250/a25
On the button I pick up Kc9h and when it folds to me, I raise to 625. The SB is a big stack with approx. 19K in chips, but the BB only has 1762 and I’m essentially playing for his stack, letting him know that he has no fold equity with me, if he shoves. Surprisingly, he calls.

(Pot 1575) FLOP: 3s 8s 3c
He insta-shoves 1112 and I snap him off right away. K-high might still be good on this flop (I think) and I feel there’s value in showing the table that I’m not going anywhere, when I feel the stack sizes are committing. Unfortunately, he 3-outed me when his K8 (!) hit the flop and I don’t re-suck on him. Nh sir.

Hand #124 – Stack 4063, blinds 150/300/a25
UTG+1 I pick up two red queens and when UTG raises to 800, I fake-deliberate for about 8 seconds, before I shove. Unfortunately he folds, but I pick up much needed blinds/antes + his bet.

Hand #126 – Stack 5488, blinds 150/300/a25
In the BB, I hold 6s6c and am praying that I get to shove over a button-raise. Instead the big-stack at the table (stack 20908) raises to 733 from UTG. Hmmm… Not sure what to make of it. It folds to the CO (stack 9397) who makes the call. When it gets to me, I have no idea what to do. I end up chickening out and just calling. Maybe shoving sixes over an UTG raise would have been spewy anyway. The flop comes down Q-high with 3 overcards to my sixes and I fold (interestingly, it’s the CO who ends up c-betting, as UTG just checked).

Hand #129 – Stack 4530, blinds 150/300/a25
I hold AdKh in the CO seat. UTG (stack 24684) just limps and when it folds to me I decide raising all-in does nothing to accomplish my goal of getting paid when I have a big hand. If I shove 15BBs, I doubt he’ll call – so I elect to use the stop’n’go instead. I make it 1200, it folds back to him and he calls.

(Pot 3075) FLOP: 9c 7d 4h
He checks to me and I move all-in (slightly more than pot-bet). He folds right away. Quite happy with that play and would do the exact same thing again in a similar situation.

Hand #133 – Stack 6305, blinds 150/300/a25
I open-raise QhQc from UTG+1 and pick up the blinds/antes.

Hand #135 – Stack 6930, blinds 150/300/a25
My first light (very light!) 3-bet of the tournament. In the BB, I hold Qh5d. It folds to the CO, who has been fairly (not overly) active. I have however noticed him and he seems to be a good thinking player. He has 8433 in chips and raises to 888. When it folds to me, I consider briefly and then make it 2550. I obviously am not putting him on a premium hand, but I elect to make the raise that amount, because it appears committing. He can’t figure to have any fold equity, if he comes over the top and that’s exactly what I want him to think. It goes without saying, I’m folding if he does shove – but he doesn’t know that.

To re-confirm my suspicion, he types into the chat box: “Not the most ideal stack size to be three betting OOP is it?” I’m tempted to answer him, but don’t say anything. Finally he folds and I take it down. A risky play for sure, but waiting around for AA doesn’t cut it very often!

Will leave you on this note for now. Watch this space for Part3 – due up in 24 hours.

15K GUARANTEED WIN, ANALYSIS PART1

2009-07-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

Buy-in was $30+3, 666 entrants; the whole thing took 7.5 hours and 1st place was $3,746.
___________________________________________________________________

Standard tournament on PokerStars, in the sense that we started with 3000 chips and blinds kicked off at 10/20. As always, I was playing a myriad of different tourneys – approximately 4 at a time – and had already busted out of a few when this one started. Off we go.

Hand #1 – Stack 3000, blinds 10/20
First hand of the tournament and I’m in the BB with Qh7h. Folds around to the SB who completes and I check.

(Pot 40) Flop: 6h Jh Kc
SB checks and because it’s the very first hand I decide to check my flush-draw as well.

(Pot 40) Turn: Td
SB now leads for 40, I make it 140 and he folds. Nothing too special here. Open-end straight and flush draw, possible hitting a queen might be good, plus he could be betting air.

Hand #2 – Stack 3060, blinds 10/20
Very next hand and I pick up 8c8s in the SB. It folds to the HJ who 10x raises (!) to 200. I consider briefly, but see no reason to get involved with a medium pair against an unknown opponent who probably has a big hand. So I fold and feel good about it.

Hand #4 – Stack 3050, blinds 10/20
Stacks are still roughly 3K and I hold Qs9s in the CO. UTG limps, it folds to me and I decide to limp as well. This is a horrible play and my state-of-mind might have had an effect on me here. Button folds, SB completes and BB checks. 4 to the flop:

(Pot 80) FLOP: 6d Ac Jh
Three checks and I decide I might as well try to take it down. I bet 50 and they all fold.

Hand #10 – Stack 3110, blinds 10/20
I hold Tc8h in the BB. UTG limps, MP1 limps, HJ limps and SB completes. 5 players:

(Pot 100) FLOP: 3c 8c 2c
SB checks and I lead 60 at the pot, expecting at least one player to peel with a big club. All fold. Nice.

Hand #11 – Stack 3190, blinds 10/20
I pick up 6h9h in the SB. Preflop like this: UTG folds, UTG+1 limps, MP1 raises to 70, MP2 folds, HJ calls, CO calls, button calls, I call (?), BB calls and UTG+1 calls. 7 players proceed to see a flop that I completely whiff. MP1 leads 2/3 of the pot, but gives it up when the button raises him. I’m not crazy about my call even though pot odds dictate it, especially because the BB or UTG+1 can now squeeze and I’ll have just given away chips unnecessarily. Anyway… *shrug*.

Hand #13 – Stack 3100, blinds 10/20
I have JcTd on the CO and I’m probably a little steamed from some of my other tables at this point. There, that’s my excuse. Now, observe the horror. Folds to MP1 who limps, MP2 raises to 100, HJ folds, I call (??) and everyone else folds.

(Pot 250) FLOP: 5c 4d Qc
MP2 checks and I fire 160 without even thinking. He considers briefly and raises to 460. I fold and feel like an idiot.

Hand #15 – Stack 2840, blinds 15/30
In MP2 I pick up 9c9d. It folds to MP1 who limps, I raise and make it 120, folds back to MP1 who calls.

(Pot 285) FLOP: 3s Ah Ts
MP1 checks and I bet 170, representing the ace. He calls.

(Pot 625) TURN: 7c
MP1 checks and I decide to check as well, to re-evaluate on the river.

(Pot 625) RIVER: 5h
MP1 leads for 330. I guess the draws missed and I could consider a crying call with my nines, but in the long run, I don’t think there’s much value in it. I fold.

Hand #20 – Stack 2520, blinds 15/30
In the SB I hold AdJh and choose the…uhmm – passive route. Folds to the HJ who limps, folds to me – I limp (?) and the BB checks. I guess I just wasn’t feeling it at this point. Sometimes you talk yourself into reasons why ‘not getting involved’ is the best thing to do.

(Pot 90) FLOP: 6s 5d Qc
I check, so does the BB and the HJ bets the pot. I happily fold, but the BB calls. They then proceed to both check the turn (Ts) and when the 9h hits on the river, the BB bluffs at the pot with his 73 – only to be looked up by the HJ with 89. LOL. Guess I should’ve raised the flop for value.

Hand #25 – Stack 2490, blinds 15/30
In MP1 I pick up 9hTh and make it 90. MP2 calls quickly and it folds to the blinds, who both call.

(Pot 360) FLOP: 8s 5d 4d
Two checks and it’s on me. This is really a horrible board (IMO) to c-bet on, especially when both blinds are in the pot and generally it’s ill-advised to bluff into 3 opponents. I do exactly that though and bet 210. MP2 folds, SB calls and BB folds.

(Pot 780) TURN: 8h
SB checks and I give up and check back.

(Pot 780) RIVER: 4c
SB bets 210 and even though I don’t remember, I’m sure my state-of-mind at the time had me at least CONSIDERING a bluff-raise. It would have made no sense and thankfully I just folded.

Hand #28 – Stack 2190, blinds 25/50
In the BB I’ve got two black aces. 2 folds and MP1 (stack 2378) raises to 150. MP2 calls and it folds to me. I think I may not have noticed the caller, cause I only make it 500 to go. Could however also be that I was still a little ‘unstable’ and wanted to give them both a good price. The initial raiser folds, but MP2 calls (very unusual in my experience).

(Pot 1175) FLOP: 5c 8h Jc
I bet 550 (can’t tell you why – maybe trying to look weak? Who knows. Most of these plays are ‘new’ to me, in the sense that they’re not part of how I play normally) and he folds. Guess I just turned my hand face-up.

Hand #30 – Stack 2840, blinds 25/50
Kh6h. BIG hand – or at least I must have thought so. UTG folds, UTG+1 limps, MP1 folds, MP2 limps, CO and HJ both fold and on the button I decide to raise. I make it 250. Everyone folds except MP2 (stack 3700).

(Pot 625) FLOP: 3s 8d 6s
MP2 checks and I bet 400. He folds. Fairly standard I guess, except for my actual holding. Then again, I might also make this move when I’m perfectly calm and collected, if I noticed certain people limping ‘too’ much. Not too unhappy with this play.

Hand #32 – Stack 3215, blinds 25/50
On the HJ, I’ve got 4s4c. UTG min-raises, it folds to me – I call and it folds to the BB who also calls.

(Pot 325) FLOP: Jh 2d Jd
I’ve basically called for set-value, as obviously a small pair doesn’t play well on most flops. When I see this however, I contemplate peeling one as I have position and I might be best here. UTG surprises me however, by checking after the BB checked. I’ve gotta bet it then. I make it 200 and both fold. Easy-peazy.

Hand #34 – Stack 3440, blinds 25/50
MP1 and I’ve got KhQh. Some might disagree, but I think it’s good enough to open that hand at a 9-handed table and I do by 3x raising. Once again, the guy to my immediate left (MP2, stack 1735) calls. He seems a bit spewy (NO comments about me being the spewtard, tyvm!). Everyone else folds.

(Pot 375) FLOP: Kd 8s 6c
I standard c-bet 225 and he folds. This game is so easy.

Hand #36 – Stack 3665, blinds 25/50
I’m UTG and pick up AcKd. I make it my standard 3x. It folds to the button (3000) who calls, as does the SB (2465). The BB folds.

(Pot 500) FLOP: Ts 7c Qh
The BB checks and so do I. Button bets 200 and we both give it up. I feel this has to be the correct play. I don’t see a c-bet taking this pot down, when I’m up against two opponents and the board looks like that. It’s very likely to have hit someone and I’m effectively only happy if I see a jack. Plus, I’ll be out of position. Easy decision, but one I’m making more lightly these days than I did only a few months ago.

Hand #40
No need to mention stack sizes. I limp 87off from the CO and whiff the flop. Fold. Absolutely a ghastly play – should’ve been an easy fold.

Hand #46 – Stack 3390, blinds 50/100
I’m in the BB with QsJs. It folds to MP2 who raises to 300. HJ, SB and I all call. 4 players:

(Pot 1200) FLOP: Qc Kc 5c
We check to the original raiser and he overbets by making it 1400. That could mean anything from naked ace of clubs to a set of kings. No way of knowing. All fold.

Hand #49 – Stack 3040, blinds 50/100
On the CO, I pick up KhJc and when it folds to me I make it my standard raise of 250. The button folds and the SB (stack 4805) now re-raises to 600 total. BB folds back to me. Something didn’t smell right here. I considered first that I had just lowered my raise-size from 3x to 2.5x which he might perceive as weak. Second his re-raise size was noteworthy – I thought it was a little odd. Finally, the pic he had as his PokerStars avatar, which was of a young kid with a backwards baseball cap (hey, sometimes it’s the tiny things that sway your decision). Anyway, when adding all that up I decided he was re-stealing and couldn’t call a shove, so I shipped it in. He insta-folded. Well played me.

Will try to do approximately 50 hands at a time in this series. Next 50 or so coming up in 24 hours.

Last note: I’ve never said so, but if you’ve got comments to any of the hands I bring up, please feel more than free to post them here. I think most would do that without the added encouragement, but anyway – there it is. Later.

FINALLY! 4-FIGURE SCORE!

2009-06-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

About 16 hours ago I was already mentally preparing a blog-entry. At the time, I still had several live tables up on my screen, but had just closed one after getting all my money in with AhKh against QQ on a 3h6h9d board – and losing. Only a slight edge, I realize that, but it was literally on the money bubble and the winner would have a top-5 stack. Moreover, I had been losing several 70/30s and a few other flips all day and was now fuming!

So, while still steaming, I was contemplating how I might be able to get away with writing a 20-page epic blog on bad beats, without sounding like a pathetic whiner. (Stop. Do not pass Go. Do not collect 400 dollars – simply not possible)

That’s when the damndest thing happened. I only had 3 other tables running and I was in no hand at the time, so I decided to close my eyes, take 3-4 deep breaths - and remind myself that losing my cool now, would be the worst thing I could do – and got stuck back in.

When the day came to an end, I had taken down a $33, 15K guaranteed tourney on Pokerstars, defeating 665 other players and winning $3.4K in the process! BOO-YAH!!!! You have no idea how psyched I was – and now, 16 hours later, STILL am. I wrote in one of my blogs not too long ago, that I felt a big 4-figure score was just around the corner for me and that perseverance – not panic – was the way to go.

So, here I am – my first four figure score under my belt and hopefully many more to come. I’ll be going through the hand history of this tournament win and will share interesting hands in this forum. Not that I think I did anything particularly different to normal, but hey – if there’s a winning formula in there, I might as well have a go at finding it!

Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 197

PLAYING WELL, BUT...

2009-06-22T23:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I don’t need to tell you – do I? You know all about it, you’ve been there before and will be there again soon enough… Yeah. Puke, yuck, meh. Just one of them days.

Currently, variance has been making me her bitch (variance… gotta be female, yeah?) and yet I probably shouldn’t even be complaining all that much, seeing how my most recent tourneys have actually included a couple of small final tables. Small, because we’re talking field sizes of approximately 200-250, making the “pot of gold” that we’re all chasing, sometimes looks more like a pot of… uhmm, really nice apples. Yep, I’ve gone and done it – chosen a weird metaphor again and now I’ve gotta just run with it.

So, it’s not like you don’t want the apples – oh no you really do, cause well – they’re still apples – they’re just not as attractive as some of the other pots around. Kinda wish I had an apple right now. And some pot. Mmmm… apples and pot.

Uhhm yeah. So…, uhmm – anyway…

The last two final tables I’ve made, I’ve come in 7th and 6th respectively. The 7th place finish was annoying. I’d come into the last two tables with a monster stack, only to see it dwindle pretty quickly. Obviously a monster at that point of most tourneys is approximately 40 BBs and it therefore doesn’t take more than 1 or 2 short-stack all-in confrontations that don’t go your way, before you yourself are the one everyone’s gunning for. Anyway, so that happened and then I go card-dead and get to the final table as a bottom-3 stack.

Imagine my frustration then when I finally pick up AQ in the CO. Angels were singing and I snap-shoved my 7BB stack. Did the BB have to have two aces? Well, NO… (duh!) – but he did and that was all she wrote.

Making it to the second final table lifted my spirits again! Ready to go! No more running into aces for me! Being “outplayed” wasn’t part of the plan either though…

Again, I have AQ and 6-handed I raise 2.4x from the button with a 18BB stack. SB flats and the BB is getting a good price, so he tags along. Flop is 8hThTd and I have the queen of hearts. They both checked and because a check-raise is the worst thing for my hand, I decide to check as well. Turn is the Q of diamonds and the SB min-bets. I decide he’s just looking to pick up an uncontested pot and raise him 3.5x his bet. He thinks for a long time and shoves (only JUST covering me). I figure there are hands I beat (not a lot) and have to call. He shows KK and the river bricks.

It’s all good. I’m cashing in a high percentage of tourneys and I’ll soon be the one picking up AA and KK at final tables.

Wow, this has turned into such a weird blog entry, compared to my ‘normal’ style of writing. I’m just kinda ranting on, huh? Time to go then. You’re excused.

Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 205

WHAT I DO WELL, PART1

2009-06-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

I check-raise well. God, I am just the awesomest (quote, Barney Stinson) check-raiser ever. When I check to all the donkeys and they donk into me with their donkish donk-bets, I just love to check-raise their asses! Teaches them who is boss…!

…LOL. I don’t know why I wrote the above, but to anyone who didn’t pick up on it; those three lines are laden with irony. Come to think of it though, it wouldn’t surprise me at all, if there are actual people out there, who DO think those things. That’s hysterical…

Back to serious. I thought long and hard about what I (honestly) think I’m good at, when it comes to poker. Basically, I didn’t wanna sound like a pretentious fool with an inordinately arrogant perception of his own skills, so here it is.

Bankroll management. Yes, I am actually quite good at bankroll management. I wasn’t when I just started playing, but I doubt anyone is really. I’m a bit of a numbers-nerd and therefore thoroughly enjoy compiling statistics about the tournaments I play, the percentage of ITM-finishes I achieve, the potential new level of buy-in a certain bankroll allows me, based on a 50-buy-in-rule, 100-buy-in-rule etc etc. I haven’t re-invented the wheel in this connection, just picked from the various rules that others seem to be using profitably. In my opinion, the following elements are compulsory for anyone wishing to exercise sound bankroll management.

- Tournament play (includes STT play) should see you working with a minimum of 100 buy-ins at all times. I would even say that more than 100 is preferable, meaning that just because you have a $10K bankroll doesn’t necessarily mean you have to play only $100 tournaments. The 100 buy-in rule for me is a guideline for the MOST expensive tournaments you should take shots at.

My own current bankroll is hovering around the $6700 mark at the moment, after having been over $7K not too long ago. As such, this means I will from time to time take shots at $20rebuy (realistic investment 62 dollars) as well as theoretic $67 tourneys, if there was such a thing. I do however tend to play anything from $5rebuys to $10-20 freeze-outs and the occasional $50 tourneys.

My own biggest revelation (and an insanely logical one, at that) is that I play a lot better when I don’t worry about the money I spent to play the tournament. If you’ve got $420 in your online account and register for a $100+9 tourney, not very many people have the ability to not let that affect their play. I’m just saying…

- As for cash games, I don’t personally play them at the moment, but I have in the past. I feel the important thing is to consider the amount of money you’re risking at any given time – and not the stakes you’re playing. If you’re risking 5% of your bankroll during a cash game(s), then I’d say that’s probably the highest you should go. Again, let’s assume you’ve got a 1000 dollar bankroll. 5% is 50 bucks. This would allow you to play 1 table of NL50 (assuming full buy-in), 2 tables of NL25 or 5 tables of NL10 etc etc. I’ve heard people say, “Ok, a thousand bucks – 5% is equal to NL50” – and then proceed to fire up 4 tables at those stakes. Wrong. Now you’re risking 20% of your roll. Before I ‘got good’ at this bankroll thing, I DID the above myself – and unsuccessfully, I might add, so take it from me.

If you’re a limit player or perhaps play Pot Limit Omaha, I’ve got no clue what your bankroll should be. Probably a lot for the Omaha. Probably less for the limit games. If you’re Gus Hansen, you probably need a shitload. Who knows where those nosebleed-playing guys get their cash?

Anyway, I digress and that was not the point. Bankroll management – I know my way around an excel spreadsheet, I’m pretty good at calculating percentages and for the time being I feel like I’ve got BM-theory figured out. It IS a huge part of being a successful poker player. Hope y’all keep strict guidelines as well.

Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 211

INTERLUDE

2009-06-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

I absolutely intend to continue the soon-to-be “series” of blog posts about What I Do Well and What I Don’t Do Well, but right now I was in a writing mood and just wanted to get something out there. So let me back-track a little bit and give anyone who might be interested a bit of background…

I’m from Denmark originally, but have lived in several different places all over the world and – as anyone who follows this blog just some of the time will know – now currently reside in Sydney, Australia. My girlfriend and I didn’t come here with aspirations of me becoming a professional poker-player/obnoxious blogger, but things have just kind of worked out that way. I’ve been severely struggling to get a job in my field of expertise – which, supposedly, is shipping/logistics – although I’m starting to doubt a little bit exactly how much of an expert I should be considering myself, seeing that no one is looking to hire me!

Side note: Currently, I AM turning a profit from poker and it IS my only source of income, so technically the above reference to ‘professional’ is correct, but let’s not kid ourselves – I’m not exactly raking it in at the moment.

Anyway, we left Copenhagen and came here because of my girlfriend’s desire to undertake a Master’s Class that was being offered by the Sydney Opera House. She’s a professional violinist (but no – does not lull me to sleep with Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star each night – unfortunately) who wanted to work behind the stage, instead of on it. We sold our apartment in Denmark and were EXTREMELY lucky to walk away with a six-figure profit, which has helped sustain us so far. It is also the source of my poker bankroll, which I have surprisingly, not yet squandered.

…and why do I tell you all this? Again, just felt like getting something out there. I feel like I’m on my way towards making a big 4-figure score in the not too distant future and WHEN (not ‘if’, very important to word-select properly to BIG-UP the motivation) I do hit it, this blog might actually receive some attention and I’ll be forced to write ONLY poker-related stuff. So – last chance to get this out there.

Speaking of poker, I’ll leave you with a little hand from one of my tournaments today and another lesson of what not to do. I should’ve trusted my read, but couldn’t find the fold button, even though I knew he was value-town’ing me in a big way.

It’s a $10 rebuy and we’re very close to the money-bubble. 30 get paid and I believe we were down to 38 at this point. I’m a semi-big stack and have a very solid TAG image. At a 9-handed table I find 7h7d in early position (UTG+3, stack 24560) with blinds at 400/800/a100.

It folds to me and I make it 2100. Two folds and the CO min-raises to 3400, which is such a donkish play (and yet, as this tale shall tell – maybe not) and somebody oughta shake this guy up real good to prevent him from doing so again. The rest fold. I know what he has. I estimate there’s about a 75% chance of him having AA, a 24.5% chance of it being KK and 0.5% chance of him having some random two-card-combo, because of a misclick or something equally insane. I call because I can never fold to a min-bet, but I am effectively set-mining. I even tell myself that, before the flop hits – simple reiteration of the fact that I am dominated and need to bail out if I don’t see a seven out there.

…but then disaster strikes.

(Pot 8900) FLOP: 8d 5s 6c

“Oh come on…” Are you shittin’ me? I can’t fold now, with that stupid-looking flop out there. All of a sudden, I’ve improved to 40% against AA. Anyway, he has position and I check to him. He checks back. (?)

(Pot 8900) TURN: 3s

On the flop I was dead-certain he had AA. I would’ve sold my grandmother (my grandma is definitely +EV if anyone’s interested?) to the devil, just to prove how bombin’ ass right I was. Then he checks. All of a sudden that little turn-around voice, which has gotten me in trouble SO many times before, creeps up out of nowhere and starts whispering something about AK. “Oooohhh… (the voice has ghostly tendencies, go figure) – he proooobably has Ace…KING!!!”

I check. He bets 4000. I call.

(Pot 16900) RIVER: 2h

In a matter of seconds I’ve sold my grandmother, and done a one-eighty on the AA. I’ve managed to donk myself into thinking that AK is a real possibility. He bets 9600 and I pay him off.

I busted a few spots later, just shy of the money.

Lesson learned

… again.

Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 213

WHAT I DON'T DO WELL, PART1

2009-06-04T18:40:00.001-07:00

One of the things that still really annoys the shit out of me – about myself – is that I STILL haven’t managed to lose the trash-talking, when I get sucked out on. You should think that for someone who plays as much as I do, I would know all about variance, would fully comprehend the bliss of getting someone to put their money in bad and therefore would be completely at peace, when getting 2-outed.

-and actually, I do! Honest to god, I really do understand all of that and for the most part (if I had to put a number on it, probably about 80% of the time); I manage to basically ignore what just happened or merely type in ‘nh’. Then there’s that 20% though. Mostly, it’ll be the situational context that propels my immature mocking, hazing and/or whining – meaning 2 suckouts very close together or sometimes a badly played hand and THEN a suckout will do it. A donkey possessed describes my state of emotion most of the time and even though I’m not big on name-calling or swearing at my opponent, I do find real pleasure in berating their play. I’m ashamed of posting this, but here’s a taste of what it might look like:

Semi-shortstacked with approx. 15 BBs, I open AK off-suit from the CO. The SB, sitting on 29 BBs calls and we see a flop of K93. I bet 60% of the pot and after some deliberation he calls. Turn is a T. I move the rest of my chips in and he snaps with QJ. If I’m feeling a little off, I might go ahead and type something like:

“Wow, nice soul-read champ. You saw straight through me on that flop. I DEFINITELY would’ve called with a gutter there too. Moron. *sigh*”

Ok, so I’m not exactly proud of it… embarrassed, actually covers it better, even though some of you might find yourselves wondering, “hmmm… that’s not even THAT bad – I’ve seen/heard a lot worse”. And granted, you probably have, but that still doesn’t make it right. IF I write anything, it should be ‘nh’ and/or ‘gg’, but better yet, would be to simply shut the window down and forget about it.

The silver lining is that I’ve become a lot more polite, since I started playing some 4 years ago. I actually do manage to squeeze out a mock ‘nh’ (tone-of-voice-sarcasm is hard to discern in a chat window!) most of the time and just move on. It’s the way it should be.

Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 223

HOW I GOT INTO WRITING

2009-06-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

I suppose primarily my friends back home are to blame, since they’re the ones who encouraged my writing to begin with. There were roughly 16 of us, who would alternately play 10-man-sit’n’gos at my place, on a pretty regular once-a-month basis. USD20 buy-ins, unlimited re-buys, an add-on as well as a USD10 per-player-per-night compulsory contribution for the player-of-the-year pool. So basically “fun stakes” and in reality it was all about bragging rights – outwitting your friends, hero-calling with the slimmest of hands and bluff-check-raising the river if possible.

I’ll paint you a picture of that last possibility. The bluffer wouldn’t subsequently just show the bluffee his cards. Hell no, the person would be getting up – slamming the cards down on the table, double-fistpumping the air and high-fiving anyone willing to back him up. Shit, one of the guys even had an obscene little dance – a pretty annoying pelvis-thrusting-Ricky-Martin-ain’t-got-nothing-on-me looking act you’d be forced to observe if he ever got the better of you. Fuck, those were the good days…!

It was the type of the game, where you were likely to see the typical math-geek (that would be yours truly) rambling about, “…27% equity! – No, hang on, you’ve got 11 outs and you’ve got a possible re-draw, must be 43.71%. Any jack, deuce or spade! Ok, deal the turn!” I was such a poker-dork. You might also run into a player, who – during a hand – would be frantically sifting through PokerForDummies, trying to see whether a straight beats a flush. True story.

Back to the writing bit: Since there were 16 of us, but only one 10-person table, not everyone could play each time, which is why I started putting together tourney reports after each monthly session. At first, this was just an outlet for me, getting the opportunity to trash-talk about everyone, name-call (“uber-donk” & “dim-witted retard” still come to mind) but ultimately also summarize the action as accurately and humorously as I could. The reporting caught on and soon a summary email was expected from me, leading to disconcerted emails, if I didn’t deliver within a day or two.

And finally, here we are – present day. I still love writing about poker, still love it when other people enjoy what I write and only wish that I can keep up both playing and writing forever. Speaking of which, I’ve come up with a new blog topic which I’ll delve into as soon as I finish up this one. It’ll be an account of sorts, in which I try to detail what I do and don’t do well in poker. Obviously, one should be a hell of a lot longer than the other. Until next time.

Bankroll: USD 6,553.13
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 226

CHALLENGE STATUS

2009-05-19T22:22:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been following this blog and my progress, thanks a lot for your interest and support. For anyone just coming into this blog, I thought it might be a good idea to briefly re-cap my goals, rules and progress thus far. As stated, I’ll keep the re-cap short and focus more on stats & profit.

It’s been approximately 2 months since my first blog and from the rather detailed excel spreadsheet that I use to keep score, I can see that I – in that time - have entered a total of 198 MTT & STTs. Time to see whether I’m even semi-decent at this poker-thing. First a bullet-point-look at the challenge and the rules:

CHALLENGE DETAILS + PROGRESS

a) Overall Goal: Win enough money to buy into Aussie Millions (main event, obviously – but prelims as well)

b) Starting bankroll: USD 5K (this is my ‘own’ money – i.e. not money won playing poker)

c) Game selection: Only MTTs and STTs. No turbo tourneys though. No cash games.

d) Bankroll Mngt: “100 BUY-IN RULE”. This refers to overall investment, i.e. 5K bankroll does not permit $50+5 tourneys, nor does it allow for $20 rebuys (I don’t NOT rebuy/addon). Strict adherence hereto.

e) Focus: No more than 3 tables at a time

f) Writing: Twice-a-week blog report

I’ve been pretty happy with the way things have gone so far. I’ve stuck to all of my rules with one exception – the focus part. I admit that I have at times played more than 3 tables simultaneously and fortunately, so far, with just as much success as 3 tables. 5 is however my limit. I don’t have double-monitors set up in my office, so all my play is on a laptop screen and that sets a natural limit.

The frequency of my blog-reports has been fairly unstable, but the overall number (once I post this) stands at 15 in this – my 8th week of the challenge, so I’m pretty happy with that. Sometimes there’s just nothing interesting to blog about.

RESULTS

$4.40-180’s played: 21
Result: $-7.44
ITM finish: 3/21 = 14%
Final tables: 2/21 = 10%

- I wrote in a previous blog, that I’d never played these 180-person tourneys and a kind reader alerted me to the fact that the opposition is a lot better than the buy-in amount points to. I still think some of the plays I’ve seen were pretty atrocious, but it is true that the later stage of these tournaments has a very high percentage of good players, considering the stakes. I’m not exactly getting crushed over this puny sample size, but maybe I don’t need to prove myself in these tourneys? Think I’ll have to try a few more, before I throw in the towel.

STTs played: 82
Average buy-in: $15.89
Result: $+136.70
ITM finish: 26/82 = 32%

- So, I play quite a few STTs, as I don’t always have the time to commit to a full-length MTT. I will probably be playing more from now on, but will move to the higher buy-in ones, preferably the $20 and $30 tourneys. I definitely feel like my profitability should be more than a buck-sixty per game.

Double-stack STTs played: 6
Average buy-in: $11.67
Result: $+63.00
ITM finish: 4/6 = 66%

- I feel there’s a huge difference between a sitngo with a normal starting stack and the ones that start you off with double, so much that I’m not including the double-stacks in the STT stats. This is no sample size obviously, but I feel like my edge in these is pretty good. Unfortunately, not too many of them around.

MTTs played: 89
Average buy-in: $21.64 (includes rebuys+addons)
Result: $+1,360.87
ITM finish: 29/89 = 32%
Final tables: 11/89 = 12%

- I have been crushing. That’s what it feels like anyway. Especially in the last couple of weeks. I think my ITM-finish percentage is just about as good as anyone’s and my final table presence is obviously rock-fucking-solid. Yep, I’m bragging, but hell – I’ve deserved it! The next step will be to cover myself in run-good-lotion for the next final table and actually get another win soon.

OVERALL PROFIT: $1,553.13

Boys and girls, that’s it for me this time – hopefully more successful shenanigans and efficacious escapades to report about, next time I see you.

Till then – thanks for reading.

Bankroll: USD 6,553.13
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 239

BIGGEST SCORE TO DATE

2009-05-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching the Cavs sweep the Hawks in the conference semifinals. I love watching the game, but to be quite honest my knowledge of it is limited, so any predictions I provide here are to be taken lightly. That being said, they sure do look like a championship team to me. I love that their big guy Ilgauskas has a 3-point jump shot in his arsenal, the tenacity with which Varejao gets the offensive rebounds is remarkable and the combo-threat of Williams and West is ridiculous. Oh yeah, their last player is supposedly pretty good as well... hmmm, big guy with tattoos on both arms – has a strange affinity for throwing chalk in the air. Damn it, name escapes me… what can you do.

Anyway, not what this blog entry is supposed to be about! As the title denotes, I went deep and collected some dough during one of my recent MTTs. At Mansion Poker I entered the $7.70, 5K guaranteed rebuy tournament and took 3rd from a starting field of 291. It provided a payday of 600 dollars and 60 cents. First place was actually within reach, but I chose a marginal spot for my last hand (was getting a little antsy) and oh well, couldn’t make it work.

I’m sifting through the hand history, looking for unusual/key hands and have found a few, but what really springs to mind about this tournament is the unusually short-stacked structure (considering it’s a rebuy). I guess you can attribute it to tight play around the bubble, but basically everyone was playing 15BB stacks by the time we got down to 3-4 tables and right up until the end. As many online pros have pointed out (articles I’ve read), it’s an element you need to master, but… hell – it’s just not as much fun as when you actually get to see a flop once in a while.

With this score – as well as a few timely STT money-spots I’ve been picking up recently, I’ve now moved my bankroll into the “$22 1R1A” range. When I started the challenge I declared my intention to maintain rigorous bankroll management policies and I’ve stuck to all of my rules so far. One key one was (and is) the 100 buy-in rule. As the $221R1A tourneys prompt a likely $62 investment, it requires at least $6200 in my roll and only now do I have the funds necessary to take that shot… - and I’m psyched to do so!

Key hands from the tournament:

Hand1: 10-handed and I’m MP1 with 5d8d (stack 3000). Blinds have just gone up to 15/30. At this point I’ve been quiet for the initial 10 hands of the tourney and have seen the typical outrageously poor play that characterizes early stages of low-buy-in rebuy tournaments. As a result, I decide to get involved in this spot.

UTG folds, UTG+1 calls – so does UTG+2 and it’s on me. I decide to raise it up and make it 140. Raising limpers – especially from early-ish position – usually commands a ton of respect, so when we’re playing deep I tend to do it quite often. Folds to the HJ who calls and folds back to the two limpers, who both call.

(Pot 605) FLOP: Kd 5s 4h
This is about as good a flop as I can hope for. The king is very likely to have hit me, in the eyes of my opponents and if someone decides to call me on this flop, I actually have a little something with potential. I bet 400 and everyone folds.

Note: In this spot – with 3 callers – if I completely whiff the flop AND it hits in a way that is very likely to have hit my opponents range (say, QJ8) I’ll probably just check and give it up. This has the added advantage of me not becoming too predictable. The next time I raise with e.g. AQ, my c-bet on the K96 flop will probably garner enough respect for me to take it down.

I’m going through the hands and am currently at the 250/500/a50 blind level. NOT a single interesting hand played at this point. It’s completely standard play all the way. Raise AJ from MP, get a call from the blinds. Flop is KQ4 – he leads for 80% of the pot, so I fold. (*shrug*) Another hand, I raise QQ from LP when it’s folded to me (yeah, who fucking doesn’t!?!? – not interesting) and everyone folds. Yippee. I check my Kh9h hand from the BB with four limpers. Flop comes 7d2h6h and I lead at the pot. Short-stack shoves his remaining chips in and I obviously call (was being laid 8-1 to the pot) hit a king and outrun his Jd7d. There you go. That represented about 90 minutes of play.

Yawn… Now I’ve gotten to the 500/1000/a100 level and all of a sudden I’m shoving A3 suited from the CO with a 9BB stack. Such a boring tournament, now that I’m reviewing it. No fun. Just paying attention to stack sizes, stealing and re-stealing when appropriate (and getting away with it – important to note) and generally waiting for a good spot.

Oops… wow. I had completely forgotten about this next hand. Guess that just corroborates what everyone always says – you remember the hands where someone sucks out on you, but for whatever reason – your brain decides to selectively delete the ones where you get lucky. This is one such hand.

Blinds are now at 800/1600/a160 and I’m sitting with a puny stack of 7700 chips. I’m in MP1 with Qs9s and when it folds to me, I decide I can wait no longer. I’m all-in. The HJ insta-calls, everyone else folds and there it is – two kings. Fuck me. SPADES! Goooo SPADES!

Flop comes down: 5c4cAh. Well, no luck with the spades. If it were live, I would be up – out of my seat, probably already shaking everyone’s hand. Turn: 2d. Could it be? Really? River: 3s. Seeing the history has jogged my memory and I remember laughing out loud, when the river hit. Damn. I’m obviously a luck-box.

I proceed to pick up blinds & antes a few hands later with 77, then double up with AK vs KJ and ultimately I pick off a short-stack when I raise A9, he shoves and I call to beat his A5. How quickly things can change. My stack thereafter allows me to open-raise a bit wider, which – with the overall tight play – pads my stack nicely. No interesting hands until we get down to the last 2 tables – blinds now at 1500/3000/a300.

I’m in the BB with ThTc (stack approx. 64K) and am surprisingly one of the largest stacks at this 9-handed table. After UTG folds, UTG+1 shoves for 24K. It folds to the button who calls all-in for his 11K stack. I only really have UTG+1 to worry about and make what is essentially a very easy call. UTG+1 shows Kh8h and the button reveals 77. Even though it comes 586, disaster never strikes and I cruise to the final table from there.

And that’s it boys and girls. Nothing else happened that you haven’t heard about or seen a thousand times before. Anyone out there who doesn’t raise AK on the final table? Didn’t think so. Anyone not fold 6h3h UTG, 8-handed? I rest my case. Oh yeah – the last hand. Well, I’m in the SB with KsTd (blinds 15K/30K/a3K) and I shoved my 320K stack into the BB who was sitting on a 350K stack. There’s a bit of history behind this shove, but essentially I’ve got a fold-or-shove hand here I think. A min-raise might be effective against some timid players, but this guy wasn’t that at all. Anyway, he called with Ah8h and flopped an ace – guess I’d run out of luck. J

May your upcoming sessions be fruitful. Thanks for reading.

Bankroll: USD 6,407.30
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 247

BACK ON TRACK, PART 2/2

2009-05-06T01:07:00.000-07:00

When I left off in my previous blog, I had just doubled my extreme short-stack, when K7 held up against 98 of clubs. Blinds at 300/600/a50 with a stack of 7400. Ready to fight it out.

Hand #150
I was once again bleeding chips and when I did get them all in the pot with AJ, the BB called with AJ and we split it. This hand shows how desperate I was. I’m in the SB with 2d6d (stack 6812) and blinds at 400/800/a75. It folds to me and I push all-in. The BB thought – for like FOREVER! – but finally folded his hand and I was back to a 10BB stack.

Hand #151
This very next hand I folded pockets 4s. One of the big stacks (well, everyone had a big stack compared to me) raised it up to 1900 and I just had a bad feeling, even holding a pair. Perhaps I thought I was “due” for a big hand or something, or maybe it was just the old maxim of “being the first in the pot” that made me lay it down – I don’t know. We’ll never know what the big stack had.

Sidenote. We reach the money exactly with hand number 154. I remember it so clearly, because the shortest stack at our table (and 2nd shortest of the field) was in the BB with 3116 chips to his name. It folds to the SB who pushes all-in for 20 thousand and change. You can see the clock winding down on the BB. He then requests ‘TIME’ and lets that run down as well. FINALLY, he decides to call and shows KINGS! LOL… Somebody REALLY wanted to cash! He was WAY ahead of the SB who had 9s5s and never posed a threat. LOL.

Hand #158
I finally pick up a big hand, when AsQs lands in front of me in the BB. My stack is still embarrassingly small at 7687 and blinds remain at 400/800/a75. It folds to the CO, whose stack is even smaller and he pushes in for 4610 total. Folds to me, I call and knock him out when his AT fails to improve.

Hand #159
Finally it would seem my prayers for decent starting hands have been answered. In the SB I pick up AdKd (stack 13297) and manage to get my money in against villain (stack 40746) in the CO. A bit peculiar though or at least, I thought so. Blinds now 500/1000/a100.

Folds to the CO who raises to 2385. Fold to me and I cram my stack in there. Fold back to the CO, who elects to call almost 11K more with 5h8d. Huh??

He almost gets away with it too! The flop is fine when it comes Kh 9d 8s, but when the 5d hit on the turn I almost punched the screen. Fortunately one of my 800 outs came in on the river and I move up to a playable stack.

Hand #160
Having put myself back in decent shape, I wasn’t going to let my stack erode like that again and As8s on the button was therefore too good an opportunity to pass up. My stack is 28194, it folds to the CO who raises to 3000, fold to me – I call and the blinds fold.

(Pot 8400) FLOP: 4s 8d Jc
Villain checks to me and that’s all she wrote. I instantly bet 4900 and he folds.

Hand #164
All of a sudden I realize that I’m now the biggest stack at the table – although far from being one of the chip leaders of the tournament. With my tight image, I take advantage and raise 5d6d from UTG+1 to take down the blinds and antes.

All the while – in fact during the past 10-15 hands – there’s been a lively discussion in the table chat about a hand that I wasn’t involved in. In the end, they’re all daring each other to look up each other’s OPR stats, as if that would settle anything. Basically a dick-measuring contest in cyberspace which I’m an unwilling observer of! I do however take a few of them up on it and check their latest cashes, overall profit etc. It’s something I do occasionally and might do a bit more. Although rather ambiguous for most players, for some there’s a definite correlation between “overall profit” and “skill to be expected”.

Hand #171
I get a little out of line at this point when I pick up 6c9c in the HJ (stack 33294) and elect to raise to 2450. We’re 8-handed at this point and blinds are still 500/1000/a100. The BB (stack 13139) calls.

(Pot 6200) FLOP: 3h Tc 5d
The BB checks to me and I decide to bet at the rather innocent looking flop. I put out 3600. Immediately, the BB check-raises all-in and I fold like the dope I am. With his stack, the preflop flatcall should have made my internal alarm go off.

Hand #174
I’m UTG+1 with AcKc (stack 26944) and villain is UTG (stack 13493). Villain minraises to 2000, I make it 6100 – it folds back to villain, he shoves, I call and I outrun his 22. I really don’t love his play there – he could have found a better spot.

Hand #176
I figure it’s about time I start using my chip-advantage a little bit and start putting some people under pressure. When UTG (stack 24844) opens the pot to 3000 and it folds around to me in the SB (stack 41537), I consider 3-betting my 6h6c but don’t want to have to call an all-in yet. I elect to call. BB folds.

(Pot 7900) FLOP: 8h 2c Th
I check to villain and figure I’ll find out pretty quickly, whether my 6’s are any good. He bets 3000. Well, ok then – I guess they are. Let’s just end the hand here, shall we. I raise to 9400 and he mucks instantly. This game is so easy sometimes.

Hand #177
I’m feeling very confident all of a sudden and have a firm understanding of who the bad players at the table are (OPR stats actually helped there, confirmed a few suspicions I had). When one of the bad players limps UTG+1 (stack 19389), I’m thrilled to have a playable hand on the button. With Ac6c (stack 49237) I elect to just call, the SB completes and the BB checks.

In hindsight, I obviously should’ve raised and don’t know now why I didn’t. There might have been a reason or perhaps I just felt my image wouldn’t be able to ‘take it’. Anyway.

(Pot 4900) FLOP: 6s 9d 4s
They both check to the bad player, who bets 2800. I call of course with my 6’s and so does the BB.

(Pot 13300) TURN: Ad
I’m first to act and with two flush-draws out there, I almost move all-in. I take time to reconsider though and instead size up a bet of 8000 – pure value. Unfortunately, I forget how scared bad players become, when an ace pops up and they all fold.

Hand #184
I stay active and in the hand that precedes this one, I raise A9 offsuit only to have the player on my immediate left cram all-in with about 18BBs. I fold. The very next hand however I pick up 2c4d (stack 53687) and decide to raise it. It’s the same principal I discussed in “Part1” and it works astonishingly well. Folds all around and I pick up blinds and antes.

Hand #217
I have to wait quite a bit before I get involved again. In the meantime I’ve only had one playable hand – QQ – which I raised and picked up blinds/antes with. In this hand I’ve got TdTc (stack 46437) in the SB. Blinds are now 1000/2000/a200 and villain is on the button (stack 46580). Folds to the button and he raises to 4475. Players who just call here are committing a crime in my opinion – you’re just setting yourselves up for failure! I raise it up and make it 11290. He considers briefly, but folds.

Hand #223
I find AcQd in UTG+1 (stack 53512) and raise to 4800. It folds around to the button who shoves for a total of 21014. I do a quick calculation, but already know I’m priced in. I call.

FLOP: Qh Ts 7c
TURN: Jd
RIVER: 2c

I outsmart his 9’s and pad my stack a little bit.

Hand #227
The guy immediately to my right has been very active for the past 20 hands or so. It’s the same guy I 3-bet with TT a little while back and once again I decide to get involved with him. 8-handed and with blinds still at 1000/2000/a200, I hold JhTs (stack 75526) on the button. Villain is in the CO (stack 42002). It folds to him and he raises to 5000. I actually want to 3-bet him, but have a vague suspicion he might see it as a move (too soon after my last 3-bet) and re-shove. I therefore, controversially, elect to just call. The blinds both fold.
(Pot 14600) FLOP: 2c 8s 3d
He sits there for a while (probably a little confused by my flatcall) and then checks. All the encouragement I need. I bet 8000 and he insta-mucks.

Hand # 237
Twiddle-dee, twiddle-dum and twiddle-dumbER are seated next to each other at the bottom of the screen. We’re 8-handed and the remaining five (yours truly included) are playing pretty solid, whereas these 3 morons are making every mistake there is. I’m not sure if the other good players have noticed this quite as much as I have, but I’m currently using every excuse to get involved with one of them.

I’m in the HJ with JdTd (stack 80026) and blinds have now moved up to 1250/2500/a250. UTG (twiddle-dee) limps and it folds around to me. I raise to 7850 total. Folds back to twiddle-dee who calls.

(Pot 21450) FLOP: 6c Qc 2c
He checks to me and I bet 11500 to take it down. Low risk, high reward.

Hand #244
In the CO with the blinds the same, I pick up AdKh (stack 88126). Twiddle-dum (stack 78092) starts the party off by limping (!) UTG+1. Folds to me and I make it 8750 (bad – should be consistent with my raise sizes). Folds back and twiddle-dum calls.

(Pot 23250) FLOP: Ac 7h 6d
Twiddle-dum checks and I decide I’m ok with giving this player a free card at this point. He was that bad and I figured I’d lose him, if I just c-bet the flop like I normally would. I checked behind.

(Pot 23250) TURN: 9h
Not a great card, but I suppose I only had myself to blame. Twiddle-dum bets 7500. I make a mistake at this point by just calling that bet. I remember thinking “Oh no, he’s got A9” which is just stupid. I wasn’t supposed to play the entire hand passively – just the flop, to get him to come along.

(Pot 38250) RIVER: 8h
Well, that’s just about the worst card isn’t it? Fuck me. Villain bets 12500 and I make a crying call only to have him show me As5c.

Talk about bad play. I was absolutely furious with myself and actually exploded out of my seat, huffing and puffing. Twiddle-dum hadn’t done anything wrong except for the UTG+1 limp with A5 offsuit (LOL). My stack wasn’t decimated, so there was nothing else for me to do, but just keep it together and forget about the hand.

Hand #245
I would have LOVED it if the next few hands were insta-folds. It’s just easier to calm yourself, if you don’t have to play at the same time. No such luck. I pick up AsQd in MP2 position (stack 59126) and once again twiddle-dum limps, this time from UTG. Once again, I raise it up – again to 8750, folds back to him and he calls.

(Pot 23250) FLOP: 9d 4h 7d
Twiddle-dum shoves for a little more than 100K and I have an easy fold. Still, I was so tempted to call there. Steaming? Oh yeah… ever so slightly!

Hand #253
I find the spot I’m looking for an orbit later. We’re still 8-handed and in MP2 position I once again find a decent hand. 9c9s with a stack of 44626 and blinds at 1250/2500/a250. PREPOSTOROUSLY, twiddle-dum decides to limp once again from UTG. I don’t really care what he does, as I’m getting ready to raise, but I do make a mental note that I’ll probably have to fold if he re-raises all-in. I make it 8500. The player right after me (stack 116090) calls this time and when it gets to twiddle-dum, he just calls.

(Pot 31250) FLOP: 9h 2s 6s
I feel slightly aroused when I see the flop. Twiddle-dum leads for 15000 and I have a simple all-in, shoving my remaining chips – 35876 in total – into the pot. The 3rd player folds and twiddle-dum ponders briefly before he makes the call.

I’m kind of expecting a flush-draw and my elation is therefore considerable when he flips over JhJc.

(Pot 103002) TURN: Js
(Pot 103002) RIVER: Kc

Twiddle-dum outsmarted me in two key pots. One (AK vs A5) I had the right idea, but didn’t pull the trigger on the turn and in the second/last one, I clearly should’ve seen it coming. You’ve gotta be careful out there boys and girls – when you get your money in as a clear favorite, make sure you win!

;-)

I went out in 48th place. Ah well, there’s always next time.

Thanks for reading.

Bankroll: USD 5,881.05
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 253

BACK ON TRACK, PART 1/2

2009-05-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

Very recently, a friend of mine – who’ll be playing at one of the lower buy-in WSOP events this summer – asked me to offer him some constructive advice, by looking through hand histories from some of the online tournaments he had recently been playing. I know he respects my opinion and definitely wanted my input, but was probably also just looking for a different point-of-view, realizing there’s rarely ONE “right” way to play a certain hand.

If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend it to anyone reading this. Ask a buddy to send you the hand history from one of his sessions and then just plow your way through it, hand for hand. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a friend who’s a “worse” poker player than you are, ‘cause there’s a lot of learning in there for you as well. I for one picked up a very profitable way of playing certain hands from the blinds, which I’ve now incorporated into my range.

As for my own play, I finally feel like I’m back to playing the sort of power poker that I know I’m capable of and in this blog, I’ll be sharing my progress a bit. As with some of my previous blogs, I’ve decided to go back to a tournament analysis, so this entry will entail a whole bunch of hands from one of my recent tourneys. I’ll try to be inclusive rather than exclusive when it comes to picking hands, as I feel a lot of my success can sometimes be attributed to the hands I DON’T play as well as the ones which would never make for great TV, but are a key reason for doing well. Off we go.

This tourney was on Stars – a $55 freezeout with 1413 players to start and a first-place prize of approximately $12.5K. As is standard for this type of tourney, it starts you out with 3000 in chips and blinds of 10/20. I get involved fairly quickly.

Hand #10
At an 8-handed table I pick up 9sTs in UTG+1 (stack 2970) and raise to 50. The next player calls after a bit of thought and everyone else folds. Blinds 10/20.

(Pot 130) FLOP: 9d 6c Qd
Even though I’m out of position, I’m c-betting almost all flops and the fact that I’ve made a pair just makes it a lot easier. I bet 90. Again, the guy thinks for a bit and then raises to 310 total. That’s a pretty big raise. I remember thinking I could very possibly be ahead in this spot, but with no reads on the guy (too early), I felt there was no need to get further involved here, out of position and possibly up against a legitimate hand. I let the seconds run off for what I thought suggested “appropriate deep contemplation” and then folded.

Hand #11
The very next hand I’m UTG (stack 2830) and pick up KhQh. I’m a little nuts for this hand and have trouble folding it (EVER! LOL) and I did raise it here as well, but just as much for a different reason. If I have to give up a hand the way I just did (or – as is most common – folding to a 3-bet preflop), I like raising again with the very next hand. It’s a little bit of a “don’t fuck with me – I’ll just keep on pounding you” thing which I have a tendency of doing and which I’ve found – has a very high success rate. The general train of thought seems to be, “This guy must know about table-image, so it’s unlikely he’d raise AGAIN, without a very big hand”. I made it 50 again from UTG, was called by the SB and took it down with a c-bet on the 6-high flop.

Hand #14
The table had filled up by now and we were back to 9-handed. Blinds still 10/20. I’m on the button with QhTd (stack 2860) and villain is UTG (stack 2925). UTG limps, folds to MP1 who limps as well, folds to me – I raise to 90 total, folds back to the limpers who both call.

(Pot 300) FLOP: Kh 4d 3h
Ok, so I didn’t exactly flop great, but that’s not overly relevant here. My preflop play is designed to punish the limpers with a show of strength preflop, which in turn wins the hand a lot of the time when I c-bet the flop. They both check to me and I bet 200. UTG calls and MP1 folds.

(Pot 700) TURN: 9h
The UTG-limp-call preflop is very often a small to medium pair in my experience. Too many players still don’t feel comfortable raising 55 from UTG (or – god forbid – folding it!) and therefore elect to go with the limp-call instead. I guess that puts 33 and 44 in his range here, but it also includes a lot of others that will fold when the “scary” 3rd heart hits on the turn. Besides, I’ve got 13 pretty solid outs – so when he checks to me, betting is like 2nd nature. I make it 475. He flat-calls.

(Pot 1650) RIVER: Kd
When he called me on the turn, I was pretty sure I’d have to give up the hand. When the king hit, I pretty much knew I wouldn’t be bluffing. If he was in there with two black sevens, then credit to him and a virtual tap on the table. Never got a chance to not bluff though as he led for 700 on the river. 4s full of kings? Definitely plausible. I decide to push all-in and put him to the test.

…

For fucks sake! Of course I didn’t do anything stupid like that! LOL. Not that there wasn’t a time where I WAS foolish enough to attempt something along those lines! Oh yeah, those were the days – me playing deep theory poker, advanced to the 9th degree! If he thinks, that I think, that he thinks, that I think… - some of the most shameful moments of my life took place back then. A true massacre. Not pretty.

Hand #15
Sometimes you just can’t control when the playable hands find their way into your ‘pocket’ and this was a case thereof. Having just folded on the river, I really didn’t want to play a hand again right away. When I do that I feel like I’m too easily exploited by other players, mostly because they started doubting your starting hand requirements. Seriously, for some of your opponents, that’s all it’s gonna take – 2 hands in a row and they’ve got you marked down as Gus Hansen’s cousin. Just be aware.

I’m in the CO with 5d6d (stack 2095) and villain is MP1 (stack 2900). Folds to MP1 who raises 3xBB to 60, folds to me – I call, button and the blinds fold.

(Pot 150) FLOP: 9c 5s 2h
Villain leads for 80 which in my book is a bit small, but for some players it’s standard. Later on in the tourney, this is a prime raising-spot as long as we’re at least 35BBs deep, but given my new table-image, I don’t want to get pushed off the hand, so I elect to just call. I mean, I might be up against aces – who knows?

(Pot 310) TURN: 8s
Villain leads again and this time for 140. Now, it’s not a case of him betting small as a standard, unless he’s got 7s6s (and pretty much only that hand). I picked up a gutshot to go with my pair, so I raise and make it 340. Villain folds and I pick up a nice little pot, in a situation that I feel was pretty much risk-free.

Hand #21
Between the last hand and this, I’ve deliberately folded semi-playable hands such as JT and A9 from middle and early position, simply to regain a tighter table image. The way I play simply works better, when my opponents give me credit for hands and with a loosy-goosy image, that ain’t gonna happen.

I’m in the BB with Th2h (stack 2405) and blinds at 15/30. Folds to the HJ who limps, CO limps, button limps, SB completes and I’m happy to just check my option.

(Pot 150) FLOP: 2s Jd 7h
YATZEE! A pair and a back-door str8+flush draw. Opportunities like these only come along every so often! (LOL). SB checks to me and I bet 100 confidently. HJ folds, CO calls and the rest fold.

(Pot 350) TURN: Qc
Time to let him know we really have the jack, so he can fold his 7. I bet 235 and villain folds. Note: I think that if a 5 hits and he in fact has a 7 in his hand, he’ll go to the river with us, but as soon as the queen hits, most players don’t understand its insignificance – they just see two overcards and figure “they must be beat”.

Hand #22
I folded this hand and I think I was correct in doing so, but after reading through my buddy’s hand history, I know that’s it’s not necessarily the standard.

I’m in the SB with AcTs (stack 2625) with blinds at 15/30 still. Folds to MP1 who min-raises to 60, 1 fold and now the HJ min-re-raises to 120. Folds to me and I confidently fold. Some might argue that this kind of donkish min-raising at the beginning of a tournament suggests my ace is good here, but I see no reason to get involved in an effort to win what is currently a 225-chip pot. Just seems futile.

Hand #37
I fold for quite a bit and don’t really mind it, ‘cause – as I stated before – it gives me a chance to re-establish my tight table image. In this hand I’m in the BB with KcQd (stack 2580) with blinds now at 25/50. Villain is UTG (stack 2385). No specific reads at this point. UTG min-raises to 100, folds to me – I call.

(Pot 225) FLOP: Jc 3c 7d
I check to villain and he bets out 50. Hmmm… was actually thinking I’d check-fold the flop, but that bet is pretty much an invitation to float. I’m not quite sure what it means yet, but call and we go to the turn.

(Pot 325) TURN: 9c
I check to the villain again and now he bets 250. Uh-uh pal. It don’t make no sense yo! Mainly because of his incoherent story, I decide to raise him and make it 700 – but the fact that I’ve picked up numerous draws does help. He folds almost immediately. What an absurdly strange way for him to play that hand, regardless of his holding.

Hand #40
In the CO, I pick up KdQc (stack 2980) and blinds at 25/50. UTG limps, folds to MP1 who also limps and fold to me. I raise and make it 230 to go. It folds to the BB who calls, as do both limpers. The BB calling is of a slight concern to me and I’m now hoping to flop big.

(Pot 945) FLOP: 6d 5h 8s
I whiff big-time and when everyone checks to me I decide to check behind. I don’t see the value in bluffing into 3 players (which I’d be doing) and the pot is so big, that I don’t wanna be committing myself.

(Pot 945) TURN: 2c
The BB immediately leads 300. The rest of us fold. Well played me.

Hand #41
Another one of those hands, that has so much post-flop potential, I simply have to play it – tight image or not. I have 8d7d in the HJ (stack 2750) and when it folds to me I raise to 130. Folds to the button who calls – as does the BB.

(Pot 415) FLOP: Qd 8h 3h
The BB checks to me and I bet 310 with my middle-pair. My c-bet is 75% of the pot and more than I’d normally make it (which I can’t explain…), but of no relevance as they both fold. The fact that I JUST checked in the last hand after having raised preflop, probably added credibility to my hand here.

Hand #48
I’ve been quiet again for a little bit, so when it folds to me on the button with 7d8s (stack 2885), I figure I’ve gotta raise it up. Blinds have gone up to 50/100 and I make it 270. Both SB and BB call.

(Pot 810) FLOP: 6c 2d 2s
The SB leads at the pot with 200 and the BB folds. If you’ve read any of my previous entries, you’ll know I only have one response to that. RAISE. The minimum-lead-out-into-the-raiser is just always weakness. I make it 700 and the SB folds. Some of the easiest chips you’ll ever pick up in a tournament.

Hand #56
Again I’ve been quiet for almost a full orbit and I’m in the SB this time with Jc8d (stack 3525) and blinds now up to 75/150. It folds to the button (stack 2090) who has been pretty weak so far and he just calls. I complete and the BB (stack 2796) checks.

(Pot 450) FLOP: Qc 2c 2h
It checks all the way around.

(Pot 450) TURN: Js
Seems like I’m probably best here, unless the BB has a deuce (don’t see button limping any kind of deuce) so I bet 225. BB folds and the button calls.

(Pot 900) RIVER: Ad
When the ace hits I instinctively put out another bet – again half the pot. However, checking might be a better option. I think two things are possible here: a) we both have a jack and will split the pot b) button has a draw that didn’t hit and will probably check, so I win – but he just MIGHT try to steal the pot with a bluff and I’d be there to pick him off. In the situation, it doesn’t matter. He folds and I take the pot.

Hand #69
By the time we get to this hand, I’ve raised two others – both times with A3. The first I took down preflop and the second I was called by the SB who bet the flop and I folded. I’m this time in MP2 with 6c6d (stack 3650) and blinds still 75/150. A new player has just arrived at our table and this is his first hand. He is sitting in UTG+1 (stack 11240) and limps when UTG folds. Because he’s unknown and has a big stack, I don’t raise him, but elect to flat when it folds to me. This creates a true limping-frenzy as the next 3 players also just call. When it gets to the SB, he pushes all-in for a total of 1080. I’m actually ready to call with my sixes, but Mr. Big Stack needs to get out of the way first. He doesn’t and instead min-raises to 2010. It turns out UTG+1 had AK and my decision to limp behind probably saved me some chips, but it’s marginal. By the way, SB showed AT and spiked a 10 on the river to stay in the game.

Hand #84
Apart from a small pot that I picked up out of the blinds, I’ve been pretty card-dead for a while and blinds have started to take their toll on me. They’re now 100/200 and my stack is dwindling. Meanwhile, the big stack who limped the AK hand has been trying to push everybody around, but it seems like he’s only got one gear and I’ve been waiting to exploit him. In this hand I hold Ah8d on the button (stack 3250) and villain is in the HJ seat (stack 10630). It folds to him and he raises to 600, which has been his standard. I think for 2 seconds and then cram my stack over the top. Blinds fold and he only considers for a few seconds, before folding also.

My friend with the hand history asked me one specific question and it was related to metaphysics of the game, table image etc. This is a perfect example of pulling off a squeeze-move, when you’ve got the right image. I’m not really looking for a call here (doh!) as I think villain’s range includes a whole bunch of hands that beat me: 22 through 77, A9/AT as well as hands that I don’t fare too well against: lots of suited broadway combinations etc. However, I think his calling range against me is pretty narrow. I have been biding my time and unless he’s got TT+/JJ+, he’s probably folding.

Hand #85
In the CO with KcJs (stack 4150) I elect to raise to 500 (blinds 100/200 still) and hope to get heads-up with one of the blinds. The dealer and SB fold and the BB (stack 7060) obliges by calling. Two to the flop:

(Pot 1100) FLOP: 5s Ts 3c
The BB checks and I think this is a good time to check behind. I just re-raised all-in the hand before and the BB might feel this is the right time to play back at me. Add to the mix that he could easily have hit or have me beat with a small pocket-pair and I think checking makes sense some of the time.

(Pot 1100) TURN: Th
The BB now leads 800 into me, as I expected he would – regardless of his holding. Because the bet is rather large, I instinctively decide to call him (looks more like a draw or shaky hand, than a 10) and look to move him off the hand on the river. Reviewing it now, it might not be the best idea, but again – pretty marginal and sometimes you’ve gotta go with your gut.

(Pot 2700) RIVER: Jc
Well, that made my life a lot easier. I’m cramming all-in no matter what. He bets 1200 and I instantaneously move my remaining 2850 into the pot. He folds immediately.

Hand #109
All of a sudden I go EXTREMELY card-dead and the few spots that were semi-playable becoming insta-folds when I’ve got re-raises or all-ins in front of me. In this hand I find AdJd (stack 4475) on the button and in the meantime blinds have gone up to 150/300/a25. It folds to the CO who just limps and I only have one move, which is to shove over the top. Everyone folds and I pick up a small pot.

Hand #110
Very next hand and I pick up 7c7s. It folds to me and I raise to 800. Everybody folds. *sigh* - not gonna be winning too many tournaments if this continues.

Hand #114
I finally get a bit of action when I look down at JsJd in the BB. Boo-yaa! My first big pocket-pair! – I do a little dance to celebrate. My stack is 6000 and blinds are still 150/300a25. It folds to the SB (stack 43550) who just calls 300. I decided to raise substantially so as not to give away the strength of my hand and make it 975 to go. He thinks briefly and calls.

(Pot 2150) FLOP: 6c 8s 4h
He checks to me and I put out a bet of 1500. He folds and I pick up the pot. (Who the fuck knows what I would’ve done, if he had moved all-in on me. Hmmm…)

Hand # 144
Between this and the last hand I’ve actually seen KJ three times (always in EP), but with the blinds having gone up, my stack was too small to open with semi-strong hands like that and I had to let them go. I also picked up 77 on the button, but had a raise and a re-raise-allin in front of me. Basically, every single hand I held was unplayable because of the situation or the position. As a result, the blinds have just been going up and my stack has dwindled.

This hand I’ve got a meager Kc7h (stack 3375) in the HJ with blinds at 300/600/a50. I would normally never let my stack get to such a level, but after reviewing now it confirmed the belief I had when I was playing – unavoidable. It folds to me and I push all-in. The BB (stack 25150) feels committed to call (which he is) and shows 9c8c. One time dealer. The flop brings two clubs (always a sweat), but I dodge the rest and manage to double up. Phew. Still in jeopardy, but with a stack of 7400 and a fighting chance.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading.

UNCOMFORTABLE

2009-04-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

Self confidence is a huge asset to have with you, when you’re playing, whereas cockiness is usually the first step on the way to self-destructing. I just added up my rolls on all the sites I play and was dumbfounded to discover that I’m in the red, since my last blog update. I knew I hadn’t been making a killing lately, but still – a loss? – damn. Time for a reality check.

As I write this, I’ve requested tournament statistics from stars and am reviewing stats from other sites as well – I seriously need to find out whether my loss was the result of poor play, variance or bad beats. I’m happy to fess up to any shortcomings, once I get all the facts – yet I hope I won’t have to.

This is a compounded overview of my latest results:

MTTs
Number played: 13
Average buy-in: $ 21.84
Cashed: 4 (31%)
Result: $ -155.33

180-person $4.40 sitngos
Number played: 17
Cashed: 2 (12%)
Result: $ -8.16

Other Sitngos
Number played: 10
Average buy-in: $ 15.20
Cashed: 3 (30%)
Result: $ 13.60

Pretty discouraging results, if I have to say so myself. MTTs will always be fickle in the sense that, even though I’m cashing in a substantial number of them, if that elusive big score keeps escaping me, all of my minimum cashes will do nothing but delay me on the road to becoming a pauper.
The 180-person-sitngos are new to me. The above 17 are literally the first 17 I’ve ever played and I feel I might need to make some adjustments, if I want to do well. I’m beginning to think the buy-in-amount skewed my perception of the opposition and perhaps I need to start giving them more credit for hands, when I’m in marginal situation.
As for the remaining sitngos, the profit gives me an ROI of 9% which is lower than the figure I aspire to, but overall I suppose I can’t complain – especially in the context of my other “body of work”.

As promised, I’ve gone through all of my tournaments and looked at especially my final hands (or the ones in which I lost the bulk of my stack). A large percentage is actually bad-beats and coin-flips/marginal +EV spots, which was a relief. Not all though. I’ll take you through a few of them here and give you my comments along the way.

$27.50 MTT Freezeout - VARIANCE
I’m in the BB with Ad4s (stack 5827) and the villain is UTG+1 (stack 7942). Blinds 100/200. Folds to UTG+1 who limps, folds to HJ who limps as well and fold to me – I check. 3 players:

(Pot 700) FLOP: 4c – Td – 3d
I think I’m best here A LOT and I fire 450 at the flop. UTG+1 calls and HJ folds.

(Pot 1600) TURN: 4d
I don’t see how I’m getting away from this hand now, considering the tournament I’m in, the structure and the time-spent/reward ratio it offers.

I decide that if UTG+1 has anything other than a flush, I’ll probably lose him if I bet and I still feel there’s a good chance I’m ahead here, so I check to him. He bets 2000 fairly quickly. Hmmm… from experience I think he has a flush in this spot very often, which I was kind of hoping he didn’t.

I use my time bank and consider my outs. The time bank running down is actually borderline stressful, to the extent that I’m having trouble counting all of my outs. I figure I’ve got so many though; that a shove is sufficiently +EV, if there’s only a 10% chance he doesn’t have a flush here. I shove for 5177 total and he snap-calls to show Qd2d (limped from UTG+1 – LOL). I don’t manage to hit one of my – what I now know was – 17 outs and I go out in 734th place.

When I move in, he’s obviously got me, so I can’t consider this a bad beat. I still think I have to be happy with the hand though and after having reviewed it now, I’ve decided, I am. The 4d is a great card to bluff at and although my gut told me I was beat, it has been wrong before (!). (*shrug*)

$11 MTT re-buy – POOR PLAY
On the button, I pick up Qh7h (stack 8910). Villain in the hand is the SB (stack 14647). Blinds 250/500/a60. 9-handed, it folds to me on the button, I raise to 1550, the SB calls and the BB folds.

(Pot 4140) FLOP: Jc – 2c – 4c
Villain checks to me and mysteriously I decide to bet 3000 (more than my standard, 2750 – again inexplicably) – meaning I’ve now committed 51% of my stack with Qh7h. Villain calls.

(Pot 10140) TURN: Qc
Villain checks again. What do I do? Wait for it… I move all-in. For fucks sake, who was I trying to outsmart here – myself? Must have been (!) – seeing as I’m the ONLY one who’s paranoid enough to buy the elaborate hoax I was trying to sell here! Villain snaps with AcQh and I’m out in 643rd place (1904 to start).

No further comments necessary. Completely avoidable.

$5.50 MTT re-buy – GOOD PLAY
Started out 645 for this tourney and at the beginning of this hand, we’re well into the money with approximately 36 left. I’m in the BB with Ah5h (stack 48731) and villain is the HJ (stack 93021) with blinds at 600/1200/a125. There’s a bit of history with villain (aggressive and semi-loose) as I’ve 3-bet him twice – one of which he folded pre-flop and the other where he folded to my c-bet on the flop. Also, the hand that preceded this saw me raising 77 from UTG and going up against the BB (BIG stack), which ended with me picking off a bluff on a 2d-Kd-2h-Ks-6d board.

It folds to the HJ who raises to 3600, folds to me – I call.

(Pot 8925) FLOP: 7h – 5d – 9s
I decide to lead at this flop for some of the obvious reasons. Seems like a flop a player in the blinds would’ve hit, villain has been pretty loose and in case I was behind to AK-AT, I now have the best hand. I do however also see villain as a tricky player and don’t expect him to give up on the flop. I lead for 5500.

Villain ponders this for a little bit and minimum-raises me. I actually like my hand a lot now. Apart from a flopped straight, I don’t see what hands minimum-raise here. Some players might do this with a set, but most often they raise more to protect against draws. On the other hand, if I move all-in now, I’m turning my hand into a bluff, as I’m basically trying to sell the story of ME flopping a straight. I just call.

(Pot 30925) TURN: 7c
This is a good card for me. I still like my hand, but again it doesn’t make sense for me to move in, when the board pairs like that. So, I check. Almost immediately, villain bets 7200. ??? I think this is him playing the player, with complete disregard for his own hand. It’s real situational poker. Basically a game of chicken and this is no time to flinch. NOW, was the time to sell my story. I moved all-in for 34006 total. He tanked (could’ve been fake-tanked) and finally mucked his hand. Table dynamics completely changed after that hand.

Adrenalin-surge for sure during this hand – In a live setting, I would’ve been giving off a million physical tells. Thank god for the comfort of online!

Starting bankroll: USD 6,025.95
Session result: USD -149.89
New bankroll: USD 5,876.06
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 265

Thanks for reading.

THEY'RE OUT TO GET ME

2009-04-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

Nobody likes a whiner and that is exactly what I equate anyone in the poker community to, if they start telling me a bad-beat story.

Annoying Whiner (AW): “Hey there. It’s nice to meet you!”
Mindful & Enjoyable (ME): “Uhmm hi – likewise.”

AW: “So, how long’ you been playing?”
ME: “About 4 years or so. (feign interest) You?”

AW: “Umm yeah, something like that as well. What’s your favorite hand?”
ME: (sighing deeply and rolling eyes indiscreetly) “Suited aces, I guess. Listen, I’ve gotta go return some videotapes, so I can’t really…”

AW: (excessive laughing, knee-slapping and tears ensue) That’s a GOOD one! I’ve never heard that one before! No no, stick around! Listen, you’ll never believe what just happened to me. I pick up KK in MP and just smoothcall some donk who raised in earl…”
ME: (somebody shoot me now…)

Anyone who knows anything about the game, will know how frequently bad beats occur (yes, even 1-outers for any doubters still left among you – they happen on a daily basis) and how – as is the nature of bad beats – you usually played pretty well to get yourself into a potential bad-beat-spot. So be happy the next time you get sucked out on.

The point of this blog was not to provide yet another unnecessary commentary on how one ought to deal with bad beats. Seems to me, that’s been done enough as it is. It was actually to address a challenge I’m currently facing. Since I write a blog about poker, I’m forced to relay what happens to me and that goes for the good as well as the bad. Since I don’t want to be the “bearer of bad beats”, I’ve come up with the following alternate solution:

BadBeat Codes. I don’t think all bad beats are created equal and therefore propose that – for this blog at least, as an experiment – I begin to use the following codes to describe bad beats:

- “55/45”, preflop. Not sure many players would consider this a bad beat per se, but technically it is a hand with a statistical edge losing to the inferior counterpart. (We’ll call this BB1)
- “70/30”, preflop. You get it in with KK, get called by AQ and lose. (BB2)
- “80/20”, preflop. AA moves in, 66 calls and hits. (BB3)
- “3-outer”, postflop. You’ve made top-pair on the flop, move in and get called by an underpair. (BB4)

I’m sure I’ll think of a few others once I get this blog going, but the above should serve me well to begin with. The whole reason why I would even dream-up the above concoction is because it didn’t go very well for me the last time I played! I say this, even though I actually final-tabled one of the tournaments, a $10 rebuy event. We’ll kick things off there with my final hand:

3-handed and I find Js2d in the BB (stack 15335). Villain is on the button (stack 46735) with the blinds at 600/1200/a120. Villain limps, SB completes and I check.

(Pot 3960) FLOP: Jc 4h Jd
SB checks and I check to the dealer who – as the chipleader – has been betting everything. He obliges and leads out for 1200. SB folds and I raise to 4800.

** ALERT ** BB4 ** ALERT ** BB4** ALERT ** BB4 ** ALERT ** BB4 ** ALERT **

I went out in 3rd place.

Another cute little hand happened deep in a Stars 180-man sitngo ($4.40). As follows:

33 players left. I’m in the SB with KsKd (stack 2220). Villain is in the CO seat (stack 13480). Blinds 100/200. UTG raises to 800, folds to villain who min-raises to 1400 (might be cautious here sometimes, but with my stack and this hand, my decision has been made for me). Folds to me and I push all-in for 2220 total. UTG folds, but villain calls.

** ALERT ** BB3 ** ALERT ** BB3** ALERT ** BB3 ** ALERT ** BB3 ** ALERT **

I go out in 33rd place.

This next one, I won’t be needing my BB-groups for, as it was more a cold-deck (not GREAT play either, that’s for sure) than anything else. Again, I’m deep in a 180 sitngo ($4.40) as only 26 players remain. I am in the BB with QsQh (stack 7163). Villain is UTG (stack 21640) with blinds at 150/300/a25. Villain opens to 799 and at an 8-handed table it folds around to me. I usually don’t muck about here and I make it 2440. He considers briefly and calls.

(Pot 5230) FLOP: 10s 4s 7h
I’ve got 4698 left and elect to push it all-in. Clearly the easiest option with no additional thinking required. However, even with additional thinking and I’m trying to keep myself honest here, I don’t think I’m ever folding in that spot. I think at this level a lot of players are still calling from his position with most of their pairs (55-JJ) looking to set-mine or pick off AK, QQ and KK re-shove and AA calls/re-shoves about 30/70. The better option might however have been to check to him, feign an unpaired AK and hope he bets with 99 or JJ.

Anyway, obviously he had me all along with a well-played AA and I went out on the hand. Well played sir.

Splashed around with sitngos a few low buy-in MTTs that never really got going and booked a miniature loss. Ah well – just one of those BB4 days.

Starting bankroll: USD 6,042.95
Session result: USD -17.00
New bankroll: USD 6,025.95
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 273

THIS IS WHY I'M HOT

2009-04-12T23:40:00.000-07:00

I’m hot – cause I’m fly;
You ain’t – cause you not;
This is why;
This is why;
This is why I’m hot!

So…uhmm, I’m running HOT right now, as the above summation denotes (wondering slightly now why I’m explaining a MIMS citation, which is as self-explanatory as those signs you see at the zoo, indicating crocodiles as being ‘dangerous creatures’). This blog will encompass two playing sessions and both include TOURNAMENT WINS, albeit the first one feigns slightly in comparison to the second.

Was playing on Stars, looking for any tournaments that were about to begin, when I came upon a 6-handed Pot Limit Hold’Em, $11 rebuy. It was starting in 8 minutes and I signed up as only the 13th player – expecting it to fill up towards the end, like most tourneys do. When it got underway, I was genuinely surprised to see that only 18 had signed up.

Does the Pot Limit aspect scare off players? I never understood that. It’s not like all you do during NLHE tournaments is come over the top of others with MORE than a full pot bet? Mostly a pot bet is exactly what you need for a re-raise and sometimes even less will do, so if you feel the need to shove 40BBs over a 4BB raise, you probably don’t understand the concepts of stack sizes (Tony ‘bond18’ Dunst is happy to enlighten you on tworags.com about exactly that, if what I just wrote makes no sense to you at all). I’m not saying it never comes up, especially in late tournament play spots do occur – just curious as to the apparent timidity from other players, when Pot Limit Hold’Em is concerned. I LIKE mixing it up with PLHE and what follows here goes to show that change is a definite good thing.

Unlimited rebuys until the first break and they were being taken advantage of, by pretty much everyone else but me. Kept it clean this time with my obligatory instant rebuy and of course the addon, but no I-just-got-felted-rebuys needed. As noted though, everyone else was generously adding to the total pot, so we ended up putting together a $220 1st place prize. Also, with all those rebuys, the amount of chips in play allowed for some serious deep-stack playing. By the time I made it to the final table, the average stack was roughly 60 BBs and I was sitting with more than 100 BBs – as the chip leader.

For once it was absolutely clear who the illustrious and highly sought after ‘table sucker’ was. This guy was – for lack of a better definition – heinously moronic when it came to poker. Suffice to say, I made sure I was in the pot almost every time he was. How he had managed to get to the FT only the sacrificial chicken I presume lay slaughtered in his backyard will know. He would call anything on the flop with no pair, no draw (I’m talking J2 on an A73 board), would check-call all the way to the river if he was on a draw and limp-call raises preflop & out of position with monsters such as K4 off suit. With every weak-tight play my bankroll smiled, while my poker-loving and fine-play-appreciating heart suffered a little each time.

When he busted I was delighted to find out that - in his absence - the others at the table were happy to fill his shoes. Especially one play seemed to be a favorite at this table (and largely prevalent in most tournaments online) – the “postflop minimum bet lead-out into the raiser”. Here’s the example:

We’re 4-handed. I’m first to act with 8c9c (stack 26370). Villain is in the SB (stack 6185). Blinds 100/200. I open to 550, folds to the SB who calls.

(Pot 1300) FLOP: Qd 5c 7h
SB bets out 200.

Huh??? What do you mean you bet out 200? No, seriously – WHAT…IS…THAT…SUPPOSED…TO…MEAN? You’re trying to sell me on something, right? Is the bet supposed to scare me? I just don’t get it and my response is always the same. I RAISE! AL-FUCKING-WAYS! WHETHER I’VE GOT IT OR I HAVEN’T!

I made it 1200. SB folds. Such an easy way of picking up chips – when they’re practically giving them away.

I took the tournament down after 2 hours and 15 minutes and even though I’m small-ballin’ here, I was pretty excited about the win. I basically outplayed the 17 other guys and I felt it bode well for the future. I was about to find out just how right I was.

The second tournament win in two days happened when I saw a $5 NLHE rebuy event getting ready to start on Mansion Poker. A total of 159 players signed up and I was amongst them.

I got off to a crappy start though. No real hands and I was forced to fold through the first 15-20 hands, but it did give me an opportunity to witness an incredibly aggressive and overly spewy table. I mentally made notes on a few of the players who I thought were especially imbecilic and that would prove useful a bit later.

My first playable hand was As4s which I picked up in the BB (my stack 2935). The villain was in the HJ seat at a 9-handed table (stack 2875) with blinds at 20/40. My stacksize was due to an instant rebuy, whereas the villain had doubled up early – and quite fortuitously so – when his 66 pushed all-in on a flop of A52, was called by AK and then spiked a 6 on the river.

UTG+1 limped, UTG+2 limped along, then fold to villain who made it 240 and fold to me. Given his weak post-flop play and the fact that we were deep, I called here (normally wouldn’t) not giving him credit for much of a hand. UTG+1 called as well, whereas the second limper folded.

(Pot 780) FLOP: 10c 6s 2s
UTG+1 checks, villain bets 600 and given the tournament structure I saw no reason not to shove here with my overcard and flush draw. All-in from me for a total of 2695. UTG+1 folded, but villain snap-called with two queens which held up. Guess I got schooled by the donk (*shrug*) although I’d probably do the same again if the situation were to arise like that once more.

I did a double rebuy and decided to sit back a little and wait for the good cards to find me. My restraint was working perfectly until I found myself in a situation – ripe for exploitation – and had to go for it.

I’m in the SB with 6h5s (stack 2910) and a whole range of villains are in the pot as well with varying stack sizes. 10-handed with blinds at 30/60. Went like this: UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, 1 fold, MP1 limps, 3 folds, button limps, I complete and BB checks. 6 players.

(POT 360) FLOP: 4c Ks 5h
I check, BB minimum bets, UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls and the button folds. Back to me.

Something just didn’t feel right. The BB minimum bet lead out was strange. What hand does that I was asking myself and figured it had to be either a monster (set of 4’s possibly) or something weak. Everyone else I wasn’t too worried about. As I said before the table was generally weak and I had no doubts likely holdings for UTG and MP1 could be 22 and Q10. I therefore decided to raise, wanting to see how the BB was going to react. I made it 570 total. The BB folded immediately, whereas the two others called. Now I just needed a good card to follow through.

(POT 2190) TURN: 9d
A fairly innocuous looking card and perfect for me to fire at again with my stack of 2280. I shipped it all in and both players folded fairly quickly. Paying attention pays off; apologies for the pun – and it was going to pay off for me again.

An orbit or so later I pick up KsQs in MP2 (stack approximately 4500) with blinds at 40/80. It folds to me and I raise to 220 and am called solely by the SB with a stack of 1300. The SB was one of the feeble-minded opponents that I’d made mental notes on at the beginning. Since then he had re-bought twice, but refused to change gears. He had spunk, I’ll give him that.

(POT 520) FLOP: 3s 10h 8d
He checked to me and I put out a continuation-bet of 360. He called quickly.

(POT 1240) TURN: 10d
He moves all-in for 720. I’m perplexed. Doesn’t make sense – truly doesn’t make sense dude. If you have a 10, I expect you to raise the flop considering your stack, so I can rule that out. If you have an 8, you’re probably not unhappy about the second 10, yet you should still be wary about my holding. I can’t have a 10? – or an overpair? You gain nothing from shoving here. Looks like a draw to me. I called with K-high and felt good about it. He showed Qd9h for a gut-shot straight draw and one overcard to the flop. FISTPUMP ONCE! 7d on the river to ship me the pot with K-high = FISTPUMP TWICE!

I’m not going to take you through the rest of the hands that led to my #1 finish as none of them were quite that spectacular. Overall I benefited from everyone else’s mistakes throughout the tournament and played sound poker from start to finish. I came into the final table in 5th place and did actually go on a bit of sweet run, when we were down to 7 (picked up KK and flopped a set with 22) but other than that no suckouts and I attribute my win mainly to grinding it down and staying patient.

First place was $544.05. The first of hopefully many.

Starting bankroll: USD 5,399.22
Session result: USD +643.73
New bankroll: USD 6,042.95
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 276

Thanks for reading.

I'M SO EMBARRASSED

2009-04-07T23:37:00.000-07:00

I completely morphed into a newbie-donk last night. All of my poker wisdom went down the drain when I committed my chips with my no-pair-no-draw-hand. To make it worse, 338 of us had started the $33 MTT Freezeout and when I committed the aforementioned sin, we were down to 19. Idiotic.

Everything up until that point had been going my way. I started the tournament in a splashing mood, probably just a little too excited to be playing, but settled down quickly after losing a couple of mini-pots and then found my groove. Well, sort of. I put myself in a horrible spot in the beginning, when I didn’t raise AhJs from the blinds. Went like this:

I’m the BB with AhJs (stack: 2300). Villain is UTG+1 (stack 2820). Blinds 10/20.

Villain, UTG+2, dealer and SB all limp. I check my option.

(Pot 100) FLOP: 2h Ad 5d
Check to me, I bet 65. Villain and SB smooth call.

(Pot 295) TURN: Ac
Check to me, I bet 190. Villain and SB smooth call again. (DING-DING-DING! Alarm bells should be going off right about now – like BIGTIME!!)

(Pot 865) RIVER: Qc
Check to me and I put out a defensive bet of 390. Almost immediately villain raises to 1140 and the SB gets out of the way. Any hands do that, which I have beat? A10 raise on the river in that spot? OF COURSE NOT! Like the donk I am, I pay him off and he shows 2,2. I even muttered “fives?” to myself, when I called so why I actually did is beyond me. A lot of players nowadays can fold aces when the board comes down 7,8,9 with a flushdraw, but trusting your read and folding STRONG trips in the above spot is still a move reserved for the really good players out there. I want to count myself amongst them, but obviously can’t yet.

This hand left me with a stack of 885 and put me on the defensive right from the beginning of the tournament. Everyone was toying around with 150BBs, whereas I had to be careful about what I did with my pitiful 40BB stack. For the next 20 or so hands I stayed quiet. Picked up 88 and won a decent raised pot, where the flop came down 6,2,9 and no one seemed to be interested. Even raised a few limpers out of LP with 9,10 offsuit and took down the pot with a c-bet on a 2,J,6 board. Then I caught lightning in a bottle.

I’m UTG+1 with 3h3s (stack 1455). Everyone covers me at the table. Blinds 30/60.

UTG limps, I limp, as does UTG+2. Folds to the CO who minraises (?). EVERYONE calls (obviously). 7 players:

(Pot 420) FLOP: 3c 2d Jc
SB checks, BB bets 150 and it folds to me. Because I’ve got so many players after me (including the original raiser) I elect to just call here and hope to get it in, when somebody raises. To my dismay, 3 of them just call and the original raiser folds!

(Pot 1170) TURN: 4h

SB bets 345, BB calls and I’m getting a little worried what might be out there. Clearly, I’m not folding here and I raise all-in, total of 1245. It folds to the dealer who re-raises all-in for a total of 2145. At this point I’m thinking… “No way… it can’t be”. Everyone folds and what am I looking at? A straight. Of course. He called the flop with 56 and hit. I start to mouth the word MO-THER-FU… but never managed to complete my thought, before a 2nd 4 lands on the river.

Still in it. Got real lucky there, but who cares – STILL IN IT! I now have a stack of 4005 and am above average. My next big spot comes up a couple of orbits later, now with blinds at 25/50. I’ve been chipping up a little bit, but haven’t been very active.

I’m the button with JhJc (stack 4435).

UTG, MP1 and the CO all limp and I raise it up to 290 total, which is my standard here (140 normal raise + 3 limpers at 50 á piece). The SB (stack 2505) immediately pushes all-in and the limpers get out of the way. In my experience, this is AK almost all of the time. Not many people play AA and KK that fast and although there’s a slight possibility that villain has QQ in his range here, I think I’m most likely to be up against AK or a baby-pair. I elect to go for the small-equity play (in case he has AK) and call. He shows big-slick and I move up to 7140 chips, when the board runs out 8-high. Now normally, I try not to take these flips too early in a tournament, as I feel confident I’ll be able to chip up with less risk, but I was so confident in my read that I just had to go with it.

My first big pocketpair came along during the 50/100 level, when I picked up kings. There’s always that excitement for a player, when he/she picks up aces or kings during a tournament. Is someone going to raise? – can I get it in before the flop? – can I fold my big pair if the flop is ugly and there’s too much action? – and if you’re holding kings, at least for me – there’s the old classic: God, I hope someone doesn’t have aces. The hand played out like this:

I’m MP1 (stack 8000) with KhKs. Villain is UTG+1 (stack 6165). Blinds 50/100.

UTG folds and villain minraises to 200. As I’ve stated before, I usually hate playing against a minraise, but obviously a lot changes when I’m holding kings. I re-pop him and make it 650 total (which, when I look at it now, should’ve been 750… hmmm, not sure what went wrong there). Everyone else folds and villain calls.

(Pot 1450) FLOP: 8h 2h 6h
I can’t hate that flop, since I am holding the king of hearts, but since I put his min-raising-range on small pairs a lot of the time, this might have hit him. He checks to me and I bet 950. He just calls. At this point, I know he doesn’t have a set, but his range includes medium pairs Ah-X type hands and obviously a flopped flush, if someone really has it in for me.

(Pot 3350) TURN: 7s
He checks to me again. I don’t mind the 7 at all, especially since it was black. A strange 87 type hand is not part of his range, I think, so I confidently bet again. This time 1900. He calls again.

(Pot 7150) RIVER: 4c
He checks a third time and now I know I’m good. I’ve got 4500 left in my stack, constituting roughly 60% of the stack and as a value-play I stick it all in. He ponders briefly and then folds. My new stack stands at a hearty 11650 and I’m quite happy with the way I played the hand. He only had approx 2600 left by the time we got to the river, so I’m not sure I could have extracted more out of him than I did. I have to wait a bit again for my next spot, but in general my patience is very good and I’m staying away from marginal hands.

I’m the BB with QhJh (stack 11500). Villain is in the SB and is the same guy from the last hand (the KK hand), but he has managed to double up in the meantime, so now sits on 4590 chips. Blinds 100/200.

It folds to the SB who completes and I decide to disguise my hand a bit and just check.

(Pot 400) FLOP: 9s 7h Tc
He leads with 200 (minimum bet) and I figure I’ll just end the hand here with a raise, so I make it 700. To my surprise he calls the extra 500. Guess he has something.

(Pot 1800) TURN: 4h
Well that just got me a flushdraw to go along with my straightdraw. There’s no way I’m folding now. Again he bets the minimum of 200 into me and I instantly move my stack in. I figure I’ve shown strength on the flop already and he’s been pretty weak up until now, so I should have a decent amount of fold equity. He surprises me once again and calls almost immediately. He shows 5c8s (must have been steaming since the KK hand?) which actually gives me the best hand at that point. The Ah on the river is therefore irrelevant. My new stack is a respectable 16090 and I’m amongst the leaders of the tournament.

I pull off my first 3-bet-steal of the tournament during the next blind level. The guy one to my right has been really active, coming into pots with a variety of limps, minraises and standard raises. When I pick up Ac8c on the button, I decide this might be a good time to slow him down a bit. Surely enough, it folds to him (blinds 100/200/a25) and he makes it 650 to go. I decide to make it a little less than 3 times his raise, as I know that a lot of players perceive it as a sign of strength. I make it 1850. He thinks for a while, using up some of his timebank and finally lays down his hand. Even acknowledged me with a ‘nh’ in the chat afterwards! Safe to say I was probably behind in that hand.

I tangle with the same guy once more, not too long after the above hand. Blinds are now 125/250a25 and I’m in the HJ (stack 16790) with Ah5h. Villain is still next to me (stack 17475). We are the two biggest stacks at the table. It folds to villain who raises to 600. Given our history and his general activeness, I elect to smooth call.

(Pot 1800) FLOP: Qd 6c Qh
He checks and I see no need to get pushed off my hand right now, so I check back.

(Pot 1800) TURN: 3c
This time he puts out a small bet of 750 and something doesn’t feel right. It’s the sort of bet most guys would make after seeing the flop go check-check. I elect to call and see a river, before I make up my mind – also, I’ve got position.

(Pot 3300) RIVER: Ac
The ace on the river is fine, I guess – as it does give me a better hand against some smaller pairs, but at this point I’m really just concerned with whether he’s sandbagging a queen or whether he’s got air. He bets out again, but it’s only 1250. A blocking bet, as I see it now (didn’t think that far ahead while I was playing). Obviously, a spot for me to raise here as I most likely have the best hand. I didn’t do that though – instead I just called. He shows J,10 and was basically full of it.

Analysis afterwards: I should’ve raised the river. I don’t see him playing a queen that way (turn, maybe – but not the river) so when the ace hits, I should be confident about having the best hand. Pair of 4’s, 5’s or maybe even something like 9’s might call me off on the river.

Then I folded. A LOT. For the longest time that I can remember ever having to continually fold. Absolutely no playable hands and when there were, someone had raised in front of me. By the time the next hand came up, my stack had dwindled a bit, but I was still in good shape. Once again, I chose not to believe:

I’m the SB with As6s (stack 12715). Villain is on the button (stack 12530) with blinds at 200/400/a50. It folds to villain who raises to 1100. I elect to call and the BB folds.

(Pot 3050) FLOP: Ad Jd Js
I check to him, expecting the mandatory c-bet. He obliges, but only puts out 900. I just call. At this point, I’m not putting him on a jack as I don’t think anyone would play it that way. A smallish bet, when you flopped trips gives your hand away, so either you check it or you bet properly (half or 2/3 of the pot).

(Pot 4850) TURN: 3c
I lead out this time with 1200 once the “safe” card hits. If he has an ace and has me outkicked, perhaps he’ll buy that I have the jack. He raises after a bit of thought to 3200. I’m still not buying that he has a jack, but I am a little concerned about my kicker. What I don’t understand though is why he doesn’t buy me having a jack? If he has a hand like A10, wouldn’t he – in position – just call my turn bet to keep the pot small and then evaluate on the river? I call.

(Pot 11250) RIVER: 9d
So the flushdraw got there and I’m a little thrown off. Had almost forgotten about that. I check. He thinks for a while and I get the feeling he wants to move in on me (I’d have to call, the way I played it) but eventually checks. When I shove my hand, he mucks and the pot slides my way. I check the history and he raised me on the turn with 2,2. Gutsy. New stack: 18665

Again I go back to folding. I’ve checked my hand history and as I noted in one of my previous blogs, a lack of aggression late in tournaments is something I need to work on. There were however no +EV spots that I missed out on since my last hand – either there was a raise in front of me, or someone was coming over the top. In particular one guy, I noticed, was being very active. He was calling a lot preflop and taking stabs postflop, which was working well for him. I waited until I had position on him and a decent hand to do battle.

We’re 7-handed and I’m the HJ with 9c10c (stack 17440). Villain is the BB (stack 33945) with blinds at 400/800/a75. It folds to me and I raise to 2100. Both the SB and the BB call.

(Pot 6825) FLOP: 9s 5c 6d
The SB checks and the villain bets out 3200. I had seen him do that on one other occasion where he was subsequently raised and then called all-in with a strong hand. However, if I’m raising a suited 9-10 at that point in a tournament, I have to go with it, when I flop top-pair. So I shoved for 15265 total. The SB folded quickly and the BB let me sweat a bit before he too let it go.

Nothing too special about that hand, other than I was happy with my aggression at that point. In previous times I might have folded preflop and I might even have folded post-flop (or just called) – both of which are horrible, IMO. I saw a total of 190 hands in this tournament before busting and I’ve now fast-forwarded to # 180. From here on I play 3 more hands. 1 well and the last two are the basis of today’s blog-title.

Hand #180. I’m the BB with 9cTh (stack 22165) and villain is SB (stack 32774) with blinds at 500/1000/a100. It folds to the CO who limps in with only 861 chips behind. He had just lost his entire stack in the previous hand, but why he doesn’t shove it all in, I don’t know. It folds to the SB who raises to 3000. That’s an isolation-raise, clear and simple and I bloody hate them. Plus I don’t like people messing with my BB. I therefore elect to call, expecting the limper to put his last few chips in and then I’ll have a chance of outplaying the SB. Unexpectedly (VERY FUCKING unexpectedly), the limper folds. Hmmm… ok champ.

(Pot 7800) FLOP: 8c 3c Jh
The SB bets 4000 and I am giving him credit for absolutely nothing. The bet is weak (considering the drawy type of board) and I’ve got my own draw, so I confidently move all-in for a total of 19065. He folds. Stack 30865 and on to a poorly played hand.

Hand #182. 7-handed with blinds at 600/1200/a125. I’m the button with 5h5s (stack 30140). The villain is the same guy from the last hand, this time in the CO (stack 25549). Folds to the CO who raises to 3300. I call and the blinds fold.

(Pot 9275) FLOP: 4h 3d Qd
The CO checks and I check behind for pot control. Not willing to commit myself just yet.

(Pot 9275) TURN: 9s
Now he bets, but only the minimum of 1200. Every single bone in my body is telling me to raise. Make it 4200 and win the hand right there. He clearly has nothing. I can’t make myself do it though. My mind starts playing tricks on me, convincing me that he’s trapping with some HUGE hand and instead I just call (again – why call if he has a “HUGE HAND”? To hit a set? Yeah, that’s real clever).

(Pot 11675) RIVER: Ts
Oh God how I hate that card. Does it get any uglier? Villain bets 1200 again and I feel forced to call. He shows Kh10h and takes the pot. I curse myself (literally and out loud) for being such a dweeb and look for something to throw from my desk. I find nothing.

Hand #190. We’re now 6-handed with 19 people left in the tourney. I’m sitting on a stack of 21640 which is good for about 14th at the time, but more significantly blinds are still 600/1200/a125, so I’m not in any real predicament yet. I pick up KsQs in the HJ (or UTG+1 – whatever you prefer) and raise to 3200. At this point I’m just looking to pick up the blinds, but I won’t mind if someone calls. The SB obliges (stack 67626).

(Pot 8350) FLOP: As 5d 9h
Talk about completely whiffing that flop. The SB checks and I go to represent an ace with a bet of 4500. Now he minraises me. Already I hate this guy. I haven’t seen him do it yet, but I have seen how minimum raises become part of the arsenal of many players, late in tournaments. And I’ve always wondered…? Is it just a cheap way of testing whether I’m for real? I know I don’t have enough chips to seriously put him to a decision if I were to move all-in and he knows this as well. That way, if I do move in, he’ll know that I have to have an ace in that spot and then he’ll fold even though almost anything he holds would dictate a call? FOR CRYING OUT LOUD WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?!!?

I reraise all-in for a total of 18315 and he snapcalls with Ah10c. Of course. What was I thinking. Idiot.

Lessons learned:
- Don’t be an idiot.
- Don’t be an idiot, when you don’t have fold equity
- Just don’t be a fucking idiot

Played a few STTs alongside the above tournament, which resulted in an overall session result of: USD 52.14

Starting bankroll: USD 5,347.08
Session result: USD +52.14
New bankroll: USD 5,399.22
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 281

Thanks for reading.

EGO-MANICAL RANT, SOCCER, SURFING AND POKER

2009-04-05T19:19:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend is studying for her Master’s degree here in Sydney and from time to time, she seeks my advice on various subjects, when she struggles (she’s pretty smart, so mostly she just takes care of business). The latest example hereof is an accountancy paper that’s due next week. All day Wednesday of last week I spent reading through the bloody thing, trying to make sense of what is still – at least to me – some of the most illogical crap you’ll ever find in the business world! I have a piece of paper from my days at school, certifying that – supposedly – I should know accountancy. Theoretically, I should know all about double-bookkeeping, reading balance sheets, filling in income statements and determining what might be a liability and what is most likely an asset. Here’s the rude awakening: I just BARELY passed that course back in the day and literally had to re-learn it all, just so that I could help my girl out. Result = Less time for poker.

I did play a bit on Thursday and Friday, mostly comprised of STTs, but also a few 18-pp, 27-pp and even regular MTTs in there. I came 14th in a 20+2 MTT which was good enough for an in-the-money finish and I came 2nd and 3rd in 18-pp tourneys, so overall I made a profit, but it wasn’t pretty. In particular one 6-person STT where I finished 3rd (top-two getting paid) still bugs the hell out of me. We came into 3-handed play with me holding roughly 60% of the chips and one of the other two only shoving JJ+. It’s SO easy to play against guys like that and yet I managed to screw it up.

Counting the rakeback I got, the total profit for those two days came to a measly 67.45. I’ll take it, I guess.

So, the plan was instead that I would use the weekend to get a fair bit of playing in. Instead, I decided my time would be better spent enjoying the shit out of myself and simultaneously punishing the crap out of my body. It started Saturday where I played back-to-back season-opener matches (1 for the reserve team, where we won 8-0 and stand-by for the 1st team, where we won 4-3). I scored one hell of a goal in the 1st game, where I lobbed the ball over the keeper from the edge of the 18-yard-box and then turned to face my onrushing teammates, who were rushing to hand out deserved accolades for what will most likely be a goal-of-the-season-contender! Imagine checking the turn, after c-betting the flop and then coming over the top of villain’s river-bet with absolutely nothing (‘cause you just know) – resulting in his fold. Now double that feeling and you’ll get how pumped I was about scoring that goal!

Still left Sunday to get some tournaments in and make some headway towards my goal. Well, never got that far. My girl and I decided to head to Cronulla Beach with some friends of ours to learn how to surf! Our instructors were a couple of happy-go-lucky-blonde-and-long-haired-“dude exclaiming”-and-“sweet wave”-proclaiming-not-a-care-in-the-world-wave-catching-guys who did their jobs well. By that I mean, ultimately we all made it up onto the boards and even managed to stay up for a few seconds, before getting pounded by another wave. I would love to say that I was a natural, at one with the sea and similar crap, but blatantly lying has never been my thing. Instead, stubbornness and crude perseverance is what ultimately brought on some very limited personal success.

Starting bankroll: USD 5,279.63
Session result: USD +67.45
New bankroll: USD 5,347.08
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 283

Thanks for reading.

ANOTHER FINAL TABLE + FULL ANALYSIS

2009-03-31T01:37:00.000-07:00

I spent a few hours these last few days, railing some of the bigger online tournaments. Because I’m in Sydney, a lot of the Sunday tournaments’ final tables form during the morning hours, so I was pleasantly watching the action with a cup of coffee in my hand after a relaxing night’s sleep (I feel for the Europeans in these tournaments).

I was watching out of general interest, but obviously also paying attention so that I might pick up on the intricacies of late tournament play – something I openly confessed to needing assistance with, in my last blog.

In fact, I’ve really gone back to becoming a student of the game and this blog has played a vital role. Because I’m reporting HOW I do (and more importantly WHAT I do) I seem to be more alert and more deliberate in my actions. Because I also wanna do well, I’m a lot more intent on improving my established skill-set by way of learning from others – as well as myself. Just yesterday, I decided to do a full review of all hands from my most recent MTT and I went about it as analytically as I could. I figured the objective would be to gain a more thorough understanding of an MTT in general, but also try to unlock any of my inherent traits, which might be hurting my overall success. Here’s what I got:

The last time I played I – incredibly – managed to make another final table. My tournament selection this time was as follows:

Tournament 1: $5.50 rebuy MTT – 14th place Profit USD -15.50
Tournament 2: $22 Freezeout MTT – 5th place Profit USD 122.00

I thought I’d played well throughout the tournament (another in-the-money finish, 5th overall – I mean, come on – that’s not bad right?), but after having reviewed my hands I’m not so sure. A few stats first:

For the sake of this analysis, the following definitions apply:
- Hands played = Hand that did not fold preflop
- Early Position = UTG, UTG+1 and UTG+2
- Middle Position = MP1, MP2 and HJ
- Late Position = CO, Dealer

TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS SEEN: 194
TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS PLAYED: 44

Comments: I don’t have much to compare this to, but off-hand seems ok. I’m playing roughly 23% of hands and don’t think it should be a lot more (or less, for that sake) than that.

TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS, RAISED: 25
TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS, LIMPED: 5
TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS, CHECKED BB: 5
TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS, CALLED RAISE: 7
TOTAL NUMER OF HANDS, RERAISED: 2
This really bothers me. The limped hands aren’t that bad – except for one. Actually, they’re all from the SB except for 1, so it’s not all bad. Still - just because somebody limps ahead of you, does NOT mean you need to follow suit (no pun intended) and limp along with Qd9h. No, the bothersome part is the number of hands I reraised. I did it twice – both times out of the blinds and both times with a pair (9s9h & JsJh). Incidentally, I won both hands but not the point. With my new focus on late-stage tournament play, I’ve come to realize that this is a leak of mine. I’m simply not protecting my chips well enough. Need to start looking for spots, at that stage of the tourney, where I can come over the top of a raiser, when I think he doesn’t have it.

TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS, PLAYED FROM EP: 6
TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS, PLAYED FROM MP: 6
TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS, PLAYED FROM LP: 12
TOTAL NUMBER OF HANDS, PLAYED FROM BLINDS: 18

These figures seem fair enough. Except for 1 hand (raised 7d8d from UTG, just ‘cause it’s soooo pretty) I had the goods each time I raised from EP (inter alia, AA twice), I was very solid from MP as well (KK twice) and apart from a poorly played 6s5s that I raised on the button, as well as a loosey-goosey call with Ac2h from the SB, I can’t find too many errors in my LP/blinds play too much.

The last statistic I’ll share is my ‘frequency of involvement’ – a phrase I coined just now. Please send me a couple of bucks, if you decide to use it. This table is pretty crude, but it proves my point.

Hands 1-30: 9 involvements
Hands 31-60: 8 involvements
Hands 61-90: 9 involvements
Hands 91-120: 8 involvements
Hands 121-150: 1 involvement
Hands 151-180: 7 involvements

From my last blog, “Once I get close to the bubble, I definitely try to loosen up my game and thereby take advantage of the weak/timid players”. Well, that’s just a load of bullshit isn’t it? A convenient little sound-bite that I probably picked up from a poker-player with ACTUAL BALLS between his legs. Geez, I’m a pathetic fucking wimp aren’t I. Rhetorical. Don’t answer that.

Starting bankroll: USD 5,173.13
Session result: USD +106.50
New bankroll: USD 5,279.63
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 289

More to come. Thanks for reading.

2 SESSIONS - 1 BLOG, BACK-TO-BACK FINAL TABLES

2009-03-31T01:35:00.000-07:00

As the title of this blog hints at, I’m running really well at the moment. I’m not sucking out with 3-outers, in fact I’m not really getting myself into bad spots – it’s more ‘running well’ in the all-of-my-70/30-spots are-holding-up kinda way and as I’m sure you’ll agree with, that just creates a yummy feeling deep down inside, hard to compare with anything else.

I’ve bundled two sessions into one blog this time, cause I couldn’t be bothered to write one for each. My latest sessions involved the following activity/results:

a) $6.60 rebuy MTT – 10th place (FINAL TABLE); Profit USD 25.46
b) $11 Freezeout MTT – 10th place (FINAL TABLE); Profit USD 43.00
c) $11 STT, 6 players – 1st place; Profit USD 31.00
d) $11 STT Deepstack, 10 players – 3rd place; Profit USD 9.00
e) $15 Freezeout – 23rd place; Profit USD 21.36
f) $7.70 rebuy – 27th place; Profit USD 19.09

So 4 MTTs and 2 STTs and I made the money in all of them. Total profit was no more than 148 dollars, but it’s evidence enough that I’m doing something right and that the larger payday is somewhere around the – hopefully not too distant – corner.

MTTs (a) and (b) were pretty standard. In the Freezeout I only JUST made the final table, without actually ever sitting at it, when two of us went out at the same time – he having had fewer chips to start the hand with. My shove was pretty standard. Blinds were 1250/2500/a250, we were 5-handed and with a 25K stack I picked up As10d in the CO. Big blind happened to have jacks – so be it.

My exit in the $6 rebuy was a little more questionable though and after reviewing the hand, I think it’s a VERY marginal situation. Next time I might fold. The final table had just formed and on the 2nd hand I pick up KcQs in the CO. Blinds are 2500/5000/a500 and I have the second-shortest stack at 36K. Bear in mind though, that everyone was playing insanely tight leading up to the FT, so the average was no more than approx. 60K. We’re nine-handed and it folds to MP+2 who shoves for 62K, folds to me. What’s correct here? In my experience, as soon as you get to the final table, people loosen up considerably, so I think it’s fair to assume that his range is not just JJ+ here.

I remember clicking call and not liking it very much. Based on the stack-blind ratio it seemed like an insta-call opportunity, yet I wasn’t feelin’ it. My mood didn’t improve, when the dealer snap-called right after. MP+2 flips over two red nines and the dealer showed AsKs. Hmmm… still unsure.

Not much to tell about the other tourneys or the STTs for that sake. One thing did however become very clear. I have failed to adjust properly to bubble-play and late-stages-play in MTTs. Especially one guy in the $15 freezeout was a real pain in the neck, but I was basically letting him walk all over me. It dawned on me when I was reading Annette_15’s blog earlier. She was referencing a few articles on the Betfair site written by Marcus Bateman and in particular one of them was a real eye-opener. Once I get close to the bubble, I definitely try to loosen up my game and thereby take advantage of the weak/timid players – a sound strategy. I simply failed to be aware that someone might be watching me, like I was watching them. Two to my left was this douchebag, who kept coming over the top of me. God, did I feel owned.

Anyway, something I’ll try to be more aware of.

The one last thing I’ll mention is volume. I’m clearly not putting in enough volume right now to make any serious headway towards my goal, so that will need to be rectified. Right now I’m just happy with my results and hope to keep it going.

Starting bankroll: USD 5,024.22
Session result: USD +148.91
New bankroll: USD 5,173.13
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 294

More to come. Thanks for reading.

TWO DEEP RUNS

2009-03-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Tournament 1: NLHE, 5 dollar buy-in & 584 entrants. $2,000 Guaranteed Prize-pool.
Tournament 2: NLHE, 25 dollar buy-in & 135 entrants. Double-stack event.

That was the line-up for the day. As I hinted in my last post, I made deep runs in both of them and played well for the most part. A few hand histories coming up – you be the judge.
A general note first though. I’ve been doing some thinking about what my general edge in tournaments is. Obviously, I think I’m better than the average player – otherwise I might as well flush the buy-in down the toilet, but that aside, I doubt I’d be able to put a number on my ‘skill level’ if I tried. Does it really matter? Well, probably not, but sometimes I like to boost myself a little bit, before going into battle and reminding myself that at a 10-handed table, at least say… 6 other players are worse than I am, oftentimes does the trick!

Having just written the above paragraph and knowing that mates of mine might be reading this, I just realized how pleased I am that I didn’t start talking about my skill level OUT-LOUD! Make no mistake, had I done so in their vicinity – at least 99% of them would be either rolling on the floor laughing or barking ‘BULLSHIT’ behind muffled coughs. That’s just good-natured needling and part of how we roll. So many tiers of irony and sarcasm, you wouldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t have it any other way though.

Last thought on skill-level needed when playing MTTs. This might seem radical to some, might just seem stupid to others, but consider this: If you are consistently the second-worst player at any table, but the best at identifying and exploiting the worst player, you should have a theoretically sound chance of finishing 9th in every tournament you play. Right? Talk about random thoughts…

So, I played the aforementioned two tournaments. Just went through my hand histories and I saw a total of 185 hands in the $5 tourney and 213 hands in the $25 tourney. Won’t bore you with all the hands, but here are a few interesting ones:

NLHE, 5dollar. Standard online tourney which starts me off with 1500 chips and 10/20 blinds. I raise good hands during the first two levels, but don’t get much action and it’s not until the third level (20/40) that I find a good spot. With 1415 in my stack I open AdQh to 110 in MP+2 and am called by the dealer and both blinds.

Pot 440, FLOP: 6d-Ac-9c

Check to me and I bet 280, roughly 2/3 of the pot. The dealer, who started the hand with 1870 in chips, now moves all-in and the blinds fold. Without a very specific read, there’s no way I’m ever folding here and the fact that there’s a flushdraw out there helps. I call, he shows Ah3c which doesn’t hit. A very easy double early in the tournament.

For a long time, nothing interesting happens. I’m not getting out-of-line and because of my early double I have absolutely no reason to. During the 40/80 level I raise two queens to 220 from UTG, get two callers and take it down on the J-high flop. No tough decisions required.
I do get a little lucky during that same level, as not too long after the queens, I find myself in the HJ with two jacks. UTG minraises and it folds to me. I hate this spot. The UTG raise completely polarizes his range (at least in my experience) and I have no idea what to do with my hand. As a result, I just call the 160. It then folds to the BB who moves all-in for 3900 (covers both of us) and UTG SNAP-calls with his stack of 1600. It’s on me and I have an easy fold, guessing the BB is in big trouble. Turns out it’s the BB who’s got the kings, whereas UTG must’ve thought he was picking off a steal, as he shows a measly Ad7h. (Note: Wouldn’t have put A7 in the UTG’s range and have decided to chalk it up to poor play – just because I don’t know what else to do with it, but I’ll be aware of it in the future).

By the time we get to the 60/120 level, my stack is still hovering around 3K with no interesting confrontations to write home about. I then face another UTG minraise:
I’m UTG+1 with QhJh and again I just call the 240. MP+1 calls as well, as does the BB. 4 players:

Pot 1020, FLOP: Ah-Qc-8h

The original raiser checks to me and I remember checking my stack at this point. Only in the last few months have I become more aware of my bet-sizing and what opportunities you can create for yourself by calculating what one bet will leave you with, stack-wise, for subsequent streets. After the flop I had 2820 in my stack and was getting ready to bet. Since I might not have the best hand on the flop, I figured I might also need a substantial bet (close to the pot) for the turn, if I’m called on the flop and don’t make my hand. Incidentally, my ‘usual’ flop c-bet would be 2/3 of the pot and that worked out nicely here too. By betting 660, I was leaving myself with 2160 for the turn, which – if called by 1 player – would represent approx 90% of the pot. MP+1 decided to tag along as the only one.

POT 2340, TURN: 6h

It’s always nice to get there, but in this spot I was so ready to jam my stack on a semi-bluff, that I really didn’t know what to do with a made hand. My days of playing Omaha eventually took over, meaning I stuck it all in there anyway. It has the added value of actually looking like an all-in-desperation-bluff, which is sometimes rewarded in low-stakes-MTTs. In this case it was – MP+1 thought for a little bit and called me with Ac10h. Stack afterwards: 6660.
Jumping ahead to 125/250/a25 after a few uneventful levels, I find “that one big hand” which all of a sudden catapults me up towards the chiplead. My stack has at this point grown into approx 10K:

UTG limps with 3700 behind and it folds to me on the HJ with 8c9c. Up until this point, the table has been quite acquiescent towards EP limpers, creating limp-festivals. With that reasoning, I decide to limp behind with my suited connector. The CO, who just covers me, comes along and it folds to the BB who checks. 4 players:

POT 1375, FLOP: 4c-8h-9h

I’m obviously loving this flop, but hadn’t quite counted on getting as much action as I did. BB leads for 1350, UTG calls and now it’s on me. The pot is an awkward 4075 and I’ve got roughly 9500 – again a spot where I’m not quite sure of myself. Stick it all-in now because I’m getting it in no matter what happens, or raise a little bit because there’s value in letting them come over the top of me? Still don’t know. I end up making it 4000 to go and then something unexpected happens. The CO, next to act, moves all-in. BB folds, UTG calls and I… well, also call hoping for the best.

UTG shows: JhJs - CO shows: Ah10h. Just checked the odds calculator and those two hands combined are approximately 50% versus my hand. Guess I only needed positive equity against the CO, but still – should/could I have played this differently? Think I’d have to do the same thing if faced with a similar situation. As you might have guessed, board bricks out and a little more than 25K in chips slide my way.

At blind level 300/600/a100 it folds to me on the button with 9s7d, I raise to 1800 and the BB calls. I c-bet 3200 on the 5sJhQs flop, he moves all-in and I have to fold. Not happy with this play. I had been opening quite a few pots and should have known that somebody was bound to play back at me soon – 9,7 offsuit just isn’t good enough for me to go into battle with.
More patient but boring tournament play for the next few levels and by the time we reach 500/1000/a100 I’m sitting on circa 20K in chips. On the button I pick up AhKd. The CO, who covers me, makes it 3000 – I reraise all-in and the BB calls all-in for a little less than 10K. CO folds, I’m up against 7h7s and win, when I flop an ace. Stack is now 35K.

We’re now down to two tables in the tournament and I pick a weird line in this next hand.
Blinds 800/1600/a160. I’m the SB with 4c4h. We’re 8-handed and 1 before the HJ raises preflop to 4800. I’ve got 32K and he covers me. I’m the only caller.

POT 12480, FLOP: 4d-5h-Kh

Basically, GIN! What SHOULD my thought process be in this hand??

A: “Down to 16 in the tourney, you’ve flopped a huge hand, just check it to the other guy and hope he bets. You’re not afraid of giving away free cards, cause he’ll probably bet draws anyway.”

B: “If you lead into him now, he’ll probably remember that you did the exact same thing 133 hands ago against that other guy, who called you down all the way and picked off your ridiculous bluff, wherefore it would make the most reverse-opposite sense for you to bet out now and completely throw him off. In fact, it is almost guaranteed that he is an absolute maniac, even though he hasn’t shown that yet, but against you he probably will be – cause they’re ALL out to get you – so hurry up and bet into the guy, so that he can push all-in with his hand that most likely hasn’t hit anything”.
I bet 7500, he folded and I felt like an idiot.

I didn’t make the final table in this tournament, but not much I could’ve done: Still 8-handed but with blinds at 1000/2000/a200, I pick up AdKd UTG+1 and make my standard raise to 6000. The CO who was nursing a 6BB stack moves all-in and a little surprisingly the SB (who covers me) just calls. When it gets back to me, I re-shove my stack for 33,200 total. SB now folds and
I’m racing against two red jacks. He makes a set on the flop and wins the hand.

After this hand, I was still left with a little more than 21K, which wasn’t too bad at that point. However, the tables had just been balanced, we were now 7-handed AND the blinds had just gone up to 1250/2500/a250. When I saw a pair of 5’s UTG I insta-shoved. Guess that should be standard when your M is slightly less than 8, but it still hurts when the SB calls with AQ and you go out in 14th place.

The NLHE 25dollar tournament I played simultaneously and ended up coming 13th there. I busted almost at the exact same time as the 5dollar tourney and also here my final hand was a small pair not holding up against two overcards. I’ll get there eventually, but the Aussie Millions is still quite far away.

Starting bankroll: USD 4,991.90
Session result: USD +32.32
New bankroll: USD 5,024.22
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 305

Until next time. Thanks for reading.

Challenge details

2009-03-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

Well, ladies and gentlemen – I suppose we’re now officially ’off’, what with my first poker-related entry posted online for all to see and this third entry overall being composed right now. I’m currently at home, sitting in the office/guest room of my Sydney apartment. My girlfriend and I just returned from something as mundane as grocery shopping which also included stopping by the bottle shop for a bottle of white wine and a six-pack of “Hahn Super Dry – Premium Low Carb Beer” – one of which is now right next to me. I guess the ‘low carb’ bit is slightly gay, but to me the stuff tastes just as good as the beer-gut-inducing alternative, so what the hell.

The unaccompanied beer-drinking is new to me and not something I aim to pursue in any way, but when I went to get the white wine, it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of decision. I guess I’m looking to move away from only picking some up, when I know that mates of mine are coming by to get wasted! I’ll be 29 this winter (that’s actually ‘summer’ to all of you in the northern hemisphere) and I feel it’s only natural the way my beer consumption has evened itself out over the past few years. Not nearly as often do I find myself downing 10 bottles on a single night, whereas having one from time to time at home - “just ‘cause” - happens more regularly.

Back to the figurative felt. Initially, I promised you all a bit more information about myself, as well as some more detail on the rules that I’ve laid down for this challenge. As others before me have done quite well in establishing frameworks for similar things, I’ll be courteously steeling from them. Here are the ground rules:

I will start with a bankroll of USD 5,000.00 and my overall goal will be to grow that bankroll into enough money for me to buy into the main event + all preliminary events at the Aussie Millions 2010. I will be playing ONLY sit’n’gos and MTTs – NO cash games. Cash games have been and will always be my poison, but I have never done well in them on a consistent basis. Whether they’ve made me a better poker player, I don’t know. I’ve read stuff from some people who might make that case, but I’ve never known exactly what the facts behind that specific argument are.

Limitations: I am sticking to the 100 buy-in rule as a BARE minimum but in the strictest fashion, meaning a USD 50+5 tournament is currently not within my reach, as that would require a balance of 5500 dollars. Same thing applies to rebuy tournaments, as I’ll probably be getting into a few of those. If I choose to play 20+2 rebuy, I am currently allowed either 1 rebuy or 1 addon, but definitely not both (meaning, I won't be playing any for the time being). Bankroll management has never been my forte, so in order for this to succeed, I’ll be getting tough on myself about this – absolutely no exceptions. Moreover, never more than 3 tables at a time. Each time I’ve tried multi-tasking to the tune of 4, 5 or even 6 tables, my results have suffered severely. Don’t have it in me – at least not yet, so none of that. Finally, NO TURBO tournaments! They’re just crapshoots anyway and if that’s what I wanted; the Sydney Star City Casino is only a 10-minute walk away.

Another guideline I’ve decided on, includes posting progress reports/random blog rants (dependant on my mood at the time) at least twice a week. I have no intention of posting play-by-plays all the time (so fret not!), but will try to do so once in a while if people find them interesting. Also, they are a good way for me to analyze how I’m playing (edit: what I’m doing wrong!) – so perhaps you’ll be seeing more than ‘just a few’ in the months to come.

Guess that wraps that up. My next entry has pretty much written itself already. I just played two tournaments side-by-side (starting approx 10 minutes apart) and proceeded to go deep in both of them – more to come.

Thanks for reading.

FIRST ACTION

2009-03-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

Let’s get down to business right away – I might fill you in on some of the questions I posed in my intro-post a little later, but this is supposed to be about poker, so off we go.The challenge was just waiting for me, so I got stuck right in, playing a couple of tables at a time, with my action spread out over SNGs and MTTs. Here’s a breakdown of what I played and how I did:

a) $3 - Turbo Rebuy, MTT (Finished 34 of 96)
b) $5 - Freezeout, MTT (Finished 26 of 109)
c) 3 x $10 SNG, 10-player (Finished 5th, 6th and 7th respectively)
d) 1 x $10 SNG ‘Double Stack’, 10-player (Finished 1st)
e) 1 x $10 SNG, ‘Double Stack’, 6- player (Finished 1st)

I played one more tournament, a NLHE $3 Rebuy with only 32 entries. Since this is my first playing-related post and since I actually went ‘deep’ in that tournament, I thought I’d try to relay a play-by-play for you here.

Wow, what a poor showing of me in the first 3 levels. I instant rebuy like I always do and then proceed to donate chips, as if I’m UNICEF and I’ve found myself at a table with Somalia, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. I raise KcQd from late position during the third level and both blinds come along. First decent hand I’ve played so far – up until then it’s been all about reraising 5h8h from the blinds (cause I ”knew” the cut-off was a poser) only for him to move all-in and embarass the crap out of my reading abilities. Anyway, flop is Jc8c4d and the SB leads with a pot-bet. Wow. Are u kidding me? This was my c-bet-take-it-down opportunity. That is about as annoying as a kick to the groin. I curse the SB for being a twit and expertly muck my backdoor flush & straight draw.

Am still giving away chips here and there, but in general I’m just card-dead and a little steamed when I pick up 6h6s in the BB. Holy crap. A pocketpair. What to do, what to do. So many possibilities. Here we go boys. I’m sitting upright, ignoring my other tables and getting ready to do some serious set-mining (slightly obsessive at this point, talking to my screen, urging my fellow combatants to raise with 4's so that I might 'take them to school' hmmm...). We’re 8-handed and UTG+1 raises 11BB (E-LE-VEN, yeah that’s right) to 660, with 3400 behind. No reads at this point. It folds to me. I’ve got 60 invested, a stack of 2300 and hot air coming out of my ears. I call like a pro, while I hold my hand up in front of the screen and cover the flop. Piously, I start chanting for a six to have hit, while I click the check-button and wait for ‘Dr.11BB’ to make his move. He’s all-in for 3400 into a 1350 pot. My hand darts from the screen and I’m faced with 7dJc4s. ACE-KING!! It’s gotta be?!? My trigger-finger hits CALL like it’s on a mission and like the moron I am, I stare dumbfoundedly at two black nines. Of course it wasn’t AK. Time for my first double-rebuy.

40-80 level (4th) comes and goes pretty easily. Pick up KhQh in the BB and call a 4xBB raise from the SB with approximately 3000 in my stack. Thinking about it now, that should’ve been a reraise, but confidence was in short supply at the moment. Flop comes ace-high with a couple of spades and he pumps a pot-bet into me. I fold and pray to whomever is listening that a rush of cards might miraculously find its way to me.

We move to the 50-100 level before my prayers are answered. JACKS in the BB. I salute the screen and check my stack. 21BB. Perfect for shoving over an opening raise. Pleeeeeaaaaaaasssseeeee… somebody raise! UTG goes all in for 1200. Chi-ching! Folds to the SB-bigstack who comes over the top for 15K. Hmmm… Still think I need to call here. I basically only need to worry about the SB and only 3 hands beat me here. I call hoping for the best. UTG shows queens and SB shows 8’s. Starting strengths hold up and I start the next hand with 20BB. Even-Steven.

At this point I am absolutely cool as a cucumber. As levelheaded as a leek or something...ummm... less weird. Except I'm not. What is going on here? The robotic non-emotional poker playing persona that I aim to emulate is completely out the window. These guys aren't very good, it's a 3-dollar buyin for crying out loud and for some reason I am NOT in the midst of calculating how many percent of the total chips in play are in front of ME?! This cannot be. Ok. Easy now. Breathe. Just concentrate on the next hand. Play it optimally. Play it like a pro. No emotion. Nothing. Nada. Here we go...

In the SB. KhQd. DING-DING-DING!! Might as well have been aces at this point. We’re 6-handed, the cutoff raises to 300 and covers me. Easy. All-in-steal. He thinks for about 5 seconds and calls with AhJs. OH COME ON! What a sick donk-call! What is this guy thinking?!? I was clearly repping AK+ in that spot – how can he call?!? I do my very best Matusow impersonation, asking that the cards help me “ONE TIME”! No such luck. Board runs out 10-high.
Rebuy at this point or simply let it go? Normally a question I’d actually ask myself, but in this case it was never an issue. Another $6.60 into the tournament with my INSTANTANEOUS double-rebuy. Buys me 30BBs and at this level, that’s gotta be +EV, right? “Shrek, have you seen donkey? Yeah, he’s right here.” Meehh…

I don’t have to wait long before I find a new spot to get involved. Still sixhanded and still 50/100. UTG min-raises, next guy flats and in the next seat is me with Ad10s. I also elect to just call and for some inexplicable reason, both blinds fold. Flop is: 3dAs9d and UTG bets 100 into the 600 pot. The guy on my right calls and now it’s up to me. I make it 500 total, which in hindsight probably should’ve been a bit more. UTG is the only one to call. Turn: 8h and now he leads with 1100. I vomit – just a little – and then reraise allin, only 1200 more. He snaps and shows 8s9h. (*sigh*) Before I get to scream obscenities at the screen, the 10 of hearts floats vaporously in on the river.

Vindication is upon me. The tides are turning and in a weak moment of vanity, I lift up my right arm and kiss my own bicep. Oh yeah, the bicep pulled through on that one baby! I feel like I’ve just had an 8-hour nap followed by an icy-cold shower. I am BACK! 6450 in my stack and the cards are favouring me. I am Rick James! Bring it bitches!

A few hands later, last blindlevel before the addon and I call a cut-off raise with ace-jack offsuit from the SB. Flop comes king-high and as naturally as ever, I bet 300 into the 540 pot and the CO insta-mucks. I just knew. Simple as that. Some times you just know.Same type of scenario next hand I play. 6-handed with 60/120 blinds. I’m the CO. HJ minraises and I call with Ah7h. Dealer and BB come along as well. Flop comes down: 10hQh2d (1020 pot). As soon as I see it, I know what has to happen. BB checks, original raiser pumps a pot-bet in there with 6700 behind and I jam my stack with my conceivable 12-outer. Two folds and the original raiser tanks. When he finishes reading my soul, he decides to call with Qc9c. I’m not even close to breaking a sweat. I’m just waiting for the fat lady – HIS fat lady, that is. The turn bricks, but the river is (obviously!) the 3h and suddenly I’m sitting pretty with a 16,4K stack. BOO-YAH!

From here on, I start picking up a lot of uncontested pots. Usually preflop, but if not – a continuation bet seems to do the trick. Am not bullying too hard, but am finding it natural to raise with K,8 suited and similar hands. The first interesting spot comes up after the addon and break.

5-handed, 80/160. My stack approx 18K. I’m in the BB with Qh6s. Villain is UTG with a 12K stack. Villain limps, folds to SB who completes. I check.

Flop: Qc9s7h. I check-call a 240 bet, while the SB folds. No need to get out of line just yet. Turn: 6c. Hmmm, if I was behind on the flop, I have now… ahem… ’outsmarted’ him. I check and hope he bets. Another small bet, this time 480. His range is pretty wide here I think, but I’m liking my two pair and make it 1280 total. He calls fairly quickly. River: 2s. Good card – I think. At least all the draws missed, unless he’s in there smiling with 10c8c and is just waiting to ankle-whip me. Pot is 3520 and I elect to bet 2100. If he comes over the top, I’m folding, but some hands might still pay me off here. He calls and shows Qs4s! Had him all along and never knew it… My stack just keeps on growing.

Having been 5-handed for quite a while, our table finally breaks and I find myself as one of the big-stacks at a new 9-handed table. My very first hand I pick up AsQh one off the HJ and inexplicably decide to misplay my hand like a complete moron. UTG limps (80/160) and I raise it to 450 total (again, not enough). BB calls as does UTG. (Pot 1430) Flop: 2h9cJc. Checks to me and I c-bet 1100. Standard until here I think, except that 1000 would’ve sufficed on the flop. UTG calls. (Pot 3630) Turn: 3s. He checks again and I fire once more, 2500 this time. He calls quickly. Now, something is wrong. I have absolute no idea what his range is, cause I’m not even considering it. I’m ashamed to say that I’m playing level1-thinking-poker at this point, focusing only on trying to “buy” the pot, without a clear thought process to back me up. This epiphany dawns on me, just after my bet on the turn. By the time the river hits, I have no clue what to do.

River: Ks. He checks to me again and mysteriously I see the mouse go for the bet-sizing button. I bet 5500 and he instantly comes over the top for the rest of his chips. There I sit, facing an additional 4000 chips to call, which I can’t. I fold and experience one of those moments in poker, where one is absolutely humbled by just how little it takes to COMPLETELY make an ass out of yourself at the table.

For obvious reasons, the effects of this hand are not pretty. All of a sudden I’m off again – raising when I shouldn’t, calling when I definitely shouldn’t and generally just bleeding chips. It takes me a few levels to recover and when I get involved again, it’s with a dismal 4800 stack and blinds at 125/250/a25. We’re 8-handed and I’m UTG+2 with JdQs. UTG limps, 1 fold, I limp, folds to the SB who completes and the BB checks. (Pot 1200) Flop: 5s6hJh. SB leads for 250, it folds to me and I’m just contemplating how I can get the rest of my chips in the pot. I make it 1250 to go and after a moment’s consideration, he calls. Pot is now 3700 and the turn is: 7c. The SB immediately pushes his 14K stack towards the middle… NOT AGAIN… *sigh*. I don’t know what to think. The rollercoaster ride this tournament has been so far has got me besides myself. Call? Why not… guess I can still suck out if I need to.

SB shows 6c4s. Oh great… He has a straight. Hang on! No he doesn’t! He’s got a pair and a draw… I’m ahead! The river solidifies my VIC-TO-RY with a queen and I see a little more than 10K being shipped my way. We might just make something of this yet… Tighten up your open-raising range. Don’t just call – raise. Put the pressure on the other guys. Play well for fucks sake! My gameplan is on.

A couple of hands later I pick up two red jacks again, this time in the SB. I feel calm – like I’m in the zone. Almost ready to fold them, if I encounter too much resistance. 8-handed, blinds still 125/250/a25. Villain covers me. 3 folds before the HJ and CO both limp. When it reaches me I decided there’s no need to fool around here and make it 2000 to go, hoping to take it down now instead of having to play out of position. The HJ is having none of it and calls. (Pot 4700) Flop: 7dKs6c. 10-high flop? What is that? – a freaking urban legend? I swear to the G-man, I’ve never seen one while holding Jacks! FUCK! I bet 2800 and prepare myself for the all-in move. He folds. Hmmm… Now that was a nice surprise.

For several orbits things become pretty standard. Raise with 2h2c and fold after not flopping anything. Raise with Ad8d and c-bet the 9-high flop to take it down. Even raise KdQh from early position, get called by both blinds and then proceed to win the hand after checking down a board of Ac2cAh 3c 3h. Whaddayaknow – stranger things have happened I guess. Which leads me to this next hand:

I’m in the BB with QdJh, 6-handed with blinds at 250/500/a50. The CO min-raises and I’m the only one who calls. We both check the Ks5s7d flop. Turn is Ad and I check again. Now he bets 1275. That does seem remarkably small considering the potsize. I think he recognizes the Ace as a great bluffing-card and is just trying to take it down. I call, before thinking things through. The river is 3c. Great. Now what do I do. I was so reliant on my read that I just called instead of considering the best course of action. He probably doesn’t have an ace, but my hand doesn’t have huge showdown potential either. I think villain has a baby-pair here a lot of the time, meaning I’ve painted myself into a corner. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Only thing to do is bet, I guess. Stick with my read. I bet out a paltry 2500 and he insta-mucks! “Cehhh-le-brate good times, COME ON!”

Again, things return to ‘standard play’. I raise enough to stay afloat, don’t encounter too much resistance and when I do, I fold without losing too much. All of a sudden, we’re down to the final table. I’m a top-3 stack at the table and with antes in play, the big stacks are stealing left, right and center. I take my fair share. Sometimes with 6c7d and sometimes with queens – point is, the short stacks are just biding their time. I don’t get too many spots to pick off any of the smaller stacks, the others do that for me, until I pick up AdKs in the BB. As if on cue, a 12BB stack moves in from under the gun. I call, he shows AcJd, flops a jack, but I turn a straight and now we’re down to 4.

From this point, everything slows to a simmering pace. Top-3 are money spots, number 4 receives diddly-squat and it’s beginning to show. Everyone seems intent on pocketing a 24-dollar payday! I try to pull the trigger on the passiveness, but pick up very few playable hands and when I do see K,9 offsuit, someone feels the need to play back at me. Bad timing I guess. This goes on for several blind levels and my once big-stack is reduced to a meager average, boasting an impressive 16BBs.

Karma gets the better of me in the end, when I pick up AcJh and raise to 4000 from UTG (Blinds 1600/3200/a160). As has been the case so often before at this final table, an opening raise usually elicits 3 folds. The first 2 muck as planned, but the BB has a new gameplan and pushes all-in for 8BBs. He’s been playing tight, but so has everyone else. I just don’t think I’m that good. I can’t fold AJ in this spot. Not after having played 4-handed for so long. He’s pushing a lot of pairs here, right? A lot of coinflips which I should be prepared to take, right? Crap – don’t know what the ‘right’ move here would have been. Anyway, I call and stare AK in the face. No 3-outer and I’m reduced to 5-6BBs. When I do push those in (very next hand), holding Kh8d, I get called by 3s9s (?) who ends up making a flush.

So, there you have it. My first post in this series. More to come soon, hopefully depicting better play than was the case in what you just read. Will need to if Aussie Millions 2010 is to become a reality!

Starting bankroll: USD 5,000.00
1st session result: USD -8.10
New bankroll: USD 4,991.90
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 307

INTRO

2009-03-25T16:39:00.000-07:00

TEASER/INTRO

This will be my first attempt at writing on a continual basis, which in itself I find a bit intimidating. Let’s not even get into the predicament of having to come up with something at least mildly interesting each time I write or worrying about writing it well – no, it’s the scheduled consistency that’s got me freaked out a little bit!

Starting with a bankroll of USD 5000, it is the undersigned’s ambition to win enough money to buy into the main event + all preliminary events at the Aussie Millions 2010. By my very rough calculations this should come to approx. AUD 18K or in the region of 12 thousand US dollars.

Who I am, what my poker-playing experience up until this point is, my age, what the ‘rules’ for this challenge are, why I’m posting here as well as details of my first MTTs and sit’n’gos played, will be the source of my next posting.

More to come soon. Watch this space.

Thanks for reading.