My client told me this was all like a movie. I'm not sure if I've ever seen any second of my life that way, but maybe I just have a bad memory or haven't seen enough movies.
Winning doesn't feel nearly as good as losing would have felt bad.
Poker's horrible. Just lost 3 way aipf - Full Tilt Poker Game #10351246880: $2 + $0.25 Sit & Go (78321026), Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:01:16 ET - 2009/01/31Seat 1: oldnumber75 (1,370)Seat 2: actzeng (1,440)Seat 4: jscsr (1,130)Seat 5: shoogun62 (3,225)Seat 6: theKEBAB (1,536)Seat 7: berktug (662)Seat 8: baronbludmaggot (2,723)Seat 9: bjto (1,414)bjto posts the small blind of 20oldnumber75 posts the big blind of 40The button is in seat #8*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to actzeng [Qc Ah]actzeng has 15 seconds left to actactzeng calls 40jscsr calls 40shoogun62 foldstheKEBAB foldsberktug raises to 662, and is all inbaronbludmaggot calls 662bjto foldsoldnumber75 foldsactzeng raises to 1,440, and is all injscsr foldsbaronbludmaggot calls 778actzeng shows [Qc Ah]berktug shows [Kc 6s]baronbludmaggot shows [Ad 7c]*** FLOP *** [8d Th 9h]*** TURN *** [8d Th 9h] [4d]*** RIVER *** [8d Th 9h 4d] [7d]actzeng shows Ace Queen highbaronbludmaggot shows a pair of Sevensbaronbludmaggot wins the side pot (1,556) with a pair of Sevensberktug shows a straight, Ten highberktug wins the main pot (2,086) with a straight, Ten highactzeng stands up
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Impending doom
I have what is probably going to be the biggest trial of my career on Wednesday, so won't be grinding at the tables too long, and probably won't be playing any games in the $5 zone. Will play some probably late at nights as I have been, maybe the $1 turbo after working, but gotta keep the eyes on the prize.
It's probably tied as the biggest trial because it's the same client as my other big trial, and he was looking at significant jail time after conviction anyway. I have a ton of stuff to do and will probably work through the weekend.
Played the wicked chops freeroll, and it turned out kinda funny. Grinded, grinded, grinded for a while. The field was about 1400 players or so, so I knew it was going to take forever. With 90 left, I was second, and I decided at that point, since I couldn't play the Borgata ME anyway, that I was just done and blew all my chips away.
To be fair, I had said that a few times, shoved with the worst hand, and kept hitting cards, which is the only reason I was in second anyway. It was late, and I either had to work or sleep, so I worked, then slept.
It's probably tied as the biggest trial because it's the same client as my other big trial, and he was looking at significant jail time after conviction anyway. I have a ton of stuff to do and will probably work through the weekend.
Played the wicked chops freeroll, and it turned out kinda funny. Grinded, grinded, grinded for a while. The field was about 1400 players or so, so I knew it was going to take forever. With 90 left, I was second, and I decided at that point, since I couldn't play the Borgata ME anyway, that I was just done and blew all my chips away.
To be fair, I had said that a few times, shoved with the worst hand, and kept hitting cards, which is the only reason I was in second anyway. It was late, and I either had to work or sleep, so I worked, then slept.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
New Sensation
INXS album.
SNGS went badly. That last $5 game I played, I RRAI with JJ pre, and got called by AK, and he flopped a K. Sick of playing the same games, I decided to get stupid. I got in a Razz cash game at the min stakes, sat with $5, got a ton of good cards, and ran it up to $13. It started badly, but got much better, thanks to the cards.
Look, that's nothing for most people, but puts me in the "good day" column when that happens.
Also, HU PLO has been non-existent. Been playing HU NLHE which has been going pretty well (despite the fact I know I'm jinxing myself). Just got lucky the last game. I had KK, raised, he called. Flop is 775, and we get it all in right there. He turns over 55. I hit K on the river. WEEEEE.
Not gonna make myself a cash razz regular or anything, but thought it was fun and interesting to sit at. Definitely going to keep it in mind when I want to switch things up. Hopefully, I don't start playing it willy-nilly, as I have a tendency to do, and have it lose its entertainment value.
Basically, I played $5 - didn't have to throw it all in at any moment, and got to see a lot of cards turn over. Seems like an ok deal.
Playing a super satellite to the 20-20 right now. Buy in is $2, and the top three get the $5.50 buy-in for the satellite. Don't know why I'm playing this. If I get the satellite seat, I will probably just turn it into tourney bucks since I probably won't be able to play the 20/20 anyway.
SNGS went badly. That last $5 game I played, I RRAI with JJ pre, and got called by AK, and he flopped a K. Sick of playing the same games, I decided to get stupid. I got in a Razz cash game at the min stakes, sat with $5, got a ton of good cards, and ran it up to $13. It started badly, but got much better, thanks to the cards.
Look, that's nothing for most people, but puts me in the "good day" column when that happens.
Also, HU PLO has been non-existent. Been playing HU NLHE which has been going pretty well (despite the fact I know I'm jinxing myself). Just got lucky the last game. I had KK, raised, he called. Flop is 775, and we get it all in right there. He turns over 55. I hit K on the river. WEEEEE.
Not gonna make myself a cash razz regular or anything, but thought it was fun and interesting to sit at. Definitely going to keep it in mind when I want to switch things up. Hopefully, I don't start playing it willy-nilly, as I have a tendency to do, and have it lose its entertainment value.
Basically, I played $5 - didn't have to throw it all in at any moment, and got to see a lot of cards turn over. Seems like an ok deal.
Playing a super satellite to the 20-20 right now. Buy in is $2, and the top three get the $5.50 buy-in for the satellite. Don't know why I'm playing this. If I get the satellite seat, I will probably just turn it into tourney bucks since I probably won't be able to play the 20/20 anyway.
Trying to Think
Always thought that would be a great name for an album.
I've been wading through the bad beats. Limped with AA once, got two callers, flop is KT3, I bet, raised, all in, he has T3. Stuff like that. I learn my lesson. This is just one big lesson. I won't win every time, but it should be ok, as long as I continue to find the right level of aggression.
Basically been up and down. Should have made bigger scores in the $2 SNGs I've been playing, but again - the bad beats. Playing a $5 right now. Amazing how much more money the $5 games are worth by comparison. And, how much more they suck to lose.
For some reason, FTP's Iron Man calculated that I earned 200 FTP points yesterday. I did not earn close to that much, nor could I, nor did they credit me with those points. Will still try to qualify for the one-a-day freeroll, since I'm very close.
Signed up for a Borgata ME seat in a freeroll that's tomorrow night. It's through wicked chops (thanks guys!). Couple things that kind of suck - even if I win, I will not be able to play in the actual main event due to my trial on Wednesday. Other than that - thanks guys!
I think the runners up get professional DJ headphones, which would probably be awesome for jamming around the kit.
I've been wading through the bad beats. Limped with AA once, got two callers, flop is KT3, I bet, raised, all in, he has T3. Stuff like that. I learn my lesson. This is just one big lesson. I won't win every time, but it should be ok, as long as I continue to find the right level of aggression.
Basically been up and down. Should have made bigger scores in the $2 SNGs I've been playing, but again - the bad beats. Playing a $5 right now. Amazing how much more money the $5 games are worth by comparison. And, how much more they suck to lose.
For some reason, FTP's Iron Man calculated that I earned 200 FTP points yesterday. I did not earn close to that much, nor could I, nor did they credit me with those points. Will still try to qualify for the one-a-day freeroll, since I'm very close.
Signed up for a Borgata ME seat in a freeroll that's tomorrow night. It's through wicked chops (thanks guys!). Couple things that kind of suck - even if I win, I will not be able to play in the actual main event due to my trial on Wednesday. Other than that - thanks guys!
I think the runners up get professional DJ headphones, which would probably be awesome for jamming around the kit.
Monday, January 19, 2009
sick of this shit
Full Tilt Poker Game #10139006975: $1 Tournament (76770069), Table 8 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:48:59 ET - 2009/01/19Seat 1: TNT6963 (3,480)Seat 2: deekurt26 (1,940), is sitting outSeat 3: StokoVitan (2,310)Seat 4: hiscorpion (4,580)Seat 5: actzeng (1,615)Seat 6: Wilder07 (1,820)Seat 7: mcoffey26 (5,590)Seat 8: Shiera (12,215)Seat 9: cheffe1311 (645)deekurt26 posts the small blind of 100StokoVitan posts the big blind of 200The button is in seat #1*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to actzeng [Ac Ad]hiscorpion foldsactzeng raises to 400Wilder07 foldsdeekurt26 has returnedmcoffey26 raises to 600Shiera foldscheffe1311 foldsTNT6963 foldsdeekurt26 raises to 1,940, and is all inStokoVitan foldsactzeng calls 1,215, and is all inmcoffey26 calls 1,340deekurt26 shows [Qc Ah]actzeng shows [Ac Ad]mcoffey26 shows [Jh Jd]*** FLOP *** [4s Js Th]*** TURN *** [4s Js Th] [Kc]*** RIVER *** [4s Js Th Kc] [3d]deekurt26 shows a straight, Ace highmcoffey26 shows three of a kind, Jacksdeekurt26 wins the side pot (650) with a straight, Ace highactzeng shows a pair of Acesdeekurt26 wins the main pot (5,045) with a straight, Ace highactzeng stands up*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 5,695 Main pot 5,045. Side pot 650. Rake 0Board: [4s Js Th Kc 3d]Seat 1: TNT6963 (button) didn't bet (folded)Seat 2: deekurt26 (small blind) showed [Qc Ah] and won (5,695) with a straight, Ace highSeat 3: StokoVitan (big blind) folded before the FlopSeat 4: hiscorpion didn't bet (folded)Seat 5: actzeng showed [Ac Ad] and lost with a pair of AcesSeat 6: Wilder07 didn't bet (folded)Seat 7: mcoffey26 showed [Jh Jd] and lost with three of a kind, JacksSeat 8: Shiera didn't bet (folded)Seat 9: cheffe1311 didn't bet (folded)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
PLO has been a nightmare
Geesh. Absolutely getting crushed in the PLO. I think I have lost quite a bit of patience with that game. Will stick to NLHE for the time being.
Yesterday was sooooo close to being a really good day. A flip or two here or there and it would have been sweet.
I did take down a $5, and I just took down a $2 (before again losing in PLO).
I will try to play the $1 tourneys today, although not sure if I have a ton of time.
Yesterday was sooooo close to being a really good day. A flip or two here or there and it would have been sweet.
I did take down a $5, and I just took down a $2 (before again losing in PLO).
I will try to play the $1 tourneys today, although not sure if I have a ton of time.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
TOTAL FUCKING FAILURE
I am a total failure tonight.
Dropped both SNGs and a HU PLO game. So disappointing.
Dropped both SNGs and a HU PLO game. So disappointing.
That hand will stay with me
I've been thinking about it more and more, and I think that hand will stay with me for a while. Mostly because I feel like I should have or could have folded. With that much action before me, and I'm risking all of my chips, and I can't just see a flop - I'm handcuffed. Then again, very few hands have me beat. I wonder if I made the right play. At the same time, I think I could have climbed the money ladder a bit by steering clear. Anything top 3 would have been a great boost. That is what I was really gunning for. 7th was kind of a waste.
I also played the $1 at 4pm very tough. I was basically on the bubble from 150 players in. 90 got paid, and I was hanging around 90-95, pretty much the entire time. I had almost nothing when the bubble burst, and I was in like 88th place out of 90. Despite that, I made a comeback and kept fighting and made it all the way to 33rd place. Not a great finish, but considering where I was, I consider it an accomplishment. I was getting low and the blinds were huge, and I picked up KJss in mid pos and shipped it. I think blinds were like 600/1200 with antes and I had about 5k left. I got called by A4, and on the river, a K, J or spade would have got me there and I missed.
It was a grueling day of play for not very much money, but one I think I made some real progress in game-wise. Just being that low in both tourneys and coming back to not only cash but make a real run is (hopefully) something I'll remember that I have the ability to do. Nam Le's interview with cardplayer is a good example of this. I respect Nam's game a lot. I forget who it was - Shannon Shorr I think, who said in his blog that he was blown away by Nam when they sat at the same table. Nam talked about how important it was to value your tournament life and how his experience of being able to come all the way back from a short stack to win events guides his decisions at the table.
I may do these 180-man tables more often, although it still took more than three hours to finish in 7th. Usually, when I have time to play MTTs though there is a $1 tourney available.
Also, instead of winning the FTP hat, they've credited my account with about 1500 FTP points. I always use these to win tourney dollars because I can't create enough FTP points to buy any of the ultra-cool schwag that they have available.
I may enter one 1800 FTP point SNG where top three get a $26 token. I think this probably has the best value. However, the $26 token cannot be turned into cash or split up like tourney dollars, so even if I win, it will likely just sit in my chashier like the $75 token.
The other alternative is to play the 275 FTP point satellites to the Daily Double. I have won this a few times (at least four). I usually use my FTPs to play this. It's a standard 9 person turbo SNG and it is winner-take all. If I used all the points, I would be able to take shots at six of these. If I win two, it's pretty much just aso good as the $26 token - it will be ($24) - plus the added flexibility of being able to convert it to cash (yeah, right) or use them for other tourneys (much more likely). I'll see how I feel. Right now, I'm leaning towards the Daily Double route. Plus, the ridiculous possibility that I win all 6, it's $72 total!!! Thanks for the hat FTP!
I also played the $1 at 4pm very tough. I was basically on the bubble from 150 players in. 90 got paid, and I was hanging around 90-95, pretty much the entire time. I had almost nothing when the bubble burst, and I was in like 88th place out of 90. Despite that, I made a comeback and kept fighting and made it all the way to 33rd place. Not a great finish, but considering where I was, I consider it an accomplishment. I was getting low and the blinds were huge, and I picked up KJss in mid pos and shipped it. I think blinds were like 600/1200 with antes and I had about 5k left. I got called by A4, and on the river, a K, J or spade would have got me there and I missed.
It was a grueling day of play for not very much money, but one I think I made some real progress in game-wise. Just being that low in both tourneys and coming back to not only cash but make a real run is (hopefully) something I'll remember that I have the ability to do. Nam Le's interview with cardplayer is a good example of this. I respect Nam's game a lot. I forget who it was - Shannon Shorr I think, who said in his blog that he was blown away by Nam when they sat at the same table. Nam talked about how important it was to value your tournament life and how his experience of being able to come all the way back from a short stack to win events guides his decisions at the table.
I may do these 180-man tables more often, although it still took more than three hours to finish in 7th. Usually, when I have time to play MTTs though there is a $1 tourney available.
Also, instead of winning the FTP hat, they've credited my account with about 1500 FTP points. I always use these to win tourney dollars because I can't create enough FTP points to buy any of the ultra-cool schwag that they have available.
I may enter one 1800 FTP point SNG where top three get a $26 token. I think this probably has the best value. However, the $26 token cannot be turned into cash or split up like tourney dollars, so even if I win, it will likely just sit in my chashier like the $75 token.
The other alternative is to play the 275 FTP point satellites to the Daily Double. I have won this a few times (at least four). I usually use my FTPs to play this. It's a standard 9 person turbo SNG and it is winner-take all. If I used all the points, I would be able to take shots at six of these. If I win two, it's pretty much just aso good as the $26 token - it will be ($24) - plus the added flexibility of being able to convert it to cash (yeah, right) or use them for other tourneys (much more likely). I'll see how I feel. Right now, I'm leaning towards the Daily Double route. Plus, the ridiculous possibility that I win all 6, it's $72 total!!! Thanks for the hat FTP!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Total sickness
Played a 180 man $2 SNG. Was down to about 170 chips early and came back to make the final table. Played as the low stack from about 20 people on. Last hand was a huge flame out. I pick up KK in mid pos. Raise from UTG, RR all in by the guy next to him. I ponder-moved, and UTG called.
AK vs. 88 vs. KK.
Flop is good.
Turn, 8.
River A.
Cest la vie. Out in 7th.
AK vs. 88 vs. KK.
Flop is good.
Turn, 8.
River A.
Cest la vie. Out in 7th.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Ship the headwear!
I won an FTP hat. FTP ran an SNG madness promotion this weekend. Basically, you just have to win an SNG and then it enters you into a raffle for all kinds of prizes. The least valuable prize of course being the hat. I can't complain. It's free shit, and I won a $75 token before, which I still haven't used. I am waiting until I am broke before I spend it. I wish there was some way to chop that up.
I won 2 sng's this weekend (I think) over a shitstorm of losses. PLO is also not going well - and I'm probably going to stop playing it as aggressively. I think I'm running bad for the most part though. One guy made a despicable comeback against me, hitting hand, after hand, after hand.
MTTs went ok. Cashed in the Ferguson on Saturday - out in about 40th place or so out of 1300. I needed to get a little more aggressive deep. Effectively bubbled the $1 4pm tourney yesterday - out in about 150th with 108 or so getting paid. I overplayed AQ - faced a RR, and shipped it back, only to find I was completely demolished by AK, and was out. I didn't have to make that move at that time. Difficult though to lay it down when you're sitting around so long waiting for a hand.
Elena played int he $1 at 1. I was out shopping, and she busted in about 15 min. She wanted to try to impress me, which I thought was cute. She did run badly though. She had AQ on a Q-high flop, checked the flop. Check raised the turn (which I thought was a pretty good move), and then shipped the river, which of course was the only time in the hand she was losing when the opponent hit his gutshot straight. I think it's just bad luck. She played it funky, but was ahead until the end.
I'm still hanging around the $2 since things are going less than stellar right now. Would like to be able to be safely above a certain number in my BR before moving up to the $5's again, but, again, this is just putting artificial barriers on my play. The difference between where my BR is now and the level I want to get to is so superficially small that it makes absolutely zero sense not to start the $5 games (or to play them all the time). Maybe I'll play some $5's tonight and then sort it out later.
I won 2 sng's this weekend (I think) over a shitstorm of losses. PLO is also not going well - and I'm probably going to stop playing it as aggressively. I think I'm running bad for the most part though. One guy made a despicable comeback against me, hitting hand, after hand, after hand.
MTTs went ok. Cashed in the Ferguson on Saturday - out in about 40th place or so out of 1300. I needed to get a little more aggressive deep. Effectively bubbled the $1 4pm tourney yesterday - out in about 150th with 108 or so getting paid. I overplayed AQ - faced a RR, and shipped it back, only to find I was completely demolished by AK, and was out. I didn't have to make that move at that time. Difficult though to lay it down when you're sitting around so long waiting for a hand.
Elena played int he $1 at 1. I was out shopping, and she busted in about 15 min. She wanted to try to impress me, which I thought was cute. She did run badly though. She had AQ on a Q-high flop, checked the flop. Check raised the turn (which I thought was a pretty good move), and then shipped the river, which of course was the only time in the hand she was losing when the opponent hit his gutshot straight. I think it's just bad luck. She played it funky, but was ahead until the end.
I'm still hanging around the $2 since things are going less than stellar right now. Would like to be able to be safely above a certain number in my BR before moving up to the $5's again, but, again, this is just putting artificial barriers on my play. The difference between where my BR is now and the level I want to get to is so superficially small that it makes absolutely zero sense not to start the $5 games (or to play them all the time). Maybe I'll play some $5's tonight and then sort it out later.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
I forgot to add...
I exited out of the last blog post short because I had to head out. I meant to say that what I'm going to try and do is mix the $2 with the $5 games. When I'm running hot, basically try to double the bet and play the $5 games.
I won a $2 last night and lost a $5. The difference of play between the two tables was absolutely staggering. I did get lucky in the $2, but only a little bit. Once play got HU, I had about a 5-1 chiplead on the guy, we got it all in, I had 77, he had AA, and a 7 flopped, and it was over. I don't think I'm getting away from that hand either way.
In the $5, the guy two to my right had a profitable record in OPR, but also had an ironman icon on his avatar. I tried not to play pots with him. I went out, I think with QQ vs. A-rag on an A high flop. I could have folded and played with a 800 chip stack at 1-200 blinds, but the baby was crying, and it was time for bed, and I shoved. I could have played it better. Either way, the play was far, far better at that table.
I feel like I am getting a little better at identifying the "fold" spots in games. I'm still not doing a good enough job of extracting chips and making people stack off when I have a big hand. There were a few spots in the last few games where I made a big hand on the river and there was little or no aggression on any street. The bet on the river is tough to figure out at that point. I usually opt to bet for value, and pick a number that is likely to get called, usually less than half the pot. They usually call. The problem is, that they end up turning over a hand that is much stronger than I would have anticipated, which is not as good as mine, but probably would have called more. The situation usually occurs when blinds are relatively high and we're at the bubble or close to it. These are usually situations where people opt to call with a wide range of hands and try to hit, and pick up pots on the flop.
An example: I hold A6 os, Ac. Flop comes blanks, two clubs. Check check. Turn rag club, check check. I check here because I have nothing but A high, and he's calling with any pair. I can't bet too strong because he could also have a made flush, or some funky two pair. River is a club.
I have the nuts. Pot is about 800 or so, we are deep stacked ant it's 3 handed. I could just make some ridiculous all in bet hoping he was strong, OR, I could bet about 500-600 hoping for a call, or 200, getting an almost guaranteed call. I opted for about 550 and got called by the Kc.
Not sure how I can extract more money out of this guy without either betting at the pot when I don't have it, or making that funky all in on the end, when he can just lay it down if he has nothing. In retrospect, all in would have been the better play, but I can't know that.
I won a $2 last night and lost a $5. The difference of play between the two tables was absolutely staggering. I did get lucky in the $2, but only a little bit. Once play got HU, I had about a 5-1 chiplead on the guy, we got it all in, I had 77, he had AA, and a 7 flopped, and it was over. I don't think I'm getting away from that hand either way.
In the $5, the guy two to my right had a profitable record in OPR, but also had an ironman icon on his avatar. I tried not to play pots with him. I went out, I think with QQ vs. A-rag on an A high flop. I could have folded and played with a 800 chip stack at 1-200 blinds, but the baby was crying, and it was time for bed, and I shoved. I could have played it better. Either way, the play was far, far better at that table.
I feel like I am getting a little better at identifying the "fold" spots in games. I'm still not doing a good enough job of extracting chips and making people stack off when I have a big hand. There were a few spots in the last few games where I made a big hand on the river and there was little or no aggression on any street. The bet on the river is tough to figure out at that point. I usually opt to bet for value, and pick a number that is likely to get called, usually less than half the pot. They usually call. The problem is, that they end up turning over a hand that is much stronger than I would have anticipated, which is not as good as mine, but probably would have called more. The situation usually occurs when blinds are relatively high and we're at the bubble or close to it. These are usually situations where people opt to call with a wide range of hands and try to hit, and pick up pots on the flop.
An example: I hold A6 os, Ac. Flop comes blanks, two clubs. Check check. Turn rag club, check check. I check here because I have nothing but A high, and he's calling with any pair. I can't bet too strong because he could also have a made flush, or some funky two pair. River is a club.
I have the nuts. Pot is about 800 or so, we are deep stacked ant it's 3 handed. I could just make some ridiculous all in bet hoping he was strong, OR, I could bet about 500-600 hoping for a call, or 200, getting an almost guaranteed call. I opted for about 550 and got called by the Kc.
Not sure how I can extract more money out of this guy without either betting at the pot when I don't have it, or making that funky all in on the end, when he can just lay it down if he has nothing. In retrospect, all in would have been the better play, but I can't know that.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Mixing it up
Funny. My father was over the other day and I was holding the baby, so he was making all the moves on the keyboard. This was a $1 MTT. I had AQ, 6 handed with blinds of 40/80. I asked him to bet - and kind of haphazardly tried to explain to him to enter "240" into the dialogue box. I was also trying to explain to him what we were doing and why.
We get one caller. Flop comes down a total miss - something like J94. We are first to act, so I said we have to bet. Dad says, bet? And proceeds to hit the "bet" button, which at the time of course indicated a bet of 40 chips. Maybe I got the wrong blind sizes, but we ended up betting 40 chips into a pretty big pot. The other player clearly noticed this and raised it up, at which time we had to fold.
We get one caller. Flop comes down a total miss - something like J94. We are first to act, so I said we have to bet. Dad says, bet? And proceeds to hit the "bet" button, which at the time of course indicated a bet of 40 chips. Maybe I got the wrong blind sizes, but we ended up betting 40 chips into a pretty big pot. The other player clearly noticed this and raised it up, at which time we had to fold.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Tonight sucked
I lost every single game I played tonight and I ought to stop. Played 2 HU PLO games and shoved it knowing I had the worst hand - both were marathon games and I just got impatient I guess. The $1 turbo went great until a few before the money then had AJ in the SB, and called a midposition limper. Flop is A9x. checks around. Turn is a Jack. I push, thinking the AQ, AT, AK - all are going to call, also J9, and most draws, QT or whatever. OF COURSE he has 99. Can't tell you how many times that's happened recently. Anyways, the minus $6 is about all I'm ready for tonight.
Turn of the new year
New year's was pretty quiet. Spent it with wife and the baby - it snowed a ton here, so staying in was THE thing to do. It was fun, and it is a little difficult getting back to the stress of the real world, but alas, bills need to be paid, and diapers need to be purchased.
December ended up being one of the most profitable months, pretty much only because of the $94 score in the $1 MTT. In other good news, I barely hung onto my sharkscope star. I was in 19th place, and another guy had played a ton of $2 HU PLO and shot past me and some other guys, so I was in 20th. I decided not to play any more games. I had a good year in HU PLO, and if it was not good enough, it was not good enough. The last thing I wanted to do was press it and lose and be the reason I didn't finish on the leaderboard. It's fair to say that a disaster like that would follow me.
In the end, I think the 2008 leaderboard expands to the top 30 players, so I was in good shape anyways. Interesting to see how close or how far I actually was from losing the star though.
Right now, I'm tied for #2 in 2009 in that category at a whopping $6!!!! Seriously, it's good just to be able to play it again after taking so much time off. It's 1000 times better and more fun than HU NLHE - at least when things are going right.
I completely abandoned my experiment at the $5 tables, way before I hit the stop loss. There were a couple reasons for this. One - I felt I was playing those games just to play them - I had the totally wrong mindset, and I had lost a pretty good chunk of money. When you play at my stakes, $75 is a lot of money.
Second, I was just doing badly. When you bubble three out of 4 SNGs, you can't help but think that you are never going to cash again. Even when getting HU, missing out on that first place money seems to "cost" so much. Why bother to burn through another $50 until the bad run is over? Just drop down, gain confidence, then go back up. This is what I've done before, and it has worked at times. At least I am playing HU PLO again to try to supplement the BR. It would be nice to learn a 3rd game that I'd be confidently +EV in. I don't know if I want to spend the time or $ to learn it at this point.
Even after dropping down, the bad beats kept-a-coming. I was glad that they happened at the $2 tables.
On the plus side - actually, this could be a plus or minus - I earned about $30 playing MTTs over the weekend. Saturday, I made a final table of the $1 turbo at 7pm. I busted 7th, with QQ. 2nd position raised, I RRAI, basically praying that no one else woke up with a monster, but of course, the guy next to me gets KK and I don't hit. I'm fine with it though. It just sucks. Earlier in the match, I had QQ to KK and flopped a Q, so I guess it's fair. I won about $28 for that.
Last night, I made a run in the $1 4pm tourney, eventually busting out in 21st place. I was pretty disappointed with this, although I was crippled down to 200 chips early on with AK on a A9x flop when my opponent held 99. I was able to hit some fortunate doubles (which at the time were trivial given my minimal chipstack). Happened to get QQ to nurse me back to the original stack, and then tripled up with TT when I flopped a set. I nursed the low stack pretty much from 75 players on. I limp/shoved 88 UTG and won a flip vs. AQ to keep me alive for a while. My opponent criticized my play greatly, although I figure - I'm shoving all of this - and so I don't think it mattered whether I shoved outright or limpshoved. The limpshove invites more players in, but I didn't mind playing that pot 3 ways, given my chipstack. Plus, if I outright shove, I might be pushing out marginal hands, and not getting full value.
I got AA late in the tourney and was not able to get a full double up, which was a big missed oppportunity. The other big mistake was not playing TT a few hands later. It was a weird hand because the huge CL was to my right, and he raised, and there were 4 players left to act. I just dumped it. In so many of those spots, I am either crushed by a higher pair, or I get in in 3 ways against AK/AQ, or some such hand. It turns out the chipleader had 88, and a guy to my left who moved all in, had 99, and I would have had the best hand and flopped a set to boot. Oh well. I eventually made a desperation shove from the SB with 2-7 os, to get called by a dominating A2. Stupid play, but at that point, I was pretty much done, I think. Actually, the play is not justifiable in any way. Cashed for about $4.
I feel like I am starting the play better in the $1 tourneys, although a TON of it is luck. Experience helps - I feel like I'm doing better with the mid-tourney play (which you don't get exposure to in SNGs). I'm also of the mind that one must make at least one huge laydown during the tourney in order to succeed. I'm trying to do a better job of feeling those situations out. Even before the last two though, I had done a better job of making it near the money (although I blew up in those other ones). Avoiding the blow ups and all that is just a part of gaining experience though.
I am still not doing a good enough job of maximizing value when I have a strong hand. I feel like I always bet, bet, bet, and give my opponents an opportunity to get away from their hand. I think I may need to play a little more relaxed, and perhaps utilize the min-bet, min-raise, or check raise more often. At the same time, the bet, bet, bet strategy does allow me to pick up pots with what is sometimes the worse hand.
Now would be a good time to learn how to do that. The prizepools for the $1 have gone way up. Yesterday's 4pm tourney had a first place prize of $295. Compare that to the day I won, which was only worth $188. Of course the number of entrants in yesterday's was over 1300.
December ended up being one of the most profitable months, pretty much only because of the $94 score in the $1 MTT. In other good news, I barely hung onto my sharkscope star. I was in 19th place, and another guy had played a ton of $2 HU PLO and shot past me and some other guys, so I was in 20th. I decided not to play any more games. I had a good year in HU PLO, and if it was not good enough, it was not good enough. The last thing I wanted to do was press it and lose and be the reason I didn't finish on the leaderboard. It's fair to say that a disaster like that would follow me.
In the end, I think the 2008 leaderboard expands to the top 30 players, so I was in good shape anyways. Interesting to see how close or how far I actually was from losing the star though.
Right now, I'm tied for #2 in 2009 in that category at a whopping $6!!!! Seriously, it's good just to be able to play it again after taking so much time off. It's 1000 times better and more fun than HU NLHE - at least when things are going right.
I completely abandoned my experiment at the $5 tables, way before I hit the stop loss. There were a couple reasons for this. One - I felt I was playing those games just to play them - I had the totally wrong mindset, and I had lost a pretty good chunk of money. When you play at my stakes, $75 is a lot of money.
Second, I was just doing badly. When you bubble three out of 4 SNGs, you can't help but think that you are never going to cash again. Even when getting HU, missing out on that first place money seems to "cost" so much. Why bother to burn through another $50 until the bad run is over? Just drop down, gain confidence, then go back up. This is what I've done before, and it has worked at times. At least I am playing HU PLO again to try to supplement the BR. It would be nice to learn a 3rd game that I'd be confidently +EV in. I don't know if I want to spend the time or $ to learn it at this point.
Even after dropping down, the bad beats kept-a-coming. I was glad that they happened at the $2 tables.
On the plus side - actually, this could be a plus or minus - I earned about $30 playing MTTs over the weekend. Saturday, I made a final table of the $1 turbo at 7pm. I busted 7th, with QQ. 2nd position raised, I RRAI, basically praying that no one else woke up with a monster, but of course, the guy next to me gets KK and I don't hit. I'm fine with it though. It just sucks. Earlier in the match, I had QQ to KK and flopped a Q, so I guess it's fair. I won about $28 for that.
Last night, I made a run in the $1 4pm tourney, eventually busting out in 21st place. I was pretty disappointed with this, although I was crippled down to 200 chips early on with AK on a A9x flop when my opponent held 99. I was able to hit some fortunate doubles (which at the time were trivial given my minimal chipstack). Happened to get QQ to nurse me back to the original stack, and then tripled up with TT when I flopped a set. I nursed the low stack pretty much from 75 players on. I limp/shoved 88 UTG and won a flip vs. AQ to keep me alive for a while. My opponent criticized my play greatly, although I figure - I'm shoving all of this - and so I don't think it mattered whether I shoved outright or limpshoved. The limpshove invites more players in, but I didn't mind playing that pot 3 ways, given my chipstack. Plus, if I outright shove, I might be pushing out marginal hands, and not getting full value.
I got AA late in the tourney and was not able to get a full double up, which was a big missed oppportunity. The other big mistake was not playing TT a few hands later. It was a weird hand because the huge CL was to my right, and he raised, and there were 4 players left to act. I just dumped it. In so many of those spots, I am either crushed by a higher pair, or I get in in 3 ways against AK/AQ, or some such hand. It turns out the chipleader had 88, and a guy to my left who moved all in, had 99, and I would have had the best hand and flopped a set to boot. Oh well. I eventually made a desperation shove from the SB with 2-7 os, to get called by a dominating A2. Stupid play, but at that point, I was pretty much done, I think. Actually, the play is not justifiable in any way. Cashed for about $4.
I feel like I am starting the play better in the $1 tourneys, although a TON of it is luck. Experience helps - I feel like I'm doing better with the mid-tourney play (which you don't get exposure to in SNGs). I'm also of the mind that one must make at least one huge laydown during the tourney in order to succeed. I'm trying to do a better job of feeling those situations out. Even before the last two though, I had done a better job of making it near the money (although I blew up in those other ones). Avoiding the blow ups and all that is just a part of gaining experience though.
I am still not doing a good enough job of maximizing value when I have a strong hand. I feel like I always bet, bet, bet, and give my opponents an opportunity to get away from their hand. I think I may need to play a little more relaxed, and perhaps utilize the min-bet, min-raise, or check raise more often. At the same time, the bet, bet, bet strategy does allow me to pick up pots with what is sometimes the worse hand.
Now would be a good time to learn how to do that. The prizepools for the $1 have gone way up. Yesterday's 4pm tourney had a first place prize of $295. Compare that to the day I won, which was only worth $188. Of course the number of entrants in yesterday's was over 1300.
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