Hello, the break was good!
I managed to sort things out I never would have had time to do before. Not so much dissertation work, but I arranged a golf trip, sorted out a voyage up to Liverpool to see Uni mates and booked a short break away for me and the lady. Obviously the money from the withdrawal helped a lot there, and I don't know, the break has really re-vitalised me!
August, despite being my breaking point in terms of poker, was actually break-even, so wasn't anything to be upset about. August 31st, as I had sort of planned in my head, became the date I returned to the grind of poker. However, I still didn't want to play heads up, I just fancied playing the Turbo Takedown, the Sunday 200k and perhaps a couple more tournaments. However, I decided to play a few $2 heads up games, but soon decided the $6 games would be more fun.
Underolled obviously, I managed to work up to around $90, before playing way late into the night, and nearly losing it all and extending my break, only to finish the night on $49 at 6am. The next day I scudded this up to $150, and two days ago I was on $290ish. This sharp rise was all from heads up and from around 4 fairly long sessions, proving to myself I can still crush the heads up games.
6 TABLING heads up became my way of enjoying myself, with 2 $11 games and 4 $6 games to keep me sharp. This worked fairly well, but I'm now favouring 4-tabling $11 games.
Then, a few of us from Durham decided to grind out some $4.40 180-man SNGs, something that really pleased me as I wanted to commit some time tapping in to this goldmine. We were supposed to play every one in a 3 hour stretch, but my head was hurting so I only managed 11. Early on I ran like AIDS, with my AK losing to a check shove from A7 on a K56 board, AA losing to a K3 flush draw despite my 6X pre raise, and other wonderful examples of dirty outdraws. Despite this, in a few I managed to accumulate a stack early on, one in particular I reached 6000chips from 1500 by the 15/30 stage. However, I managed to bust this before the start of the first break by losing a couple of coolers and struggling against some players limp calling hands like 10s, which plays well against me shoving AK on a low flop!
I had a couple of aggravating finishes short of the cash, with a 22nd and a 24th, and was starting to think it wasn't my night. Then on one table I had quietly reached the final table without having any spectacular hands, whilst on the other, after the bubble had burst I built up an enormous chip lead.
This chip lead went after losing a huge chunk with AJ vs A10, on a AQJKK board (he bet so small on the turn and river which at least saved me a bit) and then failing to hit with AQ vs 55 against an aggro idiot. A disappointing 7th considering where I had been, but wasn't really my fault.
Meanwhile, on the other one, the final table arrived, and here I picked up hands. In a 5way pot despite a 3BB raise, my 88 flopped trips on a KQ8 board 2 clubs, and I held vs AJcc and J10...here I had a monster stack and I think I knocked everyone out on the FT, to pick up a very nice win, and bringing my roll over $500 after just 10days (5playing days) since my $39 deposit.
I have played just 8 heads up games since, winning all in my 1st set of 4, and then getting outdrawn massively to only win 1 of my next 4.
However, can't complain, as it seems I have fallen on the good side of variance again in the $4.40s.
In 51 games, I have had 3 1sts, 2 2nds, a 3rd and now a 7th, along with a couple of other cashes, and my stats for these illustrate how profitable these tournies are.
51
$16.51
$4
374%
$842
So, now I have a roll of $519.80, hopefully enough money in bank account to last me until the end of the academic year, and the spark back to work back up to the $23s and beyond.
My September stats so far are...
281
$1.64
$7
29%
$461
This is skewed due to the 180man win, but pleasingly my HU stats are...
269
$1.02
$7
14%
$275
...which gives me confidence that I can keep winning at a decent rate playing heads up. Also, most of this has been when 4 or 6 tabling, which increases the hourly rate quite nicely. I am still miles away from my bonus on Stars, but hopefully getting Silver VIP will help me accumulate FPPs faster and I should have that before long.
I have one aim for next few weeks...get on the leaderboard on Sharkscope for HU $6-$15 Total Profit 2008. Bottom position is currently at $2k, and so far my HU stats for this buy-in for 2008 are...
1,219
$1.27
$8
14%
$1,550
...so I haven't got too far to go, and I can hopefully put in a few hundred games and possibly more in September so I hope to see a nice star by my name some time soon on Sharkscope.
Sorry for the long update, I'll post again if anything interesting happens, and with a 12 hour MTT session a few of us are planning possibly happening soon, the post could be before too long.
Laters all,
RapsFan,
x
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Well that's it!!
Hi, in my opinion, poker is an addiction. An addiction which is no problem at all when everything is going well, and is actually a pleasant and profitable form of occupation. For the last couple of months, I have subscribed to this addiction and enjoyed riding the highs and attempted to avoid the lows.
However, for me, this addiction provides too many unpleasant side effects and as such I need a long break. With my personality, with money in my account, I can't have this break, as I am too tempted to keep playing. I know I am good enough to win a higher percentage of the time than I lose, but at the minute this isn't enough. If I lose, I find it hard to go to bed...now that's not right. I am tired, but I know there is money out there that I have lost and should win back, I stay up and waste the next day...that's when poker turns from a skill game to a gamble. I always say to people when defending poker that it isn't greatly different from the stocks and shares, and involves calculated risks and for the top % of people profits will be made. Yet if a stockbroker always felt compelled to stay after work hours, this would also be counter-productive, and would involve many stretches where the worker is working less than operatively.
Not sure where the analogy is going, but basically I need to take my money out to stop me from playing when I don't want to. The huge selection of bad beats (AS IF I'M THE ONLY ONE ANYWAY!) hasn't really upset me too much...it upsets me more that I stay up all night trying to get back to where I was, as if the game of poker owes me something. Staying up til 5AM is inexcusable, bad for me, and something I want to avoid.
I guess this post and my actions in withdrawing have proven everyone right...grinding poker all summer isn't a realistic thing to do...and you will get sick of downswings or need money or whatever and have to stop. For me, I can't not play if I have money in my account, and , It's not the financial nature of a downswing which bothers me, but the impact this has on my day/night/etc. I have run so so bad over the last few days, but tonight I played bad, for the first time in such a long time. This was the product of overplaying and losing the element of fun from poker. Turning it into a grind has meant this project has to end, but the profits made will be re-invested when I feel ready.
I am going to spend the next couple of weeks seeing friends in the evenings more, waking up earlier in the days and working on my dissertation. Law really interests me when I get into it, so that's what I'm going to do.
The $2310 I've taken off from Pokerstars tonight, on top of the $900 I've already withdrawn and another $300 or so from live/Fulltilt means I have made around £1650 profit in around two and a half months, an amount that has kept me tied over for the summer, and when I get back to poker I am happy to put a lot of this back in to build on the progress I've made this summer.
However, for now I need to have a long break, and have to do what I have to to get back in control of my life, as poker has a canny knack of dominating your lifestyle!!
Apologies to those who wanted me to crush the top games...I will do, just on my terms and not poker's terms!!
Much love to all,
Paul!
Ps...I'm feeling good about this, actually looking forward to sacking it off for a long while!
However, for me, this addiction provides too many unpleasant side effects and as such I need a long break. With my personality, with money in my account, I can't have this break, as I am too tempted to keep playing. I know I am good enough to win a higher percentage of the time than I lose, but at the minute this isn't enough. If I lose, I find it hard to go to bed...now that's not right. I am tired, but I know there is money out there that I have lost and should win back, I stay up and waste the next day...that's when poker turns from a skill game to a gamble. I always say to people when defending poker that it isn't greatly different from the stocks and shares, and involves calculated risks and for the top % of people profits will be made. Yet if a stockbroker always felt compelled to stay after work hours, this would also be counter-productive, and would involve many stretches where the worker is working less than operatively.
Not sure where the analogy is going, but basically I need to take my money out to stop me from playing when I don't want to. The huge selection of bad beats (AS IF I'M THE ONLY ONE ANYWAY!) hasn't really upset me too much...it upsets me more that I stay up all night trying to get back to where I was, as if the game of poker owes me something. Staying up til 5AM is inexcusable, bad for me, and something I want to avoid.
I guess this post and my actions in withdrawing have proven everyone right...grinding poker all summer isn't a realistic thing to do...and you will get sick of downswings or need money or whatever and have to stop. For me, I can't not play if I have money in my account, and , It's not the financial nature of a downswing which bothers me, but the impact this has on my day/night/etc. I have run so so bad over the last few days, but tonight I played bad, for the first time in such a long time. This was the product of overplaying and losing the element of fun from poker. Turning it into a grind has meant this project has to end, but the profits made will be re-invested when I feel ready.
I am going to spend the next couple of weeks seeing friends in the evenings more, waking up earlier in the days and working on my dissertation. Law really interests me when I get into it, so that's what I'm going to do.
The $2310 I've taken off from Pokerstars tonight, on top of the $900 I've already withdrawn and another $300 or so from live/Fulltilt means I have made around £1650 profit in around two and a half months, an amount that has kept me tied over for the summer, and when I get back to poker I am happy to put a lot of this back in to build on the progress I've made this summer.
However, for now I need to have a long break, and have to do what I have to to get back in control of my life, as poker has a canny knack of dominating your lifestyle!!
Apologies to those who wanted me to crush the top games...I will do, just on my terms and not poker's terms!!
Much love to all,
Paul!
Ps...I'm feeling good about this, actually looking forward to sacking it off for a long while!
Saturday, 9 August 2008
18/3977 in the 20k freeroll - for $60 ffs!!
Hi, 2 posts in one day...woop!
Yeah, title says it all, scrapped it out in the 20k freeroll to get to the last two tables. How did I go out I here u ask...well I post some hands up and you can see...
Table had started fairly tight...bad fold here?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022402
After getting sucked out playing heads up on my other table, nearly got tilted!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022408
Third time he's raised from the SB...enough is enough!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022420
Nice double up from the table fish.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022431
Annoying split but not a travesty!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022438
Limp me up son!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022447
Erm how did I get called?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022453
Yuk I'm rank!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022465
Finish him off after the last manky hand!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022482
A hold against a light raise from the cut-off
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022491
A nice BB hand
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022498
Another nice hand limped to my BB
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022510
A stubborn call got very lucky!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022527
AND THE GASH WAY I WENT OUT!!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022545
Overall, it was a good tournament for me, with an awful structure where the average stack always had around 10BB's, but I felt comfortable and was so annoyed to lose in the way I did. Stupid payout structure again means I get 2900 or so less than 1st place, but $60 isn't too shabby. 100FPPs is a fair price to pay anyway!!
Night off now and a football friendly tomorrow, before perhaps a day of tournaments and I might try to sat in to the Sunday Mill.
147_i've had bigger breaks in my sleep
Yeah, title says it all, scrapped it out in the 20k freeroll to get to the last two tables. How did I go out I here u ask...well I post some hands up and you can see...
Table had started fairly tight...bad fold here?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022402
After getting sucked out playing heads up on my other table, nearly got tilted!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022408
Third time he's raised from the SB...enough is enough!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022420
Nice double up from the table fish.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022431
Annoying split but not a travesty!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022438
Limp me up son!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022447
Erm how did I get called?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022453
Yuk I'm rank!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022465
Finish him off after the last manky hand!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022482
A hold against a light raise from the cut-off
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022491
A nice BB hand
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022498
Another nice hand limped to my BB
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022510
A stubborn call got very lucky!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022527
AND THE GASH WAY I WENT OUT!!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3022545
Overall, it was a good tournament for me, with an awful structure where the average stack always had around 10BB's, but I felt comfortable and was so annoyed to lose in the way I did. Stupid payout structure again means I get 2900 or so less than 1st place, but $60 isn't too shabby. 100FPPs is a fair price to pay anyway!!
Night off now and a football friendly tomorrow, before perhaps a day of tournaments and I might try to sat in to the Sunday Mill.
147_i've had bigger breaks in my sleep
I'm back...and ready to show some hands!
I have been back a few days, and finally I think my lag and laziness to play poker has subsided. After waking up today (around 1pm as standard!) I must have had a heads up game loaded within a minute. I had some interesting and nice hands (and one shocker, so I will post them here!)
Hmm, slow play anyone?
Seat 1:
dl184 (1520 in chips)
Seat 2: 147_star (1480 in chips)
147_star: posts small blind 10dl184: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [9c 6c]
147_star: raises 40 to 60dl184: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [7c Tc 8c]
dl184: checks
147_star: checks
*** TURN *** [7c Tc 8c] [8h]
dl184: checks
147_star: bets 80
dl184: folds
I run good, no I don't, yes I do...
Seat 1: dl184 (2000 in chips)
Seat 2: 147_star (1000 in chips)
147_star: posts small blind 25 dl184: posts big blind 50
HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [Td Ah]147_star: raises 100 to 150
dl184: raises 1850 to 2000 and is all-in
147_star: calls 850 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1000) returned to dl184
*** FLOP *** [8d 9h Ac]
*** TURN *** [8d 9h Ac] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9h Ac Jh] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***dl184: shows [Js Jc] (three of a kind, Jacks)
147_star: shows [Td Ah] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
A hand I'm proud of...
Seat 1: Mrfuzztop (1260 in chips) Seat 2: 147_star (1740 in chips)
Mrfuzztop: posts small blind 50 147_star: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [7c 4h]
Mrfuzztop: calls 50
147_star: raises 233 to 333
Mrfuzztop: calls 233
*** FLOP *** [As 8h Jd]
147_star: checks
Mrfuzztop: bets 400
147_star: raises 527 to 927
Mrfuzztop: folds
Uncalled bet (527) returned to 147_star
147_star collected 1466 from pot
147_star: doesn't show hand
A hand I'm ashamed of... (was vs a superfish who I trying to make a play against :-(
Dealt to 147_star [6s 5s]
wolle666: raises 100 to 200
147_star: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [4c 2s Jh]
147_star: bets 100
wolle666: raises 100 to 200
147_star: calls 100
*** TURN *** [4c 2s Jh] [8s]
147_star: checks
wolle666: bets 925 and is all-in
147_star: calls 925
*** RIVER *** [4c 2s Jh 8s] [Td]*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [6s 5s] (high card Jack)
wolle666: shows [4h Ah] (a pair of Fours)wolle666 collected 2650 from pot
I also relaxed last night playing a bit of 5c/10c, making a few $$$ profit, hitting some flops and being stacked by a cooler with my top two vs bottom set on the flop.
I had a hand vs Keys where I flopped a set vs his overpair on the flop but couldn't get him to get it in, but another set was paid off vs Isaac when my 66 tripped up vs his JJ. Another sick hand was my 107 suited flopping a boat on a board 0f 7710, and I eventually got ptevey to call his stack on a board of 7 7 10 2 x...no surprise really, as he had 72 for a sick cooler!! Was a good laugh, maybe not the most profitable way to play but got to keep poker enjoyable.
Since I have been back I have been running well heads up, mainly one tabling but had 3 sessions of 3 tabling
where I have been 3/3 each time.
My heads up stats since my return are...
42
$6.63
$21
32%
$279
so are pretty sick and not sustainable, but I hope it could set me up for a 20% ROI month...we shall see.
A short post this one, take care all,
Paulinho,x
Hmm, slow play anyone?
Seat 1:
dl184 (1520 in chips)
Seat 2: 147_star (1480 in chips)
147_star: posts small blind 10dl184: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [9c 6c]
147_star: raises 40 to 60dl184: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [7c Tc 8c]
dl184: checks
147_star: checks
*** TURN *** [7c Tc 8c] [8h]
dl184: checks
147_star: bets 80
dl184: folds
I run good, no I don't, yes I do...
Seat 1: dl184 (2000 in chips)
Seat 2: 147_star (1000 in chips)
147_star: posts small blind 25 dl184: posts big blind 50
HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [Td Ah]147_star: raises 100 to 150
dl184: raises 1850 to 2000 and is all-in
147_star: calls 850 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1000) returned to dl184
*** FLOP *** [8d 9h Ac]
*** TURN *** [8d 9h Ac] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9h Ac Jh] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***dl184: shows [Js Jc] (three of a kind, Jacks)
147_star: shows [Td Ah] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
A hand I'm proud of...
Seat 1: Mrfuzztop (1260 in chips) Seat 2: 147_star (1740 in chips)
Mrfuzztop: posts small blind 50 147_star: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to 147_star [7c 4h]
Mrfuzztop: calls 50
147_star: raises 233 to 333
Mrfuzztop: calls 233
*** FLOP *** [As 8h Jd]
147_star: checks
Mrfuzztop: bets 400
147_star: raises 527 to 927
Mrfuzztop: folds
Uncalled bet (527) returned to 147_star
147_star collected 1466 from pot
147_star: doesn't show hand
A hand I'm ashamed of... (was vs a superfish who I trying to make a play against :-(
Dealt to 147_star [6s 5s]
wolle666: raises 100 to 200
147_star: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [4c 2s Jh]
147_star: bets 100
wolle666: raises 100 to 200
147_star: calls 100
*** TURN *** [4c 2s Jh] [8s]
147_star: checks
wolle666: bets 925 and is all-in
147_star: calls 925
*** RIVER *** [4c 2s Jh 8s] [Td]*** SHOW DOWN ***
147_star: shows [6s 5s] (high card Jack)
wolle666: shows [4h Ah] (a pair of Fours)wolle666 collected 2650 from pot
I also relaxed last night playing a bit of 5c/10c, making a few $$$ profit, hitting some flops and being stacked by a cooler with my top two vs bottom set on the flop.
I had a hand vs Keys where I flopped a set vs his overpair on the flop but couldn't get him to get it in, but another set was paid off vs Isaac when my 66 tripped up vs his JJ. Another sick hand was my 107 suited flopping a boat on a board 0f 7710, and I eventually got ptevey to call his stack on a board of 7 7 10 2 x...no surprise really, as he had 72 for a sick cooler!! Was a good laugh, maybe not the most profitable way to play but got to keep poker enjoyable.
Since I have been back I have been running well heads up, mainly one tabling but had 3 sessions of 3 tabling
where I have been 3/3 each time.
My heads up stats since my return are...
42
$6.63
$21
32%
$279
so are pretty sick and not sustainable, but I hope it could set me up for a 20% ROI month...we shall see.
A short post this one, take care all,
Paulinho,x
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Golf.
I love golf. It's superb, challenging and so rewarding. One of the only sports where you go home thinking about the positives, remembering the great shots and not really beating yourself up over the 4-putt. You can always think of shots you could take off your round, and rather than thinking "damn I should be better" you think "I can and will get better."
On holiday, I missed golf so much more than poker, and sports I'm probably more talented at like tennis, football and snooker just can't compare with the enjoyment golf brings. It's nearly been a year since I first bought myself a set of clubs and started playing and just before I went away I hit a personal best of 88. I think I have played around 20 rounds so I'm happy with my progress, and with hopefully ten more rounds to squeeze in before returning to uni I'm hoping to make an improvement on that, though I know it will be tough. I've been warned about hitting the wall, and I can definitely see the bridge in class between the ok players and the "good" players. I may consider getting lessons once I'm earning but until then I'm going to develop my own dodgy style which can hopefully work, a bit similar to my poker!
On a poker front, my last couple of posts were pretty much my monthly update, but just to provide some stats for July, in heads up games my stats were...
619
$1.84
$18
10%
$1,138
And overall...
675
$1.83
$17
13%
$1,232
It was an important month for me because I moved up, stayed there, kept my roll on when I was running bad and found a game which Gamble would describe as my "bread and butter". I took off $400 for spending money on my holiday, but still have a roll online of $2805 so I hope to do well for a few weeks and reach $4600, thus making my $5k target. $1795 to go, with a month in which I can put in a lot of hours, is a tough task but hopefully achieveable.
Whilst on holiday, the $$$ in my account was turning more and more in to £££ in my head, but I played a few today and didn't start too badly which confirmed to me I should keep my money on there. I said to myself, unless the dollar hits a Zimbabwean hyperinflation crisis I have to keep it on there. The fact that I earnt 70cents more per game in July whilst riding out a couple of downswings and moving up in levels has reinforced the fact that I should keep moving up as and when my bankroll permits and only withdraw small amounts if entirely necessary (or to fund golf!!)
August was my most profitable month by far last year earning around $2k due to sng, mtt and satellite wins and I hope this year I can get close to that. I'm going to look out for the sats to the WCOOP and play a few of them as sngs and I have decided if I can sat into the WCOOP heads up event I will play it. So basically, I'm going to try to pummel out the hours this month and try to make some $$$. Standard really.
Golf, tennis, squash and pre-season football should burn off the Devon ice-creams and maybe I can get down from the ELEVEN STONES the scales indicated I weighed yesterday. They say muscle weighs more than fat(?!?) but still it can't be great when I fall in to the overweight category according to my BMI. Bowling tonight for my sisters birthday which should be good and then hopefully a few evenings this month we can have some DUPS 180man tournies and maybe some SNG's for a laugh. And perhaps the sun will shine a little!!
Much love,
Glad to be back,
Paulo,xx
On holiday, I missed golf so much more than poker, and sports I'm probably more talented at like tennis, football and snooker just can't compare with the enjoyment golf brings. It's nearly been a year since I first bought myself a set of clubs and started playing and just before I went away I hit a personal best of 88. I think I have played around 20 rounds so I'm happy with my progress, and with hopefully ten more rounds to squeeze in before returning to uni I'm hoping to make an improvement on that, though I know it will be tough. I've been warned about hitting the wall, and I can definitely see the bridge in class between the ok players and the "good" players. I may consider getting lessons once I'm earning but until then I'm going to develop my own dodgy style which can hopefully work, a bit similar to my poker!
On a poker front, my last couple of posts were pretty much my monthly update, but just to provide some stats for July, in heads up games my stats were...
619
$1.84
$18
10%
$1,138
And overall...
675
$1.83
$17
13%
$1,232
It was an important month for me because I moved up, stayed there, kept my roll on when I was running bad and found a game which Gamble would describe as my "bread and butter". I took off $400 for spending money on my holiday, but still have a roll online of $2805 so I hope to do well for a few weeks and reach $4600, thus making my $5k target. $1795 to go, with a month in which I can put in a lot of hours, is a tough task but hopefully achieveable.
Whilst on holiday, the $$$ in my account was turning more and more in to £££ in my head, but I played a few today and didn't start too badly which confirmed to me I should keep my money on there. I said to myself, unless the dollar hits a Zimbabwean hyperinflation crisis I have to keep it on there. The fact that I earnt 70cents more per game in July whilst riding out a couple of downswings and moving up in levels has reinforced the fact that I should keep moving up as and when my bankroll permits and only withdraw small amounts if entirely necessary (or to fund golf!!)
August was my most profitable month by far last year earning around $2k due to sng, mtt and satellite wins and I hope this year I can get close to that. I'm going to look out for the sats to the WCOOP and play a few of them as sngs and I have decided if I can sat into the WCOOP heads up event I will play it. So basically, I'm going to try to pummel out the hours this month and try to make some $$$. Standard really.
Golf, tennis, squash and pre-season football should burn off the Devon ice-creams and maybe I can get down from the ELEVEN STONES the scales indicated I weighed yesterday. They say muscle weighs more than fat(?!?) but still it can't be great when I fall in to the overweight category according to my BMI. Bowling tonight for my sisters birthday which should be good and then hopefully a few evenings this month we can have some DUPS 180man tournies and maybe some SNG's for a laugh. And perhaps the sun will shine a little!!
Much love,
Glad to be back,
Paulo,xx
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Need to find time to grind 180men! (Warning: explicit gay content not included!)
Hi, due to being busy in the days with golf, tennis and squash, I haven't played much in the evenings because I don't want to play too much when tired! So a short post wooooooohooooooo!
In around the sixth time a few Durham lads played a $4.40 180-man together, I finally managed to cash, and luckily it was a good one for 2nd, scoring a tidy $145. With around 50 left, I made a huge play to near double up, and if my memory serves me correctly should be able to post most of the hands.
I had a stack of around 5.7k ish (won a huge pot with KK vs AJ and something else fairly recently), and had KJ in the big blind. Two limps, the SB completes and I check.
Flop JQ3...SB checks and I put a feeler bet of 400 out here. Fold, call and SB folds.
Turn 7... I fire out 1k, not putting my opponent on a Q and he flats.
River 5...I feel I'm good so check, trying to induce a bluff and also to control the pot if I am beat.
Here, he fires out 3k, surprising me quite a bit. I dwell for around 5 seconds (quite a long dwell for me!) and I call...he has K10 for a missed straight draw and I near double up. This relieved some of the pressure a prominent Mr_Rahl was putting on me, sitting next to me 2nd in chips with a pretty huge stack.
A few hands later I had 77 on the button and raised standard (obv means 599 blinds 100/200)
Flop A97 (weee nice, two spades though) Checked by BB and I raise 999 or something. Flat call.
Turn 10 spade...not too nice...I think about checking to be fruity, but bet 2399 instead. Flat call.
River 9...happy days...I have around 5k, pot around 8-9k...
Here I have 3300 written in the raise column and just about to raise...and I think if he calls that he calls a shove. So I shove. He folds, don't know what he had, probably ace x. Maybe a raise would have been better.
At this point i was in around 4th, Isaac still in 2nd, with 1st place to my left. He was a huge fish and I quite a few pots vs him value betting top pair and calling down with 2nd pair. In no time at all, I was up on 25k, Isaac had chipped up to about the same, and we were in 1st and 2nd I think! :-) I was dreaming of heads up vs him, but as the bubble burst, we went our separate ways, and his luck run out.
He finished in around 12th for a cash but a disappointing end to a superbly played tournament. A bad run of luck and cards at the worst time hurt his chances but he's proving his $515 score was no fluke! (maybe a little bit of a fluke!! :P)
My table had another huge stack and a guy I recognised from a leaderboard somewhere. I sharkscoped xmachine888 and found stats of...
17,962
$1.59
$7
34%
$28,599
Huge 180man grinder with sick results. He doubled up to get a stack near to 20k, but by this time I had worked up to 44k with aggro play and people folding to most of my c-bets.
Here, 6-handed 12 left in the tournie, I took a huge hit from the guy in 2nd. I had k10 on the BB...(blinds 300/600 some ante)
Pre- Limp, Sb folds, I check
Flop...1082 I bet 1.5k...flat call
Turn 5 (2 diamonds now)...I want to control the pot and learn more where I am in the hands so I check. he bets 3k, I'm concerned so I just flat.
River...3rd diamond 7 i think.
I put him on a small pair pre which is why I was cautious because I thought he may have trips...and he bet a large bet of 8k in to the pot. Here I knew he was strong, but couldn't fold, and sure enough he had me beat. He had 910 though, both diamonds, so I was quite badly outdrawn. Still, I should have folded the river and would never have known.
This took me back down to around 30k, and I won a few and lost a few from here, and started getting resistnace from people who were re-popping and I had dwindled down to 20k. I got a double up here from the shark guy who pushed 88 and my AK hit trips. So the final table, and I had 27k. Chip lead had around 50k, and the blinds were still small like 600/1200, crazy for a final table but a testament to the skill-favoured structure of the tournie.
Here, I went on a sick heater. In the space of about 4 knock-outs, I think all by me, I had shoved AA, AK and another couple of hands to knock people out. 5 handed I was tied 2nd place roughly, but the 5th player went and I managed to get all the chips from the guy out in 4th. With an aggro image, I re-shoved AQ to a min raise and was insta-called by K10. I hit trips on the turn leaving him dead and had a huge stack. I looked to dominate from here but faced tough resistance from a player called cellmax. We were passing chips between us as 3rd guy whittled down, but then I lost a huge pot to the guy in 3rd.
I had j7 suited and limped. Bad play #1
Flop, 568...i check called a pot raise. Bad play #2
Turn, j (2 clubs out now)...I led out 2/3 pot, trying to turn a bad play in to a good one and thinking he was weak. He called.
River, 9...(weee straight card...3rd club though...and sure enough he had k4 clubs when it went to showdown. I could have avoided that by simply check-raising or leading the flop...boooo!
So I'm back into 2nd and we are more evens then before...then a stupidly sick hand!!!!!!!!!!
I have AQsuited on the SB, and cellmax on the button raises (as per...up to 6k blinds 1000/2000)
I have 60k behind but still using my aggro image I shove...couldn't flat and didn't want to raise and be 4-bet...he insta-called with AQ clubs. I had spades...little did he know spades are the nuts!!
The flop was a dream, 2 spades and one club...I said to myself, no club on the turn! The turn in fact completed my flush (weeeeee) and gave me a royal flush draw! A little unnecessarily and showing off to the railbirds, I completed the royal flush and re-established my lead at the top!!!
3 handed I had a top pair which I played fairly well against a guy who was chasing a flush in a quite obvious way so I could easily call his river shove with a pair of Aces.
So when it got to heads up, apparently my speciality, I had a 3.5 to 1 chip lead.
Then there was a really annoying hand...
I managed to get him to put it all with A2 on a board of A10K4, only for the river to counterfeit my hand with a 10. Annoying but I maintain my lead.
Then I lost a bit because he was aggro and taking the plays away from me. At a bit less than 3 to 1 lead I gave him the double up I didn't want to give him, with my pushing after a flop raise with 910 on a 89J board 3 hearts and I have the 10 of hearts only to be instacalled by Q7 hearts, leaving me drawing dead to a house.
Sick...then I lost quite a big pot after limping a hand, representing a big hand, I barreled three streets with air and was painfully called (after much dwelling) on the river by his top pair with a decent kicker, showing my play did appear strong. Anyway, I was slightly down here but then managed to check-shove with 2nd pair after quite a bit of action to get it nearly back to evens. Then I tried to be too tricky. he raised button as per, and I flatted AA. The flop was Q72, not too bad for my hand. I checked and he raised his standard half pot. I flatted, knowing the turn bet would appear as well. But the turn was another Q and he bet a bit less than his usual turn bet. I had enough behind to fold but that wasn't really an option, and even though it felt bad I shoved. he flipped his Q5 and the game was over, I was the loser. Thinking back on it, I don;t beat myself up too much if I lose a $36 heads up after having a big lead, and this is pretty similar. The cards didn't come heads up and when I reduced him to 14% to split, he hit!!
All in all I was happy with the game, and if I hadn't have lost with KK vs J9 on the other $4.40 I played and busted in 39th, I felt like it could have been double success. So I definitely like them tournies and recommend them massively.
My stats for them are quite sick, not sustainable because luckily my cashes have been high but still xmachine's stats show massive amounts can be made at them games.
38
$17.26
$4
392%
$656
Anyway, haven't played much heads up, won around $90ish I think since last post playing heads up, with my overall profit now about $4k for pokerstars sng's!
Also, I deposited another $600, to take advantage of the 40% deposit bonus on stars, so in a couple of months time I should get around $240 which will be nice :-)
I'm going to withdraw the $600 when I get a chance and probably $400 more, so will take $1k or which will be nice :-)
My roll (assuming the $600 has been taken off) stands at $3091, so I'm over the $3k mark, yay! :-D
Adding the quick $100 I made on fulltilt and the $150ish playin live, my spoils since my $200 mission at the end of May shows around $3150 profit, or £1580ish, which is a nice feeling. At the minute though, I'm too tired to play too much so looking forward to coming back from holiday August 5th nice and refreshed and ready to make some $$$ and complete my bonus.
So unless anything exciting happens before then I'll post in a few weeks :-)
Gl all
147_574R
In around the sixth time a few Durham lads played a $4.40 180-man together, I finally managed to cash, and luckily it was a good one for 2nd, scoring a tidy $145. With around 50 left, I made a huge play to near double up, and if my memory serves me correctly should be able to post most of the hands.
I had a stack of around 5.7k ish (won a huge pot with KK vs AJ and something else fairly recently), and had KJ in the big blind. Two limps, the SB completes and I check.
Flop JQ3...SB checks and I put a feeler bet of 400 out here. Fold, call and SB folds.
Turn 7... I fire out 1k, not putting my opponent on a Q and he flats.
River 5...I feel I'm good so check, trying to induce a bluff and also to control the pot if I am beat.
Here, he fires out 3k, surprising me quite a bit. I dwell for around 5 seconds (quite a long dwell for me!) and I call...he has K10 for a missed straight draw and I near double up. This relieved some of the pressure a prominent Mr_Rahl was putting on me, sitting next to me 2nd in chips with a pretty huge stack.
A few hands later I had 77 on the button and raised standard (obv means 599 blinds 100/200)
Flop A97 (weee nice, two spades though) Checked by BB and I raise 999 or something. Flat call.
Turn 10 spade...not too nice...I think about checking to be fruity, but bet 2399 instead. Flat call.
River 9...happy days...I have around 5k, pot around 8-9k...
Here I have 3300 written in the raise column and just about to raise...and I think if he calls that he calls a shove. So I shove. He folds, don't know what he had, probably ace x. Maybe a raise would have been better.
At this point i was in around 4th, Isaac still in 2nd, with 1st place to my left. He was a huge fish and I quite a few pots vs him value betting top pair and calling down with 2nd pair. In no time at all, I was up on 25k, Isaac had chipped up to about the same, and we were in 1st and 2nd I think! :-) I was dreaming of heads up vs him, but as the bubble burst, we went our separate ways, and his luck run out.
He finished in around 12th for a cash but a disappointing end to a superbly played tournament. A bad run of luck and cards at the worst time hurt his chances but he's proving his $515 score was no fluke! (maybe a little bit of a fluke!! :P)
My table had another huge stack and a guy I recognised from a leaderboard somewhere. I sharkscoped xmachine888 and found stats of...
17,962
$1.59
$7
34%
$28,599
Huge 180man grinder with sick results. He doubled up to get a stack near to 20k, but by this time I had worked up to 44k with aggro play and people folding to most of my c-bets.
Here, 6-handed 12 left in the tournie, I took a huge hit from the guy in 2nd. I had k10 on the BB...(blinds 300/600 some ante)
Pre- Limp, Sb folds, I check
Flop...1082 I bet 1.5k...flat call
Turn 5 (2 diamonds now)...I want to control the pot and learn more where I am in the hands so I check. he bets 3k, I'm concerned so I just flat.
River...3rd diamond 7 i think.
I put him on a small pair pre which is why I was cautious because I thought he may have trips...and he bet a large bet of 8k in to the pot. Here I knew he was strong, but couldn't fold, and sure enough he had me beat. He had 910 though, both diamonds, so I was quite badly outdrawn. Still, I should have folded the river and would never have known.
This took me back down to around 30k, and I won a few and lost a few from here, and started getting resistnace from people who were re-popping and I had dwindled down to 20k. I got a double up here from the shark guy who pushed 88 and my AK hit trips. So the final table, and I had 27k. Chip lead had around 50k, and the blinds were still small like 600/1200, crazy for a final table but a testament to the skill-favoured structure of the tournie.
Here, I went on a sick heater. In the space of about 4 knock-outs, I think all by me, I had shoved AA, AK and another couple of hands to knock people out. 5 handed I was tied 2nd place roughly, but the 5th player went and I managed to get all the chips from the guy out in 4th. With an aggro image, I re-shoved AQ to a min raise and was insta-called by K10. I hit trips on the turn leaving him dead and had a huge stack. I looked to dominate from here but faced tough resistance from a player called cellmax. We were passing chips between us as 3rd guy whittled down, but then I lost a huge pot to the guy in 3rd.
I had j7 suited and limped. Bad play #1
Flop, 568...i check called a pot raise. Bad play #2
Turn, j (2 clubs out now)...I led out 2/3 pot, trying to turn a bad play in to a good one and thinking he was weak. He called.
River, 9...(weee straight card...3rd club though...and sure enough he had k4 clubs when it went to showdown. I could have avoided that by simply check-raising or leading the flop...boooo!
So I'm back into 2nd and we are more evens then before...then a stupidly sick hand!!!!!!!!!!
I have AQsuited on the SB, and cellmax on the button raises (as per...up to 6k blinds 1000/2000)
I have 60k behind but still using my aggro image I shove...couldn't flat and didn't want to raise and be 4-bet...he insta-called with AQ clubs. I had spades...little did he know spades are the nuts!!
The flop was a dream, 2 spades and one club...I said to myself, no club on the turn! The turn in fact completed my flush (weeeeee) and gave me a royal flush draw! A little unnecessarily and showing off to the railbirds, I completed the royal flush and re-established my lead at the top!!!
3 handed I had a top pair which I played fairly well against a guy who was chasing a flush in a quite obvious way so I could easily call his river shove with a pair of Aces.
So when it got to heads up, apparently my speciality, I had a 3.5 to 1 chip lead.
Then there was a really annoying hand...
I managed to get him to put it all with A2 on a board of A10K4, only for the river to counterfeit my hand with a 10. Annoying but I maintain my lead.
Then I lost a bit because he was aggro and taking the plays away from me. At a bit less than 3 to 1 lead I gave him the double up I didn't want to give him, with my pushing after a flop raise with 910 on a 89J board 3 hearts and I have the 10 of hearts only to be instacalled by Q7 hearts, leaving me drawing dead to a house.
Sick...then I lost quite a big pot after limping a hand, representing a big hand, I barreled three streets with air and was painfully called (after much dwelling) on the river by his top pair with a decent kicker, showing my play did appear strong. Anyway, I was slightly down here but then managed to check-shove with 2nd pair after quite a bit of action to get it nearly back to evens. Then I tried to be too tricky. he raised button as per, and I flatted AA. The flop was Q72, not too bad for my hand. I checked and he raised his standard half pot. I flatted, knowing the turn bet would appear as well. But the turn was another Q and he bet a bit less than his usual turn bet. I had enough behind to fold but that wasn't really an option, and even though it felt bad I shoved. he flipped his Q5 and the game was over, I was the loser. Thinking back on it, I don;t beat myself up too much if I lose a $36 heads up after having a big lead, and this is pretty similar. The cards didn't come heads up and when I reduced him to 14% to split, he hit!!
All in all I was happy with the game, and if I hadn't have lost with KK vs J9 on the other $4.40 I played and busted in 39th, I felt like it could have been double success. So I definitely like them tournies and recommend them massively.
My stats for them are quite sick, not sustainable because luckily my cashes have been high but still xmachine's stats show massive amounts can be made at them games.
38
$17.26
$4
392%
$656
Anyway, haven't played much heads up, won around $90ish I think since last post playing heads up, with my overall profit now about $4k for pokerstars sng's!
Also, I deposited another $600, to take advantage of the 40% deposit bonus on stars, so in a couple of months time I should get around $240 which will be nice :-)
I'm going to withdraw the $600 when I get a chance and probably $400 more, so will take $1k or which will be nice :-)
My roll (assuming the $600 has been taken off) stands at $3091, so I'm over the $3k mark, yay! :-D
Adding the quick $100 I made on fulltilt and the $150ish playin live, my spoils since my $200 mission at the end of May shows around $3150 profit, or £1580ish, which is a nice feeling. At the minute though, I'm too tired to play too much so looking forward to coming back from holiday August 5th nice and refreshed and ready to make some $$$ and complete my bonus.
So unless anything exciting happens before then I'll post in a few weeks :-)
Gl all
147_574R
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