Not too long ago I wrote about my bad run and it appears that my prophecy has come true. It did indeed take me all month to get back to where I was, but the good news is that I did it!!!!
Thanks to the tourney finish I posted about previously, and a few generous tables; I am finally back to an all time high water mark.
In some ways, it feels like a wasted month; but in other ways, it really feels good to get back to where I was.
Hopefully, it is smooth sailing from here, for a while at least anyway.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Final Table Fun
I had a good chunk of free time and decided to play the Poker Stars 20+2 tourney with 1100 or so entrants, so a fairly large prize pool.
Managed to double up early on ... but then lose with KK against TJo, which cuts me back in half. Down to about 900 chips and I call an early position short stack all in ... we both have about the same amount of chips. I have 89s and it's probably not a percentage play, but I really felt like I would get callers behind me as there were several left to act and I could potentially triple or quadruple up with the right flop. Flop hit me square in the face 67T and I double up as the UTG short stack calls me an idiot (he had AJo btw).
I then went on a nice rush, JJ doubled up against a big stacks AT ... QQ dominated TT, and caught a flush to double again, and suddenly I was a major factor again. Amazing how you can go from having 4 blinds worth of chips to being in the top 30 in about 10 hands.
After building my stack, I managed to win enough pots and steal enough blinds to stay around 30th place for quite a while.
I have a tendency to get a little aggressive during the mid stages and I think I might have done so in this tourney. 67s from early and my table was tight, so I decide to put in a raise and see what happens. Short stack moves over the top of me, but it's only 11k more to call and I have 9k in plus the blinds and antes.
I probably should have laid it down, but if he has any non pair hand, I easily have the odds to call. I call and he has 88 and congratulates himself for standing up to the table bully ... which I didn't really think I was doing too much of, but in hindsight the 67s raise was a bit weak. Anyway, I doubled him up and he went on to finish 4th. I still had plenty of chips though and I tightened up a bit after that, plus my cards dried up on me.
I managed to get into the money, top 99 pay, with a decent stack, which I rode to the top 50 or so. I was getting a little short stacked when it is folded to the small blind, who raises me (I'm in the big blind looking at QQ). I reraise him, and he calls, showing K7o. No King shows and I double up and now I'm in business.
I won't belabor things, but I managed to squeak into 7th place after getting short stacked going into the final 27. I was the short stack at the final table, but the action was a bit wild early on, and I folded my way past two others, picking up around $660 for my efforts ... a very nice payday. I still had 45K in chips when the chip leader raises to 32K (4K/8K blinds plus antes), a late position player goes all in, and I have AKo in the small blind and call. Unfortunately, the big stack flips KK (other guy had TT). I don't catch my Ace and am bounced in 7th, but a fantastic result!
I am very excited about my tournament play of late ... I'm really getting a feel for situations. For instance, I had A8o from the button and it is folded to me, I raise to nab the blinds, which are significant at this point, and the big blind calls me. The flop comes TT3 and the big blind comes out betting, a bet that is about 1/4 of his stack and slightly less than half the pot. If I fold, I am left with 30K in chips and have little if any shot at the final table unless I get lucky fast. I decide that his bet looks too much like a steal to fold, and I have just enough chips to force his hand, besides, it's pretty unlikely that a TT3 flop hit his hand and my Ace high has a good shot at being good here. Even if it is not, I might make a better hand fold if the other guy is weak. I reraise him all in and he folds.
Of course that hand could have easily backfired on me and he could have flipped a pocket pair on me, but the bet was just too smelly.
Anyway, a great payday in a big tournament so I am excited. First paid over $5k though and I was reasonably close. An ace that triples me up in my final hand and I am in bizness (of course, you can't complain when your AK loses to KK).
Managed to double up early on ... but then lose with KK against TJo, which cuts me back in half. Down to about 900 chips and I call an early position short stack all in ... we both have about the same amount of chips. I have 89s and it's probably not a percentage play, but I really felt like I would get callers behind me as there were several left to act and I could potentially triple or quadruple up with the right flop. Flop hit me square in the face 67T and I double up as the UTG short stack calls me an idiot (he had AJo btw).
I then went on a nice rush, JJ doubled up against a big stacks AT ... QQ dominated TT, and caught a flush to double again, and suddenly I was a major factor again. Amazing how you can go from having 4 blinds worth of chips to being in the top 30 in about 10 hands.
After building my stack, I managed to win enough pots and steal enough blinds to stay around 30th place for quite a while.
I have a tendency to get a little aggressive during the mid stages and I think I might have done so in this tourney. 67s from early and my table was tight, so I decide to put in a raise and see what happens. Short stack moves over the top of me, but it's only 11k more to call and I have 9k in plus the blinds and antes.
I probably should have laid it down, but if he has any non pair hand, I easily have the odds to call. I call and he has 88 and congratulates himself for standing up to the table bully ... which I didn't really think I was doing too much of, but in hindsight the 67s raise was a bit weak. Anyway, I doubled him up and he went on to finish 4th. I still had plenty of chips though and I tightened up a bit after that, plus my cards dried up on me.
I managed to get into the money, top 99 pay, with a decent stack, which I rode to the top 50 or so. I was getting a little short stacked when it is folded to the small blind, who raises me (I'm in the big blind looking at QQ). I reraise him, and he calls, showing K7o. No King shows and I double up and now I'm in business.
I won't belabor things, but I managed to squeak into 7th place after getting short stacked going into the final 27. I was the short stack at the final table, but the action was a bit wild early on, and I folded my way past two others, picking up around $660 for my efforts ... a very nice payday. I still had 45K in chips when the chip leader raises to 32K (4K/8K blinds plus antes), a late position player goes all in, and I have AKo in the small blind and call. Unfortunately, the big stack flips KK (other guy had TT). I don't catch my Ace and am bounced in 7th, but a fantastic result!
I am very excited about my tournament play of late ... I'm really getting a feel for situations. For instance, I had A8o from the button and it is folded to me, I raise to nab the blinds, which are significant at this point, and the big blind calls me. The flop comes TT3 and the big blind comes out betting, a bet that is about 1/4 of his stack and slightly less than half the pot. If I fold, I am left with 30K in chips and have little if any shot at the final table unless I get lucky fast. I decide that his bet looks too much like a steal to fold, and I have just enough chips to force his hand, besides, it's pretty unlikely that a TT3 flop hit his hand and my Ace high has a good shot at being good here. Even if it is not, I might make a better hand fold if the other guy is weak. I reraise him all in and he folds.
Of course that hand could have easily backfired on me and he could have flipped a pocket pair on me, but the bet was just too smelly.
Anyway, a great payday in a big tournament so I am excited. First paid over $5k though and I was reasonably close. An ace that triples me up in my final hand and I am in bizness (of course, you can't complain when your AK loses to KK).
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Close again ...
Absolute changed their Sunday tourney to a rebuy, which I am not a big fan of, but decided to go ahead and play it anyway. I immediately rebought and treaded water for a while. Eventually, I started to build a stack and by the first break I had a respectable 7500 in chips. The tournament allows 2 add ons, which I took advantage of, raising my stack to 11500.
I won't belabor the specifics, I made a few blunders, and made some other nice plays. Doubled up on a flopped full house from the BB with 59.
I eventually built my stack up to 41K and had been playing very tightly, and the blinds and antes were starting to look enticing enough to ramp up the heat on the blinds. Folded to me in the cutoff and I have J4s, normally a hand I wouldn't even bat an eye at, but I have not seen a flop in quite a while and have not put any heat on the blinds at all, so I decide the timing was right for a steal.
The big blind calls my 4x raise and the flop comes K35. He immediately bets out, but less than half the pot. I smell a rat, and reraise him, he calls. The turn is 9 and he leads out again, but this time with a minimum bet. Now, I have a decision to make, either give it up or reraise. Because the bet was so small, I am a bit worried about a really big hand, like 99 or K9, but I decide to put him to the test and reraise again, this time about half the pot. He calls, and the river is a 2. He pushes all in, 3000 more chips, and I put on my production ... letting the time run down a bit before folding.
He shows me A4 for a wheel he made on the river ... brutal. I was behind the whole time of course, but my aggressive play should have taken down that pot. This put me down to about 23K chips and now I'm looking at a struggle to get into the money.
I catch QQ in the big blind. Early position player raises, everyone folds and I reraise him. Flop is all babies, but there are 2 spades, so I push in and he folds, telling me had had AK diamonds. We are starting to get close to the money (top 45 pay) and I push in with 99 and a big stack calls me with ATo and I manage to double up.
Flopped a full house from the big blind and slow played it into a double up, and now I have over 90K in chips. After stealing a few blinds and antes and taking down a small pot, I reach my high water mark of 107K.
And then I started to unravel a bit. AKo, big raise, late position caller. Flop is all undercards and I make a continuation bet, he pushes in on me for 40K and I have to fold.
Ultimately, I end up making a move with AK again, get reraised by a big stack, and I end up all in. He flips over AQs and catches a Q and I end up out in 26th place.
Winning that final hand would have put me with a below average stack still, but I would have had plenty of chips for a run.
Another good result, finishing 26th out of a 495 person field is certainly acceptable. Still working on that big tournament win though ... it's coming.
I won't belabor the specifics, I made a few blunders, and made some other nice plays. Doubled up on a flopped full house from the BB with 59.
I eventually built my stack up to 41K and had been playing very tightly, and the blinds and antes were starting to look enticing enough to ramp up the heat on the blinds. Folded to me in the cutoff and I have J4s, normally a hand I wouldn't even bat an eye at, but I have not seen a flop in quite a while and have not put any heat on the blinds at all, so I decide the timing was right for a steal.
The big blind calls my 4x raise and the flop comes K35. He immediately bets out, but less than half the pot. I smell a rat, and reraise him, he calls. The turn is 9 and he leads out again, but this time with a minimum bet. Now, I have a decision to make, either give it up or reraise. Because the bet was so small, I am a bit worried about a really big hand, like 99 or K9, but I decide to put him to the test and reraise again, this time about half the pot. He calls, and the river is a 2. He pushes all in, 3000 more chips, and I put on my production ... letting the time run down a bit before folding.
He shows me A4 for a wheel he made on the river ... brutal. I was behind the whole time of course, but my aggressive play should have taken down that pot. This put me down to about 23K chips and now I'm looking at a struggle to get into the money.
I catch QQ in the big blind. Early position player raises, everyone folds and I reraise him. Flop is all babies, but there are 2 spades, so I push in and he folds, telling me had had AK diamonds. We are starting to get close to the money (top 45 pay) and I push in with 99 and a big stack calls me with ATo and I manage to double up.
Flopped a full house from the big blind and slow played it into a double up, and now I have over 90K in chips. After stealing a few blinds and antes and taking down a small pot, I reach my high water mark of 107K.
And then I started to unravel a bit. AKo, big raise, late position caller. Flop is all undercards and I make a continuation bet, he pushes in on me for 40K and I have to fold.
Ultimately, I end up making a move with AK again, get reraised by a big stack, and I end up all in. He flips over AQs and catches a Q and I end up out in 26th place.
Winning that final hand would have put me with a below average stack still, but I would have had plenty of chips for a run.
Another good result, finishing 26th out of a 495 person field is certainly acceptable. Still working on that big tournament win though ... it's coming.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Kicked in the Pants ...
Well, after my last post; poker has given me a bit of a rude awakening. Right on cue, almost immediately after that post, my luck really turned. Fortunately, I still pretty much broke even at 10/20, but the 5/10 games, especially at the Cryptologic sites really hammered me.
I ended up losing about 13% of my bankroll, which isn't devastating by any means, but I will spend the rest of this month rebuilding and it sets me back a bit in attaining my year end target.
Thanks to my cohorts at www.poker-strategy.org, I found a new site to play. BetonBet poker, which is a Poker Room skin, offers a 30% rebate through psorg, which is better than Caribbean Sun's rebate of 27.5% and the players at BetonBet are simply not as good as the Crypto players, at least at the 5/10 level.
I'm getting back to the point where I need to make some cuts in my monthly poker rotation. I am playing BetonBet, Absolute, CaribbeanSun, Interpoker, and then Stars and Party if either have a reload. That is spreading things pretty thin, especially since I am mostly playing one 5 handed table at BetonBet, which is like playing 2 tables, and only one other table if even that (usually at Absolute if there is a game I find intriguing).
I haven't had much opportunity to play tournaments lately, but the few that I have played haven't yielded any success. I played in psorg's inaugural poker league monthly tournament. It's a $1 buy in tourney with $250 added to the prize pool, and normally I don't bother with those small stakes, but psorg has been so good to me, and the folks there are great people, so I have a great deal of loyalty and try to participate in as many events as I can. Plus, it's fun to play with a few people you know. Anyway, I went out of it after losing a race, I had AK and went up against TT, flop was 9JQ, which leaves me with 5 outs ... none of which hit. Would have been in good shape from there had I won the race, but alas.
My wife is going out of town this weekend, which would have freed me up for a big weekend of poker; but instead some of my buddies have wrangled me into going on a canoe trip.
Anyway, the rebuilding has begun; I've gotten 21% of the money I lost back. One thing I'm learning, just when you think you have things pretty much figured out; poker throws you a knuckleball that floats up and looks really enticing, you take a mighty swing and it dives underneath your bat for strike 3!
Fortunately, there's always another at bat, as long as you manage your bankroll properly.
I ended up losing about 13% of my bankroll, which isn't devastating by any means, but I will spend the rest of this month rebuilding and it sets me back a bit in attaining my year end target.
Thanks to my cohorts at www.poker-strategy.org, I found a new site to play. BetonBet poker, which is a Poker Room skin, offers a 30% rebate through psorg, which is better than Caribbean Sun's rebate of 27.5% and the players at BetonBet are simply not as good as the Crypto players, at least at the 5/10 level.
I'm getting back to the point where I need to make some cuts in my monthly poker rotation. I am playing BetonBet, Absolute, CaribbeanSun, Interpoker, and then Stars and Party if either have a reload. That is spreading things pretty thin, especially since I am mostly playing one 5 handed table at BetonBet, which is like playing 2 tables, and only one other table if even that (usually at Absolute if there is a game I find intriguing).
I haven't had much opportunity to play tournaments lately, but the few that I have played haven't yielded any success. I played in psorg's inaugural poker league monthly tournament. It's a $1 buy in tourney with $250 added to the prize pool, and normally I don't bother with those small stakes, but psorg has been so good to me, and the folks there are great people, so I have a great deal of loyalty and try to participate in as many events as I can. Plus, it's fun to play with a few people you know. Anyway, I went out of it after losing a race, I had AK and went up against TT, flop was 9JQ, which leaves me with 5 outs ... none of which hit. Would have been in good shape from there had I won the race, but alas.
My wife is going out of town this weekend, which would have freed me up for a big weekend of poker; but instead some of my buddies have wrangled me into going on a canoe trip.
Anyway, the rebuilding has begun; I've gotten 21% of the money I lost back. One thing I'm learning, just when you think you have things pretty much figured out; poker throws you a knuckleball that floats up and looks really enticing, you take a mighty swing and it dives underneath your bat for strike 3!
Fortunately, there's always another at bat, as long as you manage your bankroll properly.
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