Tried to qualify for the Virgin Poker Festival in London. I've played a few satelites, mostly to large sunday tournaments, but this was the closest I've come...
22 runners, top 3 qualify, started well, as this was a larger buy in (25 euros) than i normally do you could see that everybody was playing a tighter. I picked up a few pots by raising then cbetting. One "creative" player made me a chip leader by calling my raise in the blinds then calling my flop and turn bets. My pocket pair of 7s beating his 3s. One thing to note was the timing tell, he quickly called my flop bet which shows he was weak trying to act strong. He then called my raise with AQo from the blinds then proceeded to call my cbet again but fold the turn (i hit my ace on the flop). From that it was just a case of stealing until i limped with ATs from UTG+1. This is a bad limp but id been raising a lot and i thought people would be scared of the limp (nobody raised). The blinds limped and the flop of 2JA rainbow was checked to me. I bet 2/3 pot and got min check raised by the big stack sb. I read this as weak and pushed all in. I read this as having a high chance of being weak because Id been stealing alot already and his bet was very slightly bigger than twice my bet, so that he still had enough of a stack behind to fold. He eventually called with A3 ha! This gave me a massive chip lead of around 12000 chips (the average needed to qualify). Two people went out soon after leaving 3 big stacks and 2 people on around 4BB. Then it all went wrong.
The short stack button pushed and i called with Ad8d, he turned over Kd3d. I hit a nut flush draw on the flop only to see K and 3 fall on the turn and river. I was so close to getting it down to 4 people and having a dominating chip lead! The stacks evened out and the short stacks doubled up. I managed to sustain my stack around 10-12k by stealing and called the same short stack (4BB) with 22 vs A9o, then an ace fell on the turn. Later on, same guy, again he dropped short as he never stealed, my KQo vs his A3o. QT2 flop, J turn - one card away to qualify, 4 outer, K falls on the river! OMFG! This puts me down to about 8BB and one of the 2 short stacks. Very next hand in the SB i get dealt 66. Cut off raises - as he has done in the same position every round for the last 2. I push, and he calls with KQo (alot stronger than i was hoping!). Q falls on the fucking RIVER! If i'd won that i would have been back up to 13k in chips! So annoying i felt like crying! Was 1 card away from qualifying twice and 2 cards away twice! There probably isnt another chance to qualify now as im in france soon, so i guess i saved myself some money on train fares. O what could have been! I had started picturing myself on the way to London after i doubled up with ATs...
Anyway, i found coming 5th gave me my buyin back, so at least that soul destorying tournament didnt cost me anything. I've brought PTO and PAH and i am trialing Eyepoker which collects hand histories and can be used for table selections. Have to say im amazed and cant believe i didnt use these tools eariler. I havent really used PTO that much other than to display stats in PAH, but i have been reviewing and making notes about my sessions which is very useful. Eyepoker is great and think i will have to buy it when i get back from france. I've got about another 1500 hands to go before applying with badbeat. Im about $14 down, which IMO could be the other way. I've been 2 outered three times which has cost me at least $20. The other $20 i lost was when i flopped the nut straight with no redraw to the flush draw showing. Three of us went all in, all with the nut straight, but only one with the flush draw. Of course it hit on the turn and the guy turned 3 buy-ins up! Ive also got StoxPoker access which has been amazing. I've seen a few videos on 6 max. Ribbo is crazy agro! I've seen how to play loose and had a fair amount of success the first time i tried. Im itching to start playing again, but im stuck at Charissa's, then we go to France, so after we get back im going to the hit the tables hard!
I do however think i should play some tournaments, both NLHE and PLO as i was very happy with my satelite play. Apart from the call with KQo which put me short stacked (even though i got the right odds) i think i played it pretty perfectly and definately should have qualified. This leads me to believe i should try and qualify for the Everest sunday tournament (only $100 buyin) and maybe play a few more tournaments.
Cant wait to hit the tables again!
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Monday, 1 September 2008
Decisions Decisions!
Been back from Australia for just over a week now. Spent a bit of time playing poker, but mainly been having fun with friends, family and Charissa. I read Pot-Limit Omaha Poker by Jeff Hwang and Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha by Rolf Slotboom while on my travels. PLOP gives a firm grounding in solid Omaha play and certainly gave me a greater knowledge of starting hands and enforced the advantage of position. From this book i learnt which starting hands are playable and why and the fact i should really tighten by in early position. These things i did know, but i dont feel i was putting them into practice. This is something i wish to correct. PPLO was less useful. It has great information on short stacked play and even though i had a quick go using it and lost $30 i can see why this approach would work in the long run. I feel my ability calls for a big stacked approach and this play will improve my play rather than a simple push/fold short stack play. I will however, use it to great effect in tournaments I'm sure. So now im a bit more clued up on Omaha strategy, what now?
I signed up for lucky ace poker to get 6 months free at Stox Poker for their Omaha videos, which i should get in the next few days. I want to finish making notes on PLOP the book and from the 2+2 discussions. I think my main need is to play some poker! When playing NLHE 5/10 cents cash i felt my game had improved from the knowledge i'd gained over the last few months, but i simply need to play more hands. I was planning to buy PT Omaha and PAH to monitor my play, so will be doing that shortly and was going to play on Party Poker. I have now been distracked by BadBeat Poker who provide bankrolls for winning players. This requires you to play on the iPoker network and a minimum of 3000 hands. With that you can get a maximum loss limit of $50 or up to $500 per day, depending on limits/ability etc. So i may in fact play on this network rather than party and see how it goes. Having this extra roll would allow me to maybe move up limits with less restricitons. There is also the Virign Poker festival coming my in London at the end of September, so i am thinking of trying to qualify for that.
So things to do:
Finish my studying of PLOP.
Get access to Stox and start studying the material.
Buy PTO and PAH and get these setup.
Play 3000 hands and apply to Badbeat.
Qualify for Virign Festival.
I signed up for lucky ace poker to get 6 months free at Stox Poker for their Omaha videos, which i should get in the next few days. I want to finish making notes on PLOP the book and from the 2+2 discussions. I think my main need is to play some poker! When playing NLHE 5/10 cents cash i felt my game had improved from the knowledge i'd gained over the last few months, but i simply need to play more hands. I was planning to buy PT Omaha and PAH to monitor my play, so will be doing that shortly and was going to play on Party Poker. I have now been distracked by BadBeat Poker who provide bankrolls for winning players. This requires you to play on the iPoker network and a minimum of 3000 hands. With that you can get a maximum loss limit of $50 or up to $500 per day, depending on limits/ability etc. So i may in fact play on this network rather than party and see how it goes. Having this extra roll would allow me to maybe move up limits with less restricitons. There is also the Virign Poker festival coming my in London at the end of September, so i am thinking of trying to qualify for that.
So things to do:
Finish my studying of PLOP.
Get access to Stox and start studying the material.
Buy PTO and PAH and get these setup.
Play 3000 hands and apply to Badbeat.
Qualify for Virign Festival.
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Omaha Variance
Bad cash Omaha day yesterday (-$40) and today. Today lost a buyin, 20 outer wrap against top 2 pair with nut flush draw and a straight flush draw against bottom set. Yes he wouldnt fold his bottom set to a re-reraise! Yesterday i think some of my play was bad, but the 2 lost buy-ins today i think were fair play. I think i should have just called with the wrap and folded to a paired or flush turn card.
Played 2 hold'em tournaments. First i went out with KK. One limper in front, put in a 6 BB raise as the limper had a talent of never folding preflop. I get min re-raised by a guy to my left leaving him a small part of his stack behind. This screamed strength, but these low stakes tournaments im never folding KK. The limper then called the reraise! I then shove, get calld by the reraise (no surprise) and the limper calls. They both turn over AA! Couldnt believe it, i didnt hit a miracle king.
The other tournaments i came 9th for $14 ($2 buyin), 329 runners. I got doubled up to 7000 with TPTK against a fish with his flush draw (got to 3000 odd by being dealt my fair share of good cards). I then got dealt QQ. 4BB raise, one caller and BB calls (big fish). Flop comes AKQ and i shove and get called. Other guy turns over KK! Bit pissed off, but still had a good stack. With some good stealing and cards i get to the final table with out much trouble. I didnt adjust to a full table from 6 handed. I was in the top 3 and had position on the other 2 big stacks. However, 2 failed steal attempts put me back with the rest of the pack. No cards and no good situations to shove, i shoved with 9 big blinds with 49o. Bad timing! 2 callers, one with AQs and the other AA! Oops! Finished 9th which was dissapointing. I think my LAG style is good but i didnt adjust to the number of people on the final table. The tournament was on Blue Sq which has no ante structure, which also calls for a tighter style.
Played 2 hold'em tournaments. First i went out with KK. One limper in front, put in a 6 BB raise as the limper had a talent of never folding preflop. I get min re-raised by a guy to my left leaving him a small part of his stack behind. This screamed strength, but these low stakes tournaments im never folding KK. The limper then called the reraise! I then shove, get calld by the reraise (no surprise) and the limper calls. They both turn over AA! Couldnt believe it, i didnt hit a miracle king.
The other tournaments i came 9th for $14 ($2 buyin), 329 runners. I got doubled up to 7000 with TPTK against a fish with his flush draw (got to 3000 odd by being dealt my fair share of good cards). I then got dealt QQ. 4BB raise, one caller and BB calls (big fish). Flop comes AKQ and i shove and get called. Other guy turns over KK! Bit pissed off, but still had a good stack. With some good stealing and cards i get to the final table with out much trouble. I didnt adjust to a full table from 6 handed. I was in the top 3 and had position on the other 2 big stacks. However, 2 failed steal attempts put me back with the rest of the pack. No cards and no good situations to shove, i shoved with 9 big blinds with 49o. Bad timing! 2 callers, one with AQs and the other AA! Oops! Finished 9th which was dissapointing. I think my LAG style is good but i didnt adjust to the number of people on the final table. The tournament was on Blue Sq which has no ante structure, which also calls for a tighter style.
Thursday, 12 June 2008
First good Omaha Win
The day after my $2 R/A NLHE win i went a big tournament mad. Played 2 $5 Omaha tournaments, a $1 and a $5 NLHE tournament. I busted out of all of them before the first break! When i start feeling a headache coming on i should stop playing. I felt ill it was that bad. Anyway, yesterday i won my first Omaha $2 tournament for $50. Not an amazing win, but 1st out of 80 runners and turning $2 into $50 isnt bad. It also confirms my belief that there is money to be made in these low stakes Omaha tournaments. I realised that one of the most important things is to be able to double up early. I got lucky yesterday, i went to 500 chips from 1000 starting because i didnt hit anything. I was waiting to get it all-in preflop with a strong starting hand, against one person. It actually ended up being a 4 way all-in! Everybody else's hands were junk but i got lucky and hit 2 pair to get back to a decent size stack. Early in these tournaments everybody calls preflop and you have no fold equity post flop, so you need to hit a strong hand. Once you get a decent stack, its relatively easy to make it to the cash. 3 handed on the final table, it also helps if you hit 2 pair every flop, like i did! As the blinds go up, there's less people in each hand, sometimes only 2 or 3. If you identify the reasonably good tight players, take flops in position against them. If they check to you on the flop, a 1/2 pot bet normally wins it. I also bet out on a bluff from the blinds if theres only 2 other people in the hand and the board is very uncoordinated (i.e 2s7hQd). Picking up small pots this way keeps your head above the blinds and certainly helps make it to the cash. Its important to identify the half decent players who wont call pot sized bets with top pair or a weak flush draw. Making notes of the minimum you can bet into them and make them fold is very useful as well. I saw one guy who would fold to a minimum sized c-bet! Some players only ever raise AAxx, its also useful to work out who these players are, because calling preflop can win you a big pot post flop.
Monday, 9 June 2008
Latest change of plans and another cash!
After playing around 5-8 PLO tournaments and coming close to making the money at least 50% of the time (only to go out on a crazy bluff normally) i made the money. $2 90 man tournament, came 3rd for $20!!!! With all the talk on 2+2 about PLO being the next big game, i think its a good time to learn before it goes main stream (i.e tv time etc). Ive spent £17 on PLOP by Jeff Hwang and Secrets of Professional PLO by Rolf Slotboom. Apparently these books are good for FR game where a conservative approach usually plays off. 6-max a looser style is probably required and where there is more money to be made (and lost). This area i will learn through 2+2 discussion and i think signing up to a training site would be profitable. Stox is offering 6 months free if you sign up to certain poker sites, this is very tempting for when i get back from OZ. The books i am going to fully study while in Oz, so when i come back, i can crack on with PLO cash and tournys.
Now on to the big news. I now have a BR on Everest! I took down my first MTT by winning a $2 rebuy, 240 runners for a cool $591. This is a similar cash to my other 2, but winning feels a lot better than 3rd or 4th and 1st in this case was worth an extra £110 compared to second place. The tournament started well when i managed to double up to 4500 (2000 starting) but i sea-sawed around that figure for the rest of the rebuy period and ended with 5000, a bit below average. From 5-30k i really had no make or break races where my tournament life was on the line! I just picked spots very well and stole pots from the right people. In the history from 30-90k more stealing and a few big'ish pots took me to 90k. A race against a short stack for 35k Ak vs my 44 took me into the chip lead of 125k. I was already to go hyper-agro and steal every pot as the final table neared, but the 2nd chip leader got put to my right! I was dealt KK UTG and made my standard 3BB raise. Big stack in BB called. Flop Td7d4s- BB pot bets and i reraise him all-in. He thinks for a while and calls! He turns over JJ and i make 85k profit and hit the 200k+ mark with 950k chips in play and 16 people left! The next biggest stack was about 90k! I cruised to the final table and to the last 5. A top 3 finish looked easy with 2 very short stacks left and with 400k+ in chips to my name. I told myself to just avoid the other big stacks. 2nd in chips kept raising my blind so with A5o i reraised him. bad timing! He 3-bets all-in and i get given 1:4 odds, but it costs me another 100k. He turns over Ako and im down to 180k and looking at maybe a less than 3rd finish. i survive to 3 handed and short-stacked i get lucky with Ajs vs AA, hit trip jacks. Later bust the other short stack to go heads up for evenish stacks. Trips queens and the final hand of slow playing AA vs T8o (he hit top pair), and i win. My only major mistake of the tournament was the A5o hand and i got lucky with AJs, but the rest was good agressive poker and using a big stack to steal. I was happy with my play. I think having read Every Hand Revealed by Gus Hansen and other advice, i picked my spots and played a lot looser than i have in the past, while everybody else was playing tighter. I think the key hand was the KK vs JJ hand. Having an ante running also called for a more agressive style.
Now on to the big news. I now have a BR on Everest! I took down my first MTT by winning a $2 rebuy, 240 runners for a cool $591. This is a similar cash to my other 2, but winning feels a lot better than 3rd or 4th and 1st in this case was worth an extra £110 compared to second place. The tournament started well when i managed to double up to 4500 (2000 starting) but i sea-sawed around that figure for the rest of the rebuy period and ended with 5000, a bit below average. From 5-30k i really had no make or break races where my tournament life was on the line! I just picked spots very well and stole pots from the right people. In the history from 30-90k more stealing and a few big'ish pots took me to 90k. A race against a short stack for 35k Ak vs my 44 took me into the chip lead of 125k. I was already to go hyper-agro and steal every pot as the final table neared, but the 2nd chip leader got put to my right! I was dealt KK UTG and made my standard 3BB raise. Big stack in BB called. Flop Td7d4s- BB pot bets and i reraise him all-in. He thinks for a while and calls! He turns over JJ and i make 85k profit and hit the 200k+ mark with 950k chips in play and 16 people left! The next biggest stack was about 90k! I cruised to the final table and to the last 5. A top 3 finish looked easy with 2 very short stacks left and with 400k+ in chips to my name. I told myself to just avoid the other big stacks. 2nd in chips kept raising my blind so with A5o i reraised him. bad timing! He 3-bets all-in and i get given 1:4 odds, but it costs me another 100k. He turns over Ako and im down to 180k and looking at maybe a less than 3rd finish. i survive to 3 handed and short-stacked i get lucky with Ajs vs AA, hit trip jacks. Later bust the other short stack to go heads up for evenish stacks. Trips queens and the final hand of slow playing AA vs T8o (he hit top pair), and i win. My only major mistake of the tournament was the A5o hand and i got lucky with AJs, but the rest was good agressive poker and using a big stack to steal. I was happy with my play. I think having read Every Hand Revealed by Gus Hansen and other advice, i picked my spots and played a lot looser than i have in the past, while everybody else was playing tighter. I think the key hand was the KK vs JJ hand. Having an ante running also called for a more agressive style.
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Start of this Blog
I’m starting this blog as a record for myself. Each post will contain what I have achieved and what a plan to achieve. The following isn’t very entertaining, its just my history and plans. I’ve played poker since June 07, starting in a home game with little Mark, Carrie, Tash and a few of their mates. Played a couple of tournaments at the local Grosvenor casino (one £5 rebuy and freerolls). Started playing online in October 07 at Titans. Moved to Party with $160 and built it up to $600, then cashed out at $350. Made most money at .10/.25 cash and $6 50 man SnGs. Moved to blue squ where I’m not sure if I’ve made or lost money at cash but made $540 coming 3rd in a $5 MTT and $580 coming second in a $5 MTT. Played a bit of cash of Everest as well, no great wins. I currently have just under a $500 bankroll.
After this summer, I’m going to invest in Pokertracker and maybe PAH and concentrate on my cash game. I will start with a $400 bankroll playing at 20 or 25NL FR cash tables, playing 2 at a time and maybe moving to 3 or 4 once I have and can use PT properly. I want to run this to $1000 with a winrate of at last 5BB/100 before moving to 50NL. Once I reach 50NL I will grind at that level until I feel happy to move up. I’m not sure what site I will do this on. I may look at rakeback offers before making a choice. In PT3 there is a HUD that at the time of writing is limited to stars, FT and party, so this may influence my decision.
Another $100 of my bankroll will go in a separate account on another site which will be used as a tournament account. This will be used to play $1-$5 MTTs with a limit of a $10 loss each week. This is to keep track of my tournament play separate from my cash. Tournaments will be side lined to concentrate on cash, but I like to play them, so I will only play a couple a week. If I have a win similar to my previous $500 cashes, I will move my limits up. The reason my bankroll isn’t over $1000 already is because I had to spend the money on car insurance and surviving being a penniless student.
Once I have PT and start playing cash, I will try and plan each week when I want to play and for how long. These planned sessions will be reviewed hand by hand in PT to analyse my game. I will also start posting more on 2+2 strategy forums with my interesting hands that get me into trouble and I will comment on other people’s hands.
I have a subscription to PokerPlayer magazine and my friend Rory has inside poker. I will read all the strategy in these magazines and if time permits, write out summary sheets which I can quickly review in the future. Books I want to read:
Harrington on hold’em, v3
Tournament poker for advanced players
Harrington on cash v1/2.
Professional NL hold’em*
*need to buy
Some of these will be read when I’m in Oz. I would like to reread Theory of Poker and Every Hand Revealed. ToP needs to be summarised.
Check list:
Read books/mag and make notes if useful
Buy PT
Decide which sites to use for the 2 accounts and look at rakeback offers.
Timetable sessions in for the week starting Sunday evening.
Post/Review hands on 2+2
Qualify for a live event*
*Most packages are $2000+ and this money would be more useful as a bankroll, but the Virgin Festival is only a $200 main event, so I may put some money aside for trying to qualify for that, depending when the next one is that I can make it to.
Only other live poker I play is a £5 double chance SnG with mates, which are rare and the biweekly university run tournament. These cost £3 and are donkey luck fests. I’ve never cashed! Made 1 final table but lost with AK vs 77 and AT vs AK. Latest one my King high flush lost to a straight flush, tilt!! Money used for these tournaments wont be recorded in my BR as they are small. Any winnings should be stored and used to play future live tournaments.
Background and targets done. These are all for when I get back from Oz on the 23rd August. I also have a half marathon to train for when I get back. I played 2 tournaments today:
Blue Sq $5, 350 runner NLH. Starting 1500. Make a few hundred with raise/cbet hands. Lose 600 when slow playing TPGK to set of kings (hit set on the turn). All-in for 735 at 50/100 blinds, get 2 out-ed when all in with AQ, vs AJ and QJs, J hit the turn. Would have been up to around 2500 with blinds just turning to 50/100.
Got knocked out of $2 PLO MTT 90 runners. 1000 starting, would have been up to 4500 chips with 30/60 blinds, with nut straight, but calling station with TP hit runner runner to hit Full house, down to 400 chips and tilted the rest off. Note to self, fold next 5 hands in PLO when tilted.
Will record any other play before leaving on the 21st June, then will record progress once I get back.
After this summer, I’m going to invest in Pokertracker and maybe PAH and concentrate on my cash game. I will start with a $400 bankroll playing at 20 or 25NL FR cash tables, playing 2 at a time and maybe moving to 3 or 4 once I have and can use PT properly. I want to run this to $1000 with a winrate of at last 5BB/100 before moving to 50NL. Once I reach 50NL I will grind at that level until I feel happy to move up. I’m not sure what site I will do this on. I may look at rakeback offers before making a choice. In PT3 there is a HUD that at the time of writing is limited to stars, FT and party, so this may influence my decision.
Another $100 of my bankroll will go in a separate account on another site which will be used as a tournament account. This will be used to play $1-$5 MTTs with a limit of a $10 loss each week. This is to keep track of my tournament play separate from my cash. Tournaments will be side lined to concentrate on cash, but I like to play them, so I will only play a couple a week. If I have a win similar to my previous $500 cashes, I will move my limits up. The reason my bankroll isn’t over $1000 already is because I had to spend the money on car insurance and surviving being a penniless student.
Once I have PT and start playing cash, I will try and plan each week when I want to play and for how long. These planned sessions will be reviewed hand by hand in PT to analyse my game. I will also start posting more on 2+2 strategy forums with my interesting hands that get me into trouble and I will comment on other people’s hands.
I have a subscription to PokerPlayer magazine and my friend Rory has inside poker. I will read all the strategy in these magazines and if time permits, write out summary sheets which I can quickly review in the future. Books I want to read:
Harrington on hold’em, v3
Tournament poker for advanced players
Harrington on cash v1/2.
Professional NL hold’em*
*need to buy
Some of these will be read when I’m in Oz. I would like to reread Theory of Poker and Every Hand Revealed. ToP needs to be summarised.
Check list:
Read books/mag and make notes if useful
Buy PT
Decide which sites to use for the 2 accounts and look at rakeback offers.
Timetable sessions in for the week starting Sunday evening.
Post/Review hands on 2+2
Qualify for a live event*
*Most packages are $2000+ and this money would be more useful as a bankroll, but the Virgin Festival is only a $200 main event, so I may put some money aside for trying to qualify for that, depending when the next one is that I can make it to.
Only other live poker I play is a £5 double chance SnG with mates, which are rare and the biweekly university run tournament. These cost £3 and are donkey luck fests. I’ve never cashed! Made 1 final table but lost with AK vs 77 and AT vs AK. Latest one my King high flush lost to a straight flush, tilt!! Money used for these tournaments wont be recorded in my BR as they are small. Any winnings should be stored and used to play future live tournaments.
Background and targets done. These are all for when I get back from Oz on the 23rd August. I also have a half marathon to train for when I get back. I played 2 tournaments today:
Blue Sq $5, 350 runner NLH. Starting 1500. Make a few hundred with raise/cbet hands. Lose 600 when slow playing TPGK to set of kings (hit set on the turn). All-in for 735 at 50/100 blinds, get 2 out-ed when all in with AQ, vs AJ and QJs, J hit the turn. Would have been up to around 2500 with blinds just turning to 50/100.
Got knocked out of $2 PLO MTT 90 runners. 1000 starting, would have been up to 4500 chips with 30/60 blinds, with nut straight, but calling station with TP hit runner runner to hit Full house, down to 400 chips and tilted the rest off. Note to self, fold next 5 hands in PLO when tilted.
Will record any other play before leaving on the 21st June, then will record progress once I get back.
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