Quick Update For the Avid Fans

I played the tuesday satelite main event sat last week. And to be honest, I thought I should of easily got a ticket. the standard was really bad, at my starting table there was one player I would of rated as decent (a boards regular), one who appeared to understand position, and one who appeared to be able to fold a hand. The other 5 were terrible serial limpers, and they were sitting to my immediate left, which was a shame as I would of been far happier in seat 7 instead of my seat 1.
I didn't play many hands, and the ones I did were uneventful, 5 limpers to my BB, I raise to 4 or 5 BBs with KK, all limpers call, I open push a low pot as a pot BB, he raises to 3 BBs, i insta raise to 9BBs with 5 8 offsuit, and he folds, some makes a comment about my monster hand being obvious etc, its great being an unknown.
The next hand I get AK on the SB, flat call a raiser, his range is wide here as he shows up with muck alot, K high flop, I check raise he folds,
I lost a small amount twice when I called a raise in LP only to have an EP limper push behind. 5 limpers to my button, big raise with AK, limper pushes, I call and 55 stands up. I go home.
I was a little disappointed with leaving as the standard was so poor, even the boardie at the table surprised me, raising in EP into all the weak looseys, and showing up with trash.

to be honest I really wanted to play this, and by reports it was a great game. Congrats to the boardies who made the final table, (Lucky) Lloyd O'Farrell, (Norwich Fan) Rob Taylor who choped the tourney 3 ways for €16k and (Big City Banker) Noel Hayes who was 5th for €4,660. There should be some reports up on all blogs by now.

Elsewhere, im looking for a new satelite to concentration on for the next few months, but first I need to stop playing live on auto-pilot and give live players less credit for things like the ability to lay a hand down, and not being able to call without a big hand. As they appear to be my current favourite method of exit, huge bluff when I have a very tight image, only to be called by a player who suffers from "miopia cardia", which manifests as an inability to see past the two cards in your hand.


Anyway, i'm going to leave the quote out today, two much of a bad thing and all that.

Ciao

Swing when you're winning!!!

Straight off my previous post on how November started on a good run for me, I just into a second week cooler. I was decent cards and playing well, but still losing, highlights include AA running into a set against a unknown player, 22 vrs AJ vrs Ah3h on a 2hAxJx6h, set no good as river flushes. This was for a 400 big blind pot. A couple of other bad situations. Then I jumped into PLO to remove tilt and lost most of a buy-in. At the end of the weekend I was down c.4 buy-ins. The set of twos pot annoyed me a little as if I won I was breakeven, and because the flush was such a bad call. But I am aware enough to know this is variance and I really do want the flush draw in that pot every time.

A little disheartened after the weekend, by head was certainly elsewhere (I was apparently spotted sleep walking about the house on Saturday night). But I controlled the weekend tilt chi master style and 2 tabled two short sessions on Monday and Tuesday night to claw back 3 buy-ins. And this was after the following kick in the teeth pot.

 

I raise AJ in EP, MP calls, button calls

Flop is AJ5, villain bets, button folds, I call.

Turn is an Ace, villain bets, I raise, flat calls.

River is a 5, magic. His ace is going bust.

I bet, all-in

He flips AJ for split second nuts. Meh 300 big blind pot and we lose on the rake. House always wins.

 

I'm going to make the weekly venture into the €45 game in the jackpot tonight, although I may give it up soon. The field is approaching the €20 game and the €400 is no longer added. Its a long way away from the first night it ran, when the field was at top class for the jackpot and the buy-in. I am a firm believer that to be come a better player you must be surrounded by players that are better than you, and inversely surrounding yourself by players worse than you will only drag you down.

 

 

Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?

 

 

November Rain

So new month spins around and my good run of late continues.
To set the story I need to go back to September.
I had a terrible run at online cash during September. It really was horrible. At first I starting second guessing my play, hindsight is 20/20 and maybe I should of gotten away from some of the hands. Some I was outdrawn, others I ran big hands into bigger ones, over-set, top two to bottom set etc. I ended up clearing my account and taking a break.
After a while I settled a bit and realised that the hands I lost were acceptable. I was outdrawn or if I got in in behind it was the right move, either through pot odds and EV, or simply ahead of his range.

I returned from my break from online poker towards the end of October. I wanted to undertake an exercise in bankroll management and in self control. I was never bad at either of these, I just want to prove I am able to grind up the limits. So I deposited $50, and set about grinding.

I only managed about 600 hands in October, but I played well and ran good, (18BB/100).

And as I said up above, the run continued into November. So far this week, I've played 1k hands, and as of my latest session, this 1k in November is at 35BB/100.
Of course I am aware that this is a tiny sample, and that it isn't possible to maintain that rate. But its nice to be winning. Most of my sessions have been about an hour, I don't have the time to stick in any more. My winnings since I started back playing have eclipsed the losses from September. I'm currently playing 20nl, but I hope to make the jump to 50nl soon. But, I will only be jumping with enough buy-ins for each level.



As for Live poker, I gave the SE sat a miss this week and decided to play the Jackpot tomorrow. If anyone happens to be there, sure come over and say hi.


All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure

Sporting Emporium - Tues 30th

As I said in a previous post, I plan on playing more satellites this month. Mostly due to the fact that I am confidant of being able to beat alot of average Joes at the bubble stage in satellites (due the the huge difference in the mechanics on the bubble). For example, I have seen the 2nd chipleader shipping it with the chipleader on the bubble (40 bbs each) while there were 2 or 3 players less than 10BBs.
So armed with this precieved advantage I headed into the SE sat to the november main event. It's a €100+10 with one rebuy at €100.
This was my first time in the SE, and I was very impressed with the club interior.
But the disadvantage to this was that I didn't know who was who. The only player I recognaised my my starting table was the infamous Chief Brody. The action was quite slow for me, only playing in a few small pots to keep me ticking over above the starting stack. Meanwhile the cheif and a eastern european guy where hard at it with marginal holdings. I found it quite funny when the eastern called Chiefs betting down with J3 (J was mid pair on flop), to spike a J on the river, The Chief was very pissed at this, yet didn't blink when he got it in against Vera Duffy (I think) with K9 vrs AK on a KQ7 board, to catch running queens.


My first big had was QQ on the button, Chinese guy UTG raises to 600 (blinds 75/150), Chief calls, folded to me and I push for 3,750
The chief calls with A10 and I double. At the break I am around 7k and I top up to 12k. Only one player on the table is near me.
I take a hit with AQ, when the chinese guys calls down and bets the river when I miss.
Then I rasie UTG with QQ, flop is A high, check check
I bet the turn, he dwells and calls,
River is a blank, he is really weak here, I think only strong aces were calling me preflop, and that he would be more confidant with an ace that called
So I bet 2k, it is a decent chunk of his stack and if he loses the hand he is screwed. He thinks and calls with A9. His reason for calling preflop was because the BB was sitting out and I might of been stealing, from UTG !!!

At this stage the antes are in. And I am short. I figure most of the table won't notice the value in the pot before cards are dealt. Blinds 150/300 with 25 antes, 650 to start. I have 2k
I ship it twice with 88 and 99. I found it funny here that the player who previously called my strong raise with A9, folded A10 face up. As this time there was ar more value for me to be stealing.
Short stack goes in,
I call with 77, he wins with 8J and a turned 8
Next hand he bets half his stack (which barely has me covered)
I ship it with A8, he calls with 77
And of course in this role reverse hand, no cards come.

You have to win your races. I may or may not play next week, might give the jackpot a go and pick up the SE a week later.


As for my online play lately, i've been doing well. But not well enough. I've ran at 15BB/100 for the last 1000 hands. So, i'll need another few K hand to get a proper roll going. My idea to try grind $50 into a 1/2 roll is stressful.

All-in I feel I have been quite unlucky lately, repeatedly getting it in ahead and losing (I can't accept some but not all). But alas, I am aware the it is simply the dreaded varience.

Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.