Mtt Success

13:51pm


So I've been slacking a lot on the sngs over the last 10 days or so, they've started to feel too much like work of late. Anyway, I found myself playing a few mtts instead, it's been a while since I played any scheduled games, and tbh it's been kind of refreshing to play for bigger prizes. I've enjoyed it thus far, almost certainly due to a small rush of success. Nothing big, they've pretty much all been tiny BI's but you take what you can get I guess.

So I started by shipping a $1 razz tourney (lolaments), I've had a lot of success in Razz, albeit from a tiny sample, but it's definitely a game I really understand well (imo). There isn't much in poker (or life for that matter) that makes much sense to me, but razz seems to be something that I picked up straight away and pretty much immediately knew what I was doing. It's a very pure form of poker that's mostly about patience and reading people's bets, but also about driving people out of pots and repping what you don't have. You can really put a lot of pressure on people when you know what kind of cards they have in the hole, and players are extremely transparent, they almost tell you what they have by their betting patterns. I think that's the 3rd final table I've made in razz from only a handful of games. $28 was pretty lol, and it seemed to last a lifetime, especially hu, I must have been hu with the guy for about 75 minutes. Anyway, 5.5 hours gave me just over a $5 hourly lol, but whatever.. I won! Haha.

I also made a $3 omaha final table and finished 3rd for $105. So 2 final tables in 2 days! Pretty chuffed about that even though they were micro donkaments.

Then last night I managed a 3rd final table in an mtt with 2.5k entrants, it was a $2K guarantee with a $1 BI. I actually managed to ship that one too! It was the first time I've ever won a scheduled tourney without going into the final table with a big stack. I got crippled early on from a bad beat..




PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 1.1 Tournament, 10000/20000 Blinds 2000 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com



MP1 (t1394899)

MP2 (t942761)

MP3 (t995955)

Hero (CO) (t1040721)

Button (t1917980)

SB (t388824)

BB (t423925)

UTG (t562417)

UTG+1 (t510518)



Hero's M: 21.68



Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, Q

5 folds, Hero bets t57850, 2 folds, BB raises to t421925 (All-In), Hero calls t364075



Flop: (t871850) A, 7, 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)



Turn: (t871850) A (2 players, 1 all-in)



River: (t871850) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)



Total pot: t871850



Results:

BB had A, 10 (full house, Aces over tens).

Hero had Q, Q (full house, Queens over Aces).

Outcome: BB won t871850



So I was thinking 7th place at best by that point, but managed to double up twice after that and was right back in it, that said, I had only 500k chips by the time we got 3 handed vs 2.5m and 5m stacks, managed to win another 2 flips and ending up shipping it! Nice to win a few flips at a final table.. it's been a while.

So I'm on for a micro triple crown now obviously (for all you P5'ers). Anything $28 and above counts imo. Haha

So this month is definitely ending better than it started. I don't expect to win much more in the next week or so, since I plan to play only a few sngs mixed with a few mtts. You never know though, maybe I can hit a big one along the way.

Until next time..

Can't play regular speed sngs anymore!

18:05pm


I just can't do it to myself anymore, I think I'm just too old to sit in front of a screen for 10 hours without breaks (5 mins/hour doesn't count as a break imo). It's disappointing as I do prefer being deeper stacked enough to play a little more post flop. I'm sticking with turbo's from now on, and I might start breaking up the sessions into smaller segments throughout the day, and perhaps I'll up the tables I play from 13 to maybe 15 and see how I get on with that.

Those stats are from this month so far, mostly $4 180's and $1 45s. I ran pretty horridly in both games, especially 4s, it's a small sample, but I can't take the long sessions when I'm not winning, it's soul crushing in the extreme. I figure I can play 45s for like 6 hours/day and make enough to get by on. I might also mix in some $3 rebuys as they only take 90 minutes or so to complete.

My new target is now $2K/month. hopefully I can hit that on average and say goodbye to the tedious 10 hour sessions I've been playing over the past 10 days or so!

Bye for now...

Good start..

11:45am

That's pretty typical, after a nice day off yesterday, today was meant to be the first day of the rest of my poker life. I'm all ready to get on the serial grind.. load up Pokertars.. and there's a server restart! Maybe someone's trying to tell me something.

$100k profit on Stars by 2015!

9:18am

I've been researching a lot of people lately on ss and opr and I'm pretty envious of the number of people with huge profits from playing micro-low stake games. So envious that I've decided once and for all to emulate them. I'm definitely not as good as almost all (if not all) of those who have profits exceeding $30k, but I'm finally willing to breakout of my lazy ways and hit the tables hard with huge, and consistant volume.

I've set a target to hit $100k total profit on Pokerstars by 2015. Now, obviously this will be dependent on a lot of factors, not least that the games I play are still running, or even that the site is still going. Online poker might not even be around by then (although I think it almost certainly will), we may even get a situation in this country similar to Italy and France, but hopefully not.

So all things going well, I'm gonna give it a shot. I think it's one of my more realistic goals tbh, I've been guilty of setting some pretty ludicrous targets in the past, all of which I've failed lol. But this one's definitely attainable I think, hopefully I can stick to it. It's not like I'm gonna be checking my progress on this everyday or anything, I'll just keep an eye on how things are progressing, and up my work ethic accordingly if I'm falling behind schedule.

Should keep me motivated for the next 5 years anyway haha.

The quiet before the storm..

8:48am

I'm Planning to chill for the last couple of days of this month in preparation for a big effort in September. It's the 'battle of the turbo's vs the reg speed sngs.' I'll be competing against a $2 180 reg who also plays the 3r 180's. It'll be unlimited games, I'll be playing 4s exclusively and he'll be allowed to play both 2s and 3rs. It's a tall order for me as obviously he'll be able to play a LOT more games, so I'm pretty much relying on a very good ROI ftw. Hopefully he doesn't ship too many of those 3rs or it could be over before it's even started haha. Anyway, it should be fun and a good motivator for some hardcore grinding.

Managed to ship another $4 180 yesterday, I'm glad I did coz it would've been a slight losing session otherwise, I only managed 18 games as I didn't sleep much at all the night before and my eyes were practically closed towards the end of the session. I even kinda gave up the other final table I was playing (something I rarely ever do) because of the tiredness.

Played about 8 tournies tonight, took another sicko beat in the one mtt I was playing, had it allin for a 25k stack at 150/300 and the guy rivers 2 pair on me after getting it allin on the flop...sigh. Writing this now whilst waiting out my last 180 of the session, busted all the rest without a cash and another bubble :(

Away from poker, I really want to lose some weight, I was walking around Tesco the other day and noticed that my T-shirt was hanging over the top of my pants, there was a very definite gap where it hung. It's not like I didn't know I was a fat bastard these days, but it's things like that, that makes it really hit home. It's embarassing really. And sad. I never remember myself like that, I was always a really active skinny kid.

Had been thinking about getting a treadmill, but I'm not certain I'll use it, without it just becoming another object to dump my clothes on lol. Anyway, if I do decide to go for it, I've narrowed it down (after much research) to this one.

Quite expensive, but apparently everything under £1000 will be a lemon.

Anyway, it'll be nice to take the rest of the day off, and tomorrow aswell. I'll try hard to hit a nice sleep schedule so I'm primed to kill these 4s. Can't say I'm looking forward to a month of serial soul crushaments but oh well...gotta do what I gotta do. I'm running really low on funds at the mo, hopefully I can hit $2k+ at the very least in September.

Edit: Managed 3rd in that last 180, helped somewhat by this fishtard...


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 4.4 Tournament, 500/1000 Blinds 100 Ante (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com



Hero (MP) (t24289)

Button (t16110)

SB (t59680)

BB (t104634)

UTG (t65287)



Hero's M: 12.14



Preflop: Hero is MP with 7, 9

3 folds, SB calls t500, BB bets t104534 (All-In), SB calls t58580 (All-In)



Flop: (t119660) Q, 10, J (2 players, 2 all-in)



Turn: (t119660) 8 (2 players, 2 all-in)



River: (t119660) 10 (2 players, 2 all-in)



Total pot: t119660



Results:

SB had 5, A (one pair, tens).

BB had K, A (straight, Ace high).

Outcome: BB won t119660


I'm not sure I've ever seen a worse call than that, 60bbs comfortably 2nd in chips, 5handed with two stacks below 25bbs...total rapeage of ICM!

Until next time...

Nice day!

3:33am...


So that was a pretty good day. I'm pleased I can now play some higher BI sngs, not sure I could've taken many more $1 turbo's. Speaking of turbo's, I think I'm done with them tbh (sorry John), they're great for playing when you have little time, or don't feel like doing 6 hour+ stints, but they probably suit my game the least if I'm honest. I hate playing feeling rushed, multitabling is difficult for me, I've never got to grips with it properly, and anymore than 10 tables really deos seem to mess up my game, especially with the amount of shorthanded play you get in 45s. I've decided I don't like the increased luck element in them either, and although I know skill wins out in the end, I'm tired of giving away so much of whatever edge I may have everytime I play. Obviously all poker has a huge luck factor, but at least you can avoid being forced to go with atc the majority of the time in regular speed tourney's with deeper stacks and slower blind levels.

I've been playing a number of scheduled mtt's over the last few days also, I'd forgotten how evil those are haha. I've been very unlucky with about 30 people left, losing with dominating hands allin for huge stacks. I was CL for a while with 20 people left in the $4 4max 1k cap tourney and ended up busting 15th with AK vs A3s...so sickening. But I'm not gonna get too upset about it, I'm trying to remain positive, there have been a lot of positives to take from all these mtt's, it's surely only a matter of time before I bink a nice score, unfortuntely, playing such a small sample of them each day means it might take a very long time before it happens, but it's got to happen eventually if I keep going deep like that.

So here is August so far...





Obviously helped by a nice run in 4s from the last week or so, but if I'm honest I seriously could've been up $1k or so from 4s alone, oh well, I guess I shouldn't complain. I just hope the enevitable variance doesn't prove this last week to be too costly. My target this month was $1k, and I've managed (thus far) to surpass that goal. Next month I hope to hit $2k. If I continue to put in the hours, and avoid being death swtiched, I think it could be within reach. Hopefully I can run really good and hit a big one in one of the guaranteed donkaments, although the chances are slim obviously haha.

Pretty much all of my play has been on Stars, but I did put $50 on Fulltilt which is almost gone already...probably not a good idea to play $3 rebuys on a $50 roll lol. I might move another $100 on there next month sometime if I can afford it, and play a few $2 and under tournies. The play is pretty soft on that site, and with the smaller field sizes, I'm sure I can hit something decent soon enough.

I guess the plan is more of the same for next month, with perhaps a more focussed effort building the roll still further from 4s, and playing enough larger field mtt's to give me the best shot to hit a $1k+ score along the way :)

Now, onto more serious business...



Only a week to go now!

Until next time!

Back to sngs..

22:51pm

So cash was stressing me out too much, with these new 30bb min tables it seems every table is TAG city! Even 10nl. Most of these tag's are bad but bad tags are less appealing than bad lags, especially when most of your game relies on showing up with strong hands, and waiting for the lagtards to donate.

It's probably been just one of those runs where no matter what you do, you can't make a profit. But I just needed to stop playing cash for the time being, for my own sanity as much as anything else.

so it was back to sngs :(

I had to cashout most of my broll so I decided to build again in $1 45's. It's been a while since I played 45s, I'd never played $1 one's but I was confident I wouldn't bust my broll on those lol. Thankfully I ran pretty average, which is like running sick hot for me in sngs if I compare it to my last 4k or so $2 180's. I'd honestly forgotten what winning pots deep with any hand was like, so to get hands to hold, win flips, and even suckout here and there was like being reborn in way lol.


Anyway, I'd decided to play 100 1s/day for a month with $900 profit being the target. I was bang on schedule through the first 18 days, keeping up the volume and winning at the rate I needed to. Here is my 1s graph from 1st August - now:





So $641 in 1915 games. A bit depressing really, but we are talking 1s, and 30% is roughly what I expected. After hitting $700 I was ready to try a few higher BI's. I went for $4 180's as the variance is lower than $2 turbo's. I planned to mix 1s with 4s, but after trying it for a couple of days, it's tougher than I thought. Two completely different structures. I'm a bad multitabler as it is, but when I have to continually adjust my stratefgy between the different games, I'm all over the place, especially when I struggle knowing which is which at times.

Anyway, with 8 days of the month left I'm actually at +$936 for the month thus far, even after a horribad run last night in 4s were I lost $70.







So it's been going to plan so far. I'm not sure what game I want to proceed with right now, 1s are easy but I'm not sure I can carry on making so little. I like the fact that I can take a break from them after only 1 hours play, but even at 30% the return is low. 4s are great for ROI but they take close to 5 hours to complete and only load every 10 minutes or so. 2s are a no go area for me still, I'm still breaking out in cold sweats at the thought of my dire run in the last 4k or so. $3 45s are an option, I figure I'd make an extra $100/1k games at those than in 1s but I'm not sure the extra regs/swings are worth the trouble. 3r 180s are a definite pull since everybody seems to be killing them, but right now they might stretch the broll a little too far, and It won't be long until they're reg infested also.

I'll probably spend the rest of the month playing what I feel like playing, and then make a decision on which direction is best for me once I have the funds in place.


Until next time...

Ok so that didn't work

So apparently barreling these lagtards who NEVER fold to 3bs is a bad idea. It's not like I don't know they flop 2pair+ on me every single time! I don't care what good strategy is anymore, my account isn't the same as some of the higher stakes players, it's that simple. They either flop the world with their gutter trash or else they decide to call me down for all their chips regardless of what hand they have, regardless of how little I've 3b them, and regardless how scary the board is....



Like how in the world does the dude call that river shove with a weak 2 pair on that board??? I knew he would snap me preflop with anything he had, I knew he was weak, I knew he couldn't call that river....oh wait.

If he has just 2nd pair there I'm positive he calls both flop and turn bets. Of course he had to have 2 pair, and at no point was he ever letting go of that monster.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com



Hero (BB) ($20.15)

UTG ($7.34)

MP ($8.71)

CO ($15.07)

Button ($14.66)

SB ($11.68)



Preflop: Hero is BB with A, 6

3 folds, Button bets $0.35, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.30, Button calls $0.95



Flop: ($2.65) 4, 7, 10 (2 players)

Hero bets $1.50, Button calls $1.50



Turn: ($5.65) 5 (2 players)

Hero bets $2.80, Button calls $2.80



River: ($11.25) 9 (2 players)

Hero bets $14.55 (All-In), Button calls $9.06 (All-In)



Total pot: $29.37 | Rake: $1.44



Results:

Button had 7, 4 (two pair, sevens and fours).

Hero had A, 6 (high card, Ace).

Outcome: Button won $27.93



And then of course the same fishtard on another table gets me again..

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com



SB ($10.36)

Hero (BB) ($11.17)

UTG ($13.65)

MP ($10.20)

Button ($9.69)



Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, Q

2 folds, Button bets $0.20, SB raises to $0.65, Hero calls $0.55, Button calls $0.45



Flop: ($1.95) A, 5, K (3 players)

SB bets $1.30, Hero raises to $3.80, 1 fold, SB raises to $9.71 (All-In), Hero calls $5.91



Turn: ($21.37) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)



River: ($21.37) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)



Total pot: $21.37 | Rake: $1.06



Results:

SB had K, A (two pair, Aces and Kings).

Hero had 10, Q (one pair, tens).

Outcome: SB won $20.31



It's possibly a better idea to just call there on the flop, but I was tilted and he'd been isolating a lot. Obviously it's a standard fold preflop, but I knew he was a fish and I had position on him. I also knew he wouldn't believe anything I did given the last hand we played. Dude is a reg at 10nl, he's a losing reg but I find it hard to believe anyone could call that river shove in the last hand after playing as many hands as he has done at that level. I guess there's a very good reason people like him are stuck at 10nl.

Just like this guy who clearly puts everyone on overs. I think it was the 2nd time I had 3b in like 200 hands, he was running at 16/8 too. I really just don't understand what's going through some people's minds....
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com



CO ($10.13)

Button ($10)

Hero (SB) ($10.05)

BB ($10.04)

UTG ($16.42)

MP ($11.28)



Preflop: Hero is SB with A, J

2 folds, CO bets $0.30, Button calls $0.30, Hero raises to $1.50, 2 folds, Button calls $1.20



Flop: ($3.40) 8, 2, 9 (2 players)

Hero bets $2, Button calls $2



Turn: ($7.40) 10 (2 players)

Hero bets $4.93, Button raises to $6.50 (All-In), Hero calls $1.57



River: ($20.40) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)



Total pot: $20.40 | Rake: $1



Results:

Button had 7, 7 (two pair, nines and sevens).

Hero had A, J (one pair, nines).

Outcome: Button won $19.40



Anyway, lesson learnt, I need to realize how bad some of these guys actually are and just wait for hands and value town them.

I do know this, and up to tonight I've kept my patience, but a combination of running poorly and trying to increase my aggression got me in trouble tonight. I was 7 BI's down at one point, managed to get it back to - 3 BI's then misread another aggro donk with AK high and shipped it on his massive turn raise on a 5566 board. He has a 5 obviously.

So 4 BI's down for the session. Standard obviously, but it was my worst session at 10nl thus far, made worse by my own tilty/bad play. I reckon I dropped a further 2 BI's from pure tilt. Something that I thought I had under control of late. Oh well.

On a positve note I shipped a $50 stella reward during the session, I waited until after I'd finished to cash it in, and realized that I had a further two $50 stella rewards waiting for me! I'm really not sure how I missed those lol. So after being -$80 at one point tonight, I actually ended up +$110.

Funny how things turn out sometimes :)