Got in about 5PM from Kingman, AZ. My was it cold! Average temperature along the way was around 32-33 degrees. Hit a few snow flurries [minor] and otherwise clear skies. Northern Arizona and New Mexico are beautiful as a matter of fact and even more so with a touch of snow.
I ate dinner at a "Family Style" Restaurant, which in these parts means buffet. The place is called "Furrs". Don't know why. I do know that, other than the rolls I chose [should have went with my gut and hit the fresh rack], the food was very good. Very good mashed potatoes and gravy. The roast beef was very good. Good salad and spinach. Topped it off with an IBC root beer and a slice of apple pie.
After dinner, I settled into my hotel room and loaded up some 90s. Bleh. I don't run any better in New Mexico. Played two $1/90 KOs and a $2/90 at Stars. Also loaded up a $1/90 on Fullt Tilt. First $1/90 KO, I died when AK split it's outs with another AK and we both lost to TT. In the $2/90 I ran AA into K8s. Flop came 876. He donk bet, I raised, he shoved, I called. He nailed another 8 on the river to bust me. In a bit of irony, he shows up at my other $1/90 KO table. I get JJ in middle position and raise. He is, once again, in the BB and flats my raise. Flop comes 763. He donk bets again, I raise, he pushes, I call. He shows 76o. Turn is a 3 and the river is an emphatic J and I bust him. This would prove to be my only bit a money - his $0.25 bounty. This starts me on my climb into a good chip position. It lasts about 40 hands. A new player shows up at my table. I get dealt QQ. We end up all-in as he was somewhat short. He has KK. Turn K seals it. An orbit later, I manage to get A8s all-in and lose to A7s on a 877 flop. Sigh. I lose AJ to AK in the Full Tilt $1/90.
Lost $5.85. Woeful -95.9% ROI.
29 November 2010
28 November 2010
Kingman Arizona
It's Sunday and I've headed out to an unofficial ITH poker weekend meet-up in Tunica, Mississippi. I like to drive so that is what I am doing. I usually drive during the summer when the weather conditions are better, but since I didn't this year, I'm doing it now. Left at 5AM California time and was in Kingman at 5:30 Mountain. Not bad considering traffic was a bit dicey going down I-5 to Bakersfield. Stopped in Bakersfield for a Schlotzsky's Original sandwich, something I got hooked on in Texas at Fort Hood. We don't have one anywhere near us. They used to have a pair of them in Reno, so since I go there a few times a year, I always sated my appetite for them. The closest now is Bakersfield. Yeah, that's my eyes bulging out. Told myself whenever I drive to Vegas, that was going to be my stop. Well, no Vegas, but since I was passing through.....
Just finished dinner...Arby's. Another place I have to drive some distance to get at. Don't know if I will be playing poker tonight. The early start and the time change, plus long stretch has me tired. I also have to get up and do a few hours work tomorrow before heading out for my destination.
I'll see you then. If I do play, I'll add it to tomorrow's post.
Just finished dinner...Arby's. Another place I have to drive some distance to get at. Don't know if I will be playing poker tonight. The early start and the time change, plus long stretch has me tired. I also have to get up and do a few hours work tomorrow before heading out for my destination.
I'll see you then. If I do play, I'll add it to tomorrow's post.
Nothing Working on Saturday and Sunday
Saturday was grisly. I managed a 3rd in a $5/45 on Full Tilt for $11.25. I was crushed in all of my MTTs. I actually played in a couple of low buy-in PL O/8 MTTs and although I was doing well, I eventually hit a bad spate of cards where nothing worked.
Finished down $25.05 with a -81.6% ROI. I took too many shots in MTTs I wasn't rolled for after my sat win on Wednesday.
Sunday was a little better. At least on Full Tilt. I took 2nd in a $1/90 for $13.95. Meanwhile at Stars, I lost my $1/90 KO, both $2/90s and bombed after 9 rebuys in a Daily Nightly Grand satellite. I had tables full of bad players, but could never get a stack going. The salt in the wound was getting AA stuffed by some guy who fell in love with unimproved JTo on the flop of 843. He like his overcards because he must have felt my preflop raise and flop shove meant his two overs with a backdoor straight was money.
Daily results: -$4.05 with a -22.50% ROI.
Finished down $25.05 with a -81.6% ROI. I took too many shots in MTTs I wasn't rolled for after my sat win on Wednesday.
Sunday was a little better. At least on Full Tilt. I took 2nd in a $1/90 for $13.95. Meanwhile at Stars, I lost my $1/90 KO, both $2/90s and bombed after 9 rebuys in a Daily Nightly Grand satellite. I had tables full of bad players, but could never get a stack going. The salt in the wound was getting AA stuffed by some guy who fell in love with unimproved JTo on the flop of 843. He like his overcards because he must have felt my preflop raise and flop shove meant his two overs with a backdoor straight was money.
Daily results: -$4.05 with a -22.50% ROI.
25 November 2010
Thanksgiving: Before and After
I had a decent enough run today before going for Thanksgiving over at my older sister's house. Two Stars $1/90 KOs, a Full Tilt $1/90 and a $5/45 for the before dinner session.
I managed a pair of bounties and a 10th place finish at Stars which saddled me with a 10 cent loss. The day was saved when I min-cashed the 45 on Full Tilt for a $5.75 profit. Overall I was up $3.55 on the day.
Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family. Good food [well the stuffing was a bit sub par], but got fed, watched Dallas lose [wheeeeeeee!] and good pumpkin pie.
Came home and loaded up a $2.20 $5K Guarantee on Stars as well as a $2 MTT and $3 KO MTT on Full Tilt. I started statting-up players in all three through OPR. I mean what the hell. After 5K MTTs, you're running at -42% ROI? Not one but the majority of the players. The indignity was getting it all in good to these bozos and getting sucked out on. I had one guy running a -96% ROI through 121 MTTs. He was good for a suckout on another player before calling my AQo push with his T9s. I flopped out an AQ and he ran diamonds to bust me. 44 down to A9 after I knew he was pushing light. 55 went down to JT that flopped AKQ.
If this is the caliber of player at 8PM PST, I may need to switch up my schedule a bit and plan for some night action. I would say 70% of the players at both sites who were at my tables were of the -40% ROI with 3K MTTs in OPR. It's was the Meeting of the Muttonheads.
Anyway, despite the decent before session, I finished bombing with -$3.15 for a daily -18.42% ROI. Meh. At least the turkey was good.
I managed a pair of bounties and a 10th place finish at Stars which saddled me with a 10 cent loss. The day was saved when I min-cashed the 45 on Full Tilt for a $5.75 profit. Overall I was up $3.55 on the day.
Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family. Good food [well the stuffing was a bit sub par], but got fed, watched Dallas lose [wheeeeeeee!] and good pumpkin pie.
Came home and loaded up a $2.20 $5K Guarantee on Stars as well as a $2 MTT and $3 KO MTT on Full Tilt. I started statting-up players in all three through OPR. I mean what the hell. After 5K MTTs, you're running at -42% ROI? Not one but the majority of the players. The indignity was getting it all in good to these bozos and getting sucked out on. I had one guy running a -96% ROI through 121 MTTs. He was good for a suckout on another player before calling my AQo push with his T9s. I flopped out an AQ and he ran diamonds to bust me. 44 down to A9 after I knew he was pushing light. 55 went down to JT that flopped AKQ.
If this is the caliber of player at 8PM PST, I may need to switch up my schedule a bit and plan for some night action. I would say 70% of the players at both sites who were at my tables were of the -40% ROI with 3K MTTs in OPR. It's was the Meeting of the Muttonheads.
Anyway, despite the decent before session, I finished bombing with -$3.15 for a daily -18.42% ROI. Meh. At least the turkey was good.
24 November 2010
The Stars Daily Ninety Grand [DNG] Satellite
A few years ago I played this satellite a few times a week for a few months. This is an awesome satellite with a great risk/reward scenario.
It goes off daily at 2:00PM EST and it's a $1.10 rebuy. Stars adds 5 seats, so right off the bat, no matter what happens there is a $275 overlay. An average satellite will post 25 or so seats. Winning a seat is worth the $55 buy-in, redeemable, of course, for T$. You can find it under Tourney > Satellite > All, but it is easier found under Tourney > VIP > BronzeStar. The field is usually very bad.
I played and won a seat today for the sole purpose of taking the T$. There was no way, with tomorrow being Thanksgiving, that I could play the DNG. I also think it would be too high of a shot for my Stars bankroll and the T$55 would finance a lot of multi-SnGs over the coming weeks.
In all, I played this satellite, four $1/90 Stars KOs, a $1/45 on Stars, three $1/90s, one $2/180 and a $1/45 on Full Tilt. Oh the beats started early and often. I lost some flips one as AK vs JJ, another as QQ vs AK. I had AA go down to a real drooler who wouldn't fold QJo on a JK4 flop. Sheer ugliness. Final $1/90 KO saw me on the final table with three bounties before going out 6th. I still can't win one of these. I went out in the Stars $1/45 also. Horrible results at FTP through the $1/90s and $2/180, but I redeemed those losses with a 3rd in the $1/45 for a total of +$0.55.
Overall, however, with the satellite win, I won $51.12 for a whopping +308.88% ROI. A good day.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
It goes off daily at 2:00PM EST and it's a $1.10 rebuy. Stars adds 5 seats, so right off the bat, no matter what happens there is a $275 overlay. An average satellite will post 25 or so seats. Winning a seat is worth the $55 buy-in, redeemable, of course, for T$. You can find it under Tourney > Satellite > All, but it is easier found under Tourney > VIP > BronzeStar. The field is usually very bad.
I played and won a seat today for the sole purpose of taking the T$. There was no way, with tomorrow being Thanksgiving, that I could play the DNG. I also think it would be too high of a shot for my Stars bankroll and the T$55 would finance a lot of multi-SnGs over the coming weeks.
In all, I played this satellite, four $1/90 Stars KOs, a $1/45 on Stars, three $1/90s, one $2/180 and a $1/45 on Full Tilt. Oh the beats started early and often. I lost some flips one as AK vs JJ, another as QQ vs AK. I had AA go down to a real drooler who wouldn't fold QJo on a JK4 flop. Sheer ugliness. Final $1/90 KO saw me on the final table with three bounties before going out 6th. I still can't win one of these. I went out in the Stars $1/45 also. Horrible results at FTP through the $1/90s and $2/180, but I redeemed those losses with a 3rd in the $1/45 for a total of +$0.55.
Overall, however, with the satellite win, I won $51.12 for a whopping +308.88% ROI. A good day.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
23 November 2010
Single Tables Show a Profit
Decided yesterday to do some single table. Played standard and DoNs today. Felt like doing two SnGs at each of 11 sites, but only did 10 sites because Poker4Ever simply has no full ring SnG traffic ever.
Results:
AP - Found $0.48 there. And yes, AP keeps telling me it's there in emails. Played a pair of $0.12 SnGs. 5th in each. This isn't poker. :)
Bodog - I really like their "Beginner" SnGs. They are much like DoNs in that half the field gets paid, but they pay out 30-25-20-15-10% for 1st through 5th. Obviously 5th will get buy-in minus fee back. I get a 2nd and 3rd in a pair of $4.40s for a profit of $9.20.
Lock Poker - Played a pair of $2 DoNs and split the pair, losing $0.32.
Cake - Sees me playing a $2 DoN and $1 Standard. I bomb the DoN and place 3rd in the standard, losing $1.40 in the process.
PDC Poker - A $5 standard and $5 DoN sees me ousted in 7th in the standard and bubble the DoN. Boy this one really set me on end. The table walked a shortstack who had less than a BB twice and I get AQ in my BB [I was short but with 5 BBs]. Get called in two places, once by A9 and another by KQ. 9 on flop kills me. Uggh. Lost $10.90.
Full Tilt - Rocking and rolling. Two $5 standards and I finish runner up twice, but good for a $16 profit. This will be the theme for the day. No better than 2nd.
Poker Host - I play a $5 DoN and $5 standard. Out 7th in the standard but hitting the double up for a slight loss of $0.90.
PokerStars - Two standard $1 SnGs and I manage a 6th and 2nd for a slight $0.30 profit. Not happy. I had eventual winner on the ropes despite him starting with a 3:1 chip lead and he wriggled free on two occasions.
Sportsbook - I only have about $14 here so I played a pair of $1 DoNs and managed to split the pair for a slight loss of $0.16.
UB - The end of the day for me. Playing a pair of $0.60 standards, I manage a 5th and 2nd. I started pretty even, took a lead, lost lead when he hit running diamonds for a flush. A few hands later, I get coolered and get it all in on the flop of A59 with A5. He has A9. Zoinks. A whopping $0.15 profit here.
I got HU five times and couldn't seal the deal. It's like every time I had high, flop came low and vice versa. Or coolered. I know I kept the pressure up, but just couldn't get on the high end of the HU battles. I think I have a big advantage here as many players at this level are so passive that I can take advantage of their passivity. I run into problems, however, when they get any piece of the flop. I simply have to get a bigger piece because they don't lay much down unless the board is really scary.
$11.97 profit good for a +21.73 ROI. Thank goodness I ran well at Full Tilt and Bodog.
Results:
AP - Found $0.48 there. And yes, AP keeps telling me it's there in emails. Played a pair of $0.12 SnGs. 5th in each. This isn't poker. :)
Bodog - I really like their "Beginner" SnGs. They are much like DoNs in that half the field gets paid, but they pay out 30-25-20-15-10% for 1st through 5th. Obviously 5th will get buy-in minus fee back. I get a 2nd and 3rd in a pair of $4.40s for a profit of $9.20.
Lock Poker - Played a pair of $2 DoNs and split the pair, losing $0.32.
Cake - Sees me playing a $2 DoN and $1 Standard. I bomb the DoN and place 3rd in the standard, losing $1.40 in the process.
PDC Poker - A $5 standard and $5 DoN sees me ousted in 7th in the standard and bubble the DoN. Boy this one really set me on end. The table walked a shortstack who had less than a BB twice and I get AQ in my BB [I was short but with 5 BBs]. Get called in two places, once by A9 and another by KQ. 9 on flop kills me. Uggh. Lost $10.90.
Full Tilt - Rocking and rolling. Two $5 standards and I finish runner up twice, but good for a $16 profit. This will be the theme for the day. No better than 2nd.
Poker Host - I play a $5 DoN and $5 standard. Out 7th in the standard but hitting the double up for a slight loss of $0.90.
PokerStars - Two standard $1 SnGs and I manage a 6th and 2nd for a slight $0.30 profit. Not happy. I had eventual winner on the ropes despite him starting with a 3:1 chip lead and he wriggled free on two occasions.
Sportsbook - I only have about $14 here so I played a pair of $1 DoNs and managed to split the pair for a slight loss of $0.16.
UB - The end of the day for me. Playing a pair of $0.60 standards, I manage a 5th and 2nd. I started pretty even, took a lead, lost lead when he hit running diamonds for a flush. A few hands later, I get coolered and get it all in on the flop of A59 with A5. He has A9. Zoinks. A whopping $0.15 profit here.
I got HU five times and couldn't seal the deal. It's like every time I had high, flop came low and vice versa. Or coolered. I know I kept the pressure up, but just couldn't get on the high end of the HU battles. I think I have a big advantage here as many players at this level are so passive that I can take advantage of their passivity. I run into problems, however, when they get any piece of the flop. I simply have to get a bigger piece because they don't lay much down unless the board is really scary.
$11.97 profit good for a +21.73 ROI. Thank goodness I ran well at Full Tilt and Bodog.
22 November 2010
Sunday was a great day!
Didn't play any poker. :) Monday was more of the same as last week. Just not clicking. Played:
$1/90 KO and $3/27 on Stars
$1/90, $2/180 and $2/27 on Full Tilt
Together I managed a whopping two bounties in the KO for $0.50. That was the total sum of my profit. I had KTo lose to 92o in the KO and busted 13th, with 12 paid. Ran TT into JJ and AA in the Stars $3/27 to bustin 12th. Busted 99 into QQ in the Full Tilt $2/180 to finish 19th, with 18 paid. Busted the Full Tilt $2/27 when I made a move from the button with A9o and ran into AJ. I had my share of bad breaks, but sometimes when you run into bigger hands, there is nothing that could have been done. I just wish they wouldn't all bunch up together.
So -$9.90 with -95.19% ROI.
I may play cash tomorrow or single table SnGs and Double or Nothings. Something to do a little shake up.
$1/90 KO and $3/27 on Stars
$1/90, $2/180 and $2/27 on Full Tilt
Together I managed a whopping two bounties in the KO for $0.50. That was the total sum of my profit. I had KTo lose to 92o in the KO and busted 13th, with 12 paid. Ran TT into JJ and AA in the Stars $3/27 to bustin 12th. Busted 99 into QQ in the Full Tilt $2/180 to finish 19th, with 18 paid. Busted the Full Tilt $2/27 when I made a move from the button with A9o and ran into AJ. I had my share of bad breaks, but sometimes when you run into bigger hands, there is nothing that could have been done. I just wish they wouldn't all bunch up together.
So -$9.90 with -95.19% ROI.
I may play cash tomorrow or single table SnGs and Double or Nothings. Something to do a little shake up.
21 November 2010
Saturday's Still Suck
Jiminy, I need to stop playing on Saturday. I think it's the one day when bad players all come together to play on my tables. Oh, sure, we want bad players, but I think there is a threshold where x-number of bad players make poker -EV for even the best players. Think about it this way. If you are constantly raising and getting 3-4 callers, even your best hands are going to get beat regularly. Say you raise from UtG with AcAs and get 4-callers. Not a bad situation. So the flop comes AhKd3d. Great. You've flopped top set, so you make a 1/2 to pot sized bet. Two of the 4 callers fold. 5h comes on the turn. Big Blind bets out. How comfortable do you feel? You raise or call and other guy calls also. Td on the turn. 3-way all-in and your AA just lost to 42 off, which in turn just lost to 8d4d. Happens way too often. And twice on Saturdays. Bleh.
Played 8 SnGs and two MTTs on Saturday. Made no KOs, missed the money horribly in all of the SnGs. Did manage to finish 52nd out of 613 in a $1.10 Deepstack $400 guarantee on UB. For $1.90. I got bad beat. No way around it. I had ATo in the BB. Folds to button who limps, while small blind completed. Button was new to the table, while small blind was a drooling donkey who never played a hand he wanted to raise with [Well it felt this way since his preflop raise percentage through 125 hands was 0%]. I thought about raising, but with an unknown button decided to see the cheap flop. I had 30K [about 16BBs], the others had me covered. Flop comes KQJ rainbow. Beauty. SB bets out, I raise, button folds, SB pushes I call. He has QJ. He nailed his four-outer on the river. Of course he did. It's Saturday.
Lost $29.60. ROI staggering -93.97%
I need to stop playing Saturdays. Or, more honestly, play back down to my roll and stop with the $4/180s and the FTP $8.80 180-max MTTs until I'm rolled for them. I also might need to step away for a few days. Not that I'm playing bad, but my frame of mind is getting affected by the losses recently.
At least I won't be playing today. It's my turn to be the Dorkmaster in my D&D game. Boy I sure hope I don't take it out on my friend's characters....mwuhahahahahahhahaha
Played 8 SnGs and two MTTs on Saturday. Made no KOs, missed the money horribly in all of the SnGs. Did manage to finish 52nd out of 613 in a $1.10 Deepstack $400 guarantee on UB. For $1.90. I got bad beat. No way around it. I had ATo in the BB. Folds to button who limps, while small blind completed. Button was new to the table, while small blind was a drooling donkey who never played a hand he wanted to raise with [Well it felt this way since his preflop raise percentage through 125 hands was 0%]. I thought about raising, but with an unknown button decided to see the cheap flop. I had 30K [about 16BBs], the others had me covered. Flop comes KQJ rainbow. Beauty. SB bets out, I raise, button folds, SB pushes I call. He has QJ. He nailed his four-outer on the river. Of course he did. It's Saturday.
Lost $29.60. ROI staggering -93.97%
I need to stop playing Saturdays. Or, more honestly, play back down to my roll and stop with the $4/180s and the FTP $8.80 180-max MTTs until I'm rolled for them. I also might need to step away for a few days. Not that I'm playing bad, but my frame of mind is getting affected by the losses recently.
At least I won't be playing today. It's my turn to be the Dorkmaster in my D&D game. Boy I sure hope I don't take it out on my friend's characters....mwuhahahahahahhahaha
19 November 2010
Righting the Ship A Bit
Had a pretty decent day. Played the following:
Two $4/180s and a $1/90 KO on Stars
$2/180, $1/90 and $8.80 [180 max] MTT on Full Tilt
Entered IRC to chat with some friends and realized that Tall Paul and I were sharing the same $4/180 so asked for a swap. This is usually 10% stake in one another payable if you make the money. He agreed. We were both rolling well and he was the chipleader while I was struggling to find anything playable especially considering my table was hellishly aggressive meaning I really had to have a hand to play. I got forced into pushing a few times and got lucky. When we got down to 10 players I really thought we were actually going to hit the final table together. Not to be. I pushed 88 thing I was going to get another bubble steal when a rock woke up with AK. Flop of QJx gave him 10 outs and he buried the gutshot broadway on the river. Tall Paul still had a good stack on the final table but ended it against the only player with more chips when his QQ failed to improve against the chip leader's KK. The swap made me an extra $1.66.
I failed in the $8.80 and $2/180 on Full Tilt, but managed to finish 5th in the $1/90. Bust hand made me a little irritated though. I had A4s in the BB and an aggressive button raised 3x. I flatted him and saw an all-heart flop of A49. I checked to him and he made about a half pot-bet. I shoved over the top and he snap called with ATo, no hearts. He got there on the river. It's irritating that he didn't think one bit. Just his cards. I'm hoping to see him with regularity.
At Stars the other $4/180 saw me bust about an hour and a half in. AJ < AT. Another 3-outer. The KO was a different matter. Once again, only one bounty throughout the whole SnG. Can someone explain to me how I manage to get 3-handed in a 90 KO with only one bounty? My only explanation is that I'm patient. In other words, if I don't double quickly, I don't have the chips at hand to start busting people. I tend to build my stack up slowly and double here and there vs players who have more chips. I did finish 3rd. I started three handed with more than a 3:1 disadvantage vs the other two, but I erased it at one point and was 2nd within about 10K chips of 1st. AT fell to KJs and I slowly busted out. I did go out with the best hand, but that was irrelevant considering my chipstack.
I posted a +$5.44 session. ROI +24.34%. I know posting daily ROIs is meaningless of such small sample sizes, but it's just what I like to include.
Two $4/180s and a $1/90 KO on Stars
$2/180, $1/90 and $8.80 [180 max] MTT on Full Tilt
Entered IRC to chat with some friends and realized that Tall Paul and I were sharing the same $4/180 so asked for a swap. This is usually 10% stake in one another payable if you make the money. He agreed. We were both rolling well and he was the chipleader while I was struggling to find anything playable especially considering my table was hellishly aggressive meaning I really had to have a hand to play. I got forced into pushing a few times and got lucky. When we got down to 10 players I really thought we were actually going to hit the final table together. Not to be. I pushed 88 thing I was going to get another bubble steal when a rock woke up with AK. Flop of QJx gave him 10 outs and he buried the gutshot broadway on the river. Tall Paul still had a good stack on the final table but ended it against the only player with more chips when his QQ failed to improve against the chip leader's KK. The swap made me an extra $1.66.
I failed in the $8.80 and $2/180 on Full Tilt, but managed to finish 5th in the $1/90. Bust hand made me a little irritated though. I had A4s in the BB and an aggressive button raised 3x. I flatted him and saw an all-heart flop of A49. I checked to him and he made about a half pot-bet. I shoved over the top and he snap called with ATo, no hearts. He got there on the river. It's irritating that he didn't think one bit. Just his cards. I'm hoping to see him with regularity.
At Stars the other $4/180 saw me bust about an hour and a half in. AJ < AT. Another 3-outer. The KO was a different matter. Once again, only one bounty throughout the whole SnG. Can someone explain to me how I manage to get 3-handed in a 90 KO with only one bounty? My only explanation is that I'm patient. In other words, if I don't double quickly, I don't have the chips at hand to start busting people. I tend to build my stack up slowly and double here and there vs players who have more chips. I did finish 3rd. I started three handed with more than a 3:1 disadvantage vs the other two, but I erased it at one point and was 2nd within about 10K chips of 1st. AT fell to KJs and I slowly busted out. I did go out with the best hand, but that was irrelevant considering my chipstack.
I posted a +$5.44 session. ROI +24.34%. I know posting daily ROIs is meaningless of such small sample sizes, but it's just what I like to include.
18 November 2010
WTF? Really?
Had a decent day. The night was off-the-charts BS through and through.
Crushed on Stars in one $1 90-man KO and two $2 90-man SnGs. In the KO, I witnessed a player who called two all-ins with K4o bust AA and KQ. This same donkey crushed my AQ with Q6 and finally stripped the rest of my chips with Q4 on a 742 flop. I had 77.
At Full Tilt, things were much better. I'll let the italics sit there. I did make the money in both of my $1 90-mans, but failed in the $2/180. 12th place and 2nd. I was up for the day.
Decided to play some 27-man SnGs at Full Tilt while watching television with the wife. Six $1 and four $2. Bombed each and every one of them, most in spectacular fashion. 8-15 out draws, all whiffed. Big pairs crushed by absolute rubbish. Lost to gutshots, 2-outers, 3-outers, runner runner flushes. Ran stuff like AK into AA. I mean every draw that would give me a great chip stack, missed. Every time an opponent needed a 3 outer, it came.
The problem I have is this. I NEVER run as well as my opponents did today. They do it all too consistently.
-$10.52 in losses. ROI for the day: -39.77%.
Crushed on Stars in one $1 90-man KO and two $2 90-man SnGs. In the KO, I witnessed a player who called two all-ins with K4o bust AA and KQ. This same donkey crushed my AQ with Q6 and finally stripped the rest of my chips with Q4 on a 742 flop. I had 77.
At Full Tilt, things were much better. I'll let the italics sit there. I did make the money in both of my $1 90-mans, but failed in the $2/180. 12th place and 2nd. I was up for the day.
Decided to play some 27-man SnGs at Full Tilt while watching television with the wife. Six $1 and four $2. Bombed each and every one of them, most in spectacular fashion. 8-15 out draws, all whiffed. Big pairs crushed by absolute rubbish. Lost to gutshots, 2-outers, 3-outers, runner runner flushes. Ran stuff like AK into AA. I mean every draw that would give me a great chip stack, missed. Every time an opponent needed a 3 outer, it came.
The problem I have is this. I NEVER run as well as my opponents did today. They do it all too consistently.
-$10.52 in losses. ROI for the day: -39.77%.
17 November 2010
Bad Beats and Better Hands
Well I'm officially in a dreaded downturn. No excuses today other than some bad beats and some sick coolers or simply running into better hands when you least expect it.
A few of the same bugaboos that have pulverized me at the wrong time. 34th place finish in a Stars $1 90-man KO when QQ went all-in pre vs 88 and flopped an 8. Would have had a good stack for the end game going on a passive table. Another AA falls to 22. What he's doing in the pot is beyond me. A push with KK called by QQ and 66 loses to the 66's big stack. I'm really dumbfounded by this one. I had 12 BBs in the CO. EP player limps as does MP, so I push. Button wakes up with QQ and pushes [he had slightly less ~10.5 BBs]. BB with 66 calls these two pushes for 3/4 his stack. Unreal.
Had another hand that really blew my mind. I get QQ on the button and it folds to me. I have about 16-18BB and raise about 2.7BBs. SB flats me, but the super loose [62/27] BB raises. I push, SB pushes, BB pushes. Never had a chance. SB had KK and BB had AA. Now that's sickness!
On and on it went. Had a 13th place finish in another $1 Stars 90-man KO. Never close on anything on Full Tilt.
Finished in the money in 11th plus 3.5 Bounties for a small profit on the last SnG of the day. I can't complain too vociferously. I got it in good a majority of the time, and in a few cases behind where the play was right. I can't fault my play. I was much more focused than yesterday. Just one of those things. I'm hoping it's short-lived and my good play holds up over the next couple of days. If I continue to run poorly it could be a long weekend.
-$17.47 for the day. Makes for -83.99% ROI. Yuck.
Full Tilt's ROI has dropped to 90% and Stars 2.5%. Overall still running at 38%. Let's hope I can improve it.
A few of the same bugaboos that have pulverized me at the wrong time. 34th place finish in a Stars $1 90-man KO when QQ went all-in pre vs 88 and flopped an 8. Would have had a good stack for the end game going on a passive table. Another AA falls to 22. What he's doing in the pot is beyond me. A push with KK called by QQ and 66 loses to the 66's big stack. I'm really dumbfounded by this one. I had 12 BBs in the CO. EP player limps as does MP, so I push. Button wakes up with QQ and pushes [he had slightly less ~10.5 BBs]. BB with 66 calls these two pushes for 3/4 his stack. Unreal.
Had another hand that really blew my mind. I get QQ on the button and it folds to me. I have about 16-18BB and raise about 2.7BBs. SB flats me, but the super loose [62/27] BB raises. I push, SB pushes, BB pushes. Never had a chance. SB had KK and BB had AA. Now that's sickness!
On and on it went. Had a 13th place finish in another $1 Stars 90-man KO. Never close on anything on Full Tilt.
Finished in the money in 11th plus 3.5 Bounties for a small profit on the last SnG of the day. I can't complain too vociferously. I got it in good a majority of the time, and in a few cases behind where the play was right. I can't fault my play. I was much more focused than yesterday. Just one of those things. I'm hoping it's short-lived and my good play holds up over the next couple of days. If I continue to run poorly it could be a long weekend.
-$17.47 for the day. Makes for -83.99% ROI. Yuck.
Full Tilt's ROI has dropped to 90% and Stars 2.5%. Overall still running at 38%. Let's hope I can improve it.
16 November 2010
CIV 5 and Poker Don't Mix
Got a quick start this morning and played a Stars $1 90-man KO, a $1 90-man on FTP as well as the 13:45PM EST $2 Cashout on FTP. Never got anything going on either SnG, but did manage 27th in the cashout for $3,88. LMAO. I could have finished for more money if I cashed out my 7500 chips after reaching final 45. Woulda been around $7.50. :) No worries, I cashed.
Had a conversation a few days ago with friends who are playing CIV 5. With my latest spate of poker, I've pretty much shelved CIV5 for the time being simply because it sucks up a lot of resources and if I play it, I can't do anything else. Not so! During one of the breaks I found out through Google that there is a toggle in-game to switch from fullscreen to a window. Since I have two monitors, I set up the resolution to fit the second, somewhat smaller monitor. Away we go.
I played CIV5 for about 3 hours while I loaded up my Holdem Manager, and my usual run of four Stars/FTP 90 and 180s. Well I bombed in all four but did come close in the $2 90 finishing 14th [12 pay] after A9 lost to QT on the river.
I never built a stack in any which is extremely uncommon when I open four together. I actually timed out on QQ early in one which made me very upset as I was in the middle of decimating a Barbarian tribe with my Japanese pikemen. It saved me from busting early as flop came KJJ and one player had AK while the other had AJ. Bleh.
Needless to say, a game like CIV5 is way too distracting to have open and play while trying to play poker. So I'll save a bit of time each day for CIV5. Maybe play a session of SnGs, break for lunch and play some CIV5, then back to another SnG session.
Lost $7.52. That's -64.55% ROI for the six SnGs and the Cashout MTT.
On the plus side, my Japanese Empire has its own continent that it shares with the City-state of Florence. And they love me. :)
Had a conversation a few days ago with friends who are playing CIV 5. With my latest spate of poker, I've pretty much shelved CIV5 for the time being simply because it sucks up a lot of resources and if I play it, I can't do anything else. Not so! During one of the breaks I found out through Google that there is a toggle in-game to switch from fullscreen to a window. Since I have two monitors, I set up the resolution to fit the second, somewhat smaller monitor. Away we go.
I played CIV5 for about 3 hours while I loaded up my Holdem Manager, and my usual run of four Stars/FTP 90 and 180s. Well I bombed in all four but did come close in the $2 90 finishing 14th [12 pay] after A9 lost to QT on the river.
I never built a stack in any which is extremely uncommon when I open four together. I actually timed out on QQ early in one which made me very upset as I was in the middle of decimating a Barbarian tribe with my Japanese pikemen. It saved me from busting early as flop came KJJ and one player had AK while the other had AJ. Bleh.
Needless to say, a game like CIV5 is way too distracting to have open and play while trying to play poker. So I'll save a bit of time each day for CIV5. Maybe play a session of SnGs, break for lunch and play some CIV5, then back to another SnG session.
Lost $7.52. That's -64.55% ROI for the six SnGs and the Cashout MTT.
On the plus side, my Japanese Empire has its own continent that it shares with the City-state of Florence. And they love me. :)
15 November 2010
Need a Breakthrough
Loaded up my regular mix:
$1 90-man and $2 180 on Full Tilt
$1 90-man KO and $2 90-man on Stars
Bombed Stars right away, so what do you do when that happens? Tilt and load up a pair of $4/180s. :)
Full Tilt finished first when I managed 12th in each for a $4.03 profit.
180s were horrible. Couldn't catch cards and when I did have something playable in position, the inevitable raise ahead froze me out. I think I went out 59th in the first one with AT losing to QJs.
Second one, I caught a few hands when forced to push light. Then I went on a torrent. AA held versus JJ. KK held versus ATs that flopped a flushdraw. Before I knew it I was on the final table with 50K and 2/9.
I was getting few hands again when I was dealt AA after dropping to third with one person busted. MP2 opens for a min-raise of 3200 and I come over the top for 8K. He pushes, I call. He shows QQ. Flop Q high leaving me with less than a BB.
I mean c'mon Stars? Really? Twice in four days I get beaten by a smaller pair when a huge stack or the chiplead is on the line?
Don't know how I am going to break through and start moving up the buy-ins if every time I get into a situation to take a significant step in that direction I get slapped around.
Edit: Added a $5 DoN and $5 SnG at PDC Poker to the mix. Made money in the DoN and 3rd in the standard $5, bringing my total profit to $19.45 and a 72.98% ROI for the day. Despite the horrid finish in the $4/180, the day was a success.
$1 90-man and $2 180 on Full Tilt
$1 90-man KO and $2 90-man on Stars
Bombed Stars right away, so what do you do when that happens? Tilt and load up a pair of $4/180s. :)
Full Tilt finished first when I managed 12th in each for a $4.03 profit.
180s were horrible. Couldn't catch cards and when I did have something playable in position, the inevitable raise ahead froze me out. I think I went out 59th in the first one with AT losing to QJs.
Second one, I caught a few hands when forced to push light. Then I went on a torrent. AA held versus JJ. KK held versus ATs that flopped a flushdraw. Before I knew it I was on the final table with 50K and 2/9.
I was getting few hands again when I was dealt AA after dropping to third with one person busted. MP2 opens for a min-raise of 3200 and I come over the top for 8K. He pushes, I call. He shows QQ. Flop Q high leaving me with less than a BB.
I mean c'mon Stars? Really? Twice in four days I get beaten by a smaller pair when a huge stack or the chiplead is on the line?
Don't know how I am going to break through and start moving up the buy-ins if every time I get into a situation to take a significant step in that direction I get slapped around.
Edit: Added a $5 DoN and $5 SnG at PDC Poker to the mix. Made money in the DoN and 3rd in the standard $5, bringing my total profit to $19.45 and a 72.98% ROI for the day. Despite the horrid finish in the $4/180, the day was a success.
14 November 2010
Sunday donks and slight profits
Played two $1 KOs [90-man] on Stars as well as a $2 90. Also played two $2 180s, a $1 90-man deepstack and the Daily Dollar rebuy on Full Tilt. Bombed the Daily Dollar. KK ran into AA and that was it.
Close calls on the first KO and the $2 90 on Stars saw me out 14th and 20th, respectively. Top 12 pay. In the 2nd KO, I managed 10th with 1.5 KOs. Sigh got QQ all-in versus table donk who had AJ. He flopped a J then rivered another. I am getting tired of this. Winning that puts me in a good position to get on teh final table.
On Full Tilt I managed to go out poorly on the $1 deepstack and the first 180. In the second 180, I get on the final table in 3rd. Two quick bust outs in the first orbit. I then turn a flush three handed and get all-in with a short stack who had the Ace of the suit and rivered the nut flush. Uggh. This makes me the shortstack. A few orbits later I get AK and push. Chip leader flats my call, but player who hit the flush on me earlier pushes over the top. Chip leader folds and opponent shows AQ. Very nice, thanks for isolating. But not only does he isolate, he gets rewarded for his donk move with a Q on the flop.
I'm simply getting donked right now. Finished with a profit. Unsure if I'll play more before turning in tonight. As is, I'm up $2.47. ROI for the day +18.16.....coulda been much better.
Close calls on the first KO and the $2 90 on Stars saw me out 14th and 20th, respectively. Top 12 pay. In the 2nd KO, I managed 10th with 1.5 KOs. Sigh got QQ all-in versus table donk who had AJ. He flopped a J then rivered another. I am getting tired of this. Winning that puts me in a good position to get on teh final table.
On Full Tilt I managed to go out poorly on the $1 deepstack and the first 180. In the second 180, I get on the final table in 3rd. Two quick bust outs in the first orbit. I then turn a flush three handed and get all-in with a short stack who had the Ace of the suit and rivered the nut flush. Uggh. This makes me the shortstack. A few orbits later I get AK and push. Chip leader flats my call, but player who hit the flush on me earlier pushes over the top. Chip leader folds and opponent shows AQ. Very nice, thanks for isolating. But not only does he isolate, he gets rewarded for his donk move with a Q on the flop.
I'm simply getting donked right now. Finished with a profit. Unsure if I'll play more before turning in tonight. As is, I'm up $2.47. ROI for the day +18.16.....coulda been much better.
13 November 2010
Saturdays Suck
So far, through five 90s and a 180 I've managed a 16th and 14th as well as one bounty in the two KOs. Down about 1/3 of my total buy-ins. Of course, these are $1 and $2 SnGs, so par for the course. Theme so far today is running decent hands into donkeys who are calling my pushes with the top percentage of their call ranges. Like pushing AJs and them waking up with QQ. Of course, there is the omnipresence of me pushing AT and that loose 50/25 player UtG who limped calling me with QQ. The final straw was in the $2 180 at Full Tilt. I have 9 BBs in the BB with KK and loose aggro player on button pushes his 40BB stack with A2o. Flop comes 34J, 2 turn......
Second and final set of the day. Played four $1 45-man SnGs. Two Stars and two Full Tilt. First of each went awry quickly. AJ < AK then an all-in of A6s running into AK on Stars. Pocket Js went down to AT on Tilt. Second batch was better. I nailed big hands on both sites. AA on each as well as KK and JJ. Ended up on final tables. Got in the money on both. Overall a mere $0.80 profit on second set.
Down a whopping $0.18. I can live with that. If that is a down day for me, so be it. Slowly grinding. All about volume.
Damn Cal came close to knocking off Oregon.
Second and final set of the day. Played four $1 45-man SnGs. Two Stars and two Full Tilt. First of each went awry quickly. AJ < AK then an all-in of A6s running into AK on Stars. Pocket Js went down to AT on Tilt. Second batch was better. I nailed big hands on both sites. AA on each as well as KK and JJ. Ended up on final tables. Got in the money on both. Overall a mere $0.80 profit on second set.
Down a whopping $0.18. I can live with that. If that is a down day for me, so be it. Slowly grinding. All about volume.
Damn Cal came close to knocking off Oregon.
12 November 2010
I'm Back!
I was going to wait until the new year to start blogging again, but decided not to wait. I wanted to do something different because I never know when to cash out, add to my bankroll or really when to move up [or down] in my play.
I typed a few short words into Google and found Jennifear's article on "SNG/MTT BR Management and Cashout Strategy"
I really like this article. In the article, she explains how the system works and why the system works. Certainly, the system is two years old, but is one of those posts that will be relevant for years to come. Since it is extremely difficult for me to move funds [American - guilty], I have set up each of the ten sites on individual bankrolls. I've also set up a spreadsheet to track my progress in SnGs, MTTs and NL cash games. Although her article doesn't cover cash games, I've decided that I'll play each site on 25BIs each in NL. I'll move up when I have 25 BIs at the next level [or down if I drop 5 BIs]. I've also decided to add 25% to the cashout pool when I get to 150% of the next level. This'll still allow me to playthat level [with a bit of a cushion], but get me to cash some out also.
I started this project on September 24th and have concentrated mostly on SnGs, with the bulk of these in the 90 and 180-person types. I've played some MTTs, but not many. I've also played some cash. In the end, however, I'm finding I'm really enjoying the $1 and $2 90-180s.
So far, through today, here is how I am running across the sites:
In SnGs, I'm running a combined +46.96% ROI through 222 of them. The predominant mix is 90s and 180s with representation in STTs, 18s, 27s and 45s. Heck I've played some DoNs as well and one All-in or Fold that I accidentally regged in. Yeah, that was fun. Pushed QQ and lost to A4o. Most of my SnGs are through Full Tilt and PokerStars. I'm at +112.88% ROI at Full Tilt and +7.58% ROI at PokerStars.
In MTTs, I'm running at -58.72% ROI through 36 contests. I'm finding $1 and $2 MTTs to be a grind. I finished one $2 deepstack at Full Tilt in 21st place out of 702 runners and won $5.65. It's gonna take a while to punch through to the real money and right this start.
IN NL Cash. I'm running decently enough:
NL2: +21.05 ptBB/100
NL4: +7.32 ptBB/100
NL5: -9.11 ptBB/100
NL10: +8.07 ptBB/100
Since I am playing roughly every day, I've decided I'll be posting my progress here in the blog so any of you can follow along.
-Piscivorous
I typed a few short words into Google and found Jennifear's article on "SNG/MTT BR Management and Cashout Strategy"
I really like this article. In the article, she explains how the system works and why the system works. Certainly, the system is two years old, but is one of those posts that will be relevant for years to come. Since it is extremely difficult for me to move funds [American - guilty], I have set up each of the ten sites on individual bankrolls. I've also set up a spreadsheet to track my progress in SnGs, MTTs and NL cash games. Although her article doesn't cover cash games, I've decided that I'll play each site on 25BIs each in NL. I'll move up when I have 25 BIs at the next level [or down if I drop 5 BIs]. I've also decided to add 25% to the cashout pool when I get to 150% of the next level. This'll still allow me to playthat level [with a bit of a cushion], but get me to cash some out also.
I started this project on September 24th and have concentrated mostly on SnGs, with the bulk of these in the 90 and 180-person types. I've played some MTTs, but not many. I've also played some cash. In the end, however, I'm finding I'm really enjoying the $1 and $2 90-180s.
So far, through today, here is how I am running across the sites:
In SnGs, I'm running a combined +46.96% ROI through 222 of them. The predominant mix is 90s and 180s with representation in STTs, 18s, 27s and 45s. Heck I've played some DoNs as well and one All-in or Fold that I accidentally regged in. Yeah, that was fun. Pushed QQ and lost to A4o. Most of my SnGs are through Full Tilt and PokerStars. I'm at +112.88% ROI at Full Tilt and +7.58% ROI at PokerStars.
In MTTs, I'm running at -58.72% ROI through 36 contests. I'm finding $1 and $2 MTTs to be a grind. I finished one $2 deepstack at Full Tilt in 21st place out of 702 runners and won $5.65. It's gonna take a while to punch through to the real money and right this start.
IN NL Cash. I'm running decently enough:
NL2: +21.05 ptBB/100
NL4: +7.32 ptBB/100
NL5: -9.11 ptBB/100
NL10: +8.07 ptBB/100
Since I am playing roughly every day, I've decided I'll be posting my progress here in the blog so any of you can follow along.
-Piscivorous
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