Ivano's TSP binkage variance galore

F_Ivanovic

Been a long time since I posted. I realise I tend to post more when things are going well as opposed to badly!!

Had an absolute nightmare in June. Couldn't cash a tournament and lost a lot playing cash including one really horrible session @ 50PLO where I went on tilt and ended up some 15BI's down. It's not so bad tilting in PLO because of how close equities run - in fact, it can be a good thing if everyone is nitting it up because you just take so much down uncontested - and if you do GII (as long as it's not a pure bluff) you usually have decent equity where you're not losing that much.

But that day, just absolutely nothing went for me. A couple of villains had 5-7BI's, mostly donated between me. I finally pulled it back somewhat and got to around 5BI's up. Decided to play on rather than cut my losses - ended up badly when I pulled a huge bluff and got caught. 

This month had been steady progress...mostly ups, a few downs. Then Sunday night I cashed in the super roller in 9th place. Somewhat disappointing as I was chip leader with 100k at one stage and bossing the table. But took my foot off the gas and lost a flip. Ended up middle of the pack. Lucked out with A7s vs 88 to double up to 180k and thought I had a good shout of making the final table but then against the same player snapped his SB shove with AQ - he has the A7 this time and sees a 772 flop. Still, a good cash and put me on the leaderboard for this MTT priority promotion to win a TSP seat at UKPC. Saturday also saw deep runs in main and mini but cashing out just before the money in both.

Tonight was the 800th million hand promo - missed out on that. Had a bit of a break and then regged a free-roll (never usually bother with most free-rolls but there wasn't too many runners and just thought may as well see what happens - also regged the main, mini and had the priority free-roll. I binked a UKPC semi-final seat in the free-roll, so was entered into that. And also regged the BH, so had 5 tournaments on the go. And boy was it hectic! Usually don't play that many tables - it's 3 usually, occasionally 4. I see now why there's so many multi-table nits - it just becomes impossible to try and play that active if your playing that many tables.

Anyway, had a great start to the mini, bad start to the main. But then main started going better as mini went worst and it was the first table to disappear. The priority free-roll I had a slow start, but then picked up a couple premium hands and was chip leader. Was 7 left with 5 cashing and I defended Ac9c. Flopped a flush draw on 7xx and hit the flush on a 7 turn. Got it in against trip 7s only for river to give them a FH. Would have put me as chip leader and a lock for a decent cash but went out soon after with no cash. £800 up top as well for a free tournament with only 30 odd runners in a free tournament - can't complain with that!

So was down to just 3 tournaments - the main, the UKPC semi and the BH. BH was another slow start, but then somehow quadrupled up within a 10 minute period and found myself at the top of the pack. By this point I was concentrating on the main though as it was getting to the latter stages. And the BH suffered as a result because instead of applying the pressure I just tightened up and must have folded 30 hands in a row - or at least it felt like that! The UKPC semi-final seat I won was going even worse - I was short stacked and barely playing a hand but I seemed to be somehow survivng. Got to the final table of the main and needed 2nd place which would put me at the top of the cashes for this TSP MTT race for priority. But busted out 4th when my 88 couldn't hold against QT. Still, a good result! I somehow managed to double up twice in the UKPC semi and put myself in contention - and then from there, I managed to win a seat. Down to the 1 table I decided to concentrate on the BH. I found myself in a spot where I'd called twice after being donked into when I was the PFR on a 9348 board. River was an 8 and I almost instant called in tilt, but then thought about it some more - and called anyway! I was good, and then I was back in the mix. Managed to chip up gradually and got in the money. With 9 left I found KK in the BB raised it up. 1 call. Flop was 9 high with 2 hearts and I bet/shoved against NFD which got there on the river. 

Was one of them nights where so much went for me - I got unlucky in some spots, but then sucked out quite a lot when I was like a 30% dog... but at the same time, I felt I could have played a lot better if I wasn't playing so many tables. But can't complain with a winning night!

F_Ivanovic

7th/103 in both main and mini tonight! edit: make that 8/101 in both

F_Ivanovic

This sunday hasn't been much to write home about. Good start in both the main and mini but couldn't keep the symmetry going as I exited the mini in 2 painful hands. One was when I flopped trip 6s only for the board to run out KK to give the KQ a better FH. Then JJ couldn't win a flip against AK. In the UKPC final I never made any waves but chipped up ever so slowly. Got down to 16 left with 8 cashing and I needed a double up to stand a chance. TT couldn't hold against AK which rivered a 4 flush. 

Speed BH started and I bleeded away a few chips before finding a double up with queens against jacks. Then got in AK against JJ and 88 for a chance of 2 bounties. Miss. Got another bounty when I picked up QQ against a short stack shove. Then shipped over a 3x open with AK and lost to QQ for my stack.

And just bust out the main shortly after. From being on 35k it just went downhill. Hit absolutely nothing. Every time I raised to make something happen I got unwanted action. 3bet in good looking spots after being super tight only to get shipped on. Bled right down back to 10k. Got a double up when a 3x opener at blinds 400/800 opened and I shipped with A7s... they snap with T2s. I win first all in of night. Couple hands later it's my BB with A8o... it gets opened and flatted and I 3b. Get 4bet by BTN who's never folding to a shove but I think he's pretty light so just ship and hope it's a flip. I'm right, they have 77 so not too light but good enough. Couldn't spike anything tho and that was that!

Awful night all in all. Needed a decent cash in main or mini for this MTT priority promotion but wasn't to be. Should be in the playoff though in 2 days time for a TSP seat!

hhyftrftdr

In Response to Re: F_Ivanovic New Challenge Ideas:

This sunday hasn't been much to write home about. Good start in both the main and mini but couldn't keep the symmetry going as I exited the mini in 2 painful hands. One was when I flopped trip 6s only for the board to run out KK to give the KQ a better FH. Then JJ couldn't win a flip against AK. In the UKPC final I never made any waves but chipped up ever so slowly. Got down to 16 left with 8 cashing and I needed a double up to stand a chance. TT couldn't hold against AK which rivered a 4 flush.  Speed BH started and I bleeded away a few chips before finding a double up with queens against jacks. Then got in AK against JJ and 88 for a chance of 2 bounties. Miss. Got another bounty when I picked up QQ against a short stack shove. Then shipped over a 3x open with AK and lost to QQ for my stack. And just bust out the main shortly after. From being on 35k it just went downhill. Hit absolutely nothing. Every time I raised to make something happen I got unwanted action. 3bet in good looking spots after being super tight only to get shipped on. Bled right down back to 10k. Got a double up when a 3x opener at blinds 400/800 opened and I shipped with A7s... they snap with T2s. I win first all in of night. Couple hands later it's my BB with A8o... it gets opened and flatted and I 3b. Get 4bet by BTN who's never folding to a shove but I think he's pretty light so just ship and hope it's a flip. I'm right, they have 77 so not too light but good enough. Couldn't spike anything tho and that was that! Awful night all in all. Needed a decent cash in main or mini for this MTT priority promotion but wasn't to be. Should be in the playoff though in 2 days time for a TSP seat!
Posted by F_Ivanovic

Bled

Was all set to welcome you to the FT jackpot club and everything

Gl in the playoff sir, got a sneaky feeling you'll clinch it

F_Ivanovic

In Response to Re: F_Ivanovic New Challenge Ideas:

In Response to Re: F_Ivanovic New Challenge Ideas : Bled Was all set to welcome you to the FT jackpot club and everything Gl in the playoff sir, got a sneaky feeling you'll clinch it
Posted by hhyftrftdr

haha I jinxed myself as soon as I wrote in this thread! Just thought it was pretty mad to be the exact same position with exact same numbers left in both tournies!! 

Wasn't to be in the playoff unfortunately. I didn't have the cards but didn't play aggressive enough early on. Got down to 4 left with one of us away and I had about 1400, raised with AQ and shipped over a 3-bet by TimmyRaRa's KK. Couldn't spike an A and that was that. Doubt I'll be playing the Sunday Final unless I maybe give a semi-satellite another shot so as it is I'm just going to be playing the mini UKPC. Currently sold 30% of myself with no markup but looking again at the tournament it's a 1 rebuy which makes selling action more awkward maybe? Cause it means if I did want to, I couldn't really buy in again because I'd have put up a lot more than my backers yet still be getting the same cut.

Jac35

Just be very clear in advance and there shouldn't be any problems. 

You could specify that the stake is for the first bullet only. Or you could give them the option of backing you for the two. 

Playing Saturday?  Be good to meet up and say hello

F_Ivanovic

In Response to Re: F_Ivanovic New Challenge Ideas:

Just be very clear in advance and there shouldn't be any problems.  You could specify that the stake is for the first bullet only. Or you could give them the option of backing you for the two.  Playing Saturday?  Be good to meet up and say hello
Posted by Jac35

Yeah, am looking to play Saturday though haven't yet booked anything, will be doing so soon. You booked a place to stay yet? Can't remember where I stayed last time I was in Nottingham although remember it was a bit of a walk (40 mins or so) to DTD. Think it was pretty cheap though. That's the problem with live tourneys - loads of fun, but not sure how +ev they are when you think how much you have to spend on the trip.

Still looking for 20% to sell as well if anyone wants a (bad) gamble. PM if interested!

F_Ivanovic

41 days since an update, apologies for those that like to read the diaries!! 

UKPC

So the UKPC was really fun but I did spend quite a lot over that week and being a life-nit with money these days it did hurt a bit! I went down Thursday afternoon and arrived at the casino in time (after missing a train by a minute!) for the satellite into the mini event. Now I hate satellites and rebuys online so a live rebuy satellite is my idea of a nightmare. I don't know why - I've done quite well in satellites but a couple of reasons for not liking them:

- I don't see them as great BRM. It's fine satelliting into a tournament that's just outside your BR. In this case, the £250 was just outside mine, so I was OK with it. (especially as I was buying in anyway and had sold 40%) but trying to satellite for example into a £1k tournament when you only have 10BI's for a £1k tournament is just really bad. Sure, if you are good you will have an edge in the satellites - but over the "span" of playing this type of satellite, you'll have spent close to the money it cost you trying just to get into the tournament as the tournament costs. 

- I can't play suited connector hands that I like so much. I have to fold the BTN. I can't help but think sometimes with "I know that he knows that it makes no sense for either of us to get involved with each other. Therefore I'm going to 3-bet bluff you."

Possibly another reason I hate them is when I bought in direct to the £1k final of a vegas seat and bust out 2/3 before the bubble. Anyway, despite my hate of them I managed to win a seat for just £40 along with TommyD. 

Ended up with a decent run in the mini too. Got an early double up when I flopped a set of kings and the guy overplayed his flush on a paired board by the river. Didn't capitalise though and went into day 2 slightly above average. Had one really memorable hand from the tournament. This was fairly close to the cash bubble (about 10 left) and I had a short-ish stack. I check/shipped river with KJ (overbet) thinking opponent was betting a weak ace on an AJxxQ board and going for thin value.  They had rivered 2 pair with QJ but folded! After that it was plain sailing to the cash and then subsequent £1k main event seat. I moved table as a short stack that clearly was looking to gamble and found a perfect double up spot when I shipped AA to make me seem weaker than I was. 99 called v quickly and I held. So was up to 800k and just above avg but then my stack started dwindling with nothing going for me. In the end shipped in with 33 in an UO pot and got called by sixes. 

After that went the bar and had a drink with Tommy, Nutter, Dantb, andrew, bromleys and Jac35. All a good laugh! I played cash for about 5 minutes. AQ against A4 on a Q2A flop. Bet flop, turn and river. Turn and river were a 3 and 5 though. Doh

So came back up on the wednesday next week I think it was. Played cash the first night but it was a bit of a borefest with most people playing really nitty. I lost a couple of BI's unluckily but then pulled it back before the end of the night after I moved table and had a change of luck. The main event started off much like the mini - a bit of a flyer. Was playing really well and played an interesting hand when I 3-bet squeezed pre and got 3 callers. c/r a AQ4 flop turned my weakish hand into a bluff and got a fold from the BTN who claims he led out with 67... that same guy was my downfall for the next few hours though. He seemed to read me quite well and made folds when behind and calls when I was at it. I also made a really bad stationary call down vs him. Really bad. So I dwindled to below average but then things picked up again after that player had busted. Started playing well again and moved table with about 10 minutes left of the day with about 127k and slightly above average stack size. 2 minutes left and I open A6hh. Get 3-bet. I'm thinking "just fold, get to day 2" - but I end up calling and see a very nice flop of 569 with 2 hearts. Pair + NFD. Think I should lead out here, check/ship or check/call. I probably choose the worse option in check/raising. Turn is a 9 and I'm left with a really awqward stack size. Don't want to b/c it off, don't want to c/c really. I end up c/shipping (again, probably the worst option) and he calls with KK. Brick river and that's me done. 

Cash this night was much better. Was sat on a table with gazza, bearlyther, Larson (for a bit) and TommyD. I got a double up against bearlyther after I slow played a big hand pre-flop. I actually thought I was in bad shape when my flop ship got called but I was ahead! Best pot of night though was between gazza and Tommy. Tommy left and a comedian scouser joined who couldn't help take the mick out of gazza and his jumper among other things! Very funny night anyway! 

Total cost of trip was probably more than the £600 I won in the mini but definitely worth it.

F_Ivanovic

Tournament wise on Sky has not been a pretty site lately. I had a really good first 5/6 months of the year making £1k on avg per month in tournaments. But recently I've just hit a really bad patch and can't seem to get anything going. Not sure if it's just bad variance or generally not playing great. Last night I played the rebuy main and the £55BH. 

Rebuy main I had a slow start - but mid-way into the tournament I ramped up the aggression and really motored on. I took virtually no risks and played lots of small ball poker to get a 60k stack with about 50 left and near-ish the top of the leaderboard. Then had a nightmare pot against DivsDreams. He opened BTN and I flat with AsTs (I chose to flat bc Divs was almost never raising his BTN vs me) Flop was 66x and it went chk/chk. Turn was a 2nd spade so I decide to bet HP and he calls. River is a blank. Now I have some SD value but not much. Pot was about 8-9k iirc and Divs had 19k behind. I figure he's def calling a small river bet and probably calls a larger one too. So I either have to give up or overbet. Given that I've been playing small ball and it's been working very well I should definitely just give up here. But I end up shipping and Divs snaps with KK... I mean, I was really annoyed with my play here but credit to Divs for checking flop with his hand vs me. So I was down to 32k from 60k. A bit tilted I opened KJ and hit a decent flop of KQJcc 3 way. I bet and get a call. Turn is a 8c. ugh. But I'm tilted so just pray he's on a pair/FD and bet large (pretty much a ship) - he ships and it's like 4k more into 30k so I call to see AT. Not sure if I could/should get away there and maybe check/fold turn or bet smaller/fold to ship. It's still pretty unlucky. And then I jam AJ and A8 gets there. £55BH I bubbled final table when I couldn't get away from queens to a 3-bet.

Cash (or rather omaha cash) is the only thing that's been making me money over the past month or so! I did have one day where I lost £800 playing omaha but then over the next 3 I'd made all that back. 

I've also been playing outside my BRM a couple times recently when on sort of semi-tilt in just wanting to chase losses. First time was when I played a 400BI holdem cash game with gazza and then a couple of others jumped in/out. I knew I was playing too outside my comfort zone when I got into a huge pot with gazza and ended up folding. I had 88 in BB, he was BTN (HU) I 3-bet and flat his 4-bet. Flop is 772 and I call his bet. Turn is 6 (two FD's). I call a big turn bet (£80 into £100) but then fold to his river jam for £388 into £280 which doesn't complete a flush. I think it's a close spot and normally I probably call there but by that point I was happy with my minimized loss for the night and didn't want to lose another £390 more in one hand. I snap quit after that cause I was just really annoyed at myself for letting the money influence my decision!

Then a couple days ago I was down £600 and so played style HU at omaha on £1/£2 (well it was six max, but HU for the most part apart from someone joining for a short while) - I played and ran well though and got up to £700 before I decided to quit and head to bed. My original plan when sitting down was to either bust the 1 BI (or maybe 2) or get up to close to even for the night.

benc

Being down £600 for the day then taking on style at £1/2 and coming out in profit must of been a pretty good feeling, crazy though, good read,  sure the mtt variance will swing round soon enough.

F_Ivanovic

In Response to Re: F_Ivanovic New Challenge Ideas:

Being down £600 for the day then taking on style at £1/2 and coming out in profit must of been a pretty good feeling, crazy though, good read,  sure the mtt variance will swing round soon enough.
Posted by benc

Yeah it was alright I've had much crazier days/nights in the past but haven't done anything 'reckless' in a while so was nice that it worked out OK! Hopefully - Thing is b/c I don't put in much volume at MTT's it can seem to take forever to turn it around. I guess it's not too bad if cash is going OK in the meantime tho. 

Tonight I had a pool match on (as with every Thursday) - had won our first 2 games 5-2 and 4-3 (I won both mine) but tonight was a mare. 7-0 loss. I played one of the worst games probably too. 

Was going to just watch a bit of netflix (probably The Shield) when I got back but ended up playing poker for an hour or so. 1 50PLO and 3 Holdem. Finished +£330 on Omaha (think I ran vv well, hitting most things) and about £50 down in holdem. Was a frustrating start to the session in Holdem and reminds me of just how much I hate folding. First hand in I decided to 3-bet J9o, Ic-bet a 973 flop, c/c a 8 turn and then c/f a 7 river. Annoying. Then after forgetting to auto top up the very next hand I had AQ in SB. Flat an UTG open and went to flop 4 way. I c/c AT7r flop, c/c a 4 turn and c/f a 2 river (bringing BD flush) - all decisions seem close in that hand and maybe I should just nit it up and fold flop. Figure because I'm such a CS that I'm never being bluffed OTR so prob correct fold there. Any advice on the hands appreciated. Wish I could post them but it always fails for me whenever I try a HH in my diary (they work fine in the clinic tho most times)

77Chris91

Hand 1 - Think c/c flop is better for a few reasons. River is close. Gd villains will know that on this run out they have a massive range advantage (Overpair is likely the top of your range depending on you flop/turn strategies) but I wonder if people are thinking enough to bluff enough in these spots. C/f is probably best.

Hand 2 - I personally squeeze SB here after 2 callers. You block some of UTG's value range and I don't feel to bad folding to UTG 4-bet. Think AQs is a better flat in the sb as it plays better 4-way. As played I probably just c/f turn.

 

F_Ivanovic

Yeah usually I would c/c flop but auto pilot c-bet. Though you can go both ways here I think - check flop to protect your range or bet flop/check turn to protect your turn range. 

Hand 2 re. squeezing. It was just the 1 call (and then me and BB called too) - Lots of regs at this level including this one are just really tight UTG and it seems every time I 3-bet an UTG open I nearly always get 4-bet! So I don't want to waste a hand as good as AQ by 3bet/folding. Playing 4 way OOP with this hand isn't exactly a big money winner either though. Squeeze might be better tho. I thought about folding turn too but seems like flop call was burning money if I c/f turn. I dunno.

Played a couple short sessions today. One late afternoon, one just now. Late afternoon I was playing a couple of 50NL and 50PLO. Lost 1 BI at PLO and table broke. There was a uber maniac/strange player at one of the 50NL tables today. He was 3-betting quite a bit - sometimes standard sizing other times quite large. And then he had some normal open sizes but then he also opened ridiculously large to like £22 on more than 30 occasions at least. He was running pretty golden though - one pot I remember he open £22 OTB, the SB shoves 200bb, BB with 100bb snaps and he calls too OTB. So 500bb pot. He has QcJc, BB has AA and SB has KsJs. He flops a FD, turns a club giving him a flush. AA has the Ac but he manages to hold.

Meanwhile, I was card dead but really wanting to gamble at first oppertunity after they get up to a 650bb stack. I finally find a decent hand (KQo) and raise it UTG only to see him raise to £22.50. Now I know he could have a medium Ax here or a worse K/Q (as I've seen him SD these hands after a big raise) but also think he could be doing it with just pure garbage. And so I probably have decent equity here and I shove - if it's a losing play, it's not by much. And I really want to build a stack vs this guy quickly so that I can then hope to get his whole stack in a hand when I'm much better than 50/50. Anyway, he has 57o and I hit my Q and hold. Few hands later I flat an open with AQ. He 3-bets, original opener flats and I 4-bet largish to £22. We get in £124 and my AQ has his AT dominated. QKx flop and you know the turn J came... so that's me back to square one!

Then GII again with As4s vs his QT. And lose. I manage to double up with QQ vs someone else who had TT tho. Didn't get involved in another (big pot against him) unfortunately.

Despite his ridiculous pre-flop game though he was really nitty post flop most of the time. He got carried away with top pair and didn't fold, but a lot of times he 3-bet a normal sizing and then just instant check down 3 streets when he missed w/o ever attempting to bluff. Saw him only bluff once or twice post flop and it was usually only the 1 street. 

F_Ivanovic

The first session I had I ended up about £60 down overall. 

Second session tonight I played a bit higher with a 100PL0 and 3 NL tables and realised again I should just stick to PLO. 

I lost a BI fairly early in PLO when I made a pretty bad play. Called down 2 streets with just top pair + non nut FD. (I should maybe have raised flop since their bet was weak looking and my hand prob has good equity) - river brings a backdoor flush and it's gone 3 way to river. The aggressor checks to me and I decide to ship river. Player behind tank/calls and the other player calls too. He has nut flush and other K high flush. oops. I guess my image payed off later tho because I got quite a few call downs from hands that should have folded. So finished about +£110 in omaha. Holdem though I finished about £40 down.

Had a nightmare with JJ. First I 3-bet with it and then play the c/c game on a 9xxhhh board (no hearts), c/c a huge turn bet (brick) of £45 and then c/f a A (non h) river left for about £38 more into a £200 pot. Don't know what on earth I am doing in this hand. Tilts me so much when I get faced by a large turn bet when they leave a stupid river sizing. Then I cold flat a BTN 3-bet with JJ, c/c a 3 card low flop and then c/c a blank turn. Obv ran into KK when I knew I was up against an overpair too. I pulled it back tho with some luck.

I did a thread a while back about whether people prefer to run well or play well. I just hate playing badly. If I GII bad and suckout then I'm happy as long as I didn't really play the hand bad. But when I play bad I just feel like I'm losing money regardless of whether I'm winning or not. I could be winning more money than I am or losing less then I am when I'm playing bad. Maybe I just set myself too high standards, I dunno. 

F_Ivanovic

Alicia had a day off today so we went back home to my mums to see (and walk) the dog! My mum's getting married again now (only been together 2/3 months!! and it's in feb next year) and we've been invited to the wedding obviously. However, I've had a falling out with her which started a month and a half ago when I had nowhere to go after moving out of our last place earlier than we had anticipated. We looked at a few places on the week of moving out but didn't find anywhere so I asked my mum if I could stay at home just until we could find somewhere to live. She said I couldn't - and then so I had to move in with Alicia at her parents. The first week I was living here I just felt really down and had no motivation for anything. Which made me more angry at my mum and started my refusal to speak to her. Too much of a long story to get into, but I finally spoke to her today but we've no closer to resolving it.

Played another late night (short) session tonight. PLO was a small profit (1 table I lost a BI, another table I was up 4 BI's before leaving with just 1 and a bit BI up) Played a mastercash table (50NL) and finished on £640 or so. Gazza was at the table and this time I had position on him. This time I also made money off him! I know it's an obvious thing that having position on someone is an advantage, but when we play each other (especially in a deep game) we really seem to prove that point. Just makes life so much harder on the player OOP. I did run quite well and there were some interesting hands I might post if gazza doesn't mind! I get the sense he might have been a bit tilted after that session though as I know I probably would have been had it been in reverse.

F_Ivanovic

Yikes, been almost 4 months since I've posted an update!!!

How best to make this as short as possible so not to make people bored of reading? I dunno, probably by starting by not rambling! Also decided on a bigger font to maybe help the Tikay's of this world (if he reads this diary at all?) that probably can't see writing that small :P

So, October to December wasn't really the best. My volume was terrible and when I did play I couldn't get anything going. MTT's continued to run + play terrible and I just didn't grind much cash PLO (or holdem) at all.

Life-wise, didn't have a good october or November but December especially over Christmas began feeling a lot more upbeat. Started playing a bit more poker and enjoying the game again. New Years eve was fun, saw some mates I hadn't seen in a long time and played drinking monopoly among other things! Then after New years finally went the casino with my mate (we'd been saying for about 10 months we need to go but never got around to it haha) - went the Genting in Liverpool. I had a great start in the tourney when I flopped a set of 8's on A87 and instantly knew by the betting that villain had 77 so just fast played. Went downhill after that and I failed to win a pot in over an hour and a half. Got short, jammed AK and got beat by QT. GG. My mate was still in so I wondered over to Cash. Quickly saw what looked to be the best seat next to a drunk scouser who didn't seem to have a clue. But instead of being a maniac he was actually pretty nitty. Made about £35 so almost breakeven. My mate bust and his excuse was "I wouldn't usually have gone with that hand, but just thought seeing as you were out I would try and gamble and spin it up! If I'd known you were happy playing cash I'd have still been in!" lol, he does make me laugh!! 

January I saw the TSP promotion and was determined to win a seat. Since I went out NYE tho and spent the day recovering, there was little point going for cash or SNG. So just tried for MTT's, but never got any results so that failed. I looked at the Cash promo and saw Blizzy top for a while and then Style catching up. I also saw DTM have a good start but unable to maintain and just thought to myself if DTM is finding it tough with his 14-18 tabling then it's just going to be nigh on impossible for me to do it unless I can get 5/6 games of 50PLO running at least 7-8 hours a day (rack up points a lot quicker playing PLO!) 

I looked at STT's and worked out how much Nutter was avg per hour and thought it was easily possible to beat/match his points tally if I played 14/15 hours per day.

So Thursday night I played my first session of 4 hours. A mix of HU and DYMs. Was pretty hectic to say the least to begin with - and I dropped about £300 in them few hours. Next day I woke at 12 and started grinding about 1. I would grind for 3 hours then have a short break, then go again for about 3 hours. First day seemed to last a lifetime! Then Friday I did the same thing. I was running insanely horrible too. Anyone that played me can attest to that!! Just couldn't win a flip to save my life! After first 2 days I had racked up 21k points. GSmith13 was close behind on 18k points iirc. He posted on forum that he was giving up, so I thought to myself "Phew!" cause at how bad I was running it was going to cost me £5k just to win a £1k seat! Despite him saying that on the forum I didn't want to take any chances and still had a decent Saturday Grind to get me up to 28k points. I was now almost 9k points ahead of 2nd place so all I had to do now really was to keep an eye on it, have a few sessions and I should be OK. After 3 days I had lost almost £2k though. I did make priority within 2 days tho which is a first!

Thankfully, rest of week I didn't drop any more and started making slow progress out of that hole. And nobody decided for a late surge so I finally locked it up with 35k points. 

Since then, variance has taken an upturn. I think I FT about 8 tournaments or so within the next week with a total winnings of £1k. None of the main events or mini's tho unfortunately. I FT one tourney and lost HU vs Lambert - next night I get to HU in a 22BH and take it down. Next night I FT the same tourney and bust in 4th (plus a 3rd in a £11 BH) Also got a +£150 in STT promo last week and had a decent few cash sessions. So overall in January now I'm only down £250 and have C4P to look forward too which would leave me in slight profit. So from thinking TSP was a nightmare idea, it's turned out pretty well and can't wait for Februrary and the UKPC now!

TimmyRaRa

Hi bud nice read and well done for winning your seat. Glad you turned that downswing around.
Are you planning on playing the Mini aswell?

F_Ivanovic

In Response to Re: Ivano's TSP binkage variance galore:

Hi bud nice read and well done for winning your seat. Glad you turned that downswing around. Are you planning on playing the Mini aswell?
Posted by TimmyRaRa

Cheers bud, yeah me too! Biggest downswing since I started this diary. Funny thing about it though is I've had less severe downswings in the past but where I don't think I've always played my A game and these really get to me but losing the £2k I didn't feel bad at all because apart from the start of the promotion when I was out of my comfort zone playing too many tables (and in a HU format) I've been reasonably happy with how I've played.

I was planning to, yep. But don't really know what day to play. I kind of want to save money cause going to London with the gf 23rd to 25th and staying in a hotel there so was thinking of maybe just going down for the day and playing the Turbo on Sunday. But kind of makes more sense to play on Saturday and get more play in! So yeah, not too sure.

CraigSG1

Good to see this back. Noticed you have been doing well in MTT's lately so hope you carry that on to the UKPC. Wish I was good enough to go, so jealous!

mrsduck

Very interesting read and very very well done!

GL in TSP!!

SJspanky1

Many congrats on the seat. 

Have enjoyed your writing on the forum for a long time and I look forward to meeting you.

F_Ivanovic

Hand History #867220780 (13:26 28/01/2015)

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
chrisbhoy	Small blind		£0.20	£0.20	£53.03
F_Ivanovic	Sitout
babyboy015	Big blind		£0.20	£0.40	£13.59
mycroft2	Fold
chrisbhoy	Check
babyboy015	Check
Flop
		3 2 6
chrisbhoy	Check
babyboy015	Bet		£0.20	£0.60	£13.39
chrisbhoy	Raise		£1.00	£1.60	£52.03
babyboy015	Call		£0.80	£2.40	£12.59
Turn
		A
chrisbhoy	Bet		£2.40	£4.80	£49.63
babyboy015	Fold
chrisbhoy	Muck
chrisbhoy	Win		£2.28		£51.91
chrisbhoy	Return		£2.40	£0.12	£54.31

Close window

Ne

F_Ivanovic

In Response to Re: Ivano's TSP binkage variance galore:
Many congrats on the seat.  Have enjoyed your writing on the forum for a long time and I look forward to meeting you.
Posted by SJspanky1Thanks! (and thanks too mrsduck + craig too!) Yes, I look forward to it too, can't wait! Congrats on your seat also

Februrary has always been the month I look forward to most for a few years now - past 4 years I've been down to Great Yarmouth for the Uni pool tournament with the lads, absolutely love it! No longer a student anymore which means no more Great Yarmouth. Instead this month, I'll be taking 2 trips to Nottingham. First to play in the UKPC mini and then a week later to play in the main. Inbetween that week I'm also going to London with the GF. All in the space of a week - no doubt the most expensive week of the year for me!

Anyway, Februrary is probably going to be a low volume month for me and I'll struggle to make Priority, let alone reach the 20k needed for various promotions! 

I've also started watching a new TV series on Netflix - Person of Interest. Already managed to watch a season (23 episodes) in a very short space of time, needless to say it's fairly addictive! Some of the stuff in it makes no sense but it's still overall a pretty good watch.

I got home from pool last night at midnight and watched a couple more episodes when I should maybe have had a small poker session before bed. Decided to start playing at around 2/half 2 I think. I was busy reading some poker strat threads from a while back for Omaha, so decided just to play the 1 table of Omaha as it looked like a really good table. Unfortunately for me, variance had decided it wasn't going to be on my side tonight and I proceeded to lose buy-in after buy-in. Some of my plays may have been slightly questionable, but don't think they were that bad. Every time I won a double up to £100 I lost it right back. Within a couple hours I was down almost £500. (Going into hand history and pots of £20 or more I lost 8/11 and only won 3/11 - including 2 pots where I lost £100ish - the rest were all £50)

Table was simply too good to leave tho - although was a tad annoying one of the biggest stacks on nearly £500 left at this point. I flopped a set to double up, then a while later I flopped 2nd NFD + TP + gutshot. Played a bit too aggro and could have got burned but found a decent hand to be up against (2nd pair + NFD) and managed to win it. From then, I played good solid poker to make it to £300 and it was HU between me and someone else with £150. I was determined not to leave till I had every penny, and lo and behold that's what happened - they reloaded another £50 which I took, and then another villain popped up with £40 which I won. I'd also loaded a couple of NL Holdem tables and won 2 BI on one. 

So, after a long night I went to bed £80 up from being £500 down and again showed the importance of when not to quit! 

F_Ivanovic

Last time I failed to update for 4 months, I ended up with an essay long post. So this time I'll keep it short and sweet*

UKPC

So, where to begin? After uhmming and ahhing for a good couple of weeks beforehand I decided to go down and play the Mini. I was originally going to go on the Sunday and play the Turbo structure, but thought I'd have more of an edge in the normal structure. Plus, I wasn't doing anything else on the Saturday, so why not? Got out the taxi and bumped straight into Jac (and Pat - day4aire however it's spelled) which was nice! Nothing worse than getting there and not seeing anyone you know to have a chat with. As is usual with me, I was spectacularly early for the 5pm start. Having not paid in advance, I was worried about not getting a seat. So I twiddled my thumbs for an hour or so before we finally got under way.

I'd love to divulge in lots of hands and do a Gus Hansen hand by hand analysis but I know it would only bore anyone that's reading to death and thankfully for you lot, I can probably remember a maximum of 3 hands throughout the entire tournament! I was going along quite nicely for the most part, think I recall I had a decent start but then sort of dwindled and then had a table move not too far from the end of the day 1. Early on I picked up AJ with about maybe 15bb's UTG. Yuck. A lot of players to get a shove through - someone's bound to wake up with a better hand. But at the same time, I'm getting v short. I opt for a min-r - I think I have just enough to be able to min-r/fold if the action behind looks like I'm crushed. And hopefully my min-r UTG will scare off a lot of potential customers just cause it looks so strong. It's folded round to BTN or SB who calls, then BB decides to ship. Sigh. Got to call vs BB I guess. He turns over 83s or some such garbage. Flops an 8.... then I river the A, happy days. Back up to just over 100k at this point. Next hand I pick up KK in BB. Limp from EP, SB (83s man limps) and I make it 10k with blinds at 1.5/3k. UTG calls I think, so does SB. Flop T95. I bet, UTG folds, SB ships. Snappity snap. Oh, he has 95. GG me!

I decide to play a bit of cash poker, as is customary when I bust out the tournament less than an hour before the end of the day. Lost a BI with 3rd nut flush over 2nd nut flush - that'll teach me to not play Q5s again! Then I couldn't resist joining hhyftrdr and Slipwater in their quest to become a millionaire at the cash tables... no sorry, I got that wrong. In their quest to become Busto at the cash tables! They were literally cowering in their seats when I joined the table after begging me not to switch tables! Highlight of the night was a tough one. First, was when Slip bet 1 into 10 or some such on the flop. I'm holding 67 on T95 with a back door flush job. Laughs all around as we all call this scary size bet. Turn is a 4 iirc - bringing me a flush draw to go along with my now open ender. This time Slip actually put out a decent sized bet and I'm the only one to call. I river my back door flush - and donk out a decent sized bet. Slip uhm's and ahh's "surely you haven't rivered a back door flush", finally calls only to find out the good news!

Few hands later, I beat Slip in a pot again! This time, holding 66 on a 347T board. I'd bet turn and faced a really small raise from him - honestly no idea what he has, but I'm thinking I have 5 outs (any 6 or 5) and then 9 "bluff" outs being any diamond. I might bluff on a J too. So I call. River is a 6 and he checks - I ship. Unfortunately don't get any hero call from him this time! Best hand of the night had to be when it goes 3 or 4 way to the flop. It's 996 two tone and there's a bet, Slippy calls - then a raise from the 3rd player and then an all in from the original bettor. One player has TT, the other I can't recall - but it wasn't a 9! Slip informs us all that he's folded K9 - and we're all that bewildered that none of us actually believe him! Anyway, I believe I've mocked Slip enough haha, so moving on to MINI TAKE 2

My post has gradually talked about more and more hands of poker, but again I can't remember too much of the mini. As I'm still there on the Sunday and only because Slip has kindly offered me a lift to the casino I decide to throw away another £110 in the hope of this one being more of a success. There's literally one hand to note - So, I just had a table move and I get put in the BB... yay. Wake up with 22's. UTG min-r. I'm not much more than 13/14bb's but I decide to set-mine cause I'm getting ridiculous value. Flop is 278 and UTG jam's for a smallish overbet. I snap, cards turned over. I have him drawing dead - he has AK. Or so I thought he was drawing dead until the dealer informed us that he'd mis-dealt! We're all like "what?!" obv AK is very happy at this point. He goes to start putting the cards in the muck and we're like hang over, floor! He's already put some of the cards in the muck, but we then explain the situation to the floor. And it's ruled that the hand should start again from the beginning as a complete re-deal. I'm thinking that can't be right, but me being me don't kick up a fuss or anything and just smile and get on with it. I've spoken to a lot of people since at the casino and they all were adament that since the action had already happened, then it should stand. Oh well.

We then had a funny situation near the end of the "day1" Because it was a Turbo structure and we were already at a disadvantage, we only had 20 seconds to act - but we also had 3 time banks of a minute. I managed to use 2 of mine before I got to this table and whilst on the last level of the day but lots of people still had 2 or 3 left. These would obviously be redundant on day 2 when the structure returned to normal.

So with 6/7 minutes to go, we had 2 people using up all their time banks just so the blinds wouldn't reach them. One of the guys using it though was doing so with less than 2 minutes left to play when the blind wasn't going to reach him anyway - so in effect, he's just wasted the possibility of having a "free" hand. One guy was so irate with this that he folded out of turn and left the table declaring "You can give me a penalty if you want but not putting up with this rubbish!" After all this, I made it through to day 2 where we had a 20 minute or so weight whilst they did a seat redraw.

So, first table back and already short, I get put in on the SB! Yay to my luck when short stacked. Then within not that long at all - maybe half an hour, our table breaks. Just after I've been BB and SB so I miss the BTN. And I move to a table where guess what? I'm BB! Must have been the worst run of luck with table moves. Can't even remember how I exitited, I was just so wound up by the table moves haha. Anyway, that's enough for tonight I guess. Will post about the Main and other stuff tomorrow

* OK, so I may have lied about this being a short post!

Tikay10

Nice post Tennis Bloke. Glad you decided to keep it short.  

Slipwater

Sigh.

I was trying to forget about that K9 cash hand!

It was great to meet you... despite the fact you were wearing a stupid Superman tea cosy on your head at one point

MAXALLY

"and we're like hang over"

Not sure if that was intentional or not....but I smiled.

Glad you gave a proper cash lesson to the pretend players on this forum

Itsover4u

In Response to Re: Ivano's TSP binkage variance galore:

Hand History #867220780 (13:26 28/01/2015) Player Action Cards Amount Pot Balance chrisbhoy Small blind   £0.20 £0.20 £53.03 F_Ivanovic Sitout         babyboy015 Big blind   £0.20 £0.40 £13.59 mycroft2 Fold         chrisbhoy Check         babyboy015 Check         Flop     3 2 6       chrisbhoy Check         babyboy015 Bet   £0.20 £0.60 £13.39 chrisbhoy Raise   £1.00 £1.60 £52.03 babyboy015 Call   £0.80 £2.40 £12.59 Turn     A       chrisbhoy Bet   £2.40 £4.80 £49.63 babyboy015 Fold         chrisbhoy Muck         chrisbhoy Win   £2.28   £51.91 chrisbhoy Return   £2.40 £0.12 £54.31 Close window Ne
Posted by F_Ivanovic

This blog is a good read. undoubtedly will see you at the tables soon

F_Ivanovic

So, despite my 2 failed bullets at the Mini, the weekend was great. And it gave me some much needed live practice for the following week's UKPC main. I rememeber my first bluff in the Mini that I attempted and my heart was going, and I can't imagine the tells I was giving away. Before I headed back down to Nottingham for the Main though, me and the GF went down to London. It was my first visit to London since I was about 9/10 which I don't really remember at all!

The main part of our trip was going to Harry Potter world which was fantastic. Also went out for an expensive meal at a place called 222 Veggie Vegan which was the best food I've had in a long time! When the bill came at the end, they'd forgotten to add on the wine. It was a no-brainer to point it out, especially given how great a meal we had and the fact it was a small restaurant/business. I'm too honest not to - but then if it was a in a bigger place and food/service wasn't special? Not so sure!

Unfortunately, our great trip was cut short on Tuesday night. We had left on Monday and were coming back Wednesday afternoon. Or so we thought, until we went to check the train times and realised the return was booked for the Tuesday, not the Wednesday! So at this point we were in panic mode... tried ringing station/no luck. Thankfully there were still advance tickets for tomorrow - not as cheap as the tickets we'd originally bought (£23 return each) but £35 for the 2 of us. Lesson learnt to always check tickets - we'd checked the times, but just assumed they had got the dates right when we booked them.

UKPC MAIN

So, I set off for Nottingham after leaving the house at 7oclock in the morning - definitely the earliest I've been up in a long time. Arrived in Nottingham and instead of getting a taxi I decided to save some money for once and walk to the hotel - was actually a rather pleasant walk along the canal. Met a lot of the other TSP qualifiers there at the hotel before heading off to the casino.

The seat draw goes up, and I'm off to my seat only to sit down and then for someone from Sky coming over to tell me I'd been moved tables!! My table move looked less favourable too - although on the plus side, it was nearest to the Loo's. For some reason, I drink a lot of water whilst playing - constantly feeling dehydrated. But then I end up needing to go every 40 minutes or so - thankfully, I never missed a single hand I got off to a slow but steady start in the first few levels. Then, after the first break I really got going and managed to accumulate up to 125k in the next few levels. Honestly don't remember how I got there though - so I'm guessing it was just mostly lots of smallish pots.

After the next break, I pick up KK and on about 130k at this point. I see a flop HU (can't recall action pre and if I'd 3b or been original raiser) - but I bet out and get called on a 227 flop. Turn is a 9 with no draws out - I bet again and then villain ships all in. He has AT and hits his 3 outer on the river for a 140k pot which sends me back down to 70k instead of up to 200k. I dwindle down a bit more and then around this time Devilfish had joined our table on his 2nd bullet. I thought, wouldn't it be a fantastic story if I could knock him out. I pick up Jc7c in the CO... I'm about 55k at this point and Devilfish is on 25k. He makes the call OTB and the flop is 488 2 clubs. I bet and get shoved on. It's not much more for me to call - I'm a bit worried about running into AcXc here but I just couldn't find a fold with the odds I had (which was enough vs any other hand) - he shows Ac9c, I turn my 7 only for the river to complete the flush.

Would have been fun to stay on the table a bit longer with him to get another shot, but the table broke shortly after. And this is where the fun started! I was sat next to Julian Thew this time - and we were both fairly short at this point - he had 60k and I was on 30k. 

WILL CONTINUE TOMORROW!

mrsduck

All I got from this post was what a nit you are with money, first the train then the taxi! Hehehehe

Just kidding ~ love your stories ivano!