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Closing balance £310.65
I couldn’t get anything going in MTTs today and failed to cash in everything. I’m happy with how I played, it was just one of those days where the cards weren’t falling my way and I couldn’t win the flips. There was another promising run in a £5.75 game, though just like yesterday I was destined to crash n’ burn just short of the bubble prizes. As a consolation my 3 bounties returned a small profit on the buy-in. I played a number of STTs through the day for a small gain.
My poker points are mounting up nicely at the moment and I’m hoping to make 700 by the end of the month to qualify for the 25% bonus I was offered by e-mail.
April poker points 411
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6194988 18-Apr-12 16:23 NL Holdem £515/76£1.746198010 18-Apr-12 16:09 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856192213 18-Apr-12 14:50 NL Holdem £0289/296£06195792 18-Apr-12 14:46 NL Holdem £520/27-£5.756194678 18-Apr-12 14:03 NL Holdem £326/65-£3.306196929 18-Apr-12 13:37 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2011/21-£2.406197529 18-Apr-12 13:33 NL Holdem £32/2-£3.156197464 18-Apr-12 13:24 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056194293 18-Apr-12 13:04 NL Holdem £367/76-£3.306197417 18-Apr-12 13:00 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956194581 18-Apr-12 12:32 NL Holdem £530/37-£5.756197257 18-Apr-12 11:53 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956197078 18-Apr-12 10:57 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056197009 18-Apr-12 10:28 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956197002 18-Apr-12 10:19 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956196941 18-Apr-12 10:11 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956196827 18-Apr-12 10:08 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106196462 18-Apr-12 02:20 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Closing balance £304.55
Highlight of my session today was getting second in the inaugural HU Shuffle Freeroll. This test tournament was great fun and I’m hoping Sky use the format again in the future. I came within an inch of winning with 2 left; if my AKs could have held against K9s aipf victory would have been mine.
I won a seat into the 2-00pm £500 gtd Bounty Hunter via a satellite but got no joy whatsoever. My starting table was very soft with serial limpers and calling stations in attendance, unfortunately I couldn’t capitalise as I didn’t pick up any playable cards and couldn’t hit a single flop for a full 45 minutes. Getting short I open jammed the best hole cards I was dealt in the entire tournament into an even shorter stack on the BB, but I couldn’t win the flip with my 77<AQ. Very next hand I was out after jamming AT into AJ. I’m keen to get to the point where I’m rolled to buy into this tournament directly, my BRM rules require a balance of £440 so it’s quite a way off at the moment.
I’m still running badly in those crucial MTT flips; I bubbled a £5.50 freezeout after 3-bet jamming my QQ and failing to hold against AKo. Another promising run in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter was wrecked when I 4-bet shoved my 66 into KK in the second hour. On reflection it was a very poor play on my part, I should have respected my opponents 3-bet and folded, he hadn’t been seen to 3-bet light and my 66 was always going to be well behind his range.
It’s beginning to look like I’ve reached another plateau; I’ve been hovering in the £300 to £330 range for a fortnight now. I’m hoping this one won’t last as long as my five week plateau at the £100 mark. Despite disappointing results over the last fortnight I’m still fully confident in my game, I can’t keep losing all the big flips and being out drawn in crucial spots forever. As long as I stick to my A game the results will follow.
April poker points 442
6200910 19-Apr-12 18:24 NL Holdem £520/60-£5.756203671 19-Apr-12 17:44 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956203620 19-Apr-12 17:28 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056203493 19-Apr-12 17:15 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056201071 19-Apr-12 17:14 NL Holdem £58/32-£5.506200247 19-Apr-12 16:57 NL Holdem £1045/92-£116201949 19-Apr-12 14:08 NL Holdem £02/124£7.856201881 19-Apr-12 12:39 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.203/17£8.606202204 19-Apr-12 11:57 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956202161 19-Apr-12 11:48 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056201359 19-Apr-12 02:15 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Closing balance £293.09
Again I just couldn’t get anything going in MTTs.
You know it’s not going to be your day when you 3x open from UTG with TT in level 1 of a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, get 3 flat callers, flop the world with TA3 rainbow, only to then lose more than half your stack vs Q9o. That was the fate of my only set of the session.
Once again I lost every flip and my made hands couldn’t hold up against draws. I decided to quit playing 3 hours earlier than planned; poker is no fun when nothing is going your way. I’ll be back to try again tomorrow.
April poker points 466
6205309 20-Apr-12 15:43 NL Holdem £519/62-£3.416204708 20-Apr-12 14:32 NL Holdem £210/46-£1.556207336 20-Apr-12 13:33 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2024/30-£2.406204941 20-Apr-12 13:15 NL Holdem £323/59-£3.306207334 20-Apr-12 12:32 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2011/17-£2.406207553 20-Apr-12 12:00 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856207576 20-Apr-12 11:52 NL Holdem £32/2-£3.156207184 20-Apr-12 10:33 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956206554 20-Apr-12 02:12 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Hope your run-good returns soon!
Closing balance £312.74
My first game today produced a long overdue ‘in the money’ finish in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, a small tournament with 32 runners. If it weren’t for a dose of misfortune 3-handed I probably would have been the winner; while second in chips in a blind v blind pot I min-raised QQ from the SB and snap called the chip-leaders shove with KJ. He got there with a king in the door to bust me in third place, a hold would have given me around 65% of the chips in play. While it was sickening to bust in such harsh fashion at least I’d managed to break my long series of bricks in these games.
After drawing a blank in another Bounty Hunter and a couple of satellites I managed another run to final table in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, this time with 64 runners. For most of the late stages I was in ‘short stack ninja’ mode. After busting a very short stack in fifth I was still fourth but only one double away from getting into contention. The very next hand I picked up pocket 44 on the button, with 13.5BB behind this is an easy open shove for me, happy to flip against any overcards. Unfortunately the SB woke up with 99, I couldn’t suck out and went out in fourth place.
I know many of you would question my open shove there with 44, so I’ll justify it; I’m never raise/folding when I’m down to only 13.5BB. Only around 9% of the time will one of the blinds wake up with a pocket pair 55+, and even then I still have 20% suck-out equity. 91% of the time I will either pick up the blinds uncontested or flip against overcards as a slight favourite, sometimes I might even get lucky and find a caller with 22 or 33. If I pass this spot I might not pick up another shoveable hand for couple of orbits, with the blinds due to rise in 2 minutes I could have easily found myself down to a puny 9BB in 8 hands from now. I want to win the tournament, going all nitty and attempting to ladder to third doesn’t interest me, all the money is up top.
The only game I entered in the evening was the mini Super Bounty Hunter. Until my exit I thoroughly enjoyed the tournament, I shared my tables with a number of skilled players and there was plenty of good poker being played. I thought it was going a bit too well having been well placed near the top of the field for much of the tournament without the need for a rebuy. As the bubble approached I 3-bet jammed my KK from the SB over a button 3x open. He snap called with AJ. I’ve mentioned before that KK is a very unlucky hand for me and the inevitable A in the door crippled my stack. I’d have been sitting pretty with a top 5 stack and taken my first head prize with a hold. Next hand I picked up TT on the SB and open shoved, the BB woke up with QQ and I was out.
It was pleasing to break my poor run in £5.75 Bounty Hunters and record my first winning day since Monday, however I still feel I’m running badly in those key spots. The mini BH bad beat was particularly frustrating, a cruel end to my only evening tournament of the week, if I could final table or win a big tournament like this it would do wonders for my balance..
April poker points 501
6212127 22-Apr-12 01:00 NL Holdem £360/421-£3.306212224 21-Apr-12 19:05 NL Holdem £54/64£17.866211806 21-Apr-12 18:04 NL Holdem £528/64-£3.876214862 21-Apr-12 16:28 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956213419 21-Apr-12 15:50 NL Holdem (Sat) £0.9617/46-£1.056214627 21-Apr-12 15:33 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956214568 21-Apr-12 15:28 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956214501 21-Apr-12 15:26 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056213565 21-Apr-12 15:24 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.206/8-£2.406211799 21-Apr-12 14:35 NL Holdem £53/32£8.716212664 21-Apr-12 02:20 NL Holdem £21/2£1.90
I somehow made a profit despite these cruel tournament exits.
Bounty Hunter final table 3-handed;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 400.00 400.00 20120.00 bamo66 Big blind 800.00 1200.00 28317.50 Your hole cards Q Q baldysteve Fold GaryQQQ Raise 1200.00 2400.00 18920.00 bamo66 All-in 28317.50 30717.50 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 18920.00 49637.50 0.00 bamo66 Unmatched bet 8597.50 41040.00 8597.50 GaryQQQ Show Q Q bamo66 Show J K Flop K 6 3 Turn 4 River 8 bamo66 Win Pair of Kings 41040.00 49637.50
Mini Bounty Hunter
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 400.00 400.00 20840.00 MITCH82 Big blind 800.00 1200.00 14637.50 Your hole cards K K toonarch10 Fold Woolsta82 Fold vigornia11 Fold chrisx2525 Raise 2400.00 3600.00 14150.00 GaryQQQ All-in 20840.00 24440.00 0.00 MITCH82 Fold chrisx2525 All-in 14150.00 38590.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 4690.00 33900.00 4690.00 GaryQQQ Show K K chrisx2525 Show A J Flop A 7 2 Turn 10 River 5 chrisx2525 Win Pair of Aces 33900.00 33900.00
The very next hand I picked up pocket 44 on the button, with 13.5BB behind this is an easy open shove for me.....
I'll read this again when I'm sober but WTF!.....44 is suddenly the dogz?? We need to talk!
Closing balance £305.93
My luck continued where it left off last night; in an early £1 rebuy tournament level 2 I got my Q9 all-in on an AQQT board against AK and Q4 with over 300BB in the middle, the river card was a 4. I decided not to bother rebuying and registered for the 9-45am and 10-45am £150 gtd Bounty Hunters instead. In both games I donked off my stack while making terrible plays. I realised I was tilting and logged off the site for an hour to cool off.
On my return I registered in a £500 Bounty Hunter satellite, and £2.30 and £5.75 Bounty Hunters. In the satellite I got busted with my AT<9T aipf approaching the bubble, I shoved, the 9T called from the BB, a hold would have almost certainly locked up a seat. Play in the £2.30 Bounty Hunter was absolutely ridiculous; my tables were filled with bingo players getting all-in preflop with mediocre hands, examples include AJo v J8s and A4o v QTo, both aipf levels 1 and 2. I managed an early double but was unable to survive the minefield and busted out after 40 minutes. Over 60% of the field had been eliminated before me, an illustration of how crazy the play had been. In the £5.75 game I was busted by a player who limp/called my 5x button raise OOP with 23o, he flopped trips on a 22K flop to crack my AK.
Disillusioned I decided to quit MTTs for the rest of the day and fire up some STTs instead, although another £2.30 Bounty Hunter I’d already registered for had started up by then. Funnily enough I managed a run to final table and my only MTT cash of the day in that one. A fifth place finish at micro-stakes is nothing to get excited about but at least it restored a little pride.
A fellow Team51 member made a very wise suggestion (thank-you SuperSnedd!); while there are a lot of weekend players recklessly throwing their chips around on the site it’s a good time play DYMs, you have a much better chance than usual of folding your way to the money while the rest go to war and eliminate each other. I fired a couple up and made a small profit, though to be honest I didn’t enjoy them, I’ve gone off DYMs these and preferred to finish my session with a few HU STTs.
I’m aiming for 700 poker points in April, easy on the face of it with 8 days to go, though on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I’ll be away at SPT Cardiff. So I have 5 playing days to accumulate 161 points, that should be manageable at 32 points per day.
April poker points 539
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6221333 22-Apr-12 19:32 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956221164 22-Apr-12 19:26 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056221173 22-Apr-12 19:14 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956220472 22-Apr-12 17:02 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956216675 22-Apr-12 16:39 NL Holdem £570/81-£5.756216773 22-Apr-12 16:29 NL Holdem £25/76£6.746216362 22-Apr-12 15:45 NL Holdem £223/64-£1.556219721 22-Apr-12 15:00 NL Holdem £51/6£4.506219617 22-Apr-12 14:34 NL Holdem £34/6-£3.306216361 22-Apr-12 13:41 NL Holdem £329/57-£3.306218747 22-Apr-12 13:37 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2016/45-£2.406215994 22-Apr-12 12:38 NL Holdem £316/60-£3.306217671 22-Apr-12 11:54 NL Holdem £128/30-£1.106218708 22-Apr-12 09:41 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956218580 22-Apr-12 08:59 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056218571 22-Apr-12 08:56 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Sunday Bounty Hunter bingo fun. Good luck to you if you find yourself in a tournament with these guys;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 20.00 20.00 4842.50 midgley85 Big blind 40.00 60.00 1970.00 Your hole cards 2 7 kai5 Call 40.00 100.00 3323.75 0skaway Call 40.00 140.00 4017.50 l All-in 1646.25 1786.25 0.00 GaryQQQ Fold m Call 1606.25 3392.50 363.75 kai5 Fold 0skaway Fold m Show A 4 l Show Q 10 Flop 9 J 5 Turn 5 River A m Win Two Pairs, Aces and 5s 3392.50 3756.25
Closing balance £323.49
My usual busy Monday routine didn’t leave much time for poker. There was no joy in a £500 Bounty Hunter satellite or a £5.75 Bounty Hunter (in which I took on a maniac with TT but was unable to hold against A8 aipf).
Things went better in a £2.30 Bounty Hunter with 57 runners. To my relief the standard of play was back to normal after yesterday’s madness, I managed to build a stack and negotiate the bubble playing small ball poker. I’ve moaned about bad luck in this diary before, so it’s only fair that I mention a big stroke of luck that went in my favour. While 5-handed at the final table I 3-bet jammed my 15BB re-shove stack with pocket 99 over a min-raiser who had me covered. She called with AA, I binked to double. Soon after a another double-up propelled me into the chip lead; I min-raised KK from UTG and induced a 3-bet shove from the SB with AQ, for once I dodged an ace and my KK held.
Once we were 3-handed I pretty much had licence to run over my two opponents. They were both playing too tightly in my opinion and I was able to make frequent steals with standard pre-flop raises and c-bets. I doubled both of them once while going for the kill, each time I soon rebuilt my stack and regained a commanding lead. Heads-up I lost with AQ<KT aipf for the win and temporarily fell behind in chips. It didn’t take long to go back into the lead and the winning hand was AJ>J7 aipf. I’m delighted to win any MTT, though given the choice I’d rather have taken my run-good in the £5.75 game.
I’ve bought a seat in the main event at SPT Cardiff today. I funded it from another source, not my online Sky Poker balance. So win or lose it will not affect this quest, it also means I won’t be playing online for three days over this weekend. SPT live tournaments are a wonderful experience and I can’t recommend them highly enough to those of you who haven’t been to one before. If it weren’t for work and family commitments I’d go to them all.
April poker points 554
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6225121 23-Apr-12 16:35 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956222212 23-Apr-12 16:10 NL Holdem £547/67-£5.756221649 23-Apr-12 15:22 NL Holdem £21/57£25.816223969 23-Apr-12 12:31 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2012/15-£2.406223394 23-Apr-12 02:21 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
The suck-out which set me up for my first win in a while;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 500.00 500.00 15001.25 9se7enTr3y Big blind 1000.00 1500.00 26198.75 Your hole cards 9 9 mackayla12 Call 1000.00 2500.00 29975.00 lea116311 Raise 2000.00 4500.00 17875.00 MICKAA Fold GaryQQQ All-in 15001.25 19501.25 0.00 9se7enTr3y Fold mackayla12 Fold lea116311 Call 13501.25 33002.50 4373.75 GaryQQQ Show 9 9 lea116311 Show A A Flop K J 9 Turn 7 River K GaryQQQ Win Full House, 9s and Kings 33002.50 33002.50
Closing balance £316.75
Didn’t fare too well today though a third place finish in a £2.30 Bounty Hunter helped minimise losses. Yet again a promising run in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter went pear-shaped close to the bubble. HU SnG results were poor, I think I played OK, it was just one of those days where I was the wrong side of the coolers and flips. I even managed to double an opponent when my flopped set of aces was outdrawn by his 87o.
In that £2.30 tourney a sneaky tactic temporarily dented my chances in the late stages. The player to my direct had been sitting out for at least 15 minutes, his stack gradually blinding down from chip leader to below average. There were 7 players remaining and I was the biggest stack at a 4-handed table, the other 2 players were both short with around 10BB each in the blinds. I’d been playing very aggressively and decided to open jam when I picked up pocket JJ hoping to get paid off by my laggy image. Suddenly the ‘away’ player sat back in and insta-called, unsurprisingly he had AA. This tactic was fairly common when I used to play DYMs, though this was the first time I’d seen it used in an MTT. Always be wary of an away player with a green time bar, I knew there was a risk he might sit back in, but all things considered I don’t regret the way I played the hand. Away players with a red time bar are not a danger, red is an indication that they are genuinely disconnected. Anyhow, I had the last laugh; 5 minutes later I got my chips back with interest and a head prize when I busted the AA player.
April poker points 589
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6230997 24-Apr-12 18:23 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956227859 24-Apr-12 18:20 NL Holdem £511/60-£1.996230722 24-Apr-12 17:35 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856230644 24-Apr-12 17:28 NL Holdem £32/2-£3.156227713 24-Apr-12 17:26 NL Holdem £218/38-£2.306230674 24-Apr-12 17:25 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056230637 24-Apr-12 17:17 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056230619 24-Apr-12 17:07 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056230555 24-Apr-12 17:04 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056229986 24-Apr-12 15:11 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056226476 24-Apr-12 15:07 NL Holdem £23/57£11.126226703 24-Apr-12 13:18 NL Holdem £322/58-£2.176228853 24-Apr-12 12:33 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2010/11-£2.406229255 24-Apr-12 12:21 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956229215 24-Apr-12 12:15 NL Holdem £52/2-£5.256228937 24-Apr-12 12:04 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056228263 24-Apr-12 02:18 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
A player who has been 'away' for 15+ minutes springs his trap;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancephilrafs Small blind 400.00 400.00 9645.00 CUJimmi Big blind 800.00 1200.00 7480.00 Your hole cards J J GaryQQQ All-in 27546.25 28746.25 0.00 away All-in 10805.00 39551.25 0.00 philrafs Fold CUJimmi Fold GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 16741.25 22810.00 16741.25 GaryQQQ Show J J away Show A A Flop 3 6 5 Turn 5 River Q away Win Two Pairs, Aces and 5s 22810.00 22810.00
Very nicely on your way to £1051 though. The start is always the hardest when you gotta play REALLY low stakes
Closing balance £358.68
On Wednesdays I always try to get home in time for the 9-45am Bounty Hunter if possible. It was a close shave today; I got in a couple of minutes after the start but was able to play as I’d registered on my iPhone before I left work. I registered for the 10-45am also. As I’ve mentioned before these tournaments are among my favourites as they carry a guarantee that ensures 50+ runners and are raked at only 10%.
It’s just as well I was back on time because I went on to win the 9-45 with a pleasing return of over £41 for my £3.30 buy-in. I had a steady run to the late stages, outplaying my opponents and connecting well with a few flops. The bubble period seemed to last ages, which was very useful to me. My table tightened up and I made the most of the opportunity to accumulate lots of easy chips. When we broke to final table the play became much feistier as two big stacks joining from the other table. I was to end up with them 3-handed, though starting as the shortest of the three. I’m very confident with my shortstack game and soon managed to double off the chip leader and then knock him out. HU play was very aggressive and didn’t last long. The final hand saw my only suck-out of the tournament, I 3-bet jammed my 99 from the BB and got there against QQ. My opponent was unlucky to lose the hand, though at that stage my chip lead was in excess of two to one and it certainly wouldn’t have been over if the QQ held.
Meanwhile I was still alive in the 10-45, though for obvious reasons my main focus had been on the final table of the 9-45. I’d love to do the double in these one day, I’ve been very close in the past with a first and second, but it wasn’t to happen today. After the bubble went I was fairly short with around 15BB and open jammed when I picked up 88 at a 4-handed table. SuperSnedd has a good idea of my shoving ranges and it was an easy call for him with TT. Snedds tens held up and he put the chips to good use when he went on to win the tournament for a Team51 double.
After those games I logged off to do a few household chores, when returning to the laptop I decided to ditch poker for the rest of the day due to tiredness. I unexpectedly found myself staying up for the Barcelona v Chelsea match last night. What an amazing game, I’m so glad I stayed up though it meant I only had time for around 3 hours of sleep.
I’m very pleased to finish the day with a new highest balance. I’ve been stuck on a plateau in the £300 to £330 range for around 3 weeks, hopefully this is a sign things are going to start moving upwards again.
April poker points 598
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6231884 25-Apr-12 13:33 NL Holdem £38/61£4.676231563 25-Apr-12 12:36 NL Holdem £31/62£38.416233514 25-Apr-12 02:28 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956233501 25-Apr-12 02:22 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056233481 25-Apr-12 02:15 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
Closing balance £366.66
I’m happy to finish the day slightly ahead after final table runs in a small £3.30 freezeout and a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, though it could have been better.
As soon as I finish work tomorrow I’ll be on the road to Cardiff for the SPT weekend. I won’t be playing online all weekend so this diary will next be updated on Monday.The freezeout took ages for a tournament with only 22 runners. I was well set up from the start when my 33 ran into 87 and 87 on an 873 flop for a nice treble up in level 1. My massive stack allowed me to tighten up and cruise to the late stages. The 4-handed bubble lasted a full 30 minutes. There were multiple all-ins during that 30 minutes with the short-stack coming out on top each time, including one for me with AJ /> 66 aipf. When the bubble finally went the stacks were relatively shallow compared to the blinds and I was soon out in third with a standard pocket pair<AK aipf flip. I suffered a very quick kill with AAK falling on the flop.
A £5.75 Bounty Hunter win continues to elude me. I suppose I can’t complain too much at making a final table from 61 runners today but I was destined to bust out in unfortunate circumstances again. The runaway chipleader to my direct left was making life very difficult, while he is a losing player overall he was on a massive heater in this tournament; calling everything, hitting everything, busting opponents for fun. He was making very loose calls so I open jammed when I picked up AcQc with 15BB behind. He made the call with his KQo; this is a call I’m delighted to see obviously. Unfortunately the 4d Jd Tc 6c 9d run-out gave him a straight and I hit the rail in a very disappointing sixth place. Another player at the table was disconnected at the time with only 2BB behind, but as I’ve said before I’m always playing for the win and I’m never going to pass on a great spot like this just to ladder one place. The guy who busted me went on to eliminate the other four players at the final table and win the tournament in his stride.
April poker points 630
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6237961 26-Apr-12 17:47 NL Holdem £56/61£9.156238725 26-Apr-12 16:36 NL Holdem £33/22£9.906237254 26-Apr-12 16:13 NL Holdem £546/68-£5.756237960 26-Apr-12 14:56 NL Holdem £516/26-£3.876236747 26-Apr-12 14:47 NL Holdem £219/55-£2.306239974 26-Apr-12 14:07 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
(Didn’t play)
Day 111 – April 27th 2012
(Didn’t play)
Day 112 – April 28th 2012
Closing balance £365.21
All I played today were a few quick evening HU STTs after arriving home late in the day from Cardiff.
Once again I had a brilliant time at Cardiff SPT, it was a fantastic weekend and I can’t recommend an SPT event highly enough to those of you who haven’t made it along to one before. It’s great to meet up with so many well-known community members, many of them for the first time. The SPTs attract a very friendly crowd and a good time is guaranteed regardless of what happens at the poker tables.
As for the tournament; I ran fairly deep busting in 35th/163, though to be honest I was never really in contention and was short throughout. At my starting table I found myself down to half the starting stack during level 2 after losing a big pot with my KK<AK and another with QQ after folding against an unknown hand. I then managed to claw most of that back after defending my BB with J9s and the flop came down 8TQ. On the turn I thought my opponent was pot committed, but he managed to find a fold to my check/shove after c-betting flop and turn leaving himself very little behind.
After the first break I was slightly above average for a while after 3-bet shoving 99 and winning a flip against AK, though soon after I had to make a couple of costly folds after opening pots then being forced to give up under pressure on very unfriendly boards for my cards. At my second and third tables I was soon very short again due to the rapidly increasing blinds but managed to stay alive with a series of uncalled 3-bet shoves and open shoves. I made the second break as one of the shortest stacks still alive and was in shove or fold mode at my fourth table. I didn’t pick up any premium hands but managed to get shoves through with K9o, 24s and JTo among others.
The crunch came when I picked up AK on the button. I was pleased to see a very laggy player open the betting from EP and a another short stack shove all-in. I had about 15BB behind and reshoved to isolate from the button. The opener folded and the short stack flipped over K9s. Unfortunately for me I was drawing dead on the turn when he made his flush and a big pot went to the other side of the table. Immediately after that hand our table broke and there were only 4 tables left, I only had a paltry 6BB left and was looking for a chance to shove asap. That came in the last hand before the third break when I picked up AJ in EP, the BB had an easy call with a small pocket pair and the blinds and antes also in the pot. I couldn’t hit and that was that. Even if I'd won that pot I'd have needed another double just to get to average. I'm happy with how I played and had a brilliant time. The side event was due to start 5 minutes after my bust-out, I decided to give it a miss prefering to head to the bar after 6 hours of play in the ME.
I railed the rest of the tournament until the very end, it was all played in great spirit and I was very pleased to see several well-known forum regulars and one of the Sky analysts going very deep. CTBN played a great game and was a very popular winner in the room. HU he made Jen Mason’s life absolute hell and deservedly took the title. Very well played to you Colin.
Picture borrowed from Sky Dave's excellent SPT Cardiff album, which you can find here;
https://picasaweb.google.com/116075574842206351453/SPTCardiffApril2012#
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6258555 29-Apr-12 21:01 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956258548 29-Apr-12 20:55 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056258521 29-Apr-12 20:51 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056258441 29-Apr-12 20:48 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056258428 29-Apr-12 20:36 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956258375 29-Apr-12 20:30 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956258359 29-Apr-12 20:24 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956258286 29-Apr-12 20:22 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056258094 29-Apr-12 19:53 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05April poker points 639
Closing balance £369.05
After a four day break I returned to low stakes MTTs and was soon given a blunt reminder of just how crazy these games can be. The £2.30 Bounty Hunter fields today contained plenty of maniacs; I fastened my seat-belt, got my good hands in and hoped for the best. It wasn’t to be in the first three games when I couldn’t find enough holds for a deep run. In the third I got lucky and managed second place for a day saver. The final hand was a standard cooler; with shallow stacks I was never folding my 78 after the SB limped and the flop came down 568, all the chips went in, the BB held K8 and I couldn’t hit one of my 10 outs.
In my only £5.75 Bounty hunter of the day I busted out early looking like a total fool after check-shoving a river to represent the nuts when I actually only held second pair. It was bad timing because the villain really did have the nuts. The table probably thought I was a huge donk when my cards were revealed, though I feel my move would have got folds from most hands better than mine and taken down a big pot. Saying that it was a reminder to myself that bluffs should be used very sparingly in Bounty Hunters, not many players have a fold button in these games.
By far the most sensible tournament of the day was the £2.20 deepstack at 2-20pm. This is the tournament chosen by The_Don90 to be the basis of the new afternoon league. There were a number of well-known regulars in the field and for the most part skilful and enjoyable poker was being played. I’m keen to support this league and I hope it’s a success as there is very little put on for the daytime regulars, nearly everything like this usually in the evening when I’m unable to participate. Unfortunately the tournament didn’t work out for me this time; as usual I lost a big pot both times I picked up KK and was then unable to win the necessary flips when short.
My poker points total received a well-times boost today with 100 points added for my Cardiff SPT entry. That took me past the 700 points required to qualify for a 25% April C4P bonus e-mail offer. I my sums are correct I should be due a useful C4P bonus of around £7.50 in a week or so.
April poker points 760
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6259830 30-Apr-12 19:10 NL Holdem £22/46£15.046259168 30-Apr-12 18:16 NL Holdem £220/39-£2.206259241 30-Apr-12 16:33 NL Holdem £550/56-£5.756259327 30-Apr-12 16:29 NL Holdem £213/36-£2.306258534 30-Apr-12 14:50 NL Holdem £27/26-£0.806261397 30-Apr-12 14:17 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956257785 30-Apr-12 13:46 NL Holdem £117/33-£1.10
Fasten your seat-belt! The highs and lows of micro-stakes Bounty Hunters;
High!
Closing balance £383.97
In the 10-45am £150 gtd Bounty Hunter I had a very near miss. I was ‘in the zone’, playing well and getting plenty of cards to play with throughout. When we got down to 4-handed play I was the shortest stack but fought my way back to bust the 3rd and 4th place finishers and go into HU play with a 2 to 1 chip lead. Unfortunately nothing went my way HU; I somehow managed to lose a pot which levelled the stacks with my Q9s<63o on an AJQr flop; my opponent’s 3 making a running flush. Soon after all the chips went in when I check/shoved my 45 on a 459r flop after my opponent had limped in from the SB, he called with J9 and got there when he binked a 9 on the turn to make a set. The stacks were close to even and a hold would have almost guaranteed me first place. It was a frustrating end after I’d outplayed the rest of the final table including three competent opponents whose game I respect. With that tournament lasting 3 hours and me still needing to go into town to run an errand I had no option but to skip the afternoon league 2-20pm deepstack.
My poor run of form in £5.75 Bounty Hunters continued with a level 1 bust; my turned flush failing to hold against flopped two pairs which filled up on the river. After that I tried a 15 minute timed tournament and soon regretted it, with 20BB starting stacks it was a shove-fest from the off. I lost a standard flip after only 2 minutes to bust. I’m sure these are great fun but it’s not the sort of game that’s going to help me build my roll so I’ll be avoiding them until this challenge is over. I might try the 30 minute version another day, maybe they are a bit more skill based.
May poker points 17
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6261878 1-May-12 18:24 NL Holdem £0308/334£06264536 1-May-12 18:23 NL Holdem £564/68-£5.756267659 1-May-12 16:46 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956263349 1-May-12 15:56 NL Holdem £282/87-£2.206267264 1-May-12 15:56 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056263375 1-May-12 13:46 NL Holdem £32/62£25.076265279 1-May-12 02:27 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056265142 1-May-12 02:16 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
Closing balance £355.20
Ran super bad today; nothing to report other than a series of harsh beats and coolers, couldn’t win a flip to save my life either. I won’t bore you with individual hands, I’ll just say that the deck was in a brutal mood today. It got to the point where I decided to throw in the towel and end my session much earlier than intended.
May poker points 53
6270347 2-May-12 17:54 NL Holdem £231/41-£2.206270436 2-May-12 17:05 NL Holdem £547/52-£5.756269851 2-May-12 16:00 NL Holdem £529/58-£3.876272863 2-May-12 14:32 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056270829 2-May-12 14:28 NL Holdem £518/31-£5.756272754 2-May-12 13:27 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956272726 2-May-12 13:19 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056269434 2-May-12 13:18 NL Holdem £324/58-£3.306272697 2-May-12 13:09 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056272118 2-May-12 12:58 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2020/21-£2.406268915 2-May-12 12:39 NL Holdem £325/79-£3.30
although i have seen your posts under gpc
i have not posted on it myself...
until today.
i have kept an eye on how u have been progressing
and once u managed 2 get through the early stages,
i just knew that it would be only a matter of time
until you reached your goal.
as i,m sure you will.
as i am just starting off on my dym challenge,
i just wanted to ask you....
has there ever been a time when especially after a bad session or two,
you ever thought about stopping?
or
have you got the mindset that you will see it through,know matter what?
best wishes
:-)
devon
run golden
My toughest time so far was a 5 week downswing that began when I reached about £140. It was a big test of my patience, I reduced volume and came very close to taking a complete break from poker for a week. Just when I was about to take that break the results suddenly returned, as did the confidence, a period of rapid growth soon followed.
Many times I've quit awful sessions early, today being a typical example. If I can't get 'in the zone' and find I'm getting repeatedly outdrawn I pack it in to minimise losses. I don't have a stop-loss number as such, I just quit when I feel that it's not going to go my way no matter what I do. We all have days like that, I'm sure you know exactly what it feels like too. The worst thing to do would be to continue playing while going into tilt, if that happened there'd be a risk of blasting off a big chunk of my balance. If I feel tilt coming on I end the session asap and go and do something else for the rest of the day, then I can return the following morning with a fresh mind.
Thanks for your kind words, I wish you the very best with your challenge, I hope my example will help you get through the inevitable tough times.
devon again.
that was the answer that i thought you would give.
good 2 hear your thoughts especially about those inevatable down-swings.
hpoe u get to your next target asap
and see that b/roll shoot up.
best wishes,
:-)
devon