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Closing balance £343.50
Another awful session that I quit early; one of those days where players who choose to play junk hands out of position were the ones being rewarded. The only positive thing that happened was managing to satellite into an £11.00 Bounty Hunter for £2.40. However after a promising start and building to double the starting stack in the £11 game I was busted when my KK was cracked by 86o. KK continues to be the unluckiest hand in poker for me. A £5.75 Bounty Hunter ended in similar fashion when my AA was no good against a bingo player holding the mighty Q6o.
At 3-00pm I deliberately blasted off my stack in the 2-20pm deepstack. This tournament doesn’t finish until after 6-00pm. I’d already had enough by that point, another 3 hours of poker was the last thing I wanted.
May poker points 79
6275486 3-May-12 17:48 NL Holdem £229/43-£2.206275352 3-May-12 16:37 NL Holdem £1044/84-£116275165 3-May-12 16:11 NL Holdem £522/58-£5.756274672 3-May-12 14:37 NL Holdem £216/30-£2.306277055 3-May-12 13:35 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.204/22£8.606277635 3-May-12 12:58 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Closing balance £381.63
In the morning I didn’t have enough time to commit to an MTT so I made do with a few quick HU matches, was pleased to win 5 from 6.
On my return home after lunch out I registered the 2-20pm deepstack and the 2-30pm £5.75 Bounty Hunter. In the deepstack I was soon despondent after picking up the dreaded KK; my ‘hand of doom’, as usual I ended up wishing I’d passed it preflop. As it was I put in a big raise preflop from the BB, flopped top set, then lost a big pot on the river to Q9o that successfully chased a gutshot. That was enough to persuade me to donk off the rest my stack preferring to concentrate on something else. I’m growing to dislike the deepstack and I’m reconsidering my participation in the afternoon league. I don’t think I have the patience to spend 4 hours trying to win a micro-stakes tournament with a fairly small field. My preference is for faster moving games and those offering larger prize pools, at my current balance I’m looking for higher MTT buy-ins than £2.20.
The Bounty Hunter went a bit better with a second place finish. I was ‘in the zone’, playing well and steadily accumulating chips throughout, chipleader much of the time. Play got tougher when 4-handed with two tricky opponents still at the table. Two key hands dashed my chances; a standard flip with AJs<77 didn’t go my way, if I’d have hit I’d have busted the fourth place finisher and taken a commanding lead, as it was the bounty and a big pile of chips went to the player with 77. Then when 3-handed my QQ couldn’t hold against JTo on a J high flop when a T hit on the river. Still, I’m not complaining, I’ve been running terribly in £5.75 games lately and this was my best result at that buy-in so far in this quest. Now I want a win. Although I didn’t win much cash with only two head prizes this result has provided a much need confidence boost after a couple of awful days.
It was pleasing to receive my April C4P bonus today; the £7.60 payment included a 25% boost for fulfilling an e-mailed offer.
May poker points 95
6280680 4-May-12 18:03 NL Holdem £237/41-£2.206280759 4-May-12 16:59 NL Holdem £52/52£29.036282946 4-May-12 12:02 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956282941 4-May-12 11:51 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956282927 4-May-12 11:45 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956282823 4-May-12 11:30 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956282760 4-May-12 11:15 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956281900 4-May-12 02:28 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
While you don't allow yourself to buyin to the big MTTs like the MEs, do you allow any of your BR to try to satellite into them?
You won't see me playing in MEs etc. due to my work shifts. Six days a week I'm up at 1-30am, so I'm usually in bed by 7-00pm. That's the reason why I'm only seen playing poker in the late morning and afternoon. I'd love to play in the big evening tournaments, unfortunately it's not possible for me.
admire your determination.
:-)
devon
Closing balance £382.94
My session began after lunch today when I dipped my toes in a few low stakes MTTs. Unfortunately I found my tables populated with weekend bingo donks. Play was ridiculous right from the off with almost every hand seeing huge shoves either pre-flop or on the flop. Turn and river play were non-existent. In the 2-20pm deepstack I watched in amazement as 3 players went all-in preflop with their 250BB starting stacks during a crazy first orbit hand. The hole cards involved were AA, Q9o and 33. The 33 made a set on the river to win the 750BB pot.
Fair enough; these guys have paid the entry fee and are entitled to play their cards how they wish. Personally I don’t want to participate in Russian Roulette games. After a while I decided to try the ‘fold until you pick-up any pair JJ+ or AK, then jam it in and hope for the best’ approach. After patiently folding for a few orbits I picked up QQ and jammed it in over 2 limpers. My tight image garnered no respect at all; I watched my premium pair being called and outdrawn by the mighty K3o. Disillusioned I quit the site for the rest of the afternoon.
In the evening I returned to try my luck in a couple of low stakes Bounty Hunter tournaments with large fields. I was relieved to find myself at more sensible tables than earlier and the play was far more enjoyable. I had a good run in the Mini Bounty Hunter, though I had to settle for a min-cash after a sickening bust-out hand. Shortly after the bubble had burst I open jammed my last 12BB with KQ from MP at a 5-handed table. It folded round to the BB. With only 13.5BB behind in theory he can only defend profitably there with a tight range, however he decided to make a call that's terrible in my opinion with Q4, a junk hand like that is always going to be miles behind the open shoving range of anybody at the table. He got there of course and took my head prize despite being totally dominated.
To add insult to injury the Q4 guy ran very deep and won a three-figure sum.
May poker points 116
6287406 6-May-12 00:39 NL Holdem £344/469£7.976288282 6-May-12 00:37 NL Holdem £286/272-£0.616286704 5-May-12 17:10 NL Holdem £239/57-£2.306286161 5-May-12 16:37 NL Holdem £231/62-£2.306290166 5-May-12 15:59 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056290011 5-May-12 15:53 NL Holdem £23/6-£2.206290058 5-May-12 15:32 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956290037 5-May-12 15:22 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956289865 5-May-12 14:49 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956288767 5-May-12 14:35 NL Holdem (Sat) £0.9642/43-£1.05
A frustrating end to a frustrating day;
Hand History #515502430 (22:44 05/05/2012)PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancewi03 Small blind 600.00 600.00 29595.00 x Big blind 1200.00 1800.00 16237.48 Your hole cards Q K zarroch01 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 14363.25 16163.25 0.00 MASHU Fold mrwhizz72 Fold wi03 Fold x All-in 16237.48 32400.73 0.00 x Unmatched bet 3074.23 29326.50 3074.23 x Show Q 4 GaryQQQ Show Q K Flop 4 2 9 Turn 10 River 5 xWin Pair of 4s 29326.50 32400.73
Closing balance £376.01
Unfortunately the lower buy-in tournament fields were full of bingo players again this morning. I tried my luck in three games without success then quit Sky Poker for the rest of the day. The current trend of all-in madness is completely ruining these games, particularly at the weekend, it's simply not poker anymore. I’m hoping this is a passing fad that'll die out, if it continues I’ll only be entering tournaments on weekdays.
As an example; in the 9-30am Bounty Hunter today when we reached the break there were only 12 players left from 55 starters, so a massive 78% of the field had already been eliminated in an hour. That’s totally insane in a tournament with a reasonable structure. I was eventually bubble-boy when my open-shoved AK was called and outdrawn by QJo on a crazy AQ2KQ run-out.
May poker points 125
6291719 6-May-12 14:18 NL Holdem £343/76-£3.306291344 6-May-12 12:13 NL Holdem £352/76-£3.306290680 6-May-12 12:00 NL Holdem £29/55-£0.33
A standard early-stages weekend Bounty Hunter hand. Good luck to you when the players at your table are all playing like this;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancerp81 Small blind 30.00 30.00 3770.00 m Big blind 60.00 90.00 12357.50 Your hole cards 7 4 GaryQQQ Fold chaoslem04 Fold j Call 60.00 150.00 3860.00 rp81 Raise 120.00 270.00 3650.00 m Call 90.00 360.00 12267.50 j Call 90.00 450.00 3770.00 Flop 3 8 2 rp81 Check m Bet 450.00 900.00 11817.50 j All-in 3770.00 4670.00 0.00 rp81 Fold m Call 3320.00 7990.00 8497.50 m Show 8 5 j Show 2 9 Turn 10 River 6 m Win Pair of 8s 7990.00 16487.50
Closing balance £426.74
I only entered one MTT today, the 9-45am £3.30 Bounty Hunter after getting home from work just in time. I’d arranged to go out and meet my partner at 12-30pm, it's usually over by 12-15 so thought I'd be OK. However I should have realised it might take a bit longer than usual due to the larger than average bank holiday field; I ended up going on a deep run and getting myself in trouble for being late.
My starting table was quite wild, a bit like those at the weekend. I decided to take the plunge and gamble in level 3 with my JJ after two shorter stacks both shoved all-in over my open raise. My jacks held up against 66 and ace-rag to get me off to a good start and take two early head prizes. From there I played well, flopped well and maintained a position near the top of the field all the way to the bubble. The stone-cold bubble took ages, maybe 30 minutes or so. Several short stacks were on fumes but kept surviving their all-ins. By this stage all the ‘bingo’ players had been eliminated and the field consisted mainly of competent Bounty Hunter regulars. When the bubble finally went the blinds per stack ratio was very low, as expected there was suddenly a ton of action and we soon went from ten left to final table.
I’d played very aggressively post bubble and won a couple of big all-in preflop hands to go into the final table second in chips and as one of the two big stacks along with four relatively short stacks. I soon took on the role of ‘table captain’; taking the chip lead and putting a lot of pressure on the shorter stacks, some of whom seemed to be playing very tight to ladder. I busted the 6th to 3rd place finishers one by one and went into heads up play with roughly a 3/2 chip lead.
Heads up play was a tough battle that lasted a full hour and the lead changed hands many times. Eventually as the blinds grew very big I went into push/fold mode from the SB and fold or 3-bet shove mode from the BB. My opponent was either card dead or had a very tight calling range and soon found himself getting dangerously short. Something had to give sooner or later. The final hand came when I open-shoved my KJo from the SB, my opponent called off his last 9BB with pocket nines and we went off to the races. Incredibly the flop came down 9TQ; a set for my opponent, a straight for me. I managed to fade the full house outs and take the tournament down. We’d been playing for three and a half hours and I was an hour late for my meeting!
I was delighted with the win today. I feel I played well throughout and don’t remember making any mistakes. Like every MTT winner I had to win a couple of key flips, make a few big holds, and run well by connecting with flops at crucial moments. Saying that I also lost a couple of late flips and doubled an opponent at the final table with my AT being outdrawn by A8 aipf, each time I had a big enough stack to let me take the hit without too much worry.
It’s very pleasing to push through the £400 barrier and see my balance rise to more than eight times what I started with.
May poker points 128
6296549 7-May-12 13:18 NL Holdem £31/74£50.73
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/72/challengeto070512.jpg/
Closing balance £421.38
With other stuff to deal with today I only had time for two MTTs. I got donked out of a £3.30 Bounty Hunter by a guy who limp/called off his 22BB stack with K4o and got there when his 4 completed a straight. In a £5.75 BH I managed to lose two thirds of my starting stack by level 3 then did a short-stack ninja job to the late stages. I busted close to the bubble after jamming A9 into the chipleaders AJ with stacks getting short at my 4-handed table.
There were some other players with shorter stacks than mine playing super nitty. That’s not my style; I prefer to play for the win and look at the bubble as an opportunity to pick up chips. It means I’ll bubble more often, but you need to consider I’ll win more often too. You won’t catch me stalling and blinding out trying to chase a min-cash. Occasional wins are worth far more frequent min-cashes so I stand by my play. Fortune favours the brave in MTTs.
I’m still waiting for a decent bink in a £5.75 game. All my first places since I started this have been at the £2.30s and £3.30s levels. It’ll come sooner or later; the fields are no tougher at £5.75.
May poker points 141
6305906 8-May-12 17:20 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906305767 8-May-12 17:13 NL Holdem £0.502/2-£0.556303002 8-May-12 17:07 NL Holdem £58/49-£3.416302289 8-May-12 13:10 NL Holdem £330/54-£3.30
Hi Gary,
Truly inspirational. Your "buy-in rules" have really helped my poker. I've been tempted on a couple of occasions tho. Usually at the w/e after a few beers! lol Keep it up.
pad
p.s. date should be 8th May?
Edit;
Just looked it up; only 16 games at £5+ so far, a lot more to follow. 127 games at £3+ so far.
Closing balance £404.94
In the morning I entered the 9-45am and 10-45am Bounty Hunters without success. After lunch I returned to try my luck in a couple of £5.75 games.
In the first £5.75 game I was handcuffed by a bingo maniac on a heater at my table, he was all-in preflop every at least every third or fourth hand right from the start. I watched in amazement as he luck-boxed his way to five head prizes with his monsters like T2o somehow getting there. Unfortunately I couldn’t pick up a strong enough hand to take him on. After patiently folding 90%+ of hands for 45 minutes I got my stack in good for (close to) a treble-up on a turn but failed to hold against a caller with an open-ended straight draw. Ironically the maniac was also in the pot, he folded to my turn shove and it was another player who took me out.
In the second of the £5.75 games my ‘hand of doom’ struck again and my stack was crippled early in level 1. Can you fold pocket KK on a KQT rainbow flop with 90BB effective stacks? I couldn’t. Unknowns are often seen to get it in very light in these games, top pair is enough for many regardless of kicker, two pairs and lower sets were also possible. I knew there were was a chance of a flopped straight, in which case I’d still have outs to a full house or quads. Anyway, rightly or wrongly, all the chips went in on the flop. My opponent held J9 of course, I didn’t improve. After such a tilting hand I was ready to quit for the day. As it was I managed 3 quick doubles and made almost made a miracle recovery. An hour and a half later I busted in 11th of 52 in a standard JJ<AK reshove flip. Had that flip had gone my way I’d have moved up to third in chips at the time with eight to be paid.
The unlikely comeback was heartening, though two things continue to frustrate me; I’m still running terribly with pocket KK. It always seems to lose for me, even when I flop top set, that cruellest of all poker hands has wrecked many a tournament lately. Also I’m still running badly in £5.75 Bounty Hunters. There’s no obvious reason, I’m assuming it’s just down to standard variance and that the deep runs will come sooner or later.
We have visitors arriving tomorrow for a two day stay and my poker volume will be reduced. It’s possible I may not play again until Saturday afternoon.
May poker points 167
6307769 9-May-12 17:09 NL Holdem £241/57-£2.306307883 9-May-12 16:48 NL Holdem £511/53-£3.876307487 9-May-12 16:37 NL Holdem £526/54-£5.756307165 9-May-12 13:41 NL Holdem £331/59-£2.176309747 9-May-12 13:06 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956306780 9-May-12 12:22 NL Holdem £313/58-£3.30
Closing balance £400.89
Our visitors were delayed en-route so I had time to squeeze in a few micro-stakes games after work. In the first Bounty Hunter it was a case of deja-vu; for the second time in 24 hours I flopped a set, just like yesterday I ran it into a flopped straight. In the second Bounty Hunter I got my stack aipf with AKs against A9o and lost on a 7TA86 run-out.
I tried a 30p DYM to have a crack at the new forum completion, I got knocked out in the 100/200 level by a when I open shoved AQ from the button and couldn’t hold against a SB caller with TJo. Just one game was enough to remind me how much I dislike DYMs these days and won’t be trying again.
That’s three losing days in a row. I’m not concerned, I’m satisfied it’s standard variance. I feel I’m playing well, as long as that continues the results will follow.
May poker points 177
6312469 10-May-12 16:15 NL Holdem £241/55-£2.306311866 10-May-12 14:51 NL Holdem £234/45-£2.306315030 10-May-12 13:45 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956315011 10-May-12 13:35 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956314963 10-May-12 13:28 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056314827 10-May-12 13:14 NL Holdem £0.255/6-£0.30
Not running too well at the moment, Bounty Hunter exit hand;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 20.00 20.00 1385.00 tony011 Big blind 40.00 60.00 2235.00 Your hole cards K A Denbo1956 Call 40.00 100.00 1905.00 honeybunch Call 40.00 140.00 4870.00 ch34dc Fold GaryQQQ All-in 1385.00 1525.00 0.00 tony011 Fold Denbo1956 Fold honeybunch Call 1365.00 2890.00 3505.00 GaryQQQ Show K A honeybunch Show 9 A Flop 7 10 A Turn 8 River 6 honeybunch Win Straight to the 10 2890.00 6395.00
Closing balance £394.19
Decided to play a few micro-stakes games on my laptop while putting most of my focus on some jobs that needed doing around the house, ran badly again.
The £2.30 Bounty Hunters are barmy at the moment, full of crazy gamblers. I tried my luck in two. The first exit came when I open-raised 5x with JJ and got it in on a 7 high dry flop. My caller got there when another 7 fell on the turn to improve his 79o to trips. In the second game I survived the minefield as far as the bubble (four left, three paid). Then two consecutive hands did me in; first I lost a big pot with KK<AJ (I still can’t win any hand in any game with KK), then open jammed my remaining 26 BB with AQs from the SB. The BB called with ATo and binked a T on the turn. Open jamming AQs there would be terrible in most games, not in a £2.30 Bounty Hunter, AQ is well ahead of typical calling ranges. Getting your chips in good isn’t difficult, making a hold is the tricky bit.
I haven’t managed to play much in the last few days, over the weekend I have nothing planned so should be able to return to a higher volume.
May poker points 185
6317810 11-May-12 17:18 NL Holdem £235/45-£2.306318157 11-May-12 16:49 NL Holdem £24/27-£2.306320950 11-May-12 16:43 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056320542 11-May-12 15:05 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
Closing balance £380.34
Carried on where I left off yesterday and ran dreadfully in MTTS. I won’t bore you with hand histories. Suffice to say the deck was in a very cruel mood.
After five days of running badly this is turning into a bit of a downswing. While it’s frustrating I need to remember that poor runs like this are totally standard to MTT players. All I can do is keep my cool, continue to play to the best of my ability and wait for good fortune to turn my way again.
May poker points 221
6323791 13-May-12 01:17 NL Holdem £3115/517-£0.216324532 13-May-12 00:49 NL Holdem £2120/230-£2.306324492 12-May-12 23:45 NL Holdem £2127/306-£1.556327202 12-May-12 19:42 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956324820 12-May-12 19:18 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2022/38-£2.406323504 12-May-12 18:10 NL Holdem £512/83-£1.996326528 12-May-12 17:38 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856326533 12-May-12 17:37 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956326523 12-May-12 17:28 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056322908 12-May-12 17:07 NL Holdem £264/65-£2.306323030 12-May-12 16:25 NL Holdem £535/58-£5.756324753 12-May-12 16:08 NL Holdem (Sat) £0.969/32-£1.05
In Response to Re: My quest to turn £51 into £1,051 on Sky Poker____ **** latest balance £380.34 ****:
kudos for staying cool for this long!Closing balance £379.40
Another day of poor results. I chose to avoid £5+fee games today due to a lack confidence after recent results. A run to the final table of an afternoon Bounty Hunter was heartening, though I was somewhat disappointed not to close it out after a lengthy spell as chip leader. The hand which crippled my stack was an unavoidable cooler with my flopped straight running into a flopped flush during 3-handed play. I held a redraw to a higher flush but it wasn’t to be.
May poker points 237
6328375 13-May-12 17:42 NL Holdem £23/40£9.716325550 13-May-12 16:04 PL Omaha £0115/441£06327571 13-May-12 15:20 NL Holdem £211/28-£1.556327570 13-May-12 13:04 NL Holdem £335/46-£3.306327261 13-May-12 12:31 NL Holdem £340/65-£3.306329662 13-May-12 11:54 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.208/8-£2.406329918 13-May-12 11:20 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956329819 13-May-12 11:16 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
Closing balance £389.96
There was a pleasing start to the day with a run to third place in the 10-45am Bounty Hunter. Much of the tournament was very awkward due to the presence of a bingo maniac on my table who took 9 bounties and raced into a monster chip lead. He was playing hyper aggressively leaving me no option other than to keep my game super-tight. Going into the final table I was 6th of 6. I managed to build my stack, then when the maniac’s luck eventually ran out I was the one who busted him out in 6th place. My exit hand was a standard cooler; I open jammed 12BB from the button with a small pocket pair, happy to take a flip if need be. Unfortunately both of the blinds also jammed, each holding a pocket pair higher than mine.
In the afternoon I tried a couple of £2.30 Bounty Hunters. In the first I busted after defending my big blind to a min raise with 75s and flopping top two pairs. The raiser held QQ, all the chips went in on the turn but I was unable to dodge one of his outs on the river. In the second I came to grief when I made a massive 3-bet over shove in level 3 with pocket AA. This isn't a play I would normally make, but I went with my read that the villain often calls light in these situations. My notes were correct and he made the call. Unfortunately I was unable to hold against his QQ for a 216BB pot that would have given me the chip lead at the time and set me up nicely for a deep run.
After the AA<QQ hand I was demoralised and quit the session. I’m still frustrated to find myself repeatedly busting from tournaments after getting my chips in good. However, I have to take this as a sign that despite the poor results I’m still playing well. I’d be far more concerned if I kept busting after getting my chips in behind. When holding AA I can only be delighted to get an opponent to put 108BB in the pot pre-flop no matter what his hole cards. Sure, it sucks when he gets there, but I still want that call all day long. Despite the continued bad runnage the good news is that I can actually record a small profit today, this being my first winning day for a whole week. Hopefully I’ve turned a corner!
May poker points 246
6333253 14-May-12 17:47 NL Holdem £228/46-£1.556332965 14-May-12 16:46 NL Holdem £233/64-£2.306332405 14-May-12 13:20 NL Holdem £33/44£14.41
Weirdest hand of the day, the player who has posted the big blind folds to a single limper, he doesn't even take a free look at the flop!
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 30.00 30.00 1925.00 h Big blind 60.00 90.00 3672.50 Your hole cards 2 9 lizardman6 Fold thedogeats Call 60.00 150.00 2591.25 slider78 Fold stuart771 Fold GaryQQQ Fold h Fold thedogeats Muck thedogeats Win 150.00 2741.25
Still not running well, my final hand of the day;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 20.00 20.00 4260.00 tilerman Big blind 40.00 60.00 1700.00 Your hole cards A A 18wheeler Call 40.00 100.00 2122.50 G Raise 160.00 260.00 4170.00 dj_fixate Fold GaryQQQ All-in 4260.00 4520.00 0.00 tilerman Fold 18wheeler Fold G Call 4120.00 8640.00 50.00 GaryQQQ Show A A G Show Q Q Flop Q 5 2 Turn 6 River 9 G Win Three Queens 8640.00 8690.00