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Closing balance £418.86
When I get in from work during the day there usually aren’t many MTTs to choose from (if you remove the many satellites, none of which interest me), so I just jump into whatever is the next game going. Today, as is often the case, it was a £2.30 Bounty Hunter. I played well and got my chips in good but didn’t hold well. I saw other players making comical bad plays and getting lucky. Funniest of the lot was watching a player open limp 63o from UTG, flat a re-raise, then bust two other players and win a monster pot after flopping two pairs and improving to a full house on the river.
Next game was the 13-30 £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I made an early exit in level 2 after crippling my stack when I ran my pocket TT into A4o on a 235 rainbow flop. When my OOP opponent led out on the turn I incorrectly put him on one of the two flush draws on the board and set him all-in when I was drawing dead. With only 13BB left my exit soon followed with JQ<22 on a 29J flop.
My third and final MTT was another £2.30 with a small field. I made it to final table by keeping to my usual TAG gaame and staying out of the wild gambling. A key mid-stages hand was my pocket TT cracking KQ on a 9TJ flop when I filled up on the turn, pretty much an action replay of a hand I posted on Tuesday. The barmiest bingo hand I saw played out between others was the mighty 23o cracking pocket AA after limp/calling for 1/3 of his stack and getting it in bad on the flop. He somehow got there even though another ace was dealt on the turn (HH below).
It was cagey stuff at the final table with the average stack at only 15BB with 6 left and 3 to be paid. After the bubble burst I came back from third of three to take the win. The winning hand was my T6s>98s. I open jammed from the SB, a standard play with my opponent down to 11BB. It wasn’t exactly my biggest win ever, I’d much rather have done it in the £5.75, but it was enough to put me into profit for the day and provides a welcome confidence boost. Any MTT win always feels good, no matter what the buy-in or the field size.
Step 2 £2.10 Lose; I’m £1.15 down, go back to step 1.If anybody is interested I recorded all 19 minutes of post-bubble play. I don’t expect the video to be of much interest to established players, however you can see all my hole cards and novice MTT players may get some benefit. If anybody has any questions about my play please ask on the video page. Here is the link;
http://youtu.be/bLx-UJ57L54
For a bit of fun I’ve decided to try something a bit different in my HU STTs, it's based on Lambert180’s DYM laddering competition. I’m going to play HU matches (hyper or turbo only) in these four steps; £1.05, £2.10, £3.15 then £5.25. I’ll move up a step each time I win, going back to £1.05 each time I lose. If I win at £5.25 (the maximum HU buy-in permitted by my BRM rules) I’ll take the profit and start again from step 1. I'll start this tomorrow. If my maths are correct this is how it will work out;
Step 1 £1.05 Lose; I’m £1.05 down, try again step 1.
Step 3 £3.15 Lose; I’m 30p down, go back to step 1
Step 4 £5.25 Lose; I’m 45p in profit, go back to step 1.
Step 4 £5.25 Win ; I’m £10.45 in profit, take the money and go back to step 1.
May poker points 462
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6379199 24-May-12 16:48 NL Holdem £21/28£20.606378909 24-May-12 16:21 NL Holdem £546/57-£5.756378425 24-May-12 14:24 NL Holdem £215/37-£2.306381097 24-May-12 14:16 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056381075 24-May-12 14:06 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956381062 24-May-12 14:02 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956381044 24-May-12 14:00 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056381006 24-May-12 13:54 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056380912 24-May-12 13:35 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
Bingo hand of the day;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancenewton10 Small blind 100.00 100.00 3700.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 200.00 300.00 6283.75 Your hole cards J 3 Doc22 Fold s Call 200.00 500.00 2085.00 newton10 Raise 700.00 1200.00 3000.00 GaryQQQ Fold s Call 600.00 1800.00 1485.00 Flop 10 2 5 newton10 All-in 3000.00 4800.00 0.00 s All-in 1485.00 6285.00 0.00 newton10 Unmatched bet 1515.00 4770.00 1515.00 newton10 Show A A s Show 2 3 Turn A River 4 s Win Straight to the 5 4770.00 4770.00
Closing balance £427.26
First up today were a couple of £2.30 Bounty Hunters. In the first I came within a flip and AQ<KJ aipf of making final table in a position of strength. I’d almost recovered from only 500 chips in level 1 after being donked by an all-in every hand maniac. In the second £2.30 I busted quite early with a cooler; my JT<QT on a J98 flop.
Next was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I didn’t really get anything going, after 45 minutes of play with my stack getting quite short I got all my chips in with Q9 on a Qc9c4c board. Unfortunately it was a classic ‘action flop’, my two callers were both well ahead with KcJc and 44, the flush held.
I’d have been happy to buy into another £5.75, but there were none scheduled to run at a suitable time, so I bought into a £3.30 speed rebuy instead. I made a profit by winning £16.20 for third place with £6.60 invested. I was a bit unfortunate it wasn’t more; after losing an AQ<44 flip to get heads up with the lead I was busted very next hand with my 77<55 aipf. While the rebuy was running I also enjoyed a fun run to the final table of a freeroll. After losing four aipf hands for the win while HU I eventually finished as runner up. Still, I can’t complain, it was £7.75 of free money. I’m happy to finish the day with a small profit despite a complete fail in the three Bounty Hunters. Also I’m at a new highest balance, at long last exceeding the £426.74 posted back on May 7th.
May poker points 490
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6381391 25-May-12 18:18 NL Holdem £02/203£7.756383210 25-May-12 17:20 NL Holdem £523/44-£5.756383661 25-May-12 17:18 NL Holdem £33/13£12.906382914 25-May-12 16:47 NL Holdem £230/40-£2.306385432 25-May-12 15:39 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956385276 25-May-12 15:26 NL Holdem £52/2-£5.256385190 25-May-12 14:25 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856384979 25-May-12 14:04 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906382392 25-May-12 13:52 NL Holdem £28/28-£2.306385165 25-May-12 13:49 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Hi G, As always V. impressed!
Heading in the right direction! Also I notice that your HU looks good today. I had noticed lately that these were costing you. Could I ask why you play these in the challenge?
pad
I play HU STTs for these 3 reasons;
1. They're good fun, I particularly like hyper and turbo tables where you can get a quick match in between MTTs or during a 5 minutes break
2. Poker points; my regular low stakes MTTs don't earn many points, without the HU matches I probably wouldn't make the 500 point C4P threshold. Playing the STTs gives me a quick and easy point boost ensuring I get there.
3. They are profitable. These are my stats since 9th January (when I started this);
good 2 see you roll is building nicely again.
not read all the posts...
do you ever play any dym,s?
sorry if u have posted up any.
and if not,is there a reason why?
keep up the good work m8.
:-)
dev
When I first joined Sky I loved DYMs, they were my main game. After a few months I luck-boxed a freeroll win and became interested in MTTs. It didn't take long to realise the MTTs were more profitable to me and so they soon became my prefered game.
Nowadays I've developed a play to win mentality that doesn't fare too well in DYMs. Every now and then I'll sit on one for a bit of variety, but I don't enjoy them as much as I used to, I prefer battling to win all the chips over playing to survive.
Ta for explaining G. TBH I'd only noticed over the last week so hadn't realised you were in profit. Rungood!
Closing balance £425.55
No joy in my afternoon tournaments today with the deck in an unfriendly mood. The wheels came off one deep run when the dreaded KK came back to haunt me; losing to a caller with A-rag when I 3-bet shoved from the SB a few spots from the bubble. The HU matches went better with consecutive wins in £1.05, £2.10, £3.15 and £5.25 turbos, this being only my second attempt at the laddering system (see day 137).
In the evening I tried a couple more cheap MTTs without success. In the Mini BH I was taken out by two comedy runner-runner flushes. I didn’t repeat last Saturday’s mistake and tilt waste money on rebuys.
May poker points 512 (£4.10)
6387807 27-May-12 00:38 NL Holdem £3274/348-£3.306388297 26-May-12 23:39 NL Holdem £153/72-£1.106387809 26-May-12 18:35 NL Holdem £29/47-£1.556389962 26-May-12 18:28 NL Holdem £51/2£4.756390188 26-May-12 18:16 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856387650 26-May-12 16:53 NL Holdem £310/10-£3.306386968 26-May-12 16:40 NL Holdem £237/40-£2.306387133 26-May-12 16:34 NL Holdem £215/45-£0.616389283 26-May-12 14:20 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906389416 26-May-12 14:08 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Not my day in MTTs, the second of the two runner-runner flushes that took me out of the mini BH.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancefeelo Small blind 20.00 20.00 735.00 scarfi02 Big blind 40.00 60.00 2462.50 Your hole cards 2 2 GaryQQQ Call 40.00 100.00 830.00 jvl Call 40.00 140.00 3060.00 dorsetdaz Fold CJCrawford Call 40.00 180.00 1160.00 feelo Call 20.00 200.00 715.00 scarfi02 Check Flop 2 6 9 feelo Check scarfi02 Check GaryQQQ Bet 125.00 325.00 705.00 jvl Call 125.00 450.00 2935.00 CJCrawford Call 125.00 575.00 1035.00 feelo Fold scarfi02 Fold Turn 10 GaryQQQ Bet 400.00 975.00 305.00 jvl Fold CJCrawford Raise 800.00 1775.00 235.00 GaryQQQ All-in 305.00 2080.00 0.00 CJCrawford Unmatched bet 95.00 1985.00 330.00 GaryQQQ Show 2 2 CJCrawford Show 6 7 River 8 CJCrawford Win Flush to the 10 1985.00 2315.00
Closing balance £436.15
My first games today were the 9-45am and 10-45am £3.30 Bounty Hunters. Didn’t get anything going in either and drew a blank. After a few HU matches next up was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I was very unlucky not to win and that first £5.75 win still evades me. I got heads-up against a very loose/aggressive opponent who’d only got that far by getting lucky in all-in situations after getting his chips in behind. In only the second hand of HU play I picked up AT on the BB, that’s miles ahead of the SB’s opening range so I 3-bet jammed. He called with A2o and got there with 85% of the chips in play in the middle. £5.75s have been the achilles heel of this quest. To date I'm £16 down over 60 of these games, despite 3x 2nd places and 3x 3rd place finishes that first win still eludes me.
That beat probably cost me around £30 or so in prize money so I was too tilted for any more MTTs and went back to the HU games. In the very first game my flopped set with 95.6% equity lost to a runner-runner flush (77<Ac8c on a Qh4h7c flop). That was enough and I quit for the day.
May poker points 533 (£4.26)
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6393285 27-May-12 14:04 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106391387 27-May-12 13:34 NL Holdem £52/34£22.656390866 27-May-12 13:18 NL Holdem £335/49-£3.306390616 27-May-12 12:13 NL Holdem £350/59-£3.306392862 27-May-12 11:36 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106392849 27-May-12 10:43 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956392675 27-May-12 10:34 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106392828 27-May-12 10:25 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956392614 27-May-12 10:16 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
£5.75 Bounty Hunter final hand
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancet Small blind 400.00 400.00 39145.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 800.00 1200.00 27655.00 Your hole cards 10 A t Raise 2000.00 3200.00 37145.00 GaryQQQ All-in 27655.00 30855.00 0.00 t Call 26055.00 56910.00 11090.00 t Show 2 A GaryQQQ Show 10 A Flop 3 Q 8 Turn 5 River 4 t Win Straight to the 5 56910.00 68000.00
Closing balance £436.01
Not much joy in the small amount of poker played today; third place in a small afternoon £2.30 Bounty Hunter was all I had to show for my efforts.
The best chance of a reasonable score was in the 9-45am Bounty Hunter, however I bubbled soon after having my stack crippled in a big all-in flip with AJ<TT.
After reviewing the hand I don’t regret taking the AJ v TT flip three spots from the bubble. At the time my 18BB stack was below the 24BB average and I had the other guy covered. I’m playing for the win here, not a min-cash. If the flip goes my way I take his head prize and have a stack (35BB) that will let me pick up easy chips by putting bubble pressure on weaker players, then after that a shot at going for the victory. I’d play it exactly the same way again, even if I knew his hole-cards before putting my chips in, the risk/reward ratio works heavily in my favour.
May poker points 543 (£4.34)
6395616 28-May-12 17:25 NL Holdem £23/29£4.256395348 28-May-12 16:35 NL Holdem £218/36-£2.306397130 28-May-12 15:07 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056394603 28-May-12 12:10 NL Holdem £311/65-£1.04
Cheekiest float & bluff of the day;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceANGLINGMAN Small blind 20.00 20.00 1800.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 40.00 60.00 1485.00 Your hole cards 3 5 yorkie63 Fold nufcisgood Call 40.00 100.00 2082.50 sam982 Fold MavsDad Call 40.00 140.00 2187.50 ANGLINGMAN Fold GaryQQQ Check Flop 4 K J GaryQQQ Check nufcisgood Check MavsDad Bet 40.00 180.00 2147.50 GaryQQQ Call 40.00 220.00 1445.00 nufcisgood Fold Turn 8 GaryQQQ Check MavsDad Check River Q GaryQQQ Bet 145.00 365.00 1300.00 MavsDad Fold GaryQQQ Show 3 5 GaryQQQ Win 220.00 1520.00 GaryQQQ Return 145.00 0.00 1665.00
Thinnest river value bet of the day;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancechipstaker Small blind 30.00 30.00 8405.00 cuckoo44 Big blind 60.00 90.00 2040.00 Your hole cards J J moneybanks Raise 180.00 270.00 2510.00 GaryQQQ Call 180.00 450.00 3730.00 fleecer123 Fold DARKGG Call 180.00 630.00 2215.00 chipstaker Call 150.00 780.00 8255.00 cuckoo44 Fold Flop K 7 3 chipstaker Check moneybanks Check GaryQQQ Check DARKGG Bet 120.00 900.00 2095.00 chipstaker Fold moneybanks Fold GaryQQQ Call 120.00 1020.00 3610.00 Turn A GaryQQQ Check DARKGG Check River 3 GaryQQQ Bet 325.00 1345.00 3285.00 DARKGG Call 325.00 1670.00 1770.00 GaryQQQ Show J J DARKGG Muck 10 10 GaryQQQ Win Two Pairs, Jacks and 3s 1670.00 4955.00
mate you should play more sngs say 9 player tripple ups cause you returns would be slightly higher and if your skill level is good enough the variance is not that bad at all.
I'll probably be sticking mainly to MTTs, mixed in with some fast HU STTs because they're what I enjoy the most. My personal preference is to play games in which you try to win all the chips, I don't enjoy survival games like DYMs and TYMs quite so much. Besides, despite a relative lack of success recently, my stats here and on other poker sites show that MTTs have been by far the most profitable form of poker for me.
Closing balance £446.45
In the morning I had a run to the final table of the 10-45am Bounty Hunter though I only managed fourth place. My bust-out was pretty unavoidable. When I picked up ATs on the BB with only 11BB behind during 5-handed play I wasn’t planning on folding to anybody. The shortest stack open jammed from UTG and the chip leader flatted, I put them both on a wide range and stuck my chips in too. I was ahead of the shortie’s A6 but I needed to improve to beat the chipleaders pocket 33. The 33 held and that was that. Had I hit there I almost treble up and another head-prize would be mine. Though it didn’t work out this time I believe I picked a good spot to get my chips in.
In the afternoon I tried a couple of £2.30s without success. In the first, based on notes, I took on a bingo maniac in the very first hand with pocket TT but couldn’t find a hold against his pre-flop 3-bet shove with A7. Before I closed the table he’d already busted another player with his second 3-bet shove, this time with Q9o. Next was a £3.30 speed rebuy, I got my chips in good in level 2 with a made hand against a flush draw but again couldn’t find a hold. I felt I wasn’t running well enough to consider a rebuy and quit MTTs for the day.
I finished off the session with a few HU STTs. My run-good finally arrived in the final hand of the day when my K2 flopped a boat to crack K9 and successfully complete the four HU steps again (£1.05, £2.10, £3.15 & £5.25, see day 137).
For the first time since starting this quest my balance is now high enough to enter a £10+£1 game without breaking my 40 buy-in roll. I'll only take the plunge when I'm in the right frame of mind so I may hold off a bit.
May poker points 560 (£4.50)
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6399371 29-May-12 17:19 NL Holdem £228/28-£2.306399549 29-May-12 16:55 NL Holdem £310/10-£3.306401544 29-May-12 16:36 NL Holdem £51/2£4.756399130 29-May-12 16:26 NL Holdem £211/36-£2.306401459 29-May-12 16:23 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856401383 29-May-12 16:08 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906401269 29-May-12 15:03 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956398621 29-May-12 13:28 NL Holdem £34/59£8.946400383 29-May-12 10:44 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
10-45am Bounty Hunter, final table bust-out hand (see first paragraph);
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceMarty642 Small blind 500.00 500.00 21610.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 1000.00 1500.00 11625.00 Your hole cards 10 A chupachups All-in 7600.00 9100.00 0.00 Big_Baz49 Fold chrisg6912 Call 7600.00 16700.00 35716.25 Marty642 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 11625.00 28325.00 0.00 chrisg6912 Call 5025.00 33350.00 30691.25 GaryQQQ Show 10 A chupachups Show 6 A chrisg6912 Show 3 3 Flop 5 9 8 Turn K River 4 chrisg6912 Win Pair of 3s 33350.00 64041.25
£5.25 Hyper HU STT, my run-good makes a belated arrival in the final hand of the day;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 50.00 50.00 1695.00 lrowe Big blind 100.00 150.00 155.00 Your hole cards K 2 GaryQQQ All-in 1695.00 1845.00 0.00 lrowe All-in 155.00 2000.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 1490.00 510.00 1490.00 GaryQQQ Show K 2 lrowe Show 9 K Flop 2 2 K Turn 3 River Q GaryQQQ Win Full House, 2s and Kings 510.00 2000.00
Graph of daily closing balances to date.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/440/challengegraph290512.jpg/
(click pic below to enlarge)
Closing balance £448.37
The micro-stakes Bounty Hunters were a nightmare today; full of maniacs just looking to gamble, very few entrants interested in playing proper poker. In my first game I got donked out with AA<T8o in level 2. I then tried another three games, all without success. The closest I came to getting anywhere was in the fourth game when my AJ was unable to hold against a hyper-maniac with 9Q on an 8J9 flop. It was only level 4 when that hand took place, yet we were already on the final table bubble with only 7 left from 26; an illustration of just how crazy play had been.
Weary of the bounty madness I decided to try a £3.30 freezeout. It was a welcome relief to play some real poker, though I wasn’t best pleased to find well-known MTT shark Uzi-lover at my starting table. Fortunately I had the benefit of position with Uzi to my direct right. This tournament turned out to be a day saver when I got second place for £15. Unsurprisingly the winner was Uzi, he was easily the best player in the game and deservedly took it down. Briefly I held the lead HU after 3-bet jamming the mighty 2c4c from the BB and getting there against overcards. But my lead wasn’t to last long; the next time I 3-bet jammed my ace-rag wasn’t so fortunate against pocket nines.
May poker points 577 (£4.62)
GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6404216 30-May-12 16:22 NL Holdem £32/16£11.706403079 30-May-12 16:07 NL Holdem £249/53-£2.306402518 30-May-12 14:52 NL Holdem £236/38-£2.306400772 30-May-12 14:37 NL Holdem £019/220£0.426402695 30-May-12 14:15 NL Holdem £27/26-£2.306402694 30-May-12 13:31 NL Holdem £339/49-£3.30
Though it's only level 4, incredibly we're already on the final table bubble of this crazy Bounty tournament that had started with 26 entrants. This was the closest I came to a cash in a Bounty Hunter today, a hold here against the hyper-maniac would have given me the chip lead, but alas it wasn't to be.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancehypermaniacSmall blind 40.00 40.00 18400.00 FASTCLIMB Big blind 80.00 120.00 7685.00 Your hole cards A J GaryQQQ Raise 160.00 280.00 5185.00 hypermaniac Call 120.00 400.00 18280.00 FASTCLIMB Call 80.00 480.00 7605.00 Flop 8 J 9 hypermaniacBet 360.00 840.00 17920.00 FASTCLIMB Raise 1560.00 2400.00 6045.00 GaryQQQ All-in 5185.00 7585.00 0.00 hypermaniacAll-in 17920.00 25505.00 0.00 FASTCLIMB Fold hypermaniac Unmatched bet 13095.00 12410.00 13095.00 hypermaniac Show 9 Q GaryQQQ Show A J Turn 2 River Q hypermaniac Win Two Pairs, Queens and 9s 12410.00 25505.00
My session started with a £2 rebuy today. Got donked with AK<A2 aipf for a 130BB pot in level 2, didn’t fancy rebuying after that.
Next up was a £2.30 Bounty Hunter; getting short I jammed my suited ace, found a caller with KJo, the flop came down AQT.
Decided to try another £5.75 Bounty Hunter. It didn't take long to realise my £5.75 jinx is still ongoing; after flopping a set of 5s I got it in against JJ on a 9K5 flop only to be two-outered on the river.
Enough was enough and I quit for the day.
May poker points 590 (£4.72)
6407036 31-May-12 16:07 NL Holdem £560/70-£5.756406771 31-May-12 14:37 NL Holdem £28/19-£2.306408256 31-May-12 14:24 NL Holdem £214/20-£2.20
Ran like doggie-doo today;
£2.20 Rebuy
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceDabbott Small blind 20.00 20.00 3785.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 40.00 60.00 2545.00 Your hole cards K A dalek_x Call 40.00 100.00 1695.00 bigJeff20 Fold Dabbott Raise 60.00 160.00 3725.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2545.00 2705.00 0.00 dalek_x Fold Dabbott Call 2505.00 5210.00 1220.00 Dabbott Show A 2 GaryQQQ Show K A Flop 2 8 6 Turn 3 River 10 Dabbott Win Pair of 2s 5210.00 6430.00
£5.75 Bounty Hunter
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceSANDMAN339 Small blind 15.00 15.00 1635.00 DEAL265 Big blind 30.00 45.00 1820.00 Your hole cards 5 5 akadapeach Raise 90.00 135.00 1660.00 sowden03 Fold SwineFlu Fold GaryQQQ Call 90.00 225.00 1695.00 SANDMAN339 Call 75.00 300.00 1560.00 DEAL265 Fold Flop 9 K 5 SANDMAN339 Bet 30.00 330.00 1530.00 akadapeach Raise 210.00 540.00 1450.00 GaryQQQ Raise 500.00 1040.00 1195.00 SANDMAN339 Fold akadapeach All-in 1450.00 2490.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 1195.00 3685.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 35.00 3650.00 35.00 akadapeach Show J J GaryQQQ Show 5 5 Turn Q River J akadapeach Win Three Jacks 3650.00 3650.00
HI G, I'm a BIG fan of your blog and always look forward to reading it. Q tho...
Not that it would have made any difference to the outcome but could I ask you're reasoning behind the jam in the first hand? NOT criticising, just wondering as I suspect at this stage I'd prob just have called. I'm guessing that would have been wrong?
Pad
If my opponent were playing conventionally (not many do in the micro-stakes MTTs, for the most part the early stages are roulette style shove-fests) I'd have made a standard 3-bet, maybe flatted, then taken it from there.
Closing balance £436.81
Made it home just in the nick of time for the 10-45am Bounty Hunter. A deepish run ended with a cooler; my AJ running into AQ on an ace high flop. At least I took a head prize on the way, already an improvement on yesterday’s results.
On a whim, I made a rare visit to a timed tournament, just a cheap £2.20 15-minute jobbie. My view of these was quickly reinforced; they’re undoubtedly good fun, but more based on luck than skill, certainly not the best place to look if you’re trying to build your bankroll. I made a few pence profit following a roller-coaster ride. After a lucky double with AQ s />AKo aipf I took a bad beat with QQ<A5 just before the end for a pot that would have made me chipleader with 8.5x the starting stack.
Next I tried a £3.30 freezeout and £2.30 Bounty Hunter. Somehow I managed to flop a set of threes at both tables at the exactly the same time. They had very different outcomes; my set held for an easy double in the freezeout, though in the Bounty Hunter I was forced to fold to a river shove with 3456x on the board. Not long after I was out of the Bounty Hunter.
Any hopes of a sensible game in the freezeout were soon forgotten, there were some awful players getting very lucky in the early stages. I watched in amazement at my first table as a serial limper/calling station playing 100% of hands hit everything and swerved all draws. Within 15 minutes he’d bust two players and built a stack 4x bigger than anybody else. Then at my second table a seemingly invincible maniac in bingo mode was hoovering up all the chips and busting players for fun. Unfortunately for this particular maniac his luck did eventually run out when I stacked him in the space of two hands with 44 />A5 on a 345 flop then aipf AA />JTo. That gave me the chip lead as we broke to final table, though my hands dried up at the sharp end and my third place finish was a bit of an anti-climax. My bust-out was a standard spot; KJ<A9 aipf with stacks getting short. The run-outs are never straightforward; I flopped a jack only to fall behind again on the river to a runner-runner flush.
There are very few suitable mid-afternoon MTTs to choose from, many of them are satellites to tournaments being held in the evening when I’m unable to play so I made do with another £2.30 Bounty Hunter. I couldn’t pick up or make a hand and slowly dwindled to a short stack. Down to 12BB I survived for couple of levels making uncalled shoves but eventually run out of luck when I ran pocket 77 into JJ.
I finished up with some heads-up games and lost a bit. My final game was against the same guy who beat me earlier with ace-rag>QQ aipf in the timed tourney for a pot worth £14. This time he beat me by calling a 15BB shove with his mighty Q4o to crack my big suited ace. I was not amused.
June poker points 17
6412768 1-Jun-12 19:20 NL Holdem £230/59-£2.306409856 1-Jun-12 18:25 NL Holdem £0127/252£06415000 1-Jun-12 17:41 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056414979 1-Jun-12 17:36 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106414966 1-Jun-12 17:25 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956414886 1-Jun-12 17:17 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056413081 1-Jun-12 15:31 NL Holdem £33/19£8.106411272 1-Jun-12 15:04 NL Holdem £214/34-£2.306411450 1-Jun-12 12:43 NL Holdem £316/56-£2.176410235 1-Jun-12 12:26 NL Holdem £217/55£0.61
The rise and fall of a maniac.
He built his stack making moves like this;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancemaniac Small blind 30.00 30.00 2997.50 GaryQQQ Big blind 60.00 90.00 4064.50 Your hole cards 8 3 270588 Fold Kelloggs Raise 180.00 270.00 4661.50 skelton01 Fold maniac Raise 510.00 780.00 2487.50 GaryQQQ Fold Kelloggs All-in 4661.50 5441.50 0.00 maniac All-in 2487.50 7929.00 0.00 Kelloggs Unmatched bet 1814.00 6115.00 1814.00 maniac Show Q 8 Kelloggs Show A K Flop Q 6 9 Turn 3 River 7 maniac Win Flush to the Queen 6115.00 6115.00
At the start of this hand he was chipleader and still thought he was invincible. Not at the end.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceMickGee Small blind 40.00 40.00 2480.00 maniac Big blind 80.00 120.00 8874.00 Your hole cards 4 4 GaryQQQ Raise 160.00 280.00 3574.50 skelton01 Fold MickGee Fold maniac Call 80.00 360.00 8794.00 Flop 4 3 5 maniac Bet 360.00 720.00 8434.00 GaryQQQ Raise 1440.00 2160.00 2134.50 maniac All-in 8434.00 10594.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2134.50 12728.50 0.00 maniac Unmatched bet 5219.50 7509.00 5219.50 maniac Show 5 A GaryQQQ Show 4 4 Turn 10 River 5 GaryQQQ Win Full House, 4s and 5s 7509.00 7509.00
Going.....going......gone. This is the very next hand. A fine demonstration of how to go from leader to bust in two easy moves;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancemaniac Small blind 50.00 50.00 5169.50 GaryQQQ Big blind 100.00 150.00 7409.00 Your hole cards A A skelton01 Call 100.00 250.00 3785.00 MickGee Fold maniac Raise 450.00 700.00 4719.50 GaryQQQ All-in 7409.00 8109.00 0.00 skelton01 Fold maniac All-in 4719.50 12828.50 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 2289.50 10539.00 2289.50 maniac Show 10 J GaryQQQ Show A A Flop 7 7 5 Turn J River 7 GaryQQQ Win Full House, 7s and Aces 10539.00 12828.50
Just have a quick word with the guys at Sky; my boomswitch has been gathering dust all year, just a quick flick of the switch and it'll be a piece of cake.
Closing balance £448.55
There was a promising start to my session with a run to final table of the first MTT; a £2.30 Bounty Hunter with 74 runners. The end result was a disappointment when I lost my first big all-in flip of the game to bust in fifth place.
As seems the norm now the deck was anything but my friend when I entered a £5.75 game. A promising start took a big dent when I had the second best hand and lost 40% of my stack in a big three-way flush v flush v flopped top two pairs pot. A few orbits later I squeeze/shoved my last 19BB with TT over an all-in shortie and a caller. The caller didn’t fold his A9, a decision that makes this a big +ev spot for me obviously, unfortunately the cruel xxx99 run-out deprived me of the head-prize and a 45BB pot. After more than 60 attempts the £5.75 Bounty Hunters continue to be the Achilles Heel of this quest. For the variance to even out in these I must be due a big heater sooner or later, I’ll keep trying.
Next up was a £2 Speed Rebuy. This was good value with only 7 of the 14 remaining entrants (from 23 starters) opting to take the good-value add-on at the break, the other 7 putting themselves at a big disadvantage. The final table was surprisingly tough with no obvious soft spots, unusual at this buy-in. Maybe I was the fish? Anyway, I won a flip with 88>AT to burst the bubble and briefly take the chip-lead, though I was destined for another disappointing finish with third place returning £16.80 for my £4.40 investment.
My bust-out hand in the re-buy (see below) was a very marginal spot so I've taken a close look at the maths since. Before the blinds are posted I have 12BB on the button, the SB has 12.5BB and the BB has 5.5BB. I open jammed with my QTo, expecting that my shove to force the SB to fold everything except premiums, also knowing that my QT is ahead of the BB's range (any 2 cards) with a lot of dead chips in the middle. After running the numbers through an ICM calculator I’m pleased to see that QTo is part of my profitable shoving range, albeit at the bottom of that range. I’d have been disappointed with myself if turned out the shove was a mistake. Though he held a dominating hand technically the SB made an incorrect call, according to the numbers he needed 99+ or AJ+.
In the evening I tried my luck in the Mini Bounty Hunter but was an early casualty after some 3-way all-in on the flop shenanigans; my JJ running into another JJ and 76 on a 278 flop. To nobody’s surprise the 76 got there on the river for a treble-up, I chose not to rebuy.
June poker points 37
6417438 3-Jun-12 01:08 NL Holdem £3421/470-£3.306418138 2-Jun-12 19:19 NL Holdem £23/23£14.606417525 2-Jun-12 19:16 NL Holdem £525/53-£5.756416410 2-Jun-12 16:46 NL Holdem £25/74£5.546413906 2-Jun-12 14:46 NL Holdem £073/203£06418930 2-Jun-12 13:45 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906417866 2-Jun-12 02:21 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Rebuy bust-out hand with optimal push/fold ranges produced by an ICM calculator;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancethatsmad Small blind 1500.00 1500.00 36085.00 luschious Big blind 3000.00 4500.00 13835.00 Your hole cards 10 Q GaryQQQ All-in 36580.00 41080.00 0.00 thatsmad Call 35080.00 76160.00 1005.00 luschious Fold thatsmad Show Q K GaryQQQ Show 10 Q Flop 9 Q 4 Turn J River 4 thatsmad Win Two Pairs, Queens and 4s 76160.00 77165.00
Level: 1500.0/3000.0/0.0
Structure: 0.5/0.3/0.2
Players: 3
Runtime: 2ms [300 Iterations]
PlayerStackPush%EQPreEQPostEQDiffBU36580.028.2%0.3580.36290.00489SB37585.078.6%0.3610.3607-3.1E-4BB16835.0 0.2810.2764-0.00458
Explanation: Stack: Players stack before posting blinds.Push%: Percentage of hands a player open-pushes.EQPre: ICM equity before blinds.EQPost: ICM equity after hand.EQDiff: ICM equity change during hand.PUCAOCRangeBU 28.2%, 22+ A2s+ A3o+ K8s+ KTo+ Q9s+ QTo+ J9s+ JTo T9s SB 6.3%, 99+ AJs+ AJo+ BB0.5%, AA BB 16.9%, 33+ A3s+ A7o+ KTs+ KQo SB 78.6%, 22+ Qx+ J2s+ J4o+ T2s+ T6o+ 92s+ 96o+ 82s+ 85o+ 73s+ 75o+ 62s+ 64o+ 52s+ 54o 42s+ BB 49.3%, 22+ Kx+ Q2s+ Q5o+ J6s+ J8o+ T7s+ T9o 98s
pad
p.s. can I guess another date? I had Feb 25th! ;-(
Closing balance £450.54
First up today was the 9-45am Bounty Hunter, I found myself unable to win a single hand against a calling station playing 100% of hands. Annoyances included AKs<Q5o, the guy calling down all streets with bottom pair (note to self – don’t bluff calling stations), then As6s<KJ0o on an AQ8 flop with two spades. My bust out hand was a 3-way all-in with my T8 up against QJ and 66 on a T98 flop, the station came third this time with his 66, he busted with me.
The 10-45am didn’t go any better. The only hand I played in the first 20 minutes was pocket QQ which I had to fold to a river check-raise on a bad board for my pair. 25 minutes later I busted in a standard flip with 99<AK aipf.
In a £5.75 Bounty Hunter I actually won a couple of small early pots, my first of the day, though the wheels came off when I ran my AQ into the AK of a fairly short stack on an A-high flop. A couple of orbits later I was in good shape for an 11BB to 34.5BB treble-up with my J8s all-in against AT and AT on a J-high flop but couldn’t dodge their 4 outs. Then I tried a 15 minute £2 timed tourney and busted in my first flip.
In the afternoon things improved I final-tabled two £2.30 Bounty Hunters though I suffered cruel bust outs in both. In the first my hand of doom killed my chances yet again; KK losing aipf to the A3o of an invincible maniac (who took 18 head-prizes from a field of only 55 runners). In the second during 3-handed play I 3-bet shoved AQs from the BB over a button raise and lost to A9o. By then I was pretty much pokered out and finished up the day with a couple of late HU games.
While it’s good to post a new highest balance I’m fairly disappointed it’s not more after failing to hold in those key late MTT spots yet again. Nearly five months into this quest I can’t help feeling I’ve been running pretty badly overall, I’m still awaiting my first heater. Are you reading Poker Gods? Now would be nice.
June poker points 66
6424812 3-Jun-12 18:54 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956424749 3-Jun-12 18:46 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956421128 3-Jun-12 16:24 NL Holdem £23/80£12.146419089 3-Jun-12 16:03 PL Omaha £099/400£06420806 3-Jun-12 15:19 NL Holdem £25/55£4.256421393 3-Jun-12 14:54 NL Holdem £540/64-£5.756420652 3-Jun-12 14:38 NL Holdem £219/54-£1.556420805 3-Jun-12 13:43 NL Holdem £356/78-£3.306420512 3-Jun-12 12:49 NL Holdem £351/74-£3.306419823 3-Jun-12 12:26 NL Holdem £268/78-£2.206422959 3-Jun-12 11:33 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956422939 3-Jun-12 11:24 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
The biggest leak in my game is failing to make key holds at final tables. Two examples from today;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceflash35 Small blind 500.00 500.00 20920.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 1000.00 1500.00 5805.00 Your hole cards K K CHALKY18 Fold butcther1 Raise 2000.00 3500.00 41425.00 john242 Fold flash35 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 5805.00 9305.00 0.00 butcther1 Call 4805.00 14110.00 36620.00 GaryQQQ Show K K butcther1 Show A 3 Flop J 8 A Turn Q River J butcther1 Win Two Pairs, Aces and Jacks 14110.00 50730.00
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancedean1973 Small blind 800.00 800.00 56415.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 1600.00 2400.00 27035.00 Your hole cards Q A DrFil Raise 6400.00 8800.00 67750.00 dean1973 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 27035.00 35835.00 0.00 DrFil Call 22235.00 58070.00 45515.00 GaryQQQ Show Q A DrFil Show 9 A Flop 9 K 7 Turn 4 River J DrFil Win Pair of 9s 58070.00 103585.00
Closing balance £456.82
I only had time for one morning MTT; the 9-45am £3.30 Bounty Hunter. A set of nines set me off to a good start in level 1, but I lost an even bigger pot in level 3 with my AQ < A2 on an AKJr flop when my opponent spiked a 2 on the river. After taking on another short stack aipf and losing with KJs<ATo I got my last few blinds in with AT and ran into QQ.
In the afternoon I tried a couple more Bounty Hunters. When it came to the crunch in a £2.30 game I was unable to fade a flush draw for second place in chips and a head-prize approaching the bubble. Instead my stack was crippled and I went out next hand.
In a £5.75 I bumped along near the bottom of the field all the way to the late stages, doubling twice on the way with flopped steps; my 99 cracking KK and my 77 embarrassing a guy who made an ill-timed bluff with A7. Annoyingly I missed a head-prize with each set by just a few chips. The bubble lasted forever due to the presence of an away player, nobody seemed to want to get all-in with anything less than the nuts until his stack had blinded away. When the away player was down to a few big blinds he suddenly jumped back in with a premium and doubled. It’s obvious he was sitting out as a deliberate ploy, hoping to trap. This is an unwise and seedy tactic in my opinion, though not against the rules. The bubble burst a few hands later when it limped around to me on the BB and I flopped trip twos with my K2. All I needed to do was check/call flop and turn and check/shove the river by which time my opponent was pot totally committed. I'd probably have folded the K2o to a raise.
The final table was initially very difficult for five of us; we were averaging about 12BB each against a runaway chipleader with well over 40BB. The chipleader used his stack to great effect and put us all under immense pressure. Two players quickly busted, though three of us managed to double and his lead was all but gone. My double came when I 3-bet jammed my JTs from the big blind and held against his 67s.
Just when I’d pulled myself into contention I was suddenly out. I three-bet jammed over another of the (now former) chip-leader's opens with my pocket 77. He called with A9s for 80% of his stack and we went to the races. Yet again I couldn’t find that all-important final table run good; he flopped two pairs and I was out in fourth place. If that flip had gone my way I’d have become the biggest stack for the first time in the game, well ahead of the other three and in great shape to go for the win.
Once again it’s disappointing end to a final table. Perhaps more importantly I’m very happy with how I played and don’t remember making a single mistake at any stage of this tournament. Also its less painfull because I didn't go out to a bad beat this time. If the exact same situation arose with the pocket sevens in the future I wouldn’t hesitate to shove again. My 77 was clearly ahead of the openers range, I’d already seen him raise/call with 76s and 23s at final table, I'm sure he'd also have been calling with other dominated hands like A7, A6, 66 etc.
So that elusive £5.75 win still evades me. Will I go through this whole quest without one? It's beginning to look like it. Though hopefully not, it nearly came today. If I can keep playing to the best of my ability there must be a good chance it’ll come sooner or later.
June poker points 90
6426031 4-Jun-12 17:05 NL Holdem £54/57£14.486425784 4-Jun-12 16:18 NL Holdem £216/50-£2.306425142 4-Jun-12 12:06 NL Holdem £328/51-£3.306427494 4-Jun-12 11:46 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056427408 4-Jun-12 11:35 NL Holdem £52/2-£5.256427432 4-Jun-12 11:23 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856427139 4-Jun-12 11:17 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906427439 4-Jun-12 11:07 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956427431 4-Jun-12 11:06 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056427363 4-Jun-12 11:02 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
Two ill-timed bluffs that sent chips my way today. The first in a HU match. The second in the £5.75 Bounty Hunter;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 25.00 25.00 950.00 Big blind 50.00 75.00 975.00 Your hole cards 9 9 GaryQQQ Raise 75.00 150.00 875.00 Call 50.00 200.00 925.00 Flop 4 7 9 Bet 100.00 300.00 825.00 GaryQQQ Raise 245.00 545.00 630.00 Call 145.00 690.00 680.00 Turn 9 All-in 680.00 1370.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 630.00 2000.00 0.00 Unmatched bet 50.00 1950.00 50.00 GaryQQQ Show 9 9 Show J 7 River 5 GaryQQQ Win Four 9s 1950.00 1950.00
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancerichie0710 Small blind 40.00 40.00 10546.25 murphy777 Big blind 80.00 120.00 4950.00 Your hole cards 7 7 scone1962 Fold Call 80.00 200.00 2682.50 GaryQQQ Call 80.00 280.00 2197.50 richie0710 Call 40.00 320.00 10506.25 murphy777 Check Flop 6 7 Q richie0710 Check murphy777 Check All-in 2682.50 3002.50 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2197.50 5200.00 0.00 richie0710 Fold murphy777 Fold Unmatched bet 485.00 4715.00 485.00 Show A 7 GaryQQQ Show 7 7 Turn 6 River 3 GaryQQQ Win Full House, 7s and 6s 4715.00 4715.00
Closing balance £500.50
On Bank Holidays I’m up at 1-30am and work on the milkround as usual, though I tend to get home a good hour earlier than normal because all the schools and businesses I would otherwise deliver to are closed. Plus at this time of year quite a lot of customers are away on holiday. My early finish today got me him home in plenty of time to enter my two favourite Bounty Hunters; the 9-45am and 10-45am £150 gtd. for £3.30 each.
Fields were bigger than usual due to the holiday and I was very pleased with the absence of bingo-style players at my tables, most of my opponents being competent regulars who, like myself, are there to enjoy a decent game of poker. In the 9-45am after a promising start and early head-prize I found myself getting short of chips with around a third of the field remaining. I’d been playing very tight for several orbits after a run of junk hole cards, so when down to only 13BB on the SB and facing a player with a tight calling range on the BB I decided I’d use my image to shove any two cards if it folded to me. I picked up a junk hand again, Q4o, but stuck to my plan and jammed it in. I’d have folded to any raise or limp. As you’d expect the BB snapped me off with his KK but I got super lucky and turned trip fours to double-up. That set me off on a mini heater; 5 hands later I 3-bet jammed AQs from the BB over a SB raise and won a flip against his TT. One orbit after that I picked up AA on the BB. An early position short stack open-shoved, then the SB re-shoved! My aces held against their 44 and KK to bust them both, in the time taken to play two orbits I'd gone from short stack to chipleader.
My big stack put me in control of the table and I could bully short stacks and chip-up quite easily until the bubble went. Heading into final table I was joint chipleader, two of us being well ahead of the other four. Meanwhile I busted the 10-45am quite close to the money; my 77<AJ aipf in a standard blind vs blind flip for a top five stack. In the 9-45 I continued to pick up cards and play well and went on to take it down. The two key final table hands were my 77 holding vs A7s aipf three-handed to give me a full double off the then chip-leader (and soon to be third place finisher). Then while heads-up I won the tournament in spectacular fashion. With my opponent getting quite short I open jammed 77 from the SB. He called with a dominated hand, K3s, but I didn’t need to sweat the turn or river after flopping quad sevens.
I'm delighted with the win after several near misses over recent days. As for the Q4o shoved into KK hand; I feel absolutely no guilt about it whatsoever. I’ve been on the receiving end of beats like that many a time, it’s just the variance evening out as far as I’m concerned. You have to make the most of it when the good luck comes your way, and thats exactly what I did today. Running well and playing well is a lethal combination.
With things needing to be done at home I decided against entering any more games today.
June poker points 96
6429839 5-Jun-12 13:18 NL Holdem £318/65-£3.306429523 5-Jun-12 12:43 NL Holdem £31/77£46.98
The lucky Q4 v KK double-up and crucial AA v KK v 44 hold 2 orbits later on the way to victory in the 9-45.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 150.00 150.00 3810.00 pokaman Big blind 300.00 450.00 5910.00 Your hole cards 4 Q 147Potter Fold stoker15 Fold SKINDOH73 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 3810.00 4260.00 0.00 pokaman All-in 5910.00 10170.00 0.00 pokaman Unmatched bet 2250.00 7920.00 2250.00 GaryQQQ Show 4 Q pokaman Show K K Flop J 10 4 Turn 4 River 9 GaryQQQ Win Three 4s 7920.00 7920.00