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The image below shows my statstics Sharkscope graph since starting this challenge. You can see where the run-bad kicked in and the wheels came off a promising start after around 300 games.
One statistic that sticks out to me is that while I've made £59 profit at the tables I've paid £71 in rake.
If it weren't for my C4P bonuses (which tip the balance back in my favour) Sky would have made more money out of this challenge so far than me!
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1329/resultstomarch1b.jpg
Closing balance £112.44
Didn’t play much today, what I did play went badly. Couldn’t get anything going in the four MTTs, probably not helped by the fact that I was busy with other stuff and giving less than 50% of my attention to the poker. My HU matches brought no joy either, I played well but ran badly in 60/40s and 70/30s. When I lost the final match with QT<Q9 all-in preflop, the board running out x9xx9, I decided I’d seen enough and called it a day.
March poker points 30
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit5941946 2-Mar-12 19:21 NL Holdem £265/66-£2.305945066 2-Mar-12 18:23 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055945050 2-Mar-12 18:12 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055945056 2-Mar-12 18:08 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955941476 2-Mar-12 16:54 NL Holdem £224/34-£2.305944559 2-Mar-12 16:42 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055940775 2-Mar-12 16:31 NL Holdem £224/70-£2.305944553 2-Mar-12 16:31 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055944332 2-Mar-12 15:46 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955939992 2-Mar-12 14:44 NL Holdem £220/63-£0.80
Closing balance £128.47
At last I managed a decent run in a Bounty Hunter getting 2nd from 82 runners. Going into HU I had a 3 to 1 chip deficit, my opponent had just busted the 3rd and 4th place finishers in quick succession. HU didn’t last too long, I wasn’t dealt any strong hole cards and missed all flops. My demise came when I jammed K9 into A9 preflop.
As a player whose MTT philosophy is to play for the win I’m usually pretty disappointed after getting a second place. That wasn’t the case today after my month long downswing. In fact looking at the records this was actually my biggest cash in the 190 MTTs I’ve entered since this challenge began, a fact that's a reminder of just how terrible my results have been. While this was only a small win hopefully I’ve turned a corner and even better results will follow.
With visitors here I won't be playing these evening and most (or all) of tomorrow.
March poker points 48
Recent ResultsGameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit5948185 3-Mar-12 19:59 NL Holdem £22/82£20.385948899 3-Mar-12 18:31 NL Holdem £140/60-£1.105947379 3-Mar-12 17:34 NL Holdem £276/81-£2.305946933 3-Mar-12 17:20 NL Holdem £227/54-£2.305950523 3-Mar-12 16:14 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955946167 3-Mar-12 16:07 NL Holdem £237/64-£2.305950263 3-Mar-12 15:28 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955949997 3-Mar-12 14:13 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955949893 3-Mar-12 13:45 NL Holdem £22/6£0.80
Enjoy reading your diary BUT not sure I would have been as relaxed as you seem to be!
(Didn’t play)
Day 57 – March 5th 2012
Closing balance £120.02
I took a day off the pokers on Sunday as it was one of my daughter’s birthday. When I returned to the tables today I came back to a familiar pattern; I ran pretty badly and drew a blank from 5 tourneys. It wasn’t bad beats taking me out, I seem unable to win those big flips, keep running into unavoidable coolers, and on the few occasions I do hit the flop very hard I’m being outdrawn by the river. I made a couple of awful calls today too.
If results don’t pick up this week I’m going to stop blaming variance and start taking a close look at my game. I’ve decided I’ll see where my balance stands this coming weekend. If results haven’t improved I’m going to consider taking a full week off next week. If I do I’ll spend a good part of my poker time reviewing hand histories looking for leaks and will immerse myself in my favourite strategy books and training videos. Whether I find fault in my game or not I already know a break can do wonders for your poker; I had my best ever series of results ever after a 7 week complete break from the game in the late summer/early autumn of 2010.
March poker points 64
5959919 5-Mar-12 19:20 NL Holdem £236/73-£1.555960511 5-Mar-12 18:18 NL Holdem £18/46-£1.105962451 5-Mar-12 17:43 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955962398 5-Mar-12 17:32 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055962323 5-Mar-12 17:28 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055959217 5-Mar-12 16:46 NL Holdem £29/60-£0.805959002 5-Mar-12 16:31 NL Holdem £223/65-£1.555958352 5-Mar-12 15:24 NL Holdem £224/55-£2.30
Closing balance £115.88
Only played 3 tournaments today before throwing in the towel. Ran terribly again, lost every flip and got rivered several times in crucial pots. I have no problem building a decent stack in the early to mid-stages, but the wheels always come off as we approach the money. I busted one of the tourneys today three spots from the money with KK<44 aipf, and that was only a few hands after losing another huge pot with QQ<AJ when the A hit on the river.
Yesterday I mentioned I may take a week break if results don’t improve by the weekend. At the moment I’m very close to snap taking the break immediately.
March poker points 73
5964250 6-Mar-12 17:11 NL Holdem £212/58-£0.805963783 6-Mar-12 15:30 NL Holdem £215/45-£2.305963782 6-Mar-12 13:36 NL Holdem £311/63-£1.04
Hand History #488426578 (12:25 06/03/2012)
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceMGB13 Small blind 200.00 200.00 13265.00 amethyst04 Big blind 400.00 600.00 3940.00 Your hole cards K K lea116311 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 6880.00 7480.00 0.00 GADGETBOY1 Fold MGB13 Call 6680.00 14160.00 6585.00 amethyst04 Fold MGB13 Show 4 4 GaryQQQ Show K K Flop 5 4 A Turn Q River 9 MGB13 Win Three 4s 14160.00 20745.00
Closing balance £127.98
Much happier today; £7.82 profit on the tables and my £4.28 February C4P bonus sent my balance heading the right way for a change.
I had a good run in the 10-45am £150 guaranteed Bounty Hunter, I was playing well and my hands were holding, I even won a flip with AK>TT for a head prize. Unfortunately it went pear-shaped once the bubble was gone and I busted out in 7th place when my all-in pair was outdrawn by a caller with AQ. Still, 7th was a relief, it was the same tournament that I busted in 11th yesterday with KK<44 aipf.
There was no joy in my later tournaments. One ‘creative’ opponent busted me by opening to 5x with Q6o UTG and calling my 3-bet overshove (see below). I was very pleased to win 4 out of 4 HU matches.
March poker points 87.
(results to follow)
You see it all in micro-stakes MTTs;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancerabraises Small blind 25.00 25.00 1440.00 pimpernel Big blind 50.00 75.00 2280.00 Your hole cards A K vicar12 Raise 250.00 325.00 2603.00 JayAcki25 Fold quadfather Fold GaryQQQ All-in 2197.00 2522.00 0.00 rabraises Fold pimpernel Fold vicar12 All-in 2603.00 5125.00 0.00 vicar12 Unmatched bet 656.00 4469.00 656.00 vicar12 Show Q 6 GaryQQQ Show A K Flop 5 3 8 Turn 6 River 4 vicar12 Win Pair of 6s 4469.00 5125.00
Gary, do you not mean March poker points?
(oooops, template amended
Closing balance £154.22
Boom! I actually won a small tourney this afternoon and suddenly find my challenge balance at its highest so far. About time!
The tournament I won was a £1 rebuy. I decided to try my luck without rebuying but to take the add-on if I made it as far as the break. After 15 mins my 2000 chip starting stack was down to 1100 chips and my prospects were looking grim. A classic squeeze shove got me going, I jammed AQ from the SB over a raise and a call. When they both flat called my shove I thought my chances were slim, but they checked it down to the river on a KQ2r flop and I was good for a treble-up. I chipped up from there and was on a healthy 4900 at the break, 6900 with the add-on.
I continued to build my stack and was in 2nd place with 2 tables left. Then I went on a spell of run-bad that almost ruined my chances. I had QQ cracked by QJ on a J-high flop when the villain rivered a straight, then my flopped set of jacks couldn’t hold vs TJ in a very similar hand. On the FT bubble I called an open shove with my QQ in the SB and lost another big pot, the villain had A6s and got there. I stayed cool and built back up. We went from 4 to 2 very quickly (3 paid), the table captain with a huge stack busted 4th and 3rd in quick succession while I sat back and watched. Going into heads-up he had a 6 to 1 chip lead. I got an early double with TT>AT aipf and slowly clawed my way into the lead.
In the final hand I was on the BB with AJ, I decided to flat the villains raise to disguise my strength (stack sizes made both 3-bet/call and 3-bet/fold unattractive). The flop came down Jd6h9h, I check-shoved over the villains’ pot-sized c-bet thinking he was unlikely to play a better made hand than mine so strongly and to represent my hand as a flush draw. He called for the rest of his stack with J8o and my cards held to take it down. My prize was £33.50 for a £2.20 investment.
My other tournaments today are best forgotten though I won both heads-up games. March poker points 99.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit5977511 8-Mar-12 17:15 NL Holdem £11/29£32.405976223 8-Mar-12 16:49 NL Holdem £213/37-£1.365977269 8-Mar-12 15:34 NL Holdem £315/36-£3.305974982 8-Mar-12 14:46 NL Holdem £236/50-£2.305978738 8-Mar-12 14:28 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955978398 8-Mar-12 12:54 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Closing balance £147.59
There was a promising start today with a run to the late stages of a Bounty Hunter with 3 head prizes on the way. When the bubble went I was one of the shorter stacks with only 11BB left. My philosophy is to play for the win in MTTs (I have no interest in laddering for small pay jumps), so when I picked up QTs on the button I jammed it in happy to either double or bust. I found myself in a race against 88, the flop was pretty good for me; QT3r. The 9 turn and J river weren’t quite so good!
From there things went downhill, I busted close to the bubble in another Bounty Hunter with A9<K9 aipf for a pot that would have put my stack above average. Then I played a series of heads-up matches to boost my poker points (I’m behind schedule for the 500 needed to earn C4P in March) only to find myself totally ‘doomswitched’ and lose 6 games in a row. I’m trying to keep bad beats out of this diary so I won’t post any hands, but it really is staggering how many consecutive 80/20 and 70/30s you can lose in a row sometimes.
March poker points 121
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit5985850 9-Mar-12 18:39 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955985732 9-Mar-12 18:25 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055985597 9-Mar-12 18:12 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055985553 9-Mar-12 18:07 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055985516 9-Mar-12 17:54 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055981859 9-Mar-12 17:52 NL Holdem £212/53-£2.305985491 9-Mar-12 17:48 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055981230 9-Mar-12 16:41 NL Holdem £236/67-£2.305984602 9-Mar-12 15:04 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955984087 9-Mar-12 15:00 NL Holdem £16/6-£1.155980554 9-Mar-12 14:56 NL Holdem £210/78£2.675984492 9-Mar-12 14:49 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055984403 9-Mar-12 14:43 NL Holdem £11/2£0.955984426 9-Mar-12 14:29 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.055983759 9-Mar-12 12:19 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Closing balance £134.04
Had an awful day and lost nearly 10% of my balance. Ran super bad in crucial pots, and if I’m honest self-destructed in one tournament by making a terrible call on the river for a 300bb pot and the chip lead with low flush<full house when it was obvious I was never good.
I won’t be playing much tomorrow, maybe not at all because I’m going out for most of the day. At the moment I'm not really enjoying poker much so I’m seriously considering taking a week break from the game. I’ll make my decision in the next 24 hours.
March poker points 150
(results to follow)
This is how I run, final MTT of the day (55 left from 247);
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancesmiler13 Small blind 150.00 150.00 3450.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 300.00 450.00 5272.50 Your hole cards 6 6 craken41 Call 300.00 750.00 12590.00 johnn Fold questor11 Fold smiler13 Call 150.00 900.00 3300.00 GaryQQQ All-in 5272.50 6172.50 0.00 craken41 Fold smiler13 All-in 3300.00 9472.50 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 1972.50 7500.00 1972.50 smiler13 Show 4 4 GaryQQQ Show 6 6 Flop 7 3 4 Turn 10 River 2 smiler13 Win Three 4s 7500.00 7500.00
Day 63 - March 11th 2012
(didn't play)
Day 64 – March 12th 2012
Closing balance £158.44
I took a day off poker on Sunday. After thinking it over I’ve decided not to take a complete break from the game this week after all. Instead I’m going to reduce my volume until poker becomes fun again.
I’m pretty certain the reason for my poor results over the last 7 weeks is a long spell of negative MTT variance. My hand histories show me running badly in key pots, they don’t show many cases where I’ve busted out after making big errors. I think my game is intact, while taking a break might refresh my mind obviously it can’t affect the way I run. I’ll be taking another day off poker on Wednesday and generally playing less until the urge to play as much as before returns.
Returning to the tables this afternoon I only registered for 2 small MTTs. I couldn’t get anything going in the first, a £2.30 Bounty Hunter. However there was a sudden change in fortune in a £3.30 freezeout. The tournament only just made it’s guarantee with 20 runners competing for the £60 prize pool, top 3 to be paid. From the start I was pleasantly surprised to find myself being dealt many strong pocket pairs, connecting with plenty of flops and chipping up well. The first big pot of the tournament saw me making quad 10s on the river to eliminate an opponent holding a turned straight. That made me clear chip leader where I was to remain for the rest of the tournament. To be honest I couldn’t really lose this one, I lost count of the number of sets I flopped and full houses I turned. Everything was going my way and all my hands were holding. I only got involved in 2 flips, won them both and eliminated an opponent each time. The second of those was the final hand, my J9>55 for the £30 first prize.
I’ve posted the hand that burst the bubble below. You’ll see it was the perfect board for me to bust my unfortunate opponent and a good example of how just how well I ran.
March poker points 155 (for the reasons above I’ve abandoned trying to chase 500 points this month)
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6000333 12-Mar-12 16:02 NL Holdem £31/20£26.705998347 12-Mar-12 14:14 NL Holdem £228/58-£2.30
Closing balance £152.74
After only two hours of play I threw in the towel today.
Finding myself short in my first MTT I squeeze-shoved 14BB from the button with JcTc over 2 serial limpers. My caller had J9o so I was in great shape to double-up. Then the flop came down; QT8 with no clubs. Great. While waiting for the next MTT I sat in a couple of HU matches, after winning the first I lost the second when J7s jammed into my AA for 80% of the chips in play and got there. The second MTT started well, but then my stack was crippled in a huge pot in which my QQ couldn’t hold against 88. This was becoming a familiar pattern, I’d already seen enough to know it was going to be 'one of those days' again and logged off to keep my losses to a minimum.
I’m out tomorrow and won’t be playing any poker at all, I’ll be back to tables for another try on Thursday afternoon.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6003591 13-Mar-12 14:50 NL Holdem £229/60-£2.306003812 13-Mar-12 13:24 NL Holdem £329/66-£3.306006365 13-Mar-12 12:03 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056006274 13-Mar-12 11:37 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancetaliflo Small blind 20.00 20.00 575.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 40.00 60.00 365.00 Your hole cards A A taliflo All-in 575.00 635.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 365.00 1000.00 0.00 taliflo Unmatched bet 190.00 810.00 190.00 taliflo Show J 7 GaryQQQ Show A A Flop 10 4 7 Turn 7 River 5 taliflo Win Three 7s 810.00 1000.00
(Didn’t play)
Day 67 – March 15th 2012
Closing balance £163.98
Back after a 48-hour break I entered just one small tournament this afternoon and was very pleased to get 2nd from 43 runners. The first hour was spent almost totally card dead and I played very few hands, so going into the break I was 22nd/23 and looking for a quick double. I got lucky and doubled with A-rag>KK aipf when an A hit on the river. On the bubble I was a bit unfortunate when my AT chopped with A4 aipf for the head-prize, but luck was to go my way again when another A-rag of mine outdrew QQ in an aipf pot when 4-handed.
Going into HU play I only had around 1/8th of the chips in play. A few hands in I picked up ATs, a hand I would never be folding with 14BB effective stacks, unfortunately I was coolered and couldn’t outdraw my opponents AJo. The winner is new to Sky and was only playing his third tournament. In the chat box he was trying to give the impression he was a newbie, but I could tell this guy knew exactly what he was doing. He played a very good loose-aggressive game and fully deservedly to win after running over the final table.
All of a sudden I’m pleasantly surprised to see me my balance climbing and at its highest point in this challenge so far and I can feel some confidence returning. While I won’t be able to play much tomorrow, I am looking forward to getting quite a few more games in and hopefully pushing on over the weekend.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6014114 15-Mar-12 14:35 NL Holdem £22/43£11.24
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/513/challengeto150312.jpg/
Click pic to enlarge
Closing balance £166.83
Only had time for 2 games on Sky today. Won a HU match and got 7th/50 in a micro-stakes MTT for a small profit. After a quiet week my volume should be returning to normal over the weekend.
I feel I’m coming into some form at the moment, in addition to my slightly improved results on the Sky tables I’ve also managed a couple of deep runs in tournaments with super large fields on another well-known site.
The weirdest hand of the day is posted below. One of my fellow players decided to shove his 84 big blind stack from MP with 2/4 offsuit over an UTG limper. Remarkably he even managed to win the hand. This is not a play I would recommend, I even had to check the hand history to make sure I wasn’t seeing things!
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6021953 16-Mar-12 17:27 NL Holdem £17/50£1.906023198 16-Mar-12 14:08 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancedryliner Small blind 25.00 25.00 3185.00 agnorr59 Big blind 50.00 75.00 2480.00 Your hole cards 2 8 stokeyjoe1 Fold toproof8 Call 50.00 125.00 380.00 xx All-in 4230.00 4355.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Fold dryliner Fold agnorr59 Fold toproof8 All-in 380.00 4735.00 0.00 xx Unmatched bet 3800.00 935.00 3800.00 toproof8 Show 8 7 xx Show 2 4 Flop Q 3 6 Turn K River 4 xx Win Pair of 4s 935.00 4735.00
Closing balance £175.55
After a week of relatively little play I returned to my normal volume. Unfortunately I ran terribly all afternoon/early evening and was resigned to a losing day.
However, the final MTT was to unexpectedly save the day. I made a run to the final table of a 125 runner £2.30 Bounty Hunter, helped on the way by winning two all-in pots as an underdog. For once a big suck-out went my way, in a key mid-stages hand I jammed AJs from the SB over a MP limper and got there against his AQ. Because so many beats had gone against me earlier in the day I felt absolutely no guilt whatsoever!
When we were 4-handed I watched while the other 3 players played an all-in pot, 2 of them were eliminated by the runaway chipleader to ladder me 2 places and get me HU. Unfortunately my stack was puny 10BB vs over 100BB and I lost a race in the second HU hand to bust as runner-up.
After moaning and whinging at my laptop all afternoon I’m now pleasantly surprised to be looking at the highest balance of this challenge so far. Dear Poker Gods; I take it all back!
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6027759 17-Mar-12 22:18 NL Holdem £22/125£18.826027628 17-Mar-12 20:38 NL Holdem £262/86-£2.306030407 17-Mar-12 18:24 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056026759 17-Mar-12 18:00 NL Holdem £28/55£1.206030138 17-Mar-12 17:33 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106030108 17-Mar-12 17:24 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906029957 17-Mar-12 17:19 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106026339 17-Mar-12 16:56 NL Holdem £233/71-£2.306023225 17-Mar-12 16:14 PL Omaha £0358/482£06029312 17-Mar-12 15:00 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
The Poker Gods giveth (run to BH FT);
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 300.00 300.00 8250.00 sooky Big blind 600.00 900.00 14063.75 Your hole cards A J DODIDDLEY Fold Cmartin66 Fold greencards Call 600.00 1500.00 12727.50 darryn1973 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 8250.00 9750.00 0.00 sooky Fold greencards Call 7950.00 17700.00 4777.50 GaryQQQ Show A J greencards Show Q A Flop K 7 3 Turn J River J GaryQQQ Win Three Jacks 17700.00 17700.00
........ and the Poker Gods taketh away (HU SnG, they don't come much worse than this);
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 25.00 25.00 516.00 tony1394 Big blind 50.00 75.00 1409.00 Your hole cards A A GaryQQQ Raise 75.00 150.00 441.00 tony1394 Call 50.00 200.00 1359.00 Flop 7 5 Q tony1394 All-in 1359.00 1559.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 441.00 2000.00 0.00 tony1394 Unmatched bet 918.00 1082.00 918.00 GaryQQQ Show A A tony1394 Show 4 K Turn 8 River 6 tony1394 Win Straight to the 8 1082.00 2000.00
Happy St.Patricks Day everybody!
It was an evening of poker and Guinness for me tonight;
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/pokerguinness.jpg/
Closing balance £209.84
Things are on the up; this was best day of my challenge so far! It’s amazing the difference a week can make, last Sunday I was in the doldrums and didn’t play any poker at all.
In my first game I made the final table in a small Bounty Hunter, but could only manage 5th place for a min-cash. Meanwhile I was already playing the early stages of the 10-45am £150 gtd. Bounty Hunter. For the first hour I stuck to my usual tight/aggressive style and got to the hour break as one of the shorter stacks and without a head prize.
Things took off for me in a 10 minute spell that started in level 8. Two crucial holds gave me full doubles; A9s />KTo and AJo />KQs (my J made a straight flush!), both aipf. Then early in level 9 I managed another full double with my 53s on the BB holding against a limper with A4o on an A53r flop to take the chip lead. These 3 hands were the only times in the entire tournament (before heads-up play) that I was all-in and called.
Going into the final table I was still chip-leader, though still without any head-prizes. My cards then dried up for a quite a while, during this time another player went on a heater and eliminated everybody else left apart from me. A few minutes into HU play I was down to a 16.6K v 97.4K chip deficit with blinds at 500/1000. My opponent was being cautious so I managed to chip up with series of uncalled shoves. A cooler then launched me into the lead, my Q5 doubling against J5 all-in on the turn with two 5s on an otherwise dry board. The cards fell perfectly for me in the winning hand, my set of 4s on a 7h4hQh flop improved to a full-house on the turn to crack a flopped flush. All the chips went in on the river.
This was my best win since the challenge began, despite taking only one head prize I was delighted to take this tournament down. It was purely down to outplaying my opponents, I only picked up one premium pair in the whole tournament, KK in level 2 which only won a tiny pot. At no time did I get lucky and win a pot after getting my chips in behind. The runner-up took a huge 10 heads from the 57 runner field and actually managed to win a few pence more than me, yet I still stand by my Bounty Hunter strategy; always put playing for the win above playing for head-prizes. The emotional high and confidence boost generated by this tournament win is worth far more than those extra few pence, winning an MTT is the best feeling in poker.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6031289 18-Mar-12 13:23 NL Holdem £31/57£31.586030419 18-Mar-12 12:31 NL Holdem £25/39£2.71
BH win final hand; http://t.co/yNjhYEBR
That's more like it, I declare my 5 week downswing officially over!
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/challengeto180312.jpg/
Closing balance £206.55
Only had time for 3 games and didn’t get much joy. Bubbled the first Bounty Hunter, though I made a small profit on my buy-in with 4 head prizes.
It went downhill after that. I busted out of the next BH in the very first hand. With 2 limpers in the pot I checked my big blind with 24o, a hand I would instantly muck in any other seat. The flop was pretty good for me; 356r. Unfortunately an opponent with 78o got there when he hit a 9 on the river for a higher straight and I was out. With hindsight I wonder if a tight laydown may have been possible (he shoved, I called). I was only losing to 78 or 47. Sets, 2-pairs and over pairs were also in the villains range, some opponents will even get it in with top pair/top kicker at this buy-in. Against an unknown random it's probably a profitable call over time.
In the third game my stack took some serious damage from a calling station who flatted my big open with Q2o, he called my c-bet on a Q high flop and made trip Qs on the turn to crack my pocket aces. You get used to these terrible calls in the micro stakes tournies, it's frustrating when they get lucky, but you have to remember that the players making these awful plays are always losing players in the long run. A standard AJ<99 flip against the same guy a few hands later finished me off.
6037566 19-Mar-12 17:12 NL Holdem £222/31-£2.306037446 19-Mar-12 16:32 NL Holdem £242/42-£2.306036429 19-Mar-12 15:02 NL Holdem £27/40£1.31
Closing balance £210.34
My first tournament today was a £3.30 Bounty Hunter. It started well with an early double-up and bounty, but two rather unfortunate pots against lucky calling stations spoiled my chances. Firstly 89o called all streets to make an unlikely straight on the river to crack my flopped top set on a J68r board. Then my QJ couldn’t hold against a straight draw when all his chips went in on a Q53r flop. It’s pretty frustrating when a short stacked player flats your preflop raise with 24o and gets there on there the river! After losing another pot with AQs<79o my exit came when I jammed 33 from the small blind into the big blinds 44.
The next tourney was a £2.20 Bounty Hunter. As is often the case in these there was carnage in the early stages; more than half of the 60 runners had been eliminated within 25 minutes. To my relief my hands were holding against the calling stations this time. By the hour break I was above average and free-rolling with my 3 head prizes (if you take 3 head prizes in a Sky Bounty Hunter you’ve won enough cash to cover your entry fee). My cards dried up somewhat in the second hour, though I managed to take one more head prize and make it to final table for 5th place and a small profit. I was busted by the runaway chipleader. He was on a huge heater; hitting everything and taking bounties for fun. In one huge pot just before the bubble he busted another big stack with KK>AA aipf, his 2-outer hit on the turn. When I left the tournament he had around 75% of the chips in play.
With overdue business paperwork needing attention I didn’t have time to enter any more games today.
I’m now close to the point where I’m prepared to enter £5 tournaments. My challenge BRM rules (never risk more than 1/40th of my balance in any one game) allow me to enter £5.00+50p freezeouts when I get to £220. I need £230+ to enter £5.00+75p Bounty Hunters due to their higher rake. When I’m rolled for those games there’s a better chance for rapid growth in my balance due to the higher prizes up for grabs. After two and a half months in the micro stakes I’m very much looking forward to moving up. One more bink and I’m there.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6041342 20-Mar-12 15:00 NL Holdem £25/60£5.696041561 20-Mar-12 13:36 NL Holdem £320/65-£1.90
Closing balance £216.93
I was back home from work in time to enter the 10-45am £3.30 Bounty Hunter again. Though I spent most of the tournament in ‘short-stack ninja’ mode I somehow made final table for a 4th place finish. My bust-out hand was a standard blind vs blind cooler; I jammed A8s from the SB into QQ on the BB with 11BB effective stacks. With only one head prize my profit from the tournament was nothing to get excited about.
In the afternoon I entered two £2.30 Bounty Hunters. A promising run in the first ended in a harsh beat when I cold 4-bet jammed my AdKd and got outdrawn by a caller with AhJh. A hold there would have put me second in chips with 9 remaining. In the second I made another final table, but could only finish 5th. Frustratingly I had to fold QQ on the river in a crucial final table pot. With 9AKK5 including 3 hearts on the board my hand was never going to be good. Soon after when down to 9BB I open jammed 44 and ran into KK.
My two final tables today didn’t earn much in the way of profit but I have to pretty happy with how things are going at the moment. My balance is on another new high and I’ve been making consistent deep runs for several days. More final tables will inevitably lead to more wins. I feel I’m playing well, it’s clear that the recent painful 5 week spell of negative variance has ended and my confidence is now higher than it’s been for ages.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6048195 21-Mar-12 18:30 NL Holdem £25/62£3.416047825 21-Mar-12 17:23 NL Holdem £210/37-£2.306046778 21-Mar-12 13:35 NL Holdem £34/51£5.48
The most annoying hand of the day is posted below. I decided I was too short to call off another 200 chips chasing a set with my 22 and that I’d rather wait for a better shove spot (I’d have jammed here with 77+). Had I called it looks like it would have been the easiest treble-up in poker history. Still, I can’t be results orientated, flatting or shoving with 22 in that spot is almost certainly a losing play over time.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancelepoisson Small blind 50.00 50.00 2957.50 GaryQQQ Big blind 100.00 150.00 1430.00 Your hole cards 2 2 JimSmith47 Raise 300.00 450.00 16005.00 JAAK47 Fold lepoisson Call 250.00 700.00 2707.50 GaryQQQ Fold Flop 2 K 2 lepoisson Bet 600.00 1300.00 2107.50 JimSmith47 Call 600.00 1900.00 15405.00 Turn 9 lepoisson Bet 1300.00 3200.00 807.50 JimSmith47 Call 1300.00 4500.00 14105.00 River 10 lepoisson All-in 807.50 5307.50 0.00 JimSmith47 Call 807.50 6115.00 13297.50 lepoisson Show K 8 JimSmith47 Show 8 K lepoisson Win Two Pairs, Kings and 2s 3057.50 3057.50 JimSmith47 Win Two Pairs, Kings and 2s 3057.50 16355.00