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£109 profit has come from 239 MTTs at an average ROI of +22%
£23 profit has come from 382 heads-up matches at an average ROI of +8%
£21 profit has come from 138 STTs (excluding DYM) at an average ROI of +18%
£3 loss has been made in 29 DYMs at an average ROI of -18%
£16 profit has come from C4P bonuses
MTTs will be my main focus from now. My long-term average ROI in Sky MTTs is 80%, the 22% achieved so far is disappointing but hardly surprising considering the 5 week downswing that ended a few days ago. My balance should start to grow more quickly if I can get back towards my long term average ROI and get myself rolled to play in higher buy-in games.
I've abandonded chasing a C4P bonus in March after early low volume. Once I'm rolled for £5 games (hopefully within a few days of now) I'll be earning more points for the same quantity of play and the C4P bonuses will become easy to achieve again.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/85/challenge220312bydiscip.jpg/
Closing balance £209.88
Things didn’t go too well today. After a strong start in my first tourney I busted after open raising with 8d9d and flopping TdJdQh for a made Q-high straight and an open ended redraw to the straight flush. All the chips went in against the only player at the table who had me covered. Unfortunately he had K9o for a higher flopped straight and my flush draw didn’t hit. I could never get away from my hand on that flop and consider it to be one of those unavoidable coolers.
In the second Bounty Hunter I started well again with an early double up, but after getting it in good on the flop was unable to fade flush draws in 2 huge pots to be deprived of 3 bounties and a big chip lead. When I found myself getting short my exit hand was a standard flip. In the third tournament while on the button I foolishly overplayed my QJ on a J high flop and managed to get myself busted by a slowplayed KK in the SB.
In my final tournament (a £1 rebuy) I made a flying start and was on 4x starting stack by the end of level 2 without taking a rebuy (helped on the way by some good fortune when my A4 eliminated an unlucky player with KJ on an AQT44 board). My stack continued to grow but just 3 minutes before the end of the rebuy period and while placed second an awful beat against the chipleader cost me a 16K stack and a huge lead with the average at 5.3K. He got there on the river with QJ to crack my AQ on an AQ3 flop. After that pot I I’d seen enough to know it was unlikely anything would be going my way today, I ended the session early and decided not to bother chasing my money by making a double re-buy and add-on.
6053626 22-Mar-12 17:02 NL Holdem £114/28-£1.106052099 22-Mar-12 16:27 NL Holdem £230/56-£2.306051511 22-Mar-12 15:08 NL Holdem £213/32-£2.306054727 22-Mar-12 13:24 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Closing balance £227.06
The cards didn’t fall my way in Bounty Hunters today. I lasted well over an hour in the 10-45am, but when getting short I 3-bet shoved my 77 into TT to bust. My exit in the first of two £2.30s came with AK<A2 on an A-high flop, the 2 hitting on the turn by which time I was pot committed. In the third I was to bust in the very first hand after 2 callers flatted my huge 3-bet with pocket KK. With 300BB and 2 head prizes in the pot I was unable to fade a flopped nut-flush draw on the 778 flop. It I’d play it the same again 100% of the time. Meanwhile in a £1 rebuy I found myself with AKo on the BB very first hand at the 5-handed table. Before it was my turn to act one player had open shoved his whole 100BB stack and another had called. I decided I might as well make the call too and gamble for a monster 300BB starting stack. I was up against the AJo of the open shover and the callers 33. The 33 held. With so much wild play going on I was happy to make a quick double rebuy.
Surprisingly I found myself chipleader just two hands later; the 33 guy doubled somebody else to lose a third of his 300BB, then I stacked another player with full house over full house. 5 minutes later I was up to 5x starting stack chips when I 3-bet AA, flopped A33 and stacked an opponent who played 55 about as badly as is possible. Some of my opponents continued to play terribly and by the break I had a massive 31.4K in chips, second was miles behind with 8.7K and the average was 5.3K. Some of you may disagree, but I thought it best to take the add-on anyway with 15 players remaining and only the top 3 to be paid, I always take the add-on at the end of any rebuy period regardless of stack sizes.
With 15 left and only 3 to be paid after the add-ons so there was still a lot of work to do. With such a big stack I didn’t need to gamble so I tightened up. On the way to final table I only played one big pot; I was put in a tough spot when an OOP opponent donk-shoved a pot sized bet on the river of an 89J3A board with 3 clubs, my AKo was good for a juicy pot. At the final table I feel I outplayed my opponents, I went on to take first place for a handy £27 prize and record a new highest closing balance. I also forgave the RNG for being so mean to me in the Bounty Hunters!
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6058828 23-Mar-12 17:29 NL Holdem £243/45-£2.306060247 23-Mar-12 17:28 NL Holdem £11/25£25.906058530 23-Mar-12 17:14 NL Holdem £247/63-£2.306057687 23-Mar-12 13:40 NL Holdem £324/72-£2.176061133 23-Mar-12 12:21 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906061269 23-Mar-12 12:14 NL Holdem £0.502/2-£0.55
Bounty Hunter madness;
Closing balance £223.48
In level 1 of my first Bounty Hunter today I made my biggest suck-out of the challenge so far. I got all-in with my QQ pre-flop against 2 opponents (you see so much wild gambling in these games that you can’t fold QQ preflop at any stage against unknown players). They flipped over AQ and AA, so I was drawing very thin. But it was OK, I binked my miracle 1-outer on the turn to scoop a huge pot. The luck had dried up by the final table; I busted in 6th for peanuts after getting it in as favourite and losing twice.
Two more £2.30 Bounty Hunters came to nothing, then the wheels came off a run in the Super6 Freeroll when my AK was outdrawn by AQ after all the chips went in preflop. A lucky TT>AA hand in the mini Bounty Hunter propelled me on another run, I made a small profit with 3 head prizes but fell short of the bubble prizes.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6066223 25-Mar-12 00:47 NL Holdem £374/426£0.996066892 24-Mar-12 22:54 NL Holdem £258/122-£2.306070104 24-Mar-12 20:08 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106070137 24-Mar-12 19:57 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056062780 24-Mar-12 19:13 NL Holdem £0103/244£06066225 24-Mar-12 19:06 NL Holdem £279/87-£2.306064994 24-Mar-12 16:42 NL Holdem £26/54£2.236069033 24-Mar-12 16:35 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95My balance took a small dent today, but it's nothing to worry about, the general trend is upwards. The poker was good fun today, I’m back to enjoying the game after getting disillusioned a couple of weeks ago.
I make a huge suck-out;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceboyingreen Small blind 15.00 15.00 1485.00 scottygirl Big blind 30.00 45.00 4855.00 Your hole cards Q Q delyob Raise 150.00 195.00 1965.00 Jaypee61 Fold GaryQQQ Raise 435.00 630.00 2120.00 boyingreen Fold scottygirl All-in 4855.00 5485.00 0.00 delyob All-in 1965.00 7450.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2120.00 9570.00 0.00 scottygirl Unmatched bet 2330.00 7240.00 2330.00 scottygirl Show Q A delyob Show A A GaryQQQ Show Q Q Flop 5 7 Q Turn 2 River 10 GaryQQQ Win Three Queens 7240.00 7240.00
.
Good to see things are goin better m8.
GL
Closing balance £240.52
I only bought into 2 MTTs today. In the 9-45am £150 Gtd Bounty Hunter I made a pleasing run to the final table, though my bust out in 5th was rather unfortunate. The SB min-raised with K2, I jammed my stack from the BB with AJ. He made a loose call and got there. It’s frustrating that I couldn’t hold, but it’s a call I want; 2 times out of every 3 that pot will go to me and I’ll be in a great position to go for the win.After the first game I was correctly rolled for a £5.75 Bounty Hunter (40x £5.75 =£230) for the first time since my challenge began, and so I registered for the 1-30pm £250 gtd.
Things started well with an early double and head prize. After that things didn’t really go my way for a full hour. It turned into one those games where all the hands I passed were smashing flops, all those I played were getting me nowhere. Getting quite short after the break I got it in with KK for a much needed double. Then a crucial slice of luck was on my side as I took my second head prize with AK>TT in a standard flip, my A hitting on the river when I had only 1BB left behind.
I survived the seemingly never ending bubble and went to make final table again. My fate was another cruel bust-out in 5th place with my QQ<KQ aipf for a pot that would have put me in a good position 5-handed. The £9 profit may not be much compared to the buy-in, but it gives a useful increase to my balance. Also it’s morale boosting to cash in the first £5 tourney I’ve entered for 11 weeks.
Apart from that I entered 3 freerolls with no return. Team51 have a fun last-longer competition in the Fantasy Football Freeroll each week. The first out has to pay a forfeit; he/she has to change their on screen location to ‘Team51 Official Tran_ny’ for 7 days. The bad news; I was first out, so I’m the tran_ny. The good news; the tran_ny always seems to run well!
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6070497 25-Mar-12 16:13 NL Holdem £55/52£8.876068248 25-Mar-12 15:58 PL Omaha £0395/451£06067909 25-Mar-12 14:34 NL Holdem £0123/224£06069837 25-Mar-12 12:25 NL Holdem £35/59£8.17
Ouch, a painful final table exit from the first £5.75 tournament I've bought into for 7 weeks;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 400.00 400.00 11240.00 met66 Big blind 800.00 1200.00 18470.00 Your hole cards Q Q EASYFIX Fold Rushquinn Fold AlansLuck Fold GaryQQQ Raise 1600.00 2800.00 9640.00 met66 All-in 18470.00 21270.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 9640.00 30910.00 0.00 met66 Unmatched bet 7630.00 23280.00 7630.00 GaryQQQ Show Q Q met66 Show Q K Flop K A 6 Turn 4 River J met66 Win Pair of Kings 23280.00 30910.00
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/267/challengeto250312.jpg/
(click pic to enlarge)
Closing balance £241.92
Monday is usually a busy day for me (work/weekly food shopping/weekly business banking) so there’s not much time for poker. All I managed today was two £2.30 Bounty Hunter tournaments. I took two head prizes in the first but crashed out short of the money with my flopped top two pairs losing to a flopped straight.
In the second there were only 15 entrants, I managed to get HU but came second with no head prizes. With almost level stacks I busted out with AA<K9 on a K97 flop. On the BB I flatted the SB’s open raise planning to check/shove any flop. Obviously it back fired this time but I prefer it to 3-betting shoving pre-flop which will almost certainly get a fold from hands like K9. If my opponent had any king apart from K9 or K7 I probably would have doubled and gone on to win.
While the second Bounty Hunter was running I also registered into a freeroll that happened to be running. Check out the sick river card in my bust out hand (posted below).
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6076296 26-Mar-12 16:14 NL Holdem £22/15£2.206075157 26-Mar-12 14:31 NL Holdem £218/52-£0.80
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 600.00 600.00 20156.25 Magoroku87 Big blind 1200.00 1800.00 30682.50 Your hole cards 10 K barret91 Fold NL_KYLE Fold kelvin1956 Fold loopylisa Fold GaryQQQ Raise 1800.00 3600.00 18356.25 Magoroku87 Call 1200.00 4800.00 29482.50 Flop Q J 3 GaryQQQ Check Magoroku87 Bet 2400.00 7200.00 27082.50 GaryQQQ Call 2400.00 9600.00 15956.25 Turn J GaryQQQ Check Magoroku87 Bet 4800.00 14400.00 22282.50 GaryQQQ All-in 15956.25 30356.25 0.00 Magoroku87 Call 11156.25 41512.50 11126.25 GaryQQQ Show 10 K Magoroku87 Show K J River J Magoroku87 Win Four Jacks 41512.50 52638.75
Hi Garyqqq
Came across your challenge and must say that i'm enjoying the read. Read a few pages now. Its good to see how you run and the general flow. its probably good for me to see that even good players in MTT's can easily have bad days. I enjoy MTT's but as a learning process. Any good books/articles you'd recommend to accelerate the process? Gl in your attempt...i'll continue to view though off on hol soon to Carlo's island....Tenerife!! Cheers
A big turning point for me came in 2010, soon after I'd made the switch from DYMs to MTTs. I went away for 7 weeks during which time I was unable to play any poker. I was really getting into the game at point, so I decided to buy the two 'Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand At A Time' books and take them with me. I thought they were excellent and read them both twice during that time. As soon as I returned to the tables I had my best run of results ever; if you look at my Sharkscope graph you'll easily see that point, it suddenly starts shooting upwards. If you can get hold of those books and take them to Tenerife with you you'll probably find they'll pay for themselves several times over when you get back. Mine certainly did.
Good luck.
Closing balance £250.90
It started badly today no return from my first 5 tournaments and a HU match. Things just weren’t going my way, I don’t think I made many mistakes, it was just a case of not making many hands and running badly in all-in situations.
Things went better in my last tournament; a 43 runner £2.30 Bounty Hunter which saved the day. The dealer was very kind to me this time, I picked up several premium pairs including AA 3 times, one of those collided with KK and held in a huge aipf pot. I went into final table with the chiplead, managed to survive a couple of wobbles 3-handed and HU to go on and take it down.
Heads-up play was tense and lasted a long time. My opponent busted the 3rd place finisher and started with the lead. After a couple of levels of to and fro he seemed to get frustrated and grow increasingly aggressive. It eventually got to the point where he was shoving everything, seemingly happy to gamble and get it in with any hand. All I could do was tighten up, wait for strong hands and hope they held. I eventually got there with my JJ holding vs K5 aipf.
With a small field and low buy-in this wasn’t a very big win, but pleasing none the less, winning any MTT and owning all the other players chips always feels great. I had been pretty much resigned to a losing day so it was a nice surprise to find myself finishing up on a new highest balance.
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6080489 27-Mar-12 16:51 NL Holdem £21/43£26.086080259 27-Mar-12 16:10 NL Holdem £241/44-£2.306079623 27-Mar-12 14:31 NL Holdem £223/40-£2.306080978 27-Mar-12 14:18 NL Holdem £517/27-£5.756079845 27-Mar-12 13:40 NL Holdem £330/53-£3.306082065 27-Mar-12 12:31 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.208/17-£2.406082400 27-Mar-12 12:03 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056073679 26-Mar-12 18:21 NL Holdem £061/346£0
Well done Munch. It's always the way with MTTs, you'll keep losing several in a row between binks, as long the binks outweigh the losses in the long run we're making a profit.
Closing balance £247.07
It wasn’t really my day today. In a small £2.30 Bounty Hunter I did manage to get second, though for not much money with only one head prize. A mid-stages cooler cost me a large all-in pot with 55<88 on an 852 flop, from there I worked the shortstack all the way to HU but was unable to recover from the 1/10 chip deficit.
In everything else I didn’t get the cards to play with and couldn’t make hands. I’m pleased that the £5.75 Bounty Hunters I’ve entered over the last couple of days seem no different to the £2.30s; plenty of loose shoves and calls to be seen, half the field eliminated by level 4. It makes them a minefield, but it also makes them profitable for those of us who can resist the temptation to join the wild gambling.
A forum member who’s been following this diary has asked me privately who is making more off this challenge; me or Sky Poker. I told him I’d take a look and include the numbers in today’s entry. These are the figures at the time of writing according to the Sharkscope database (not quite up-to-date with two tournaments still running); I’ve made a profit of £192 at the tables and paid £98 in rake. Of that £98 rake I’ve received £16 back in C4P bonuses. So after adjusting for C4P my profit from the challenge is £208 whereas Sky have made £82 net in rake. Therefore the answer to his question is that at this stage I’ve made about 2.5x as much as Sky.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6086113 28-Mar-12 18:34 NL Holdem £225/44-£2.306085860 28-Mar-12 18:13 NL Holdem £525/50-£5.756084434 28-Mar-12 14:15 NL Holdem £22/35£7.526084651 28-Mar-12 13:55 NL Holdem £314/53-£3.30
Hi Gary,
"Heading North" as TK would say! Awesome effort. Gotta say I'm well impressed by your mental approach to the challenge. I would have had "red mist" descending a few weeks back! Is this a natural trait or have you had to learn it? Also, what is your history in poker? How long you been playing? Always MTT's? Have you dabbled in cash? Best win/loss?
BTW I've been using your BRM strategy re BI's from this thread and it's been working really well for me (so far), helped by a good run tho!
Run good
In November 2009 I decided to be brave and put £50 of the money I'd made off the Zynga playchips onto Sky Poker. I expected real money play to be much tougher, so I pledged it was a one-off, if the £50 was lost I'd give up playing with real money and return to Facebook poker forever. Initially I played in £1 DYMs, to my surprise I managed to run the £50 up to £100. I withdrew £50.01 so that if I lost the rest I could say I'd tried real money poker and left when 1p ahead; a moral victory.
A few months after joining Sky I luckboxed a freeroll win for £41. When you've been playing £1 DYMs to try and win 85p £41 is absolutely massive. That got me interested in MTTs, it didn't take long to discover they were more fun and more profitable than DYMs. Since then MTTs have been my main game.
I've tried cash games several times, personally I find them tedious. I'm still a recreational player and I play poker to have fun. Tournament poker gives me that fun, cash poker doesn't. Best win was 4th place in The Primo for £990, a tournament I've only ever played in once. Due to my work shifts I rarely play in the evening, I made an exeption when Sky generously gave me a free seat in the Primo after my John o'Groats to Lands End charity walk. I'd have been happy with a min cash, yet somehow I managed a run all the way to final table. You can read an account of the tournament I wrote at the time if you click the link below. My worst ever loss was 6 consecutive £20 hyper HU matches against the same player. He was 'running like God' and I couldn't win a hand. I've never bought directly into an MTT for more than £20, everything I've played higher than that (and most I've played at £20) have been entries won via satellites. I've played in £100/£200 buy-in Rollers 3 times with seats won in the League Stars freeroll, though with no return.
https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby?action=show_static&page=poker_community_forums&plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3a57795ac2-1793-4377-b4cf-e124b0f555f4Forum%3adf77f82c-151f-4bea-aae1-fb423dcae1faDiscussion%3a01a54023-eadf-43da-96be-260ac98a4e4f
Thanks very much for your support Pad. Good luck to you too.
Closing balance £237.65
Lady Luck chose to favour others ahead of me today. In several key pots I got them in good only to see the chips go to another player, I flipped badly too. No big deal, it’s the nature of the game, I’ll be back for another try tomorrow.
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6090999 29-Mar-12 18:52 NL Holdem £240/53-£2.306090425 29-Mar-12 17:33 NL Holdem £211/41-£1.556090343 29-Mar-12 16:55 NL Holdem £544/50-£5.756090237 29-Mar-12 16:49 NL Holdem £231/39-£2.306089434 29-Mar-12 14:42 NL Holdem £25/38£2.48
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancethedbird9 Small blind 75.00 75.00 5085.00 BEATUS Big blind 150.00 225.00 3277.50 Your hole cards K K GaryQQQ Raise 450.00 675.00 6635.00 DUDLYE888 Fold BobbyPongo Call 450.00 1125.00 5045.00 thedbird9 Fold BEATUS Fold Flop 7 K 8 GaryQQQ Check BobbyPongo Bet 1125.00 2250.00 3920.00 GaryQQQ Call 1125.00 3375.00 5510.00 Turn 9 GaryQQQ Check BobbyPongo Bet 2000.00 5375.00 1920.00 GaryQQQ All-in 5510.00 10885.00 0.00 BobbyPongo All-in 1920.00 12805.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 1590.00 11215.00 1590.00 GaryQQQ Show K K BobbyPongo Show 10 10 River J BobbyPongo Win Straight to the Jack 11215.00 11215.00
Really interesting reply Gary. Quite a checkered past!
Hoping the rest of the challenge runs smooth. Altho, as we all know, poker can be a cruel game sometimes!
Closing balance £248.61
When I came in from work today I didn’t have time for an MTT, but I saw that the 499,900,000th hand was very close with a spot prize worth £110 on offer to the winner. I quickly jumped into a couple of STTS to try and hit the big hand. I lost a HU match with a bad beat (92<Q3 all-in on a Q92 flop), but managed to double in a DYM.
After lunch I had time to enter some MTTs. In both of my £2.30 Bounty Hunters I only lasted a few minutes when ‘bingo’ type players making crazy calls managed to crack my made hands. It’s a standard in hazard in £2.30 games. For example, if you raise 5x with a premium pair, another player flat calls out of position, then the flop comes down J72 rainbow, it’s very possible he could have J7,J2 or 72. It’s very frustrating when they hit, but it’s these very same bad plays which make these tournaments so profitable in the long run.
I fared a bit better in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter with a run to the final table. Unfortunately my cards dried up at the sharp end. After a fierce battle I busted out in 5th place when I shoved KQ from the button into AJ and couldn’t improve. With 4 head prizes this won enough to put ahead for the day. Though to be honest I was pretty disappointed; I was playing for the win. When I can take top spot in a £5.75 game it will bring a very welcome boost to my balance and mark a big step on my path to £1,051. It’ll come.
With schools breaking up today and good weather forecast I’ll probably be playing very little poker over the weekend.
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6096134 30-Mar-12 19:07 NL Holdem £262/67-£2.306095490 30-Mar-12 17:30 NL Holdem £55/48£14.866095383 30-Mar-12 17:09 NL Holdem £238/52-£2.306097386 30-Mar-12 12:28 NL Holdem £21/6£1.756097434 30-Mar-12 12:03 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
Day 83 – March 31st 2012
Closing balance £282.92
With visitors due I only had time for the one MTT today, a £2.30 lunchtime Bounty Hunter with 64 runners.
Early exchanges didn’t go my way and I found myself down to 990 chips after only 15 mins of play. Then two big chunks of luck turned things around. Firstly I check/shoved a flop with a flush draw and two overcards, the flush got there to crack top two pairs for a full double and put me back up to starting stack. By the break I’d chipped up to 3,200 by picking up several small pots. When play resumed I found myself in deep trouble; I got all-in with KT against KJ on a K high flop. Somehow I binked a miracle ten on the river to luckbox another full double.
From there it couldn’t have gone better; I picked up lots of good hands, connected with plenty of flops, generally run well and soon moved into the chip lead, though still without a head prize at that point. When the bubble approached I was in my element. My stack was big enough that I could run over my table at will, picking up loads of pots uncontested. Whenever the short stacks did fight back I actually did have it and started the bounties started to go my way. Twice I opened to 2.4x with AA, both times the second biggest stack at the table 3-bet shoved and I got their whole stack! At the final table, my stack was so big I could afford to lose occasional flips and still maintain a massive lead. When we got down to 4-handed I had 75% of the chips in play. I busted all my opponents one by one to win the tournament with a pleasing count of 9 head prizes.
I’m very pleased to record a new highest balance, now 5.5x what I started with.
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6099901 31-Mar-12 15:32 NL Holdem £21/64£34.31
(Didn’t play)
Day 85 – April 2nd 2012
Closing balance £301.78
Returning to the tables after a 48 hour break I didn’t get much joy initially. Between my five Bounty Hunter tournaments and a satellite I didn’t manage any better than a couple of promising runs, unable to survive the minefield of wild ‘bingo style’ making the usual super-loose calls and shoves seen at the low buy-ins.
An afternoon £1 rebuy came to the rescue. With only £2.20 invested (no re-buys needed, took the add-on) I managed to win the 28 runner tourney for £33.50. Going into the final table I was clear chip leader initially, though I then slipped down to an average stack with 6 still left (3 paid) after having to lay down KK to a river donk-shove on an A-high board after my preflop 3-bet and delayed turn c-bet had both been flatted. I managed to rebuild and get heads-up against the guy who cracked my KK. To be honest I got very lucky heads-up. Twice my stack was so short (around 12BB) that I was in ‘shove or fold only’ mode. Both times I was called for my tournament life when dominated and got there with only around 30% equity. Eventually I went into the lead when one of my many reshoves wasn’t believed and my JJ held against A8. Luck was on my side again in the final hand; I jammed K8 from the BB after my opponent min-raised from the SB (as he had around 75% of the time) with only 9BB effective stacks, he called with A-high but I binked a king for the win. I’m very happy to break the £300 barrier for the first time today obviously.
In March I played a fairly low volume and failed to earn the 500 poker points required to qualify for a C4P bonus. Now that I’m rolled for £5 games the points should mount up a bit quicker, so I’m going to make a point of chasing the 500 point mark in April.
April poker points 24
6112698 2-Apr-12 19:08 NL Holdem £210/49-£0.806113138 2-Apr-12 17:37 NL Holdem £11/28£32.406112341 2-Apr-12 17:25 NL Holdem £211/30-£2.306112030 2-Apr-12 17:09 NL Holdem £246/51-£2.306111733 2-Apr-12 16:19 NL Holdem £521/67-£3.876113362 2-Apr-12 13:33 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2021/37-£2.406111393 2-Apr-12 13:31 NL Holdem £310/37-£0.77
Closing balance £284.13
Sigh, it wasn’t my day today. A series of coolers, missed draws, lost flips and beats meant I drew a blank. I didn’t pick up AA or KK all day and couldn’t flop a set.
For example at a 5-handed Bounty Hunter table I played a 3-way aipf pot with my QQ only to find myself up against another QQ and KK. You can’t draw much slimmer than that and I was down to 8BB. Very next hand I open jammed my AQs, I was thrilled to flop trip aces, but I still lost to a caller with 74o who made a running flush!
Soon after in the very first hand of a £5 freezeout I opened to 3x with Ah5h and went to the flop with 2 callers. The flop was great for my cards; 6h7h4c for a combo-draw. When the turn came down 3s I was delighted to get all my chips in the middle with my well-disguised straight and nut-flush draw. I put my opponent on a set, unfortunately it was actually 58o. His flopped nut straight held and I was out. It’s very rare for me to bust a tournament in the first hand, but once I’d decided to play my hand I don’t think there’s any way I could’ve got away from that one.
One of my last hands of the day is posted below. At the time I was 6th of 12 in a Bounty Hunter with 8 to be paid. If I can hold here I pick up 2 head prizes and move up to third in chips. Unfortunately a 2-outer hit on the river and my stack was crippled, 2 hands later I was out.
Oh well, my winning streak couldn’t last forever, days like today are inevitable and are fully expected. It’s much less painful now that I’ve built up a cushion of money.
April poker points 45
(results to follow)
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 200.00 200.00 9235.00 okydoaky Big blind 400.00 600.00 8005.00 Your hole cards J 7 met66 Fold jokev10 Call 400.00 1000.00 4955.00 schnorbs86 Call 400.00 1400.00 5077.50 james1928 Fold GaryQQQ Call 200.00 1600.00 9035.00 okydoaky Check Flop 8 J 7 GaryQQQ Check okydoaky Check jokev10 Check schnorbs86 All-in 5077.50 6677.50 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 9035.00 15712.50 0.00 okydoaky Fold jokev10 All-in 4955.00 20667.50 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 3957.50 16710.00 3957.50 GaryQQQ Show J 7 jokev10 Show 8 7 schnorbs86 Show J A Turn K River 8 jokev10 Win Full House, 8s and 7s 16465.00 16465.00 schnorbs86 Win Two Pairs, Jacks and 8s 245.00 245.00
It took 48 days to cover a route of 1,008 miles (43 days of walking, 5 rest days).
The whole story is in the blog;
http://thewalkingmilkman.blogspot.co.uk/