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Well done Gary! Lots of work still to do but you know exactly what to do from here.
Closing Balance £176.81
Up 45p today
I didn’t have enough spare time to commit to any MTTs today so just played a bunch of micro HU STTs, mainly for fun and to keep my poker points ticking over. I was happy to break even after being terrible at all-ins most of the time. Mind-you, after running so pure yesterday I don't exactly have the right to complain. I'll happily save all the run-good for MTTs.
April Poker Points 56
Today’s results;
7791039HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 17:51NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957791010HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 17:42NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957790968HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 17:33NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057790887HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 17:28NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057790873HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 17:19NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057790408HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 15:25NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957790343HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 15:18NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97790309HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 15:08NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057790243HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 14:53NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957790234HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker05/04/2013 14:46NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.05
Paul
As you've now discovered Paul these Bounty Hunters are very profitable if you know how to approach them. I don't know if I've ever put much strategy advice in these diaries, but if you've read stuff that's helped I'm very pleased.
Enjoy your heater, they're great fun while they last. It's amazing how results improve when you're playing with confidence. When the heater ends keep patient and continue to play your best poker, if you do another heater will come along sooner or later.
Closing Balance £172.41
Down £4.40 today
It wasn’t my day in the micro MTTs today. From five £2.30 Bounty Hunters all I had to show was one head-prize. Fields were soft and there was plenty of wild play to be seen, but I simply wasn’t picking up the cards I needed to capitalise, it was the standard MTT stuff; lost all-ins, coolers, etc.
In HU STTs results were better with 8 wins from 10.
April Poker Points 81
Today’s results;
7796069HNLHU0.05GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 20:20NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957795902HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 18:19NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957795798HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 18:18NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957793821HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 18:00NL Hold'em £2 + £0.374/178-£2.37793648HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 17:05NL Hold'em £2 + £0.315/29-£2.37795318HNLHU0.05GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 16:48NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957795381HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 16:37NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957793443HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 16:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.319/19-£2.37795359HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 16:14NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057795129HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 16:10NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957795189HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 16:05NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97795307HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 15:58NL Hold'em £2 + £0.12/2-£2.17795058HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 15:29NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97793064HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 15:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.331/45-£2.37791790HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker06/04/2013 12:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.36/16-£1.55
Closing Balance £172.22
Down 19p today
Didn’t play much today. In the games I did enter it was pretty much a repeat of yesterday; I couldn’t get anything going in the three Bounty Hunters entered, though I pulled back the losses by winning 3/3 HU STTs.
April Poker Points 93
Today’s results;
7800188HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker07/04/2013 19:06NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97799522HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker07/04/2013 16:51NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97798360HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker07/04/2013 12:51NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97796576HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker07/04/2013 12:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.311/32-£1.557796574HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker07/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.388/97-£3.37796278HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker07/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.336/77-£1.04
The river-card from hell. A harsh cooler gifts me victory in this HU STT;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancex Small blind 15.00 15.00 1260.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 30.00 45.00 1695.00 Your hole cards 10 5 x Raise 45.00 90.00 1215.00 GaryQQQ Call 30.00 120.00 1665.00 Flop 10 A 10 GaryQQQ Check x Bet 60.00 180.00 1155.00 GaryQQQ Call 60.00 240.00 1605.00 Turn 6 GaryQQQ Check x Check River 5 GaryQQQ Bet 155.00 395.00 1450.00 x Raise 690.00 1085.00 465.00 GaryQQQ All-in 1450.00 2535.00 0.00 x All-in 465.00 3000.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 450.00 2550.00 450.00 x Show 5 5 GaryQQQ Show 10 5 GaryQQQ Win Full House, 10s and 5s 2550.00 3000.00
Closing Balance £208.70
Up £36.48 today
There was a pleasing start to my session today with a second place finish in the 9-45AM £3.30 Bounty Hunter, a welcome result after firing blanks in these for the last 3 days. I feel I played good tournament poker throughout, though spending most of the game with a below average stack. When HU play started I had a 5-1 chip deficit. I almost pulled it back to almost level at one point against a tough aggressive opponent, but with stacks growing shallow my undoing came when my 9T failed to hold against 56 on a 943 flop. My c-bet committed me to the pot, I was shoving any turn, which unfortunately was a 2.
Unusually I didn’t take any head-prizes in the £3.30 despite outlasting 76 of the 77 entrants, so my prize money was less than you’d ordinarily expect as runner-up. It works out like that sometimes; I won the all-ins when my tournament life was at risk, I lost them when I had my opponent covered. I’m not bothered, it’s one of many things in poker that evens out over time. In Bounty Hunters the prize-pool is effectively much flatter than in a freeze-out because the head-prizes (50% of the prize pool) get distributed among the entire field. There will be plenty of times I fail to cash but come away with head-prizes, balancing todays result. My strategy is to play to win the tournament, not to get carried away chasing heads (a common error made by many others). If you consistently play well and run deep your fair share of bounties always comes over time.
In an afternoon £2.30 I went one better getting 1st place from 31 entrants, this time with a healthy 5 head-prizes to my name. Apart from a late hiccup it went well throughout, I outplayed my opponents for the most part and made plenty of good hands. During 3-handed play while chipleader I thought it was going to get away from me. When defending the big blind with A2s to a button raise I flopped the nut-flush, the guy in clear second place had flopped a set of fours. As you’d expect all the chips went in, but he got there when the board paired on the river. It was standard play by both of us and I have no argument with the result of the hand, I'd play it exactly the same way in his seat too. However as it was it didn’t matter in the end, I successfully fought back and went on to take it down. The second place finisher got disconnected permanently during 3-handed play, which then effectively turned into a fierce heads-up battle. His time-bar stayed red for at least 20 minutes and he never returned. Therefore after busting the third place finisher the final few hands were a walk-over during which my final opponent blinded out.
Yay! We have breached £200. All those weeks spent in the Freerolls feel like a lifetime ago already. I’ll move up to £5.75 Bounty Hunters only when my balance is over £230.
April Poker Points 103
Today’s results;
7801120HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker08/04/2013 13:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.31/31£20.187802878HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker08/04/2013 13:34NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957800781HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker08/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.324/71-£3.37800439HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker08/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.32/77£18.65
The progress graph is looking good at the moment;
http://postimg.org/image/vbx7ochnd/
As always a great read and shows what a disciplined player can do...shame I dont fall into that category!
From Day 89 to Day 96 my balance rocketted from £87.88 to £208.70. That's growth of 137% in a week. Obviously that's a huge heater that can't last for long, In all likelihood I'll plateau for a while now or start to slip back. I could be in £5.75s by the end of the week, it might take another month or more, we'll just have to wait and see.
I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the £5.75s because the bigger prize-pools offer me the opportunity of even more rapid growth. I just hope I do better than last time once I get there. During my 2012 challenge I was winning £2.30s, £3.30s and small rebuys for fun, but for some reason the £5.75s were my achilles heel, from my first 30 final tables I didn't get a single win. Ironically when it finally came at the 31st attempt it was the tournament that completed the challenge.
Down £6.55 today
No joy for me in the two £3.30 BHs this morning. I busted from both when my chips went in as a clear favourite in huge pots so no regrets. In the 10-45 I 3-bet my pocket AhAc preflop and was flatted by the 5x opener holding 5h3h. On the AxKh8h flop I held top set. The villain’s undercards gave him a weak flush draw and a back-door straight draw. Stacks went in, you can guess the rest. An annoyance when you bust, but it was one of those juicy spots that makes these micro Bounty Hunters so profitable.
In the afternoon I played two small £2.30s. I donked myself out of one in the first orbit when making a bad call. In the other I was sat at a weak table but didn’t make enough hands to exploit the calling stations, eventually busting when I jammed QJ into AA blind v blind on the final table bubble.
In HU STTs I won 3 from 4.
I’ve had second thoughts about making an effort to chase 500 Poker Points this month to earn a C4P payment. I’m behind schedule already so I’m just going to concentrate on trying to win money at the tables. If I step up to £5.75 games soon I’ll probably make 500 anyway. If not I’ll see where I stand with a few days to go. If I’m not far off I’ll cram in some hyper HU games to get me over the line.
April Poker Points 119
Today’s results;
7807621HNLHU0.05GBPSkyPoker09/04/2013 16:50NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057805280HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker09/04/2013 14:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.37/19-£2.37805122HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker09/04/2013 14:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.328/29-£2.37806683HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker09/04/2013 12:11NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97806642HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker09/04/2013 11:41NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97806464HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker09/04/2013 11:01NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97804689HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker09/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.342/81-£3.37804396HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker09/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.350/83-£3.3
Closing Balance £210.59
Up £8.44 today
There’s not much of interest to report from the tables today. I got min-cashes in a £3.30 and £2.30 Bounty Hunters for a small winning day. If my AA had held against KQo with 3 left in the £2.30 the profit probably would have been much higher. But it didn’t, this is poker we’re talking about!
April Poker Points 131
Today’s results;
7809496HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 14:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.33/28£5.937810940HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 13:00NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957810329HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 10:48NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97808765HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.310/75£4.017810460HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 10:41NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057808465HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.345/91-£3.3
The hand below is from today’s 9-45 £3.30 BH. On the face of it this is a terrible flop for our under-pair. Most players in these games would fold to the c-bet and move on without further ado. However while stacks are this deep I see this as a good spot for float. We have a position and I expect the villain to c-bet his entire range. He probably considers my pre-flop calling range to include a lot of aces and combos of broadway cards, if he’s missed the flop the only draw he can hold is a gut-shot and it’s going to be difficult for him to continue. When we call the half-pot bet we only need to win the pot 25% of the time to break-even. His turn check is a sign of weakness and we pick up a useful 660 chip pot by firing off a bet. Had he fired a second barrel or check/raised my turn bet I’d have given up. In MTTs having the ability to know how to use position to your advantage and pick up lots of little pots like this without needing to showdown greatly increases your chance of making a deep run.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancewillie Small blind 30.00 30.00 4385.00 Paulp Big blind 60.00 90.00 1860.00 Your hole cards 4 4 A Raise 120.00 210.00 8752.50 Covermals Fold coombsie12 Fold GaryQQQ Call 120.00 330.00 5030.00 willie Fold Paulp Fold Flop 6 10 A A Bet 165.00 495.00 8587.50 GaryQQQ Call 165.00 660.00 4865.00 Turn Q A Check GaryQQQ Bet 385.00 1045.00 4480.00 A Fold GaryQQQ Muck GaryQQQ Win 660.00 5140.00 GaryQQQ Return 385.00 0.00 5525.00
Closing Balance £198.54
Down £12.05 today
It wasn’t my day today, I lost everything entered and quit my session early. I must have done something to upset the Poker Gods, several times I lost all-in pots after getting my chips in as a strong favourite only to see the chips go the other day.
Close to the end when I was already frustrated from earlier misfortune I took a nasty beat when stacks went in with one card to come on the final table bubble of a £3.30 freezeout. From there I jumped straight into a Hyper HU STT and lost an 80/20 to a bad call in only third hand (my check/shove with flopped top pair losing to flopped bottom pair). After those two beats came so close together I could feel tilt starting to set in. That’s a bad time to play so I de-registered from my next tournament and called it a day.
Spells of awful luck are totally standard in poker, everybody reading this diary will know exactly how it feels. I’ll be back as usual tomorrow with my mind fully reset and keen to resume play.
April Poker Points 139
Today’s results;
7814699HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 14:18NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057813768HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 13:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.37/16-£3.37814418HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 12:56NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057812535HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 12:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.316/16-£2.37814429HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 12:43NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057813616HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.37/13-£3.3
Enough is enough! I could feel tilt creeping in so I quit my session after this hand;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 10.00 10.00 502.00 * Big blind 20.00 30.00 468.00 Your hole cards J 8 GaryQQQ Raise 30.00 60.00 472.00 * Call 20.00 80.00 448.00 Flop 4 8 3 * Bet 60.00 140.00 388.00 GaryQQQ All-in 472.00 612.00 0.00 * All-in 388.00 1000.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 24.00 976.00 24.00 GaryQQQ Show J 8 * Show Q 3 Turn 3 River 6 * Win Three 3s 976.00 976.00
Closing Balance £194.78
Down £3.76 today
I had very little time for poker today. Though in the little I did play I ran just as badly as yesterday, once again unable win all-pots to save my life. No worries, they are all spots I want to take and they'll be very profitable for me over time. If I was losing because my chips were going in bad that's when I'd have something to worry about.
April Poker Points 147
Today’s results;
7819370HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker12/04/2013 17:21NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057819331HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker12/04/2013 17:17NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057819299HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker12/04/2013 17:12NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057816772HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker12/04/2013 14:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.39/29-£0.61
Ouch. If I can fade the flush draw on the river here I take two head prizes and have twice as many chips as anybody else in the tournament.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 30.00 30.00 6087.50 eBig blind 60.00 90.00 837.50 Your hole cards A J flamefree Fold T Call 60.00 150.00 1080.00 lynneyloo Fold GaryQQQ Call 30.00 180.00 6057.50 e Check Flop J 5 A GCheck eon1961 Bet 60.00 240.00 777.50 T Call 60.00 300.00 1020.00 GaryQQQ Raise 360.00 660.00 5697.50 eCall 300.00 960.00 477.50 T Call 300.00 1260.00 720.00 Turn 8 GaryQQQ Bet 780.00 2040.00 4917.50 eAll-in 477.50 2517.50 0.00 T All-in 720.00 3237.50 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 60.00 3177.50 4977.50 GaryQQQ Show A J eShow 2 A T Show 3 Q River K T Win Flush to the Ace 3177.50 3177.50
The heads-up games are going no better. I liked the flop, not the turn and river.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalances Small blind 15.00 15.00 520.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 30.00 45.00 435.00 Your hole cards A K s Call 15.00 60.00 505.00 GaryQQQ All-in 435.00 495.00 0.00 s All-in 505.00 1000.00 0.00 s Unmatched bet 70.00 930.00 70.00 s Show A 7 GaryQQQ Show A K Flop 5 J K Turn Q River 4 s Win Flush to the Ace 930.00 1000.00
Swings & swongs
Keep it up Gary
Closing Balance £181.78
Down £13.00 today
Another day spent on the wrong side of variance!
Rather than turn this diary into a bad-beat bore I’ve decided to use today’s entry to give you a tip about low to mid stakes Bounty Hunters;
Think twice before late-registering.
Why? Because the very start of a Bounty Hunter when is the most profitable stage of the tournament. All the worst players are still in the field. Typically as soon as the first cards are dealt rapid bust-outs will commence due to the many wild gamblers spread around the tables. These guys will happily get their stack in with mediocre holdings. If you pick-up a premium or smash a flop there’s a great chance you’ll get paid to the max. You don’t want to miss this juicy action.
There are other things to consider too. Below is a screenshot of a typical Bounty Hunter lobby taken while late-registration was still available. You’ll see that 20 of the 56 entrants had already busted. That means 18% of the prizepool has already gone, awarded in head-prizes. Just 82% is left to play for. If you buy-in now your average opponent will be sitting with 55% more chips than you (3.1K v your 2K). There will be far fewer gamblers to exploit as many of them will be among the 20 who have busted. Most of the stronger players will still be alive and will have bigger stacks than you. All these things combined make late-reg unappealing.
In my opinion a late entry when you miss the start by just a minute or two is fine, but as more time passes by it quickly gets less attractive. I’d suggest that a buy-in towards the end of late registration is unwise. Even if there’s a small overlay you’d be better off waiting for the next game to start.
http://postimg.org/image/yyibwh50f/
April Poker Points 168
7822159HNL 0.1GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 19:45NL Hold'em £1 + £0.123/135-£1.17820791HNL 0.2GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 19:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.253/86-£2.27821865HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 18:00NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3106/189-£2.37824002HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 17:52NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97821657HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 17:05NL Hold'em £2 + £0.320/28-£2.37823749HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 16:51NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957821431HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 16:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.346/55-£2.37823598HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 16:14NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057820792HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 14:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.317/36-£2.37820628HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 13:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.39/27-£2.3Today’s results;