So +0.22p - Does that mean we get one more shot at a £5.75 BH or do we drop back down now? Pretty sick exit hand - VUL Keep up the good work. Posted by POKERTREV
Cheers Trev, I will.
My choice of first tourny tomorrow depends on what time I get home from work. If the next game I fancy due to run is a £5.75 I'll be in. If it's a lower buy-in that's what I'll go for too. My playing hours are limited so quite often I'll just jump in the first thing going rather than be too choosy (as long as it fits with the 40 buy-in rule of course).
My first tourney today was the 10-45AM £3.30 Bounty Hunter. I ran quite deep, albeit as a short stack most of the way, but was rubbish at all-ins when it mattered most at the sharp end. I busted close to the bubble with one head prize as a consolation.
That left my balance on £228 just four minutes before the 12-30PM £5.75 BH was due to start. I decided to jump into (and won) a £3.15 hyper HU STT to get myself back over £230 in quick time so I could enter the BH without having to break my 40 buy-in rule, a decision that was destined to bear fruit.
After late registering (which I hate doing in Bounty Hunters, though it was by only four minutes) I enjoyed a flying start in the 12-30PM with a flopped set winning me an early double and head-prize. With a couple of smaller pots also going my way I was soon up to 5K from 2K starting. However my stack dwindled for the next hour while I picked up a series of junk hands and missed all flops seen. The only pot of any size I won during that time came courtesy of my uncalled river shove with air in a 3-way pot which forced one of my opponents in the hand to lay down pocket kings. The board was 29A28 rainbow, I held an unimproved QTs.
Eventually, having fallen as low as 20th of the 22 left, I picked up a premium pair and managed a full double when my aces held against flopped top pair (see below). That set me off on a mini heater which saw me through the bubble and onto final table, going in as 4th of 6 in chips. My cards dried up again during 3-handed play with a very aggressive dynamic at the table. I fell dangerously short but won two standard races to recover from 10BB and make heads-up play. Despite a fierce battle I was ultimately unable to turn around the big chip deficit. My exit came when my check/shoved combo draw failed to improve against A4s with a weak flopped top pair. It was a spot I had to take, I had great equity and needed to double ASAP if I were to go on and win. I don’t regret making the shove at all and can live with the outcome, after all I’d done well in earlier flips.
In the end my return for my £5.75 was £34.50 plus £13.50 in head-prizes, a very pleasing result for only my second try after moving up. Yesterday’s nightmare debut is already forgiven!
I’m very pleased to finish the day on a new highest balance. My aim now is to try and push on towards the £300 mark and hopefully avoid falling below the £230 barrier and having to drop down again. I’ll still be playing micro-stakes games, particularly the morning £3.30s which I enjoy so much, but if avoid a downswing my preferred buy-in will now be £5.75 for the foreseeable future due to the bigger prizes up for grabs.
Yeah! Very well done. Although I am a bit gutted as last night I had pulled level with your tally thanks to a 3rd in £400 rebuy but now youve pulled away again! hehe.
It wasn’t my day. Sometimes you’re simply not going to win no matter what you do, it was like that for me today as I found myself the wrong side of a bunch of coolers and managed to lose nearly all flips.
My best chance of a bink came in an afternoon £2.30. With 4 left I was clear chipleader. However AQ<J4s on an ace-high flop and two lost flips later I was out in fourth.
It was nice to play in the evening Mini for the first time this year. Saturday is the only evening I can even consider entering due to my work hours. Even then I find it hard to play anywhere near my best. I’m guaranteed to be pretty tired after a 1-30am start and a busy day and therefore find it hard to concentrate and tend to play impatiently. I only lasted 20 minutes today. Already short after early skirmishes I check/shoved my flopped nut-flush draw into pocket aces and didn’t bink.
I’ve abandoned any idea of making any C4P this month. I could still make it easily enough if I crammed in a load of £3.15 HU hypers over the next couple of days, but I consider using that time trying to bink MTTs to carry a higher expected value.
Coolers R Us. It was one of those days, £5.50 freezeout exit hand;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceBELL_POKER Small blind 100.00 100.00 7857.50 STEVE1937 Big blind 200.00 300.00 2765.00 Your hole cards K K kg101 Fold timeforbed Fold GaryQQQ Raise 400.00 700.00 2279.00 BELL_POKER Call 300.00 1000.00 7557.50 STEVE1937 All-in 2765.00 3765.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2279.00 6044.00 0.00 BELL_POKER Fold STEVE1937 Unmatched bet 286.00 5758.00 286.00 STEVE1937 Show A A GaryQQQ Show K K Flop 10 A 7 Turn 3 River 8 STEVE1937 Win Three Aces 5758.00 6044.00
Nothing much to report today. I only played 3 MTTs and 4 HU matches this morning, for the rest of the day I was too busy for poker. In the MTTs I didn’t get anything going, I didn't pick up many cards to play with and never really felt ‘in the zone’. I won a couple of the HUs but seem to be going through a phase of being bad at flips in the hyper games.
I started with the two morning £3.30s. In the 9-45 I came close to the money but lost my first flip of the tournament. I 3-bet jammed 20BB with a small pair from the BB over a guy opening every button to 3BB. He made what I consider a light call with QJo, but fair play he had a flip, probably the best he could hope for. It worked out well for him, he hit his cards hard (full house) and I was out. In the 10-45 after an hour of not much happening I got my last 12BB aipf 3-ways with AK against J7s and and JTs, I was dead on the flop to a flush.
At lunch I entered a £2.20 Rebuy with the knowledge I was rolled to use 3 buy-ins maximum. I won the first hand so was unable to take my usual instant rebuy. However at a crazy table with players getting all-in very light I soon found myself up to more than 4x starting stack by early in level 2 without having taken a rebuy. At that point I had a big chip lead and decided to tighten-up, happy to nit it up from there to the add-on. The plan didn’t work out too well; I lost my entire stack in the space of just three hands. First my KK was no good against 75, two hands later I lost the rest with JJ<AA. I decided to quit knowing a double rebuy and add-on would break my BR rules. Also I just wasn’t feeling it, I had a feeling in my heart it just wasn’t going to be my day.
Final tournament was an afternoon £5.75 BH. I knew I was at a wild table almost immediately when I saw two eliminations in the first two hands. I folded almost continuously for three levels, the strongest hole-cards I saw in that time being A6o which I open- folded from UTG. The only pot of I won of any size came in level 4 when getting short I doubled with A7>A2 on an ace-high board. I was out soon after losing most of my stack when my check-raised top pair and flush draw couldn’t hold against ace-rag with a gutshot and overcard. I got the last of my chips in with KJ and ran into KK.
Quick brm question for you, linked to my own challenge. I know you play pretty much just MTT's but I intend to mix in a little cash too. If you were to do the same, would you alter you buyin rules? It's generally considered 40 buyins (2.5%) for MTT's and 20 buyins (5%) for Cash, would you go along with this or stick to the 40 buyins for safety in a challenge like this?
Hi Gary Quick brm question for you, linked to my own challenge. I know you play pretty much just MTT's but I intend to mix in a little cash too. If you were to do the same, would you alter you buyin rules? It's generally considered 40 buyins (2.5%) for MTT's and 20 buyins (5%) for Cash, would you go along with this or stick to the 40 buyins for safety in a challenge like this? Posted by Slykllist
To be honest I never play cash, so you're probably better off asking someone else. Personally I'd stick to the 2.5% rule for cash too for the peace of mind. These challenges are easy while you're winning, whether you succeed or fail mainly depends on your ability to keep calm and disciplined during the downswings. Good luck.
Yay, that’s more like it; I won a small MTT today! A welcome confidence boost and a relief after three days of firing blanks.
The win came in my first and only game of the day, a £50 gtd £3.30 freezeout. I feel I won for two reasons; I played well, and I enjoyed a great run of cards, particularly at the final table. It pretty much went like a dream, for most of the tournament I was chipleader and always felt in control. I used my stack to chip-up nicely on the bubble winning pots both when I did and didn’t have anything. Each time I got an opponent all-in and behind my cards held-up. The most crucial time being when my AQ survived against QJs with a flush draw and a gutshot on an AK6 flop during three-handed play. Only three hands later victory was mine with quad aces no less! At the final table I’d picked up AA and KK twice each, it’s hard to lose when cards like that keep coming.
As I expect most of you are aware the new Sky Poker Rewardsscheme replaces Cash for Points after today. Personally I think this is a great change that can benefit everybody on the site, including those who may see a slight reduction in their loyalty payments initially. The whole poker economy relies on maintaining a healthy pool of recreational players and newbies playing at the lowest stakes. If those games start to dry up it will have a knock-on effect right up to the highest levels. Offering easily achievable loyalty rewards to all those at the lower limits who currently get nothing has to be a good thing.
If more poker players step onto the bottom rung of the ladder naturally more money will trickle up to those who’ve reached the top. Everybody will be a winner. I’ve played on Sky Poker every single day in April, probably averaging around three or four hours of play per day. Yet I’ve still fallen short of earning a Cash for Points payment. Surely this can’t be right? The whole poker community, including those playing the most at the top, should want there to be attractive inducements to maximise the number of recreational players getting involved in games at the lower levels. In my opinion any other view is very short-sighted.
April Poker Points 409
Today’s result;
7886727HNL0.3GBPSkyPoker30/04/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.31/16£21.7 The big hold that got me heads-up with a huge lead;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceA Small blind 150.00 150.00 7730.00 B Big blind 300.00 450.00 4870.00 Your hole cards Q A GaryQQQ Raise 600.00 1050.00 18350.00 A Call 450.00 1500.00 7280.00 B Fold Flop 6 K A A Check GaryQQQ Bet 825.00 2325.00 17525.00 A Raise 2400.00 4725.00 4880.00 GaryQQQ Raise 3900.00 8625.00 13625.00 A All-in 4880.00 13505.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 2555.00 16060.00 11070.00 A Show J Q GaryQQQ Show Q A Turn 8 River 2 GaryQQQ Win Pair of Aces 16060.00 27130.00
Easy game, three hands later victory is mine with quad aces!
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance* Small blind 200.00 200.00 4720.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 400.00 600.00 26680.00 Your hole cards A A * Raise 600.00 1200.00 4120.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 1600.00 26280.00 Flop A J 9 GaryQQQ Check * Bet 400.00 2000.00 3720.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 2400.00 25880.00 Turn A GaryQQQ Check * Bet 400.00 2800.00 3320.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 3200.00 25480.00 River 4 GaryQQQ All-in 25480.00 28680.00 0.00 * All-in 3320.00 32000.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 22160.00 9840.00 22160.00 * Show 7 7 GaryQQQ Show A A GaryQQQ Win Four Aces 9840.00 32000.00
"As I expect most of you are aware the new Sky Poker Rewardsscheme replaces Cash for Points after today. Personally I think this is a great change that can benefit everybody on the site, including those who may see a slight reduction in their loyalty payments initially. The whole poker economy relies on maintaining a healthy pool of recreational players and newbies playing at the lowest stakes. If those games start to dry up it will have a knock-on effect right up to the highest levels. Offering easily achievable loyalty rewards to all those at the lower limits who currently get nothing has to be a good thing. "
Due to running out of excuses to keep putting-off some decorating work at home my only games today were the two morning £3.30 Bounty Hunters.
In the 9-45 I ran fairly deep but busted not far from the money in 17th/81 for no return. To be honest I was always below average and struggled to get anything going. I’m totally at ease with my exit; I came second in a standard overcards v pair race at a time when I needed to double if I were to drag myself into contention. I always play for the win, hence I’d much rather take a flip that gives me a shot at making final table over folding my way to a min-cash on fumes, an unwise strategy I see many others adopt.
Again in the 10-45 I spend well over an hour bumping along near the bottom of the field failing to make hands. This time though I did start to pick-up some useful cards with the bubble looming and gradually made my way near the top of the field, going on to make final table slightly below average. Four-handed play was pretty tough, I found myself up against Mike1975, a talented MTT player and two difficult to play loose-aggressive opponents. Fortunately I got more cards to work with and managed to get heads-up against Mike with a slight lead. From there though it went pear-shaped, I was totally outplayed heads-up and had to settle with second place. I think the final hand can be considered a cooler; I check/shoved my flush draw and over-cards to the board into an unlikely made straight in a spot where Mike is probably c-betting his entire opening range (see below).
Despite the annoyance of a second place finish I have to consider today a success; I'm happy to find myself on a new highest balance again, something that felt very unlikely a couple of days ago.
Hi gary - excellent work so far. Im gutted I havent been on your table much in any tournies like we did last time round, would be great to get on a final table and down to heads up! Anyway, i just won the £75 velocity (shame you cant play that as its perfect for your game and for only 55p is an absoloute bargain. Its my favouraite mini tourny and I wish it was on more than one night!) so im back on level with you. Its not a brag (ok, maybe a teeny, tiny one as I love winning), more a thank you as having someone to push me to do better is great. By following your BR rules im more confident I wont suffer big drops and therefore keep my confidence high and stop me tilting.
Also, on the tilting note, its refreshing to see your outlook and has helped me keep my head better when things go wrong and its actually paid divid ends already. Early in a tourny I lost 75% of my stack to a nutter caller who called me all way down with a gutshot to the worst str when I had trips. But, instead of pushing allin and throwing my dummy I hung in there and actually won the thing!
All poker players should read this thread and your last one as it shows that EVERYONE has bad beats, lows, highs and run good etc and that Sky (and other poker sites) are not rigged! By following simple BR management and by keeping cool you can go a long way.
"As I expect most of you are aware the new Sky Poker Rewards scheme replaces Cash for Points after today. Personally I think this is a great change that can benefit everybody on the site, including those who may see a slight reduction in their loyalty payments initially. The whole poker economy relies on maintaining a healthy pool of recreational players and newbies playing at the lowest stakes. If those games start to dry up it will have a knock-on effect right up to the highest levels. Offering easily achievable loyalty rewards to all those at the lower limits who currently get nothing has to be a good thing. " THIS. Well said. Congrats on the bink too. Posted by MAXALLY
Couldnt agree more if I tried!!!! Always felt this needed looking at for the lower stake players.
My only MTTs today were a couple of £5.75 Bounty Hunters. I also played a £2.10 HU STT which I won.
In the first £5.75 after struggling to make hands for an hour my exit came with my only premium pair of the session. When down to 19BB my min-raise from UTG and a flat call induced a squeeze-shove from a 13BB shortie in the blinds. I re-shoved and the caller put in the extra 17BB, so we were aipf 3-ways. My jacks were up against AK and AQ giving me a good shot of winning the 51BB pot and a head-prize. It wasn’t to be, the big stack’s AQ binked to scoop the pot and take two bounties. I don’t mind busting in big +ev situations and would snap take this spot every time.
I took an early head-prize in the second £5.75 but my exit came soon after when my pre-flop 4-bet with AQ was flatted by the OOP 3-bettor. The queen-high flop condemned me; my opponent had played his pocket aces perfectly, I'd have folded to a 5-bet shove pre-flop.
Hey Gary not been playing for the last month just wanted to say really well done on doubling your bankroll and more in that time keep up the good work, really impressive.
Hey Gary not been playing for the last month just wanted to say really well done on doubling your bankroll and more in that time keep up the good work, really impressive. Posted by benc
Hey, thanks Ben. It's good to see you back.
Congrats on completing your dissertation. I'm sure your month of poker exclusion from will bear fruit, it was a wise decision. You've certainly 'got your head screwed' on as they say.
Good luck to you at the tables (not that I think you need it!).
No luck in my two Bounty Hunters today. First up was a morning £3.30. Finding myself short in the mid-stages I found what looked like a good squeeze/shove spot with Q9s in the SB and 2 limpers in the pot before my turn to act. It didn’t look quite so good when the BB woke up with AA.
After a couple of hours doing decorating I returned to the poker tables to enter the 2-30PM £5.75. I lasted precisely four hands! Once again I ran into pocket AA, unfortunately I was holding KK at the time. As you might expect all the chips went in preflop. It’s unthinkable to fold pocket kings pre-flop at any stage of a Bounty Hunter without a very strong read. Many villains are prepared to punt their stacks surprisingly light in these games. When you run KK into AA it’s just an unavoidable cooler, all you can do is take it on the chin (unless you suck-out of course) and move on to the next game. Far more often they’ll turn over worse than KK, even while stacks are still 100BB deep.
I'd busted out of the 2-30PM BH in plenty of time to enter the 2-35PM £1.10 Rebuy. In a quirk of fate it was destined to save the day. With £3.30 invested (includes an instant rebuy and the add-on) I managed to win the event for a pleasing return of £28.00. I was above average and felt comfortable through most of the tournament. The only time I fell short was post-bubble during three-handed play when I found myself somewhat distant in third place after a bad run of cards. A flip brought me back into contention when I jammed QTo from the button and doubled off pocket 66 in the SB. Going into heads-up play I had a 4-1 chip deficit to overcome. The eventual runner-up was using unconventional plays and bet sizes that didn’t really seem to be working, so it didn’t take me too long to gain the advantage. He was then saved at the death by lucky river cards twice and I began to wonder if I'd be able to close it out. However when I put him under a spell of relentless pressure it eventually paid off; I jammed pocket 99 from the SB and managed to dodge the overcard when called by A8 for the victory.
Yay, we have a new highest balance. Hopefully I’ll be able to push on through the £300 barrier in the near future.
I played five MTTs today, though without any success.
In the first of two afternoon £5.75s I busted in a weird spot with AA<J5o. I was thrown when my internet connection froze causing my actions to be timed out. Somehow I managed to get stacked on the turn when forced to make a snap decision after being reconnected with only a couple of seconds left on the timebar. In the second £5.75 I was going well until coolered by flopped queen-high flush<flopped nut-flush. With stacks only 32BB deep there was no getting away from that one.
A great start in a late afternoon £2.30 went pear-shaped two spots from the money after I’d spent over an hour as chipleader. I lost a standard flip with AQs<66 aipf then busted with pocket KK<AQ blind v blind aipf.
I lasted only 30 minutes in the evening Mini. It was a rollercoaster ride. After an early treble-up I lost a 400BB pot with my pocket AA losing to J5o on a jack-high flop, an almost exact action relay of the hand I mentioned above. The same guy busted me soon after. Because I’d seen him playing so recklessly, including the J5>AA hand it was impossible to fold my AQ on an AQ6 flop. He held 66 of course. At least I’d won my buy-in back in head-prizes. As someone who rarely plays in the evening I was shocked by the amount of crazy play I saw in the Mini today, it was at least as wild as the daytime £2.30 games at their worst, eliminations were very rapid. For some reason I always assume the standard of play will be higher during the evening than during the day, maybe I should rethink that opinion.
My final game was a £2.30 Bounty Hunter, I donked myself out in the first hand in a spot where I should have easily got away. I realised I was playing while tilted by my Mini experience so decided to call it a night.
This is an amazing challenge, to think you have built this balance up from just those points just goes to show you dont have to be a pro to do it.
I have a question for you re mtt stats, what would you say is an acheivable roi for a low stakes mtt player and what sample size would you need before that roi is fairly accurate. Is it like sngs, say 1000 upwards?
According to Sharkscope my ROI for MTTs on Sky is 66.7% over 3,154 games. There are lots of players out there much better than me, so I think 100%+ is achievable. Because I mainly only play during daytime hours I'm in tournaments with relatively small fields, so it doesn't take too long for the variance to level out. I'd say in my games you'll probably have a good idea of long term results after only say 500 games. Obviously as fields get bigger a larger sample is needed because the final table finishes will come further apart.
For the same reason bigger fields demand a bigger BR too. If I were playing in games with 200+ runners average I'd need a lot more than 40 buy-ins to survive the downswings.
No joy in the morning £3.30s for me today. I found some good spots but couldn’t make the holds. In both tournaments I busted after losing big pot in which my stack went in as favourite, so I have no regrets about my play.
After a few hours out in the sunshine I return for some afternoon games which went better. After winning a couple of £2.20 HU STTs I entered the 4-20PM Deep Stack, a very small event with only 10 entrants. Solid ABC tournament poker took me onto the final table then into the money. When the bubble burst stack sizes were as follows at 75/150;
Villain A39,405 (262BB)
Villain B4,475 (30BB)
GaryQQQ6,120 (41BB)
So you’d imagine Villain A was a huge favourite. He/she should have been but he adopted a maniac style of play that was to backfire over the course of the next 60 hands. Both Villain B and myself were gifted easy doubles before Villain B was harshly busted by Villain A with AJ<A4 aipf. That left me with an 18K v 32K chip deficit, however all I needed to was wait for hands. I soon took the lead and my opponent grew increasingly frustrated, going aipf with any two cards at 100/200 with 8K still behind. I won the tournament with AQs on the SB (see below). Villain A shoved over my limp with his QTo (I'd set the trap up by limp/folding junk a couple of times in earlier hands), my cards held up for a pleasing end to the session.
Money was being gifted this afternoon. The first of these hands is from a standard speed £2.10 HU match.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceSmall blind 15.00 15.00 1398.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 30.00 45.00 1557.00 Your hole cards Q Q Raise 45.00 90.00 1353.00 GaryQQQ Raise 150.00 240.00 1407.00 Call 120.00 360.00 1233.00 Flop 8 5 Q GaryQQQ Bet 180.00 540.00 1227.00 Raise 360.00 900.00 873.00 GaryQQQ Call 180.00 1080.00 1047.00 Turn 10 GaryQQQ Bet 295.00 1375.00 752.00 All-in 873.00 2248.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 578.00 2826.00 174.00 Show 6 5 GaryQQQ Show Q Q River Q GaryQQQ Win Four Queens 2826.00 3000.00
Don’t mind if I do. This is the final hand of the £2.20 Deepstack;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 100.00 100.00 40880.00 Villain A Big blind 200.00 300.00 8820.00 Your hole cards Q A GaryQQQ Call 100.00 400.00 40780.00 Villain A All-in 8820.00 9220.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 8820.00 18040.00 31960.00 GaryQQQ Show Q A Villain A Show Q 10 Flop J Q 2 Turn 9 River 9 GaryQQQ Win Two Pairs, Queens and 9s 18040.00 50000.00
Cheers Ace. According to Sharkscope my ROI for MTTs on Sky is 66.7% over 3,154 games. There are lots of players out there much better than me, so I think 100%+ is achievable. Because I mainly only play during daytime hours I'm in tournaments with relatively small fields, so it doesn't take too long for the variance to level out. I'd say in my games you'll probably have a good idea of long term results after only say 500 games. Obviously as fields get bigger a larger sample is needed because the final table finishes will come further apart. For the same reason bigger fields demand a bigger BR too. If I were playing in games with 200+ runners average I'd need a lot more than 40 buy-ins to survive the downswings. Posted by GaryQQQ
I am playing mtts with fields from 10-12 to 120 but the average I would say is 20-30. My overall roi including a long stretch where I didnt really have any brm and often entered tournies that I shouldnt is 87.1%, thats over a sample of 740. This year ive played 300 plus and have an roi of 128%, that includes a bink in the prio mini and a 3rd in a me, that I know skewed the figures.
Sky cash games are now becoming reg filled, especially with the promos sky run,and therefore tedious and difficult to grind out a profit (well at least for me!) but mtts are soo soft that I want to focus on them for the rest of the year, off course there is work, study, football and a social life to fit in but if I can get to 1k games by the end of the year with a roi in excess of 100% then I will be very happy.
Thanks for the hu, I wonder how long it will be before your playing the 5 quidders that I frequent at weekends in the morning!
In Response to Re: 1,000 Poker Points ----- /> £1,000 Can it be done? Latest balance £275.30 : I am playing mtts with fields from 10-12 to 120 but the average I would say is 20-30. My overall roi including a long stretch where I didnt really have any brm and often entered tournies that I shouldnt is 87.1%, thats over a sample of 740. This year ive played 300 plus and have an roi of 128%, that includes a bink in the prio mini and a 3rd in a me, that I know skewed the figures. Sky cash games are now becoming reg filled, especially with the promos sky run,and therefore tedious and difficult to grind out a profit (well at least for me!) but mtts are soo soft that I want to focus on them for the rest of the year, off course there is work, study, football and a social life to fit in but if I can get to 1k games by the end of the year with a roi in excess of 100% then I will be very happy. Thanks for the hu, I wonder how long it will be before your playing the 5 quidders that I frequent at weekends in the morning! Posted by ACEGOONER
Great results, I see no reason why you can't sustain an ROI in the region of 87%, that's a large enough sample in my opinion. You won't ever ever see in those games; on Saturdays I'm at work, on Sundays I'm asleep.
No luck for me in the morning £3.30s BHs again. In the 9-45 I couldn’t find a way back after losing an 85BB pot with AK<AQ aipf. In the 10-45 I was knocked out in the first hand with AQs<A8o by a pre-flop limp/caller on an A8x flop. With hindsight it looks like I made a terrible donkey play to let myself get knocked out with only top pair. Maybe I did and should have got away from my hand. The trouble is that you see random unknowns get it in very light all the time in these games, often any ace will do on an ace-high flop.
In a lunchtime £2.30 I had a flying start when my QTs earned me a treble-up on an 89J flop. It’s always nice when two players shove into you when you’re holding the nuts! After 10 minutes of play I already had 3 head-prizes, however there was plenty of bank-holiday madness to be seen, early in level 2 I had 3x starting stack and over 200BB yet was only third in chips at my table. In the end I got third place, my exit came in a standard overcards versus pair coin-flip when stacks were shallow.
I wasn’t in the mood for any more MTTs after that so I jumped in a few HU STTs. I went off the idea quickly when I lost tournament deciding pots with QQ<AJ and A9<K9, both aipf, then AT<T3 in three consecutive games. I threw in the towel and called it a day.
Overall I'm happy with my play today, content that I only finished down because I ran badly in some key spots. May Poker Points 87
The Poker Gods giveth and the Poker gods taketh away. Bounty Hunter madness. Three stacks go in when I flop the nuts. It was a harsh cooler for the guy with 7T, but I've no idea what the chap with A9 was thinking.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalances Small blind 10.00 10.00 1390.00 c Big blind 20.00 30.00 1960.00 Your hole cards 10 Q jonny964 Call 20.00 50.00 2410.00 GaryQQQ Call 20.00 70.00 1950.00 BBB56 Fold rustyy123 Fold s Call 10.00 80.00 1380.00 c Check Flop 9 J 8 s Bet 20.00 100.00 1360.00 c Call 20.00 120.00 1940.00 jonny964 Fold GaryQQQ Raise 60.00 180.00 1890.00 s Call 40.00 220.00 1320.00 c Raise 300.00 520.00 1640.00 GaryQQQ Raise 560.00 1080.00 1330.00 s Call 560.00 1640.00 760.00 c All-in 1640.00 3280.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 1330.00 4610.00 0.00 sAll-in 760.00 5370.00 0.00 c Unmatched bet 10.00 5360.00 10.00 s Show A 9 c Show 7 10 GaryQQQ Show 10 Q Turn K River K GaryQQQ Win Straight to the King 5360.00 5360.00
Saw plenty of these today. Exit (well, almost) hand from the 9-45AM Bounty Hunter;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancefrank11 Small blind 20.00 20.00 2060.00 pet1 Big blind 40.00 60.00 3542.50 Your hole cards A K GaryQQQ Raise 100.00 160.00 1920.00 dawn1983 Fold TRONSTER Fold d Raise 360.00 520.00 1325.00 frank11 Fold pet1 Fold GaryQQQ Raise 760.00 1280.00 1160.00 d All-in 1325.00 2605.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 825.00 3430.00 335.00 GaryQQQ Show A K d Show Q A Flop 9 5 J Turn 9 River Q d Win Two Pairs, Queens and 9s 3430.00 3430.00
Comments
Pretty sick exit hand - VUL
Keep up the good work.
My choice of first tourny tomorrow depends on what time I get home from work. If the next game I fancy due to run is a £5.75 I'll be in. If it's a lower buy-in that's what I'll go for too. My playing hours are limited so quite often I'll just jump in the first thing going rather than be too choosy (as long as it fits with the 40 buy-in rule of course).
Closing Balance £274.10
Up £43.88 today
My first tourney today was the 10-45AM £3.30 Bounty Hunter. I ran quite deep, albeit as a short stack most of the way, but was rubbish at all-ins when it mattered most at the sharp end. I busted close to the bubble with one head prize as a consolation.
That left my balance on £228 just four minutes before the 12-30PM £5.75 BH was due to start. I decided to jump into (and won) a £3.15 hyper HU STT to get myself back over £230 in quick time so I could enter the BH without having to break my 40 buy-in rule, a decision that was destined to bear fruit.
After late registering (which I hate doing in Bounty Hunters, though it was by only four minutes) I enjoyed a flying start in the 12-30PM with a flopped set winning me an early double and head-prize. With a couple of smaller pots also going my way I was soon up to 5K from 2K starting. However my stack dwindled for the next hour while I picked up a series of junk hands and missed all flops seen. The only pot of any size I won during that time came courtesy of my uncalled river shove with air in a 3-way pot which forced one of my opponents in the hand to lay down pocket kings. The board was 29A28 rainbow, I held an unimproved QTs.
Eventually, having fallen as low as 20th of the 22 left, I picked up a premium pair and managed a full double when my aces held against flopped top pair (see below). That set me off on a mini heater which saw me through the bubble and onto final table, going in as 4th of 6 in chips. My cards dried up again during 3-handed play with a very aggressive dynamic at the table. I fell dangerously short but won two standard races to recover from 10BB and make heads-up play. Despite a fierce battle I was ultimately unable to turn around the big chip deficit. My exit came when my check/shoved combo draw failed to improve against A4s with a weak flopped top pair. It was a spot I had to take, I had great equity and needed to double ASAP if I were to go on and win. I don’t regret making the shove at all and can live with the outcome, after all I’d done well in earlier flips.
In the end my return for my £5.75 was £34.50 plus £13.50 in head-prizes, a very pleasing result for only my second try after moving up. Yesterday’s nightmare debut is already forgiven!
I’m very pleased to finish the day on a new highest balance. My aim now is to try and push on towards the £300 mark and hopefully avoid falling below the £230 barrier and having to drop down again. I’ll still be playing micro-stakes games, particularly the morning £3.30s which I enjoy so much, but if avoid a downswing my preferred buy-in will now be £5.75 for the foreseeable future due to the bigger prizes up for grabs.
April Poker Points 338
Today’s results;
7871807HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker26/04/2013 12:34NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.857869516HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker26/04/2013 12:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.752/69£42.257869594HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker26/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.315/71-£2.177871515HNLHU0.05GBPSkyPoker26/04/2013 10:35NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.95
All is forgiven! After yesterdays J2o shenannigans pocket AA behaved itself much better today;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancenoble01 Small blind 75.00 75.00 3375.00 STRATHX328 Big blind 150.00 225.00 27042.50 Your hole cards A A TheBossAK Fold *Call 150.00 375.00 5297.50 hammerdave Fold GaryQQQ Raise 495.00 870.00 2352.50 noble01 Fold STRATHX328 Fold * Call 345.00 1215.00 4952.50 Flop 8 J K * Check GaryQQQ Bet 725.00 1940.00 1627.50 * All-in 4952.50 6892.50 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 1627.50 8520.00 0.00 * Unmatched bet 2600.00 5920.00 2600.00 * Show K Q GaryQQQ Show A A Turn 4 River 6 GaryQQQ Win Pair of Aces 5920.00 5920
Closing Balance £259.30
Down £14.80 today
It wasn’t my day. Sometimes you’re simply not going to win no matter what you do, it was like that for me today as I found myself the wrong side of a bunch of coolers and managed to lose nearly all flips.
My best chance of a bink came in an afternoon £2.30. With 4 left I was clear chipleader. However AQ<J4s on an ace-high flop and two lost flips later I was out in fourth.
It was nice to play in the evening Mini for the first time this year. Saturday is the only evening I can even consider entering due to my work hours. Even then I find it hard to play anywhere near my best. I’m guaranteed to be pretty tired after a 1-30am start and a busy day and therefore find it hard to concentrate and tend to play impatiently. I only lasted 20 minutes today. Already short after early skirmishes I check/shoved my flopped nut-flush draw into pocket aces and didn’t bink.
I’ve abandoned any idea of making any C4P this month. I could still make it easily enough if I crammed in a load of £3.15 HU hypers over the next couple of days, but I consider using that time trying to bink MTTs to carry a higher expected value.
April Poker Points 378
Today’s results;
7874855HNLB0.5GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 20:15NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5463/556-£5.57877612HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 19:11NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.157877416HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 19:04NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.157875446HNL 0.5GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 19:00NL Hold'em £5 + £0.514/38-£5.57875244HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 18:00NL Hold'em £2 + £0.389/160-£2.37877064HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 16:52NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957874365HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 14:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.34/32£3.85
Coolers R Us. It was one of those days, £5.50 freezeout exit hand;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceBELL_POKER Small blind 100.00 100.00 7857.50 STEVE1937 Big blind 200.00 300.00 2765.00 Your hole cards K K kg101 Fold timeforbed Fold GaryQQQ Raise 400.00 700.00 2279.00 BELL_POKER Call 300.00 1000.00 7557.50 STEVE1937 All-in 2765.00 3765.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2279.00 6044.00 0.00 BELL_POKER Fold STEVE1937 Unmatched bet 286.00 5758.00 286.00 STEVE1937 Show A A GaryQQQ Show K K Flop 10 A 7 Turn 3 River 8 STEVE1937 Win Three Aces 5758.00 6044.00
Closing Balance £247.18
Down £12.12 today
Nothing much to report today. I only played 3 MTTs and 4 HU matches this morning, for the rest of the day I was too busy for poker. In the MTTs I didn’t get anything going, I didn't pick up many cards to play with and never really felt ‘in the zone’. I won a couple of the HUs but seem to be going through a phase of being bad at flips in the hyper games.
April Poker Points 391
Today’s results;
7880033HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 12:55NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.157879208HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.312/14-£3.37879755HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 10:50NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957878102HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.336/79-£2.177877812HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.346/78-£3.37879602HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 09:36NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957879555HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 09:30NL Hold'em £2 + £0.12/2-£2.1
Closing Balance £234.89
Down £12.29 today
Another day devoid of any success.
I started with the two morning £3.30s. In the 9-45 I came close to the money but lost my first flip of the tournament. I 3-bet jammed 20BB with a small pair from the BB over a guy opening every button to 3BB. He made what I consider a light call with QJo, but fair play he had a flip, probably the best he could hope for. It worked out well for him, he hit his cards hard (full house) and I was out. In the 10-45 after an hour of not much happening I got my last 12BB aipf 3-ways with AK against J7s and and JTs, I was dead on the flop to a flush.
At lunch I entered a £2.20 Rebuy with the knowledge I was rolled to use 3 buy-ins maximum. I won the first hand so was unable to take my usual instant rebuy. However at a crazy table with players getting all-in very light I soon found myself up to more than 4x starting stack by early in level 2 without having taken a rebuy. At that point I had a big chip lead and decided to tighten-up, happy to nit it up from there to the add-on. The plan didn’t work out too well; I lost my entire stack in the space of just three hands. First my KK was no good against 75, two hands later I lost the rest with JJ<AA. I decided to quit knowing a double rebuy and add-on would break my BR rules. Also I just wasn’t feeling it, I had a feeling in my heart it just wasn’t going to be my day.
Final tournament was an afternoon £5.75 BH. I knew I was at a wild table almost immediately when I saw two eliminations in the first two hands. I folded almost continuously for three levels, the strongest hole-cards I saw in that time being A6o which I open- folded from UTG. The only pot of I won of any size came in level 4 when getting short I doubled with A7>A2 on an ace-high board. I was out soon after losing most of my stack when my check-raised top pair and flush draw couldn’t hold against ace-rag with a gutshot and overcard. I got the last of my chips in with KJ and ran into KK.
April Poker Points 407
Today’s results;
7883282HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker29/04/2013 15:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7554/87-£5.757883423HNLR0.2GBPSkyPoker29/04/2013 14:00NL Hold'em £2R + £0.29/12-£3.877882008HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker29/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.323/76-£3.37881594HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker29/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.317/76-£1.04
Quick brm question for you, linked to my own challenge. I know you play pretty much just MTT's but I intend to mix in a little cash too. If you were to do the same, would you alter you buyin rules? It's generally considered 40 buyins (2.5%) for MTT's and 20 buyins (5%) for Cash, would you go along with this or stick to the 40 buyins for safety in a challenge like this?
Closing Balance £256.59
Up £21.70 today
Yay, that’s more like it; I won a small MTT today! A welcome confidence boost and a relief after three days of firing blanks.
The win came in my first and only game of the day, a £50 gtd £3.30 freezeout. I feel I won for two reasons; I played well, and I enjoyed a great run of cards, particularly at the final table. It pretty much went like a dream, for most of the tournament I was chipleader and always felt in control. I used my stack to chip-up nicely on the bubble winning pots both when I did and didn’t have anything. Each time I got an opponent all-in and behind my cards held-up. The most crucial time being when my AQ survived against QJs with a flush draw and a gutshot on an AK6 flop during three-handed play. Only three hands later victory was mine with quad aces no less! At the final table I’d picked up AA and KK twice each, it’s hard to lose when cards like that keep coming.
As I expect most of you are aware the new Sky Poker Rewards scheme replaces Cash for Points after today. Personally I think this is a great change that can benefit everybody on the site, including those who may see a slight reduction in their loyalty payments initially. The whole poker economy relies on maintaining a healthy pool of recreational players and newbies playing at the lowest stakes. If those games start to dry up it will have a knock-on effect right up to the highest levels. Offering easily achievable loyalty rewards to all those at the lower limits who currently get nothing has to be a good thing.
If more poker players step onto the bottom rung of the ladder naturally more money will trickle up to those who’ve reached the top. Everybody will be a winner. I’ve played on Sky Poker every single day in April, probably averaging around three or four hours of play per day. Yet I’ve still fallen short of earning a Cash for Points payment. Surely this can’t be right? The whole poker community, including those playing the most at the top, should want there to be attractive inducements to maximise the number of recreational players getting involved in games at the lower levels. In my opinion any other view is very short-sighted.
April Poker Points 409
Today’s result;
7886727HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker30/04/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.31/16£21.7
The big hold that got me heads-up with a huge lead;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceA Small blind 150.00 150.00 7730.00 B Big blind 300.00 450.00 4870.00 Your hole cards Q A GaryQQQ Raise 600.00 1050.00 18350.00 A Call 450.00 1500.00 7280.00 B Fold Flop 6 K A A Check GaryQQQ Bet 825.00 2325.00 17525.00 A Raise 2400.00 4725.00 4880.00 GaryQQQ Raise 3900.00 8625.00 13625.00 A All-in 4880.00 13505.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 2555.00 16060.00 11070.00 A Show J Q GaryQQQ Show Q A Turn 8 River 2 GaryQQQ Win Pair of Aces 16060.00 27130.00
Easy game, three hands later victory is mine with quad aces!
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance* Small blind 200.00 200.00 4720.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 400.00 600.00 26680.00 Your hole cards A A * Raise 600.00 1200.00 4120.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 1600.00 26280.00 Flop A J 9 GaryQQQ Check * Bet 400.00 2000.00 3720.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 2400.00 25880.00 Turn A GaryQQQ Check * Bet 400.00 2800.00 3320.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 3200.00 25480.00 River 4 GaryQQQ All-in 25480.00 28680.00 0.00 * All-in 3320.00 32000.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 22160.00 9840.00 22160.00 * Show 7 7 GaryQQQ Show A A GaryQQQ Win Four Aces 9840.00 32000.00
Closing Balance £276.95
Up £20.36 today
Due to running out of excuses to keep putting-off some decorating work at home my only games today were the two morning £3.30 Bounty Hunters.
In the 9-45 I ran fairly deep but busted not far from the money in 17th/81 for no return. To be honest I was always below average and struggled to get anything going. I’m totally at ease with my exit; I came second in a standard overcards v pair race at a time when I needed to double if I were to drag myself into contention. I always play for the win, hence I’d much rather take a flip that gives me a shot at making final table over folding my way to a min-cash on fumes, an unwise strategy I see many others adopt.
Again in the 10-45 I spend well over an hour bumping along near the bottom of the field failing to make hands. This time though I did start to pick-up some useful cards with the bubble looming and gradually made my way near the top of the field, going on to make final table slightly below average. Four-handed play was pretty tough, I found myself up against Mike1975, a talented MTT player and two difficult to play loose-aggressive opponents. Fortunately I got more cards to work with and managed to get heads-up against Mike with a slight lead. From there though it went pear-shaped, I was totally outplayed heads-up and had to settle with second place. I think the final hand can be considered a cooler; I check/shoved my flush draw and over-cards to the board into an unlikely made straight in a spot where Mike is probably c-betting his entire opening range (see below).
Despite the annoyance of a second place finish I have to consider today a success; I'm happy to find myself on a new highest balance again, something that felt very unlikely a couple of days ago.
May Poker Points 6
Today’s results;
7889284HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker01/05/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.32/70£23.667889044HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker01/05/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.317/81-£3.3
Oooops, 10-45 final hand, I check/shove my flush-draw into a made straight and fail to bink;
mike1975 Small blind 800.00 800.00 97444.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 1600.00 2400.00 40156.00 Your hole cards J 7 mike1975 Raise 2400.00 4800.00 95044.00 GaryQQQ Call 1600.00 6400.00 38556.00 Flop 2 6 5 GaryQQQ Check mike1975 Bet 4800.00 11200.00 90244.00 GaryQQQ All-in 38556.00 49756.00 0.00 mike1975 Call 33756.00 83512.00 56488.00 mike1975 Show 3 4 GaryQQQ Show J 7 Turn K River 6 mike1975 Win Straight to the 6 83512.00 140000.00
nice going Gary...
keep going mate.
not read much of the book as I've been playing, but from what I've read it's good.
just shout when you'd like it back.
be lucky
ian
I'm sure we'll bump into each other sooner or later Craig. Congrats on your latest bink, you're in great form at the moment.
Closing Balance £269.23
Down £7.72 today
My only MTTs today were a couple of £5.75 Bounty Hunters. I also played a £2.10 HU STT which I won.
In the first £5.75 after struggling to make hands for an hour my exit came with my only premium pair of the session. When down to 19BB my min-raise from UTG and a flat call induced a squeeze-shove from a 13BB shortie in the blinds. I re-shoved and the caller put in the extra 17BB, so we were aipf 3-ways. My jacks were up against AK and AQ giving me a good shot of winning the 51BB pot and a head-prize. It wasn’t to be, the big stack’s AQ binked to scoop the pot and take two bounties. I don’t mind busting in big +ev situations and would snap take this spot every time.
I took an early head-prize in the second £5.75 but my exit came soon after when my pre-flop 4-bet with AQ was flatted by the OOP 3-bettor. The queen-high flop condemned me; my opponent had played his pocket aces perfectly, I'd have folded to a 5-bet shove pre-flop.
May Poker Points 23
Today’s results;
7894801HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker02/05/2013 16:30NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97893809HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker02/05/2013 15:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7539/71-£3.877893675HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker02/05/2013 14:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7528/72-£5.75
Congrats on completing your dissertation. I'm sure your month of poker exclusion from will bear fruit, it was a wise decision. You've certainly 'got your head screwed' on as they say.
Good luck to you at the tables (not that I think you need it!).
Closing Balance £284.88
Up £15.65 today
No luck in my two Bounty Hunters today. First up was a morning £3.30. Finding myself short in the mid-stages I found what looked like a good squeeze/shove spot with Q9s in the SB and 2 limpers in the pot before my turn to act. It didn’t look quite so good when the BB woke up with AA.
After a couple of hours doing decorating I returned to the poker tables to enter the 2-30PM £5.75. I lasted precisely four hands! Once again I ran into pocket AA, unfortunately I was holding KK at the time. As you might expect all the chips went in preflop. It’s unthinkable to fold pocket kings pre-flop at any stage of a Bounty Hunter without a very strong read. Many villains are prepared to punt their stacks surprisingly light in these games. When you run KK into AA it’s just an unavoidable cooler, all you can do is take it on the chin (unless you suck-out of course) and move on to the next game. Far more often they’ll turn over worse than KK, even while stacks are still 100BB deep.
I'd busted out of the 2-30PM BH in plenty of time to enter the 2-35PM £1.10 Rebuy. In a quirk of fate it was destined to save the day. With £3.30 invested (includes an instant rebuy and the add-on) I managed to win the event for a pleasing return of £28.00. I was above average and felt comfortable through most of the tournament. The only time I fell short was post-bubble during three-handed play when I found myself somewhat distant in third place after a bad run of cards. A flip brought me back into contention when I jammed QTo from the button and doubled off pocket 66 in the SB. Going into heads-up play I had a 4-1 chip deficit to overcome. The eventual runner-up was using unconventional plays and bet sizes that didn’t really seem to be working, so it didn’t take me too long to gain the advantage. He was then saved at the death by lucky river cards twice and I began to wonder if I'd be able to close it out. However when I put him under a spell of relentless pressure it eventually paid off; I jammed pocket 99 from the SB and managed to dodge the overcard when called by A8 for the victory.
Yay, we have a new highest balance. Hopefully I’ll be able to push on through the £300 barrier in the near future.
May Poker Points 37
Today’s results;
7896895HNLR0.1GBPSkyPoker03/05/2013 14:35NL Hold'em £1R + £0.11/29£25.977896598HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker03/05/2013 14:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7577/77-£5.757895698HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker03/05/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.333/86-£3.3
Closing Balance £275.30
Down £9.58 today
I played five MTTs today, though without any success.
In the first of two afternoon £5.75s I busted in a weird spot with AA<J5o. I was thrown when my internet connection froze causing my actions to be timed out. Somehow I managed to get stacked on the turn when forced to make a snap decision after being reconnected with only a couple of seconds left on the timebar. In the second £5.75 I was going well until coolered by flopped queen-high flush<flopped nut-flush. With stacks only 32BB deep there was no getting away from that one.
A great start in a late afternoon £2.30 went pear-shaped two spots from the money after I’d spent over an hour as chipleader. I lost a standard flip with AQs<66 aipf then busted with pocket KK<AQ blind v blind aipf.
I lasted only 30 minutes in the evening Mini. It was a rollercoaster ride. After an early treble-up I lost a 400BB pot with my pocket AA losing to J5o on a jack-high flop, an almost exact action relay of the hand I mentioned above. The same guy busted me soon after. Because I’d seen him playing so recklessly, including the J5>AA hand it was impossible to fold my AQ on an AQ6 flop. He held 66 of course. At least I’d won my buy-in back in head-prizes. As someone who rarely plays in the evening I was shocked by the amount of crazy play I saw in the Mini today, it was at least as wild as the daytime £2.30 games at their worst, eliminations were very rapid. For some reason I always assume the standard of play will be higher during the evening than during the day, maybe I should rethink that opinion.
My final game was a £2.30 Bounty Hunter, I donked myself out in the first hand in a spot where I should have easily got away. I realised I was playing while tilted by my Mini experience so decided to call it a night.
May Poker Points 64
Today’s results;
7901140HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker04/05/2013 20:50NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3170/173-£2.37900481HNLB0.5GBPSkyPoker04/05/2013 20:15NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5443/542£0.147900696HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker04/05/2013 17:05NL Hold'em £2 + £0.37/35£2.27900801HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker04/05/2013 15:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7539/113-£3.877900558HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker04/05/2013 14:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7585/110-£5.75
According to Sharkscope my ROI for MTTs on Sky is 66.7% over 3,154 games. There are lots of players out there much better than me, so I think 100%+ is achievable. Because I mainly only play during daytime hours I'm in tournaments with relatively small fields, so it doesn't take too long for the variance to level out. I'd say in my games you'll probably have a good idea of long term results after only say 500 games. Obviously as fields get bigger a larger sample is needed because the final table finishes will come further apart.
For the same reason bigger fields demand a bigger BR too. If I were playing in games with 200+ runners average I'd need a lot more than 40 buy-ins to survive the downswings.
Closing Balance £281.43
Up £6.13 today
No joy in the morning £3.30s for me today. I found some good spots but couldn’t make the holds. In both tournaments I busted after losing big pot in which my stack went in as favourite, so I have no regrets about my play.
After a few hours out in the sunshine I return for some afternoon games which went better. After winning a couple of £2.20 HU STTs I entered the 4-20PM Deep Stack, a very small event with only 10 entrants. Solid ABC tournament poker took me onto the final table then into the money. When the bubble burst stack sizes were as follows at 75/150;
Villain A 39,405 (262BB)
Villain B 4,475 (30BB)
GaryQQQ 6,120 (41BB)
So you’d imagine Villain A was a huge favourite. He/she should have been but he adopted a maniac style of play that was to backfire over the course of the next 60 hands. Both Villain B and myself were gifted easy doubles before Villain B was harshly busted by Villain A with AJ<A4 aipf. That left me with an 18K v 32K chip deficit, however all I needed to was wait for hands. I soon took the lead and my opponent grew increasingly frustrated, going aipf with any two cards at 100/200 with 8K still behind. I won the tournament with AQs on the SB (see below). Villain A shoved over my limp with his QTo (I'd set the trap up by limp/folding junk a couple of times in earlier hands), my cards held up for a pleasing end to the session.
May Poker Points 74
Today’s results;
7905067HNL 0.2GBPSkyPoker05/05/2013 16:20NL Hold'em £2 + £0.21/10£7.87906685HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker05/05/2013 15:55NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97906750HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker05/05/2013 15:51NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97904016HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker05/05/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.324/81-£2.177903659HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker05/05/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.333/76-£3.3
Money was being gifted this afternoon. The first of these hands is from a standard speed £2.10 HU match.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance Small blind 15.00 15.00 1398.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 30.00 45.00 1557.00 Your hole cards Q Q Raise 45.00 90.00 1353.00 GaryQQQ Raise 150.00 240.00 1407.00 Call 120.00 360.00 1233.00 Flop 8 5 Q GaryQQQ Bet 180.00 540.00 1227.00 Raise 360.00 900.00 873.00 GaryQQQ Call 180.00 1080.00 1047.00 Turn 10 GaryQQQ Bet 295.00 1375.00 752.00 All-in 873.00 2248.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 578.00 2826.00 174.00 Show 6 5 GaryQQQ Show Q Q River Q GaryQQQ Win Four Queens 2826.00 3000.00
Don’t mind if I do. This is the final hand of the £2.20 Deepstack;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 100.00 100.00 40880.00 Villain A Big blind 200.00 300.00 8820.00 Your hole cards Q A GaryQQQ Call 100.00 400.00 40780.00 Villain A All-in 8820.00 9220.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 8820.00 18040.00 31960.00 GaryQQQ Show Q A Villain A Show Q 10 Flop J Q 2 Turn 9 River 9 GaryQQQ Win Two Pairs, Queens and 9s 18040.00 50000.00
Closing Balance £276.15
Down £5.28 today
No luck for me in the morning £3.30s BHs again. In the 9-45 I couldn’t find a way back after losing an 85BB pot with AK<AQ aipf. In the 10-45 I was knocked out in the first hand with AQs<A8o by a pre-flop limp/caller on an A8x flop. With hindsight it looks like I made a terrible donkey play to let myself get knocked out with only top pair. Maybe I did and should have got away from my hand. The trouble is that you see random unknowns get it in very light all the time in these games, often any ace will do on an ace-high flop.
In a lunchtime £2.30 I had a flying start when my QTs earned me a treble-up on an 89J flop. It’s always nice when two players shove into you when you’re holding the nuts! After 10 minutes of play I already had 3 head-prizes, however there was plenty of bank-holiday madness to be seen, early in level 2 I had 3x starting stack and over 200BB yet was only third in chips at my table. In the end I got third place, my exit came in a standard overcards versus pair coin-flip when stacks were shallow.
I wasn’t in the mood for any more MTTs after that so I jumped in a few HU STTs. I went off the idea quickly when I lost tournament deciding pots with QQ<AJ and A9<K9, both aipf, then AT<T3 in three consecutive games. I threw in the towel and called it a day.
Overall I'm happy with my play today, content that I only finished down because I ran badly in some key spots.
May Poker Points 87
Today’s results;
7910272HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker06/05/2013 16:07NL Hold'em £2 + £0.12/2-£2.17910332HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker06/05/2013 15:57NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057910251HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker06/05/2013 15:53NL Hold'em £2 + £0.12/2-£2.17910200HNLHU0.05GBPSkyPoker06/05/2013 15:35NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957907879HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker06/05/2013 12:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.33/30£5.627907877HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker06/05/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.375/75-£3.37907635HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker06/05/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.358/94-£3.3
The Poker Gods giveth and the Poker gods taketh away. Bounty Hunter madness. Three stacks go in when I flop the nuts. It was a harsh cooler for the guy with 7T, but I've no idea what the chap with A9 was thinking.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalances Small blind 10.00 10.00 1390.00 c Big blind 20.00 30.00 1960.00 Your hole cards 10 Q jonny964 Call 20.00 50.00 2410.00 GaryQQQ Call 20.00 70.00 1950.00 BBB56 Fold rustyy123 Fold s Call 10.00 80.00 1380.00 c Check Flop 9 J 8 s Bet 20.00 100.00 1360.00 c Call 20.00 120.00 1940.00 jonny964 Fold GaryQQQ Raise 60.00 180.00 1890.00 s Call 40.00 220.00 1320.00 c Raise 300.00 520.00 1640.00 GaryQQQ Raise 560.00 1080.00 1330.00 s Call 560.00 1640.00 760.00 c All-in 1640.00 3280.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 1330.00 4610.00 0.00 sAll-in 760.00 5370.00 0.00 c Unmatched bet 10.00 5360.00 10.00 s Show A 9 c Show 7 10 GaryQQQ Show 10 Q Turn K River K GaryQQQ Win Straight to the King 5360.00 5360.00
Saw plenty of these today. Exit (well, almost) hand from the 9-45AM Bounty Hunter;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancefrank11 Small blind 20.00 20.00 2060.00 pet1 Big blind 40.00 60.00 3542.50 Your hole cards A K GaryQQQ Raise 100.00 160.00 1920.00 dawn1983 Fold TRONSTER Fold d Raise 360.00 520.00 1325.00 frank11 Fold pet1 Fold GaryQQQ Raise 760.00 1280.00 1160.00 d All-in 1325.00 2605.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 825.00 3430.00 335.00 GaryQQQ Show A K d Show Q A Flop 9 5 J Turn 9 River Q d Win Two Pairs, Queens and 9s 3430.00 3430.00