You need to be logged in to your Sky Poker account above to post discussions and comments.
You might need to refresh your page afterwards.
You need to be logged in to your Sky Poker account above to post discussions and comments.
You might need to refresh your page afterwards.
Comments
well played Gary
"Thinking about the next challenge yet?" lol
(* *)
^
dev
Closing Balance £492.04
Down £5.47 today
As I always do when possible I entered the two morning £3.30 Bounty Hunters today. Unfortunately there were a high proportion of ‘bingo’ gamblers in the fields today, as is often the case on Sundays. At both of my starting tables if you wanted to play for a pot you’d have to be prepared to go all-in pre-flop and hope for the best. Play then usually calms down after a fast rate of eliminations in the first 30 minutes or so.
I went out of the 9-45 early. I survived the early mayhem and lasted 90 minutes in the 10-45 only to bust with 99<44 aipf for a pot that would have put me comfortably above average with the bubble looming. Obviously it’s a call I want, I just have to take it on the chin and move on when my opponent hits his 2-outer, happy that my stack went in good.
That was all I had time for, what with Fathers Day and other stuff going on including my return to work tonight.
June Poker Points 113 (£1.13)
Today’s results;
8054980HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker16/06/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.322/73-£2.178054728HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker16/06/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.384/89-£3.3
I'm definitely not thinking about any other challenges yet, I'm not even half-way there in this one yet!
You won't be surprised to know that while I usually cheer you on to do well I was somewhat relieved when you lost a flip to bust from the £5.75 with only two tables left. Of all the opponents still alive in the game I expected you to be the one least likely to make a mistake and to employ the best steal, push and fold ranges.
No idea what I'll do with the money. Will probably take £600 off and leave £400 on deposit as a working bankroll.
Closing Balance £482.26
Down £9.78 today
For the third day in a row I was rubbish at all-ins in the two morning £3.30 Bounty Hunters, unable to win any either when flipping or with the odds in my favour.
After lunch I tried my luck in a £5.75 BH. I busted with the bubble looming when my pocket TT clashed with pocket JJ blind v blind on a 279 rainbow flop. I thought about it, but I just couldn’t find a fold to my opponents over-shove when a 3 was dealt on the turn. With effective stacks only 30BB deep at the start of the hand perhaps I can chalk it up as a cooler without a read.
Meanwhile in the one-off Download Omaha Freeroll I was chipleader for ages, though feeling very rusty having not played any Omaha for months. The wheels came off very quickly when stacks grew shallow and the big all-ins stopped going my way, my decisions in several spots undoubtedly being far below optimal.
That was me done for the day.
June Poker Points 127 (£1.27)
Today’s results;
8058889HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker17/06/2013 13:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7515/68-£3.188058675HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker17/06/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.335/64-£3.38058402HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker17/06/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.344/68-£3.3
It’s not very often I regret my tournament exit hands, but I can’t help feeling I should have got away here while quite deep in the £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I had no notes and only a few hands with the villain.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceB Small blind 150.00 150.00 10674.50 GaryQQQ Big blind 300.00 450.00 9525.00 Your hole cards 10 10 ramprat242 Fold DOHHHHHHH Fold rhystiano7 Fold B Raise 450.00 900.00 10224.50 GaryQQQ Call 300.00 1200.00 9225.00 Flop 2 9 7 B Bet 1200.00 2400.00 9024.50 GaryQQQ Call 1200.00 3600.00 8025.00 Turn 3 B All-in 9024.50 12624.50 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 8025.00 20649.50 0.00 B Unmatched bet 999.50 19650.00 999.50 B Show J J GaryQQQ Show 10 10 River 4 B Win Pair of Jacks 19650.00 20649.50
This is only my second BR challenge, and possibly my last, so I've only ever reset after reaching £1K once, and with a 3-month gap inbetween. When I looked back at least years quest, while pleased with the eventual outcome, I thought it seemed a bit too easy with hindsight. So I decided to try something similar but tougher this year.
I'll definitely be playing at those buy-ins when I can, though due to the limited amount of time I have available for poker I tend to jump into whatever is running next when I sit down to play. Most of the time thats games at £5.75 or less.
I don't fit my life around the poker tournaments I want to play, I fit the poker the around my life.......if you see what I mean!
Closing Balance £461.79
Down £20.47 today
Another losing day for me in MTTs. Most of the time was spent mucking junk pre-flop plus missing flops and draws. The rest of it losing all-in situations and finding myself the wrong side of coolers.
At lunchtime I tried an £11 Bounty Hunter for the first time in this challenge but was out after only a few minutes. I ran my pocket JJ into the KK of a maniac whose game I know very well. I’d be very reluctant to play for my stack with jacks pre-flop against most opponents in level 1, however JJ is miles ahead of this particular villain’s very wide aipf range making this an unmissable spot, sweetened further because I had him covered meaning the pot was also worth a head-prize. The kings held and I was left with only 14BB.
My exit hand in the £11 game (see below) was pleasing in one respect; it reminded me that ludicrous gambling is just as prevalent in £11 bounty tournaments as it is at micro-stakes. When I stuck my 14BB in with pocket 33 the KK maniac shoved 150BB all-in over the top with A9o (as I said above, his aipf range is very wide), his shove was then amazing cold-called for 113BB by another player with J4o. Unsurprisingly J4o scooped the massive pot and took my head-prize!
June Poker Points 150 (£1.50)
Today’s results;
8062140HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker18/06/2013 13:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7514/64-£3.878060432HNLB1.0GBPSkyPoker18/06/2013 13:00NL Hold'em £10 + £141/42-£118061921HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker18/06/2013 12:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.36/9-£2.38063073HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker18/06/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.312/21-£3.3
My exit hand in the £11 Bounty Hunter. I was expecting to find at least one caller, however the wild gambling adopted by two opponents was pleasing to see. I’ll be very happy to see both at my tables again in the future.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceC Small blind 10.00 10.00 3060.00 M Big blind 20.00 30.00 2270.00 Your hole cards 3 3 liamsgc Raise 40.00 70.00 2400.00 GaryQQQ All-in 280.00 350.00 0.00 C All-in 3060.00 3410.00 0.00 M All-in 2270.00 5680.00 0.00 liamsgc Fold CUnmatched bet 780.00 4900.00 780.00 C Show 9 A M Show 4 J GaryQQQ Show 3 3 Flop 2 6 9 Turn J River 6 M Win Two Pairs, Jacks and 6s 4900.00 4900.00
£5.75 Bounty Hunter a few spots from the bubble. I’m finding good spots like this to get my stack in but the crucial flips haven’t been going my way since Saturday’s bink.
Here's the maths if I'd somehow known my callers hole cards and that he'd be calling;
My KQo has 45.703% equity against the pocket 88.
45.703% of the time I win a 8612.50 pot; 45.703% x 8612.50 = +3936.17 chips
54.297% of the time I lose my 3856.25 shove and bust; 54.297% x 3856.25 = -2093.82 chips
+3936.17 -2093.82 = +1842.35
So on average this shove shows a massive profit of 1842 chips, or 6 big blinds. Had both opponents folded I profit by 900 chips. If I'm to stand any chance of winning the tournament I absolutely must take these spots. Without being results orientated check/folding here would have been a big mistake. Had the equities been reversed (I shove pocket 88 into a limp/callers KQ) it becomes even more profitable.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancenelfish Small blind 150.00 150.00 6115.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 300.00 450.00 3856.25 Your hole cards K Q 1983boab Fold c Call 300.00 750.00 11062.50 bigstew22 Fold nelfish Call 150.00 900.00 5965.00 GaryQQQ All-in 3856.25 4756.25 0.00 c Call 3856.25 8612.50 7206.25 nelfish Fold GaryQQQ Show K Q c Show 8 8 Flop 7 A 6 Turn 5 River 9 c Win Straight to the 9 8612.50 15818.75
Closing Balance £442.29
Down £19.50 today
A fourth consecutive day of MTT frustration. There’s not much to report other than I’m going through a spell of failing to get anywhere before then losing the inevitable ‘all-in and called’ moment regardless of my equity in the pot. I don’t think I’ve won a standard flip since Saturday. Today I lost 4/4, including one that would have given me a substantial lead with 5 left and 3 to be paid in a £3.30 freezeout.
No worries, these spells happen. Obviously I can’t complain after winning flips and making big holds on my way to the two victories on Saturday. Hopefully they’ll all come at once London bus style again and lead to another bink!
June Poker Points 175 (£1.75)
Today’s results (taken from 'my account' as Sharkscope missed most games);
19 Jun '13 at 13:34PokerHeads-Up (Hyper)£1.90£0.00Poker AIR clientHand History 19 Jun '13 at 13:31Poker£300 B/Hunter£-5.75£0.00Poker AIR clientHand History 19 Jun '13 at 12:19Poker£50 Guaranteed£-3.30£0.00Poker AIR clientHand History 19 Jun '13 at 12:11Poker£150 Speed B/Hunt£0.00£0.00Poker AIR clientHand History 19 Jun '13 at 11:44Poker£100 Speed B/Hunt£-5.75£0.00Poker AIR clientHand History 19 Jun '13 at 10:42PokerHeads-Up (Hyper)£0.00£0.00Poker AIR clientHand History 19 Jun '13 at 10:32Poker£150 B/Hunter£-3.30£0.00Poker AIR clientHand History 19 Jun '13 at 09:42Poker£150 B/Hunter£-3.30£0.00Poker AIR clientHand History
A hand from today, variance in action. I just can’t win those pesky all-ins at the moment regardless of equity.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceadod Small blind 30.00 30.00 2080.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 60.00 90.00 5205.00 Your hole cards A A c All-in 1650.00 1740.00 0.00 dolfin5005 Fold adod Fold GaryQQQ Call 1590.00 3330.00 3615.00 GaryQQQ Show A A c Show 8 8 Flop 10 Q J Turn 9 River 4 c Win Straight to the Queen 3330.00 3330.00
Closing Balance £448.89
Up £6.60 today
At lunch I entered two £5.75 Bounty Hunters. Disappointingly the pattern of the last four days continued as I busted from both after losing big all-ins despite holding the hand most likely to win when stacks went in.
After that I entered a £2.20 rebuy that went off with only 9 runners. To my relief I won the tournament. Hopefully this small win marks the end of the short sharp downswing over the last few days. It’s nothing to shout about; I only won £24.70 with £6.60 invested (includes my standard instant rebuy taken before playing a hand and the add-on). After taking a beating from variance for a few days the confidence boost is more valuable to me than the money.
With four players left I was dominating the table with over 50% of the chips in play. On the bubble (3 left, 2 paid) I began to think ‘here we go again’ when I called a pre-flop push with KQo hoping to get HU with 75% of the chips in play. The villain turned over 87. He didn’t hit his live cards, but he did make a straight on the river. Three handed play then lasted another 45 minutes and stacks grew increasingly shallow. Eventually I got HU against the 87o guy due to an all-in and call that didn’t involve me. At last lady luck was on my side and I won the all-ins to turn around my initial chip deficit and avenge my opponent’s good fortune on the bubble.
I'll probably be too busy to play any poker tomorrow.
June Poker Points 197 (£1.97)
Today’s results;
8069586HNLR0.2GBPSkyPoker20/06/2013 14:00NL Hold'em £2R + £0.21/9£18.108068562HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker20/06/2013 13:15NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7512/25-£5.758068390HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker20/06/2013 12:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7528/58-£5.75
This is the hand that essentially won me the rebuy. By the time it was played my read was that the villain was a competent aggressive HU player with a few tricks up his sleeve. He was opening all pots with a raise or shove and not making the typical mistakes made by weak/tight HU players who occasionally make it to the end of micro-stakes tournaments.
Obviously I have no intention of folding my AQ preflop with stacks so shallow, I opt to min-raise hoping to induce a 3-bet shove. I’d have open-shoved most of my range including weaker aces, small pairs, any two broadway cards, suited kings, suited connectors etc. I was somewhat surprised when my opponent flat-called my raise, feeling either a push or fold was much more likely.
Before he made his next action I suspected he was about to pull a ‘stop and go’ on me. For those of you who are unfamiliar a ‘stop and go’ means flat-calling an open raise when out of position when effective stacks are shallow, then pushing all-in on any flop regardless of whether you hit or miss. As expected he jammed and I made the call. My read was good, my dominating cards held-up and victory was mine in the very next hand.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 600.00 600.00 13421.08 * Big blind 1200.00 1800.00 26778.92 Your hole cards A Q GaryQQQ Raise 1800.00 3600.00 11621.08 * Call 1200.00 4800.00 25578.92 Flop 8 6 3 * All-in 25578.92 30378.92 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 11621.08 42000.00 0.00 * Unmatched bet 13957.84 28042.16 13957.84 GaryQQQ Show A Q * Show A 5 Turn 8 River 2 GaryQQQ Win Pair of 8s 28042.16 28042.16
Didn’t play
I’ve decided to take every Friday off poker for the next few months. I’ll use that day to go out walking in the county, a pastime I enjoy. I live in on the edge of an area of outstanding natural beauty, it would be a shame not to make the most of it when the weather is good. Besides, I want to get in better shape for a week-long walk I have planned for September. Going up Snowdon last week was hard work, I realised I’m not quite as fit as I want to be.
Tonight (Saturday) I have a fun sweat to look forward to. A couple of months ago I bought a small percentage of Todd ‘Dandruff’ Witteles’s action in a batch of 7 WSOP tournaments, my only investment in the series this year.
Usually whoever sells a piece to me instantly jinxes themselves (sorry Glitterbabe!). But not this year. Todd has already cashed in the first tourney of the seven, the Millionaire Maker played a fortnight ago. Far more excitingly though he’s made Day 3 of the second; Event #37, $5,000 LHE as chipleader with only 12 players left. Play resumes at 10-00pm our time tonight. My piece is very small, however if he takes it down this will easily be my biggest ever win from poker. Witteles is a limit specialist and already has one bracelet to his name. Fingers crossed he runs well tonight!
I will write-up my Saturday diary entry later.
Spoiler; it's going awful so far!
Had a similar situation recently where I had a huge sweat in the scoop (m) main event. I had 10% of someone going into day 2 placed 30thish out of 60ish left with $220k uptop!
I hope your man runs better than my 'horse' did when it matters
I seem to remember you went extremely deep in the primo once, so if this will 'easily' top that in terms of £££ it sounds like it could be a very significant return!
Is he a friend in real life? or did you purchase the action via a forum/twitter etc?
GL!!!!!
Also great work on the challenge/diary as always. Have seen you in a few BH's recently that I've started playing, the 1pm/2pm ones.
Some interesting play to contend with!
I've walked many sections of the path before, including parts during my JOGLE. It's spectacular all the way and a great way to explore the beautiful coastlines around here, so I want to do every step of the whole thing. My first leg will be Poole Harbour to Exmouth (my home town) in September. I expect that to take 5 or 6 days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_West_Coast_Path
I've known Witteles loosely through another online poker community for a couple of years, not in person. When he offered action I jumped straight in, thought he was great value, he sold out very fast. I'm hoping for the final table at least, there are still three very short stacks still alive, but this is tournament poker so anything could happen.
Yes, you see a lot of eccentric play in those Bounty Hunters, hence they're great value over a large sample despite the 15% rake.
Closing Balance £440.75
Down £8.14 today
This afternoon carried on in the exactly same fashion as the rest of the week; I spent my time taking a beating from variance in Bounty Hunter tournaments. Once again I couldn’t win a flip. Twice I busted with flopped top set. My only relief from the pain came in a couple of STT successes.
In the evening things finally looked up. I entered another two Bounty Hunters and managed to cash in both. These becoming my first cashes in bounty tournaments for a whole week. They were only min-cashes, but even so still very welcome all after a barren run. At long last I managed to win a few aipf races and did better at making big holds and swerving draws.
For at least an hour I was plagued by terrible lag in both games and found myself timing out frequently. In one particularly frustrating spot I timed out with pocket 88 in the Mini when I wanted to open raise. I would have flopped a set of course, then I then watched as two opponents who did see the flop went all-in against each other with hands I would have beaten. Maybe they would have folded to my open and I wouldn’t have won many chips, we’ll never know. The lag only eased when the fields got fairly small. I busted from both games with no regrets in standard shove spots.
Ultimately it was a losing day, though I finish feeling pretty positive after the deep runs in the evening.
June Poker Points 244 (£2.44)
Today’s results;
8076414HNLB0.5GBPSkyPoker22/06/2013 20:15NL Hold'em £5 + £0.558/557£8.338076921HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker22/06/2013 20:05NL Hold'em £2 + £0.317/255£2.378076904HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker22/06/2013 17:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7555/87-£3.878076653HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker22/06/2013 17:05NL Hold'em £2 + £0.317/25-£2.38078130HNL6MX,DN0.25GBPSkyPoker22/06/2013 16:41NL Hold'em £2 + £0.251/6£1.758078141HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker22/06/2013 16:08NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.958076724HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker22/06/2013 15:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75106/126-£5.758076567HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker22/06/2013 14:45NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7519/32-£5.758075572HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker22/06/2013 13:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7527/109-£3.87
A reluctant fold this afternoon. When player b pushes all-in over my river raise I can’t possibly call. He’s shoving into two opponents here and is stronger than a straight virtually every single time. The very best I can hope for here is a chop, but I feel even that is highly unlikely. Aces full are the most likely holding here, probably AJ or AQ.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceb Small blind 40.00 40.00 7660.00 K9HANDLER Big blind 80.00 120.00 1240.00 Your hole cards Q K R Call 80.00 200.00 4465.00 stingerbil Fold GaryQQQ Call 80.00 280.00 4130.00 erchie Fold b Call 40.00 320.00 7620.00 K9HANDLER Check Flop J Q A b Check K9HANDLER Check R Bet 80.00 400.00 4385.00 GaryQQQ Call 80.00 480.00 4050.00 b Call 80.00 560.00 7540.00 K9HANDLER Fold Turn A b Check R Bet 80.00 640.00 4305.00 GaryQQQ Call 80.00 720.00 3970.00 b Call 80.00 800.00 7460.00 River 10 b Check R Bet 160.00 960.00 4145.00 GaryQQQ Raise 400.00 1360.00 3570.00 b All-in 7460.00 8820.00 0.00 R Fold GaryQQQ Fold b Muck b Win 1760.00 1760.00 b Return 7060.00 0.00 8820.00
Closing Balance £435.48
Down £5.27 today
I only had time for two Bounty Hunter tournaments this morning. In a £3.30 I went nowhere fast. In a £5.75 I was going nicely with 23 of 85 entrants left when I picked up pocket KK on the BB. It went limp, raise to 4BB, call before the action came to me. With 10.5BB in the middle it looked like a perfect squeeze/shove spot, so I pushed all-in with my 27BB to disguise the strength of my hand. I successfully induced a call from the 4BB raiser who flipped over AJo.
Had I held I’d been have been in a great position; a top 3 stack and covering everybody at my table with the bubble looming. However, this is poker we’re talking about; the ace hit on the river, the chipleader scooped the huge pot and I was out.
June Poker Points 256 (£2.56)
Today’s results;
8081405HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker23/06/2013 12:57NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.98078907HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker23/06/2013 11:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7523/85-£3.878079214HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker23/06/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.355/84-£3.3