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Closing Balance £650.76
Down £21.77 today
Not my day. I entered some Bounty Hunter tournaments but couldn't get anything going. I'm happy with my play, but there's not a lot you can do when you find yourself the wrong side of the coolers and fare badly in 'all-in and called' situations.
Perhaps my best chance of a score came in a £5.75, I busted close(ish) to the money when I open-shoved with AK. I found two callers pocket 99, then AQ, a treble-up would have seen me well placed in the top five. Pocket 99 looked the most likely winner pre-flop to be fair, however it was the guy with AQ who got lucky when he spiked a queen to scoop the large pot.
In my first £11 Bounty Hunter for a while I busted in my first standard flip of the tournament with QQ < AK aipf.
October Poker Points 297 (£2.97)
Today’s results;
8467930 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 17/10/2013 14:29 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 1/2 £2.85 8467884 H NL 6MX,DN 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 17/10/2013 14:22 NL Hold'em £1 + £0.15 5/6 -£1.15 8467783 H NL ST,HU 0.05 GBP SkyPoker 17/10/2013 13:30 NL Hold'em £0.5 + £0.05 1/2 £0.45 8465785 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 17/10/2013 13:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 26/59 -£5.75 8465622 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 17/10/2013 13:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 38/40 -£11 8465138 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 17/10/2013 11:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 21/73 -£3.87 8465545 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 17/10/2013 10:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 43/76 <p style="font-size:6pt;font-family:'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif';v
Closing Balance £655.83
Up £5.07 today
I didn't have much time for poker today. Just managed to squeeze three quick micro-stakes games in for a bit of fun. Was happy to finish slightly up on the day. I'm hoping to have time to get a few tournaments in tomorrow afternoon.
October Poker Points 310 (£3.10)
Today’s results;
8472602 H NL 6MX,DN 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 18/10/2013 17:14 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.25 1/6 £1.75 8470282 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 18/10/2013 14:45 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3 2/12 £2.47 8471741 H NL 6MX,DN 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 18/10/2013 13:06 NL Hold'em £1 + £0.15 1/6 £0.85
Closing Balance £699.39
Up £43.56 today
There was a pleasing start to my session today with £39 for second place in a £5.50 freezeout. The aggressive winner doubled off me in the mid-stages with AQ /> AK aipf, though I returned the favour to a certain extent with J9s /> Ako aipf with five left. In the final hand I check/jammed with an open-ended straight draw and flush draw combo, but my queen-high with draws failed to improve against my opponent's flopped top two pairs. I don't regret the play; I was unlucky he 'd flopped so well, and even when he had I knew I'd still have good equity against his calling range.
In my second game, a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, I ran fairly deep but lost a huge flip for the chiplead and a head-prize to bust short of the money. With a 4BB shortie on the BB I limp/re-shoved AK from UTG to trap. The only player at the table who had me covered limp/called behind with pocket 44 and won the race. Pocket 44 was serving him well in this game, a few hands earlier he'd busted another player with 44 /> KK aipf. It was a great spot for me to get my stack in and I don't regret the play. At least I had the consolation of a small profit from head-prizes.
The third and final MTT of the day was the Mini Bounty Hunter. For the first 40 minutes I was totally card dead and only opened one hand; pocket 33 which didn't make a set. After that I went on a bit of a heater and took a couple of heads on my way to four times the starting stack. Tight/aggressive play and a big hold to double-up on the bubble took me into the money (AQ /> QT, all the chips going in on the turn on a queen high board). I peaked at 12/73 from 566 after that hand, though it was a very volatile situation with all stacks shallow. Soon after I open shoved a suited queen from the SB, a standard play with effective stacks 12BB, unfortunately the BB was sitting on pocket KK which held-up. That left me short now, I worked my stack as hard as I could for a while to maintain fold equity but busted the first time I was all-in and called; my 3-bet jam with 77 losing the race against the opener's KTo. It had been a fun run while it lasted.
A day of near misses I suppose, though the profit is very pleasing. It feels great to be knocking on the door of the £700 mark again, mid-session a week ago today my balance was below £600. The painful month-long downswing is behind me now.
October Poker Points 334 (£3.34)
Today’s results;
8476336 H NL B 0.5 GBP SkyPoker 19/10/2013 20:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5 51/566 £4.2 8477338 H NL 6MX,DN 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 19/10/2013 17:49 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 1/6 £2.7 8475420 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 19/10/2013 15:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 31/135 £3.16 8474033 H NL 0.5 GBP SkyPoker 19/10/2013 13:15 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5 2/26 £33.5
Closing Balance £693.84
Down £5.55 today
Edit; I returned to the tables for an hour in the evening when I heard there was a £2,500 timed freeroll running. I cashed for £5.67, my closing balance and loss for the day has been adjusted accordingly.
Not my day. I entered three Bounty Hunters this morning without any success.
In the 9-45am £3.30 I busted quite deep when I was coolered with JJ into QQ. I took a beat to bust from the 10-45am £3.30, I got my stack in with the nuts on the flop as 82% favourite but was outdrawn by two pairs.
After that I tried a £5.75. After losing a JJ < AQ race I was down to 2.5BB at one point, though I somehow hauled myself back into it with a quick quadruple then treble. My big chance to get something going came when I got my stack aipf with AK against AQ in level 7 for a well above average stack, however two pairs on the run-out meant I had to settle for a chop. After that my cards dried up and I blinded down for a while, eventually busting with 55 < 99 aipf when down to only 9BB.
October Poker Points 348 (£3.48)
Today’s results;
8478020 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 20/10/2013 11:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 24/82 -£5.75 8478410 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 20/10/2013 10:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 77/83 -£3.3 8478098 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 20/10/2013 09:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 28/80 -£2.17Not my day today, fared badly in the big all-ins;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancefreddiek12 Small blind 15.00 15.00 1965.00 wi03 Big blind 30.00 45.00 2960.00 Your hole cards K J rich211 Fold indy147 Fold GaryQQQ Raise 75.00 120.00 2150.00 * Call 75.00 195.00 2225.00 freddiek12 Fold wi03 Fold Flop Q 10 A GaryQQQ Bet 115.00 310.00 2035.00 * Raise 350.00 660.00 1875.00 GaryQQQ Raise 685.00 1345.00 1350.00 * All-in 1875.00 3220.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 1350.00 4570.00 0.00 * Unmatched bet 75.00 4495.00 75.00 GaryQQQ Show K J * Show Q 10 Turn Q River 5 * Win Full House, Queens and 10s 4495.00 4570.00
Closing Balance £670.74
Down £23.10 today
I'm happy I played well in my three MTTs today but the cards simply weren't on my side; I lost 3/3 flips and found myself the the wrong side of some coolers, in particular KK into AA for a huge pot in an £11 BH.
First up was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, a total damp squib for me. Apart from a treble-up when down to fumes (after running a full house into quads) I didn't win a single pot, my exit coming soon after when my Kjs lost an aipf race against pocket 44.
Next came an £11 Bounty Hunter. I was going great in the mid-stages, outplaying my table and up to second place in chips overall when I managed to crash n' burn. First I was coolered; my KK on the SB into AA on the button. The BB was aipf too with pocket TT. As the biggest of the three stacks the huge pot was worth the chiplead and two head-prizes to me, however pocket TT made a set to treble-up, my kings came third. Two hands later I lost a flip with 99 < AQ aipf. That left me short, I fought hard and worked the short stack hard for a couple of levels but failed to find a way back. Soon after shoving Q9s into a shortie who woke-up with pocket KK I exited in my third flip of the day; my 3-bet shove on the button with KJ being called by TT and 88 in the blinds, the opener folded. With added dead chips in the middle it turned out to be a great spot to punt my stack, had I trebled I'd have been above average and right back in the game, but it wasn't to be.
After that I tried another £5.75. I got lucky in level 3 to double with AK /> KK aipf, but I did no more than tread water after that. My exit came when I got action with from two opponents holding draws with my flopped top pair that then improved to top two pairs. Unfortunately the worst card in the deck was dealt on the river by which time I was hopelessly committed. One villain completed a straight draw, the other completed a flush draw to scoop a massive pot.
In a HU STT I had QQ against K9 aipf for the win but couldn't hold, at the same time I doubled an opponent with JJ < QJ in a DYM, then ran JJ into KK in the very next hand.
October Poker Points 378 (£3.78)
Today’s results;
8485612 H NL 6MX,DN 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 17:21 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 6/6 -£3.3 8485581 H NL ST,HU 0.05 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 17:03 NL Hold'em £1 + £0.05 2/2 -£1.05 8484170 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 15:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 30/111 -£5.75 8483479 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 14:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 19/53 -£7.25 8483323 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 13:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 60/71 -£5.75Sigh. The beginning of the end of a promising run in an £11 Bounty Hunter;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 50.00 50.00 6342.50 d Big blind 100.00 150.00 1615.00 Your hole cards K K 1mad Fold FLORIDA Fold artifice7 Fold S Call 100.00 250.00 3665.00 GaryQQQ Raise 300.00 550.00 6042.50 d Raise 500.00 1050.00 1115.00 S All-in 3665.00 4715.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 3415.00 8130.00 2627.50 d All-in 1115.00 9245.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Show K K d Show 10 10 S Show A A Flop 10 7 3 Turn 3 River 8 d Win Full House, 10s and 3s 5145.00 5145.00 S Win Two Pairs, Aces and 3s 4100.00 4100.00
Read this thread yourself, there are times when nothing more than going all in pre with A-K has won you a lot. But when going all in A-K pre doesn't win you spit your dummy out. You really need to understand you have no control over you style of play, its all flips, I mean literally its 80% all in and hope you don't get called.
When you do get called you declare the other guy to have made a bad call, but when you call in a similair situation you call it a good move longterm and the other guy got lucky.
You've made £600 from zero on Skypoker, you also know this is almost on impossible on any other site and yet you still moan. Just be happy wth what you have achieved and stop moaning if you don't win everyday.
Lets face it, we could all decide to play the way you do, but skypoker would be dead in a week. Want to win on skypoker? Only play A-K or pairs higher than 8's. theres no need for notes, no real skill, its poker roulette.
Gary's challenges are a cornerstone of the forum, give it a rest!
And..... it's possible on any site that has freerolls if you have the patience and the discipline that Gary does.
Keep up the good work Gary, the tide will turn soon!
And my reaction this time as well - yep - the same - how you can write such rubbish is totally beyond me.
GaryQQQ takes on crazy challenges - keeps us all enthralled with the journey - and delivers
never one to spit out his dummy - where did you got that idea from?
and he loses flips more often than he gets coolered or has a bad beat - not that surprising given that one loses flips 50% of the time - what other ways does one get knocked out of tournaments?
and then you finish it off with both an oxymoron and a rubbish strategy
it would be quite amusing if it wasn´t an attack on a good player and forum poster
(ps they are rhetorical questions)
I can assure you that I don't play an aipf flipping game, any regular at my tables will know this. Often I only mention bust-out hands here. Much of the time that will be a flip when I'm short stacked, perhaps leading to your mistaken impression of how I play. The truth is very different, I like seeing flops and enjoy post-flop play while stack sizes still allow it, as such I tend to play less aipf pots than the average player in my favoured Bounty Hunters. For example I've just checked yesterdays numbers; I played 3 flips in 247 MTT hands. I can assure you I didn't fold the other 244! I usually play at least 20% of hands, 20% of 247 is 50. Nobody, including me, ever wins a poker tournament without winning a few of the inevitable flips along the way, when I feel the time is right I'll certainly take them.
In this diary, as promised in the opening post, I update progress daily and include all results. By nature any MTT player will spend most of his/her time losing, even the elite players. Every now and then there'll be a bink mixed in, the better players binking a bit more often that the less skilled. Other MTT diary writers before me have tended to make most of their updates when they've got the glory of a decent score to report, during the downswings they go very quiet, sometimes never to return. I'm sure it makes for a much more exciting read, however for better or worse my diary portrays the
reality of playing MTTs more accurately. Hopefully I get across the patience and discipline required to be successul.
I've just pulled out of a month-long downswing, something all MTT players will know all too well. I'm sure this diary was a pretty miserable read during that time and that I was prone to whinge at times, but thats what it's like, so that's what I'm gonna post. Unlike others I shall continue to post daily through the bad times, not just the good times. If you don't like it don't read it.
As for your suggested strategy; 88+ and AK represents the top 4.3% of hands. If you stick to that range it means you'll get to play a hand once every 4 orbits on average at a 6-max table. I'd suggest that's far too tight to be optimal. For the record I'm a winning player on all the sites I've ever played on except for one. I have a decent four-figure profit on my prefered rival site using an alias that's different to the one I have here on Sky.
Good luck to you at the tables.
not posted in ages, mainly because i'm only playing the 7pm freeroll atm.
keep it going mate, over 2/3 of the way there.
great achievement already and i'm sure you will see this through.
still got that that champagne on ice!!!
ps, i've still got your book safe, give me a shout when you want it back.
if you e-mail or PM me your address, i'll pop it round.
best wishes buddy,
ian
Closing Balance £686.06
Up £15.32 today
Sigh, more frustration.
My first game was a £3.30 Bounty Hunter. I busted when coolered in the mid-stages with A9 into JJ with AJx9 on the board.
Second up was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I was going great with the chiplead and three head-prizes under my belt until we broke to final table. Then the table crashed and I couldn't get back.
My internet connection was working perfectly throught. For half an hour I tried everything known to man; restarting my system, using different browsers as well as the downloadable client, I tried on a different system, clearing cookies, calling CS to see if they could do anything, asking for help on this forum, etc.
I could log onto Sky Poker and open the tournament lobby as usual using any of those methods, but each time the table tried to launch I came to the same dead-end; a message telling me 'please be advised that you already have this table open'.
Nothing I tried could get me back to my seat, see the video below. 40 minutes later my stack blinded out in fourth place.
Final table not launching fail;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jPne3SVil0&feature=youtu.be
Edit; Sky Poker have generously given me a tournament entry later this week by way of apology for today's final table problem. As far as I'm conerned it's very fair compensation and the matter is resolved to my satisfaction. I'm going to leave this diary entry and the video up in the hope that it can help Sky's technical experts resolve this unusual glitch.
October Poker Points 389 (£3.89)
Today’s results;
8486474 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 22/10/2013 12:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 4/75 £18.62 8486541 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 22/10/2013 10:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 51/85 -£3.3
Closing Balance £681.83
Down £4.23 today
I entered three Bounty Hunters today without much success.
First up was a £3.30 in which I ended up with a min-cash after a roller-coaster ride. In the mid-stages I was down to 5BB after losing an AK < QQ aipf flip, however I doubled twice within an orbit and fought my way back, at one point getting as high as third in chips. To my annoyance I more-or-less ruined my own chances of a deep finish by making a couple of bad calls in to leave myself very short. Soon after the bubble burst I got my stack in against a limper with Q2 on the BB on a Q-high flop with only 6BB left, I was out-kicked by his Q8.
Second game was a £5.75. I was drawn at a wild table and found myself aipf 3-ways early in the game with my KQ facing 52o and pocket JJ. The 52o somehow won the pot and I was out.
Next I tried my luck in a £11 tournament. After a promising start I lost a big chunk when my turned straight ran into a rivered full-house. I hated it when the board paired on the river, but I was fully committed by then and folding was out of the question. For 30+ minutes after that I was card-dead and falling uncomfortably short until I woke with AK on the BB. The button open-shoved, the small blind shoved too! I had to make the call and was relieved to see AQ and AJ, my kicker played for a treble-up and one head-prize. Unfortunately that was the only highlight. I busted at my next table, unable to fade a draw when my J7 on the BB was beaten by limper's QT on a JK7 flop.
The £11 Bounty Hunters are surprisingly soft, no tougher than the £2.30s and £5.75s. I'm going to try to make a point of entering them more often.
In the afternoon I had some errands to run so couldn't commit to any more MTTs, instead I played a few leisurely STTS for a bit of fun finishing roughly even.
Although I finished down a bit poker was fun today, I had some friendly tables and enjoyed playing
October Poker Points 433 (£4.33)
Today’s results;
8492586 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 17:58 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 1/2 £2.85 8492429 H NL 6MX,DN 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 17:50 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.25 5/6 -£2.25 8492556 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 17:49 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 1/2 £2.85 8492377 H NL 6MX,DN 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 17:14 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.25 1/6 £1.75 8492296 H NL 6MX,DN 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 16:49 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 6/6 -£3.3 8492066 H NL 6MX,DN 0.5 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 15:09 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5 1/6 £4.5 8492079 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 14:49 NL Hold'em <span style="fo
Closing Balance £668.79
Down £13.04 today
Not my day.
First game was a Speed £5.75 Bounty Hunter. It was a near miss. I got myself into a good position at the sharp-end, but cards didn't fall my way when it mattered most. Soon after another player had recovered after blinding down to only 2BB, then again down to 3BB, I stone-cold bubbled with AQ < JJ aipf.
In the 1-00pm £11 Bounty Hunter I won a small pot in the first hand with my pocket KK. After that nothing went my way. I busted 30 minutes later without having won another chip. I gambled my last 12BB by 3-bet shoving with 97. As hoped I had two live cards in a HU pot but I didn't connect. I had a free entry for this tournament due to my final table problem on Tuesday.
While waiting for my next MTT I jumped into some STTs. In a DYM I busted in the first hand. My stack went in with 99 on a K9x flop. The flat-caller of my pre-flop raise held KK. HU games didn't go much better, I finished a little down after failing to swerve a couple of 3-outers.
In the 2-00pm £11 Bounty Hunter I busted in level 2 in a huge 5K pot (168BB) worth a clear chip lead. I don't usually get it in pre with AK when 80BB deep. However in this game I decided to go with my notes and took on an opponent prone to gambling. My read was spot-on; he called my shove with AQ, exactly the sort of hand I was hoping to see. The run-out wasn't so good; J2KAT and I went out to a straight. These lunchtime £11 tournaments have frustrated me so far during this challenge. That won't last forever, I'm determined to take one down sooner or later.
October Poker Points 433 (£4.33)
Today’s results;
8495392 H NL ST,HU 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 14:11 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.25 1/2 £4.75 8495297 H NL 6MX,DN 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 14:09 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.25 6/6 -£2.25 8495384 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 14:08 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 2/2 -£3.15 8493747 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 14:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 50/56 -£7.25 8495296 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 13:54 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 2/2 -£3.15 8493413 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 13:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 25/38 -£11 8493748 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 12:00 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX56964186" style="margi
Up £3.94 today
Still treading water, just a min-cash to show from four Bounty Hunters today.
First up was a £3.30. I had a stack going for a while, but slowly bled my chips away in the mid-stages to an invincible guy at my table who was running pure and hitting every river.
Second game was a £5.75 Speed. After finding myself the right side of a big cooler (KJ vs KT on a KKx flop) and making a couple of crucial holds I went into the final table as chipleader for the second day in a row. I thought I was going to bubble again after losing 2/2 flips with AK < 44 and AJ < 66 aipf and slipping to 4th/4. However a quads /> full-house cooler between two other players on the bubble meant I survived for a min-cash. My exit was an unavoidable cooler, I open-shoved KQ from the SB with only 9BB behind and ran into AK.
In the 1-00pm £11 Bounty Hunter I got myself fairly deep and was in with a chance of a run, though to no avail. I have no regrets about my exit in 13/47; after four of us saw a flop my Kqs clashed with J9o with 78Kr on the board. The villain was sitting a big chiplead at the time and happy to call light. My big flop check/raise didn't put him off, he caught his gut-shot and I hit the rail. What can you do? I wanted the action and was happy to risk my tournament life as an overwhelming favourite. When he gets there all I can do is wish him luck and move on.
Success in the £11 MTTs continues to elude me for now, I still haven't cashed in one yet during this challenge. It's not going to put me off though, I know it's only a matter of time before I find the necessary run-good to do the business.
Final MTT was a normal speed £5.75. I was going well with three head-prizes, but when it came down to inevitable flip time I didn't fare well again, losing 99 < AJ aipf for my fourth head and a stack 150% of average. I fought hard but couldn't find a way back, busting with 66 < AQ aipf, with pocket 44 also all-in I stood to treble. Unfortunately the flop came down QAQ and I was out in 23/107.
My biggest chunk of luck today came in a DYM, I doubled with 22 over AA aipf on the bubble and cashed. Soon after that the same guy lost with AA aipf again to another opponent. All's well that ends well though; despite losing with aces twice he cashed too.
A bink feels close. I still made a small profit today despite losing all four MTT flips (FAO OhImGood; 4 flips out of out of 441 hands played
October Poker Points 503 (£5.03)
Today’s results;
8498795 H NL 6MX,DN 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 15:09 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 1/6 £2.7 8497794 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 14:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 23/107 -£0.11 8496802 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 13:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 13/47 -£11 8497124 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 12:00 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 3/25 £15.65 8496724 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 10:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 28/70 -£3.3
Flipping heck. I keep getting within a race or two of a decent score. This hand was played at a £5.75 Speed Bounty Hunter final table, I was runner-up in all four standard pair v overcards flips involving me today;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 200.00 200.00 18217.50 macman65 Big blind 400.00 600.00 13865.00 Your hole cards K A * All-in 3482.50 4082.50 0.00 troy88 Fold SN1PER Fold GaryQQQ All-in 18217.50 22300.00 0.00 macman65 Fold GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 14935.00 7365.00 14935.00 GaryQQQ Show K A *Show 4 4 Flop 8 3 10 Turn 5 River 7 * Win Pair of 4s 7365.00 7365.00
Closing Balance £693.67
Up £20.94 today
I didn't last long in my first game, a £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I went out soon after losing most of my stack semi-bluff check/shoving at the flop in a big HU pot with a flush draw. My opponent called surprisingly light, middle pair with a mediocre hand kicker and no draws, the sort of hand I was trying to force him to lay down. Fair play to him though, his hand held-up for a double and left me on fumes.
Next was an £11 Bounty Hunter. I had a terrible start losing 25% of my stack, probably the minimum considering, in the very first hand when my opponent caught a card to go ahead on the river. Then a failed bluff and another couple of lost pots later I found myself down to only 437.5 chips at 20/40. It was time to boom or bust. I doubled next hand with 88 /> A9 aipf, then trebled with AK /> AT and JJ an orbit later to get back to over starting stack. Boom! From there I went on a heater, making a few big holds as I cruised into the chiplead. I rode my big stack all the way to the sharp end, picking up 6 head prizes on the way, though by the time we broke to final table I'd slipped somewhat to 4/6.
It was a tough final table with no obvious soft spots. I had a strong aggressive opponent on my direct left so tightened up. I didn't pick up any playable hands and folded just about everything for several orbits. Then I won a timely race, 99 /> Ats aipf to double. Not long after that I busted an opponent and took the lead with three left when my turned trips with 46 busted his AQ. An unwise play cost me the lead. I flatted a button min-raise with KJ on the SB and played for stacks on a dry jack-high flop. I ran into pocket AA and didn't improve. With hind-sight I wish I'd 3-bet pre-flop and folded to a shove. I got taken out by a beat, my AJ losing to KJ aipf. A hold would have all-but locked up a £24 pay jump for second place and given me a playable stack to take into HU play. However I can't complain, I'd run very well to get that far after finding myself so short early on, also third place money wasn't too shabby.
After a break I tried some STTs. It was a total fail, I ran awfully to lose all five buy-ins in DYMs. HU STTs didn't go much better.
I tried a couple of all-in sats for the Main Event with no joy. All-in sats were brought in after I suggested them in a 'design a tournament' competition on this very forum. It didn't do me any favours; I wasn't awarded one the three prizes up for grabs in the competition (two of the winning suggestions never got off the ground) and I've never binked a seat in one either!
In the evening I fired up three tournaments. I was double average in all of them at one point, though that didn't last long. In a £2.30 Bounty Hunter I was taken out by a gut-shot chaser who got there on the river. In a £1.10 Deepie my 5x on the BB ran into a limper with pocket 88, the board ran out 58353, no getting away there. In the Mini after a promising first hour my luck turned after I lost a standard AQ < TT aipf flip to double a shortie. After that nothing went my way and. My exit came with a beat, I three-bet shoved AK with 22BB from the button over a 3BB cut-off open. The villain made the call for 70% of his stack with AQ and caught his three-outer to take me out.
It was nice to make a profit today, though I'm a bit disappointed I lost a good chunk of the winnings from the £11 Bounty Hunter in the evening. I feel I'm playing well at the moment , there's no doubt I'm in a much better frame of mind than I was during the recent downswing. I don't know if it'll come or not, but I feel very ready to bink a tournament right now.
October Poker Points 567 (£5.67)
Today’s results;
8501220 H NL B 0.5 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 20:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5 200/583 -£3.62 8503425 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 20:07 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 1/2 £2.85 8501630 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 20:05 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3 106/278 -£2.3 8503414 H NL L,HU 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 19:48 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 1/2 £2.7 8501820 H NL L,SAT 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 19:47 NL Hold'em £1.65 + £0.15 7/37 -£1.8 8503371 H NL T,HU 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 19:46 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.25 2/2 -£5.25 8501615 H NL 0.1 GBP <span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,Sans-Serif;
Closing Balance £693.56
Down 11p today
I entered the two morning £3.30 Bounty Hunters today without success. My best chance came in the 10-45am. After sucking out with 66 /> JJ aipf I was above average for a while in level 10, but as usually seems the case for me my run came off the rails when it came down to the first big flip; my TT < AK aipf. I dusted off the rest of my stack with a blind vs blind aipf bluff that didn't work and probably made me look like a total donk, my opponents pre-flop call with queen-high being ahead of my rags and holding for a 45BB pot.
October Poker Points 573 (£5.73)
Today’s results;
8503964 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 27/10/2013 10:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 20/112 £3.19 8503687 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 27/10/2013 09:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 54/97 -£3.3
I try to use the second of those two symbols on it's own to signify 'greater than', its normal meaning. For some reason when I make the post a forward slash gets added by the software without me wanting it there. Try it yourself and you'll see.
Good luck to you too