Friday, May 30, 2008
More swings
Had a crazy swing last night on Titan. I tried a shorthanded 2/4 limit table, stepping up a level. I found a juicy looking nutcase raiser on my right, but unfortunately couldn't find the cards to make him pay. I lost nearly $60 in pretty quick time. I switched back down to 1/2, and played three tables. Again, I was quickly down another $30, but finally persistence paid off. The cards turned my way, and in another hour I recouped the entire evening's loss and added another $30 or so on top. Poker is a crazy game.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The G
My online bankroll cracked $1000 for the first time yesterday. This isn't counting (yet) the buyin and prize from the Casino tournament (since the final is yet to be played), and takes my May winnings to about $400.
I had a nice session on VC, followed by a crazy +$50 in half an hour playing 1/2 limit on Bodog.
I had a nice session on VC, followed by a crazy +$50 in half an hour playing 1/2 limit on Bodog.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Finally cashed on Bodog
Managed to win one on Bodog finally - only a 14 players pot limit holdem, but still. Entered another, only managing 20/46, but I didn't pay a lot of attention to that one (since I was into final stages of the PL).
More tournaments
Three on Bodog last night (using the free tournament credit): 7/17, 100/126 and about 50/66. Not terribly flash, so it brings my winning streak back into context.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
The roll that keeps rolling
Two tourneys tonight:
1st in a $5 SNG and 1st in a 93 player freeroll. Can't complain about my run just at the moment.
1st in a $5 SNG and 1st in a 93 player freeroll. Can't complain about my run just at the moment.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
On a roll!
Had a huge night on Pacific on Saturday. Starting with $20, I played for a while at a 0.5/1 limit table with a couple of out and out calling stations. This lifted me quickly up to around $55. Feeling confident, I entered a shorthanded $10 MTT.
I played pretty well and ended up with 2nd place, for a cool $212. Once again I wasn't without my share of good fortune. I played pretty well to get myself into an early strong stack. I then played a stupid hand, where I managed to lose almost all of it playing A6 on an ace high flop (the other guy had AA). After that bruising, I was nearly busted. But I caught a few cards and doubled through two or three times. Before I knew it I was tournament leader, and pushing my table around a bit. Down to the last two tables, I played pretty tight and watched as the other players knocked each other out. At the last three, I was a big underdog, but found the 2nd stack busting himself to the big stack. Heads up I was about a 5-1 dog, but I played well to get myself into a 3-1 lead at one stage. The big hand was when I was leading about 55-45, and made a straight with A9 on a T876 board. I was just congratulating myself for slow playing the other guy into it when he truned over J9 :(
Oh well, I can hardly complain about my run. I think I have gone top 20% or better in all my non-freeroll tournaments so far.
I played pretty well and ended up with 2nd place, for a cool $212. Once again I wasn't without my share of good fortune. I played pretty well to get myself into an early strong stack. I then played a stupid hand, where I managed to lose almost all of it playing A6 on an ace high flop (the other guy had AA). After that bruising, I was nearly busted. But I caught a few cards and doubled through two or three times. Before I knew it I was tournament leader, and pushing my table around a bit. Down to the last two tables, I played pretty tight and watched as the other players knocked each other out. At the last three, I was a big underdog, but found the 2nd stack busting himself to the big stack. Heads up I was about a 5-1 dog, but I played well to get myself into a 3-1 lead at one stage. The big hand was when I was leading about 55-45, and made a straight with A9 on a T876 board. I was just congratulating myself for slow playing the other guy into it when he truned over J9 :(
Oh well, I can hardly complain about my run. I think I have gone top 20% or better in all my non-freeroll tournaments so far.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Titan
I have bought into Titan Poker for $101, using a pokerlistings referral. Titan is another iPoker skin, so it's essentially the same as VCpoker. There is a nice $50 up front bonus via pokerlistings ($101 minimum deposit), plus 200% up to $600 in bonus dollars. I'm not sure of the cashout requirements for the $50. There are also some attractive WSOP freerolls for pokerlistings players, which was the main reason for signing up.
The bonus dollars cash out rather slowly compared to VCpoker, so I won't be spending much time trying to play them through.
The bonus dollars cash out rather slowly compared to VCpoker, so I won't be spending much time trying to play them through.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Hitting the big time
Well my first foray into the world of tournament poker was an unadulterated success.
The tournament was a $50+$10 buyin satellite for a $100k event at the end of June. The top four players qualified for the final, with $600 for 5th.
I played a pretty good tournament, and had a pretty nice run of cards at a critical time and found myself in the unfamiliar position of tournament leader with two tables remaining. I maintained the lead or thereabouts until about six players remained. After a short stack busted out, I loosened up a little too much and very nearly found myself busted out in 5th - which would have been ok, but a bit painful. Fortune smiled, and I made it to the final four - a theoretical profit of $950 for the night.
My co-conspirator 'Mac' also played pretty well, but busted in 11th just short of the final table. We will both play another satellite in about a month to attempt to qualify a second place for the final.
Here are a few recollections from the long (nearly six hour) night:
For the first hour or so, I saw very few playable cards - even on the blinds. The table was playing really loose, but I couldn't cash in without playable cards. I think I played maybe two hands in the first couple of rounds, a blank AQs the best cards I saw. I must have made a few late position steals, because I managed to (just) keep my head above water.
I had a huge piece of luck in this early stage when I raised AQ with two callers. Flop came down something like J94. I pushed my luck with a raise, and the shortish stacks both went all-in, and I was forced to call for a significant percentage of my stack altogether. I was astonished to see both hands had gutshot draws or worse, and my ace high held up for a huge pot. That piece of luck gave me enough chips to start playing.
I played pretty tight straightforward poker for a while, but got caught on the steal and found myself somewhat short stacked. I was moved to a seat next to 'Mac' (he was doing rather better than me at this point), and was there very briefly before moving to what eventually became the final table. At this stage, there were probably 30 or so runners remaining, and I suddenly found myself seeing a rush of cards. My first hand at the table was AK, with which I won on a blank flop. I saw AK a couple more times, as well as KQ twice, JJ a couple of times, and some midsize pairs like 88 and 99. I rapidly found myself the biggest stack on the table, and was suddenly in the position to be able to start bullying the other players, most of whom were relatively short stacked and just trying to hang in for the final table.
I also hit some flops: KQ hit KQ9 and won a big pot. Another KQ (called preflop) hit J94. I bet, was called, and saw a turn Q. This time he bets, and I figure I have him beat. I just call, and the river is a 10. I cannot put him on AK, so when he bets I reraise him all-in. He folds.
I made the mistake of starting too aggressively on the final table, where firstly we were back to 10 players (from the previous 5), and secondly I was no longer a dominant stack. I dropped back to maybe double the average stack, and tightened up again. After a couple of players dropped out, play became very cagey indeed as the payoff loomed. Again I saw some reasonable cards in good position and won a few rounds of the (now very steep) blinds. With 6 to play I again had a substantial chip lead.
With five to play, everybody relaxed a bit knowing that $600 at least was in the bag. The table as a whole made the mistake of failing to gang up on the short stacks. There was rather a lot of mid-stack vs mis-stack action.
I had an idiot moment at some point, playing K2 in the blinds (two callers). On a flop of AK6, I insanely called an all-in bet from a shortish stack - both players had aces of course, and I was back with the pack. On the big blind, I then found myself with JJ. The short stacked SB raised all-in with 44 and I called - he hit a 4 on the flop, and suddenly *I* was the short stack.
A little while later I saw my first pocket rockets of the night. Thanking my lucky stars, I limp in to be heads up with the old codger in the BB. Flop is T33, and he puts me all-in. I call, and he turns over J3 - I am gutted! Turn... 10, river..... 10!! This miracle full house saves my bacon and puts me back to an average stack or better. I'm still convinced that calling with the aces was the right move.
The unfortunate old codger was left with a single chip remaining, and the table commiserating with him over his imminent departure. The tournament director started writing out his $600 cheque. That one chip went in with 86o against three players - he made a straight on the river to quadruple up. He went all-in twice more, doubling up each time to suddenly find himself about 3rd in chips.
After this there were some see-sawing fortunes, and the aforementioned failure to gang up on short stacks. The end finally came when the old codger, sitting about third in chips busted himself against the chip leader with a modest hand like A8. The player to my right, who would not have survived the blinds, thanked his lucky stars.
The tournament was a $50+$10 buyin satellite for a $100k event at the end of June. The top four players qualified for the final, with $600 for 5th.
I played a pretty good tournament, and had a pretty nice run of cards at a critical time and found myself in the unfamiliar position of tournament leader with two tables remaining. I maintained the lead or thereabouts until about six players remained. After a short stack busted out, I loosened up a little too much and very nearly found myself busted out in 5th - which would have been ok, but a bit painful. Fortune smiled, and I made it to the final four - a theoretical profit of $950 for the night.
My co-conspirator 'Mac' also played pretty well, but busted in 11th just short of the final table. We will both play another satellite in about a month to attempt to qualify a second place for the final.
Here are a few recollections from the long (nearly six hour) night:
For the first hour or so, I saw very few playable cards - even on the blinds. The table was playing really loose, but I couldn't cash in without playable cards. I think I played maybe two hands in the first couple of rounds, a blank AQs the best cards I saw. I must have made a few late position steals, because I managed to (just) keep my head above water.
I had a huge piece of luck in this early stage when I raised AQ with two callers. Flop came down something like J94. I pushed my luck with a raise, and the shortish stacks both went all-in, and I was forced to call for a significant percentage of my stack altogether. I was astonished to see both hands had gutshot draws or worse, and my ace high held up for a huge pot. That piece of luck gave me enough chips to start playing.
I played pretty tight straightforward poker for a while, but got caught on the steal and found myself somewhat short stacked. I was moved to a seat next to 'Mac' (he was doing rather better than me at this point), and was there very briefly before moving to what eventually became the final table. At this stage, there were probably 30 or so runners remaining, and I suddenly found myself seeing a rush of cards. My first hand at the table was AK, with which I won on a blank flop. I saw AK a couple more times, as well as KQ twice, JJ a couple of times, and some midsize pairs like 88 and 99. I rapidly found myself the biggest stack on the table, and was suddenly in the position to be able to start bullying the other players, most of whom were relatively short stacked and just trying to hang in for the final table.
I also hit some flops: KQ hit KQ9 and won a big pot. Another KQ (called preflop) hit J94. I bet, was called, and saw a turn Q. This time he bets, and I figure I have him beat. I just call, and the river is a 10. I cannot put him on AK, so when he bets I reraise him all-in. He folds.
I made the mistake of starting too aggressively on the final table, where firstly we were back to 10 players (from the previous 5), and secondly I was no longer a dominant stack. I dropped back to maybe double the average stack, and tightened up again. After a couple of players dropped out, play became very cagey indeed as the payoff loomed. Again I saw some reasonable cards in good position and won a few rounds of the (now very steep) blinds. With 6 to play I again had a substantial chip lead.
With five to play, everybody relaxed a bit knowing that $600 at least was in the bag. The table as a whole made the mistake of failing to gang up on the short stacks. There was rather a lot of mid-stack vs mis-stack action.
I had an idiot moment at some point, playing K2 in the blinds (two callers). On a flop of AK6, I insanely called an all-in bet from a shortish stack - both players had aces of course, and I was back with the pack. On the big blind, I then found myself with JJ. The short stacked SB raised all-in with 44 and I called - he hit a 4 on the flop, and suddenly *I* was the short stack.
A little while later I saw my first pocket rockets of the night. Thanking my lucky stars, I limp in to be heads up with the old codger in the BB. Flop is T33, and he puts me all-in. I call, and he turns over J3 - I am gutted! Turn... 10, river..... 10!! This miracle full house saves my bacon and puts me back to an average stack or better. I'm still convinced that calling with the aces was the right move.
The unfortunate old codger was left with a single chip remaining, and the table commiserating with him over his imminent departure. The tournament director started writing out his $600 cheque. That one chip went in with 86o against three players - he made a straight on the river to quadruple up. He went all-in twice more, doubling up each time to suddenly find himself about 3rd in chips.
After this there were some see-sawing fortunes, and the aforementioned failure to gang up on short stacks. The end finally came when the old codger, sitting about third in chips busted himself against the chip leader with a modest hand like A8. The player to my right, who would not have survived the blinds, thanked his lucky stars.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Cashing out
I just completed a cashout from Pacific Poker. It took over six days to process. They have a policy where they do not even begin processing a cashout until three days have elapsed. Sorry Pacific, but that's hopeless. Cashouts from VC and Tower in contrast completed in less than 24 hours.
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Green Baize
I'm all set to play a live tournament on Wednesday night with a poker playing mate. It's a $50 satellite for a $1100 event. It will be only the second time I have played poker in a Casino - a thought that is slightly daunting.
It's certainly the cheapest way to sample live Casino poker. The cash games are out of reach of my bankroll at present (10/20 limit and $500NL).
I will play pretty tight, and aim to finish around the top 20% or so. There are 100 players, and probably the top four will qualify - a pretty tough ask.
It's certainly the cheapest way to sample live Casino poker. The cash games are out of reach of my bankroll at present (10/20 limit and $500NL).
I will play pretty tight, and aim to finish around the top 20% or so. There are 100 players, and probably the top four will qualify - a pretty tough ask.
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