I recorded a video of a 100NL session this morning. It is a 6-max multi-table video on Titanpoker. It lasts an hour or so. Unfortunately the quality is not optimal, but it was either this or a 750MB video.
I will try to elaborate on some hands later on or when there are specific questions. Do not hesitate to provide feedback and I am happy to explain the decisions I made, when the commentary in the video is not satisfying. Happy viewing!!!
I will only give feedback tomorrow, since I will not be online later today.
Please note that the video is in Dutch.
Link to the video.
Hope you appreciate it.
Quote of the Day
Friday, March 30, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Switch to 6-max
I am most likely switching to 6-max for the cashtables. The past couple of days had some good results there and there is a lot more action than on 8 to 10 max. I had a 6-max tutorial by Maurice (a.k.a. Mikelitt) and that really boosted my confidence and thought me a couple of things, especially about being aggressive on 6-max tables.
However, I also learned statistics and table overlays with stats from other players are important. Therefore I will upgrade my pc’s internal memory, so Pokeroffice will run simultaneously with the pokersites. Have to bring my pc to the computer guy tomorrow, because I have zero hardware intelligence.
I have been playing a lot lately, mainly cashgames. Had a lot of swings but all-over I was break even over the last couple of weeks. This week was good though. I played 25NL and 50NL and won another bunch of T$ on Stars and secured Silver VIP status at that site. I did not enter the big tournaments. On Titan I played 100NL 6-max.
Remarkable was some statistic on the $3 rebuy I played a while ago and won a ticket with. I won the ticket by playing winning exactly 10 hands and playing 12. I also played a $5 rebuy on Titan and was busted in 25th place out of 880. Two bad beats against the same guy. I raised with ATo from the button and he pushed for 2/3 of my stack with K5o. Another one was 33 against 44 with another 3 on the turn. Sometimes it hurts.
Bit of a short update, but I will post the video and a longer update with some hand histories before the end of the week.
However, I also learned statistics and table overlays with stats from other players are important. Therefore I will upgrade my pc’s internal memory, so Pokeroffice will run simultaneously with the pokersites. Have to bring my pc to the computer guy tomorrow, because I have zero hardware intelligence.
I have been playing a lot lately, mainly cashgames. Had a lot of swings but all-over I was break even over the last couple of weeks. This week was good though. I played 25NL and 50NL and won another bunch of T$ on Stars and secured Silver VIP status at that site. I did not enter the big tournaments. On Titan I played 100NL 6-max.
Remarkable was some statistic on the $3 rebuy I played a while ago and won a ticket with. I won the ticket by playing winning exactly 10 hands and playing 12. I also played a $5 rebuy on Titan and was busted in 25th place out of 880. Two bad beats against the same guy. I raised with ATo from the button and he pushed for 2/3 of my stack with K5o. Another one was 33 against 44 with another 3 on the turn. Sometimes it hurts.
Bit of a short update, but I will post the video and a longer update with some hand histories before the end of the week.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Being ahead and loosing
I am really having a bad run in cash games lately. I just can not seem to grind any money on 100 NL. Problem is not that I play bad, although my game should need improvement, problem is the downswing. Yesterday I again lost a couple of buyins.
A few hands: QQ in the Cut off is called by the BTN and the limped shortie UTG goes all-in preflop. I call, he shows ATo (Wtf???) and makes a straight with the ten. 72% favourite here. Hand lost for 35BB.
AKo against a shortie with 56s on a A74r flop all-in. On the turn he makes a straight and I was a 62% favourite. Stuff happens.
The big bang was KK preflop allin against a very LAG player who tried bluffing many people out of pots by going all-in. He lost a $400 pot just 5 hands earlier and was up to $220 again. I raised he reraised and I pushed for $150 and a $310 pot, he called. I was a 84% favourite against his 99, but, obviously, a 9 appeared on the flop.
I am really disgusted, because I feel I play reasonably well, but keep loosing all these hands when being a huge favourite when the money goes in. I know, this is the 20% of the time I loose the hand, but I keep running into these hands and loosing them. Very frustrating.
Another one was when I was the bubble in a $3 rebuy on Stars. 330 people entered, 15 earned tickets and I was out in 16th with AQs against Q3o, and (I could have guessed it) a 3 came on the river. Nice, I was a 73% favourite preflop.
On the other hand, it is not that I push my big cards no matter what. My reading skills are getting better and better. I had KK on a 678r board and raised preflop. I was called by the CO. I bet out ¾ pot and he reraised me to 2,5 times my bet. I thought about folding here, but found it odd. I called. The turn was a blank. He instantly pushed and, after long consideration I called. He showed TJo for a bluff. And no help on the river.
Another hand I was in the BB with QQ. Three limpers and then the SB shortstack (35BB) minraised to $2. I reraised to $6 and was called by UTG, two players folded after which the SB pushed all-in. I folded the queens, UTG called and the SB won the hand with KK against AJo.
Third hand was when I had AK in LP and raised. One caller. Flop came AQ9. I made a c-bet, which was called. Turn 8. He checked and I checked behind. River was another queen. He pushed. I asked if he had TJ for the straight and folded. And he showed TJ and said "good read".
By playing these hands and the ones mentioned above for which I was a favourite getting my money in, I know my read is good while getting the money in when I am ahead and pulling out when being beaten. So nothing wrong with that. However I keep winning some small pots and loosing most big pots. I only won one big hand yesterday against the fish who won it back with KK vs 99 when I flopped top trips and betted out ½ pot and he tried bluffing me out of it. You imagine, and have probably been there, but it is frustrating.
Allright, some other news. I am thinking about playing the Sunday warmup on Pokerstars this weekend. That is a nice tournament with a decent price pool and some real poker with normal starting stacks. I will also play the VIP 10K tournament on Titan.
Next week I will record some sessions (à la Cardrunners) and post them on my blog. I received a serial code for Camtasia (credit to PanicNL; thank you very much!), which is a desktop recording program. I will add commentary to it and hope to get some feedback on my playing style. I will most likely record 50NL on Pokerstars and perhaps some tournaments and when all goes well even some 100 NL on Titan. Have to see how that will work out. I will probably multitable 2 or 4 tables so you do not get to bored, if you bother watching at all. You can download them for free, all I hope to receive is some feedback.
A few hands: QQ in the Cut off is called by the BTN and the limped shortie UTG goes all-in preflop. I call, he shows ATo (Wtf???) and makes a straight with the ten. 72% favourite here. Hand lost for 35BB.
AKo against a shortie with 56s on a A74r flop all-in. On the turn he makes a straight and I was a 62% favourite. Stuff happens.
The big bang was KK preflop allin against a very LAG player who tried bluffing many people out of pots by going all-in. He lost a $400 pot just 5 hands earlier and was up to $220 again. I raised he reraised and I pushed for $150 and a $310 pot, he called. I was a 84% favourite against his 99, but, obviously, a 9 appeared on the flop.
I am really disgusted, because I feel I play reasonably well, but keep loosing all these hands when being a huge favourite when the money goes in. I know, this is the 20% of the time I loose the hand, but I keep running into these hands and loosing them. Very frustrating.
Another one was when I was the bubble in a $3 rebuy on Stars. 330 people entered, 15 earned tickets and I was out in 16th with AQs against Q3o, and (I could have guessed it) a 3 came on the river. Nice, I was a 73% favourite preflop.
On the other hand, it is not that I push my big cards no matter what. My reading skills are getting better and better. I had KK on a 678r board and raised preflop. I was called by the CO. I bet out ¾ pot and he reraised me to 2,5 times my bet. I thought about folding here, but found it odd. I called. The turn was a blank. He instantly pushed and, after long consideration I called. He showed TJo for a bluff. And no help on the river.
Another hand I was in the BB with QQ. Three limpers and then the SB shortstack (35BB) minraised to $2. I reraised to $6 and was called by UTG, two players folded after which the SB pushed all-in. I folded the queens, UTG called and the SB won the hand with KK against AJo.
Third hand was when I had AK in LP and raised. One caller. Flop came AQ9. I made a c-bet, which was called. Turn 8. He checked and I checked behind. River was another queen. He pushed. I asked if he had TJ for the straight and folded. And he showed TJ and said "good read".
By playing these hands and the ones mentioned above for which I was a favourite getting my money in, I know my read is good while getting the money in when I am ahead and pulling out when being beaten. So nothing wrong with that. However I keep winning some small pots and loosing most big pots. I only won one big hand yesterday against the fish who won it back with KK vs 99 when I flopped top trips and betted out ½ pot and he tried bluffing me out of it. You imagine, and have probably been there, but it is frustrating.
Allright, some other news. I am thinking about playing the Sunday warmup on Pokerstars this weekend. That is a nice tournament with a decent price pool and some real poker with normal starting stacks. I will also play the VIP 10K tournament on Titan.
Next week I will record some sessions (à la Cardrunners) and post them on my blog. I received a serial code for Camtasia (credit to PanicNL; thank you very much!), which is a desktop recording program. I will add commentary to it and hope to get some feedback on my playing style. I will most likely record 50NL on Pokerstars and perhaps some tournaments and when all goes well even some 100 NL on Titan. Have to see how that will work out. I will probably multitable 2 or 4 tables so you do not get to bored, if you bother watching at all. You can download them for free, all I hope to receive is some feedback.
Monday, March 19, 2007
The weekly Monday update
Monday, the first day after the weekend and time for my weekly update. I still have not recuperated from my 7 buyin downswing last week. Cashgames are not running like I was almost used to.
However there is no tilt. I decided to stick with 100NL until my bankroll has reached $9,000 at one site alone. Raszi posted a nice article on bankroll management on pokernews. He states that when moving up higher levels the number of buyins you need to switch should be higher for each level. So 25 buyins for 50NL, 30 for 100NL and 45 for 200NL. Theory behind this is that you can loose a few buyins without switching back to a lower level. Even at the higher level, with the high number of buyins, you can play relaxed and loosing a buyin is variance instead of bad beat leading to tilt. I am sticking with this. I think it is good.
Sunday was a good day nonetheless. I played few cashgames, but played some satellite tournaments. I got two Sunday Million tickets out of three attempts with one double shootout and one $3 rebuy. I decided not to play the Sunday Million next week, contrary to what I planned on doing earlier. Reason is simple, it is the monthly $530 event, and that would be 12% of my bankroll. That's too much. I am starting to like Pokerstars more and more. Competition is tough, but more straightforward. I had one awfull beat in the 25K gtd ($55 buyin) tournament on Saturday. With 800+ registrants and 200 left I found KK. I raised from the CO 3xBB, with a slightly below average stack. The shortie in the SB pushed and a bigstack in the BB pushed as well. I called. They showed 88 and AK and guess what; there was an ace on the river. Riverstars does credit to its name.
No reason to complain though as it was compensated on Titan. I played a sub-qualifier for the $250K gtd event ($440 ticket). I swiftly ran through the first round. The qualifier ($55) was with about 50 players for 4 tickets. When down to about 24 I was left with 1,000 chips and average was about 3,500 (startstack 1,500). I limped UTG with AQ, and someone pushed with 88. I rivered a queen for a double up. The very next hand I found AA and two people pushed and I tripled up and was chipleader. When down to five players there were three with about 15K, one of them being me. And two shortstacks of 2,2K and 3,5K with 1,200 blinds I was in the BB. UTG pushed for the 4th when being UTG and I had J9o. I called. He showed KK and flop came 899r. The rest was history. The event is somewhere in April and had a huge overlay last time it was held. When thinking of the ticket as money (on Pokerstars you have T$, but I add them to my bankroll as well) I had my best day so far this year with almost 1K in winnings.
Besides playing I reviewed a session of another pokerplayer. It were about 400 hands on 50NL and it is good to look at somebody else's game. I realise I evaluate my own hands far to little and just keep on playing. It was fun to do, although it was a lot of work and needed focus (especially when 4-tabeling simultaneously). I will probably put in a session on Pokerstars on 50NL this week and hope someone will evaluate my hands.
To look at my goals I set for the month I have qualified for major online events. Have not qualified (yet) for live events. I am a bit behind on bankroll goals, but hope to make up during the last two weeks of the month. I will not attempt to qualify for the pokerpro series final. I have not finished in any final table, although I was deep in the money on two occassions.
Edit: Almost forgot about the other tourney I did not win, cause it was kind of bizarre. I was low on stack for a WSOP sub-qualifier and already wel past the rebuy period. Blinds were 150/300 and I was in the SB with about 1,400 left. CO raised to 600, which he had done the previous two hands. I push with AK, he says "oops" and calls. He shows 83s and the unlikely flop comes A83r. Very nice and no help on turn or river.
However there is no tilt. I decided to stick with 100NL until my bankroll has reached $9,000 at one site alone. Raszi posted a nice article on bankroll management on pokernews. He states that when moving up higher levels the number of buyins you need to switch should be higher for each level. So 25 buyins for 50NL, 30 for 100NL and 45 for 200NL. Theory behind this is that you can loose a few buyins without switching back to a lower level. Even at the higher level, with the high number of buyins, you can play relaxed and loosing a buyin is variance instead of bad beat leading to tilt. I am sticking with this. I think it is good.
Sunday was a good day nonetheless. I played few cashgames, but played some satellite tournaments. I got two Sunday Million tickets out of three attempts with one double shootout and one $3 rebuy. I decided not to play the Sunday Million next week, contrary to what I planned on doing earlier. Reason is simple, it is the monthly $530 event, and that would be 12% of my bankroll. That's too much. I am starting to like Pokerstars more and more. Competition is tough, but more straightforward. I had one awfull beat in the 25K gtd ($55 buyin) tournament on Saturday. With 800+ registrants and 200 left I found KK. I raised from the CO 3xBB, with a slightly below average stack. The shortie in the SB pushed and a bigstack in the BB pushed as well. I called. They showed 88 and AK and guess what; there was an ace on the river. Riverstars does credit to its name.
No reason to complain though as it was compensated on Titan. I played a sub-qualifier for the $250K gtd event ($440 ticket). I swiftly ran through the first round. The qualifier ($55) was with about 50 players for 4 tickets. When down to about 24 I was left with 1,000 chips and average was about 3,500 (startstack 1,500). I limped UTG with AQ, and someone pushed with 88. I rivered a queen for a double up. The very next hand I found AA and two people pushed and I tripled up and was chipleader. When down to five players there were three with about 15K, one of them being me. And two shortstacks of 2,2K and 3,5K with 1,200 blinds I was in the BB. UTG pushed for the 4th when being UTG and I had J9o. I called. He showed KK and flop came 899r. The rest was history. The event is somewhere in April and had a huge overlay last time it was held. When thinking of the ticket as money (on Pokerstars you have T$, but I add them to my bankroll as well) I had my best day so far this year with almost 1K in winnings.
Besides playing I reviewed a session of another pokerplayer. It were about 400 hands on 50NL and it is good to look at somebody else's game. I realise I evaluate my own hands far to little and just keep on playing. It was fun to do, although it was a lot of work and needed focus (especially when 4-tabeling simultaneously). I will probably put in a session on Pokerstars on 50NL this week and hope someone will evaluate my hands.
To look at my goals I set for the month I have qualified for major online events. Have not qualified (yet) for live events. I am a bit behind on bankroll goals, but hope to make up during the last two weeks of the month. I will not attempt to qualify for the pokerpro series final. I have not finished in any final table, although I was deep in the money on two occassions.
Edit: Almost forgot about the other tourney I did not win, cause it was kind of bizarre. I was low on stack for a WSOP sub-qualifier and already wel past the rebuy period. Blinds were 150/300 and I was in the SB with about 1,400 left. CO raised to 600, which he had done the previous two hands. I push with AK, he says "oops" and calls. He shows 83s and the unlikely flop comes A83r. Very nice and no help on turn or river.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
No more "i am doing well" posts
Each time I post results are good I end up having a downswing. I am down 7 buyins compated to Sunday. So no more of these posts. A couple of bad beats and one ugly play.
For 200BB I found KK. One minraiser, I reraised and he reraised again. I called. Found a king on the flop. Pushed, he called and had aces and found another one on the river. It was really suck out, after suck out, after suck out. Those times that you know the 2 outer will hit on the river and obviously it hits. I had two sets over sets for one buyin each, and simply could not limit the damage. I was a bit frustrated towards the end. I almost lost last week's profit in two days. Deep breath and start over again.
Especially those qualifiers at Pokerstars are giving me a hard time. Moreover, I haven't cashed in any tournaments this month. Maybe it is safed for the Sunday Million I will play later this month. That would make sense.
It is surprising how often I loose with kings lately. I often find either aces, or somebody who hits trips or completes a flushdraw. Yesterday there was an all-in with KK, AK and AQ. Guess who won? Right AQ with a Q on the flop and one on the turn. Sick. I had a qualifier all-in with A7 against A5, and surprisingly two fives show on the flop.
For the rest of the month I will attempt to repair the damage, which should be feasible, and cash in some tournaments. Main goal is to qualify for the WSOP with some freerolls and lots of qualifiers coming up.
For 200BB I found KK. One minraiser, I reraised and he reraised again. I called. Found a king on the flop. Pushed, he called and had aces and found another one on the river. It was really suck out, after suck out, after suck out. Those times that you know the 2 outer will hit on the river and obviously it hits. I had two sets over sets for one buyin each, and simply could not limit the damage. I was a bit frustrated towards the end. I almost lost last week's profit in two days. Deep breath and start over again.
Especially those qualifiers at Pokerstars are giving me a hard time. Moreover, I haven't cashed in any tournaments this month. Maybe it is safed for the Sunday Million I will play later this month. That would make sense.
It is surprising how often I loose with kings lately. I often find either aces, or somebody who hits trips or completes a flushdraw. Yesterday there was an all-in with KK, AK and AQ. Guess who won? Right AQ with a Q on the flop and one on the turn. Sick. I had a qualifier all-in with A7 against A5, and surprisingly two fives show on the flop.
For the rest of the month I will attempt to repair the damage, which should be feasible, and cash in some tournaments. Main goal is to qualify for the WSOP with some freerolls and lots of qualifiers coming up.
Monday, March 12, 2007
A bright sunshiny day
Well, that goes for the weather. A sunshiny day it is. Weather is good in Holland and in Pokerland. Pokerwise I am doing all right. This month I am already up about 1K, without running really hot and with the occasional bad beat. I have played 100 NL on Titan most of the time. I am going to stick to my promise to stay with 100 NL at Titan until my bankroll there reaches at least 5K. The good thing of playing on a level that my bankroll handles pretty well is that I am not bluffed easily out of the pot.
A nice hand was the following. A player had just lost a chunk of hiss stack to me. I get 99 in late position or even on the button. MP raised to $4, which I called and SB reraises to $14. MP calls and I call as well. Important is that I had them covered and they both had about 120 BB. Flop comes As9s4h, with which I make trips. SB bets out $14, or 1/3 pot. MP calls, which tells me he might have a strong ace and I reraise to $50 and they both coldcall. Pot is now $190, which means I have to call, no matter what card hits. Turn comes Js and there are now three spades on the board. SB insta pushes and the MP folds. I have to call here for about $60 for a $250 pot. Easy call and he shows ATo.
Bad beat time was obviously always lurking around the corner. I was heads up with someone and he was slowly eating my stack away (I really have to improve my heads up game. It stinks). Nonetheless, when I had 90BB and he had 110BB I was looking at 88. He raised to $3 and I reraised to $9, which he called. Flop came 5c6c8s, giving me top trips. He checked and I bet $14 and he pushed. I obviously had to make a call here and he showed pocket 7's. Unfortunately a 9 spiked the river for his straight to hit.
Cashgames are going well with about 7BB/100 hands for Titan. How about my tournament game? I deposited about $250 at Pokerstars with the goal to win one or more tickets for the Sunday Million I hope to play at the end of the month. Stars offers $11 double shoot outs with 3 or 4 tickets to be won at the final table. You have to win the first table. I have never sufferd that many bad beats. I think I tried 14 times and there were two in which I did not get one or more beats. Like having a decent chip lead and getting my trip 10s cracked with KJ who makes runner, runner straight; pocket queens beaten by QK and QJ; QsAs beaten by 9s7s and so on. However I did win two tickets, but it should have been more.
I also played a bit of cashgames at 50NL at Stars. I owned some of the tables, running 14/100 BB. Because of all the attempts to qualify for the Sunday Million my bankroll at Stars now is about $500, which does include a fair share of tournament dollars.
At Pacific I will not attempt to qualify for the Pokerpro series this time. My bankroll at this site just does not allow it. Besides that, I really dislike the layout at pacific. Screens are overlapping and when I want to click something on one screen another table pops up over it accidentally clicking the raise button when I have 2Jo. I will only attempt to qualify for the Global Freeroll.
Finally, Titan is back on its feet. No more server problems and decent tournament offerings instead. It seems more and more players stars playing at Titan. They also launched a Diamond VIP program. This means I have to accumulate 60,000 points on average per month, counted over a 4 month period. As a loyalty bonus they then offer $100 per month in which you have Diamond VIP status. The maximum loyalty bonus is $400. So after four months I receive $400 each month I remain at Diamond level. This is more like it. An okay deal compared to the $175 maximum bonus they used to offer. Although I now have to put in a fair amount of time to get the 60K points, compared to the easy accumulation of 20K points. It should not be a problem to get 60K since I already have 20K points this month. Next to the loyalty bonus they offer one WSOP seat to a Diamond player each month. I don't know how it works exactly, but it sounds good. I know there are about 300 Titanium VIPs, and guess there will be about 80 Diamond VIPs. I also received an email from Titan in which they stated they will have a lot more interesting promotions over the next couple of months.
A nice hand was the following. A player had just lost a chunk of hiss stack to me. I get 99 in late position or even on the button. MP raised to $4, which I called and SB reraises to $14. MP calls and I call as well. Important is that I had them covered and they both had about 120 BB. Flop comes As9s4h, with which I make trips. SB bets out $14, or 1/3 pot. MP calls, which tells me he might have a strong ace and I reraise to $50 and they both coldcall. Pot is now $190, which means I have to call, no matter what card hits. Turn comes Js and there are now three spades on the board. SB insta pushes and the MP folds. I have to call here for about $60 for a $250 pot. Easy call and he shows ATo.
Bad beat time was obviously always lurking around the corner. I was heads up with someone and he was slowly eating my stack away (I really have to improve my heads up game. It stinks). Nonetheless, when I had 90BB and he had 110BB I was looking at 88. He raised to $3 and I reraised to $9, which he called. Flop came 5c6c8s, giving me top trips. He checked and I bet $14 and he pushed. I obviously had to make a call here and he showed pocket 7's. Unfortunately a 9 spiked the river for his straight to hit.
Cashgames are going well with about 7BB/100 hands for Titan. How about my tournament game? I deposited about $250 at Pokerstars with the goal to win one or more tickets for the Sunday Million I hope to play at the end of the month. Stars offers $11 double shoot outs with 3 or 4 tickets to be won at the final table. You have to win the first table. I have never sufferd that many bad beats. I think I tried 14 times and there were two in which I did not get one or more beats. Like having a decent chip lead and getting my trip 10s cracked with KJ who makes runner, runner straight; pocket queens beaten by QK and QJ; QsAs beaten by 9s7s and so on. However I did win two tickets, but it should have been more.
I also played a bit of cashgames at 50NL at Stars. I owned some of the tables, running 14/100 BB. Because of all the attempts to qualify for the Sunday Million my bankroll at Stars now is about $500, which does include a fair share of tournament dollars.
At Pacific I will not attempt to qualify for the Pokerpro series this time. My bankroll at this site just does not allow it. Besides that, I really dislike the layout at pacific. Screens are overlapping and when I want to click something on one screen another table pops up over it accidentally clicking the raise button when I have 2Jo. I will only attempt to qualify for the Global Freeroll.
Finally, Titan is back on its feet. No more server problems and decent tournament offerings instead. It seems more and more players stars playing at Titan. They also launched a Diamond VIP program. This means I have to accumulate 60,000 points on average per month, counted over a 4 month period. As a loyalty bonus they then offer $100 per month in which you have Diamond VIP status. The maximum loyalty bonus is $400. So after four months I receive $400 each month I remain at Diamond level. This is more like it. An okay deal compared to the $175 maximum bonus they used to offer. Although I now have to put in a fair amount of time to get the 60K points, compared to the easy accumulation of 20K points. It should not be a problem to get 60K since I already have 20K points this month. Next to the loyalty bonus they offer one WSOP seat to a Diamond player each month. I don't know how it works exactly, but it sounds good. I know there are about 300 Titanium VIPs, and guess there will be about 80 Diamond VIPs. I also received an email from Titan in which they stated they will have a lot more interesting promotions over the next couple of months.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Love those trips
I made up for the weekend’s bad start of the month in a 3,5 hour session yesterday, but it took some blood, sweat and tears. I made some small changes to my game and think it paid off immediately.
First some frustration about a tournament I entered. I entered a sub-qualifier for a ticket for a $250K tournament at stars. Shorties kept sucking out on me every single time. I managed to double my stack without a rebuy until before the first break. I found queens and on a low flop someone pushed with A8 and made a runner, runner straight with the 8. Had 400 chips left and even with the add-on I was bottom 2 in a 30+ field, with top 12 earning tickets. I increased my stack, lost half by loosing KK to AQ, preflop all-in. Came back and then got down to 900 chips with 600BB, when I lost AK against Q8. It’s frustrating loosing some 80/20 pots four or five times in a row. Only then I tripled with kings against nines, doubled again when making someone pot committed with trip eights and busted someone with two pair. Then I could simply fold my way to the ticket, against all odds.
At the cash table I also experienced some suck outs from short stacks. However, I made up for it. Four hands that were worth mentioning: The first I found Pocket Cowboys, with which I reraised and someone called. Flop came JdQhKh, with a very drawheavy flop. I bet and the other player insta-raised me all-in for a quarter of my stack. I called and he showed pocket queens. Turn 10, river Ace for the straight on the board.
Another more or less classic hand was the following. I think I won it because of a nice play. I found 55 UTG+2. I limped and everybody folded. The button (240BB) bet $3 and the BB and I (140BB stack) called. Flop came 5d8c9c. Button was pretty aggressive. However the BB donkbetted $6 in a $9,50 pot. While my time almost ran out I decided to call here, while having trips on a rather draw heavy board, with flush and straight draws. I hoped the BTN would reraise. The button pushed all-in, and there was only one thought: he has aces. BB folded and I called. Thank you and good bye. Implied odds rule.
Third hand is more about the way I played it, instead of the result. I was in MP and limped with pocket sevens and the CO (30BB stack) raised to $4. Everybody folded and I called. I think when he had even a slightly lower stack I would have folded, because you hit trips one in 8 times on the flop. I had to pay $3 to call for a possible $32 win, which is 1:10,7. However, I hit two sevens which made quads (which statistically occurs 8 times out of 10.000 flops you see, when having a pocket pair) on the flop. I assumed he had a decent hand. I check and he bet $4 (remaining stack is $22), I raised to $10. I raise here, because I would never get the rest of his chips in had I pushed on turn or river. So he called the minraise and he had only $16 left, while the pot was $29. I checked the turn. He bet $6 and I pushed for the rest of his chips which he called. He was potcommitted, so had I pushed the river, he would have called.
Last hand I discuss, I got ThKd on the button, with three limpers. Flop came 8d9hJh, giving me a gut shot draw. Everybody checked. Turn was Qd, giving me the nut straight, but anybody with a 10 would have a (lower) straight as well. I checked and the MP-player, but not the last to act, bet potsize, so I asumed this was no attempt to steal the pot. Only one answer to that: push it, because 2 out of 3 times they will call with the queen high straight and I do not want any flush chasers. He called and did show a 10 with no flush draw and a blank river. Thank you very much.
First some frustration about a tournament I entered. I entered a sub-qualifier for a ticket for a $250K tournament at stars. Shorties kept sucking out on me every single time. I managed to double my stack without a rebuy until before the first break. I found queens and on a low flop someone pushed with A8 and made a runner, runner straight with the 8. Had 400 chips left and even with the add-on I was bottom 2 in a 30+ field, with top 12 earning tickets. I increased my stack, lost half by loosing KK to AQ, preflop all-in. Came back and then got down to 900 chips with 600BB, when I lost AK against Q8. It’s frustrating loosing some 80/20 pots four or five times in a row. Only then I tripled with kings against nines, doubled again when making someone pot committed with trip eights and busted someone with two pair. Then I could simply fold my way to the ticket, against all odds.
At the cash table I also experienced some suck outs from short stacks. However, I made up for it. Four hands that were worth mentioning: The first I found Pocket Cowboys, with which I reraised and someone called. Flop came JdQhKh, with a very drawheavy flop. I bet and the other player insta-raised me all-in for a quarter of my stack. I called and he showed pocket queens. Turn 10, river Ace for the straight on the board.
Another more or less classic hand was the following. I think I won it because of a nice play. I found 55 UTG+2. I limped and everybody folded. The button (240BB) bet $3 and the BB and I (140BB stack) called. Flop came 5d8c9c. Button was pretty aggressive. However the BB donkbetted $6 in a $9,50 pot. While my time almost ran out I decided to call here, while having trips on a rather draw heavy board, with flush and straight draws. I hoped the BTN would reraise. The button pushed all-in, and there was only one thought: he has aces. BB folded and I called. Thank you and good bye. Implied odds rule.
Third hand is more about the way I played it, instead of the result. I was in MP and limped with pocket sevens and the CO (30BB stack) raised to $4. Everybody folded and I called. I think when he had even a slightly lower stack I would have folded, because you hit trips one in 8 times on the flop. I had to pay $3 to call for a possible $32 win, which is 1:10,7. However, I hit two sevens which made quads (which statistically occurs 8 times out of 10.000 flops you see, when having a pocket pair) on the flop. I assumed he had a decent hand. I check and he bet $4 (remaining stack is $22), I raised to $10. I raise here, because I would never get the rest of his chips in had I pushed on turn or river. So he called the minraise and he had only $16 left, while the pot was $29. I checked the turn. He bet $6 and I pushed for the rest of his chips which he called. He was potcommitted, so had I pushed the river, he would have called.
Last hand I discuss, I got ThKd on the button, with three limpers. Flop came 8d9hJh, giving me a gut shot draw. Everybody checked. Turn was Qd, giving me the nut straight, but anybody with a 10 would have a (lower) straight as well. I checked and the MP-player, but not the last to act, bet potsize, so I asumed this was no attempt to steal the pot. Only one answer to that: push it, because 2 out of 3 times they will call with the queen high straight and I do not want any flush chasers. He called and did show a 10 with no flush draw and a blank river. Thank you very much.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Rough start
First weekend of this month was a bit disappointing pokerwise. I did not play a great deal of hands and am down $100 from Friday. Quite frustrating, while I did receive monster hands, but they either got cracked or there was no action. Raising 5xBB and getting called by 8Jo (with aces), A8 (with kings), and finding yourself at the wrong side of the outcome of that hand. It is unbelievable, particularly against shorties, how I get sucked out every single time.
KK for me against QJ with a Q46 flop. Turn Q, river J. Or having 9d9h on a 6d7d8h flop and shortie goes all-in with QA. Obviously a queen spikes the river. The good thing is, I do not see any bad plays or bad poker from my side. Perhaps just some bad luck.
I am looking for some players to exchange some hands over mail. If you are interested let me know in the comments section.
Besides that, it seems that the server problems are gone at Titan. I have not experienced any problems over the weekend, which is good. Although I heard Full Tilt and Stars experienced some server issues over the weekend.
I cashed out from Absolute and will deposit on Pokerstars (when the money is in my Neteller account). There is one purpose to put the money on that site: Tournaments. I will attempt to qualify for the Sunday Million and other tournaments. Since my tournament game has picked up, I hope I will manage. The goal is to win T$ (next to normal high ITM finishes), which I will use in the last week of the month, when I am off from work. Hope to play the Sunday Million, warm-up and other tournaments.
Before this weekend I hope to qualify for the Monte Carlo qualifier at Titan. I got a ticket for a freeroll with 4 seats, each worth $330, and so far only 49 people registered. Lets see how that works out. The actual qualifier is on Sunday. Next to that there will be the monthly freerolls at Titan.
KK for me against QJ with a Q46 flop. Turn Q, river J. Or having 9d9h on a 6d7d8h flop and shortie goes all-in with QA. Obviously a queen spikes the river. The good thing is, I do not see any bad plays or bad poker from my side. Perhaps just some bad luck.
I am looking for some players to exchange some hands over mail. If you are interested let me know in the comments section.
Besides that, it seems that the server problems are gone at Titan. I have not experienced any problems over the weekend, which is good. Although I heard Full Tilt and Stars experienced some server issues over the weekend.
I cashed out from Absolute and will deposit on Pokerstars (when the money is in my Neteller account). There is one purpose to put the money on that site: Tournaments. I will attempt to qualify for the Sunday Million and other tournaments. Since my tournament game has picked up, I hope I will manage. The goal is to win T$ (next to normal high ITM finishes), which I will use in the last week of the month, when I am off from work. Hope to play the Sunday Million, warm-up and other tournaments.
Before this weekend I hope to qualify for the Monte Carlo qualifier at Titan. I got a ticket for a freeroll with 4 seats, each worth $330, and so far only 49 people registered. Lets see how that works out. The actual qualifier is on Sunday. Next to that there will be the monthly freerolls at Titan.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Concluding February and goals for March
Febraury was hectic pokerwise. In the end I think I am a better pokerplayer know then I was a month ago. Especially my tournament game has improved. Below you will find the stats for this month.
BB/100: 3.00 (this includes the tilt sessions)
# hands: 18.360
Won in cashgames: $637.97
Most profitable positions: BTN and UTG
Most unprofitable positions: SB and BB
As you see it took me a few weeks to recover from the downswing. Furthermore I am not pleased about my winrate at 100 NL. So for March the goal is more ambitious. Please note that these figures only indicate my Titan game, since I did not import data from Absolute or Pacific poker.
Evaluating February
Increase bankroll from $2,550 to $4,000.
My current bankroll is $3,484. This means I did not meet this goal. The biggest/only factor was going on tilt for about a week at the beginning of February. Never play higher limits than your bankroll allows. I went back to 50NL and 100NL and played some tournaments and think I did pretty well in those. In the end I posted a profit at Titan. I transferred $750 to Absolute. I really do not like the site. Only played 50 NL there and can not seem to win. Current AP BR is $300. I transferred $100 to Stars. Current Stars BR is $0. I transferred $150 to Pacific. Current Pacific BR is $300.
Qualify for major tournaments such as $250,000 at Titan and Sunday Million at stars.Did attempt Sunday Million but was unsuccessful.
Get sufficient point on Pacific to play the EPT Dortmund freeroll. Did that, but was knocked out of the qualifier 28th out of 42.
Become more proficient in MTT's so I reach at least 3 final tables in February.Did that. I think I reached 5 final tables, with 4th as the highest finish. I performed well in the sub-qualifiers. 70% of the tournaments entered I got a ticket for 10%-30% of the price.
Qualify for live tournaments.
I did not accomplish this goal. Two serious attempts for EPT Montecarlo and EPT Dortmund. Both got busted in the early stages.
Score 2/5
Goals for March
• Increase bankroll to $5,250.
• Qualify for major online tournaments
• Finish at least three MTT (150+ entrants) in top 3
• Qualify for live tournaments
• Get sufficient points to play Pacific Poker freeroll for WPT Paris
• Get sufficient points to enter Pokerplayerforayear series final in April
To qualify for the major online tournaments I am going to withdraw funds from Absolute Poker and going to deposit at Pokerstars or Partypoker. Only when I have more money I will deposit at Full Tilt or Ultimate Bet or Bodog for their first deposit bonus. This will only happen when my account at one site, after withdrawal of at least $1,000, is $6,000.
Cash table goals for March:
• Continue playing 100NL
• Attain 5BB/100 hands at 100NL
• Play 15K hands
To reach the second goal I want to improve my skills by reading some more poker literature. Furthermore, I am always looking for videos like Cardrunners (although still contemplating whether or not to pay for full access).
BB/100: 3.00 (this includes the tilt sessions)
# hands: 18.360
Won in cashgames: $637.97
Most profitable positions: BTN and UTG
Most unprofitable positions: SB and BB
As you see it took me a few weeks to recover from the downswing. Furthermore I am not pleased about my winrate at 100 NL. So for March the goal is more ambitious. Please note that these figures only indicate my Titan game, since I did not import data from Absolute or Pacific poker.
Evaluating February
Increase bankroll from $2,550 to $4,000.
My current bankroll is $3,484. This means I did not meet this goal. The biggest/only factor was going on tilt for about a week at the beginning of February. Never play higher limits than your bankroll allows. I went back to 50NL and 100NL and played some tournaments and think I did pretty well in those. In the end I posted a profit at Titan. I transferred $750 to Absolute. I really do not like the site. Only played 50 NL there and can not seem to win. Current AP BR is $300. I transferred $100 to Stars. Current Stars BR is $0. I transferred $150 to Pacific. Current Pacific BR is $300.
Qualify for major tournaments such as $250,000 at Titan and Sunday Million at stars.Did attempt Sunday Million but was unsuccessful.
Get sufficient point on Pacific to play the EPT Dortmund freeroll. Did that, but was knocked out of the qualifier 28th out of 42.
Become more proficient in MTT's so I reach at least 3 final tables in February.Did that. I think I reached 5 final tables, with 4th as the highest finish. I performed well in the sub-qualifiers. 70% of the tournaments entered I got a ticket for 10%-30% of the price.
Qualify for live tournaments.
I did not accomplish this goal. Two serious attempts for EPT Montecarlo and EPT Dortmund. Both got busted in the early stages.
Score 2/5
Goals for March
• Increase bankroll to $5,250.
• Qualify for major online tournaments
• Finish at least three MTT (150+ entrants) in top 3
• Qualify for live tournaments
• Get sufficient points to play Pacific Poker freeroll for WPT Paris
• Get sufficient points to enter Pokerplayerforayear series final in April
To qualify for the major online tournaments I am going to withdraw funds from Absolute Poker and going to deposit at Pokerstars or Partypoker. Only when I have more money I will deposit at Full Tilt or Ultimate Bet or Bodog for their first deposit bonus. This will only happen when my account at one site, after withdrawal of at least $1,000, is $6,000.
Cash table goals for March:
• Continue playing 100NL
• Attain 5BB/100 hands at 100NL
• Play 15K hands
To reach the second goal I want to improve my skills by reading some more poker literature. Furthermore, I am always looking for videos like Cardrunners (although still contemplating whether or not to pay for full access).
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