Update from the last week

Since my last post things have been a bit more consistent for me. Thankfully no really bad days, just break-even or winning ones which makes a nice change.

Day 1 was profitable on the back of the satellites to the Sunday Quarter Million as I cashed in 2 out of 3 of them and the next day I cashed 3 out of 8 of them. My concern over those few days is that I was just managing min-cashes and of course bubbles in the other tournaments I was playing.

On Monday I played in the Guiness World Record Tournament on PokerStars against almost 150,000 other players. With 5 minute levels the structure certainly didn't suit my style of play and I never managed to build a big enough stack to stay ahead of the blinds. I finished in the top 25,000 players which wasn't the min-cash but the level or two above that.

As I was playing in the above event and it was an early start on the Monday I decided to also play in the Sunday Quarter Million rather than just converting the buy-in in to tournament dollars. Again, it was a massive field of 33,000 players and I was disappointed to finish just outside of the money. I'm yet to cash in this tournament and I had a good stack for much of it and was feeling good about my chances. I think I tried once or twice to get people off hands which didn't work and getting close to the bubble I ended up shoving under-the-gun with ace 9 suited. Normally its a move I wouldn't make but if I had stolen the blinds I would've been securely in the money ... not normally a concern but when I qualify through this game using FPP's any cash is a bonus. So I shove ace 9 suited and get flatted by someone in midposition and not surprisingly he turns over aces and although I have outs on the river I don't find any and fall agonisingly short.

I decided to spend the rest of the day playing and just took a break for lunch, dinner and a nap in the afternoon (because of the early start time of the first tournament). A couple of bubbles and a couple of min-cashes later and my bankroll was under $300 for the first time in ages which was a bit of a concern. Its not that I need the money its just that I'm not moving forward but feel like I've been playing well without reward.

I was just playing the $3.25 45 man tournaments and a few $2.20 180 mans. After short-stacking my way in to a final table I got some cards 4-handed and managed to survive the eliminations and get heads-up. I faced a huge chip deficit and large blinds compared to my stack so got it in first hand with king jack off ... unfortunately he had ace jack and I couldn't find a king or a ten on the river to improve. The $30 for second was a nice upswing tho especially since I was happy just to cash and surprised to make it as far as I did.

I had a few cashes around that one, felt I was playing well and near the end of the session got a win in one of the 45 mans. I went to the final table with a good starting stack and played well getting to the heads-up with a 3:2 chip lead. It was a quick heads-up battle that was over on the 3rd hand when I called a min-raise with 9, 10 off, 9 was the top pair on the flop, he shoved I called he turned over king high and my hand held.

I finally managed to final-table one of the 180 mans after bubbling or min-cashing them for seemingly so long. I often just get blinded out in these situations so I wanted to play for the win in this situation. I got pocket 7's in the hijack first hand and when it folded around to me I shoved for 4 or 5 times the blinds and was snap-called by a big stack on the button. He turned over aces and I was done, out in 9th.

So bankroll over US$360. I didn't play today and am not sure when I'll be playing next but hopefully the decent form will continue.

Bond18 runs good

There are a few online players that I rail/follow on PokerStars when I'm not actually playing. Most of them are because I read their blogs or they're well known on the Two Plus Two poker forums. The main ones are Alex Fitzgerald (Assassinato), Tony Dunst (Bond 18), Nick Rainey (MI_turtle) and Shaun Deeb (shaundeeb).

Its been a relatively quiet last few weeks as Alex has been back visiting his family in Seattle and Shaun Deeb is on hiatus from poker for a while.

Most of the focus has been on Nick as he has been grinding like a madman over the last few months in his quest for TLB points and the chance to be the first player ever to win consecutive monthly leaderboards on PokerStars. He's currently sitting in second place behind Simonator who came out of nowhere after coming 3rd in the Turbo Takedown.

Today tho was all about Tony Dunst. He hasn't had the best year on PokerStars being down around 15% according to OPR. Since I'm not on any other sites I don't bother tracking how players do on anything else but Stars. Bond18 has a reputation for running good, whether it be with the ladies, in life itself or at the tables. Today, he ran particularly well taking down one big field MTT and coming second in another.

I was following both Nick and Tony's progress as I watched the NFL and the cricket on TV. Tony tho was on fire final-tabling the 2 MTT's and cashing a few others. The two top results was a 2nd (out of 1250 players) in an $11 rebuy which earned him over $3.5K and then he outlasted 500 players in a $22 rebuy tournament to win almost $6K. The win was no doubt more sweet for him as at one stage during the heads-up battle he faced a 5:1 chip deficit but managed to fight back and take it down.

A spectacular return on the buy-ins paid and even better when you consider I think he played just 9 tournaments on PokerStars and cashed 6 of them. Congrats Bond on a MASSIVE day!

The ups and downs

The last week or two has been a roller-coaster in terms of results. Up one day, down the next ... feel like I'm playing well but either go card-dead at the wrong time or just get sucked out on.

I started playing the $3.25 45 man's again and got off to a good start with them recording a 2nd a 3rd and a min-cash within my first 6 games. The next day tho ... just 2 cashes in 25 or so attempts. What tends to happen in stretches like that is I have at least half a dozen bubbles and near misses, just a winning flip away from going deep.

Next day, a 1st and a 3rd and a few other cashes and the bankroll was on the way back up again. And unfortunately yesterday was back down again, maybe 25 or so tournaments and just 2 min-cashes to report. Of course, another half dozen costly bubbles. Add to that we had a storm roll through while I was playing and lost power 2 or 3 times for more than 5 minutes at a time.

So today I feel lost not knowing what to do to turn it around. Come back tomorrow and I'll likely be back on top of things for the moment.

I actually played a little bit of cash the other night, just killing time on .02/.05 tables and did well. I had aces against kings to double me up on one table and similar luck on another one. Maybe that could be the answer to current woes ... play more cash. Who knows ... might be best to just stay off the tables over Christmas and come back refreshed.

Pass the Sugar

I finished reading Joe Hachem's "Pass the Sugar" autobiography last night. I'm happy to admit I'm a fan of Joe and what he's done for the Australian poker scene. I enjoyed The Poker Star and I enjoyed reading his book, its a good insight in to the man, where he came from and what happened to his life after winning the WSOP Main Event.

One of my favourite lines from the book comes from the co-author Peter Ralph. In the Afterword, he tells a story about how Joe explained the skill level in poker:

"Pete, if we played a hand now you could beat me, and you may even get lucky over fifteen minutes and if you got really lucky you might even be ahead after half an hour. However if we played for four hours I'd own your house, your car and all of your bank accounts"

LOL, typical Joe confidence ...

Best win

November was a crap month for me online. My bankroll which had been up over $600 earlier in the year had plateaued for a while and was now dwindling ever lower. When looking at my OPR stats, they weren't that different to my good months, the only things were that I wasn't getting quite the same late % and wasn't getting the same number of wins. I had just one win in October and none in November.

Thankfully, the drought broke for me last week when I won a 45 man game. It was only a $1 buy-in so the cash pay-out wasn't that great but it was a win nonetheless and it was nice to win a heads-up battle again. Not just that, this win was special for the way it happened.

At level 9 with the blinds at 300/600 my stack had dwindled down to just 1800 and basically on life-support. Our table was down to just 5 players and we had a chip-monster who was basically just doing as he wished. He limped from early position, I had ace queen and shoved and with his stack he had no problem calling, turning over 7, 8 suited. He flopped a flush draw, I thankfully found an ace on the turn and just had to fade another diamond on the river which I did. I didn't know it at the time but this monster would be where all my chips would come from.

I survived through to the final table but had just 5 big blinds and there was just one stack shorter than mine. I needed to make top 7 to get paid and if I didn't get a hand quickly I had no shot of winning and I would have to just focus on cashing. I was however completely card-dead and rarely saw picture cards let alone something I could push or even take in to a race vs a raise. My stack was gradually disappearing so with jack ten off under-the-gun I had to push all-in and hope for the best.

My "push" (which was only just more than the big blind) got isolated and then further isolated. I was racing against king jack off and pocket aces ... uh oh. My prayer got answered tho when I hit a gutshot straight draw on the river and more than tripled up.

From there, I continued to get dealt nothing but happily watched on as players fell by the wayside. Down to just 4 players left and my stack was again on life-support and I was eventually forced all-in on the big blind with 2 5 suited ... groan. The chip-monster from earlier in the tournament had 4 times more chips than anyone else at the table, isolated with queen jack off and I was lucky enough to flop two pair and survive.

Shortly after, I called an all-in with ace jack off and the big stack came along for the ride. The initial all-in turned over pocket 7's, the big stack had ace ten, I flopped two pair which was better than the big-stacks two pair and the 7's were eliminated and we were down to just 3 players. I OPR'd the big-stacks form and frankly he was a donkey so I felt confident that if I could get a hand or two he would chip me up.

I got dealt ace king, raised all-in and wasn't surprised to see the big-stack call me but was surprised when he turned over pocket jacks. Classic race scenario but thankfully I flopped a king and held on for the win which got me level in chips with the player in second. A few hands later the big-stack sucked out on him with 5 7 off against pocket 8's and we were heads up. To say that I was in trouble would be an understatement as the chip count was him 59,370 me with 8,130. I needed hands and I needed them quick.

I got a suited ace first hand, had to push and did. I got called by rubbish, flopped two pair and quickly doubled up. Shortly after, he raised solidly from the small blind and I had re-shoved with ace ten off. He called turning over queen 4 suited and I flopped a ten, held up and doubled up again to now be level. It was also good to see what he was raising with and saw that he was doing it light so I knew I could shove any 1/2 decent hand and get paid off.

After I folded a few hands either on the flop or pre, I took a stand with ace 4 off and held up against his king 9 and now had a more than 2.5 chip advantage. From there, I got queens and won a raised pot and then trapped him with kings and the game was over.

I was pumped to get the win and even more pumped to fight back from the depths so many times and take down the victory. There's nothing I hate more than losing to a bad player heads-up so it was nice to get the win despite facing a huge chip deficit at the start of the battle. Sure, I had plenty of luck along the way ... but frankly, its about time.

The win drought is over and I look forward to having a few more in the very near future.

APL - Broadway Hotel

Its been a few weeks since I've blogged and its a mixture of tilt, busy being and falling out of the habit. I'll start getting back in the rhythm with an APL update from the Broadway Hotel venue.

Last Monday I got a text from a friend who was having dinner with the TD and said that it was the last night of the venue for the quarter because the Broadway had functions for the weeks leading up to Christmas. I checked the leaderboard and after a few weeks of not getting deep I was still clinging on to 3rd place which meant if I could make it through the night without getting passed I would be off to the State Finals. There were 3 or 4 people who were within reach so I knew who I needed to worry about.

The night started off well for me with an early chip-up but after that it all went downhill. The key hand for me was when I limped from the hijack with ace 3 suited (spades) and it folded round to the big blind who just checked. The flop came 9 spades, 8 spades, rag so I had the nut flush draw. The big blind led overbet the pot so I was either all-in or fold and needing to double-up I pushed. He was committed to the pot and ashamedly turned over jack ten off and was chasing the straight but liked that I was chasing too. Unfortunately for me an 8 came on the turn to give him the straight and my hand didn't improve. I was out shortly after when my ace king didn't hold up in a multiway pot.

I had a second chance on the turbo table but didn't win that either. When I left the turbo table I scoured the room to find out that just one player who was a chance to knock me off was left in the tournament. It was one of my friends so he was well aware of the situation that he and I was in and he needed to make final table to knock me off. After sweating his table for another hour or so he almost limped on to final table with just one 100 chip left (the blinds were 4K by this time) but he ended up bubbling. I felt bad for him because he was so close to making it through, but obviously relieved that I had secured 3rd and would again be off to States having just watched and played the freeroll last time.

Status update

I am so on tilt right now ... nothing much else to say

Quick session on PokerStars

It feels like ages since I've played online so with an hour or two to kill before I jumped on PokerStars and played some micro multi-table sit'n go's. I just checked OPR and its actually been almost two weeks since I last played.

Anyway, got some cards, played well and had two 2nd place finishes. One in a 45 man and the other in an 18 man. I went in to both heads-up battles behind in chips and couldn't get in front. I played well during the tournaments tho going deep in almost all of them. The only I didn't was the other 18 man I played when I got knocked out 9th when I shoved all-in from midposition with jacks and got called by an under-the-gun limp with pocket 2's. He of course flopped a 2 and I didn't improve.

I really need to clean up around the unit and get some work done so I'm not sure when I'll be playing online again. Bankroll is sitting just under US$460 ... very frustrating having been around the same level for the last few months.

The Poker Star finale

I was at trivia on Wednesday night when the finale of The Poker Star was on One HD plus I hadn't watched episode 7 yet. As the day was winding down today I was doing some invoicing and decided to catch up on the show.

By far the funniest part of episode 7 was the challenge:


The look on Josh's face when Joe tells him he needs to go back across the plank is just priceless!

I was a little disappointed to see Ben go because I thought he deserved to get to the top 3. Unfortunately for him he choked, defending his big blind and then folding when he was just out-kicked. Anyone who's played a bit of poker would know that with the ace and an 8 already on the board it was most likely going to be a split-pot. That slip-up cost him his spot in the final week and I'm sure he's regretting it now.

The interview challenge was entertaining watching the players stumble under the pressure of the questions. Clearly Josh froze but the others didn't do too much better. It was great to see PokerStars Team Australia get added to the tournament to mix things up. Everyone knew Chris's suckout was coming in the first hand. Sure, Emad could have been raising light, but first hand of the tournament you'd imagine his range was jacks or better pairs or ace-queen, ace-king. Chris was racing at best, behind a lot of the time ... but went all-in with ace queen and took the risk of getting knocked out first hand.

I was a little surprised Amanda became the Poker Star. I thought Josh was the one most likely but I think he failed to show the charisma and personality that Joe was looking for. His reputation as The Robot cost him dearly. Chris was just too aggressive and even tho most of the tournaments were short-handed, he needed to pick better spots and be more patient.

Amanda did very well to make it to the final and obviously win the ultimate prize. She really struggled with some of the more fearful challenges but showed a lot of heart and courage to get through them. It'll now be interesting to see how she does in the big tournaments.

APL - Broadway Hotel

After missing out on the final table last week, I was keen to get back on track at the Broadway and move back up the venue leaderboard.

As per usual, I got NO cards early. Actually, I did get ace king in the small blind first hand but out of position and that early on I was happy just to see a flop as I didn't think I could get either limper to fold. I hit a king on the river but someone was slow-playing a flopped set but bet weak on the river so it didn't cost me much to see what he was doing.

I was patient after the break and when the blinds were too much of my stack I pushed all-in vs 2 limpers with ace jack off. I got called by a limp under-the-gun with ace 4 off and by pocket 2's. Thankfully I caught a jack on the turn and took down a sizable pot that got me back in the game. From there I started to see some hands and continued to build my stack.

Close to the bubble I raise-folded with ace jack short-handed when I got re-raised by an older woman in the big blind. I decided to lay it down as I didn't think it was a good spot but because of that I went to the final table short-stacked.

I drew the big blind spot on the final table which wasn't great with my stack but took down the first hand which gave me some time. I later called all-in with ace ten off on the button and my ace high won. Next hand I got kings, shoved, got isolated and took it down. I later defended my big-blind vs a small-blind shove with ace 2 off, was ahead pre-flop and again it held. I ended up getting knocked out when my big blind was 3/4 of my stack and I had to call a small blind push. He turned over ace king off so my cards were live ... flopped a 3, he flopped the nut flush draw, turned an ace and then rivered the flush.

I finished in 4th place which I thought would give me the venue lead but unfortunately the woman who won the final table was also in contention and now has a 29 point lead on me. I'm 19 ahead of a friend of mine who is in 3rd and another friend of mine is in 5th. Its a tight contest still so I need another couple of final tables or a win to put a gap on the field and then head to States.

The Poker Star - Episode 6

I finally got a chance to catch episode 6 of The Poker Star tonight. This was aired last Wednesday night but I've been very this week.

This was probably one of the best episodes of the show so far. There are only 6 players left so its not so much about each individual giving their thoughts on what's happening so you get to see more of the action rather than player commentary. I also really enjoyed the "blinking eye" challenge. It was in the style of Survivor in that the players weren't expecting it, had had a long day, a few drinks and weren't physically or mentally prepared. Add to that the pure mind-numbing nature of it and it made for entertaining viewing, in my opinion.

Then again, I haven't stepped foot outside of my apartment for the last 48 hours, so maybe I can relate to their state of delirium.

PCA Fantasy Freeroll

I've been at the parents for most of the weekend and while I did take my laptop with me, I didn't end up switching it on. I think the beers, food, pool and Foxtel may have distracted from me getting online.

Anyway, Friday night I ended up playing at PokerStars. The plan was to get to the gym after work but the afternoon was mad busy and by the time I finished writing everything up and sending confirmations it was already 6:30. By this time I needed a beer and something to eat so the gym got put off till the next day.

I played one of the Sunday Quarter Million qualifiers and cashed as usual. I played a few $1 90 man tournaments as well but did no good in 4 of those. Since I was sitting in front of the TV and not switched on 100% I was mostly just playing for fun. With that in mind, I decided to again play in the PCA Fantasy Freeroll.

It started off fairly well winning a few hands, avoiding some of the madness and steadily chipping up. Still early stages in level 2 just 9 minutes in two people lost their shit on a king, king, jack flop one with the jack, another with the flush draw and of course I had the king. A second jack on the river sealed the pot for me and I basically tripled up. Things slowed down for a little while until it was folded to me in the small blind and I had pocket kings. Luckily for me the big blind was chipped up and aggressive and acted strong when he hit a small pair on the flop and I checked when first to act. He didn't improve, my kings held and he doubled me up.

From there I lost 1/2 my stack when I had to fold queens on a very ugly turn heads-up but got it back shortly after when my ace king held up against ace 6 suited. From there, it was uneventful for a while and with the blinds rising and the field diminishing I pushed all-in under the gun with queens and to my surprise got 3 callers. Thankfully my hand was the best going in, it faded a flush draw on the flop and I quadrupled up.

I then got moved to a table with a couple of the chip leaders and they were essentially playing every pot so I waited for quality hands. With the blinds going up I pushed with pocket jacks, got 2 callers and it held up to triple my stack. Later as my stack dwindled I pushed with ace ten off, rivered a straight and and held upended up pushing with ace ten off and managed to river a straight to get ahead of the blinds again.

Having learnt from my last freeroll adventure where I finished 30th, I sped my game up. The blinds were so high compared to most stacks that it was essentially push-fold play. If I had a solid hand I was all-in pre or if I was in the blinds and hit a flop I pushed. I got called my midpair a number of times and steadily moved in to the chip leaders.

In the later stages of the tournaments, I only lost a couple of hands that I played but thankfully they were to short stacks. The first was when I raised solidly from the button with 6's and the small blind woke up with queens. Another raise from the hijack when I had ace queen only to be flat-called by kings in the big blind and then he pushed on the flop but I had to call because there was so much in the pot.

When we got down to two tables left I stole a couple of pots when checked to and had queens twice in the blinds that helped me chip right up. Once when someone shoved with ace rag and another I shoved vs multiple limpers, got called by ace jack and he only managed to catch a jack. Those moved me in to the top 5 stacks and I avoided any further trouble to finish in the top 9 out of 8200 players and qualify for the Main Event Satellite. I checked that tournament which isn't for another 30 days yet and apparently there can be up to 40,000 players and again you have to finish in the top 9. The odds on getting through that size field are extremely slim but its worth a shot.

Online frustrations

I've had a couple of frustrating sessions on Pokerstars over the last couple of days. I played for a couple of hours on Friday night and then most of the day yesterday.

Friday night started well with a 6th place in a $3.25 45 man but from there I failed to cash in the next 9 tournaments. I fell just short in a Sunday Quarter Million qualifier and bubbled 2 or 3 of the $2.20 180 mans. I ran in to a number of big hands at the wrong time. Approaching the money someone would minraise and I'd have pockets in the blinds. The plan was to call pre and then push on the flop and hope they had missed the flop or had an under-pair to the board. Unfortunately, the times I did this the opponent infact had an over-pair.

I started yesterday slowly taking a few misses before I cashed a Sunday Quarter Million qualifier. From there things went to shit as I got nothing out of the next 15 games. It felt like suck-out central ... with some seemingly horrible beats that were taking their toll on my patience.

I then cashed 3 of the next 8 games, a 7th a 6th and a 4th all in the $3.25 45 man games. After another stretch of failing to cash, I finished the night with 3 out of 4. Bubbling the final table of two 180's and finally a second place finish in a 45 man. Just before the final table I tripled my stack by taking out one player and crushing another stack when I had two all-ins in front of me and I had kings in the big blind short-handed. First player pushed with king queen off, small blind tried to isolate with pocket tens and I caught the last king on the flop to crush them both.

A couple of hands in to the final table I took out two players with pocket aces holding up against ace queen off and pocket 5's. So by this point I had a massive chip-stack in comparison to the rest of the table. Not surprisingly I went a little card dead at this point but cruised through to the final 3. Still in a good position I turned up the pressure without much luck against my opponents. By the time we got down to heads-up the other guy had a 2:1 chip lead having knocked out the last player. I OPR'd him and found out he was a good player and seemed to be showing it at the table. He had one gear heads-up and that was either all-in or fold. With his chip lead and the blinds at 1/10 of my stack the battle didn't last too long. I pushed all-in from the small blind with ace 5 off, got called by queen ten suited and he flopped a queen.

So at the bottom of yesterday my bankroll was down to the low $400's but I got it back to $470 by the end. A losing couple of days and very frustrating. I've been at this same level for the last couple of months, going up and down between $400 and $600. I feel like I'm playing well, I know at times I need to be more aggressive stealing blinds late but its hard at these levels when you get called by rubbish a lot of the time. I really feel like I have something to prove ... that I can smash this level, but its just not happening right now. As you can see from the graph below, its only the $2 games that I'm not ahead on. Sure, I'd also like to be a lot more profitable at the $3 level ... but at least I'm a little ahead.

Quick session on PokerStars

I really should've been doing some work tonight but got started playing on PokerStars and never got around to it. I don't have much planned for this weekend so I'll do it then ... promise.

I played in three of the Sunday Quarter Million satellite's, qualifying for one and bubbling another but still cashing (the final spot that doesn't qualify but gets the surplus cash). I'm finding these games fairly easy at the moment, doing well in them but they do take a while to play and only start once an hour.

In the other games I was just playing the $1.10 45 man tournaments. They started off terribly for me when I ran kings in to someone that was slowplaying aces and then I couldn't win a race with another pair of kings, queens and anything else that went in well ahead but failed to hold up. Thankfully I finally got a final table and a 4th placed finish. I had a good size stack and was 1st with 8 to go but two short stack all-ins that I called, flopped a flush draw and both times couldn't find one more of my suit. These took me back to an average stack and when everyone folded and I had aces in the big blind, I knew it wasn't going to be my night.

So a short session but again a slightly profitable one. Bankroll still over US$500.

Phil Ivey ... human

I was at trivia last night (we won for the first time!) and didn't get to watch The Poker Star on One HD. The show cops a lot of flack from regular online poker players on the forums ... but its poker so I watch regardless of how good or bad it is. While looking for episode 5 on YouTube I stumbled across the following:



Unbelievable that a pro, let alone possibly the greatest player in the world would make such a basic/rookie mistake like that. Not to mention making this type of mistake with 3 tables to go in the World Series of poker for 1/4 of your stack!

Poker update

I really haven't been playing as much as previous months, mainly because I've been too busy doing other things. The spin-off from that is I'm sleeping better and getting to the gym regularly.

I played online last Tuesday and had a tough night. I felt I played really well but it was a night of suck-outs and I managed to only make 2 final tables and got no deeper than 5th. I also played in the PCA freeroll, 10,000 starters and only 9 got through to the next round. I had some luck midway through, took advantage of it and went very deep. I played a hand a little too passively and ended up folding on the river to a stone cold bluff ... had I shoved all-in pre-flop which was the right move, I would've won the hand and taken some large blinds. I ended up getting knocked out in 30th, just short of the qualification. Pleased to get through so many players, frustrating to fall just short.

The plan last night was to go to the Broadway Hotel to defend my APL venue lead. I decided to be good and get to the gym straight after work so after some cardio I got home but a massive storm was rolling in. I had my car cleaned and polished on Sunday and the lightning and thunder were pretty fierce so I didn't think it was too wise to drive in, so I just stayed here and played a little on PokerStars. I played just 6 games, cashed two with a 5th (in a $1.10 90 man) and a 6th (in a $3.25 45 man).

I put off doing some work tonight and instead fired up some tournaments online. I final tabled early and despite playing a little too passively at times had a good run near the end. I again cashed in one of the Sunday 1/4 Million qualifiers as well as final tabling a $3.25 45 man and a $2.20 $180 man. I had a good stack late in the 180 man and was hoping to go really deep on the final table. Small blind shoved all-in and they were also a short-stack, I had ace 6 off figured I was ahead and called hoping to double up and gain some momentum. I was right to call as the small blind had shoved with jack 4 suited. Unfortunately he flopped a 4 and got another one on the river and I was out in 6th place, just short of the good cash.

I really feel like I'm playing well but I'm not finishing tournaments off. I know I'm not playing that much but I'd still like to be winning a few more of the games I'm playing in.

APL - Broadway Hotel

My second week in a row of live poker was on Monday night at the Broadway Hotel. As mentioned last week, I hadn't played APL in ages but after a good showing last week I was keen to do it again and its also a good social activity as a few of my friends play that venue.

Much like last week I was card dead for the first half of the game. I had an entertaining table with a few of my friends on it as well as some active/interesting players to mix it up. There was an older lady next to me that was being aggressive and no one really knew how she was playing because she was getting away with it and not having to show down too many hands. After the break this came to an end when she got busted in a few raised pots betting strong with marginal hands when first to act. Thankfully I got to take advantage of it as she limped the small blind when it was folded around to her and I checked the big blind with king 9 off. One of my friends gave me shit for not being aggressive pre-flop but I was fine with the play since I knew she'd call with most hands. Luckily for me the flop came 4, 7, 9 and she lead out with a bet. Not going to muck around with my hand I re-raised all-in and she ended up calling with jack ten off on the gutshot straight draw. Thankfully she missed and I doubled up knocking her out.

I then started to get some cards and took down a few blinds with them. A little while later I had kings under the gun and took my time deciding how much to raise. Once I decided with 2.5 times I got instantly re-raised all-in by the player next to me and there was a caller from a shorter stack on the other side of the table. I wasn't about to fold and had them both covered so called, turned over my kings much to the pain of the guy next to me who had queens and the other person had jacks. Cold deck for them as the king was the second card out and I took down a massive pot with my set and took out two players at the same time.

Our table was then broken and we were down to 2 or 3 tables left. I got a bit more aggressive on the other table, stole a few blinds and cruised on to the final table with a decent stack. The blinds were quite large by this stage but I drew a good seat starting as the small blind. I took out a shorter stack with queens in the small blind, flopped top set and then rivered a boat. The action on the final table was fast and furious and before I knew it we were down to 4 players. One of my friends took out the other two players who were the shorter stacks by that time and he had a strong chip lead when we got to heads-up.

I took down a couple of the opening pots and since the blinds were so high I had clawed my way back in to the match. With the blinds at 10K/20K I limped from the small blind with 4 5 suited and the big blind checked. The flop came queen, 8, 2 with two diamonds and with the big blind first to act he overbet the pot putting me virtually all-in. I decided it was now or never and called much to his disappointment as he thought he was busted when he turned over 2 6 off for bottom pair no kicker. Unfortunately he dodged another diamond and knocked me out to take the win.

The second place finish after my fifth the previous week actually puts in me in to the lead for the venue, admittedly after only 3 weeks in to the season. So with that in mind I'll definitely be back on Monday to hopefully put in another good performance and attempt to qualify for States.

My friend Paul who beat me heads-up with 2 6 off ... ouch ...

Back in the game

Well, after almost two weeks of not playing on PokerStars, I got back in the game yesterday.

I felt I was playing well but didn't have the results at the start of the session. From the first 20 tournaments I cashed just twice and had a number of bubbles. Thankfully I then hit a purple patch cashing 4 straight games. The only downside was that I couldn't get any higher than 6th in any of them.

After a few more blanks, I finished the night with a 5th in a 180 which was a little better payout. I felt like I played it really well and it was the sort of tournament that in the past I may not have made the money or min-cashed but made some moves at the right time that got me on to the final table with a chance of a decent finish.

I played for a fair few hours yesterday and with the 5th placed finish probably only broke even. With the slow start, my bankroll actually was under $400 for the first time in months. Not good ...

After getting up early and doing some stair-running this morning, I jumped online around lunch and have pretty much played ever since. OPR hasn't caught up so I can't see all of my results. Thankfully I can see my bankroll and its back over $500 ($510 to be precise).

I played really well in another 180 man and had a considerable chip lead on the final table. I was a big chance to take it down but had some unlucky hands. Four handed I ran ace ten suited in to pocket aces and then I called a small blind shove with ace jack in the big blind, he turned over pocket 4's, I flopped a jack, fist-pumped ... and then a four on the turn, ouch! I ended up finishing 3rd which was a little disappointing.

I finally got a win in a tournament also, a $3 45 man game. Despite facing a 5:1 deficit when heads-up play began I fought back to parity and then got paid off with two pair vs middle pair. I had OPR'd my opponent, saw they weren't good and picked up they were playing very tight. So I took advantage of it, got aggressive, hit a few flops and got the win. I can't even remember when I last won a tournament so it was nice to get that monkey off the back.

I finished the night playing a few of the $2.20 satellites to the Sunday 1/4 Million. Since the tournament starts at 5am in the morning my time, the plan was to just get the win and then unregister and take the tournament money. The games are fairly soft and I'd read on the Two Plus Two poker forum that they were a good way to grow a bankroll. I qualified in three of them and was unlucky not to go 4 of 4. The only problem with them is that they're not turbo so they take a while and slow down even more near the bubble.

So it was nice to have a profitable day again. I think I probably made $70 which is ok but mainly it was good for the confidence again after poor results of late. I had a look at my SharkScope graph yesterday and it was big downward slide. Its looking a lot healthier now and my form is even listed as "hot".

Update

I know I put a ban on myself playing online poker but I really didn't expect to go a week without blogging so apologies for that.

Its now been a week without playing online and I'm itching to get back in to it but likely won't until Thursday night at the earliest.

Since I haven't been playing, I got stuck in to those DVD's I mentioned in the last post. I know it didn't get good reviews but I enjoyed "Angels & Demons". I think they did well considering the limited access to the Vatican that they were allowed. "Notorious" was ok too. I'm not a fan of Biggie, especially not compared to Tupac but it was an interesting story all the same. With P-Diddy as the producer, I take the "reality" of the movie with a grain of salt especially when it came to the east coast - west coast rivalry. The final movie was "Little Miss Sunshine" which was recommended to me by a friend and I've been meaning to see for a while. I think I was hesitant to see it until now because it didn't seem like my type of humour. After watching it this turned out to be the case, sure it was funny in parts but essentially not my style but still worth a look.

Friday night was my league's NBA Fantasy Draft ... now known as the GREATEST night of the year. There are 7 of that grab dinner and drinks and then come back here for the draft. Due to some players in the league living in Perth, the draft itself doesn't kick off until 12:15am so there is plenty of time for talking shit and catching up.

This weekend I went up to Maroochydore to hang out with some friends that were playing in the APL State Finals. Having not played APL for months I wasn't eligible to play in the main event but could play in the freeroll. The freeroll was madness to say the least. Players were allowed unlimited spend cards for re-buys and by 5pm when it kicked off plenty of players were pissed after busting out of the main event or just pissed (due to alcohol). I had been at my brother's place in the afternoon so didn't fill out a spend card which meant I was up against it from the get go. My starting table was very loose and a number of people were playing any 2 cards no matter the pre-flop raise. I won a small pot early, lost another with 9's against someone trapping with top pair and from there it was shove or fold due to the blinds. I shoved with ace queen only to get called by king 6 suited and thankfully turned two pair to take the pot. I later went all-in with ace king off and survived against two players. I got moved tables and the blinds were already 500/1000 and I only had around 3000. It folded to me in the cutoff so I shoved with ace 8 off and unfortunately got called blind by a short-stack in the big blind. He turned over jack 9 off and caught a jack on the flop to win. My stack was crippled and I was out shortly after.

Last night I decided to play a regular APL game at the Broadway Hotel. I used to play this venue in the past but they lost it for a while and its only just returned. There were some terrible players on my table but I was card dead early (which has often been the case at this venue for me) so couldn't take advantage of it. After being extremely patient for the first 2 hours, I had 5 7 of hearts in the big blind against a big stack in midposition and a completed small blind. Flop came 3 4 6 with two diamonds ... SWEET! Small blind checked, I decided to check also figuring the big stack would bet and he didn't let me down. Surprisingly tho the small blind re-raised and I pushed all-in which was just less than her re-raise ... and the big stack still called. The small blind continued to bet on the turn and river and get called so I assumed at least one of them had a flush draw which thankfully didn't come. Small blind turned over the bottom straight with 2 5 of diamonds and the big stack mucked so I took down the main pot and was finally chipped up. I then had kings in midposition and with one limper and the blinds at 500/1000 decided to just shove and see if the under-the-gun limper called and he didn't. Shoved with ace king off late but didn't get called and then the bubble burst and I was on the final table.

I drew the under-the-gun spot on the final table and with the blinds at 2000/4000 I had just 10,000. I got pocket 6's first hand but with a number of smallish stacks I decided to just fold and move up the rankings. It turned out to be a good decision as someone with 9's caught a set on the turn to take down the pot. A few players got knocked out and then I got queens and called with my final 4K when the blinds were at 6. I thankfully got isolated by someone with ace rag and my hand held up. I pushed next hand with ace jack suited and then held up against a caller with ace 8 suited. We were down to just 6 players and it folded to me with king jack off in the hijack. I wanted to be aggressive so pushed all-in but got called by the big stack in the small blind and the big blind decided to play as well so he didn't get blinded out. Big stack turns over ace ten which catches two aces to knock us both out and I finish in 5th. The shove wasn't a play I normally make but I was going for the win and don't hate the move at that stage of the game. So a good result for my first game back and I'll likely play that venue from now on.

No poker ...

I've put a self-imposed poker ban in place for the next few days. I just looked at OPR and it looks like I've played online for the last 10 days straight.

I feel like I need a break, just to get my head straight and come back fresh. I'm questioning the way I play, I'm getting sucked out on by ridiculous cards and I think it was getting to me. I need to get more sleep, I need to eat right and continue getting to the gym.

So I'm not going to play for the next few days. Tonight I went to the DVD store and grabbed a few movies. Angels & Demons, Little Miss Sunshine & Notorious. I'll let you know what I think next time.

Before I wrap up, congratulations to Assassinato for the most ridiculous week he's just had. Kid (no offence) has had scores of $8000, $6500 and yesterday took 4th in one of the Sunday majors on PokerStars for $36,000. It was a very quiet day at work so I railed him for the last hour or so and he was chipleader for most of it. He slid down the leaderboard but continually fought his way back. Good going Alex, great stuff!!

The flaw in OPR

As I've started playing different games and satelliting in to a few larger tournaments, I've found the flaw in Official Poker Rankings.

Other than the fact that it doesn't record stats for tournaments with less than 45 players, the two problems I see with it are:

1. Satellites - When I use FPP's to satellite in to a larger buy-in tournament, OPR records the fact that I've played in the bigger event as a buy-in I've paid. This happened on the weekend when I satellited in to a $10+1 rebuy tournament using just 70 FPP's. However, OPR just lists my records like I've just paid the actual buy-in.

2. Rebuys - Following on from the first flaw is the way OPR handles rebuy tournaments. Since they can't track how many rebuys each individual player has, it gives each player the average number of rebuys for that event. Now, if I've satellited in to a $10 rebuy tournament using FPP's, rebuying is obviously not an option for me with my roll. But, on my OPR record it considers that I've infact paid $33 for that tournament (buy-in and re-buys) when infact I've spent nothing.

Now these are not major dramas by any means but its something I picked up on the weekend. Yes, my record on there isn't as pretty as it once was ... ha ha ha

Ivey & Teddy KGB

I've never played on Full Tilt Poker before but came across these ads today that are pretty good featuring Phil Ivey & Teddy KGB from Rounders. It seems the game against KGB is a follow-on or add-on from the original series of commercials that they made.

Part 1 is unable to be embedded but click here to see it.

Part 2


I then stumbled across this ad that for some reason never made it to the screen.

Daniel Negreanu finishes 2nd at the WSOPE

Playing until 5:15am London time, Daniel Negreanu has just finished 2nd in the WSOPE Main Event. It would have been great to see him get the win but half a million pounds isn't too bad for the runner-up. Here are the final two hands:

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:15:29

O. M. G.

Our final two saw a flop and Shulman bet 300,000. Negreanu responded by raising to 900,000. And Shulman responded to that by moving all in. Negreanu turned to the rail in the hope that they might help him with his decision. "So you all wanna go home, right?" he asked them. "I'm not saying I'm gonna lose..." "Ah, I shouldn't listen to the rail. I call." On their backs. Negreanu: Shulman: Oh dear. But wait! Turn: to massive screaming from the suddenly very awake crowd -- But wait some more! River: ... ... ... ! The noise was deafening. In what we are confidently declaring the Hand Of The Day, Shulman doubled to over 8 million, and Negreanu is right back down to under 2 million. Extraordinary. We play on.

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:19:45

Daniel Negreanu finishes as Runner Up (£495,589)

So, all in preflop, pair vs. pair, as one might expect, Daniel Negreanu, having come full circle back to short stack, had his tournament life on the line one more time. Negreanu: Shulman: The straight out on the flop brought a groan from the Negreanu supporters, and the rest of the board got him drawing dead by the turn: . But both players were thoroughly applauded as the final hurdle was leaped.

Finally ... some run good!

Its been a rough month. I feel like I've been playing better but the results haven't been there. The bankroll peaked at $630 last month and has been down as low as $420 or so this month. The frustration comes from a feeling of "plateauing".

After another break-even/slightly unprofitable session last night, I posted this on Twitter:
"feel like i'm so close to killing the games but lack luck late in the tournaments"
I played 17 tournaments last night, cashing 4 but the disappointment was that my best finish was just two 5ths in the 45's. Not only that but I bubbled 3 more tournaments.

This afternoon tho was a completely different story. I had a fairly productive day at work but was in slow-down mode by 4:30 so I fired up a couple of $1.75 18 man tournaments. I finished second in one and failed to cash in the other. From there tho I went on a tear, cashing 4 straight games including two 2nd places in the $3.25 45 man tournaments.

So tonight I cashed 5 of 7 tournaments and took three 2nds. I'm not too worried about the poor winning conversion rate as I feel I played the heads-up well. In the 18 man game the guy was an extremely good player (I OPR'd him) but the other two weren't. I fought back from a huge deficit in one but my top set on the flop of a strongly raised pot got beaten by a flush draw that hit on the turn. The other I pushed with king jack off, got called by 7 9 suited, I caught a king on the flop but again the villain turned the flush.

Form on SharkScope = HOT

The Poker Star

Well, not too much to report from the PokerStars $50K, or at least nothing exciting for me anyway. I didn't realise but the tournament I had qualified was in fact a rebuy tournament and my first time in it the $10 rebuy didn't interest me too much when I had satellited in using FPP points.

I played fairly tight early, took down some small pots and avoided some of the rebuy madness that was going on at the table. I virtually tripled up at one point with top pair king kicker on the flop managed to outrun top pair midkicker and flush draw in a raised pot. So I survived through until the end of the rebuy and add-on period and got to see that there was a first prize of over $10K up for grabs. Shortly after tho I had ace ten in the big blind and in a multiway unraised pot the flop came 10, 10, 6 ... hello!! It checked around to the button who bet smallish so I called and figured I'd lead out on the turn which I did, I got re-raised and hoped I was up against a worse ten, flush draw or bottom pair. Unfortunately the button had pocket 6's and I was needing help on the river but it didn't come and I was gone midfield.

Other than that tournament tho, my early morning good form continued as I got a 3rd in a $3 45 man, min-cashed a 180 and then won a $3 45 man, all in my first couple of games. From there tho I failed to cash in the next 11 games, bubbling 3 (frustratingly). Happy with the way I played tho and a profitable day overall.

As I mentioned, I missed Joe Hachem's The Poker Star last night but you have to love YouTube for having it on there already. I've just finished watching it and its great to see that the episodes are an hour long, unlike 2M2MM which is just 30 minutes and is drawing heat in the forums for being too short. The city of Melbourne and Crown Casino make a great back-drop for the show and its good to see Lee Nelson involved as well. Week 1 was very much a getting to know the contestants episode so we'll see how the show develops from here.

Good start to the day

I just got up an hour or two ago, didn't feel like breakfast as I ate a lot yesterday. I went to the gym in the afternoon, had a couple of sandwiches when I got home and then went to a friend's place to watch the AFL Grand Final, NRL Semi-Final and I was hoping to catch the first episode of Joe Hachem's The Poker Star but unfortunately that last one didn't happen. As soon as I walked in the door, the beers were cracked and the food started flowing and really didn't stop.

Anyway, I like playing poker on Sunday mornings because its the one chance I get to play in a number of the big MTT's. I late registered for one about 50 minutes late, normally I wouldn't but there was over 6000 players in it and it was only a $1 buy-in. Nothing exciting to report there, registered for another $1 buy in one and didn't do much better there either.

I've been wondering what to do with my FPP's and decided to play in a satellite to the nightly 50K guaranteed (normally an $11 buy-in). It was only 70FPP's and it was a turbo satellite which I really didn't take in to account in the early rounds. Thankfully I got some hands at the right time, picked a few other good spots and was right back in the game. There was 190'ish runners, 19 of which would qualify for the 50K. Being a turbo the blinds were high late and an ace high shove from the small blind held up and I was well in contention. The table was very tight unless they had a big hand so I was pleasantly surprised when everyone folded to my blind instead of making me taking a stand around the bubble. I used my time bank in the right spots to slow our table down and it worked well enough to get me through. The 50K starts in just over an hour so hopefully I can do something in that.

While playing that I also won a $1 45 man game. I was in a good position all the way through and despite being last in chips with about 4 to go, got some hands, took down some blinds and got out of the way when the big action started. I went in to heads-up facing a large deficit but took down a big hand or two to even the ledger. We then went back and forth for a while until he went card dead and got too passive. He was folding way too many hands when short-stacked and I was able to take advantage of it.

Tiffany Michelle & Maria Ho - Amazing Race

I just finished watching Amazing Race season 14 last night (yes, we're a little behind here in Australia) and today thanks to Twitter, found out that professional poker players Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho are teaming up in season 15 of the show.

Here's their introduction and the new season kicks off on Sunday in the US (probably at least a month later down here):

Headed in the right direction

After a rough last week or two on PokerStars, things seem to be heading in the right direction again. I've been pretty much breaking even for each session this week and then had a solid night yesterday.

The night started slowly, failing to cash in any of the first 6 games. The 7th however I broke through for a 2nd place in a $3 45 man game. The heads-up play was essentially over before it began as the chip leader had taken out the other stack so he had a 11:1 chip lead on me. I had to defend my big blind with king 3 suited, he had pocket tens, I caught a 3 but that was it, game over.

A few games later I got a 5th place in another 45. I was short-stack at the table and it got folded to me in the small blind so I shoved all-in to the big blind with king 5 off. He had a decent stack so could've called me with lesser hands but instead turned over ace king and I didn't improve.

After playing a number of the $2 180's and doing nothing in them, I finished well with a 4th place for $29. I was about to be big blind so I shoved all-in with king queen off, unfortunately for me the big stack was the big blind and could easily call with ace rag. Flopped an ace, I caught a queen but nothing else.

As the night was drawing to a close, I also played two $1.75 18 mans. I was out early in the first one but got second in the last one. Heads-up started with the villain having a 3:1 chip lead. I got it back to 2:1 at one point but called an all-in defending my big blind with ace 9 off, he turned over king ten off and rivered a straight to seal the win.

Unfortunately the 18 man games don't get counted on OPR so my month is still -2% ROI on there. I've had 5 straight months of positive returns so I would really like to finish this week and therefore the month strongly and get back in black. There's still plenty of time but I only have 2 wins so far this month, if I can get this to 5 or more that would really help the bankroll and my profitability. With my winning session last night, I'm back over US$500, after dipping under $440 earlier in the week.

2009 WCOOP: Sick! ElkY scores 2nd bracelet in Event #43, $215 NLHE - PokerStars Poker Blog

I've been taking an interest in the WCOOP this year as I get more and more involved in the poker world. With work not being overly busy all the time, I log on to PokerStars during the day just to rail some of the big name players. I tend to watch the big name pros such as Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker plus some of the bigger name online players such as Shaun Deeb, Tony Dunst and Alex Fitzgerald.

As the work day was winding down, I ended up watching Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier take down his 2nd bracelet of the series. As we speak, he's down to the final 12 of a second chance event where the first prize is over $130,000. Run better ...

Here's the story of how he got his 2nd bracelet, click on the title to read the full story.

2009 WCOOP: Sick! ElkY scores 2nd bracelet in Event #43, $215 NLHE - PokerStars Poker Blog

Event #43, the last of the $215 buy-in no-limit hold'em events in this year's WCOOP series, drew a whopping 9,220 entrants, making for a $1,844,000 prize pool. That was well beyond the $1 million guarantee, and the eighth time during the series we've seen a prize pool of greater than $1.5 million. (There'd be one more WCOOP event with at least a $1.5 million prize pool, of course -- the Main Event, with more than $10 million up for grabs!) The top 1,350 finishers would be cashing in this one, with first place scheduled to earn a nifty $263,323.20.

After nine-and-a-half hours of play, the field had been whittled down to 250 players, with Team PokerStars pros Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier in 12th, Victor Ramdin in 22nd, and Barry 'barryg1' Greenstein in 90th. At that point, 0926ricsi held the chip lead with 683,105, followed closely by LakersGTD, kezug, ångvälten, and HN Kakaroto.

At the 11-and-a-half hour mark, they were down to 100 players. Greenstein had departed in 203rd, followed by Team PokerStars Holland Pro Lex 'RaSZi' Veldhuis in 152nd. But Ramdin was still there in 42nd, and Grospellier had chipped all of the way up to second place, just behind LakersGTD who was nearing the 200,000 mark.

ElkY would soon overtake LakersGTD and claim the chip lead. With five cashes already this WCOOP and a bracelet in Event #38 (NLHE $530 + 1R1A), the London-based French pro appeared to be gearing up for yet another deep run in an WCOOP event. (Click here to read ElkY's reflection on his WCOOP win for the PokerStars blog.)

PokerStars update

Its been a tough week at the tables for me. I've had a couple of awful sessions and I've also had some good performances.

I was proud of the way I played Sunday. Usually a tougher day because its Saturday night in the US and its tough when you have a higher % of donks and suck-outs that you have to try and avoid. I mentioned that I didn't plan to play that day, that I had plenty of other stuff to do ... which I did, but they didn't get done. I decided to just play the cheaper $1 entry games and performed well winning one 90 man, a second in a 45 and plenty of other cashes.

Monday on the other hand was just awful. Stepping back up to concentrate on the $2 180's and the $3 45's, I proceeded to not cash in 21 straight tournaments. Not good for the confidence or the bankroll.

Not much exciting after that until last night when in the early part of the session I was on the final table of two 180 mans. I was really pleased with that because I had bubbled the final table of these a number of times over the last few days. Considering the comparitive increase in pay-outs for the final table to finish just off it had been very annoying. So at the hourly break I was 4-handed on one table and 7-handed on the other, with a fair shot of winning my first one of these. 4-handed the chip leader was being super aggressive and pushing the table around. I got involved with one of the other stacks with pocket 7's in the big blind and I played it badly. I should've re-raised all-in vs his button raise but chose to flat call and bet strong on the flop. The board was all diamonds, two lower than my 7's but I didn't have one. I bet, got re-raised all-in and I now regret that I folded. He could've had the flush draw or one of the two lower cards, but ... we'll never know. Shortly after the chip leader raises strongly on the button and I have pocket kings in the small blind, great! I instantly re-raise all-in over the top and he makes the call with ... 5 9 suited. 9 on the flop ... no problem ... 9 on the river and I'm gone in 4th.

Nothing as eventful on the other table. I had fought back from a short-stack inside the final 18 and had ace ten suited in the small blind first hand. There was a raise and a shortish all-in and normally I'd fold to move up a place but it seemed stupid considering my stack and rivered a ten to take down the mainpot. I made one soft mistake short-handed when I didn't re-raise all-in with a suited ace in the small blind vs a short-stack push. The chip monster who was the big blind re-raised and I ended up folding. He turned over king queen off and didn't improve so I would've chipped up there. I blinded out not long after, again in 4th. The good money comes in the top 3 so it was disappointing to fall just outside both times.

After that tho, things didn't go well and I blanked the next 15 tournaments. I actually think I'm tilting a bit ... which is something I have never done live. I'm running ace king in to aces a little too often and I think I'm rushing decisions a bit. I've played a few of the smaller sit'n go's to mix it up a little and have done ok in these. They don't show up on OPR so its a little harder to keep track of them.

I had two quick $1 45 mans before I went to the gym tonight. Midfield in the first and looked like bubbling the second one. I got on the final table with an average stack and in the opening minutes a few of the shorter stacks got chipped up. We lost one player and the table really tightened up except for the chip monster who was taking advantage of this. I was out of position, wasn't getting cards so there wasn't too much I could do. The bubble seemed to go for ages and I was perilously close to getting knocked out. Luckily the big stack sucked out on someone and the bubble burst just before I was blinded out. I chipped up a little when my ace high blind vs blind held and then I think I chipped up with pocket kings. I fought my way right back and was just behind the chip leader when we were down to 3 players. I get pocket 2's on the button and raise 1/2 my stack ... I thought this showed how strong I was because there was no way I was folding. Looking back, I should've pushed it all-in. Anyway, small blind short-stack folds, the big blind who is the chip leader but not by much anymore takes his time and then re-raises all-in. I of course call because I'm committed to the pot, the big blind turns over 3 8 off. Are you kidding me?? The flop and turn are safe and then he rivers a 3 ... UGGGGGGGGGGHHHH. Horribly I finish in 3rd and he goes on to win. 3 8 off ... donk.

So the bankroll is now at US$480. I've seemingly plateaued again and have been up and down between $460 and my high of $630. I feel like I'm playing well, I'm taking stands a little wider and picking off a number of steals which really help mid and late tournament. As mentioned, I think when I run bad I'm rushing, playing on tilt and probably playing too many tournaments at a time.

I'm catching up with a friend for coffee tomorrow and going to a birthday/pub-crawl tomorrow afternoon so that should be good. I'll probably again on Sunday, hopefully won't be too hungover and can get back to growing my roll.

Donkey poker

I'll give a proper update later but I saw this clip on FaceBook and had to share it.



It rang true to me after playing last night. One of the $3 45 man games I was playing, there was a guy who usually plays higher stakes (I OPR'd him) and from the very first hand he pushed all-in every single hand. He didn't show the first hand but got two callers the second hand and his jack two suited won the pot and tripled him up. He misclicked on the next hand and accidentally folded but after that he would re-raise all-in every single hand mostly with rubbish. I think he only lost one hand in the early going and then he did it again from the button on my big blind. I have pocket jacks so of course I call, he shows ace ten off, no surprise, flop fine ... ace on the turn ... groan and I'm out in the first 5 minutes. FML

Two good sessions in a row

Has the comeback begun? After running poorly for the last week or so its nice to have two solid sessions in a row. When I last saw you I finished the night cashing in 4 of my last 6 tournaments and yesterday was another day of cashing plenty.

I went to the gym in the morning, did a good cardio session, grabbed a late breakfast and watched the start of season 5 of Entourage. Before actually playing I railed Assassinato who was going deep in a number of the games he was playing. He final tabled a big MTT and bubbled another and while I'm sure he's disappointed he couldn't finish one off, he was obviously playing well and doing well to get so far numerous times.

Watching that I decided to late register for an MTT myself. I don't get to play them too often due to the times they run and me not wanting to get to bed at 3am so Saturday was a chance to get in to one. It was a $2 buy-in with just under 5000 starters, I played pretty well and finished just outside the top 100. There were 2 limpers and I had pocket 8's in the big blind so I pushed all-in, got one fold from early position but after some thinking time the small blind called with 9 10 off, flopped two pair and turned the boat. I was short-stacked so I wasn't sure they could fold but it was disappointing all the same.

I also played a few more of the $2 qualifiers to the Sunday 1/4 Million. I mentioned these games a few weeks back and the beauty of them is that 1/5 of the field wins a ticket and you can unregister for the tournament and instead take 5 times your initial buy-in. The standard of play isn't good but if you're patient they're not hard to beat. I won the first one I played in, fell just short in the second when I ran in to the loose chip leader who had a big hand and then got donked out of the 3rd one when my pocket kings got beaten by king 3 suited when I rose solidly pre-flop, c-bet solidly and he called with bottom pair on the flop and another 3 came on the turn ... sick.

I didn't do any good in the 180's but cashed all 3 of the $3 45 man games I played. Unfortunately I didn't get any deeper than 5th, when someone limped with 9's, I pushed with ace king suited and couldn't hit post-flop. So all up, I played 12 tournaments yesterday, cashing in 6. I played for a few hours but didn't play any more than 3 tables at a time to make sure I was concentrating and not missing too many spots.

Not sure if I'll play today. Sunday is usually not a profitable day for me and I have a lot of stuff to get done. I need to get to the gym again, clean up the unit, the office and get a bit of work done.

Movie ratings

Trying to bring a bit more balance back in to my life, I picked up some DVD's on (cheap) Tuesday night.

First on the list was The International with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. I wanted to see this at the movies but never got around to it. It was a good action/espionage type movie but nothing fantastic, 3 stars.

Second was another Clive Owen movie (unintentionally), Duplicity ... also starring Julia Roberts. This was a big let down and while there were some good lines and good moments, it was generally uninteresting and tried too hard. 1.5 - 2 stars.

Best movie of late was definitely Inglorious Basterds which I saw a week or two back, 4.5 stars. Tarantino's best since at least Kill Bill.

Tonight I'm going to see Funny People with Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Eric Bana. The girl I'm going to see it with is getting in to stand-up comedy ... otherwise I wouldn't bother seeing it as my expectations (for the movie) are not high.

PokerStars update

After getting "back on track" last week, it didn't last long as the very next day I ran baaaad. I played 19 tournaments and min-cashed just one ... the second last ... which means I went 17 in a row without cashing to start the night.

The next night, not much better. Again 19 tournaments, started well with a 5th and a 3rd in the early going but then I blanked the last 10 games to finish the night.

The next night, a shorter session but similar results. 12 tournaments, two cashes a 4th in a 45 and a min-cash in a 180 man.

Thankfully the rot finally ended last night. I started with a couple of $1 games to ease in to it, first tournament I finish in 3rd. Then after a string of near misses, I end the night on a roll cashing 4 of the last 6. Two min-cashes in 180's and a 5th and a 2nd in the 45's.

The second was frustrating as I've only won one tournament so far this month. I'm yet to do my goals for September but trust me, I need to be winning more! The guy I was playing against was a fairly solid player, in fact (thanks to OPR) he usually plays at much higher levels so I'm not sure what he was doing in a $3 game. I was facing a 1:3 chip deficit when heads-up started and the plays were already high and large portion of my stack. I pushed with ace 6 off but went in behind as he had a better ace. Luckily I hit a 6 and took down the pot which got me right back in the game. After a bit of back and forth, I ended up pushing all-in with pocket 4's and was surprised when he called, turning over pocket 3's. I loved it when I saw it until the magic 3 came on the turn and I was gone. If I take down that hand where I'm a 4 to 1 favourite pre-flop he would be decimated and I would likely get the win. Oh well, next time maybe?

I'm managing to cash a little more often in the 180's of late, probably due to a more aggressive mid to late game strategy. Last night I just missed the final table twice which was rather frustrating. The second of the two I was last in chips with about 35 players left. My stack was on life support and I ended up pushing in with pocket 3's and won a race against 9 10 off. I did the same soon after with 5's from early position, got a few callers but someone pushed all-in on a complete bluff on the flop and a 5 came on the turn to give me the pot. I then doubled up again with pocket 4's and got called by ace 2 suited and won that race. From there I cruised in to the money, took down a pot or two but needed to double up to make the final table but got knocked out when a steal got called by ace king off and he turned a full house.

Not playing tonight because I'm catching up on some blogging and have a DVD to watch, Duplicity. I'm also up early in the morning to give a friend a lift to the airport. Will probably be back on PokerStars on Saturday and I'd like to get my roll over $600 again.

Jack three baby!

I mentioned it in one of the first posts in this blog but my "lucky hand" is jack three suited. This week, I fell in love with the hand again.

First there was this, first hand of a 45 man tournament. When the initial raise came from early position I actually clicked the automatic fold button. As I was sitting there waiting for everyone to fold when I thought, this is my lucky hand, that raise doesn't look that strong ... let's see what happens.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 3.25 Tournament, 10/20 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t1500)
Hero (SB) (t1500)
BB (t1500)
UTG (t1500)
UTG+1 (t1500)
MP1 (t1500)
MP2 (t1500)
MP3 (t1500)
CO (t1500)

Hero's M: 50.00

Preflop: Hero is SB with 3, J
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t60, 5 folds, Hero calls t50, BB calls t40

Flop: (t180) 3, 5, 3 (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG+1 bets t140, Hero calls t140, 1 fold

Turn: (t460) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets t420, Hero calls t420

River: (t1300) J (2 players)
Hero bets t380, UTG+1 raises to t880 (All-In), Hero calls t500 (All-In)

Total pot: t3060

Results:
Hero had 3, J (four of a kind, threes).
UTG+1 had 9, A (three of a kind, threes).
Outcome: Hero won t3060

Yes, you read that right ... villian lost his whole stack bluffing all three streets. You have to think when you're called on the flop and turn that you may be in a bit of trouble!

Second time around, I'm blinding out late in a 45 man tournament waiting for a hand. I get jack 3 suited under the gun and I'll be almost all-in next hand, its my lucky hand, its suited ... why not.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 3.25 Tournament, 300/600 Blinds 50 Ante (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t5985)
Hero (UTG) (t1445)
MP1 (t6005)
MP2 (t3285)
CO (t3505)
Button (t8945)
SB (t4170)

Hero's M: 1.16

Preflop: Hero is UTG with J, 3
Hero bets t1395 (All-In), 3 folds, Button calls t1395, 2 folds

Flop: (t4040) J, 2, 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t4040) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t4040) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t4040

Results:
Button had J, A (one pair, Jacks).
Hero had J, 3 (two pair, Jacks and threes).
Outcome: Hero won t4040

Even when dominated pre-flop, jack three will find a way to win for me! Instead of being blinded out in 14th, I pushed, won, went on to the final table and finished in 4th. Thank you jack 3!!