PokerStars Turbo Takedown wrap-up

Thanks to the time difference, I got up just after 4am this morning ready for the 4:30 start of the PokerStars Turbo Takedown. Not surprisingly, I didn't sleep that well leading up to the event, part nervous energy, part body not used to going to bed at 9pm.

There was a couple of active players on my table early and I wasn't getting cards so I just took notes and paid attention to what was going on. When I did get cards there wasn't too much action, other than me re-raising with pocket queens and then re-raising a bet on the flop on a low board. I took down a raised pot with a bet on the flop just before the first break that gave me a stack of 3500 (started with 3000).

Checking out Official Poker Rankings site, I noted there were a number of good, successful players on my table. There was a lot of pre-flop raises with good but not great hands and I guess this is what you have to do with the turbo format of the tournament.

One third of the 30,000 starters were gone by the first break and I was hoping to make it in to the top 10,000 where the money started. Unfortunately I went card dead after the break and with the turbo format the blinds were quickly rising and my stack was dwindling. I was just looking for a hand or a spot to take a stand and was dealt ace ten of diamonds in the big blind. It folded round to the button and with the small blind sitting out he decided to make a move. It looked like a steal so I called. He turned over 4 5 off-suit, good call me. First two cards out were a 4 and a 5, groan ... but there were two diamonds. Next card out was a diamond ... but unfortunately it was a 4 to give me the ace high flush but him a full-house. So I departed in roughly 11,000th spot, just outside the money.

I got my money in good, what more can I do? A disappointingly short tournament for me, over in about 90 mins. Quick nap on the couch and then it was time for work.

PokerStars Turbo Takedown

I mentioned it in my last post but it looks like my luck may be turning.

So far, I haven't enjoyed playing in the PokerStars FPP games, mainly because the play I've seen so far tends to be awful. Also, I don't earn FPP's that quickly so it seems like a waste to blow them in rubbish tournaments.

Tonight tho I took a punt and played one of the small satellites to the $1 million PokerStars Turbo Takedown tournament. As this is the 1 year anniversary of the tournament, PokerStars have included a brand new Porsche to the winner (as well as the $40K first prize money).

I was playing in the 25 + R FPP 2 x turbo game, up against 126 other players. I didn't have much luck early once running in a full house when I had a set and the same player called my all-in re-raise with pocket 4's and I couldn't unrun him. I think I rebought 2 or 3 times before the break and then took the add-on to give myself a chance. After the break we found out that with the FPP's in the pool, the top 6 would be going through to the main event.

When the blinds had flown up to 3000, I was big blind with 150 left, someone raised pre-flop and I had 3 5 suited. I couldn't fold and managed to catch a 3 to survive against the raisers ace queen. The tournament was pretty much a blur from 30 players down but I finally started picking up some hands and even better they held up.

Players were getting knocked out rapidly as the blinds continued to rise quickly and final table formed. I mostly stayed out of trouble and was relieved to see the big stack knock out a few players and then suck-out heads-up against the unlucky 7th placed finisher.

So, I'm in to the Turbo Takedown with 30,000 other players. 10,000 get paid ($35) so fingers crossed I can get in the money in this massive field and who knows, maybe I can turn my 100FPP investment in to something much, much more.

Down-swing ending?

You know you're running bad/luck is not on your side when this (below) happens all in one night and you play just eight games. Here is how I got knocked out of three of them:

1. Chipped up, later in the tournament, a very loose/bad player shoves massively all-in from early position. I noted that he had made similar moves with queen ten off and jack ten suited within the last 5 minutes alone. I have ace king suited and make the call for my tournament life. Against most players I wouldn't take this race but this spot I think there's a fair chance I'm ahead or just behind (small pockets) and its a great spot to double up and become chip leader. He turns over pocket 4's no surprise and I'm happy enough to take that race. First card out 2, then 3 and then my king on the turn, yes!! Next card out 5 ... uh oh, open-ended straight draw for him and a cruel ace on the river to give me two pair but him the straight and I'm out.
   
2. Final table (no one out yet), I have a few chips and am in a good spot but with blinds rising I could use a double-up. You beauty, get dealt aces! The big stack is under the gun and just doubles the blinds so I shove all-in which is probably double what's he's got in the pot so I know he is unlikely to fold. He calls with ace king off and I'm well ahead. First card out is red and then FOUR running spades for him to make a flush (I don't have one) ... gone.
   
3. Another final table (just one person gone), I again I have chips but could use a double-up. A player raises from early position but doesn't look too strong, I have pocket kings ... all-in over the top. He eventually calls with pocket 4's so I'm looking good until first card out is of course a 4. My hand doesn't improve and I'm out ... ouch.

Thankfully the last couple of days have improved a little. I've only been playing the $1 90 man turbo games, just to build my bankroll up again so I can take more shots at the $2 90 and 180's.

Wednesday I made 2 final tables out of 8 games, no deep finishes unfortunately. Then yesterday I made 2 final tables out of 3, one 3rd place and one 5th which isn't too bad. Hopefully I can have a strong showing this weekend to finish off May.

APL return

I played my first APL game in ages last night. One of my friends has just got back from overseas and a few other people have been asking me to come along so I ended up going to Broadway last night. It was good to catch up with a few friends that I haven't seen for a few weeks. It was good to play live poker for the first time in a while and actually touch the cards and the chips.

I picked Ellen up on the way and we got to the game just as it was starting. It was a full house so instead of setting up another table, we ended up being reserves number 7 and 8. This would cause much joy later for players that got knocked out early and had to wait an hour or more to get back in the game.

I got in during the 2nd blinds and shortly after I sat down got pocket queens in the small blind. One of the looser players who was short-stacked raised the blinds in early position and was quickly called by someone else and then me. The flop came out 6, 7, 7 with 2 clubs and the original raiser put in the rest of his stack (just another 300 or so) and was again called by the other player. I decided to push all-in over the top of the caller and hope the initial raiser had ace king or a lower pocket pair. The caller thought I had pocket 9's and decided to fold and the initial raiser turned over kings. He could've played the hand exactly the same way with a lot less. I thought afterwards, I probably should've played my queens a little slower post-flop to get some more in the sidepot as insurance in case the initial raiser was actually strong.

I didn't see many cards after that until after the break. I limped in with ace queen from eary position, someone raised with 9's in middle position, got a few callers and won the hand on a low river and flop. Shortly after another loose/aggressive player (yes, there are plenty of them in APL) raised in early position, I didn't have much more left so I pushed in over the top with pocket kings. I knew I was ahead, knew he couldn't fold, so just had to hope they would hold up. The big blind ummed ahhed and eventually also called. Turns out she had 9, 10 suited, initial raiser had queens, my kings hold up and I get the main pot while the queens take the subsequent sidepot. Nice triple up for me and I'm right back in the game.

For much of the next 30 mins or so our table plays short-handed as the turbo-table gets drawn and we're down to the final few tables. Blinds rising quickly and 5 handed I stupidly don't shove with ace 8 under the gun and a tight big blind player. Later, I'm in the small blind with king jack suited and everyone else is folded, the big blind has a large stack so whether I shove or not he will call with any two cards. We joke about this on the table so I just call and he puts me all-in anyway. I of course call and he turns over ace 6 off and I flop a full-house, I double up but still not that far in front of the blinds.

Next orbit, I'm in the small blind and push all-in with ace 9 off for an extra 4000 and a new big blind who is also chipped up umm's and ahh's for a minute or two and then calls with 7, 8 off. Low board, he turns the straight and I'm out in 12th spot, which isn't too bad considering there would've been 50+ players. Other than the king jack suited full-house flop, not much luck and not many cards.

Running baaad

Actually, that title should be "Running Baaad", with a capital B. Yes, it was that bad.

Yesterday I started playing around 10am, had a break to get some grocery shopping and have dinner and then played again last night. To say it was a bad day would be an understatement. I had no luck, could get nothing going and couldn't get any cards to hold up. No matter how far ahead I was when the money went in, the villain would catch whatever miracle cards they needed to outrun me and send me packing.

I've just checked the numbers and I played 39 tournaments yesterday. Two big field tournaments, the rest $1 90 man turbo's, $2 180 man turbo's and a few $2 90 man non-turbo's. Out of those 39 games:

• I made ONE final table at the end of the night but just came 7th (and it was only a $1 game)
• I cashed just FIVE times (out of 39, my normal % would see me cash at least twice that often)

It wasn't even that I was bubbling or getting close, I was getting killed off early (for me) in most of them. I'm not sure whether you put a day like this down to variance or the fact that it would have been Saturday night overseas and therefore people are mucking around or drunk or don't care.

Should I just play weeknights from now on, where I seem to do so much better? Was I playing too many games? Whatever the answer, I'd prefer not to have another day like yesterday.

The only respectable effort was a deep'ish finish in the big field tournament at the end of the night. Out of 2682 players I finished 155th, not a great financial return but a solid effort. How did I get knocked out? Button (big stack) raises with 8 10 hearts, I (short stack) call with king jack off in the big blind as does someone else. Flop comes king, jack, rag with two hearts on the board. I'm first to act and shove all-in trying to kill any further play. The other player eventually calls and the big blind calls. The turn is of course another heart, I don't improve and am out.

Bankroll is back down to about US$345 I think.

Top 4% of tournament players on PokerStars

With my 2nd place finish on Friday night, according to the Official Poker Rankings, I've now climbed in to the top 4% of tournament players on PokerStars for 2009.

CapitalDodge plays online poker at PokerStars

120 days Rating: 96.42% Rank: 29,709 of 829,835 Year 2009 Rating: 96.32% Rank: 33,392 of 906,556 Year 2008 Rating: 74.87% Rank: 266,919 of 1,062,266 Year 2007 Not Rated Rank: n/a of 615,667 OPR Rankings Prize Rankings Profit Rankings Field Size Rankings All Tracked HU (2 player) STT (3-10) MTT (11+)

Friday night poker

I'm really liking quiet Friday nights with no plans. Firstly, you have the NRL double-header on TV and now that I have OneHD there is 2 hours of poker on as well! Last night was the High Stakes Poker episode where they're basically playing a sit'n go where Daniel Negreanu is busted early when he runs bottom set in to top set. Unlucky

I haven't really played too much poker this week. After a big weekend on PokerStars last weekend, I made sure I didn't play on Monday, instead just watched TV and read a book. Wednesday I had a pretty solid night, playing 13 games and getting in the money in 6 of them. Unfortunately I didn't get really deep in any, the best being an 8th in a $2 180 man turbo tournament. I mentioned last month that I noticed I wasn't doing well in these but I'm giving them another shot and am doing much better.

So last night, I was playing a couple of $1 90 man turbo's but I concentrated mostly on the $2 90 man non-turbo's and the $2 180 man turbo's. Things started off slowly for me getting nothing out of my first 6 games. Nothing was going right for me and I was a tad frustrated at running in to bigstacks who were playing junk but kept sucking out on me (mostly when they were dominated pre-flop). I then managed to final table one of the 180 games but finished 9th. That started a string of in the money's without getting deep.

It was getting pretty late so I decided to finish with two 180 games and then I'd call it a night. I made the money in both and hoped I could make both final tables but finished 11th in one when the big-stack limped in from middle position, I shoved all-in with ace king but I didn't have enough to make him fold. He turned over king 8, I have ace king, first card out 8 (and my hand doesn't improve) ... frustrating.

On the other game I started to get a few things going my way, hitting 2 sets prior to the final table to chip me back up from short-stack. With the blinds already high on the final table I pushed all-in with pocket 8's and got called by ace queen in the big blind. First card out ace (groan) but the rest of the flop and turn formed to give me outs on the river of any 7 for a straight or an 8 for the set. 8 on the river, bang, another set!! This win put me in to 3rd place and I essentially cruised through in to the final 3 from there. Three-handed went for a while and stack sizes continued to fluctuate. Eventually the short-stack got knocked out and I was heads up but facing more than a 2 to 1 chip deficit. I knew I was in trouble but the chip leader was fairly loose aggressive so I figured one good win and I'd be right back in it. I can't remember the hand itself but before I know it I hit the chip lead. Things were going well until he took down a couple of raised pots post-flop when I had nothing. The final hand he doubled the blinds and I re-raised all-in with king queen off. He called with jack 9 off and rivered the 9 ... ouch. Heads-up I kept getting it in with the better hand the cards just didn't hold up, so I'm happy with the way I played and the $72 second prize is niiiiice.

Bankroll now US$404.

Tony "Bond 18" Dunst

Wow, its Saturday and I just realised I haven't posted since last Sunday night! Time to catch up then.

I'm not sure quite how I got there, but I stumbled across online poker phenom Tony "Bond 18" Dunst's blog. If you want to read all about life as a mid 20's pro poker player goes, he'll give you complete backstage access. Poker, sex, drugs and fine tailored suits ... its got it all.

I can't do any of his stories justice so I'd recommend you check it out for yourself here. Funny stuff!!

Weekend results

I played a LOT of games this weekend. Didn't have any plans so other than a basketball game on Saturday night, some grocery shopping and a few other things ... I spent the rest of my time on PokerStars. Its now 11:30 on Sunday night and I'm not sure if its the time of night that has me tired or the drain of playing so much poker.

It was a rough weekend on the tables for me too. I had so many big hands cracked by absolutely rubbish cards. I won't go in to too much detail, but trust me, it wasn't pretty.

I was mostly playing the $1 90 man games, playing a lot of them, but I also played a few of the $2 90 man non-turbo games and also tried my luck at the $4 180 man non-turbos. The only highlight from playing most of Saturday was 2nd place finish, another final table and a couple of other cashes.

Tonight went a bit better as I made final table in the $2 game as well as the $4 game ... at the same time. I lost a key hand just prior to the final table of the $2 game so instead of being in the top 4 or 5 stacks I was down about 8th. Essentially there was an all-in and two big stacks. Instead of just checking it down, I got milked by the other player with minimum bets on all 3 streets. The board came queen ten rag and I had ace king, by the turn I had the straight draw, the nut flush draw and if the ace hit I had the top kicker. Nothing came for me and it turns out he had pocket kings. Blinds were quite high on the final table and I ended up going out in 7th place.

The $4 game started well for me but by the time we were down to the top 30 I was near the bottom of the leaderboard. I tried to be patient and wait for a hand but it wasn't coming. We got near the bubble and I was just praying I could make the money. I eventually got pocket kings and I just had enough left to call the blind and thankfully they held up. Next hand I pushed it in again with ace queen off and the big blind was the only caller with ace 6 off. Again it held up and I was safely in to the money. I made final table and watched as a few people got knocked out early. With blinds rising, I pushed all-in with ace ten as an attempted steal and the big blind called also with ace ten so we split it. Next hand I'm under the gun with ace queen off and I'm still short-stack by a fair margin so I push it all-in again. I get called by pocket 8's and ace 2 off in the big blind. My hand doesn't improve and the 8's take the hand down. So I finish that tournament also in 7th for a prize of $25. I would have loved to have gone a little further as each place up from there is another $10 and there's some really good cash for the top 3.

I'm happy with the way I played. I've decided to be more aggressive on final tables in order to give myself a better chance of winning or getting in the top 3, rather than hanging on and waiting for other players to get knocked out. So shoving with ace ten and ace queen when I was short-stacked is fair enough. Besides, I usually get called by weaker hands so the opportunity to chip up is definitely there.

So at the end of what feels like a rough weekend, bankroll is at US$340.

Below is my graph from SharkScope. Not tough to see when I finished 5th in that big field tournament for $102. The first "hill" on the graph where it goes from 0 to 100 and then back to 0 is when I was playing late last year on the credit I won from PokerStars. From then on its the US$12 I deposited.

Night session

Going to bed now ... its 11:20pm, which is actually quite early for me when I'm playing poker. Chose not to play in the big field tournament as I really wanted to get some sleep and get to the gym in the morning. So I just played a number of $1 90 man games and one $2 90 man non-turbo game (because they go for over 3 hours).

All in all a good night. After my win this afternoon, I did very well in the $2 game, getting to the final table and then to heads up. Unfortunately I allowed the other guy to be extremely aggressive when there was 3 of us left so by heads-up he had a massive chip lead. I ended up pushing all-in post flop with middle pair but unfortunately he had me out-kicked and the game was over. Although I'm yet to come first in one of the $2 games, a $33 second prize isn't too bad.

Other than that tournament, I cashed a couple of other times with the next best being a 5th place. Bankroll now at US$350. Night

An afternoon session

We're very quiet at work at the moment so for the last couple of hours I've been playing sit'n go's on PokerStars.

Over the last few days I've been playing a few of the $1.75 turbo 18 man games. They're fairly quick and easy to play a few at a time. I've been up and down as far as my results go and I don't think I've actually won one yet. Top 4 get paid and I'm usually 3rd or 4th which is a little frustrating because the top 2 get paid much better.

This afternoon I was running baaaad. Nothing was going right, I couldn't win hands. I was going in ahead but coming out behind almost every time. I mentioned it to Adam at the time, I must've played 6 or 7 games without getting in the money which is unusual for me because I should usually cash at least twice in that number.

In the second 90 man game that I played I was struggling with about 35 players left and would've been close to last place. With a few well timed pushes and wins I managed to chip and I was in 8th with about 20 to go. I stayed in that spot for a while and when the final table formed I had a lot of work to do. We lost a few players quite quickly but I made it in to the top 3 and that battle was very even for about 10 minutes or so with one player tending to have a bit of a lead for most of it. The big stack took out the other player when his pocket 5's held up against a flush draw and he had a 5 to 1 chip lead going in to heads up. I didn't think I had much chance but a few of my ace high pushes were called by his king high's and I soon had the chip lead. I then flopped top pair king on a king, five, five board and I pushed all-in, he called with ace high and didn't improve and I had won!!

Shortly after that I finished 3rd in an 18 man turbo so I finished with two cashes before I left the office. Hopefully that form continues in to tonight.

Deep (ish) again

I didn't manage to go deep in the big field tournament on the weekend like I hoped but I did tonight. Just another $1 buy-in on PokerStars with 2241 player and I came 62nd.

I started the tournament well when I flopped a straight flush with queen jack of clubs (the flop was king, ten, 9 of clubs) and had two other players betting and pushing all-in on the turn. Ummm ... sure, I call!! They both hit a straight with the jack but I of course tripled up as they re-raised me all-in. So I was chipped up early and in the top 100 chip stacks for much of the tournament but went card dead for a while and had to fight my way in to the top 100.

I was knocked out when I flopped top pair low kicker and checked in first position. A big stack bet small, was called so I called. Another low card on the turn, I check, he bet small again, the caller folded so I shoved all-in. He called, showed 9's and hit a 9 on the river (ouch) to send me packing.

Bankroll still at US$300 as I've been breaking even for the last few days. Which isn't too bad (the breaking even) considering the flips I lost last night and how many of my aces and kings were cracked by rubbish cards (k 7 off, 4 9 suited, 6 10 suited, etc). Hopefully this deep finish will move me further up the online poker player rankings.

Top 5% of online tournament poker players

I mentioned in a previous post that one of my next aims was to make it into the top 5% of players in the online poker tournament rankings. I mentioned that I was also off to a slow start for the month of May but with some recent good days I am now ranked 95.42% and in the top 40,000 players for 2009 (out of 850,000).

I've had two first place finishes in the last few days in the $1 entry 90 man games as well as a final table (6th) in the $2 90 man games. I've noticed I don't tend to do well in the $2 180 man turbo games but I will start playing a few more of the $2 90 man non-turbo games.

My May ROI is now up to 35%, the only downside is that I have yet to cash in the big tournaments since my 5th placed finish (I've only played 5 tho). I'll sign up for the one starting in 1/2 an hour and hopefully break that streak tonight.

Bankroll now US$302.