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.