June started well, but headed south in the middle, I had a solid run in the last few days to get almost back to break-even.
PokerStars were running a large WSOP Main Event satellite so I attempted a number of times to qualify through their $1 rebuy satellites. The play was unbelievably bad and I couldn't get hands to hold so that's the reason my MTT numbers above are so poor.
I'm glad my bread and butter game the 45 shows a decent return as I played a lot more $6.50 45 mans and did ok in them.
So to analyse the numbers above, yes, technically it was a losing month but I don't believe I rebought in the satellites as many times as most people would've. The telling numbers tho are not enough 1st place finishes and not enough late finishes (top 10%) ... that's where the money and the profit comes from and I just wasn't there often enough.
I really haven't been playing much of late as I've been working on a few other things so wouldn't be concentrating like I should. I played last night and upon checking OPR that was the first time I had played online in 9 days! I had a slightly winning session last night and have done ok again this morning. I'm still in one MTT and will head to the gym once its over. Bankroll currently sits at $1316.
Having mentioned that Monday night is one of the worst times for me to play, it seems that Saturday morning is definitely the best. I essentially played a few MTT's and the normal $3.25 45 mans.
I have been doing well in MTT's lately but didn't have any luck today, only managing to mincash the last one I played in. The 45 mans were a different story tho ... cashing 6 of 8. Not only that, I won 2, had a second and 2 thirds.
The domination of 45's today has sent the bankroll back up to $1320, just $30 short of my all-time best. Being a long weekend with a public holiday on Monday, I'm guessing I'll be putting in some more time on PokerStars tomorrow. Monday I think I'm hanging with friends watching the World Cup, NBA and AFL.
I'm in a bit of a funk at the moment, nothing seems to be going my way which I mentioned in a previous post. Nothing happened with the dating situation, work hasn't been that busy lately and I haven't really been making any progress on PokerStars. I've been getting to the gym regularly which is the one positive but probably not eating as well/healthy as I would like or should be.
So for the last week, I've just been focussing on the $3.25 45 man games. I believe I'm playing well and making the right moves, they just don't seem to be paying off at the moment. My bankroll has been floating up and down around the $1000 mark.
I put in some longer sessions on Saturday and Sunday and things to be on the improve ... a little. Saturday was break-even'ish as I couldn't do any better than a 4th place finish. Sunday I played a few MTT's as well as the 45's and got deep in a couple, cashing 3 out of 4. My best finishes were a 39th out of 2132 and 53rd out of 2460 ... good to get deep but nothing spectacular as far as payouts go. I had my best chance in the first one, I got knocked out when I raised with 9's from early position and the big blind shoved over the top. It wasn't worth folding as I needed to double-up, he turned over ace queen and hit an ace on the flop and I didn't improve. If I win that hand I would have had a more playable stack and could make a run at the top 20 and the final table.
The 45's went a little better yesterday too, despite bubbling at least 4 times. I got one win, a third and a fourth. The win came against a competent player who stacked off with middle pair, mid kicker on a low board when I limped kings from the small blind. I was surprised he couldn't fold when I showed strength on the flop by re-raising and it essentially cost him the game.
The bankroll is currently at $1063 which is a little higher than it has been for the last 2 weeks. Hopefully I can get back over $1100 soon and keep heading upwards from there.
As work hasn't been that busy I've also been railing some of my favourite online players in PokerStars SCOOP. My boys Assassinato and Bond18 have been doing ok without breaking through for a major result but the comeback-kid Shaun Deeb took down a PLO event last night for $63K.
I told you in my last post that I could taste four figures and yesterday it happened! My PokerStars account is sitting at exactly $1000 which I think is a great achievement having started with only a $12 deposit just over a year ago (Feb 02, 2009).
I've been very disciplined (some would say "nittish") with my bankroll management and have built it up steadily. I started with the micro'est of cash games until I got up to $100 and then I switched to my more preferred tournaments and SNG's when I was properly rolled to play them.
I learnt a lot of lessons along the way and had to endure a downswing/losing streak of around 1100 games where my roll fell from over $600 to under $300 at one point. Since then tho I've been on a heater over the last couple of months to climb to four figures with the last two months being my best to date. Here's my graph showing the upswing ... pretty!
So yesterday, after grinding the 18's on Friday night to get the $40 bonus and basically breaking-even by the time I got it, I was back to my usual 45 man's. Since it was Saturday I also had the chance to play some large field MTT's. The day started slowly missing out in my first few 45's and also failing to cash in a $4 MTT. From there tho I caught fire cashing 8 of the last 12 tournaments I played.
I mincashed a $1 MTT but got deep in a $2 one finishing 38th out of 3650 players. I had some luck with about 60 players remaining when I called a shove with ace king off and it was also called by another player behind me. The original player turned over ace king which I expected but the player behind me turned over jacks. The flop wasn't good as it was a low board but it ended up putting quads on the board splitting with the two aces and I had survived. I doubled up once or twice and then got aces in early position. I raised a standard 3 times blinds and had the big blind shove all-in over the top and I of course insta-called. Big blind turned over pocket 8's and the double up would send me in to the top 15 or 20 chip-counts but unfortunately an 8 came on the turn and I was done. So frustrating to get that deep and then lose with aces when the decent money doesn't kick in until the last 15 or so and of course there was some good money up for grabs on the final table.
While playing that I cashed a few 45 mans finishing with a win in a $3.25 game. I came from behind in the heads-up battle to get the win which is always satisfying to do. At one point I was facing a 2.5:1 chip deficit but got a few cards, turned up the pressure and got it back close to even. The turning point was when I completed the small blind with queen rag and called a massive shove on a queen jack 4 flop. He turned over jack rag and my queen rag held up to take down a huge pot and the game was over shortly after that.
Last night I caught up with some friends who I haven't seen for a while to play a cash game. A couple of the guys are friends who played APL with me so I knew they would have improved a little since we used to play last year. A number of others were new to the game and I knew there would be very little folding and plenty of rubbish being played. Its a $50 buy-in game with the option of having a one re-buy if you get knocked out. Third got $50, second $150 and the winner took the rest which turned out to be $300.
I lost a big hand early when I rivered a straight but called a solid bet from someone who had rivered a flush. I didn't see many hands for a while until I got kings and raised solidly vs one limper and got called by another player and the original limper. The board came out low all hearts and I had the king of hearts. The original limper led out strongly and after a little while I called as did the player behind me who I knew had a strong hand. The turn was a blank and was checked around and the limper led out solidly on the river which was another blank. I wasn't sure what the limper had whether it was a flush or a set but I disappointingly folded my kings and the player behind me called with jacks. The limper turned over two pair ... 2 ... 8 ... suited (clubs) and took down the pot. Yes, he called a solid raise and a call with 2 8 suited ... that's the sort of game I was playing in, raises not respected and very little folding.
Thankfully I got a good chip-up when I raised with tens got two callers and the board came out ten high. I checked when first to act and the last player shoved all-in on a bluff and I of course called and took it down. That same player re-bought and went on to build a stack and I eventually went on to face him heads-up. He had a huge chip-lead but I got a good double-up early. From there I ran in to a few of his hands, took a couple of coolers, got no cards and was eventually knocked out. I got the $150 second-place prize so made $100 and had a good night of cards, beers and pizza with mates.
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!
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.
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.
I may have mentioned this before, Friday night is a great night for staying at home. Back to back games of NRL and two consecutive hours of poker on OneHD. That's some quality TV time if you ask me.
Another very quiet day at work yesterday and while I was productive for most of it, I finished the day with two quick sit'n go games. I loaded up a $3.40 18 man turbo and despite playing well ended up a very frustrated bubble-boy. I was fairly card dead on the final table and ended up pushing all-in as short-stack from the button with ace 7 off-suit. The big blind thought for a moment and then called turning over king 2 suited. First card out ace, GREAT ... but it was the ace of clubs, another club on the flop and then one more on the turn and I was done. Top 4 get paid, I finished 5th.
The next sit'n go didn't go anywhere near as well and I was sent packing fairly early on. I planned on going to the gym last night but it was way too cold so that idea got vetoed and I ended up playing more poker.
The night didn't get any better from home as I failed to cash in the next 5 games. I was playing a mix of $1 90 man turbos, $2 90 man non-turbos and $2 180 man turbos. I was hoping I could overcome my recent poor form in the $2 games but that wasn't the best start. Suck-outs all over the shop and I wasn't getting close to the money at all.
Thankfully my luck turned half-way through and I managed to scrape in to the money of a 180 man tournament finishing in 16th. $2 drought over!! And from there, the floodgates opened ... somewhat. I final tabled the next 180 man finishing a frustrating 7th and got in to the money again on the next 180 man finishing in 10th (bubbling the final table).
The night ended with a strong performance in a $2 90 man game. I chipped up early and maintained and built my stack throughout the tournament. I was never in trouble and stayed in the top 10 stacks down to the final two tables. I took a beat inside the top 16 but quickly got back in to the top stacks heading to final table.
I played a really good final table and felt in control. I made one mistake when I raised with ace jack in early position, got called by the big blind and when first to act he shoved all-in on a low board. I felt it was a move but still folded ... he showed ace ten off ... groan. I recovered from this miss-step and sat in the top 3 stacks as players were getting knocked out. In the big blind I had ace king suited when the short-stack shoves from early position. I played on this guy's table for the last hour so I knew I would be in good shape. He turned over ace 5 off but the first card out was a 5 and while I hit an ace it of course did me no good. That hurt and I found myself in trouble for the first time but I managed to take down a few pots and fought back up to a reasonable level. The player to my right who had just taken a bad beat shoved from the button and I called all-in from the small blind with ace queen suited. He had me covered but I knew I was ahead and wanted to take a shot at the win and couldn't wait for a better situation than this (as the blinds were already high). He turned over king ten off which was what I expected ... unfortunately the first card out was a king and my hand didn't improve. Gone in 4th spot which was disappointing as I knew I was the best player at the table, things just didn't go my way.
So after a horrible start to the night with the $3.40 sit'n go's and then failing to cash in my first 5 MTT's, i finished the night cashing in 4 of my final 5 tournaments, final-tabling 2 of them. I didn't managed to get a win or a top 3 finish but the bankroll still improved to US$380. The best news tho was that my $2 drought was over!
I've mentioned it before but I tend to find the weekend games particularly ugly on PokerStars and my bankroll grows midweek and falls on the weekend. So with this in mind I'm likely not going to play this weekend ... plus I have work to do. We'll see how I go tho ...
As mentioned in my last update, I've spent the last few weeks playing MTT's rather than cash/ring games on PokerStars.
Some time back I stumbled across the website, Official Poker Rankings which tracks your online tournament results in games with over 11 players (for PokerStars, they track other games for other websites).
Checking my numbers from last month you can see things were going well:
In The Money 26% (29/113) Finish late 15% ROI 152% Profit $211
I had 2 first place finishes, 6 seconds and 10 fourth to tenth places.
My In The Money was down from 56% the month before but my ROI was up from -7%.
According to the site, my tournament stats now rank me just outside the top 5% of all online tournament players. My aim is to get in to that top 5% and from there the top 2.5%.
I'm off to a slow start in May with a 3rd (in a 90 man tournament) being my top finish so far. I need to get a few more wins on the board in the near future and hopefully I can have another solid ROI month.
Yesterday was the Regional APL poker tournament. I haven't had a good result in one for a while so I was determined to do well. I've seen "card dead" before but yesterday was ridiculous! My table was loose and had a number of weak players playing rubbish hands, I just needed something semi-decent to take advantage of this.
Anything playable that I had wasn't connecting with the board and it took me an unbelievable EIGHT levels or roughly two hours before I won my first hand. With the blinds at 1000/2000 and my stack down to just 1600, the blinds would hit me soon so I took my chances with king 8 suited. Hit two pair on the flop and quadrupled up. I then got ace ten off and with a break in 3 minutes I decided to starting moving and pushed all-in. I got called by the big blinds pocket 7's and hit a ten and an ace high flush to double up again. Last hand before the break, pocket tens in the big blind. I thought about it for a while and decided to push it all-in again. Big blind considered it but then folded. I go to the break with 17,000 in chips but the blinds are about to go to 2000/4000.
I got moved to another table that I knew a few people at and didn't get any hands or hit any flops. Having just gone through the blinds and on the button with 6000 left, I (stupidly looking back) decided to call/all-in with pocket 2's. Big blind hit a ten, took down the pot and I was gone in about 20th place, final 3 tables. Looking back, I should've waited for something a little stronger, after all I was through the blinds and would've had 4 or 5 more hands to choose from. Oh well, lesson learnt.
Now to my online poker play at PokerStars. After my last update about playing MTT's, I have been playing a lot of tournaments and almost no cash games. I really do enjoy the tournament format more so than cash/ring games. I've been continuing to play the 90 man games at mostly the $1 buy-in but with a few $2 non-turbo's thrown in as well. After 4 agonising 2nd place finishes I finally broke through last night and won one! I went to the final table in a strong position, got some hands at the right time and watched as players knocked each other out and took a few out myself. We got to heads up (where I have not been doing well) and I had a commanding chip lead. My winning hand was king 3 off and in an unraised pot I had two pair on the turn but there was possibly a flush out there. My opponent tried to represent the flush but with my chip lead I was willing to take my chances and pushed him all-in. It turns out he had bottom pair no kicker so I won in a very short heads-up contest (possibly just 5 hands). It was only a $1 buy-in so the prize was $25 ... still, a nice return and good to get a 1st again.
Last night I also played in the large $1.10 entry tournament. There were 2700 starters and I finished 81st. With about 100 players left I found myself in 50th position and doing quite nicely. I called a raise and a call from the bb with ace king suited. The flop came down 7, ace, king with maybe 2 clubs out there. Small blind checked, I bet and the initial raiser called. Next card out 7 so I bet solidly again and called. By now I'm really hoping its a split pot to the same hand or that he's calling with ace queen. As the pot was so large already and with my stack covering the caller/initial raiser, I decided to put him to the test on the river when the ten of clubs came. He called and turned over pocket aces! I couldn't believe my bad luck, not only hitting the last ace in the deck but I also hit a king to give me two pair on the flop yet I was infact drawing dead. If you didn't know, I'm not Phil Hellmuth, I can't dodge bullets (baby). See video footage below if you don't know what I'm referring to.
I was left with less than 20K in chips and the blinds moving up quickly. Under the gun, with only 3 times the bb left, I decided to push in with ace 4 off. I only got one caller, pocket 2's. I liked my chances in that race, ace comes on the flop ... and you guessed it, 2 on the river. OUCH
Bankroll update ... I'm up to $136 and almost 700 in FPP's. I'm wondering whether I should use my points for a PokerStars t-shirt or use it for buy-ins to tournaments. I'm guessing I'll go with the latter but I would like to grab one of those t-shirts.
Over the last week or two I've started playing some of the Multi Table (sit'n go) Tournaments on PokerStars. Since I made my cash deposit a few months ago I have predominantly been playing cash/ring games with a few of the large tournaments thrown in to try for a big score.
Having played APL for the last 2 years (almost), I enjoy the structure of tournaments and enjoy the thrill of taking on so many players ... as opposed to the grind of ring games. I came across the 90 man games on PokerStars and even tho the $1 level is a turbo, I thought I'd give it a go as the payoff is more worthwhile time-wise than the 45 man games. Whether it was beginner's luck or not, I finished my first tournament in second place pocketing $17. Since then I've had another 2nd place and a 7th.
I've also played in a few of the $2 90 man games that is not a turbo format, but hadn't done very well until last night. I was virtually out of the tournament half-way through but fought my way back to be chip leader when we were down to 2 tables left. Things seemed to be working for me and I comfortably made it down to the final 3 and had a good chip lead. I made a couple of mistakes that cost me dearly but still finished 2nd (I'm good at 2nd, not so good at first) and took home $33.
The costly "mistakes" were:
1. With about 7 players left on the final table, under the gun (who was short-stack) pushed all-in and another re-raised over the top for about half my stack when I was a blind. I had pocket queens, ummed and ahhed for a minute and decided to stay out the way. Under the gun turned over rubbish, the re-raiser turned over pocket 8's and the rubbish won. I could've taken them both out and chipped right up.
2. Three handed, I had ace 8, ace came on the flop so I bet, got one caller. Ace on the turn, I bet and get called, 8 on the river for my full-house, I bet and get re-raised. I think for a second and instead of pushing all-in which would knock out the smaller stack, I just call. He turns over 2nd pair for two pair. That player who likely would've called my re-raise and lost went on to win the tournament.
3. Heads up against the above player he raised strongly from the small blind. I have ace ten and just call. 3 diamonds come on the flop and I have the ten of diamonds. Being first to act I bet steadily on the first 2 streets and re-raises on the river. I have hit nothing including the flush draw so I have to fold. He turns over middle pair with suited 7, 8. I realise now that I should've either pushed all-in pre-flop and he likely would've given it up or I should've not got involved in the hand at all. Just calling was the weakest/worst play.
Still, lessons learned and happy with the $33 cash.
One final note, I was checking out the PokerStars blog to see how the EPT San Remo was coming along. If you don't already envy the life of the top poker stars, check out Maya the wife of Patrik Antonius ...
