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!

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.

Online poker update

After waiting a week or so, I finally got my ADSL wireless turned on last week. Hopefully, that'll mean I'll be blogging a bit more often as its easier to do than when I was using the plug-in modem between my two laptops.

Since my update last week, I've played 4 poker sessions on PokerStars. After my back to back tournament wins I was hoping the momentum would continue. The next session was a short one but profitable with 4 cashes out of 14 games but the next day did not go so well. It started fine, me playing well, going deep ... I then grabbed some dinner and got back in to it. Other than an early cash, I could do nothing right and ended up failing to cash in my last 14 tournaments of the night. I was blown away by this stretch and looking back at the results, I wasn't really close to getting in the money. The best I could do was two 12th placed finishes in the 45 man games where you need to finish top 7 to get paid.

After a dinner party on Friday night, I was back playing again on Saturday. I had a big night on Friday and didn't sleep well so was pretty tired. That didn't hurt me tho as I played well and the results came. I played 17 tournaments and cashed 7 of them, no wins but I finished the afternoon with 2 second placed finishes in a row. One was a $3.25 45 man for $30 and the other was a $2 180 man for $72. The first one annoyed me because the stacks were fairly even going in to heads up. The villain had pushed all-in for the first few hands and I had nothing so folded. He limped in from the small blind and I raised strongly with pocket 7's. I expected him to fold but he took a while and eventually called. Flop came down 9, 8, 5 and by this stage there was so much money in the pot (as the blinds were high already) I pushed it all-in. He again went in to the tank and then called turning over 6 8 off. I was surprised to say the least that he limped and then called pre-flop with that. His 8 was good and a 7 on the river rubbed salt in the wound giving me a set and him a straight. The 180 man was different as the villain had a large chip lead going to heads up as he'd just knocked out the other big stack. He raised from the sb and I had pocket 4's. I knew he wasn't folding if I shoved so the plan was to call and then push on the flop and hoped he hadn't hit. The flop came down queen, 7, 3 so I push and he calls turning over ace 3 off. I'm in good shape until the ace comes on the river and I finish second.

With the two second placed finishes to end the night my bankroll broke through US$600 for the first time which was nice. I played yesterday evening as well, doing really well early until I got an emergency text from a friend saying she was in trouble and needed me to get her out of there. I was in the middle of 3 tournaments at the time so was a little torn, wondering how much trouble she was in and how desperately she needed saving. I was deep in one and finished 3rd, deep in another one before running queens in a to kings when I was flat-called from the button by a big stack. I was in the middle of a 180 man and doing well but realised I had to just walk away. After driving for 30 mins picking up my friend (in tears) and then driving home, I walked back in to find that I had finished 25th in the 180 just 7 places out of getting paid despite sitting out the final 1/3 of the tournament. I frustratingly bubbled a couple of $3.25 45 mans later in the night but thankfully got a 2nd to pretty much break even for the session.

PokerStars update ... the $500 mark

Well, I'm now in my new place at Morningside. The move from my last unit was hard work but the worst was yet to come on Monday morning when Telstra switched the office phone lines over early so the number wasn't diverted to my mobile. Not only that, the official company that moves and reconnects the phone system couldn't do the move until the week after. Thankfully I got another company to take care of it and it got done late on Tuesday evening. So after two days of no phone lines (not good for business) the new apartment is almost set up ready to go. I'm just waiting now on the ADSL to get turned on and then it'll be perfect.

Anyway, instead of unpacking and getting everything sorted, I have of course being playing poker online at PokerStars. Monday I just played 4 quick games, cashing in one and basically breaking even. Tuesday was again a fairly short session because I was waiting for the phone system guy to finish, had dinner and then started playing. Despite that tho, it was a pretty profitable one. I played just 8 tournaments, cashed 4 of them, came 3rd in a $3.25 for $21 and another 3rd in a $2.20 180 man tournament for a $43 score. This took my bankroll to about $480 which was a new high, up from the previous best of $460.

Last night was a much bigger session of 22 tournaments. I cashed in just 5 and didn't feel that I played particularly well. I'm not sure if it was a lack of concentration or what but I just wasn't on top of my game. After a slowish start to the night, I broke through in my 10th game for a 2nd place in a $3.25 45 man. I went in to heads-up facing a 2:1 deficit in chips and was a little passive not raising with ace rag and paid the price when my opponent flopped a monster and I had committed myself to the hand post-flop. After not cashing in a few tournaments after that I ended up winning a $3.25 and then finished the night with another cash. So it was nice to have some good scores despite not feeling like I was playing my best.

So after the session last night my bankroll cleared the $500 mark for the first time reaching $513. Having started at just $12, its a nice milestone to surpass. I'm hoping the $1000 mark will come within the next few months as I continue to play the slightly larger games.

In the last couple of days my ROI has improved to 31% and my win count so far this month is up to 4. According to the Official Poker Rankings, I've also climbed in to the top 3% of tournament players on PokerStars for 2009.

Here's my current SharkScope graph:

Rough night of online poker

The night before last I started to come down with cold/flu like symptoms so instead of going to a trivia night yesterday, I instead lay low and played online at PokerStars. I'm pretty sure I got the cold from a friend on Sunday so I wasn't keen to pass it on to anyone else.

Yesterday's session started off well enough. I came 5th in my second game and then 2nd two games later to break my streak of not reaching heads up. The heads-up battle was frustrating because I couldn't catch a break against someone I felt I should clearly beat. The final table had been a longer one so by the time we got to heads up the blinds were high already. I had a commanding chip lead (3:1) and we ended up getting it all-in first hand. Opponent limped in, I had ace rag in the big blind so I raised solidly and he re-raised all-in with jack 2 suited. The flop comes safe for me as did the turn and then BINK, jack on the river and our stacks are now even. It went back and forth from there until I had a 2:1 chip lead and I re-raised him all-in with ace 5 suited. He turned over ace queen off and held on to win. He ended up raising me all-in and the blinds were too big to fold and I called with queen 8 suited. He turned over 6 10 suited and rivered a straight with his 6. Frustrating ...

After those early cashes, it seemed to go down hill from there. I felt I was playing well and making the right moves mostly, but had some ugly, ugly beats.

1. Raised solidly with aces from early position, called by the player next to me and then re-raised by the player next to him. Everyone else folded, I raise all-in, the player next to me takes an age to decide and then calls, as did the re-raiser. The re-raiser turned over jacks, the guy next to me turned over 5's and I had aces. Great for me until a 5 on the river, decimating my stack.

2. Two tables left in a tournament and I have pocket kings in the big blind. Someone min raises under the gun and is called by a loose bad player right next to him. I re-raise all-in, under the gun thinks and then folds ... loose player eventually calls turning over jack ten off. Great for me ... flop is 2 2 jack, blank turn and then jack on the river. I'm out and Mr Jack-Ten off is chip leader.

3. Second level of a 90 man tournament I have aces on the button (I think). Five players limp in so I raise 5 times the blinds (probably should have gone more) and get called by all but one of them. Flop comes king, rag, rag so I lead out with a strong bet. I get re-raised by someone in earlyish position. I'm committed to the pot and I put him on king something so I re-raise all-in. He calls and turns over king jack off ... jack on the turn and I'm gone.

4. The worst of all tho was late in a tournament, two tables left I think. Someone from middle position raises solidly and is called by 2 others and I'm big blind with pocket jacks. I should've shoved but thought I'll call, see the flop and evaluate from there. Flop comes 7 5 3 (I think). Small blind bets min so I re-raise him. Other two players fold, he calls. Another 3 on the turn and he shoves all-in. I don't believe he has the 3 and am virtually sure my hand is still best so I call. He turns over pocket 2's, fist pump from me until a 2 comes on the river. I could not believe it ... I'm out and he's the chip leader. Off the top of my head, one of the worst beats I have been given. Yes, I should've shoved pre-flop or even on the flop and there's a chance he may have folded (although somehow I think he would have called at least on the flop).

There were other ugly occurences but that's enough of those stories for now. Yes, it was a rough, rough night and I'm a little scarred. I likely won't be playing on Friday and Saturday so I will tonight while I hopefully recover from this cold (and these recent beats).

Online poker update

Despite some very social weekends of late, I've still been managing to get a lot of online poker action in on PokerStars.

Last time I posted I was in the middle of a purple patch including a run of successive nights with at least one tournament win. The streak finished at five nights in a row I think ... with the final two nights including two wins. After every "heater" it seems there is a down-swing and I am down a little over the last week or so and haven't had a win or even a second-place since the streak which is almost two weeks ago now. I've played 7 sessions in that time and I think only one of them was profitable, a couple have been pretty much break even and there's been a couple of shockers.

I feel like I'm playing well and making the right plays, things just aren't going my way when I need them to. Sure, I realise I get lucky in other spots so I'm not complaining and I'm sure I'll get on another upswing soon.

Last night I played 19 games, cashing just 3, a 4th a 5th and a 6th all in the 45 man tournaments. The fourth was disappointing as I went to the final table sitting in second place and did absolutely nothing wrong, I was active and felt very much in control. I took a hit four-handed when a short stack pushed all-in and I called from the big blind with pocket 6's. He turned over pocket 10's and I lost about 40% of my stack and was now the short-stack. I fought back through the big stack when he tried to steal the blinds and I re-raised with ace ten in the small blind. He turned over jack 9 off and I hit a full-house to more than double up. Things were going well until I got ace king on the button, raised and was then re-raised all-in by the big blind (same guy that had 10's earlier). I had to call and was happy to do so, he turned over queens (fair enough), I catch a king on the flop (YEAH!) and then the turn comes a queen to send me to the rail.

I also had my first ever tournament where I got knocked out first hand. Someone doubled the blinds from under the gun, called by under the gun + 1 and then the next player pushed all-in over the top. I had pocket kings in the small blind and knew this was a good spot so I called and everyone else folded. The pusher turns over pocket 9's, I fist-pump until the first card out is a 9 and I know I'm in massive trouble.

Bankroll is just over US$420. I'm starting to come down with a cold so I'll likely be staying in the next few nights playing online. Hopefully I can get in the money a little more often and get to heads-up again. I'm keen to start playing the $3.25 45 man games and really start pushing upwards.

PokerStars wins the world record contest

In case you missed it (like I did), the heavyweights of the online poker world ended up going head to head in a world record attempt recently to host the largest ever poker tournament.

I was in Melbourne at the time celebrating my birthday with friends so didn't even know about it until after the fact. From what I have read at the Two Plus Two poker forum, PokerStars was the better run tournament but Full Tilt Poker had the biggest prize and was seen as the better opportunity for a big score with a much larger first prize.

Here's the story from PokerNews.com about the event:

PokerStars Retains Guinness World Record Online Mark | PokerNews.com

The planet’s two largest poker sites staged a remarkable battle this weekend, as PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker both attempted to settle the question “Who’s on first?” by laying claim to a new world record. The record in contention was for the largest-ever online poker tournament, and the previous record was set by PokerStars early this year in an event that featured an $11 buy-in and attracted 35,000 online runners. Last week, Full Tilt Poker announced its intention to break that record with a special massive tournament to wrap up its “FIVE” promotion in celebration of the site’s fifth birthday. Full Tilt’s event, dubbed The Record Breaker, was set for Sunday July 19th and featured a $5 buy-in, generous overlays, and a cap of 50,000 players.

Just days later, PokerStars decided to make an attempt to keep its own record intact, and scheduled its own mega-entry tourney to take place roughly an hour before the scheduled attempt at Full Tilt. The PokerStars tourney, called Guinness World Record, featured a significantly lower buy-in of $1. Initially, the PokerStars tournament had no limit on the number of players allowed to enter, but eventually a cap was set at 65,000.

When Full Tilt did not remove the 50,000-player cap from its world record tournament, this battle was effectively over before it even began. Both events sold out fairly quickly, so the previous world record was smashed to bits. But PokerStars, the holder of the old record, will retain the record with a new mark of 65,000 online runners — almost double the previous record.

But as is often the case with corporate rivalries, the real winner was the consumer. On Sunday, players were served up two separate chances to win a massive chunk of cash in exchange for a buy-in that was virtually nil —especially in light of the fact that Full Tilt’s event could be bought into with frequent player points, and both sites ran loads of uber-cheap satellites in the days leading up to world record tournaments. Even better, both sites doubled the prize pool with overlays. Full Tilt added $250,000 to the $250,000 guaranteed prize pool, for a total purse of $500,000, while PokerStars contributed $65,000 to its $65,000 guarantee for a total pool of $130,000.

The winner of the PokerStars event, ‘004 license,’ took home $13,000 for an investment of $1, along with the distinction of besting 64,999 opponents and taking down the world’s largest-ever online tournament. The champion of the Full Tilt Poker tournament , ‘breo40’, earned a whopping $45,000 in exchange for a $5 buy-in. Since this corporate rivalry shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, online players can almost certainly look forward to more great deals and copious overlays as these two poker giants continue to challenge each other for online poker supremacy.

July off to a flyer

Having not played online poker for the last few days, I was sort of itching to get on PokerStars tonight. Quiet afternoon at work so I shut up shop half an hour early and headed home. The original plan was to get changed and head to the gym but convinced myself it would be too packed and I would go later.

My first two tournaments didn't go too well, two 45 man tournaments that I made the final 2 tables of but couldn't get lucky at the right time and failed to cash. The next two went better and I min-cashed another 45 man finishing in 7th while I was focussed more on the final table of a 90 man tournament that I had made.

The 90 man tournament was a huge comeback as I was in trouble with about 30 players left. I ended up getting my short-stack in a 5 way pot and caught top pair on the flop, someone bet out on the turn with pocket kings and I hit another jack on the river to survive and chip up massively. I played the final table fairly well but as usual was facing a chip deficit when it came to heads up. The blinds were so high relative to the chip stacks at this stage that I had to be aggressive. I took down a large pot and had a huge lead but I couldn't my opponent to the sword. I kept pushing pre-flop with an ace in my hand and twice including the knock-out hand I got called by queen jack and he caught a jack. On the final hand it came on the river for him so I finished in 2nd. I kept getting my money in whilst ahead so I'm happy with how I played the heads-up battle.

Surprisingly, after that tournament finished I managed to walk away from the laptop and did actually go to the gym for a cardio session.

After a shower and something to eat I was back on PokerStars for a few more games. Two hours of Stars of Poker was on OneHD so I didn't plan on playing for too long. Like the afternoon games, the first 90 man tournament didn't go too well finishing 26th. The other 3 games went a LOT better tho.

I final tabled the last 3 games I played, first finishing 3rd in a 45 man tournament before getting a 1st place in another one. The final game of the night was a 90 man and thanks to a few eliminations late I came 3rd.

So out of 8 tournaments played, I cashed 5 times, won 1, second in 1 and third in 2. It had been a while (start of June) since I had actually won a tournament so it was nice to chalk up a win on the first day of the month.

Bankroll US$367

PokerStars update

Another relatively short night of online poker last night on PokerStars. I was supposed to be having breakfast with a friend this morning so I made sure I was in bed early.

Again, my theory at the moment is to just smash up the $1 90 man and 45 man turbo games and make sure I grow the bankroll and develop my game before bringing in the $2 games.

Last night went well, again happy with the way I was playing. Doing a lot more pushing from position, taking a few more races and attacking more blinds. I played 12 tournaments, final tabled 6 (45 man money starts at 7th) and cashed 4. I didn't get a win but had a 3rd, 4th, 5th and a 6th so it was a profitable night.

At one stage I final tabled 4 tournaments in a row! The first I bust in 9th of a 45 man so it wasn't a cash but the next 3 I was pleased to see were all 90 man tournaments. I was concentrating on the first one I final tabled so at the time I didn't even realise we were already in the money of another.

So I'm back with a positive ROI for the month of June and the bankroll is back up to US$326. Small steps.

World Series of Poker update

Its been a week or so since I've updated this blog but seeing as tho only a few people read it at the moment, I don't feel quite so bad. Like my poker game, this blog is a work in progress so its early days.

As mentioned in a previous update, I've really taken an interest in the early events of this year's World Series of Poker. As I have only played no-limit and limit hold'em, I don't fully understand what's going on in games like omaha and razz but I'm getting an idea.

Since I've been playing more online poker recently and checking out blogs and forums, I'm tracking other players not just your big names (Negreanu, Ivey, Hellmuth, etc). Not that any of the bloggers I follow (Bond 18, Assassinato, etc) have had any great results as yet but there's still time and of course the main event yet to come.

Over the last week, the main stories have been about the double-bracelet wins by Brock Parker, Phil Ivey and then (Aussie) Jeff Lisandro. Here's the current Player of the Year Standings:

Player of the Year Standings

View All-Time WSOP Player Stats

Name	WSOP POY Points	Bracelets	Cashed	2009 WSOP Earnings
Jeffrey Lisandro	255 pts	2	5	$619,131
Ville Wahlbeck	255 pts	1	4	$849,785
Phil Ivey	225 pts	2	4	$340,255
John Brock Parker	220 pts	2	5	$802,514
James Van Alstyne	220 pts	1	3	$519,080
Roland De Wolfe	195 pts	1	5	$410,063
Angel Guillen	180 pts	1	3	$846,238
Pete Vilandos	175 pts	1	2	$1,080,538
Daniel Negreanu	165 pts	0	5	$316,190
Daniel Alaei	165 pts	1	3	$587,102

As we speak, I'm following the live updates on Poker News as Phil Ivey goes for his 3rd bracelet of the series in event 41, the $5000 no-limit hold'em shootout. I didn't know what a shootout event was before this series and for those who don't, you have to win your table to make it through to the next round where you have to do the same thing again. When it gets down to the final few in the tournament they play 6-handed.

Phil Ivey has just been knocked out in 8th place so he will have to wait a while longer for another bracelet. The points will certainly help in the Player of the Year race tho.

Adapting from online poker to playing live

I came across the following article on the PokerStars blog this morning. Its written by Greg Raymer and is a good read about converting from online play to live.

Click on the title below to read the full story.

How to adapt from online winner to live champion, by PokerStars' Greg Raymer - PokerStars Poker Blog

Many of our PokerStars players coming over to Las Vegas for the WSOP will be playing live tournaments for the first time. While the rules of the game are the same, playing online and live are two very different animals.

So who better to ask for some sound advice on how to adapt from online play to taking a shot at mega bucks at the Rio than Greg Raymer, who won the Main Event in 2004 and has got $6.8million in live winnings to his name....

by Team PokerStars Pro Greg Raymer

So, you've been playing on PokerStars.com, and doing well, and now you want to take a shot at the live games. What should you do? Well, the good news is you've already accomplished the hardest part, so the rest will probably come relatively easily. Here's some advice to make it even easier yet.

I've been playing poker seriously since 1992, so I started out as a live player, and only became an online player when it became available years later. Wherever you play poker, the hard part is learning how to play poker well. If you're winning online, then you've already done that. In 2004 when I won the Main Event, and prior to then, we used to make fun of the online players, and how bad they were. And for the most part, we were right. However, in today's poker world, it is the winning online players who have the most talent and knowledge, as compared to the live players. More importantly, the bad online players are nowhere near as bad as the bad live players.

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!!

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.

Annette Obrestad's blind win tourney

I was looking for some good poker blogs yesterday afternoon (yes, it was a quiet afternoon at work) and stumbled across young female poker pro, Annette Obrestad's blog. I remember watching her win the WSOP event in Europe a year or two back. I was in Sydney at the time on business and had some time before I flew out so I was watching it in the club lounge of the hotel. She was only 19 at the time and from my perspective she was very aggressive and seemed to getting extremely lucky with some of her showdown situations (going in well behind but sucking out).

I read a few of her blog posts yesterday and actually like her story. She started from nothing when she was 15 by winning money from an online freeroll and built her way up playing tournaments to become one of the top rated online poker players. Impressive!

One story that I found about her is how she won a 180 player tournament without looking at her hole cards (except for maybe one hand she said). I play a lot of 90 and 180 tournaments and that is quite a feat. Click on the title below to read the full story and see her in action!

Betfair | A look at Annette's blind win tourney

A forum poster recently asked how Annette could have won a 180-player online tournament without looking at her cards.

'With a Post-it Note', came the amusing and only response.

It was probably not the answer the poster was looking for and they were just marvelling in the fact Annette could win a tourney without looking at her hand in her hole cards.

She has since explained that it was an exercise in the importance of playing in position and the videos below shows how she demonstrated this as she folds KK in the first few hands.

Speaking about why she did 180-player tournament blind challenge she said. 'To show just how important it is to play position and to pay attention to the players at the table. Like, if you knew that someone was weak you'd attack them.'

APL and online poker update

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.

Assassinato sets sights on EPT San Remo - Poker News

As you can see from my poker blogs links on the left hand side, there are only a couple that I really follow. I've mentioned before about Assassinato and how much I enjoy reading his blog.

At the moment he's in San Remo playing in the EPT event. He's well known as an online player and has done well in a couple of live event but is yet to make a final table ... until now that is. I've followed his progress through the live tournament reporting on PokerNews as well as updates on the PokerStars blog.

Going in to today they were down to 32 players left in the field and it was actually quite tense reading through the updates (I can't follow them live due to the time difference) this morning to see how Alex got on. He had a bit of luck in coinflip situations and was fairly aggressive down the stretch. Despite being short-stacked for much of the last 2 days, he finds himself in 5th place.

Click on the title below to read the full story. Good luck tonight Alex!!

Assassinato sets sights on EPT San Remo - Poker News

By Owen Laukkanen

It's final table time in San Remo on the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour and on Thursday afternoon eight lucky finalists will face off for more than €1.5 million.

At first glance, it's a final table devoid of star power, but there's no shortage of exciting finalists here on the Italian Riviera.

Among the final eight is 21-year-old Alex Fitzgerald, a Seattle-based online pro who has become a staple on PokerStars-run tournaments around the world.

Fitzgerald, who goes by 'Assassinato' on most online sites, has qualified into tournaments on the European, Asia Pacific and Latin American Poker Tours but hasn't managed any major scores as of yet.

He comes into play on Thursday fifth in chips with 721,000.

'I feel great,' he told PokerListings.com. 'I really didn't feel like I played that well today.

'I've bubbled a lot of final tables where I felt like I was playing my best, but today I felt like I got pretty lucky.'

MTT's

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 ...

Online poker update

Earlier in the week I updated you on my APL progress, so today seems like the right time to update on my online progress. Last year I blogged about how I was trying to turn the $5 credit I won on PokerStars in to a bankroll. I played a couple of cash/ring games but mostly I was playing micro-stake tournaments. I built the credit to over $90 which was great, but then I started just playing 45 man turbo games because the games were quicker and the payouts were better. Unfortunately the turbo format doesn't really suit my tight style of play and a run of bubbles and non top 3 finishes meant that I wasn't getting the better returns anymore. Needless to say, the run ended and the credit was soon gone.

After a while of not playing as much online and then reading about Daniel Negreanu's personal micro-stakes challenge I decided to give it another go. I deposited AU$20 on to PokerStars which at the time gave me a starting point of US$12. Rather than playing tournaments, I decided to follow Daniel's advice/challenge and stick to cash games. Being more of a tournament player it took me a little while to adjust to the differences in the games, but I guess that was why I started at 1c/2c blinds. The micro-est of micros.

Once I got my account to $25, I moved up to the 2c/5c games. Now 3 days past 2 months since I first deposited the US$12, I have grown it to US$100 ... well, $99.36 to be precise. Its now time to move up to the 5c/10c games which I could've done a while back but felt that I still had more to learn. I got the account up to $90 a few weeks ago but after some poor sessions it was under $50 again. I've now built it back up and feel better about how I'm playing and the decisions I'm making.

Some of the lessons I've learnt from the lowest of micro-level online poker levels are:

• You have to be able to fold strong hands (overpockets, straights, etc)
• Unless you have a read on someone, if you get re-raised (especially on the river) you're likely beaten unless you have the nuts or close to it
• Most people will play any suited cards, so there's usually someone chasing a flush or if there are 3 suited cards on the board, most of the time there's a flush out there
  
• The best way to make money and get paid is to hit a set ... most players find it very hard to fold top pair
• Many players don't worry about position, they're more concerned about the cards they have
• Take notes on players at your table, they come in very handy (if not that game or that day, down the track)
  

I've also been playing a few of the lower limit large field tournaments. These are usually 50c or $1 tournament buy-ins and have anywhere from 1000 to 4000 players. Roughly the top 20% of players finish "in the money" but you have to make the final table to see a really good return on your investment.

My best result so far is a 61st placed finish in a field of 2600. The buy-in was only 50c so my "winning" was an unspectacular $2.08. As well as this, I think I've finished top 100 another 2 times. I looked up my stats on one of the poker websites and in the month of March I had a very good "in the money" rate of 56%. The return on investment was still slightly negative because I didn't get deep enough to get a good payout but that's something I can work on as I continue to build the bankroll higher.

So ... bring on the 5c/10c games.

Hubble freeroll

Poker players play for many different reasons and have different motivations (especially in online poker). Its even more diverse when its a freeroll. I've heard some people say that "its a freeroll, no one cares", me tho, I play as well as I can for practice and to qualify for the next round where there's cash involved.

I was in doing some work last night and thought that I'd play the hubble freeroll on PokerStars before I went home. I figured I'd play for the usual hour and a half or so, finish in in the top 500 and be home before midnight. That didn't quite happen ...

I tend to do quite well in the hubble's but am yet to crack the second round when the cash is up for grabs. My best finish so far is on the bubble, 100th with 99 qualifying for the next round ... to get that close but miss out, shattered to say the least.

Last night I had another very good shot of making it through. I chipped up massively early and at one point was in the top 20 chip counts, so was cruising. I had people walking in to (my) massive hands, guys pushing all-in with their two pair when I'd already hit the flush, guys thinking their ace was good when it came on the board when I had trips ... things were definitely going my way. When I got to about 70K in chips tho I stupidly took my foot off the pedal and tightened up. I folded to small raises that deserved little respect and the flop came out what would've been a dream for me. I folded king-7 (not a good poker hand, but fine when you're chipped up) to a relatively small raise when I was small blind and the flop comes 3, 7, 7 ... OUCH. Later in the tournament I was small blind getting ridiculously good odds and I folded king-5 pre-flop ... the flop comes 5, 7, 5 ... ugggh.

My stack started to dwindle as the blinds went up as did the opposing chip stacks. I was pushed around by the bigger stacks raising with nothing just to put pressure on the small stacks. I took a stand with ace-king suited and doubled-up through a call with ace-queen off. I pushed with pocket-8's and it held up against ace-queen off. But my luck eventually ran out with ace-9 suited against pocket jacks. I raised, hoping to steal the blinds ... got called by the jacks. The flop had two hearts in it with the high card being a queen so I pushed all-in, got called by the jacks, I caught a 9 on the turn but no ace and no more hearts. So I ended up finishing 161st out of 12,000 starters.

Its a good performance but I learnt that getting to 70K isn't enough for you to cruise through to the top 99 so you can't stop pushing and building your stack. And I played for 2.5 hours getting home just after 1 (I think) ... tired today.