Good week

Its been a good poker week for me. Beginning on Tuesday with a final table at the Shafston playing APL. I had finished just off the table for the last couple of weeks so it was nicely to finally make it on and I had a decent stack. Nothing went my on the final table tho, getting good hands but none of them holding up and I ended up getting knocked out in 5th.

I had a home game with my friends from school last night. $20 buy-in, rebuys allowed and there were 7 starters. The action was wild and woolly early and I of course was getting paid out on for folding so much and it took me ages to win my first hand. The rebuys were frequent early and with top 2 getting paid I was just waiting for a hand to push with. That ended up being queens which got outrun against jacks and ace queen off, of course an ace came. So I rebought and started to get a few cards, won hands and eventually got to heads-up with a large chip-lead. I pushed with ace 2, got called by queen 8 and a queen on the river put the stacks even. A few hands later and I raised all-in with ace queen, got called by 6's and the board ran out 2, 3, 4, 5 and it was over. The second place made me $60 profit after the buy-in (and rebuy) but it was disappointing next to get the win and finish second yet again.

This morning I played on PokerStars and ran red hot. I played six 45 mans, cashing 4 (and bubbling another) and of those 4 I had 2 seconds a third and a fourth. I also played 2 big MTT's cashing 1 of them. Thanks to the success in the 45 mans, the bankroll broke through $1300 for the first time reaching $1340.

Short session

I didn't really plan on playing tonight but I played for 2 hours or so. I've got the laptop in front of the TV, so since I wouldn't be as switched on as usual I just played the $3.25 45 man games and didn't play anymore than 3 at a time.

My best result was actually my first game where I finished 2nd. I was unlucky to do so as I played extremely well and got unlucky down the stretch. Before the final table with about 20 players left I took a flip I normally wouldn't when I raised pre and got shoved on by the big blind. Normally I'd fold there but I called and to my surprise he turned over queen ten suited. Thankfully there was a 7 on the flop because the turn was a queen and I knocked him out. Then on the bubble I raised on the button with kings and was delighted when a similar stack shoved over the top of me from the small blind. I was even happier when he turned over king queen off and I had a solid chip lead.

On the final table I re-raised all-in over a cutoff raise with ace king in the big blind and thankfully he turned over ace 9 off and my hand held. It was from here that things went downhill. I raised from the small blind putting a short-stack all-in, he calls with 10, 2 off ... I flop a king, turn a queen, he rivers a four card flush with the 2. Same player pushes all-in under-the-gun, I call in the big blind with ace 6 to try and knock him out. He turns over 8's, I flop 2 pair and he again rivers a four card flush.

Thankfully the big blind took out the short-stack so I get to heads-up but am facing a sizable chip deficit. Surprisingly he folds the first hand in the big blind when I shove and next hand I get pocket jacks in the big blind. He puts me all-in and I of course call, he turns over king 7 off and of course catches a king on the flop and the tournament is over.

After the first tournament I got knocked out in the first 5 players in 3 of the next 4 tournaments which is of course very unlike me. First i ran queens in to kings and then jacks in to aces, both of my hands I had in the big blind. The 3rd one I called a minraise, flopped top pair, turned two pair and then despite me showing strength on both the flop and turn he kept calling and rivered a better two pair.

I cashed the final tournament I played in coming in 6th. I was lucky to get to the money as I never had a stack and was very short going to the final table. Thankfully there was a suck-out early and 2 players got knocked out.

As I only played 7 tournaments, the 2nd and the 6th were enough to give me a profitable session and the bankroll is just under four figures at $997. I'm playing APL tomorrow night and trivia on Wednesday so won't be on PokerStars for the next few days.

Update

I didn't do much blogging over the last week or two because work had been so flat out and I had been focussing on getting back in the gym.

Anyway, on to some of the things I haven't yet talked about. One night last week I tried to focus on the 180 man games. Probably my weakest game of all that I've played so far is the $2.20 180 game with about a -15% ROI (according to SharkScope). Usually I mix these in when I'm playing 45 man games so my thought was that if I just played these I might do better rather than playing different game speeds all at once. It didn't go well and I played 14 of these games and cashed none of them. Sure, its a very small sample and the variance in these are so high that I'm sure this is standard, but it was frustrating all the same.

In other news, the APL Poker Classic was held in Melbourne last weekend and a number of my friends were playing in it. One of my friends David posted on Facebook that he had made it in to the money which started at the top 100 (600 starters). I didn't see any further updates and figured he had just min-cashed until just before I went to bed he posted that he finished 4th winning $35K and a spot on Team APL for the World Series of Poker (valued at $15K). So today a few of us had a BBQ in New Farm park to celebrate his win and hear some of the stories. He basically put his success down to a good run of cards at the right time and not getting any bad beats.

After my failure in the 180's the previous week I decided to just focus on the 45 man games. At the moment I'm concentrating on the $6.50 buy-ins but using the $3.25's as a warm-up to get my head in the game. I hadn't been running that well during the week and my bankroll was down under $850 a few times. The last 2 days have been better tho as I won a $6.50 game and today a $3.25 one. The latter was satisfying as I came back from a very short-stack after I walked in to someone slow-playing aces and I had pocket tens. From there I clawed my way back and actually started heads-up ahead and won when my ace 8 held up after the big blind re-raised all-in with king queen off. I finished tonight cashing 3 out of the 4 tournaments I played before dinner and the 4th one I bubbled. It wasn't anything too exciting tho as I had two 6th places and a 3rd.

The bankroll is now back up to US$980 so hopefully tomorrow night I can push through the $1000 mark again and head onwards and upwards.

1000 reasons to smile!

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.

APL - Broadway Hotel

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

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

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

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

APL - Broadway Hotel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 ...

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.

ANZPT Queensland

The first major Queensland poker tournament got underway today in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast. ANZPT Queensland is being co-hosted between Conrad Treasury and Conrad Jupiters. I'm not sure if I'll get the chance but it would be great to check out some of the action live. I have drinks with a friend on Friday night and I'm moving house on Sunday so there likely won't be time.

A number of friends from APL played in the satellites and while two made through it the first round, they fell just short in the second where the seats to the main event were up for grabs.

You can follow the updates from the event at the PokerStars blog. Its good to hear that support and interest in the event has been strong so far.

Poker blogs

Drugs are bad ... mmmm k??

I'm not sure why, but poker and smoking pot seems to go hand in hand. When I first started playing APL a few years back, I almost felt left out because I didn't smoke (cigarettes) like so many seemed to. Now, reading the forums and a few poker blogs, it seems so many players smoke pot. Considering poker is a mental game that requires focus and concentration, I'm not sure if it makes sense ... but I've never touched the stuff, so what would I know?

Anyway, one of my favourite bloggers, Assassinato had an unexpected 2am wake up call on his way to Italy. As always, a very entertaining read so click on the title to hear the whole story.

Random Thoughts From A Seattle Poker Pro

A drug sniffing dog came into my room along with two guys in vests, reminding me of what FBI agents look like in movies. I was pretty sure they weren't as powerful here but I was still scared shitless waking up to that. The dog started going through our room and not finding anything.

“Do you have marijuana?!” The guy yelled at me. I said no. Then, almost on cue, the dog started scratching my backpack, and looking back at the agent. Fuck.

“If you have something you better tell me right now.” I could tell by the way he asked it he already knew the answer. It was just a matter of if I handed it to them now or if they went through everything. I got up and opened my bag and handed him a small brown bag.


After the WSOP wrapped up, it had been a very quiet time in terms of poker blogging. After a run in with the Devilfish, Tony "Bond 18" Dunst is finally back online again. Full credit to Bond for pulling the original Devilfish story and being man enough to say he made a mistake by writing the story in the first place. Now that he's in Africa being socially responsible, blog updates will likely be few and far between but thankfully he's still writing. Reading this latest blog, all I could think of was, "Hello muddah, hello faddah. Here I am at Camp Granada" which I actually heard on Qantas when I was flying back from Melbourne recently.

A Week in Africa | PokerSavvy Plus

The headmaster however, is Idi Amin Jr. During a parent-teacher assembly he announced to the crowd that 'The Americans have promised to bring us 10 computers next year!' which was something nobody promised or even mentioned in any form during conversation. Two of the teachers that Katie (the other volunteer at the school who is a nice girl from New York) and I are friendly with have told us he shorts their pay and pockets the money. He told some other volunteers that for 5,000 shillings he would organize a brand new bus and great trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro. They paid him and rocked up to find an old, piece of shit bus that broke down on the way. He attempted to convince them to keep going to the mountain in the middle of the night, as pointless as it is dangerous, knowing if he got them there they couldn't demand a refund. The volunteers refused and demanded to go back home. When they got there they naturally wanted their money back and he refused saying that it had already all been spent. One of the girls, Shrea, flipped out on him and he eventually refunded them each 4000. Already been spent indeed. Shrea has not been back to the school to volunteer since and is now working in an orphanage.

Corruption like this is everywhere, and as far as I can tell, is the largest problem a country like Kenya will have in moving forward. The stories of this kind of angle shooting are absolutely endless and while years in the poker world have made me well prepared for picking up on bullshit many of the other volunteers are not as paranoid or suspicious of people’s motivations. The corruption is on all levels of government and daily life, and while picking up a newspaper in the US normally depresses me, picking up one here makes me suicidal. Many other volunteers have questioned the volunteer company's validity itself; as they have spent weeks of time and considerable money attempting to get placement in programs only to have the people organizing them not show up or horrendous delays in communication make their efforts pointless and infuriating.

PokerStars update

Just a quick post as I'm heading to bed shortly so I can get up and go to the gym in the morning.

I haven't actually played online at PokerStars this week. I went and played an APL game on Tuesday, State of Origin 3 last night and I can't remember what I did Monday, other than go for a run.

Anyway, I was looking forward to playing and after the usual slightly slow start I won my 4th tournament which was a $1 90 man game. I was short-stacked around the 30th spot but managed to survive in to the top 20. When I was 17 of 19 I won 2 big pots in a row and was suddenly in 6th place. The heads up battle was fairly close because I had been on the same table with the guy for most of the tournament so we knew how each other played.

I did really well in the ANZPT freeroll but pushed with 6's with about 100 to go and called by pocket 9's and was out.

I bubbled a 45 man game when I pushed from early position with pocket 5's, got called by pocket 8's and was out in 8th spot. The next 45 man game I wasn't doing much until I started getting cards at the right time, pocket aces within about 5 minutes of each other and chipped up well. I struggled on the bubble when I was playing aggressively with good hands and kept getting sucked out on. I folded ace 9 suited from the small blind when someone pushed massively from early position. I was short-stacked but got aces again and doubled up and from there started to climb my way. There was an uber-aggressive newby that was shoving with very marginal hands and he pushed from the button 3 handed, the small blind was virtually all-in and called and I pocket 7's in the big blind. Against another player I might've folded ... but I knew he could be pushing with anything, called caught a 7 on the turn and took down a good pot. He still had a 2 to 1 chip lead going in to heads-up but again he was pushing with anything much of the time so I re-raised all-in with pocket 5's and he called with 2 4 suited. I won that hand and gained the chip lead and from there he ended up pushing with ace rag, I called with jack ten and hit a jack to win the tournament.

So I think I only played 12 tournaments but won 2. My heads up record for this month is outstanding and it was nice to have another day with 2 tournament wins. I'm just outside the top 3% of PokerStars tournament players on Official Poker Rankings, hopefully these 2 wins will put me over the top.

Bankroll continuing to grow, US$460. Graph from SharkScope is looking good ...

APL return

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

APL update

Well, in my post at the end of 2008 I said that I would be going back to the APL State Finals next quarter but I have fallen just short of achieving that.

I didn't play that many games again this quarter, instead choosing to play more online. The two APL venues I played were Hotel Broadway on Monday night and my usual Shafston Hotel on Thursday night.

I started well at Broadway with a 2nd place finish in the 2nd week of the venue. After that, I made top 16 a couple of times but couldn't get back to the final table and score the big points. In the final month of the quarter I stopped playing when I was no longer in contention.

Shafston I got off to a slow start struggling to put any good performances on the board against the English language students and players who had a few too many drinks. Shafston is such a tough field because of the larger numbers and "colourful" characters that play the game. In the 3rd and 4th weeks I finish top 16, just off the final table the 4th week being an agonising bubble. I then found a bit of form (and of course luck) making two final tables in a row finishing 6th and 4th. This put me back in contention for the venue, needing to finish top 3 to make it to States. I had two poor results in the following weeks and a final table 5th in the last game of the quarter wasn't enough to get it done.

I finished in 6th place for the quarter at the Shafston, basically one win out of 3rd place. So close! Congratulations to my friends Jasmine and Ellen who came first and second respectively. Ellen, sorry for knocking you out of contention in the last game. :-)

APL roll

As the game last night signalled the end of this quarter's APL season its disappointing to know that I won't be heading back to States next month to back-up my cash-winning performance from last time. I really didn't play enough this season to put up good enough numbers to get me back there. I also didn't play enough games at one particular venue to be competitive.

Saying that tho, I finished the quarter on a pretty impressive roll. In my last 4 games (over 10 days) I finished 3rd, 4th, 5th and a 2nd last night. These results followed on from my 27th in the big game down at Tweed on December 14. I checked my stats on the website earlier and I only played 9 APL games this month but 6 of them I finished 5th or better.

Last night's game was at The Redbrick which I don't like as a venue but have a really good record there (3 games, won a regional tournament, a 4th and a 2nd). I ran very hot early until my nut flush ran in to a full house. I then hovered around the same mark until the blinds were nearly catching up on me. I got some good cards and some even better flops and chipped up to a strong level. The blinds were massive long before final table and it became a push-fest. On the bubble, I pushed from under-the-gun with ace-jack off-suit, got called by a short-stack small blind and the big blind who had my stack covered folded ace-king! Neither of us hit and I took the pot down.

On the final table one guy who had been playing VERY loose all night cleaned house taking out a few players and chipping up massively when his jack-ten off-suit took out 3 players in one hand (one had pocket kings, one had pocket jacks). He took out the 3rd placed player and had a MASSIVE chip lead when we got heads up. He was pushing with everything but I won a couple of hands in a row before losing a race and the game.

The new season starts tomorrow and I WILL be going back to the APL State Finals next quarter.

World Series of Poker Satellite - Tweed Heads

For the last few months my APL region has been offering tickets to a World Series of Poker satellite in Tweed Heads. Our regional tournament, otherwise known as Lucky 13 is held monthly and the top 5 finishers each get a ticket to the Tweed game. I haven't been playing enough to make it in to the Lucky 13 games so didn't get a ticket. A few good friends did so I thought I'd go down and support them plus get some video footage of the tournament.

After staying at a friend's place the night before I timed my drive down to Tweed pretty well and arrived just as the tournament was about to start. It turns out tho that since a few ticket winners didn't show up their ticket could be re-sold so I had the option to buy in and play rather than just spectating. Knowing that my game is suited to these large player tournaments, I thought why not and took the opportunity.

I had to wait until after the first set of blinds before I could sit down so entered the tournament with blinds at 25/50 (for some reason they started at 25/25). Second hand I get pocket kings ... nice. I think and then raise to 250 (5 times the blind), quick call next to me, call behind him and two others ... wow 5 times obviously wasn't enough. First card out is of course the ace and I know my kings are no good anymore. Two checks in front of me, I don't both with a continuation and then the guy next to me bets and is called. Player one shows ace -9 off but is beaten by ace-jack suited which had a better two pair.

I win a few hands hitting straights and get a good idea of the style of play from the rest of my table. At the first break, 2 hours in, I'm just under 13K in chips, starting stack was 10K. Most of our region were roughly around the same counts, two were up to around 18K and unfortunately our state champ, Paul McGougan was struggling after a bad beat at just 2K.

Not too much of interest in the next section other than our table getting split and winning a few hands to get to 24K. By this stage we've lost a number of players from our group but a few are still doing well. Knowing the blinds are going up to 1K/2K, its this section of the tournament where you lost most of the players and also where you need to chip up so you don't get blinded out.

Early after the break, under the gun raises to 4K and I've got pocket aces. I think for a little while whether to re-raise or push all-in and decide to just shove. Everyone else folds except the original raiser who is really taking his time. He shows his cards to the player next to him and then shows me ... queen-jack of hearts ... to which I reply "is that all ... can't lay that down??" He eventually chooses to take the race and thankfully loses. A few hands later, I'm up to about 50K in chips and well placed. A small stack pushes all-in for his final 12K, I look and have pocket queens ... do I push all-in over the top or just call? I push but get insta-called by someone next to me with about 30K in chips. Small stack turns over pocket 8's, I turn over the queens, guy behind me turns over pocket kings which take down the lot. I go from 50 back to 20 in one hand and am hurting.

By the next break I've survived a couple of all-ins and am up to 35K with the blinds about to go to 5K/10K and only 4 tables left in play. I fold the first couple of hands and then am big blind and get dealt ace-7 of spades. One of the mega stacks at my table calls as does the small blind ... I think about pushing but don't. The board comes 5 of spades, ten of diamonds, ten of spades ... small blind bets 15K and I groan. I would've pushed if he hadn't bet and if I call or push now its not like he can fold and I'm drawing for my tournament. After a minute or so I fold, gutted and the other pre-flop caller does the same. Small blind shows me 2, 3 of spades and I realise what a terrible mistake I made in that position. Next hand I get dealt pocket 3's ... everyone else folds and its just me and a big stack in big blind. I think about pushing but for some (stupid) reason I just fold and hope for a better moment. Yes ... I'm not sure what I was thinking either.

I end up pushing with ace-8 off for my final 20K, everyone else folds to the big blind who says "it'll be ugly if it wins, but I'll call to try and take out a player" ... thanks for that and he turns over king-7 off and proceeds to hit trip kings. Goooone

I'm very disappointed with the decisions I made after the final break. I needed to chip up and quickly but didn't switch to a more aggressive style of play. That's a big mistake for that stage in the tournament and hopefully I'll learn from that for next time. It was a good day tho and I was glad to make it as far as I did, I just would've liked to of course gone even further. Congratulations to Brendan (one of the good players from our region) who made it to 15th. He was very patient down the stretch but couldn't get a hand and essentially got blinded out.

APL update

After spending a week or two playing online at PokerStars after work, I hadn't been playing too much live poker with APL (Australian Poker League). Couple that with them closing my regular Monday night game down and me being away or busy on Thursdays which is my usual game at the Shafston.

On the weekend I headed down the coast to celebrate a friend from APL's 30th birthday. There was about 15 of us so I organised two bedroom apartments at the new Meriton property in Broadbeach ... just across the road from Jupiters. We had dinner at the casino's chinese restaurant Zen and then a few headed to the pub while a few of us headed to the tables.

The wait-list for the cheap poker tables was around 3 hours and after a bottle of wine or two I didn't really want to be playing for a lot of money while a little pissy. So instead, much to the shock of my friend's from poker, I played blackjack ... or to be precise a hybrid game called Jupiters 21. A couple of the girls also played having never played blackjack before and thoroughly enjoyed it. I ended up playing for around 4 or 5 hours and finished just in front.

The next day after breakfast, we drove back to Brisbane and straight to Bulimba just in time for the afternoon game. I didn't spend, but made it on to the final table (of about 25 players).

Blinds were quite high and I wasn't seeing cards. With the blinds at $2000/$4000 and still 7 players left on the table and I was under the gun. Everyone starts pointing out my weak position and that I'll have to push with any picture card so I look down at my cards and see my "lucky hand", jack three suited. I think for a minute and then say sure, I call/I'm all-in. I get an immediate caller to my right and then someone isolates on the other side and everyone else folds. He turns over ace-queen off so I don't mind my chance in the race. He hits the ace, but unfortunately for him its the ace of diamonds and with another diamond on the flop one more on the turn gives me the flush. Jack-three comes through for me again!! I ended up finishing 3rd.

Monday night I played at the Broadway for my first time this season. I was planning on going to the gym but didn't feel like it so I thought I'd play some cards. I knew it was a fairly dangerous group of players when I sat down, I saw a few flops early but hit nothing. I realised at the break that I hadn't won a hand, hadn't pre-flop raised and hadn't bet or even called once a flop had come. It wasn't until the blinds were at $200/$400 that I finally got a hand. Someone called in front of me, I have pocket queens, think about how much to raise but since I've only got around 2500 by this stage, I push all-in. Insta-call from a short-stack next to me, big blind folds and then the caller before me umms and ahhs and then lays down his ace - 7 suited. Short-stack turns over queen-jack suited and I take down the pot. I win a large pot just before the final table that sees me well placed relative to the blinds. I draw small-blind on the final table and proceed to again see no cards and I end up coming 5th. Not too bad an effort out of around 35 players.

(Me in the middle standing, with the APL crew at Zen Restaurant)