Sunday (Monday my time) results

This weekend really didn't go at all to plan.

* Friday night date ... nothing "happened"
* Sunday the big AFL game and my team got thumped
* I only managed to qualify for one of the big tournaments I wanted to play Monday morning
* Did ok in the early morning tournaments and then stunk up the $6.50 45 mans in the afternoon

I tried my best to satellite my way in to the Sunday Million and the Turbo Takedown but just couldn't get it done. I was so close on a number of occasions, for the TT my closest was 6th out of over 200 players when only 3 qualified.

The good news was that I cashed the Sunday Quarter Million for the first time. Not that its a huge achievement but it was nice to get paid after missing out the previous 2 or 3 times I've played. There was 33,000 starters and I finished around 3000. I busted out when I pushed all-in (5x blinds) with king queen off from the hijack and got called by ace-jack and my hand didn't improve. I'm fine with the play as I was getting close to desperation and needed to double-up.

I've been playing a few of the $4.40 180 man tournaments when I have time. As they're not turbos they take over 4 hours so I don't always have the time to play them. I've currently got an ROI of around 25% in them (over a small sample) which is ok as I haven't got a big score from them yet. Unlike the $6.50 45 mans where I managed to min-cash just 1 out of 15 attempts yesterday and my ROI is now negative in these which is extremely frustrating and hurting my bankroll.

So I started yesterday getting deep and cashing most of the games I played and finished the afternoon cashing none and decided to call it a night and watch Transformers 2 instead. I'll have a couple of days off now and hopefully come back revitalised later in the week. Bankroll is down to $1022 and not surprisingly the sharkscope graph took a pretty big dive yesterday.

Weekend goals

Since the break due to the Adelaide trip, I've been back at the tables a little bit more over the last week. I'm still not playing that much, but I'm putting in time. I'm still not doing anything exciting in the $6.50 45 mans (I haven't won one of them this month) but took down another $3.25 (out of 2 played) in a short session last night.

With a long weekend ahead, I finally get the chance to play in the big Sunday (US time) tournaments. As these are Monday morning Australia time, I'm normally working but thanks to the public holiday on Monday for once I'm not. This weekend is the monthly Turbo Takedown, there's the Sunday 1/4 Million and I'm going to try to get in to the Sunday Million for the first time. Playing the latter on my bankroll would be crazy so I'm of course going to try and satellite my way in. I don't have that many FPP's at the moment but the aim is to use them to get in to the Takedown and then play small satellite's to get in to the other two.

I started playing the satellites last night with no luck. I got deep in a couple but couldn't finish the job. The 1/4 Million should be straight forward as the $2 satellites are extremely soft and I have plenty of experience playing them. If I'm going to get up at 5 or 6am on Monday morning tho, I'd like to get in to one of the other big ones as well.

Fingers crossed

What goes up ...

After my joy of winning 3 tournaments in a row on Friday night, not surprisingly things didn't go as well over the weekend. Sometimes I question why I bother playing weekends as I'm sure my results on Saturday and Sunday aren't great, especially compared to the weekdays.

Saturday I managed only a couple of cashes with 2 fourths as good as it gets. Sunday I did well in the Sunday Quarter Million satellites but did no good in the $3.25 45 mans with just a couple of min-cashes.

If the weekend felt that I was getting rivered all the time or people hitting 1 and 2 outers, tonight was about losing hands when you make the right play and dominate the opposition cards but they somehow spike their kicker. Ace king < ace ten, ace jack < ace 8 and so on and so on. I got runner-runnered numerous times and thankfully took a break to grab some dinner.

After dinner things got better as I started making final tables again. I got a second when my queens got beaten by 6 8 off all-in pre-flop. I had spiked some cards before that so it didn't worry too bad.

I played a couple of $4.40 180 mans and cashed them both. The first I made final table and shoved ace king off over the top of a minraise from the bigstack. He called the substantial raise turning over queen ten suited and of course the first card out is the queen and I'm out in 6suth. In the second, I lost a flip inside the final 18 with 9's against ace ten suited that crippled me and I was eventually out in 16th.

The last couple of tournaments got my bankroll headed back in the right direction after sliding well under $700 its now back over $740.

The trifecta!!

Ok, so sometimes I run good. I've won 2 tournaments in a row before but tonight I went one better and took down 3 in a row!! Trifecta, turkey ... call it what you will be it feels great to take down 3 in succession and obviously its a great boost for the bankroll.

I went for a run after work with some friends, the first exercise I've done in about a week. Yes, I struggled for stamina but it was good to work up a sweat. They were heading out for drinks but I was happy for a quiet night in and to get some games happening on PokerStars.

I was just playing the $3.25 45 man games and I started off fairly solidly with two 6th place finishes in my first three games. I moved up to 5th a few tournaments later and then one miss and the three wins in a row.

I don't even remember too much detail from the individual tournaments except for the last one. Half-way through the tournament I was chipped up and someone shoved massively all-in under the gun and I had queens in the big blind. As expected, he turned over ace king and thankfully my queens held up giving me a massive chip lead which I rode through to the final table. I got down to four handed and shoved ace 4 off on the button and ran in to 7's in the small blind. The river counterfeited his pair which was a huge suck-out but gave me the chip lead and I went in to heads-up with it. My opponent fought back to even up the stacks but I took down a pot or two and then limped with kings in the small blind. The flop came queen jack rag and I bet small on the flop, king on the turn, another small bet and then he led out strong when a 3 came on the river. I re-raised he had to call turning over 2 pair but it wasn't good and it completed my trifecta of wins.

As you can see from the graph below, I'm running quite hot after a couple of very average months. I'm not sure what tournaments SharkScope doesn't track (I'm guessing the Sunday Quarter Million satellites) because my bankroll is about $150 or so more than its ever been, despite it looking about even with a previous high. Bankroll now sits just over $770.

2010 off to a positive start

Happy new year!!

The last week or so has been a solid one for me at the tables. Nothing spectacular to report, just good positive days, regular final table action. Not sure of exactly the number of tournaments played and conversion rate etc as OPR is a bit behind from today but the bankroll is steadily climbing in the right direction again (over US$420).

I smashed up the Sunday Quarter Million satellites today, cashing I believe in all but one of the games I played. I like playing them on the weekend because they run every 30 minutes or so during the day (Aus time) rather than hourly which they do midweek.

Other than those, I've been sticking to the $3.25 45 man games with the occasional $2.20 90 man non-turbo thrown in. Annoyingly today the one tournament of the latter I played today I bubbled, coming 13th with 12 places being paid. I was short-stacked, shoved on the button with king queen and the small blind looked me up with pocket 3's and I failed to improve.

I caught up on Daniel Negreanu's blog the other day and he had a video blog where he recapped 2009 and talked about his goals and plans for 2010.

Watch Daniel Negreanu's 2009 Recap on RawVegas.tv

I'm a fan of Daniel's ... but all I could think of while watching this video is that he's playing online while lying on the couch, doing a video blog, texting and worrying about his dog running around. Not the best way to concentrate. It reminds me of a scene from the show 2M2MM, I think it was maybe the lockdown episode where Brian gives Dani a hard time for slouching while he's playing. Brian's an advocate of all-out focus and concentration and believes your posture reflects that. I know Daniel one-tables online but not surprisingly by the time he finishes with the blog he questions why his position is so bad and where his chips went. Something to think about ...

Update from the last week

Since my last post things have been a bit more consistent for me. Thankfully no really bad days, just break-even or winning ones which makes a nice change.

Day 1 was profitable on the back of the satellites to the Sunday Quarter Million as I cashed in 2 out of 3 of them and the next day I cashed 3 out of 8 of them. My concern over those few days is that I was just managing min-cashes and of course bubbles in the other tournaments I was playing.

On Monday I played in the Guiness World Record Tournament on PokerStars against almost 150,000 other players. With 5 minute levels the structure certainly didn't suit my style of play and I never managed to build a big enough stack to stay ahead of the blinds. I finished in the top 25,000 players which wasn't the min-cash but the level or two above that.

As I was playing in the above event and it was an early start on the Monday I decided to also play in the Sunday Quarter Million rather than just converting the buy-in in to tournament dollars. Again, it was a massive field of 33,000 players and I was disappointed to finish just outside of the money. I'm yet to cash in this tournament and I had a good stack for much of it and was feeling good about my chances. I think I tried once or twice to get people off hands which didn't work and getting close to the bubble I ended up shoving under-the-gun with ace 9 suited. Normally its a move I wouldn't make but if I had stolen the blinds I would've been securely in the money ... not normally a concern but when I qualify through this game using FPP's any cash is a bonus. So I shove ace 9 suited and get flatted by someone in midposition and not surprisingly he turns over aces and although I have outs on the river I don't find any and fall agonisingly short.

I decided to spend the rest of the day playing and just took a break for lunch, dinner and a nap in the afternoon (because of the early start time of the first tournament). A couple of bubbles and a couple of min-cashes later and my bankroll was under $300 for the first time in ages which was a bit of a concern. Its not that I need the money its just that I'm not moving forward but feel like I've been playing well without reward.

I was just playing the $3.25 45 man tournaments and a few $2.20 180 mans. After short-stacking my way in to a final table I got some cards 4-handed and managed to survive the eliminations and get heads-up. I faced a huge chip deficit and large blinds compared to my stack so got it in first hand with king jack off ... unfortunately he had ace jack and I couldn't find a king or a ten on the river to improve. The $30 for second was a nice upswing tho especially since I was happy just to cash and surprised to make it as far as I did.

I had a few cashes around that one, felt I was playing well and near the end of the session got a win in one of the 45 mans. I went to the final table with a good starting stack and played well getting to the heads-up with a 3:2 chip lead. It was a quick heads-up battle that was over on the 3rd hand when I called a min-raise with 9, 10 off, 9 was the top pair on the flop, he shoved I called he turned over king high and my hand held.

I finally managed to final-table one of the 180 mans after bubbling or min-cashing them for seemingly so long. I often just get blinded out in these situations so I wanted to play for the win in this situation. I got pocket 7's in the hijack first hand and when it folded around to me I shoved for 4 or 5 times the blinds and was snap-called by a big stack on the button. He turned over aces and I was done, out in 9th.

So bankroll over US$360. I didn't play today and am not sure when I'll be playing next but hopefully the decent form will continue.

PCA Fantasy Freeroll

I've been at the parents for most of the weekend and while I did take my laptop with me, I didn't end up switching it on. I think the beers, food, pool and Foxtel may have distracted from me getting online.

Anyway, Friday night I ended up playing at PokerStars. The plan was to get to the gym after work but the afternoon was mad busy and by the time I finished writing everything up and sending confirmations it was already 6:30. By this time I needed a beer and something to eat so the gym got put off till the next day.

I played one of the Sunday Quarter Million qualifiers and cashed as usual. I played a few $1 90 man tournaments as well but did no good in 4 of those. Since I was sitting in front of the TV and not switched on 100% I was mostly just playing for fun. With that in mind, I decided to again play in the PCA Fantasy Freeroll.

It started off fairly well winning a few hands, avoiding some of the madness and steadily chipping up. Still early stages in level 2 just 9 minutes in two people lost their shit on a king, king, jack flop one with the jack, another with the flush draw and of course I had the king. A second jack on the river sealed the pot for me and I basically tripled up. Things slowed down for a little while until it was folded to me in the small blind and I had pocket kings. Luckily for me the big blind was chipped up and aggressive and acted strong when he hit a small pair on the flop and I checked when first to act. He didn't improve, my kings held and he doubled me up.

From there I lost 1/2 my stack when I had to fold queens on a very ugly turn heads-up but got it back shortly after when my ace king held up against ace 6 suited. From there, it was uneventful for a while and with the blinds rising and the field diminishing I pushed all-in under the gun with queens and to my surprise got 3 callers. Thankfully my hand was the best going in, it faded a flush draw on the flop and I quadrupled up.

I then got moved to a table with a couple of the chip leaders and they were essentially playing every pot so I waited for quality hands. With the blinds going up I pushed with pocket jacks, got 2 callers and it held up to triple my stack. Later as my stack dwindled I pushed with ace ten off, rivered a straight and and held upended up pushing with ace ten off and managed to river a straight to get ahead of the blinds again.

Having learnt from my last freeroll adventure where I finished 30th, I sped my game up. The blinds were so high compared to most stacks that it was essentially push-fold play. If I had a solid hand I was all-in pre or if I was in the blinds and hit a flop I pushed. I got called my midpair a number of times and steadily moved in to the chip leaders.

In the later stages of the tournaments, I only lost a couple of hands that I played but thankfully they were to short stacks. The first was when I raised solidly from the button with 6's and the small blind woke up with queens. Another raise from the hijack when I had ace queen only to be flat-called by kings in the big blind and then he pushed on the flop but I had to call because there was so much in the pot.

When we got down to two tables left I stole a couple of pots when checked to and had queens twice in the blinds that helped me chip right up. Once when someone shoved with ace rag and another I shoved vs multiple limpers, got called by ace jack and he only managed to catch a jack. Those moved me in to the top 5 stacks and I avoided any further trouble to finish in the top 9 out of 8200 players and qualify for the Main Event Satellite. I checked that tournament which isn't for another 30 days yet and apparently there can be up to 40,000 players and again you have to finish in the top 9. The odds on getting through that size field are extremely slim but its worth a shot.

Online frustrations

I've had a couple of frustrating sessions on Pokerstars over the last couple of days. I played for a couple of hours on Friday night and then most of the day yesterday.

Friday night started well with a 6th place in a $3.25 45 man but from there I failed to cash in the next 9 tournaments. I fell just short in a Sunday Quarter Million qualifier and bubbled 2 or 3 of the $2.20 180 mans. I ran in to a number of big hands at the wrong time. Approaching the money someone would minraise and I'd have pockets in the blinds. The plan was to call pre and then push on the flop and hope they had missed the flop or had an under-pair to the board. Unfortunately, the times I did this the opponent infact had an over-pair.

I started yesterday slowly taking a few misses before I cashed a Sunday Quarter Million qualifier. From there things went to shit as I got nothing out of the next 15 games. It felt like suck-out central ... with some seemingly horrible beats that were taking their toll on my patience.

I then cashed 3 of the next 8 games, a 7th a 6th and a 4th all in the $3.25 45 man games. After another stretch of failing to cash, I finished the night with 3 out of 4. Bubbling the final table of two 180's and finally a second place finish in a 45 man. Just before the final table I tripled my stack by taking out one player and crushing another stack when I had two all-ins in front of me and I had kings in the big blind short-handed. First player pushed with king queen off, small blind tried to isolate with pocket tens and I caught the last king on the flop to crush them both.

A couple of hands in to the final table I took out two players with pocket aces holding up against ace queen off and pocket 5's. So by this point I had a massive chip-stack in comparison to the rest of the table. Not surprisingly I went a little card dead at this point but cruised through to the final 3. Still in a good position I turned up the pressure without much luck against my opponents. By the time we got down to heads-up the other guy had a 2:1 chip lead having knocked out the last player. I OPR'd him and found out he was a good player and seemed to be showing it at the table. He had one gear heads-up and that was either all-in or fold. With his chip lead and the blinds at 1/10 of my stack the battle didn't last too long. I pushed all-in from the small blind with ace 5 off, got called by queen ten suited and he flopped a queen.

So at the bottom of yesterday my bankroll was down to the low $400's but I got it back to $470 by the end. A losing couple of days and very frustrating. I've been at this same level for the last couple of months, going up and down between $400 and $600. I feel like I'm playing well, I know at times I need to be more aggressive stealing blinds late but its hard at these levels when you get called by rubbish a lot of the time. I really feel like I have something to prove ... that I can smash this level, but its just not happening right now. As you can see from the graph below, its only the $2 games that I'm not ahead on. Sure, I'd also like to be a lot more profitable at the $3 level ... but at least I'm a little ahead.

Quick session on PokerStars

I really should've been doing some work tonight but got started playing on PokerStars and never got around to it. I don't have much planned for this weekend so I'll do it then ... promise.

I played in three of the Sunday Quarter Million satellite's, qualifying for one and bubbling another but still cashing (the final spot that doesn't qualify but gets the surplus cash). I'm finding these games fairly easy at the moment, doing well in them but they do take a while to play and only start once an hour.

In the other games I was just playing the $1.10 45 man tournaments. They started off terribly for me when I ran kings in to someone that was slowplaying aces and then I couldn't win a race with another pair of kings, queens and anything else that went in well ahead but failed to hold up. Thankfully I finally got a final table and a 4th placed finish. I had a good size stack and was 1st with 8 to go but two short stack all-ins that I called, flopped a flush draw and both times couldn't find one more of my suit. These took me back to an average stack and when everyone folded and I had aces in the big blind, I knew it wasn't going to be my night.

So a short session but again a slightly profitable one. Bankroll still over US$500.

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.

Back in the game

Well, after almost two weeks of not playing on PokerStars, I got back in the game yesterday.

I felt I was playing well but didn't have the results at the start of the session. From the first 20 tournaments I cashed just twice and had a number of bubbles. Thankfully I then hit a purple patch cashing 4 straight games. The only downside was that I couldn't get any higher than 6th in any of them.

After a few more blanks, I finished the night with a 5th in a 180 which was a little better payout. I felt like I played it really well and it was the sort of tournament that in the past I may not have made the money or min-cashed but made some moves at the right time that got me on to the final table with a chance of a decent finish.

I played for a fair few hours yesterday and with the 5th placed finish probably only broke even. With the slow start, my bankroll actually was under $400 for the first time in months. Not good ...

After getting up early and doing some stair-running this morning, I jumped online around lunch and have pretty much played ever since. OPR hasn't caught up so I can't see all of my results. Thankfully I can see my bankroll and its back over $500 ($510 to be precise).

I played really well in another 180 man and had a considerable chip lead on the final table. I was a big chance to take it down but had some unlucky hands. Four handed I ran ace ten suited in to pocket aces and then I called a small blind shove with ace jack in the big blind, he turned over pocket 4's, I flopped a jack, fist-pumped ... and then a four on the turn, ouch! I ended up finishing 3rd which was a little disappointing.

I finally got a win in a tournament also, a $3 45 man game. Despite facing a 5:1 deficit when heads-up play began I fought back to parity and then got paid off with two pair vs middle pair. I had OPR'd my opponent, saw they weren't good and picked up they were playing very tight. So I took advantage of it, got aggressive, hit a few flops and got the win. I can't even remember when I last won a tournament so it was nice to get that monkey off the back.

I finished the night playing a few of the $2.20 satellites to the Sunday 1/4 Million. Since the tournament starts at 5am in the morning my time, the plan was to just get the win and then unregister and take the tournament money. The games are fairly soft and I'd read on the Two Plus Two poker forum that they were a good way to grow a bankroll. I qualified in three of them and was unlucky not to go 4 of 4. The only problem with them is that they're not turbo so they take a while and slow down even more near the bubble.

So it was nice to have a profitable day again. I think I probably made $70 which is ok but mainly it was good for the confidence again after poor results of late. I had a look at my SharkScope graph yesterday and it was big downward slide. Its looking a lot healthier now and my form is even listed as "hot".

Two good sessions in a row

Has the comeback begun? After running poorly for the last week or so its nice to have two solid sessions in a row. When I last saw you I finished the night cashing in 4 of my last 6 tournaments and yesterday was another day of cashing plenty.

I went to the gym in the morning, did a good cardio session, grabbed a late breakfast and watched the start of season 5 of Entourage. Before actually playing I railed Assassinato who was going deep in a number of the games he was playing. He final tabled a big MTT and bubbled another and while I'm sure he's disappointed he couldn't finish one off, he was obviously playing well and doing well to get so far numerous times.

Watching that I decided to late register for an MTT myself. I don't get to play them too often due to the times they run and me not wanting to get to bed at 3am so Saturday was a chance to get in to one. It was a $2 buy-in with just under 5000 starters, I played pretty well and finished just outside the top 100. There were 2 limpers and I had pocket 8's in the big blind so I pushed all-in, got one fold from early position but after some thinking time the small blind called with 9 10 off, flopped two pair and turned the boat. I was short-stacked so I wasn't sure they could fold but it was disappointing all the same.

I also played a few more of the $2 qualifiers to the Sunday 1/4 Million. I mentioned these games a few weeks back and the beauty of them is that 1/5 of the field wins a ticket and you can unregister for the tournament and instead take 5 times your initial buy-in. The standard of play isn't good but if you're patient they're not hard to beat. I won the first one I played in, fell just short in the second when I ran in to the loose chip leader who had a big hand and then got donked out of the 3rd one when my pocket kings got beaten by king 3 suited when I rose solidly pre-flop, c-bet solidly and he called with bottom pair on the flop and another 3 came on the turn ... sick.

I didn't do any good in the 180's but cashed all 3 of the $3 45 man games I played. Unfortunately I didn't get any deeper than 5th, when someone limped with 9's, I pushed with ace king suited and couldn't hit post-flop. So all up, I played 12 tournaments yesterday, cashing in 6. I played for a few hours but didn't play any more than 3 tables at a time to make sure I was concentrating and not missing too many spots.

Not sure if I'll play today. Sunday is usually not a profitable day for me and I have a lot of stuff to get done. I need to get to the gym again, clean up the unit, the office and get a bit of work done.

Back-to-back wins

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

I played for a while on Saturday without any overly exciting results. The best was a win/qualification in a satellite for PokerStars' Sunday Quarter Million. I read on the Two Plus Two Forums that this tournament was good for building your bankroll. Essentially its a $2 but in and if you finish in the top 20% of the field you qualify for the Quarter Million but can unregister and take $11 in tournament cash. I played two of these and qualified for one. It wasn't too tough a game but it did take a while to play so I'm not sure its a great game for me, especially when the actual Quarter Million is on at 4am on a Monday morning Australian time.

I was online playing last night and had a very slow start to the night. I was in the middle of playing a few tournaments when I got a Skype video call from a friend of mine in Switzerland. She's hot and I don't get to chat to her that much so I certainly can't down the call ... but of course, not ideal when your 4 tabling tournaments. Later on in the night tho things picked up and after 5th place in a $3.25 45 man I ended the session with back to back wins in the same game. That was the first time I've ever won 2 tournaments in a row and it was a nice achievement ... not to mention the two $42 first prize payouts are good for the bankroll.

Tonight was a slightly profitable one with nothing too exciting to report. I finished the night with a 4th place in a $3.25 45 man and a 3rd in a $1.10 90 man tournament. I've been doing really well in the $3.25 45 man games over the last few days but struggling to put up results in the $2 180 tournament, failing to cash in my last 10 attempts. I checked out my graph on SharkScope and I'm over 30% ROI in $1 games, just under 30% ROI in the $3 games but am unprofitable in the $2 tournaments.

I set my goal this month at 5 wins but I've already passed that with 6 so far. The bankroll is now just over $550 and hopefully I can continue to keep it moving upwards.