Thursday, December 27, 2007

Quick Update

Tonight I went and played in the usual Wed game my buddy and I play in. $20/60-80 players, horrible structure but 100% payout. He has an incredible record of cashing 9 out of 13 trys there. Hard not to go back there for him with that ITM %.
Anyways, I end up busting out of that tourney while he again makes final table and ITM (top 7 paid).
So after dropping him off I get home about 40 minutes into the Round 2 PokerAfterDark freeroll on FullTilt. First hand I see is AhKh UTG, and I pot raise. Get two callers. Player to my left and the button call. I have 1700+ in chips, next player has 3000+ and button about 2200. Flop is Jh10h8c. Not too bad of a draw for me, nut nut plus two overs. I check, next player bets 200 into a 400 pot. I figure him for weak draw so I reraise all in. I know I know, donkey play... but hey they do it to me all the time and hit. Course he insta calls with KJo, and I of course brick brick, end of my run. LOL Oh well I knew it was a bad play. Just figured with 15 (18 hopefully) outs I might actually hit one like they hit their two outers on me. But alas, twas not to be.
Remember this is my place to whine. My buddy gets tired of hearing it.... even though he got a phone call immediately at the end of the hand. LOL

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Mid Holidays

Well my liking of FullTilt's freerolls is starting to wane. LOL
Getting tired of the total bingo they play at any point in the tourney. I have still been making it deep fairly often in the PokerAfterDark freerolls but still frustrating. Made several fts on Tuesday. And also finished in top two to advance to Round 2. That tourney is tonight. Hope I do as well.

Been very frustrated with my play on Pokerstars in the SNGs. I haven't played alot but had hoped I would at least money enough to break even. I guess I have done a little better than even but not much. Have tried to play a few $4/180man SNG. Going deep in only one but got knocked out like 25th. Tried one $5/9man SNG. Got all my money in with JJ vs a guy who raised 96o and then called my ai for 65% of his stack. Flop 785 just like it was meant to be. LOL So I swore off cash tourneys on Pokerstars for the rest of the day.
Well that is till 6PM and the $1 mtt (LOL) and the 7PM $1mtt and the 8PM $.50 mtt. Course whiffing in all 3.

Also played in the $500 10fpp freeroll. I still consistently cash in this tourney. For anyone that is broke and doesn't want to deposit, play this tourney for two weeks straight and you should easily get some funds to maybe play a .01/.02 NL cash table. Tournament started with 5013 players, top 801 paid (as usual). Made it very deep in this one. Final Table!! But I went out 9th as I made the mistake of moving ai with A9o just as we were being seated at the final table. Clearly I didn't know that was happening or I wouldn't have shoved with A9. But I also thought the bb had an easy fold if he didn't wake up with a real hand... which he did, 1010. No A and I am out in 9th. $5.55 for like 3 hours of play. LOL One of these days I might actually win the damn thing... I doubt it but I can dream.

Also played in a couple of the $2.20 bounty mtt on UB at 4:30PM EST. Went deep in one without knocking out a single player. That sucked. I think I went out like 27th. Top 50 paid.

Overall been frustrated with my play. Always seems like one or two hands in any tourney where I fold when my first instict was to call, and I would have made the hands and had very good sized stacks. Have to get over that hump. Hopefully the end of the year closes out on a good note. I need it as the last part of my year has been very very flat when the first part of the year was good to me.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Sucky Sunday

Got up Sunday not really sure what I would do. Figured I would play a few SNGs early then figure out what was for lunch.
Well the play early was bad. Course what do you expect at the .50 and 1.00 level on UB. LOL I Don't even remember if they were multi-table SNGs or just single table. I just know they chased me for any draw they needed. I would raise preflop out of the bb with AA and flop an A. Bet the pot on the flop... praying someone had the last ace. Instead I get called by someone playing a 35o in mp who called my raise and flopped a gut shot. Course came like a scheduled Japanese bullet train right on the turn. Fortunately did not lose all my chips but I didn't last much longer after that. I think I played one more and ended up like 5th. I should have stopped because I know I caught myself playing like they do..... chasing my draws big time. And playing weak hands for small raises trying to get lucky flops. Just doesn't work for me.... well not all that often.
I think I called a couple of friends to see if they wanted to grab a bite to eat.... no takers. LOL no surprise. Found some left over Chinese food from Friday and nuked it. Decided to try my hand at a $4/180 SNG on PS. Went fairly deep but donked off my chips on a hand where I knew I was beat but kept praying to hit after the flop..... out in 36th. Not that deep but close for me. Played a few freerolls on FT (my new freeroll pond) but nothing major. A few ftbs but no advances. And of course not ftbs in the money freerolls, only the round 1 freerolls. Played a couple of other $1 and $2 SNGs on UB..... no luck. I think I only cashed in one money SNG all day! Even for me that is bad. Was frustrating. I should have known to stop. Figured I would try one more $4/180 on PS. Mistake. I think I went out 150th. I call a nuisance raise/pot builder (min) raise from ep player with one other caller in front of me. I was button -2. Had 77. Flop is 278, rainbow. Original raiser bets out min. Caller raises min. I just smooth call. Now gets interesting. Original raiser raises about 50% of pot. Ok... he has a big pair, AA, KK or QQ. Next player reraises again. Not sure where to put him but I put him on some kinda draw. At this point I reraise all in as the pot is significant and I want at least one of them to drop. Original raiser calls ai. Now the midplayer insta calls and has us both covered by like 110. EP has KK, mp has 109 for oesd. Wow.... called two AIs instantly with oesd. I guess. Would never work out for me but he hits it instantly and no filler for me. GG off ; to more cussing at the screen. LOL

Only thing lately that has gone right for me in poker was a small 22 man tourney I played in at a friend's house. This is a weekly game that has some very very good players in it. Many aggressive players with great post flop games also. I have never cashed in this game. One of the few live tournies (not at casinos) that I have played in more than a few times where I never cashed. I normally make it to the point where the antes start and just practically blind off. It is a $40 game. It goes late and even when I get knocked out it is usually around 11:30 so I don't play in it often because it is another half hour to get home. I was off Friday so I decided to RSVP for it.

I should also preface this by saying that I was first out on Tuesday in the $20 / 120 man donkey tourney I play in weekly!!! First out... not sure I have ever done that before. LOL Not there anyways. LOL Didn't want to be there and knew I shouldn't have gone. He had AA in bb and I had AK behind button. I raise, he reraised, I smooth called, flop came top K, he bet, I called... turn a blank, he shoved I called and asked AA or KK, he turns up the AA. I knew I was beat but didn't care. Bad play on my part and I knew it the minute he bet the flop.

Anyways, onto the Thursday night tourney......Early couldn't get a hand to hold up. Only hand I actually hit, was AJ with A on flop.... player bet so just smooth called. Two diamonds on flop of A68. Two callers behind me. Turn is a 7 non diamond. SB who bet flop now checks so I bet out 1k to find out where I am. Both callers call me as does SB. River is a 4. Check, check check and check. SB has pocket 7s!! bet the flop and got lucky and hit. I should have known better. Player behind me had two diamonds, J high and last player had weak A. I guess I could have won this with a reraise on the flop, sevens might have laid down. Oh well, one of the big weaknesses in my game. After that maybe two small pp, dead on flop... easy to let go. Played till we consolidated tables then went on a little tear with about 4 out of 5 hands and accumulated some chips. Then went card dead for awhile again. Losing chips with a few calls and the blinds. Down to about 7 or 6 players (top 3 paid). Get AJ in ep and raise ai because of the stacks and blinds. SS calls with KQ. Course K on flop. I start whining to another player with whom I had had a discussion with earlier in the night about KQ. I pissed off the player that called me. I really have to learn to shut my mouth and just take it. I wouldn't have said a word if he had lost. He was a good player but I had seen a couple of other weak plays from him and I was surprised he called. He did only have about 5x bb (with 4 more hands before bb) but it was for 65-75% of my stack and I was steamed. I apologized later of course. I end up getting down to ss and lost my bb. I was down to $600 in sb. Blinds were 800/1600 with 300 ante!!!!! We were 5 handed I believe. I ended up winning the whole thing!!!!!! Unfortunately it wasn't my skills that got me there. LOL The deck slapped me in the face - ala Jamie Gold without that talking shit and thinking I was playing good. But I was happy to take it down just before Christmas. Need it for my daughter's gifts. :)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Big hands early...... hate em!

I have always hated getting big hands very early in a MTT or SNG. Played a $4/180man SNG on PS. I played two hands and was out within 20 minutes!

One of the first hands of the tourney I get KK in the SB. 4 limpers + BB + SB = pot of 110. So I raise it to 215. Hoping to move any weak hands out. Get two callers. BB and early mp player. Flop is A7x, two hearts. I check as my Ace magnets have done their job as normal. BB shoves!! EMP player calls!!... I lay down of course. BB has K7s in hearts and EMP has A3o. Wow... good calls preflop. Course maybe that is my problem that I am not willing to gamble with crap... mainly because I don't win many coin flips much less win when I am way behind. A3o wins the hand. Nice hand to double up with immediately.

About 15 hands later I am on the button with AA. Small raise in MP with one caller. I reraise just over the pot. I know most people want action with AA but I prefer only other strong hands call. I think the blinds were 15/30 at this point so my reraise of pot put me down to about 800. One caller(original raiser). Flop is 653, rainbow. MP raiser/caller bets out 100 into a 800+ pot. Don't think he has a set.... maybe an over pair to the board. So I (like the donk that I am) reraise ai since the pot is bigger than my remaining stack at this point. He insta calls and shows 74s in spades. GG me. I wish I had half the horseshoe shoved up my ass that some of these people have. If I win 35% of my COINFLIPs I am feeling lucky... much less calling shit like that and praying for a miracle flop or even river.

Oh well. Always another beat to wait on in the next tourney. LOL

Monday, December 10, 2007

Finally........

Finally burst the bubble on FT. Got $5 cash in my account now from a RAZZ freeroll. Figures I would do well at a game where worst hand is best. LOL
Have really stayed away from playing cash tournies with all the freerolls I can play lately. My account on PS has stayed about the same except for a transfer I sent a friend. Just haven't wanted to lose any. LOL And haven't had the patience to play in the large $1 tournies on PS.
Actually all this crazy freeroll action I have been doing is hurting my live game. I played on Sunday but found myself not having the normal patience I usually show. I ended up moving all in on a stone bluff ...... just when my opponent hit his set of Ks. LOL Talk about bad timing. Had a small redraw for a 3 but no miracle on the river.

There was something else I wanted to put in here but can't remember now. LOL figures.

Looks like I might be going to WV for a couple of days to play at the new card rooms there. Not sure yet. Will give a short trip report if I do.

Friday, December 7, 2007

New Pond

Well through some information from a buddy of mine I have found a new freeroll pond to swim in with the other fish. LOL
I have been playing in the $100 freerolls on FullTilt when I am lucky enough to get in them. Some of them fill in under 45 seconds and full is 2700 players!!! You have to be waiting on them as soon as registration opens or you are screwed.
Anyways, I semi discovered and mainly was informed that they run freeroll SNGs all day long. Didn't know that and it is another thing that fills super quick. The freerolls are to feeders into second round feeders into another freeroll.... but hey.....they are free.
The final rounds are for a seat on Poker After Dark and a trip to a tournament in Australia! Either would be awesome to win.
On Wed when I was home from work I made 4 fts in them out of probably 30 tournies. LOL and made quite a few other deep runs. The SNGs are either 180, 315 or 630 players. Teh 180s advance two players while the others advance only 1.

Other than that .... still playing the freerolls on UB... another 41st place. :( And of course a few other top 100 finishes out of 3800 minimum player freerolls on UB. Most are 5000.
And also recommend if you are on FT looking at the freerolls to check out each of the restricted ones. Some of them are just restricted to a certain countries including the US.

Monday, December 3, 2007

The Day After........

Well it is Monday but somehow still feels like Sunday..... which felt like a Monday anyways. LOL
The big tournament has come and gone and pretty much left me discouraged and somewhat depressed.

Play started out normal.... meaning bad. Players that have no clue about the game they are playing but get super lucky. But then just give all the chips back to someone else or spread them around the table. I really didn't take any bad beats. I can't remember a single bad beat all day. Most hands that I was in (which wasn't many) I won unless they were my blind. Early hand of JJ raised, called in 4 places... flop with a K and turn with an A. Easy lay down as I was in ep and put no additional money in the pot. I played for just over 10 hours. Didn't seem that long except for a 2-3 hour period in the middle where I went extremely card dead. And I don't mean the dead like QJo was my best hand and I didn't want to play it... more like Q2o was looking very good! Unfortunately this was just before my table broke and the blinds had finally started to get fairly high. Started the day with 114 players. I started out about 13th or 14th in chip stacks based on our point accumulation through the year. (see previous posts for how they were awarded). Only got my money in bad once when I raised AKs and a ss called but couldn't even cover the raise and I hit my A.

We started with 11 tables... a few with 11 players, most 10. I was at table 5 and when my table broke I moved to table 1. So I knew I wouldn't be moving again till I was out. (they break tables in order ending with 1) Top 15 were paid. 15-11 each getting $100. I went out 13th. My mind is still somewhat fried by the play that I observed. Most bad play didn't occur against me.... strangely enough. It was almost always something I observed. I can't even begin to remember all of the bad plays. Only one that sticks in my mind partly because it made a huge difference to me and where I finished ( or may have finished). Blinds were at 5k and 10k. I am two behind the button with a total of 16 or 17 players remaining. Super short stack moves ai with only 4300. I have QJ and it was looking good as I had started to go card dead again and two face cards were huge. But it gets folded around to the sb who has over 100k in chips. Grumpy old man who had made many bad plays earlier and still got lucky and knocked out a few players. Anyways, he proceeds to raise the bb out of the hand. Makes it 30K total to go. BB folds... looks at the guy incredulously as if he is stupid with their being an all inner. From comes 7 high and bb would have flopped a pair and oesd. SB raised 108o. Yes that is correct, 10 8 off suit. He hits nothing and the all inner wins with A high.

Now if the all inner had been knocked out here, we either would have been in the money or bubble... not sure but later it would have made a difference to me on another hand. A side note is that I would have won with the J on the turn but knew the old man would play any two and I didn't have enough chips left to move anyone.... maybe 34k. The later hand that would have made the difference was my sb with 33. Only had a total of 26k and the blinds were now 10k/20k. The previous all inner ss was still in the game and there was an all in at the other table of a short stack. There was a raise in front of me and I considered calling but there was already another call. I knew that if both myself and the ss at the other table busted I would have been in the money if we both went out because I had more chips than he did. Hell I would even have delayed my hand a little to see if he got knocked out. But we were still at 17! :( Long story short... the all inner at the other table got knocked out and I would have hit a set of 3s on the river to win the hand. But we were still at 16 at this point. The extra chips would have at least gotten me to the final table of 11. Last time I went to the final table ss I ended up getting 5th. I am much better working a full table with a short stack than I am a short handed game. Now I know many good players would say the old man did the right thing... and you are correct. When you are a big stack you want to keep the super ss in play in the bubble because that gives you an edge over the medium stacks (such as myself... even though I was actually ss also but not the bottom 3 at the time). But this old man had no clue about that type of strategy... he was just playing his monster cards.... 108o.

Sunday was all a blur as I was still in a haze from Saturday's tourney... which I am still in today, just not as bad. Sunday was actually a good day online. Either Friday or Sat night I played in a $2 sat to the $100k on Sunday on PS. Qualified. On Sunday I looked at the tourney lobby and the prize pool was up to $160k +. I actually decided I wasn't thinking clearly enough to play that long to try to get anywhere so I unregistered from the tourney and got my $10+1 tourney dollars put in my account. About an hour later I decided to give a $10 - 9 man tourney a try. A little out of my comfort zone for buy in but figured it was like free money since I satellited into it. One of the first 5 hands I get 55 in mp. I limp. Flop comes 875. 5 players in the hand still. Checked to me and I check. LP player bets like double the bb. Warning signs should have been going off in my head but they weren't. LOL Told you I was in a funk. SB calls, bb folds I reraise pot. LP smooth calls. SB folds. Ace on turn and I bet out pot and he pushes. I call. He has 88. No quads for me but luckily I had him covered by 130!! LOL Now at this point everyone is still in the game..... not one knock out yet! Sucks to be me at this point. I don't remember how but between patience and lots of luck I end up working my way back and then knocking out a few. I end up heads up. Guy has me out chipped pretty good but we go back and forth a bit. Fairly even in chips now when I get K8o in bb and he min raises. So I call. K37, rainbow. I check, he bets I reraise pot, he raises min and I shove. He thinks for a very short period and calls. He will have 390 left with the blinds at least 200/400 at this point if he doesn't win the hand. He turns over 93s and I am thinking yes I have him. Till the 3 hits the turn and I am out. Was a little upset but no biggie as I turned $2.20 into $27.00 and I also had entered into a $4/180man tourney on PS so I turned my attention to that and got over the beat quickly. I ran pretty good in the 180 and finished 4th. Could have done better but I tilted from a beat on FullTilt in the HORSE freeroll. LOL I gotta stop playing multiple game types at the same time. Some donkey (not that much unlike myself) capped the betting on the come in and on 4th in the Razz portion. I had a pretty decent starter (2A,46) so I was pushing back at him. I hit the Q on 5th and backed off as he kept pushing like he had a 7 low. I make my low on 6th with an 8 but didn't want to push things. The idiot had K6, 73, then K! Then A on 6th and 7th was a 2!!!!!!!He was still raising on 5th which is when I just called his raise. So that tilted me when I saw his hand and I didn't pay particular attention to the $4/180 when we were 4 handed. Had a pp and went all in after flop because of tilt and the other player was super aggressive and thought he might be pushing with A high...... not to be the case as he flopped top pair.

Oh well... still a decent day on PS.

But not enough to get me completely out of my funk.