Nice if you can do it.
I held 88 and limped in, early in an SNG. I did not have to pay any more to see the flop which was J85 with two low clubs. Jackpot! Except, I was facing six opponents...
The first one (I think) raised to 150, five times the big blind. The pot until then was 210. One player called. Two. Three. THEN it was my turn... My stack was 1740 at this point, the pot was 810. Now, it was clear to me that I was facing at least one flush draw, and moreover I know that people with flush draws are typically hard to get rid of. But I did have a set, and was a clear favorite against a flush draw.
So I pushed.
The player to my left, who had not acted yet in this round, folded. The original raiser called. The next player folded. The next player called. The last player called as well. Now the four of us were all-in to see the rest of the hand. I felt sure I was going to lose to a made flush.
But first let us review what my worthy opponents had. The original raiser had 67 of clubs, so he actually had a straight flush draw and may well have been favorite to win the hand at this point (I did not have the chance to read all the percentages in time). The second caller had KK. Imagine that - first limping preflop, and then flat calling a bet of 150 (three-fourths of the pot) postflop after one other caller, on a somewhat dangerous board. Can you play KK more horribly than that? I think not! At the very least you want to make the people who are on a flush draw pay at this point...
The last caller had K4 of clubs. Given this opposition, where of course especially the straight flush draw was worrysome (even though with the 4 of clubs out he was actually drawing to the straight flush only at one end), as I wrote I had a very bad feeling about this.
Until the turn card appeared, that is.
It was the missing 8. Of course the straight flush guy still had a chance to beat me (I shudder to think that he might have won this hand), but the river did not give him his single out and I won a pot of 6480 with this hand (starting stack 1500). Very nice...
Friday, December 28, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
End of a sequence
See my previous post (below), I did not manage to make it 9... However, I did win game #10 and cleared €10 of my bonus at Celeb at the same time, earning €15 in that game alone :-) It was again a very tough game though, my opponent was very aggressive. It is very hard to stand up to aggression with air. I tried it a few times but invariably he would turn out to have hit the flop or to beat my top pair queens with an 8 kicker vs. my 7 kicker...
However, he was quite loose in calling all-ins. First he called with QJo when I had K3, and then he pushed after my raise with A7 when I had AJ. Both these hands occurred when I was behind, and after the last game I again started to lose ground until in exasperation I raised with Q8 and called his push (his third or fourth push in succession) - THIS time he had AT, but an 8 on the flop sealed his fate.
It should be a lesson to me how much aggression helps in winning these games, but I never seem to be able to pull it off. Maybe I should just try it and also start raising preflop in every other game... Also this last opponent was especially good at exploiting position.
However, he was quite loose in calling all-ins. First he called with QJo when I had K3, and then he pushed after my raise with A7 when I had AJ. Both these hands occurred when I was behind, and after the last game I again started to lose ground until in exasperation I raised with Q8 and called his push (his third or fourth push in succession) - THIS time he had AT, but an 8 on the flop sealed his fate.
It should be a lesson to me how much aggression helps in winning these games, but I never seem to be able to pull it off. Maybe I should just try it and also start raising preflop in every other game... Also this last opponent was especially good at exploiting position.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Six EIGHT wins in a row
Time to stop playing :-) well... after two more games, later that same day...
I would not have thought it possible, but I just managed to winsix eight heads up €5 games in a row at Celeb, bringing my bankroll there up from a measly €55 to now €83 €93. I should mention though that the second game of this sequence brought me a large slice of fortune when I was all-in with 44 preflop against 88 and flopped a 4. I should not have been in that position, my opponent was annoying me with frequent raises and I thought I had found a good spot to stand up to him. Well...
I should be very very close to clearing my €10 bonus at Celeb now, but I am really going to stop playing now and enjoy the feeling of winning6 EIGHT games in a row.
Before this, I had tried a small MTT at Pacific with disastrous results...
***
$5 Pacific
QQ as BB. Reraise to 100 = 5BB. All call... Low flop, I push. Pot is 410, my stack was 690. One idiot calls with top pair plus gutshot, I win. 1790, avg 1046. Blinds 15/30. I am in third position! 26 players out of 34 remain after only 10 minutes.
AJs as first hand on new table. I limp. FLop = JTx, flush draw with top pair... Bet and a raise, I just call. Turn gives me TWO pair! Raiser from just now raises a bit more now. I push, he calls with a worse flush draw... 3220, just 5 chips less than the chip leader!! Only two tables left now, only 16 players left! Half the field is gone and I am nearly chip leader.
Limp ATo UTG. With chips like this... minraise. I call, other player too, but I miss the flop. Check-fold. 93 as BB. I get to see a flop but I miss it entirely, not interested in this hand. AA as SB!!!!
Amazing... Folded to me, I minraise. DAMN, BB folds. Oh well. Still 3120.
JJ in MP!!! Push in front of me, I push over the top. He has QQ.... DAMN, down to 1200 now. WHAT an idiot. Good thing his stack was not so high.
Blinds now 50/100, M=8. Avg = 1700. Still 16 players left.
I can't believe he open pushed QQ... A7 as BB. Folded to me, thank you very much. T4 as SB, early raise and call. Still 1200.
A6 OTB. I limp after one limper. SB minraises, BB pushes, very nice. They have JJ and AQ, AQ wins...
Waiting for a chance to push now. 14 players left. A9 in 2nd pos. not quite good enough. Folded to the blinds, who limp...
Blinds now 75/150, M=5. Blinds coming up. A6 as BB. One limper, I push, he calls with AK. Just LOVELY.
I would not have thought it possible, but I just managed to win
I should be very very close to clearing my €10 bonus at Celeb now, but I am really going to stop playing now and enjoy the feeling of winning
Before this, I had tried a small MTT at Pacific with disastrous results...
***
$5 Pacific
QQ as BB. Reraise to 100 = 5BB. All call... Low flop, I push. Pot is 410, my stack was 690. One idiot calls with top pair plus gutshot, I win. 1790, avg 1046. Blinds 15/30. I am in third position! 26 players out of 34 remain after only 10 minutes.
AJs as first hand on new table. I limp. FLop = JTx, flush draw with top pair... Bet and a raise, I just call. Turn gives me TWO pair! Raiser from just now raises a bit more now. I push, he calls with a worse flush draw... 3220, just 5 chips less than the chip leader!! Only two tables left now, only 16 players left! Half the field is gone and I am nearly chip leader.
Limp ATo UTG. With chips like this... minraise. I call, other player too, but I miss the flop. Check-fold. 93 as BB. I get to see a flop but I miss it entirely, not interested in this hand. AA as SB!!!!
Amazing... Folded to me, I minraise. DAMN, BB folds. Oh well. Still 3120.
JJ in MP!!! Push in front of me, I push over the top. He has QQ.... DAMN, down to 1200 now. WHAT an idiot. Good thing his stack was not so high.
Blinds now 50/100, M=8. Avg = 1700. Still 16 players left.
I can't believe he open pushed QQ... A7 as BB. Folded to me, thank you very much. T4 as SB, early raise and call. Still 1200.
A6 OTB. I limp after one limper. SB minraises, BB pushes, very nice. They have JJ and AQ, AQ wins...
Waiting for a chance to push now. 14 players left. A9 in 2nd pos. not quite good enough. Folded to the blinds, who limp...
Blinds now 75/150, M=5. Blinds coming up. A6 as BB. One limper, I push, he calls with AK. Just LOVELY.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Tonight's game
I played 2.5 hours for a €5 profit... well, I guess this is more than I have made in certain heads up sessions that lasted this long :-(
€5 buyin.
Blinds 20, raises to 100 are NOT respected. There is some preflop raise in basically every hand. Flop bets are also not really respected.
65s as SB. I complete, get flush draw on flop. I check. There are 5 opponents... One raises big, another one reraises, I am out of here! No flush. The big raise was top pair top kicker, the reraise was top pair no kicker... 99th out of 150, 212 started.
I moved tables and get AKo as first hand in MP. UTG raises to 150 = 3BB. I call. Flop Axx, and my opponent starts betting and pays me in full. I raise only on the turn, he calls, checks river and calls my bet that brings me near 0. Oh I had made a third Ace on the way as well. 2535, avg 2427.
84 as BB, hit middle pair on flop, try a bet but BOTH opps call! 2360.
SB QT, big bet and call in front of me, I fold. Flop QJ4...
KTs in LP, speculative call after 1 limper (really wanted to steal here).
Flop gives me a good flush draw. But a huge stack pushes. 2310.
KTo in the next hand... This time I'll fold it.
2310 - 3117 - 50/100 - M=15 - Q=0.7
RHS is being an idiot, he has a huge stack and is donking it off.
Fold 22 UTG... had clicked fold before I saw the second card. Would have gotten to see the flop, but missed it, phew.
A8 as BB. Big raise plus all-in reraise... A3 vs 99. 99 wins.
AK as SB! Early minraise. plus two callers. This time I miss the flop. 2010 left.
A9s OTB. Three callers, I fold. Would have gotten flush draw but no odds to call. Would have made the flush though. Better this way!
Table is still playing quite loose, I will not get to steal anytime soon, it seems. 60th out of 93 remaining, break in 15 minutes.
I am SO glad that RHS is indeed to my right...
One idiot just left the table, he threw it all away on middle pair.
2010 - 3785 - 75/150 - M=9 - Q=0.6
QQ as BB! Yeah. I just push after three limpers. RHS calls, as I was hoping he would - he has J6 and amazingly, I win, though the flop gives him a gutshot straight draw. That makes a nice change! New situation:
my stack 4245 - avg 4240 - 75/150 - M=18 - Q=1
A LOT better... My push was in principle not good, but people are calling SO loose at this table, I wanted to have only one opponent. And there was quite a good chance that idiot RHS would call after limping. Now 34th out of 75.
Oh my god, RHS just won another huge pot when he went all-in on two overcards, got two callers, and spiked one overcard on the river. Harsh. Let's hope he is just keeping those chips warm for me...
And now he won another one when he flopped two pair and another player called his push with top pair Aces. No wonder he did not believe him. He now has 15k. Pretty disgusting stuff. I just hope he gives me some of them later.
BREAK. 36th out of 62. Stack unchanged, avg now 5129, blinds will be 100/200, so M will be 13. Quite nice! Of course my Q is down to 0.8 but that is fine.
Forty more players need to be eliminated, so my stack needs to about triple in size in the next hour, to 12k. Let's see what we can do.
The next blinds, both times a big raise in front of me. Stack 3945.
A7 in hijack, but two limpers, including RHS.
33... I call due to my new rule. Miss flop though, KQ9... Try to steal it after all three opps check - and it works! 4545, nice. That's another way that you can win with 33, at least here I was in last position after the flop.
AKo now... RHS minraises, I just call. One more. Two. Miss flop... Fold. 4145.
TT UTG, I raise to 800. One caller. Ace on flop, I HAVE to bet, but he calls. Down to 2345, damn damn damn damn.... That's how fast things can go.
Now in 49th position out of 54 remaining.
22 as SB. Maybe I'll push, let's see what happens. Raise to 4BB plus a call, I fold. And miss the flop.
QJo OTB, there we have it... Another 4BB raise, again I fold. Now KTo. Same player again raises to 4BB. Stealing is going to be very difficult for me at this table. I am going to have to push after a limper at some point, if not after a raise. Same guy raises AGAIN on next hand, other opp pushes. He folds, good. Oh the blinds just went up, there is ante now, lovely.
Player who kept raising just lost a big pot, he will go out soon. Good.
AKs in 2nd pos. I HAVE to push now. RHS will probably call. Oops, BB calls as well! But I make top pair top kicker... AND WIN!!!! One opp had flush draw (3 hearts on flop) but did not fill up, thankfully. I'm saved for the moment!
Fold A8o in BB after raise and call.
Stack 6485 - avg 6235 - round costs 500 - M=12 - Q=1, nice. Pos. 21 / 50.
AQs in hijack, early minraise. I will call. One other before me. SB. BB folds. TOp pair top kicker, yeah! Checked to me. I bet half the pot, original raiser pushes, I fold, he has only KQ!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!
Bloody hell... Unbelievable, I thought he was trapping with AA or something. Hm. What were your pot odds? Pot = 500+400+400+300 = 1600 on the flop, 2400 when I bet, but I don't know what the raiser had. Let's say he had me covered, in that case he added 6100 to the pot now, making it 8500, and I could call for 5300. Those pot odds are not so great, but given his range I probably have a forced call here. I did not consider the pot odds at all here.
TT in MP. I will push given the chance. On second thought, I raise to 800. BB thinks... and folds. Stack 5360. Winning blinds + antes is not a bad result here. M=10.
Oh my god, I cannot believe the way that guy played top pair. Unbelievable. I would have been up to 12k if I had called that. Now 28th out of 48. RHS has been quiet for a while now.
Blinds now up to 200/400 with 50 antes. So my M has just dropped to 5. Great. My Q is 0.75 or so.
95o as BB. Button raises, SB calls, I fold. K5o as SB. Fold.
Table seems to have become a bit tighter by now, thankfully. Pos. 31/41.
Will still need to double up at least once.
Trying to take it easy, but this is not so... easy, yes.
Blinds coming up again. LHS has gone all-in after limpers several times already without getting called. He has 11k now.
85s as BB. Hit middle pair, but SB bets out, I'm out of here.
A5s as SB. Complete after two limpers, but miss flop. All check.
Turn does not help me. All check again! I lose to A6, 6 on river...
AK OTB! Nice. I push after one limper. BB thinks, folds. Limper folds.
Great result, back to 4635. But avg is now 8833, so Q=0.55 or so.
Blinds will increase to 300/600+50 before they hit me again, my M will be 3 only. This is very bad. Will have to see what may be done.
TT again! Early minraise, I push, LHS calls this....... as does raiser....
they have AJ and AK, I WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just tripled up: stack 13k, M=9, Q=1.4. Very nice. Blinds have gone up now.
Now I am 11th position out of 35, still some way to go.
K9o as BB. SB minraises, I just fold. 74o as SB, fold.
Just saw T6 all-in against 87s all-in, both players had large stacks. Now that is plain weird. Again, my idiot neighbor RHS wins (he had the T6).
And another big pot, now he has 24k and is chip leader, 32 left, I am 12th.
Very nice... I am BB, hand again gets folded around to SB who again raises, I have to fold (he will call with anything).
AQs as SB! I just call, flush draw on flop, bet out. Both opps FOLD, good boys. Back to 12.7k, avg = 10k. 31 left. Let's try to be a bit careful towards the bubble now. Though I guess we still have quite a few hands to play. Table is definitely tighter now.
Have to fold next blinds after raises. 11k. Try a steal as hijack, SB calls. BUT he checks the flop and folds after my bet!! Very good boy. That is much better than folding preflop. BTW he does not understand pot odds. 14k!
Only three tables left now, 29 players. Q=1.25. Blinds are now up to 400/800.
AQo, I minraise. BB pushes, he has AK! Fortunately I folded! 12.2k, M=6.
54s as BB, but I guess I won't see a flop. Yep, another all-in by kornel, he has again AK! Likes to show his cards. Fold SB when button minraises.
26 players left, getting close... Q=0.9, M = 5.
A2 in LP, minraise, all fold. Nice. 12k, again, M=6. Minraises seem to be enough most of the time at this table. 11th out of 25.
TT in 2nd pos, I push. No takers. 14k, good. M=7 now!
Q9 as BB. I am allowed to see a flop but miss it. JTo as SB. DAMN! I try to steal, hit middle pair but again there is an Ace on the flop and BB raises me when I bet. Next hand I push A3 OTB. Blinds fold. 11.5k, no big harm done, M=6.
A6 in MP, push, all fold. Very nice. 13k again. Still 12th out of 25. Only 7 players at my table. Blinds are going up exactly when they hit me, now 500/1000 plus ante 100. Round will cost 2200, M=6 (just barely).
BREAK. Only 22 players left now! I am 13th. REALLY need to be VERY CAREFUL now. Make sure to make the money. Don't push unless you get QQ or better, OK JJ or better. Preferably in late position after no limpers...
Can try to steal with minraises of course.
RHS is very annoying, keeps stealing my BB, but there is nothing I can do about it because I know he will call with almost anything.
Steal with 53s OTB, nice. 13k. Was a minraise. Only 21 players left, we have changed to hand for hand mode! Here's hoping I will reach the next hand for hand as well... Fold 77 in EP. SB raises, looks like somebody has an ace. Good fold by me...
A9 in 2nd pos, I fold. Would have hit middle pair. Guy in last position bets on the flop and wins the pot.
Kornel is getting extremely nice hands, he has shown down a lot of great hands and just made a flush on the turn. I am cowardly folding to his raise when I am BB. I am NOT going to go out in 21st place. 63s as SB, yay. Fold.
QTs as button. Fold after two limpers (one of whom is all-in now!). Would have made top pair on the turn. But lost on the river Ace. I AM IN THE MONEY.
Push A5 in hijack. All fold, good. Again 13k. 13th out of 20 left. Avg stack is 16.7k, Q=0.8 or so.
KQs. Plan to limp (there was already one limper). But RHS pushes, I fold.
AK (!) vs JJ!. Would not have ended well for me... 18 left now.
BTW, I moved tables again, so am finally rid of the idiot on my right hand side. 17 left now, going fast! People have loosened up considerably. Another all-in confrontation, A5 vs 88, 88 wins, 16 left. Now I am 14th out of 16. Hm. Not so great.
J2o as BB, UTG minraises, I fold. A push too. 88 as SB...
Will push if I get the chance. Early raise, I just fold, I don't like 88 enough for this. All fold.
99 in next hand!! Now all fold and I push. Blinds fold. 14k. Blinds have gone up, now 750/1500 plus 150 antes, this is pretty sick. M = 4. Tough.
Decide to fold K6 in MP. All fold... Fold K5 in next hand as well. Don't want to push too often.
AGAIN 99, this I will push. UTG had limped. fold... fold... fold... UTG folds too! Great. Now I can fold QTo UTG with a calm heart. Stack 18k now, looking better, M=5 again. But here are the blinds.
45s as BB. Fold to raise. SB pushes, raiser folds! 24 as SB... fold.
15 players left, I am 10th. Try to keep it together for a while longer...
Minraise OTB. SB calls. Hit top pair!! BB called as well BTW. They check to me. I bet out, BB pushes with KJ, I call, he had hit two pair on the flop... Out in 15th place.
€5 buyin.
Blinds 20, raises to 100 are NOT respected. There is some preflop raise in basically every hand. Flop bets are also not really respected.
65s as SB. I complete, get flush draw on flop. I check. There are 5 opponents... One raises big, another one reraises, I am out of here! No flush. The big raise was top pair top kicker, the reraise was top pair no kicker... 99th out of 150, 212 started.
I moved tables and get AKo as first hand in MP. UTG raises to 150 = 3BB. I call. Flop Axx, and my opponent starts betting and pays me in full. I raise only on the turn, he calls, checks river and calls my bet that brings me near 0. Oh I had made a third Ace on the way as well. 2535, avg 2427.
84 as BB, hit middle pair on flop, try a bet but BOTH opps call! 2360.
SB QT, big bet and call in front of me, I fold. Flop QJ4...
KTs in LP, speculative call after 1 limper (really wanted to steal here).
Flop gives me a good flush draw. But a huge stack pushes. 2310.
KTo in the next hand... This time I'll fold it.
2310 - 3117 - 50/100 - M=15 - Q=0.7
RHS is being an idiot, he has a huge stack and is donking it off.
Fold 22 UTG... had clicked fold before I saw the second card. Would have gotten to see the flop, but missed it, phew.
A8 as BB. Big raise plus all-in reraise... A3 vs 99. 99 wins.
AK as SB! Early minraise. plus two callers. This time I miss the flop. 2010 left.
A9s OTB. Three callers, I fold. Would have gotten flush draw but no odds to call. Would have made the flush though. Better this way!
Table is still playing quite loose, I will not get to steal anytime soon, it seems. 60th out of 93 remaining, break in 15 minutes.
I am SO glad that RHS is indeed to my right...
One idiot just left the table, he threw it all away on middle pair.
2010 - 3785 - 75/150 - M=9 - Q=0.6
QQ as BB! Yeah. I just push after three limpers. RHS calls, as I was hoping he would - he has J6 and amazingly, I win, though the flop gives him a gutshot straight draw. That makes a nice change! New situation:
my stack 4245 - avg 4240 - 75/150 - M=18 - Q=1
A LOT better... My push was in principle not good, but people are calling SO loose at this table, I wanted to have only one opponent. And there was quite a good chance that idiot RHS would call after limping. Now 34th out of 75.
Oh my god, RHS just won another huge pot when he went all-in on two overcards, got two callers, and spiked one overcard on the river. Harsh. Let's hope he is just keeping those chips warm for me...
And now he won another one when he flopped two pair and another player called his push with top pair Aces. No wonder he did not believe him. He now has 15k. Pretty disgusting stuff. I just hope he gives me some of them later.
BREAK. 36th out of 62. Stack unchanged, avg now 5129, blinds will be 100/200, so M will be 13. Quite nice! Of course my Q is down to 0.8 but that is fine.
Forty more players need to be eliminated, so my stack needs to about triple in size in the next hour, to 12k. Let's see what we can do.
The next blinds, both times a big raise in front of me. Stack 3945.
A7 in hijack, but two limpers, including RHS.
33... I call due to my new rule. Miss flop though, KQ9... Try to steal it after all three opps check - and it works! 4545, nice. That's another way that you can win with 33, at least here I was in last position after the flop.
AKo now... RHS minraises, I just call. One more. Two. Miss flop... Fold. 4145.
TT UTG, I raise to 800. One caller. Ace on flop, I HAVE to bet, but he calls. Down to 2345, damn damn damn damn.... That's how fast things can go.
Now in 49th position out of 54 remaining.
22 as SB. Maybe I'll push, let's see what happens. Raise to 4BB plus a call, I fold. And miss the flop.
QJo OTB, there we have it... Another 4BB raise, again I fold. Now KTo. Same player again raises to 4BB. Stealing is going to be very difficult for me at this table. I am going to have to push after a limper at some point, if not after a raise. Same guy raises AGAIN on next hand, other opp pushes. He folds, good. Oh the blinds just went up, there is ante now, lovely.
Player who kept raising just lost a big pot, he will go out soon. Good.
AKs in 2nd pos. I HAVE to push now. RHS will probably call. Oops, BB calls as well! But I make top pair top kicker... AND WIN!!!! One opp had flush draw (3 hearts on flop) but did not fill up, thankfully. I'm saved for the moment!
Fold A8o in BB after raise and call.
Stack 6485 - avg 6235 - round costs 500 - M=12 - Q=1, nice. Pos. 21 / 50.
AQs in hijack, early minraise. I will call. One other before me. SB. BB folds. TOp pair top kicker, yeah! Checked to me. I bet half the pot, original raiser pushes, I fold, he has only KQ!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!
Bloody hell... Unbelievable, I thought he was trapping with AA or something. Hm. What were your pot odds? Pot = 500+400+400+300 = 1600 on the flop, 2400 when I bet, but I don't know what the raiser had. Let's say he had me covered, in that case he added 6100 to the pot now, making it 8500, and I could call for 5300. Those pot odds are not so great, but given his range I probably have a forced call here. I did not consider the pot odds at all here.
TT in MP. I will push given the chance. On second thought, I raise to 800. BB thinks... and folds. Stack 5360. Winning blinds + antes is not a bad result here. M=10.
Oh my god, I cannot believe the way that guy played top pair. Unbelievable. I would have been up to 12k if I had called that. Now 28th out of 48. RHS has been quiet for a while now.
Blinds now up to 200/400 with 50 antes. So my M has just dropped to 5. Great. My Q is 0.75 or so.
95o as BB. Button raises, SB calls, I fold. K5o as SB. Fold.
Table seems to have become a bit tighter by now, thankfully. Pos. 31/41.
Will still need to double up at least once.
Trying to take it easy, but this is not so... easy, yes.
Blinds coming up again. LHS has gone all-in after limpers several times already without getting called. He has 11k now.
85s as BB. Hit middle pair, but SB bets out, I'm out of here.
A5s as SB. Complete after two limpers, but miss flop. All check.
Turn does not help me. All check again! I lose to A6, 6 on river...
AK OTB! Nice. I push after one limper. BB thinks, folds. Limper folds.
Great result, back to 4635. But avg is now 8833, so Q=0.55 or so.
Blinds will increase to 300/600+50 before they hit me again, my M will be 3 only. This is very bad. Will have to see what may be done.
TT again! Early minraise, I push, LHS calls this....... as does raiser....
they have AJ and AK, I WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just tripled up: stack 13k, M=9, Q=1.4. Very nice. Blinds have gone up now.
Now I am 11th position out of 35, still some way to go.
K9o as BB. SB minraises, I just fold. 74o as SB, fold.
Just saw T6 all-in against 87s all-in, both players had large stacks. Now that is plain weird. Again, my idiot neighbor RHS wins (he had the T6).
And another big pot, now he has 24k and is chip leader, 32 left, I am 12th.
Very nice... I am BB, hand again gets folded around to SB who again raises, I have to fold (he will call with anything).
AQs as SB! I just call, flush draw on flop, bet out. Both opps FOLD, good boys. Back to 12.7k, avg = 10k. 31 left. Let's try to be a bit careful towards the bubble now. Though I guess we still have quite a few hands to play. Table is definitely tighter now.
Have to fold next blinds after raises. 11k. Try a steal as hijack, SB calls. BUT he checks the flop and folds after my bet!! Very good boy. That is much better than folding preflop. BTW he does not understand pot odds. 14k!
Only three tables left now, 29 players. Q=1.25. Blinds are now up to 400/800.
AQo, I minraise. BB pushes, he has AK! Fortunately I folded! 12.2k, M=6.
54s as BB, but I guess I won't see a flop. Yep, another all-in by kornel, he has again AK! Likes to show his cards. Fold SB when button minraises.
26 players left, getting close... Q=0.9, M = 5.
A2 in LP, minraise, all fold. Nice. 12k, again, M=6. Minraises seem to be enough most of the time at this table. 11th out of 25.
TT in 2nd pos, I push. No takers. 14k, good. M=7 now!
Q9 as BB. I am allowed to see a flop but miss it. JTo as SB. DAMN! I try to steal, hit middle pair but again there is an Ace on the flop and BB raises me when I bet. Next hand I push A3 OTB. Blinds fold. 11.5k, no big harm done, M=6.
A6 in MP, push, all fold. Very nice. 13k again. Still 12th out of 25. Only 7 players at my table. Blinds are going up exactly when they hit me, now 500/1000 plus ante 100. Round will cost 2200, M=6 (just barely).
BREAK. Only 22 players left now! I am 13th. REALLY need to be VERY CAREFUL now. Make sure to make the money. Don't push unless you get QQ or better, OK JJ or better. Preferably in late position after no limpers...
Can try to steal with minraises of course.
RHS is very annoying, keeps stealing my BB, but there is nothing I can do about it because I know he will call with almost anything.
Steal with 53s OTB, nice. 13k. Was a minraise. Only 21 players left, we have changed to hand for hand mode! Here's hoping I will reach the next hand for hand as well... Fold 77 in EP. SB raises, looks like somebody has an ace. Good fold by me...
A9 in 2nd pos, I fold. Would have hit middle pair. Guy in last position bets on the flop and wins the pot.
Kornel is getting extremely nice hands, he has shown down a lot of great hands and just made a flush on the turn. I am cowardly folding to his raise when I am BB. I am NOT going to go out in 21st place. 63s as SB, yay. Fold.
QTs as button. Fold after two limpers (one of whom is all-in now!). Would have made top pair on the turn. But lost on the river Ace. I AM IN THE MONEY.
Push A5 in hijack. All fold, good. Again 13k. 13th out of 20 left. Avg stack is 16.7k, Q=0.8 or so.
KQs. Plan to limp (there was already one limper). But RHS pushes, I fold.
AK (!) vs JJ!. Would not have ended well for me... 18 left now.
BTW, I moved tables again, so am finally rid of the idiot on my right hand side. 17 left now, going fast! People have loosened up considerably. Another all-in confrontation, A5 vs 88, 88 wins, 16 left. Now I am 14th out of 16. Hm. Not so great.
J2o as BB, UTG minraises, I fold. A push too. 88 as SB...
Will push if I get the chance. Early raise, I just fold, I don't like 88 enough for this. All fold.
99 in next hand!! Now all fold and I push. Blinds fold. 14k. Blinds have gone up, now 750/1500 plus 150 antes, this is pretty sick. M = 4. Tough.
Decide to fold K6 in MP. All fold... Fold K5 in next hand as well. Don't want to push too often.
AGAIN 99, this I will push. UTG had limped. fold... fold... fold... UTG folds too! Great. Now I can fold QTo UTG with a calm heart. Stack 18k now, looking better, M=5 again. But here are the blinds.
45s as BB. Fold to raise. SB pushes, raiser folds! 24 as SB... fold.
15 players left, I am 10th. Try to keep it together for a while longer...
Minraise OTB. SB calls. Hit top pair!! BB called as well BTW. They check to me. I bet out, BB pushes with KJ, I call, he had hit two pair on the flop... Out in 15th place.
New Rules (QJo)
I am going to call raises with small pairs as long as it does not cost me more than 1/10 of my stack. The idea is to stack somebody when I hit my set, making this move worthwhile.
I will limp only if this costs me at most 1/20 of my stack.
I am not going to bet out with high pairs on low flops unless I see a clear danger and/or there are many opponents.
Finally, I am going to fold QJo. This is a hand that has cost me a LOT of chips over time.
My next tournament starts in 10 minutes.
I will limp only if this costs me at most 1/20 of my stack.
I am not going to bet out with high pairs on low flops unless I see a clear danger and/or there are many opponents.
Finally, I am going to fold QJo. This is a hand that has cost me a LOT of chips over time.
My next tournament starts in 10 minutes.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
My latest MTT
Again no dice. I did my best, but failed to hit my flops, and my opponents hit them bigtime. Out in 63rd place out of 208 in little over an hour.
€10 buyin at Celeb.
Notation: my stack - average - blinds - M - Q
75o as BB, four hearts on the table, I actually make my straight on the river. Nobody ever bets, LHS has Kh.
AQo OTB, I call a minraise after several others and miss the flop.
KK! RHS pushes, I push over the top. She only has 600 left. She has 97o! Gets a straight draw on the flop but thankfully does not connect. 2145. Next hand QJo. Limp. LHS raises to 300, I fold. LHS turns out to have QQ.
Next hand 33! Limp. SB raises to 250 = 5BB, I fold. FLop contains a 3... Would have won a big pot here. Too bad...
Stack 2045 - 2496 - 25/50 - M is high - Q 0.8.
AJs in 2nd pos. Limp. LHS raises to 200=4BB. Almost have to call here. FLop is AA6... Checked around on flop. On turn, one player bets 200, I call. He checks river, I bet only 200 into pot 1250 but he instafolds :-) Can't complain here! There were four people in the pot. Stack now 2895, avg 2836.
44 as BB. Will not call any raise above a minraise here, despite that 33 fiasco just now. Blinds now 50/100, M=20. Yes, raise to 400, I fold.
I am 38th out of 107 left, top 20 gets paid.
Complete with 63o and hit middle pair. Great. Fold on flop bet. Wow one guy pushes even before I can react! ALl three are all-in! Guy with two pair gets beaten when pair of tens makes a set on the river.
Fold J9o, flop J62, all check... Oh well. 44th out of 96. 93.
33 in MP, limp. Button pushes, blast. Have to fold again. Good thing too, player behind me calls with 77 and makes a set! And then a full house too.
QJo, limp once again. 2nd position. Hit a flop KKQ... Bet 300, hoping no one has a King. Pot was 700. One opp raises me, I HAVE TO FOLD, DAMMIT! 2195. Why do I keep calling with QJo... It really is a lousy hand.
2195 - 3851 (...) - 75/150 - M=10 - Q=0.6 or so
76o as BB. Completely miss the flop. Q6s as SB, fold to raise. Six minutes till the break. I am 56th out of 71 now... But my M is still 9.
AK! in late position. Limp and minraise, I just call. MISS FLOP....
Stack now down to 1670 again, just barely above my starting stack :-( Maybe I should have pushed... M=7.5. Break coming up. My last hand before the break is 43s, I fold it.
BREAK. Stack 1670 - avg 4727 (ugh) - M will be 5.5 - Q = 1/3. Quickly coming up to pushing ATC land. No, not that quickly, I miscalculated.
KT in third position is not quite good enough. TT UTG is though! I push. One caller. Two. Oh dear... out. They had 44 and A-K, both their hands beat me due to the wonderful board: a set and a straight. Wonderful.
€10 buyin at Celeb.
Notation: my stack - average - blinds - M - Q
75o as BB, four hearts on the table, I actually make my straight on the river. Nobody ever bets, LHS has Kh.
AQo OTB, I call a minraise after several others and miss the flop.
KK! RHS pushes, I push over the top. She only has 600 left. She has 97o! Gets a straight draw on the flop but thankfully does not connect. 2145. Next hand QJo. Limp. LHS raises to 300, I fold. LHS turns out to have QQ.
Next hand 33! Limp. SB raises to 250 = 5BB, I fold. FLop contains a 3... Would have won a big pot here. Too bad...
Stack 2045 - 2496 - 25/50 - M is high - Q 0.8.
AJs in 2nd pos. Limp. LHS raises to 200=4BB. Almost have to call here. FLop is AA6... Checked around on flop. On turn, one player bets 200, I call. He checks river, I bet only 200 into pot 1250 but he instafolds :-) Can't complain here! There were four people in the pot. Stack now 2895, avg 2836.
44 as BB. Will not call any raise above a minraise here, despite that 33 fiasco just now. Blinds now 50/100, M=20. Yes, raise to 400, I fold.
I am 38th out of 107 left, top 20 gets paid.
Complete with 63o and hit middle pair. Great. Fold on flop bet. Wow one guy pushes even before I can react! ALl three are all-in! Guy with two pair gets beaten when pair of tens makes a set on the river.
Fold J9o, flop J62, all check... Oh well. 44th out of 96. 93.
33 in MP, limp. Button pushes, blast. Have to fold again. Good thing too, player behind me calls with 77 and makes a set! And then a full house too.
QJo, limp once again. 2nd position. Hit a flop KKQ... Bet 300, hoping no one has a King. Pot was 700. One opp raises me, I HAVE TO FOLD, DAMMIT! 2195. Why do I keep calling with QJo... It really is a lousy hand.
2195 - 3851 (...) - 75/150 - M=10 - Q=0.6 or so
76o as BB. Completely miss the flop. Q6s as SB, fold to raise. Six minutes till the break. I am 56th out of 71 now... But my M is still 9.
AK! in late position. Limp and minraise, I just call. MISS FLOP....
Stack now down to 1670 again, just barely above my starting stack :-( Maybe I should have pushed... M=7.5. Break coming up. My last hand before the break is 43s, I fold it.
BREAK. Stack 1670 - avg 4727 (ugh) - M will be 5.5 - Q = 1/3. Quickly coming up to pushing ATC land. No, not that quickly, I miscalculated.
KT in third position is not quite good enough. TT UTG is though! I push. One caller. Two. Oh dear... out. They had 44 and A-K, both their hands beat me due to the wonderful board: a set and a straight. Wonderful.
Odds
A propos of nothing, here are some odds.
AQ vs 32: 65%
AQ vs 72: 67%
AQ vs J2: 68%
This means that when you put all your chips in the pot preflop against a single opponent who is all-in, you have AT LEAST a chance of 1 in 3 of this being your last hand in the tournament. Unless you happen to have him dominated, say when he has A2 or something, in which case your odds of going out of the tournament right now are "only" 25%. This would give me pause, no matter what my read on any player was, and most particularly early on in a tournament when my M is still very high.
Now let's see if the power of mathematics can help finish a debate, or a junior high fight if you want to call it that. Hm, writing it like this does make it seem unlikely.
AQ vs 32: 65%
AQ vs 72: 67%
AQ vs J2: 68%
This means that when you put all your chips in the pot preflop against a single opponent who is all-in, you have AT LEAST a chance of 1 in 3 of this being your last hand in the tournament. Unless you happen to have him dominated, say when he has A2 or something, in which case your odds of going out of the tournament right now are "only" 25%. This would give me pause, no matter what my read on any player was, and most particularly early on in a tournament when my M is still very high.
Now let's see if the power of mathematics can help finish a debate, or a junior high fight if you want to call it that. Hm, writing it like this does make it seem unlikely.
A few difficult hands
Two hands from my last MTT have been bugging me. I have been wondering whether I should have played them differently. Your thoughts?
Also, I did not have to fold 88 to a minraise, as I did right after hand 1 above (the flop came 733).
Again, overall I think I played reasonably well, but on these two hands above I obviously lost a LOT of chips. I would be interested to hear any thoughts about these hands.
Current status: at Celeb I am €4 away from clearing a €10 bonus. That means still 16 €5 heads-up games, for example. The heads up games continue to be tough, amazingly tough I might say. In my last game I ran an overpair into a full house and then lost with AK to 88.
- Stack 5530 in BB (before posting the blind). Blinds 150/300. I have QQ, EP pushes for about 3500. MP flat calls this push and it is folded around to me. What do you do? Personally, the flat call scared the hell out of me, MP had a similar stack to mine but did not attempt to isolate. I expected AA or KK there. So I folded, and it turns out he only had 88... For what it's worth, my only alternative was to push (as I see it) and I had to assume that MP would call that (though he might have folded his 88, but I was not expecting that hand!). So my choice was to bet 5230 to win 3500+5230=8730, getting odds of 5:3. Is that worth it? Oh, we were still a long way from the money spots here.
- My last hand. 33 players left, top 30 gets paid. I found AK UTG, my M was about to drop to about 7. I pushed, SB called with JJ. Should I have been more careful? I was in the worst possible position, I could have limped or minraised.
Also, I did not have to fold 88 to a minraise, as I did right after hand 1 above (the flop came 733).
Again, overall I think I played reasonably well, but on these two hands above I obviously lost a LOT of chips. I would be interested to hear any thoughts about these hands.
Current status: at Celeb I am €4 away from clearing a €10 bonus. That means still 16 €5 heads-up games, for example. The heads up games continue to be tough, amazingly tough I might say. In my last game I ran an overpair into a full house and then lost with AK to 88.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Total online bankroll: $100
Writing it in dollars makes it seem higher these days... But I have lost $300 since my maximum winnings of $2070 that I reached on November 8th. This is, simply put, horrible. What has happened to my ability to play poker? I just do not understand what is happening here. I won €120 at a Celeb tournament and now all this money is basically gone. At Pacific, I went down from $270 or something to now $9. I would not have believed such a thing to be possible if I had not painfully experienced it myself.
I guess it is good in a way that I cashed out some of my winnings, it is forcing me to play at a lower level now. But man, this hurts. I cannot believe I am back down to playing $5 SNGs and desperately hoping to finish in the money, where two months ago I was playing two $20 SNGs in parallel and thinking nothing of it. I even made $100 on one night doing that. Those were the days...
I guess it is good in a way that I cashed out some of my winnings, it is forcing me to play at a lower level now. But man, this hurts. I cannot believe I am back down to playing $5 SNGs and desperately hoping to finish in the money, where two months ago I was playing two $20 SNGs in parallel and thinking nothing of it. I even made $100 on one night doing that. Those were the days...
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
My first royal flush
Today I made my first royal flush. What is embarrassing about this is that I didn't realize it until a full hour later... I thought I had "only" made a straight flush. Can't believe I didn't notice it :-)
2 players
Converted at weaktight.com
Stacks:
Pre-flop: ($150, 2 players) Hero is BB
BTN calls $50, Hero checks
Flop:
($200, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks
Turn:
($200, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $100, Hero calls $100
River:
($400, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks
Final Pot: $400
Hero shows:
Hero wins $400 ( won +$200 )
BTN lost -$200.00
Later I played a large tournament (260 players) and went out in 33rd place (top 30 got paid) when my AK UTG ran into JJ SB. Nothing you can do about that. Well, I suppose that I did not HAVE to push. My M was still 9.5 for the moment, but as I said I was UTG and the blinds would increase in one minute, making my M a bit less than 7 after the blinds pass me. Still it smarts, I had been playing pretty well I think, even though I perhaps went a little bit overboard with AK early on. Judge for yourselves...
Hand 1: AJo, limp-check-fold flop.
Changed tables after 2nd hand!
SB T9, limp. Middle pair. All check. Bet 60 on turn into pot 100. Two callers, no third heart on river. Bet 80, both fold. 1360, avg. 1263. 245/260 left.
JTo BB, complete moron minraises, only I call. FLop middle pair, bet out on turn and river. He calls of course and loses of course. 1510, avg. 1392.
KTo in hijack, speculative limp. SB raises big, I fold.
QQ, call 3BB raise. THREE more callers. A on flop, I fold.
Next hand AK! Raise to 120. EP. Two callers. Four. Miss flop. Bet 300 = half pot. Two callers, but both are shortstacked. All-in on low turn. The moron calls, has nothing. 2665, yeah!! avg. 1616.
Opp who folded on turn later claimed to have had QQ. Interesting.
Change table. Fold 82 BB to minraise. Call A2 as SB, miss flop, fold.
I just realized that I made a royal flush in an earlier tournament tonight. I thought it was "just" a straight flush...
44 as BB, fold to 450 all-in. Don't want to play 50% hands now. Still avg+300 (2445).
22 UTG, limp. Low flop. SB bets out, I fold. Again 22 on very next hand!! Early raise to 300, have to fold again. 2195 now, avg=2437. Blinds 50/100. 125 left, top 30 gets paid.
QKo in MP. Fold when guy to my right raises to 400. All fold. Was this too tight? Not according to Harrington!
Will need about 9000 in chips to make it into the money. Fold 93 as BB to early raise.
Fold T5 suited as SB. Would have made bottom pair tens. 113 left after the break, avg = 2761, my stack 2020.
Raise to 3BB when I notice that BB is extremely tight (3%!). He folds: 2170 (no SB in this hand). Table is becoming pretty tight.
Blinds 75/150.
QJo in MP, fold after early limp. Miss flop.
Fold 65s UTG, is folded around! Next hand KJo as BB. Cannot resist calling minraise, but have to fold on low flop.
STack 1795 now, M = 8. Next round I need to try a steal, MP now. Right after writing this I get 88! Raise to 600. BB calls, flop T66. I have already decided to push when HE pushes! I call, he has 98s, there were two diamonds on the flop, but no third appears and he also does not make his gutshot. 3665, that's better! Avg = 3428, really needed that...
AGAIN 65s UTG, but fold again. All fold again...
98s as BB, early minraise, I fold.
Blinds 100/200, 83 players left. Almost got to steal as button, but RHS beats me to it. He raises again on the next hand, does not get called.
M = 11, do not need to rush with steals. AQs in MP! Damn, early all-in, do not want 50% hand for most of my stack. He had 33, I Would have made a straight on the river. 74 left, avg = 4216.
A2 as SB... fold to early raise. 3140, M =10.5.
QTo OTB. Steal if I get the chance... No, early minraise. Same player does it again on next hand! This time BB calls and checkraises flop. Minraiser calls... all-in on turn, he has QQ. Too bad for the BB who picked a bad time to bluff. Minraiser does it again on the next hand, but finally folds during that hand.
KK!! RHS raises to 3BB; I push. He has JJ. No miracles: I have 6580. Oooh yeah. He pushes on next hand and it is tempting to call with ATo, but I fold, as do all. He pushes again. Gets called this time--twice! But he beats KK and JJ with his AK after an Ace on the flop.
I have 6580 now. Blinds 150/300, M=14. 65 players left. Avg=4800.
KQo as SB. Limp after 1 limper. FLop KQx, two clubs. I check, opp bets 900, I put him all-in, I have him beaten till two aces appear on turn and river. Now we BOTH have two pair! Grrr....
Try a steal on the next hand, but BB pushes. Stack 5530 now, M=12. Still doing fine really. Avg=5288.
Really annoyed about that shared pot though.
Have to take it easy for a while now and calm down. 54 left. Should make the money...
QQ as BB. Here we go. This time I have to call the push. But not after one calls it before me... DAMN, I would have won, he had only 88!!
Damn damn damn... What an idiot.
Now *I* get 88 as SB, very funny. Fold after limp and minraise. Flop 733, just lovely. Well, minraise might have had a higher pair, he pushes on the flop.
STILL 54 players left, this is not going anywhere!
Need to stay calm... My M is still 11, OK the blinds are going up, M=8 now. Still quite OK... Stack 5080, avg=5777.
Fold A6s in EP, all fold. No SB in this hand.
Not getting stats from PO now, annoying.
I really am quite excited. Now 67s UTG, fold again. Gutshot.
98o as BB. Fold on gutshot flop, make gutshot but also board becomes 4-flush, would have lost!
M=7.5 now. Need to start pushing I guess. Still 48 players left, a long way still to go.
Good that there is a break in 5 minutes, can calm down a bit hopefully...
Push Q3o in hijack. All fold. Minraise QTo in next hand. All fold! This is much better, stack 5680 now, M=9.5.
Fortunately there are four tight players to my immediate left.
Blast, KQs, RHS pushes! I fold. Shorty calls. Pusher had A6, I would have won. Oh well.
At least RHS is gone now, he was annoying.
BREAK
42 left, avg=7428.
My M will be 7.5 after the break.
AJo as BB in first hand.
Ooooooooooooh yeah!
One opponent limps, flop Jxx, I check, he pushes, I call, he has A9. A on river is funny.
Stack 8770 now!! Try a steal as SB with J9 (minraise) but BB calls and I miss the flop.
STack 8020, M = 10.5. Think about stealing in next hand but RHS (new) pushes!
39 left, getting tight now, top 30 gets paid. 4 tables left. avg = 8000 exactly.
Trying to take it easy, no steal attempt in MP with A5 or K9.
Stacks are all about equal at my table, between 11K and 6K. Gonna be a long match still. Table is VERY tight, all at 17% or less (much less sometimes).
Hopefully I will be able to steal some chips.
99 as BB, interesting. Call a 3BB raise. Check-fold A-high flop and K turn. 6270 now...
37 left, avg 8432.
Q8 OTB. Early raise, fold.
J8s in next hand. Push. All fold, phew. 7020, M=9.5 again. Fold Q8o in MP, button pushes AQ and is called by AJ! 34 players left now... 33... AVG = 9454.
Push AK UTG. SB has JJ, that's it. Out in 33rd position....
2 players
Converted at weaktight.com
Stacks:
| BTN | ($1870.00) | ||
| Hero | ($2130.00) |
Pre-flop: ($150, 2 players) Hero is BB
BTN calls $50, Hero checks
Flop:
($200, 2 players)Hero checks, BTN checks
Turn:
($200, 2 players)Hero checks, BTN bets $100, Hero calls $100
River:
($400, 2 players)Hero checks, BTN checks
Final Pot: $400
Hero shows:
Hero wins $400 ( won +$200 )
BTN lost -$200.00
Later I played a large tournament (260 players) and went out in 33rd place (top 30 got paid) when my AK UTG ran into JJ SB. Nothing you can do about that. Well, I suppose that I did not HAVE to push. My M was still 9.5 for the moment, but as I said I was UTG and the blinds would increase in one minute, making my M a bit less than 7 after the blinds pass me. Still it smarts, I had been playing pretty well I think, even though I perhaps went a little bit overboard with AK early on. Judge for yourselves...
Hand 1: AJo, limp-check-fold flop.
Changed tables after 2nd hand!
SB T9, limp. Middle pair. All check. Bet 60 on turn into pot 100. Two callers, no third heart on river. Bet 80, both fold. 1360, avg. 1263. 245/260 left.
JTo BB, complete moron minraises, only I call. FLop middle pair, bet out on turn and river. He calls of course and loses of course. 1510, avg. 1392.
KTo in hijack, speculative limp. SB raises big, I fold.
QQ, call 3BB raise. THREE more callers. A on flop, I fold.
Next hand AK! Raise to 120. EP. Two callers. Four. Miss flop. Bet 300 = half pot. Two callers, but both are shortstacked. All-in on low turn. The moron calls, has nothing. 2665, yeah!! avg. 1616.
Opp who folded on turn later claimed to have had QQ. Interesting.
Change table. Fold 82 BB to minraise. Call A2 as SB, miss flop, fold.
I just realized that I made a royal flush in an earlier tournament tonight. I thought it was "just" a straight flush...
44 as BB, fold to 450 all-in. Don't want to play 50% hands now. Still avg+300 (2445).
22 UTG, limp. Low flop. SB bets out, I fold. Again 22 on very next hand!! Early raise to 300, have to fold again. 2195 now, avg=2437. Blinds 50/100. 125 left, top 30 gets paid.
QKo in MP. Fold when guy to my right raises to 400. All fold. Was this too tight? Not according to Harrington!
Will need about 9000 in chips to make it into the money. Fold 93 as BB to early raise.
Fold T5 suited as SB. Would have made bottom pair tens. 113 left after the break, avg = 2761, my stack 2020.
Raise to 3BB when I notice that BB is extremely tight (3%!). He folds: 2170 (no SB in this hand). Table is becoming pretty tight.
Blinds 75/150.
QJo in MP, fold after early limp. Miss flop.
Fold 65s UTG, is folded around! Next hand KJo as BB. Cannot resist calling minraise, but have to fold on low flop.
STack 1795 now, M = 8. Next round I need to try a steal, MP now. Right after writing this I get 88! Raise to 600. BB calls, flop T66. I have already decided to push when HE pushes! I call, he has 98s, there were two diamonds on the flop, but no third appears and he also does not make his gutshot. 3665, that's better! Avg = 3428, really needed that...
AGAIN 65s UTG, but fold again. All fold again...
98s as BB, early minraise, I fold.
Blinds 100/200, 83 players left. Almost got to steal as button, but RHS beats me to it. He raises again on the next hand, does not get called.
M = 11, do not need to rush with steals. AQs in MP! Damn, early all-in, do not want 50% hand for most of my stack. He had 33, I Would have made a straight on the river. 74 left, avg = 4216.
A2 as SB... fold to early raise. 3140, M =10.5.
QTo OTB. Steal if I get the chance... No, early minraise. Same player does it again on next hand! This time BB calls and checkraises flop. Minraiser calls... all-in on turn, he has QQ. Too bad for the BB who picked a bad time to bluff. Minraiser does it again on the next hand, but finally folds during that hand.
KK!! RHS raises to 3BB; I push. He has JJ. No miracles: I have 6580. Oooh yeah. He pushes on next hand and it is tempting to call with ATo, but I fold, as do all. He pushes again. Gets called this time--twice! But he beats KK and JJ with his AK after an Ace on the flop.
I have 6580 now. Blinds 150/300, M=14. 65 players left. Avg=4800.
KQo as SB. Limp after 1 limper. FLop KQx, two clubs. I check, opp bets 900, I put him all-in, I have him beaten till two aces appear on turn and river. Now we BOTH have two pair! Grrr....
Try a steal on the next hand, but BB pushes. Stack 5530 now, M=12. Still doing fine really. Avg=5288.
Really annoyed about that shared pot though.
Have to take it easy for a while now and calm down. 54 left. Should make the money...
QQ as BB. Here we go. This time I have to call the push. But not after one calls it before me... DAMN, I would have won, he had only 88!!
Damn damn damn... What an idiot.
Now *I* get 88 as SB, very funny. Fold after limp and minraise. Flop 733, just lovely. Well, minraise might have had a higher pair, he pushes on the flop.
STILL 54 players left, this is not going anywhere!
Need to stay calm... My M is still 11, OK the blinds are going up, M=8 now. Still quite OK... Stack 5080, avg=5777.
Fold A6s in EP, all fold. No SB in this hand.
Not getting stats from PO now, annoying.
I really am quite excited. Now 67s UTG, fold again. Gutshot.
98o as BB. Fold on gutshot flop, make gutshot but also board becomes 4-flush, would have lost!
M=7.5 now. Need to start pushing I guess. Still 48 players left, a long way still to go.
Good that there is a break in 5 minutes, can calm down a bit hopefully...
Push Q3o in hijack. All fold. Minraise QTo in next hand. All fold! This is much better, stack 5680 now, M=9.5.
Fortunately there are four tight players to my immediate left.
Blast, KQs, RHS pushes! I fold. Shorty calls. Pusher had A6, I would have won. Oh well.
At least RHS is gone now, he was annoying.
BREAK
42 left, avg=7428.
My M will be 7.5 after the break.
AJo as BB in first hand.
Ooooooooooooh yeah!
One opponent limps, flop Jxx, I check, he pushes, I call, he has A9. A on river is funny.
Stack 8770 now!! Try a steal as SB with J9 (minraise) but BB calls and I miss the flop.
STack 8020, M = 10.5. Think about stealing in next hand but RHS (new) pushes!
39 left, getting tight now, top 30 gets paid. 4 tables left. avg = 8000 exactly.
Trying to take it easy, no steal attempt in MP with A5 or K9.
Stacks are all about equal at my table, between 11K and 6K. Gonna be a long match still. Table is VERY tight, all at 17% or less (much less sometimes).
Hopefully I will be able to steal some chips.
99 as BB, interesting. Call a 3BB raise. Check-fold A-high flop and K turn. 6270 now...
37 left, avg 8432.
Q8 OTB. Early raise, fold.
J8s in next hand. Push. All fold, phew. 7020, M=9.5 again. Fold Q8o in MP, button pushes AQ and is called by AJ! 34 players left now... 33... AVG = 9454.
Push AK UTG. SB has JJ, that's it. Out in 33rd position....
Monday, December 10, 2007
KK
However, I am also not playing as well as I could. At one point in my last attempt at Party, I actually got KK as SB. The blinds were 100/200. There were two limpers and I raised to 600.
Mistake 1: should raise more, you do not want to play a multiway pot but are giving everyone odds to call.
The BB folded but the two limpers called. Flop 964 (or something). The pot was 2000, I bet out 600.
Mistake 2: betting out with a hand that is likely to be far ahead of the other hands.
I knew that I should be checking here, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I was just too scared of check-check-Ace on turn. It is ridiculous really, if anyone was waiting for an Ace they basically had a 3-outer. I just HAD to check here and possibly check the turn as well, and hope that somebody would try to win the pot at some point.
But nooo, I bet and of course everyone folded. What were they going to do? Stupid stupid... I guess I should not be playing poker when I am scared of seeing a turn card, but it is hard not to be scared when your opponents keep hitting their miracle cards.
Mistake 1: should raise more, you do not want to play a multiway pot but are giving everyone odds to call.
The BB folded but the two limpers called. Flop 964 (or something). The pot was 2000, I bet out 600.
Mistake 2: betting out with a hand that is likely to be far ahead of the other hands.
I knew that I should be checking here, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I was just too scared of check-check-Ace on turn. It is ridiculous really, if anyone was waiting for an Ace they basically had a 3-outer. I just HAD to check here and possibly check the turn as well, and hope that somebody would try to win the pot at some point.
But nooo, I bet and of course everyone folded. What were they going to do? Stupid stupid... I guess I should not be playing poker when I am scared of seeing a turn card, but it is hard not to be scared when your opponents keep hitting their miracle cards.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
More complaining about bad beats
First I call a short-stacked all-in with 44. OK, a bit loose, but he had AK and I was doing fine until the river K.
Then I push with two high cards and get called by 44. Of course my opponent immediately flops a 4.
Finally, now extremely shortstacked, I call an all-in of what turns out to be K8 with KQ. The river is an 8.
This is on top of earlier games today, where I flopped a set of sixes. An idiot with a flush draw would not go away and of course made his flush on the river.
Before that I had a game where I raised and then reraised all-in with QQ. My opponents had the powerhouse QJ and JJ. Again I was doing fine until the river J.
How can I be running this badly for so long? I have now lost the entire bonus that Party gave me to come back! Unbelievable. The only good thing that I have to report is that today and yesterday I won four heads up games in a row at Pacific Poker. One of them lasted 105 hands! I guess I will restrict my play to heads up games at Pacific for the moment.
Celeb is still not going well. I am just barely managing to not lose money there on average. It is a good thing that I won €120 in that MTT at the start. Since then, my bankroll has hovered around the same amount the entire time. In fact, I never was more than €5 over the amount that I had immediately after the MTT win. So much for the "easy" heads up games.
Nevertheless, they do seem to be going better at Pacific, though this is of course skewed by this 4-streak. My score there is now 13 to 6, so before yesterday it was only 9 to 6, barely enough to break even given the high rake.
Then I push with two high cards and get called by 44. Of course my opponent immediately flops a 4.
Finally, now extremely shortstacked, I call an all-in of what turns out to be K8 with KQ. The river is an 8.
This is on top of earlier games today, where I flopped a set of sixes. An idiot with a flush draw would not go away and of course made his flush on the river.
Before that I had a game where I raised and then reraised all-in with QQ. My opponents had the powerhouse QJ and JJ. Again I was doing fine until the river J.
How can I be running this badly for so long? I have now lost the entire bonus that Party gave me to come back! Unbelievable. The only good thing that I have to report is that today and yesterday I won four heads up games in a row at Pacific Poker. One of them lasted 105 hands! I guess I will restrict my play to heads up games at Pacific for the moment.
Celeb is still not going well. I am just barely managing to not lose money there on average. It is a good thing that I won €120 in that MTT at the start. Since then, my bankroll has hovered around the same amount the entire time. In fact, I never was more than €5 over the amount that I had immediately after the MTT win. So much for the "easy" heads up games.
Nevertheless, they do seem to be going better at Pacific, though this is of course skewed by this 4-streak. My score there is now 13 to 6, so before yesterday it was only 9 to 6, barely enough to break even given the high rake.
My latest tournament
I made another set of live notes. Here they are. For what it's worth, I think I played well enough...
A7 as SB. Checked the flop Axx against 3 opponents, all check.
Bet 60 on turn x, two callers. River K. Bet 60 again, one caller,
I guess he had Ax with x<7. 1720.
Next round K7 as BB. Bet out on K-high two-suited flop. One opp left by
the river, board had paired by now, I checked to him and he checked
behind. 1965.
45 as SB in following hand. Flop gives me OESD+pair, I bet out. One caller
(same guy who keeps calling), stays with me till river but cannot beat
my pair of fives. 2130.
Limp ATo, flop OESD (QJ8) but opp bets nearly the pot, I fold.
Limp KJo, fold to big raise. 2070. Position 50 out of 147 (193 started),
top 20 gets paid, top 6 are nice prizes. (€50)
KK in EP, raise to 120 = 4BB. Loose opp, same as before, calls. Flop Kxx!
He checks, I check. He bets turn, I reraise, he calls.
Fortunately the board does not give a third diamond. He checks river A,
I bet 120 (small fraction of the pot by now), he calls. 2610, pos. 34/138.
Avg stack is 2113.
Level 3, 25/50. Limp KQo in MP. Miss flop. Short stack shoves, I fold.
Pos. 40/125, players are leaving very fast.
AK UTG, raise to 200. All fold... On the very next hand, everyone goes
wild and three people are all-in by the river. Four clubs on the table,
one guy has A, second K, third Q...
93 as SB, flop 355. I bet out but get a caller. I shut down and the board
pairs by the river, counterfeiting my 3. I fold to his river bet. 2275,
avg stack 2705! Pos. 52 out of 107.
54s, raise to 300, one caller. Two. Flop 935, short stack pushes, I push
over the top and pray. First caller folds, shorty had KT. 3360!
Dubious play I guess, but it worked... Pos 31/97, avg 3k.
(Note that the first caller was likely to have two high cards, and the
shorty -- well, he was short and I did have second pair.)
I flop a straight with a two-suited board and bet half the pot.
Other guy pushes, I obviously call -- he had flopped one better
straight...... Unbelievable. Talk about a setup hand...
A7 as SB. Checked the flop Axx against 3 opponents, all check.
Bet 60 on turn x, two callers. River K. Bet 60 again, one caller,
I guess he had Ax with x<7. 1720.
Next round K7 as BB. Bet out on K-high two-suited flop. One opp left by
the river, board had paired by now, I checked to him and he checked
behind. 1965.
45 as SB in following hand. Flop gives me OESD+pair, I bet out. One caller
(same guy who keeps calling), stays with me till river but cannot beat
my pair of fives. 2130.
Limp ATo, flop OESD (QJ8) but opp bets nearly the pot, I fold.
Limp KJo, fold to big raise. 2070. Position 50 out of 147 (193 started),
top 20 gets paid, top 6 are nice prizes. (€50)
KK in EP, raise to 120 = 4BB. Loose opp, same as before, calls. Flop Kxx!
He checks, I check. He bets turn, I reraise, he calls.
Fortunately the board does not give a third diamond. He checks river A,
I bet 120 (small fraction of the pot by now), he calls. 2610, pos. 34/138.
Avg stack is 2113.
Level 3, 25/50. Limp KQo in MP. Miss flop. Short stack shoves, I fold.
Pos. 40/125, players are leaving very fast.
AK UTG, raise to 200. All fold... On the very next hand, everyone goes
wild and three people are all-in by the river. Four clubs on the table,
one guy has A, second K, third Q...
93 as SB, flop 355. I bet out but get a caller. I shut down and the board
pairs by the river, counterfeiting my 3. I fold to his river bet. 2275,
avg stack 2705! Pos. 52 out of 107.
54s, raise to 300, one caller. Two. Flop 935, short stack pushes, I push
over the top and pray. First caller folds, shorty had KT. 3360!
Dubious play I guess, but it worked... Pos 31/97, avg 3k.
(Note that the first caller was likely to have two high cards, and the
shorty -- well, he was short and I did have second pair.)
I flop a straight with a two-suited board and bet half the pot.
Other guy pushes, I obviously call -- he had flopped one better
straight...... Unbelievable. Talk about a setup hand...
Friday, December 7, 2007
Showdown percentage
I am having an incredibly hard time at Celeb Poker. After many, many heads ups, I am still not making any headway and have in fact lost some money again. The good thing is that I just got a "please come back to us" bonus from Party, $25. It looks like I am not going to clear it in time, but hopefully I can make some money with it.
As of today I am paying special attention to the "showdown%", that is, what percentage of showdowns I won. I remembered that I read on Fuel's blog some time ago that this was a key number and that it should be high (no kidding). And I know that it is a leak in my game that I bet too much on won hands and make people fold, it has been a problem for me for a very long time. Anyway for me it was 57% after playing on Celeb for a couple of weeks. Today I reset the counter and managed to get it up to 65% now.
It is hard to keep checking because you are giving your opponents the possibility of outdrawing you, of course. And on dangerous boards I certainly bet out more. But I am putting an effort into letting my opponents bet for me, only raising (and then only a little bit!) on the river, if I can afford it. Also, if I am not sure I am winning, I just call at the end or even fold.
Heads up games really make it clear how each chip that you lose or that you throw away with a bad call ends up in your opponents' hands. This was always the case of course, but if there are just two of you, this really jumps out at you. So as Fuel said: fold losers, show down winners.
Another thing that I wanted to mention is: how did I ever manage to not cash in a Party SNG :-) OK, I just played one tonight, but it was SO easy. Of course it was nice to get AA twice early on, but I did not make that much money off of those cards. I made a lot more when I flopped two pair with 54s :-) and my opponent could not fold top pair medium kicker: he actually went all-in on it when I wouldn't go away.
I didn't manage to win the game though, in the heads up phase at the end (which should be my strength now perhaps!) I ran QJ into KK. What can you do.
My bankroll at Party is now $30, meaning that I have "freed" $5. My goal is to at least double my bankroll in the next two weeks, before the bonus runs out and I most likely have to return the $25.
Good luck at the tables
As of today I am paying special attention to the "showdown%", that is, what percentage of showdowns I won. I remembered that I read on Fuel's blog some time ago that this was a key number and that it should be high (no kidding). And I know that it is a leak in my game that I bet too much on won hands and make people fold, it has been a problem for me for a very long time. Anyway for me it was 57% after playing on Celeb for a couple of weeks. Today I reset the counter and managed to get it up to 65% now.
It is hard to keep checking because you are giving your opponents the possibility of outdrawing you, of course. And on dangerous boards I certainly bet out more. But I am putting an effort into letting my opponents bet for me, only raising (and then only a little bit!) on the river, if I can afford it. Also, if I am not sure I am winning, I just call at the end or even fold.
Heads up games really make it clear how each chip that you lose or that you throw away with a bad call ends up in your opponents' hands. This was always the case of course, but if there are just two of you, this really jumps out at you. So as Fuel said: fold losers, show down winners.
Another thing that I wanted to mention is: how did I ever manage to not cash in a Party SNG :-) OK, I just played one tonight, but it was SO easy. Of course it was nice to get AA twice early on, but I did not make that much money off of those cards. I made a lot more when I flopped two pair with 54s :-) and my opponent could not fold top pair medium kicker: he actually went all-in on it when I wouldn't go away.
I didn't manage to win the game though, in the heads up phase at the end (which should be my strength now perhaps!) I ran QJ into KK. What can you do.
My bankroll at Party is now $30, meaning that I have "freed" $5. My goal is to at least double my bankroll in the next two weeks, before the bonus runs out and I most likely have to return the $25.
Good luck at the tables
Saturday, December 1, 2007
A losing month
I lost $99.73 playing poker last month. I had not had a losing month since I bought the Harrington books! Fortunately I had made $450 in October, but still, this is not good.
On the plus side, I have already made a profit of no less than $5.77 this month (i.e. today)! ($40 now - that's better.... won a couple of heads-ups in a row) The heads-ups are not as easy as I first thought. You really need to remain focused, and luck still plays a factor. Just now I had AK all-in preflop against AQ. He made a straight. Fortunately I had been ahead, so I had some chips left. A few hands later I had TT and he called me with A-something. I was out until the river T! Eventually I did win that game.
At Pacific I played in a heads-up tournament. Things went quite well until some idiot could not part with his A3, I had KK, only to be rewarded by an Ace on the river. I could have folded to his river bet and stayed alive, but I couldn't bring myself to do this. It is really hard to fold a hand that had been ahead the whole time. I even played it pretty well, using a strong checkraise on the turn, but he was not impressed :-( However, I did make it into the money!
On the plus side, I have already made a profit of no less than $5.77 this month (i.e. today)! ($40 now - that's better.... won a couple of heads-ups in a row) The heads-ups are not as easy as I first thought. You really need to remain focused, and luck still plays a factor. Just now I had AK all-in preflop against AQ. He made a straight. Fortunately I had been ahead, so I had some chips left. A few hands later I had TT and he called me with A-something. I was out until the river T! Eventually I did win that game.
At Pacific I played in a heads-up tournament. Things went quite well until some idiot could not part with his A3, I had KK, only to be rewarded by an Ace on the river. I could have folded to his river bet and stayed alive, but I couldn't bring myself to do this. It is really hard to fold a hand that had been ahead the whole time. I even played it pretty well, using a strong checkraise on the turn, but he was not impressed :-( However, I did make it into the money!
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