Wednesday 22 July 2009

running bad but optimistic of things to come...

First off I want to get the negatives out the way. I am reallly running worse than I ever have. Now I wouldnt say am any were close to being at the standard I want to be at because I want to be the best lol but I have played enough of this game to know I am good enough to earn money in the long run. I started blaming online poker lol, but obvs this cant be the case, can it?? is thetr something funny about it? strange? personally I think to much money goes through it for it to be rigged so I am not in the 'online is rigged brigade' its just playing with major donks at micro levels and seeing so many hands imo.

So tonight I go down to my local poker league ran by www.pokerresults.co.uk for the start of the new league, £20 FO with an average of 30 runners of 4 different venues Mon-Thu with a biggish prize money final at the end of the league to, its ran well and we have a good crack plus its a change from the online game. Anyway played a couple of small pots in the first half an hour then with 5k stack at 75/150 an utg tight raiser to 450, now his range hear is JJ-AA, AK AQ, so one caller an comes to be on the button with 89cc so with a busting hand, position and pot odds I call knowing if I flop big I am taking the lot , any way flop comes a beautiful Kx6c7c and I am licking me lips, he bets the pot an the second caller reraises effectively putting me all in, now I know am behind at this point, I cant see no fold button on my screen an make the shove with 5 million outs, now I obv brick the lot and his AA takes it, 2nd raiser on the flop folded btw lol with 1.5k left, i mean come one. So point is on the way home I realised its not online pokers fault and I am simply running bad, that flop was live rigged and it fucked me right off lol

Soon as i got home I fired 4 6man turbos on pokerstars, an seriously in 100 hands and about 20 mins of poker watch wtf happens here. Its so funny an i was actually laughin in the end. These hands sum up my first month of this blog, which btw is fucking jinxin me to I reckon lol

AK>AT - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4501239

NF-Str8 flush - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4501252

AA>88 The early pre flop raiser was effectively all in anyway i flatted trying to induce a shove from behind which works alot in these SNG's - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4501243

however every now an then I do catch a fish, This was beautiful as on the turn when the chips went it, I felt sick as I knew his flush was coming but didnt know it would give me quads tho - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4501243

This hand made me sick in the $22/5k today, this is why I logged off and went playing live, wtf he thought i was UTG raising with this early I will never know. I kinda had a feelin JT after his second turn call an in hindsight I think I should of raised big on the blank turn anyway, but i was trying to get max value but he had postion and his monster double gutter - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4501576


Now i will just leave these, i was gonna post more but I really dont want to be negative. The lower limits on stars is full of people who havent gotta clue which will make it easier in the long run. Now since I started this blog the $20 deposit which peaked at $700 is now sat at $250 lol, Alot of this is tily sesions on cash, which I am not rolled or educated enough to be playing. I have also took some shots at MTT's I am not rolled for an busted the lot except a min cash in $109 FO on stars.

Now on to the positives. I have analysed alot of my play through holdem manager. Now alot of the things I have done have been correct but there are still alot of leaks. Now the biggest stat that stands out for me is AKo is -EV at early and mid levels of these SNG's and that I am busting ealry with premium hands like QQ-AA because you cant raise enough pre to get rid of them an when running bad you know your in trouble holding AA on a table full of donks. Do I fold it early if am running bad/unlucky?? would this be deemd +EV in the long run??? I dont know. Things are going to change over the next couple of months. I have had a real good proposal which involves money for coaching, and playing the higher end of medium stakes SNG's, excersing a strict 100 buy in BRM, whilst not risking a penny of my own money. Now if this happens it could be the start of something good. I have played thousands of SNG's and whilst maybe only breaking even/losing, its not a huge amount and what I have learned in that period is invaluable. So now is time to stop pressuring myself an grinding small stakes sit an go's hours a day after working all day, on a break even scale. Its time to take a lil break read some more books, more analyses of poker tracker, but most importantly get some really good coaching and pay good money for it, lettin some one paper over the cracks that I must have but cant really see. I really do believe I am a few good coaching sessions away from becoming a winning player. I am disciplined and can stick to what I am taught, especially were good money is involved. So when the money comes from the offer, I will be looking for the best coaching deal out there also any advice on were to go would be nice. I will watch some cardrunner vids which again I have never done, but I want real live coaching.

My main problem is I am not really around people passionate enough about the game, but more importantly knowlegable enough with proven reuslts to back their theorys up. I only learned the game 2 years ago from scratch and none of my friends are passionate about it, they see it as fun LOL to that!

I didnt think I would stick to this blog but I enjoy it an it helps gettin shit off your chest to a different an random audience than those normally around you and I intend to stick to it.

GL and thanks for reading

couldnt of put it better myself

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Nice Little Win - Omaha H/L

After some bubbles, min/medium MTT cashes and breaking even/losing on my SNG's I decided I would play some Omaha H/L for a change, its me dads favourite game an he taught me the basic concepts of it plus I have read 'Farha on Omaha' which is quite a good read and as sammy himself said, when it comes to omaha "no one knows what sammy knows".

Now tournament poker is generally the same, in terms of the way you approach it, regardless of the game you're playing but the $5 NL/Omaha H/L [Ante Up] tournament on stars is unique as they come, but its also quite fun and enjoyable, I recommend it to anyone. Basically the Antes go up each level and the blinds stay at 5/5. There is certainly lots of dead money, people doing silly things like raising 3 x blind (5) into pots of 1k+ lol. I was involved in plenty of hands from start to finish being aggressive, hittin flops and gettin decent starting hands. All ins galore to the point were you could wait for your big hand and call, one lad called my AKK2 double suited with 789T, rainbow for a big pot, now were playing H/L here and he plays the dead on medium cards, wp! In the end I had that big of stack I would call off with any 4 against the shorties and win. I ended up coming 2/173 for $138. We were heads up for ages and deep, it was late and I could see it would be a long boring slog, he asked me to chop, I mean we were playing for $50, to which I replied I would flip him every hand for fun til some one won, he kept saying "after chop" lol, in the end we carried one til I flopped trips - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4477844 but so did he and he filled up on the turn. A little disappointed as it would have been nice to win for winnings sake and it could of been an easy fold to his allin on the turn, but I was fuckin knackered an on a lil tilt from...

... I also played the $22 PLO H/L $3k guaranteed which ended up getting 326 runners paying 45 with a prize pool of $6,520 and $1,225 ftw. I ended up busting 15/326 with AA7Kcc against A8Q5 for a 80k top 5 pot approaching the FT, why the fuck he didnt just fold pre flop is beyond me. I didn't like the flop but there was now way I was folding once I had commit ed so much pre. Maybe the wrong move and I would like to know if any has any advice on the way played the hand, which is here - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4477911

SnG's are turning round a little, while playing them 2 tournies. I 4 tabled the $1.75 18 man turbos on stars, done 5 sets of 4 and made a profit lol but never broke into the top 10 of the LB which are basically your best score for each set of 20 you do in a given week, ended up get 395 points, 480-600 seems to be average in all divisions for top ten. I then tried the $3-5 division an broke even an got no were on the leader board still 4 left to play with 177 points, probs need to win all 4 lol . I will have a shot at $5-10 division this week and a couple more at the lower ones. They are fun and give you something to aim for. Plus nice little prizes, especially if you win, but MTT's are were the money are so I will be doing my best to play more of them

got to step 3 this week with me FPPs, but bubbled step 4 ($215 dollar tourny ticket), with KK>QQ AIPF, sick!

I have also lost alot on SNGs in the last 2 weeks and my bank roll was down to $90 at one point, I went on sick tilt played a $27 18 manner and won it for $180, then reverted back to a 50 buy in minimum. It seems I do better at higher buy ins, one things for sure trying to build a bank roll from scratch at micro limits by playing SNG's is proving to be one painful, stressful and variance hit experience, take down that Sunday mill one time pleaseeeee

GL!!

Wednesday 1 July 2009

God Help Me!

Seriously do not know what the fuck i have to do to win on these SNG's, you just try mixing variance, with donks and pokerstars an watch how quick you lose your money! I am down like 15 buyins since yesterday but just look why, seriously, these will make you laugh if you havin a bad day!!

KK no good against J8sooooted - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4427303

obviously aces are no good - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4427363


flop a king high flush, ye thanks pokerstars - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4422825

what do i have to do? - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4426879

set under set - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4426402

ye you re-raise my pot size bet on the flop, all in, with A9 high and ZERO fold equity - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4426408

AK beat AJ??? dont be silly - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4426411

KK>A8 - say no more - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4426419

win one important race please? - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4426891


http://www.pokerhand.org/?4426425 - watch how bad this play is here, a raise an 4 flat callers ffs, I knew my AQ was clearley the best hand, i never really belive the original riaser lol an unless someone was settin up a squeeze, which I doubt any1 had the brains to do anyway an if they did I werent in the mood to believe them

Now these are only a few, every hand I go with as 50/50 I lose, whether i have the overs or the pair, its just so frustrating. I am losing 70/30''s left right an centre, the few times I go in as a 60/40 or 70/30 dog I seem to win, its fucked up! I do think after tryin to evaluate it all that I am puttin me chips in a little bit to early, now even tho I am ahead maybe i should be folding these hands pre flop in the early stages, but then the blinds go up that quick you just blind out or end up have to push with hands like KT etc, which judging by pokerstars might not be such a bad idea

maybe its just variance an it is a small sample an I should just keep playing but I just feel like I am pissing in the wind and the more I play the more I'll lose. Or you hit your flush and your scared someone gotta higher one, or your start thinkin your sets not good, or lay top pair cos you know hes gotta flush draw, an you know the fuckers gonna hit!

any advice will be greatly welcomed!!

GL