Sunday, March 26, 2006

To-do list nearly to-done

I've never really been one for to-do lists, as I never seem to get around to doing what needs doing. However, I'm making rum progress on my poker to-do list for this year.

I've already been able to cross off 'winning a big online comp' and now I can put a line through 'qualify for another big offline tourney (WSOP?)' as that's precisely what I did tonight - and the WSOP at that!

Via two super satellites on Tuesday and Wednesday I found myself lining up with 29 other runners for the two seats on offer. I made a steady start, picking up a couple of small pots before I lost half my stack with JJ. I raised pre-flop and was re-raised by the small blind. I called and we saw a raggy flop (nine-high) and he threw out a pot sized continuation bet. I didn't really know where I was, so I raised, either winning the pot there or folding to a re-raise. After a dwell, he went all-in, so I gave him credit for the QQ+ and folded. If he bluffed me out of this with AK then good luck to him, but I don't think he did. Maybe I could have flat-called the flop bet, and seen what he did on the turn, but I then risked going broke if another rag fell and he did have QQ+.

I managed to recover some lost ground by picking up some pots when I'm sure I didn't have the best hand, before getting my much needed double-up with AA v KK all-in preflop. This lifted me up to above average chips.

The next hand of note I have 53 in the SB. The button limps and three of us see a flop of 34K, which was checked round. The turn was a 7, adding a gutshot straight draw to my hand, and I bet, which both players called. The river was a 5, giving me two pair but also putting three spades on board. I checked, as did the other two. They both had a 7, so I actually rivered them by spiking the five. The button made a comment about me rivering him, and I sensed that he now had me down as a bluffer (which, let's face it, I am).

I head up to about 6200 chips (we started with 2500) when I get AK in the SB. The button open-raises, and I re-raise him, which he calls. The flop of K98 is both checked and the turn is another 8. I bet and he calls. Given the previous hand, I'm sure he doesn't believe I've got an 8 (or even a King, for that matter). A meaningless 5 falls on the river, and I check (showing weakness) ready to call any bet he makes. He duly does so with his 77 and I take the pot. This brings me over 10,000 chips and I'm chip leader.

Five limpers on my BB, and I raise with QQ (hoping for a caller). I get one, he calls my continuation bet with a flush draw which misses and I'm up to 17,000 and the clear lead.

From here on in I have a great run of uncontested blindstealing. Nothing too major (or my opponents would cotton on) but enough to increase my stack gently. I'm careful to fold to the odd re-raise from a stack which could damage me, and manage to knock out a couple of shortstacks when I do have a genuine hand.

With 12 left, we're on two tables of six and it's folded to me on the SB with QQ. The BB has been very tight, but I raise anyway as I want to be able to define his hand if he does call. I fully expect him to fold, but he goes all-in with AQ. My QQ holds up and I have 29,000 chips.

My nearest challenger is on 13,000 and I know one of the seats is there for the taking. All I have to do is steal blinds and protect my stack by avoiding big confrontations to cruise through. This I manage to do easily by targeting the middle-sized stacks. They're very tight and their blinds are up for grabs.

When I knockout the 8th place player (QQ again) I have 36,000 of the 100,000 chips in play - 2nd place only has 16,000. I take out 7th by calling his pot-sized all-in on the flop with a flush draw, which hits on the river, rendering his AK no good. I now have 44,000 chips - 2nd has 15,000. By this stage I know they will all stay out of my way unless they have a huge hand, which I will fold to.

The 5th place guy went out by racing his AK against my 77 - I now have 61% of the chips in play and just need to wait for the others to knock each other out. As it was, the tournament only lasted four more hands and I won my seat.

Recently I've been doing really well in tournaments if I'm lucky enough to get a big stack - I'm getting much better at spotting when my opponent wants nothing more to do with the pot. Life is so much easier with chips.

At the moment I'm not nearly as excited as I thought I would be by winning a WSOP seat. I think that's mostly because once I got the huge chip lead, I sort of assumed the seat was there for me to lose, so rather than winning the prize, I feel as though I've avoided losing it, if you know what I mean. Once William Hill contact me with details of the prize I'm sure that'll get my juices going. After all, it's four months away yet.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Blind robbery

OK, so I was going to do an analysis of my £15K win, but when I looked through the hands, two things were apparant (in addition to the 'my big hands held up' fact from my previous post).

1) I got lucky about 3 or 4 times in big hands (99 V KK pre-flop, 99 v AA all-in on raggy flop - both spiked sets on the river)

2) By getting a huge stack by the final table, I essentially just stole chips from the other players by continually raising till they played back at me. My opponents were too passive.

So, no great insights available.

Unbeknownst to me, the poker room I won the £15K through (Totalbet) were doing a promotion whereby the 5 highest raking players each day, plus the top tournament winner, qualified for a $2000 freeroll. My win got me into this last Saturday. 48 were eligible, but only 16 took part (Lesson - check your emails).

I won this as well. It was also spectacularly easy as my opponents were again far too passive. I suspect most of them were cash players who failed to understand the change in strategy required in tournaments. They just let me rob them blind.

The result? $1000 in my account plus entry into another freeroll tomorrow where the winner gets a seat in the WSOP in Las Vegas! 60 are eligible to enter - it'll be interesting to see how many take part. If the standard is as weak as last week's, I've got to fancy my chances.

Provided, of course, I don't do anything silly, like I did on Monday night. I'm in a super-sat for the $600K Crypto Sixpak in April. I managed to get up to be chip leader through a combination of two players trying to pull big bluffs and me outdrawing someone else.

My stack dwindled down to about average with 16 left (8 get seats). I have 88 and raise (I've been doing quite well at stealing blinds from people who are hunkering down for survival). It's folded around to the big blind who raises. He has been the one guy at the table who has been aggressive, and who would notice that I'd been table captain. If I'd have been him, I'd have re-raised me as well, just to keep me off his blind and give me a figurative smack on the nose. As I didn't believe his raise, I went all-in, knowing he would need an absolute monster to call, as I had him covered.

As it happens, he had KK, called and knocked me out. Obviously, a super-sat is no place to risk going out on a pre-flop move with 88. I should have folded to the re-raise and lived to fight another day. It was the worst play I can remember doing in quite a while - but quite funny as well, as it was so spectacularly bad.