The plan was to go down to the Gutshot on Saturday for the £100 freezeout. However, my mum invited me over for a barbecue for my brother's birthday so I went to that instead. On Sunday I decided that I would use that £100 to play the £50K Guaranteed on Crypto, in order to try and get a bit of practice at bigger buy-in events.
I had got myself into a very focused frame of mind and, for some strange reason, felt confident of doing well. Early on I treaded water, losing a few chips here, winning them back there - not much to talk about. Then I picked up AK in mid position. The UTG limped for 50 (which got my spidey sense tingling). The calling station next to him limped as well. I decided to raise to 150 - a small raise behind two limpers because I wanted to see if the UTG would reraise. A late position player cold-called my raise, then the UTG guy raised to 600 (as I suspected he might). The calling station also called (not too worried about him - bad player). I debated folding, but it was 450 back to me with over 1500 in the pot, plus the prospect of a 4th player calling for value. I called the raise, as did player 4.
The flop was AT5, with two hearts. The UTG player checked, as did the calling station. I also checked as I feared a check-raise from the UTG player. Then player 4 went all-in for just over the pot. UTG and calling station both folded (UTG probably having KK or QQ). Suddenly, a hand I wasn't even sure I should have been in had opened up for me. The player I'd worried about had folded and I decided there was little chance player 4 would have gone all-in with a hand that beats me (unless AT or A5) and his bet looked more like a flush draw. I called and he showed Q9 hearts. I dodged the flush and nearly tripled up.
This set me on a nice run of good cards which I made the most of and gently moved up the leaderboard. I scraped the top ten a few times and was 20-something when my table broke with 50 players left. I'd done well identifying the tight players I could steal from and the good aggressive ones who would laydown to resteals at my previous table so I was annoyed I had to start from scratch again with new players. It was particularly annoying as this new table was more aggressive than the last one and I got dealt stone cold cards. Trying a resteal would mean sticking half my stack in with nothing, so I hunkered down and folded everything.
I got dealt AT in the BB when the button (who only had 5 BB) went all-in. It was an ATC move so I called, but he hit his K7 and my stack had a dent. With the blinds where they were, any resteal would have to be all-in.
On the bubble, it's folded round to me in mid position. I have KT, the best hand I've had for ages. It's also the first time it's been folded round to me in a while, so I raise, hoping to nick the blinds but folding like a shot to a resteal. The button (chip leader of the tournament), however, flat calls.
The flop is K66 and I have a decision to make. I've hit the flop but have no idea where I am in the hand. I have an almost pathological desire to take risks on the bubble - taunting the poker gods to smite me. I think this stems from the fact I never want to be a timid player, running down the clock each hand trying to scrape into the money. I'd rather bust out trying to get some chips.
However, this hand was different. Before it started, even though I'd taken a hit, I was in no danger of bubbling by folding. It would have burst in the next few hands anyway (one player had less than a blind left). I should have cut my losses and check-folded, even if it risked folding the best hand. Instead, I decide I was playing the hand. If I went all-in, I'd only get called by a hand which was beating me, so I check-raised, hoping he'd bet an inferior hand. He did bet, albeit with the vastly superior AK, and I was out.
I was so annoyed with myself for going out with this hand. I took unnecessary risks and got punished. I'll have to cut this out in Vegas. With the extra thought time you get in a live game I'll hopefully not make decisions that I'll regret later.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Two months of tat
Blimey, two months since my last proper post. It is certainly the case that good results prompt blog posts as I've had a properly uninspiring run of form of late.
Since my £15K and WSOP wins my MTT form has been rubbish. After having a good hard think about my style of play of late I've made an adjustment to my strategy. When I first started playing MTTs I was very much a 'by the book' player. This inevitably resulted in a relatively higher % of cashes, but often left me struggling for survival in the sharp end of tournaments.
I then made a concerted effort to play a more loose-aggressive game, and I certainly noticed that I would be more likely to accumulate chips and, crucially, I seemed to be making use of the chips when I got them, so I saw the odd early bust-out as a sacrifice worth making.
However, on a few occasions recently I've found myself quite high up the leaderboard at some stage, only to gift chips away through bad plays. I think I've allowed myself to get loose-aggressive at a level beyond my actual skill in the game at this point. I've also fallen into a trap of making crying calls because 'maybe he's bluffing'. This is a really amateur mistake.
Therefore, the adjustment I'm making is to be a bit less gung-ho and be more circumspect in MTTs - not wasting good positions when I get them.
Unfortunately, my poker bankroll has taken a battering recently. During my last big run of MTT woe, my cash game profits paid for the buy-ins, but the last couple of months I've made a loss here as well. It was bound to come eventually playing 6-max NL, but I hit my run of bad luck. From analysing my hands here I haven't played any worse than I did when I was making money, I've just not had the rub of the green in the big hands (which is what the NL cash bottom line comes down to).
One particularly bad session saw me get in a huge swingy battle with a Scandie who was a huge bluffer, and continually overbet the pot, but would hit whatever out he needed on the river (like keeping leading out on every street with 22 whilst I kept calling with my overpair only for him to hit his set on the river). A few other bad sessions have temporarily wiped out my online bankroll, and I can't replenish it at the moment because of having to cover extra rent and bills in my flat due to us being a flatmate down.
I've been keeping things ticking over by playing heads-up STTs on Pokerstars ($20 and $50 ones). After taking a little while to settle in, I'm getting the hang of these now and would feel confident of showing long term-profit. They are very intensive though - playing six hands a minute requires maximum concentration. I have found it strange how quickly you can get inside your opponent's way of thinking in a heads-up match - I've often found myself being able to confidently pick off bluffs after only playing someone for five or ten minutes. Patterns are much easier to detect in the hothouse atmosphere of a heads-up match as you're playing every hand against the same opponent.
I've not managed any more live events recently (apart from a Poker4Charity do, when I had my mind on other things) and seeing as Las Vegas is only six weeks away that's a bit crap. No live experience, no online form and no money to have a tourney blitz - not exactly great preparation :)
Since my £15K and WSOP wins my MTT form has been rubbish. After having a good hard think about my style of play of late I've made an adjustment to my strategy. When I first started playing MTTs I was very much a 'by the book' player. This inevitably resulted in a relatively higher % of cashes, but often left me struggling for survival in the sharp end of tournaments.
I then made a concerted effort to play a more loose-aggressive game, and I certainly noticed that I would be more likely to accumulate chips and, crucially, I seemed to be making use of the chips when I got them, so I saw the odd early bust-out as a sacrifice worth making.
However, on a few occasions recently I've found myself quite high up the leaderboard at some stage, only to gift chips away through bad plays. I think I've allowed myself to get loose-aggressive at a level beyond my actual skill in the game at this point. I've also fallen into a trap of making crying calls because 'maybe he's bluffing'. This is a really amateur mistake.
Therefore, the adjustment I'm making is to be a bit less gung-ho and be more circumspect in MTTs - not wasting good positions when I get them.
Unfortunately, my poker bankroll has taken a battering recently. During my last big run of MTT woe, my cash game profits paid for the buy-ins, but the last couple of months I've made a loss here as well. It was bound to come eventually playing 6-max NL, but I hit my run of bad luck. From analysing my hands here I haven't played any worse than I did when I was making money, I've just not had the rub of the green in the big hands (which is what the NL cash bottom line comes down to).
One particularly bad session saw me get in a huge swingy battle with a Scandie who was a huge bluffer, and continually overbet the pot, but would hit whatever out he needed on the river (like keeping leading out on every street with 22 whilst I kept calling with my overpair only for him to hit his set on the river). A few other bad sessions have temporarily wiped out my online bankroll, and I can't replenish it at the moment because of having to cover extra rent and bills in my flat due to us being a flatmate down.
I've been keeping things ticking over by playing heads-up STTs on Pokerstars ($20 and $50 ones). After taking a little while to settle in, I'm getting the hang of these now and would feel confident of showing long term-profit. They are very intensive though - playing six hands a minute requires maximum concentration. I have found it strange how quickly you can get inside your opponent's way of thinking in a heads-up match - I've often found myself being able to confidently pick off bluffs after only playing someone for five or ten minutes. Patterns are much easier to detect in the hothouse atmosphere of a heads-up match as you're playing every hand against the same opponent.
I've not managed any more live events recently (apart from a Poker4Charity do, when I had my mind on other things) and seeing as Las Vegas is only six weeks away that's a bit crap. No live experience, no online form and no money to have a tourney blitz - not exactly great preparation :)
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Pokerstars Blogger's Freeroll
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!
This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.
Registration code: 5169031
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