More Fun...

$2.50, 2528 runner multi on stars:

Structure always seems very good early on in these tourns so just waited for hands as usual. Doubled up a short-stack very early on when my AQ was no match for his J2. Small pot. Then i doubled when my AK somehow held up AI pre vs some lad's AJs.

Then folded for fifteen minutes before:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2540778

and

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2540808

finished me off in xth place (where x > China).

My turn bet looks a little small in the first hand and not sure whether i can fold getting 4/1 on the river but guess it wouldn't have made much difference given the hand that followed. Good call.


$11, 1152 runner on stars:

Came 148th in this with only 99 getting a prize. Only action i had in the first hour was me taking out a shortie with something, can't remember. Started to get blinded away after break until, with about 8bbs shoved K9s and got lucky, then took out another short lad with 99 in the BB vs his KQ.

Folded away again for a bit, blinds 300/600 and some kind of ante. I shoved from the small for 5.3k with a weak ace, A6 i think, and got snapped by KJ (why not?) who rivered a J. No regrets, i add 35% to my stack without a showdown most of the time.


I think confidence plays a big part in poker and, at the moment, i could really do with a couple of result to get me back on track.

WASP, not WSOP

Standard in the Midnight Madness seemed very poor tonight, 1700 runners, top 261 paid, just waited for hands. 1st double up came with AQ, one limper calls my raise and flop bet, then all in on the J turn which made the board read Q74J. He had J8 and thankfully missed. Would not have been chuffed with that runner runner. Neither would i have been surprised tbh.

Then the biggest wasp i have ever seen flew into my room. Honestly, i've seen smaller dogs. This instantly put me on tilt.

It just hung around the light in my room which is just above my bed where i was playing and every now and then went mad and flew all over the place. 5am for fuck's sake, what creature in their right mind is up at that time?...

At one point it was hovering around the computer so i just had to wait for it to go. I couldn't kill it (it was more than a match for me), so just had to let a hand time out until the light grabbed it's attention again. I was horrified to see the hand i had missed: utg had shoved and utg+1 had reshoved and i had timed out KK utg+2... AJ vs A9. Luckily the board by the river was A9xxx and i would have lost it all. But still, EV wise, this wasp business was all very minus.

I soldiered on, got a nice double up with AJ on an AKK flop vs A8. Against any other player on the table i would have played it a bit more cautiously but this lad would have called all in with deuces so i rereraised all in before the turn scared him. 6k at the break, average about 4.5k.

The sun started to come up during the break of the tourn so i turned the bedroom light off and opened the window in the hope the wasp would leave the room. But no, another badly thought out plan as the light from my laptop was significantly brighter than that of a grey Birmingham dawn. So, ever the prat, i spent the whole of the break cautiously edging the laptop towards the window.

He was far too wiley to fall for that old trick though and admirably stood his ground. So, as the end of break loomed, i was forced to concede. I switched the light back on and just had to accept the fact that this massive animal with a suspected itchy sting finger would be hovering inches above my head for the next hour. [You know you're a fully-blown multi-tabling degenerate when you're prepared to risk literal wasp death in order to stay in the game.]

Folded to me on the button with 6k, blinds 100/200, i raise to 600 with 88 and sb pushes for 3.3k. Why me? I call and lose the race. Is that a fold?? One round later i shove for 2.6k after some weak looking limps and sadly get one caller. His deuces hold up as i lose another 6k race and exit the tourn in 470th place.

I threw a pen at the wall which came straight back at full pelt and hit the lampshade. Just my luck. Worryingly this disturbed the wasp who zig-zagged randomly around the room briefly before, thankfully, finding the open window.

Finally, a result i can bee happy with.

Tough Going

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2507260

Average at the time was 15k and with top prize the only one worth going for took a gamble which didn't pay off. Turned about a billion outs as well!... Good for 202nd place in the 2100 runner $1 fo for exactly $1 profit.

Was in with a good chance in the $16k gteed ($24 buy in) on tilt. Won a couple of early pots then had a big double up with AA vs AK on a J84 flop. Went to the break with above average stack and folded for the first half hour after the break. Then comes the idiot hand i seem to throw into every tourn. Folded to me on the button with 6k and JQss at 100/200, i make it 600 to go. bb, playing a 4k stack, calls. Flop comes AQx with one spade, he checks i check. Turn is As giving me a flush draw and two pair. He checks and i bet 650 expecting to take it down (no real danger in checking so i think this is the first mistake). He raises to 1800. WTF?, i can't seem to play a hand without getting into trouble these days. After folding for the last half an hour i now find myself in a tough spot. 1150 to call, he has about 1600 back with 3800 in the pot. Fold, call, shove?

I deserved to be outdrawn shortly after calling all in with A9 and losing to A8 to bust in 261st place of the 742 runners.

$8, 1240 player on stars:

Was very patient early on as always, played one hand before the break when my flopped trips in the bb with 67 was paid off by a limped aces. No cards after the break until, with 1700 in the sb with blinds at 50/100 i shoved with TT over a cutoff's raise to 400. Lost to QQ and out in 661st. Another cooler against.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2507455

To go out of the $20k g'teed in 549th place, top 378 paid. My stack felt a bit big to be shoving at the time but with over 1k in the middle to take figured i may as well add 20% to my stack or, at worst, see all five for the double up. Just a shame to lose another race at a crucial time.

So another four tourns there with all my luck coming in the $1.10 multi for a monster cash of $2.10

Good times.

Midnight Madness

$10 buy in 1400 runners, top 216 paid.

Played quite well, with a couple of mistakes, went into the break with just above average after flopping a flush and busting a shortie drawing dead. Second hand after the break i make a nice double barrel with Q high to make me comfortably chipped.

Then i play a hand like an idiot. Folded to me in the small, 56hh, blinds 100/200, raise to 600, bb calls and we see a flop of 459. Looked pretty safe so bet out 650 or so. bb minraised to 1300 leaving 2.2k back. I thought he may have left so much back as he was willing to fold so i foolishly set him in, he snapped with J9 and i miss to double him up. Should have just limped from the small and kept the pot manageable or, having raised, folded to the repop but never mind.

Won a race to double up and then doubled again with aces on a JT4 flop vs QT. Cheers. This got me back to about average with 290 left.

Get dealt AKhh in mid. Utg+1, playing a 4k stack, pots it to 1350, i set him in and his kings hold up. Argument for folding? Prolly not. This puts me down to 1700 with blinds at 150/300, antes 50. Fold a couple of hands before shoving J9s utg and losing the battle with KQ.

Out in 286th.

So three tourns today with nothing to show, i seem to be getting unlucky but to be fair if i hadn't have played that 56 like such a retard the AKs that followed wouldn't have been so important to my stack and the J9 push wouldn't have been neccessary. I need to keep my focus at every stage of the tourns i'm playing to keep the mistakes to a minimum and my stack as big as it should be. This will mean the coolers aren't so fatal should i lose them.

Sorry if this is all a little boring but i think it's bound to help me. May play some more tomorrow, if so you'll hear about it.

Running bad but maybe i deserve it...

Hi back again,

Mainly to help myself, i'll be blogging every tournament i play (cricket and poker). I'm currently playing under the name 'pgchips' on tilt and stars. After some success a few weeks ago the last couple of weeks have been very losing. So hopefully talking through every tourn i play will help me see why.

Played two tourns today on tilt, the first a six-handed 220 runner $2 buy in tourn. I was going well in this one thanks to an idiot open pushing tens for 1200 with the blinds at 30/60. Somehow my kings held up. Steadily built up from there until:

55 left, 24 paid, average 4.5k.
Button limps for 100, sb makes up, i check A4 o bb. I check raise the A45dd flop and just button calls. Turn blank so i bet 2100 into 1800, he calls leaving himself 890 back (don't know why i didn't just put him in). Anyway, river was a pretty ugly 2, i put him in and he shows 34dd for the straight. Fair dos. Miss a flopped flush draw next hand drawing very slim vs a higher flush draw to finish in 53rd or something.

Next tourn was a six-handed $3 buy in tourn, 200 runners. First hand i get dealt AK on the button, cutoff limps for 30 and i shove for 1500. (First hand of a tourn people often like to gamble as i could be shoving any two as far as they're concerned. So i thought i'd test this by open pushing.) I get snapped by A7s. Flop comes a nice JJ4, though turn 7 and river 7 sent me out in 200th place.

Now the first hand here is unavoidable i think, could argue he should have folded the turn but nothing i can do about it but the second hand didn't have to be AI pre. If i had played it properly we would have been heads up to a flop and i would have taken down a small one with very little danger and on with the game we go. But should i turn down a chance to double up against someone willing to gamble like that??

Anyway, two tourns no cashes, just the midnight madness on tilt still running, and with someone pushing every hand on my table this could be very good or very bad... i'll let you know.