The last two or three days for me have been pretty brutal as far as playing tournaments go. Yesterday I went 0 for 10 and ended up losing about $317 bucks, the day before that I went 2 for 8, only winning two $150 satellites... def not the kind of money I want to be losing on a daily basis, but on the positive side, I played fairly well and made the best decisions every hand. If I can keep that up, Winning will be inevitable, luck will take its course but good play will always prevail in the long run.
I was feeling pretty down yesterday and went to wine and complain too one of my buddies, to talk about how bad as I was running and how I deserve to win more. After I bitched a little bit... Well he metophorically bitch slapped me and got me to realize how bad I was playing and how my negative thinking wasn't going to do anything to better my game.
I could not be more thankful for all the help this guy has given me, I owe alot of my success (and future success) to this guy. I'm not going to be very surprised when he starts tearing up the mtt scene.
It turns out my big score from the other weekend, has conditioned my mind to believe that that is how poker is supposed to be on a weekly basis. Going deep in every MTT you play in, Winning all of your coinflips and 60/40's, catching good hands and running like god for a good duration of mtt's that typically last 5-6 hours. I could not have been more wrong... Poker is nothing like that at all.
In fact its the complete opposite of all the glory I just described above. What playing mtt's is about though, is "grinding". Playing patient, being aggressive, making the toughest lay downs, picking off the hardest bluffs, timing, picking your spots well, and most of all... being lucky. I believe all of these factors have to be accounted for those times that you do/will get deep in any mtt.
My new strategy for mtt's is going to be to play really patient in the beginning and mid stages of the mtt, I'm not going to try and build up a huge stack early... I just recently realized how bad of a strategy that was, whoops. If you catch hands early and build up a stack, then good for you, life will be much easier in the middle and maybe even the late stages if you can keep up the good play and not get unlucky (assuming your playing good poker). But the real MTT doesnt start until the late 2nd hours to the 3rd hour of online MTT's, when the blinds and antees are big enough to really start building a stack. Now it is really time to go to work, this is where all the fun begins :D . Now you can really open up your game and start the blind stealing and playing poker, this is the part that seperates the men from the boy's, the winning mtt players from the losers.
Now all you have to do is get out there and do your thing, play well and let luck take its own path... and I guarantee you will be on your way to your own... the path of winning.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Off to a good start in May
Been a while since I last updated,not really sure where to begin.
Why not start off with the big cash. This past Saturday I played in the FTP 50k gtd $100 buyin with 500+ entrants, I qualified through a $15 turbo satellite where I beat out 12 other players to claim the only ticket. I started off the tournament (50k) really hot, being the overall chipleader for most of the first hour. I hit 2 sets within the first 10 hands and got paid off big time... that put me in a comftorable position that early in the mtt, I could be patient yet be very aggressive when I wanted too.
That hot streak wouldn't last long though as I would get the coldest deck ever for the 2nd and 3rd hours, merely stealing a blind every other round to stay afloat. Luckily I had a lot of chips to begin with and kept me in contention of cashing even though I couldnt rake a real pot. After playing the shortstack for a while, I finally picked up KJ in LP and opened for a raise, one of the blinds called and the flop hit me hard, A Q T. I made a lot of chips off of this guy who played back at me with QJ. After that I basically had your regular run of cards, some big pocket pairs , won a coinflip here and there, and had some 60/40 hands hold up. Before I knew it, I was at the final 2 tables, but I was averaged staccked and needed to get some chips if I really wanted to conted for some real money.
But whatta you know, the tables are so damm aggressive that I cant get a good spot to pick up some blinds. Nor did I ever catch a solid hand to double up through. Luckily my friend Derek "forrealDD" showed up right then and offered to help me out and "spot" me if you will. Make sure I dont do anything retarded or screw anything up.
I ended up hanging severly shortstacked from about 15 left until it got to 5 or 6 handed, I dont think I have ever hung on that long being that shortstacked. There were actually moments were my "M" dipped below 3 and hovered around 2. It was so sick, everytime I picked up some kind of a hand, the action in front of me forced me to make really tough laydowns. I wasn't used to playing so shortstacked, I always believed in the back of my mind that I needed a huge chipstack to have any success, but that is obv not the case. It was a great lesson in poker that will clearly help me in the future.
I finally picked up some solid starting hands and was able to chip up to being the chipleader 3 handed. by this time im getting really nervous that I am in contention to win $13,000 dollars, and am already guaranteed $6,000. This is really life changing money for me, and it would take a whole load of weight off of my shoulders. but obv my QQlost to AJ aipf, A3 lost to J9 aipf, and I saw my chiplead slip through my fingers. I ended up getting 3rd place for $6,000... which is very nice and I am very thankful for it. But oh man, the 13k would have been nice. sucks but oh well, nothing I could do, I played my best and recorded my biggest cash to date.
Why not start off with the big cash. This past Saturday I played in the FTP 50k gtd $100 buyin with 500+ entrants, I qualified through a $15 turbo satellite where I beat out 12 other players to claim the only ticket. I started off the tournament (50k) really hot, being the overall chipleader for most of the first hour. I hit 2 sets within the first 10 hands and got paid off big time... that put me in a comftorable position that early in the mtt, I could be patient yet be very aggressive when I wanted too.
That hot streak wouldn't last long though as I would get the coldest deck ever for the 2nd and 3rd hours, merely stealing a blind every other round to stay afloat. Luckily I had a lot of chips to begin with and kept me in contention of cashing even though I couldnt rake a real pot. After playing the shortstack for a while, I finally picked up KJ in LP and opened for a raise, one of the blinds called and the flop hit me hard, A Q T. I made a lot of chips off of this guy who played back at me with QJ. After that I basically had your regular run of cards, some big pocket pairs , won a coinflip here and there, and had some 60/40 hands hold up. Before I knew it, I was at the final 2 tables, but I was averaged staccked and needed to get some chips if I really wanted to conted for some real money.
But whatta you know, the tables are so damm aggressive that I cant get a good spot to pick up some blinds. Nor did I ever catch a solid hand to double up through. Luckily my friend Derek "forrealDD" showed up right then and offered to help me out and "spot" me if you will. Make sure I dont do anything retarded or screw anything up.
I ended up hanging severly shortstacked from about 15 left until it got to 5 or 6 handed, I dont think I have ever hung on that long being that shortstacked. There were actually moments were my "M" dipped below 3 and hovered around 2. It was so sick, everytime I picked up some kind of a hand, the action in front of me forced me to make really tough laydowns. I wasn't used to playing so shortstacked, I always believed in the back of my mind that I needed a huge chipstack to have any success, but that is obv not the case. It was a great lesson in poker that will clearly help me in the future.
I finally picked up some solid starting hands and was able to chip up to being the chipleader 3 handed. by this time im getting really nervous that I am in contention to win $13,000 dollars, and am already guaranteed $6,000. This is really life changing money for me, and it would take a whole load of weight off of my shoulders. but obv my QQlost to AJ aipf, A3 lost to J9 aipf, and I saw my chiplead slip through my fingers. I ended up getting 3rd place for $6,000... which is very nice and I am very thankful for it. But oh man, the 13k would have been nice. sucks but oh well, nothing I could do, I played my best and recorded my biggest cash to date.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
April accomplishments
I'm not exactly satisfied with my month of April, but I think did farely well, esp towards the end.
4/30 : UB $22 94 entries, 1st for $535
4/27 : FTP $33 DS 117 entries, 1st for $948
4/22 : FTP $33 DS 126 entries, 3rd for $482
4/18 : STARS $16.50 360 entries, 6th for $243
4/20 : FTP $11 215 entries, 4th for $210
4/7 : FTP $33 DS 133 entries, 1st for $1,077
played a total of 82 mtt's. and got about 6 semi-worthy final tables. comes out to about 7% final tables. Total profit mtt's for april = +$1,650.
Could have been a lot better but omg I ran so bad on stars its retarded. had 4 cashes in $20/180's toward the end of my run there but couldnt ever close the deal and get a top 2 finish. made only one final table where I came in 9th after coming in to the FT 2/9. I lost 2 60/40's where I was ahead and made some sick calls vs resteals. then in the $16.50 where I came in 6th, I came in to the fT 1/9 and lost 2 coinflips in a row to send me to the rail. once with QQ lost AK and I cant remember the other one. Can I get lucky one time plz?
my stats @ pokerstars = -40 some odd percent ROI!!! that literally makes me sick to my stomach.
meanwhile on FTP, 321% ROI... something seems wrong with this picture.
With all that I had to ban myself from pokerstars for a week at least. My BR there is really hurting, barely even $400. Gonna have to start off playing the $11 180's until I hit a score there so I can start playing mtt's $22 and higher again.
I am also kind of dissapointed in the fact that I haven't final tabled a significant MTT with at least 400 entries for a nice big score, at least 3k+. It's nice to have these small mtt's around to help keep me afloat when I thought I was going to hit rock bottom, but what I really want is that huge score that could change my life. Something that will help get me to the next level of my poker career.
I do feel really good about my game though, and If I can keep plugging away and get a signifcant amount of mtt's in for May... I think I just may be able to come away with that score I've been looking for. I've plugged the biggest leaks anybody could ever find in there game, and its showed in these past couple of weeks.
4/30 : UB $22 94 entries, 1st for $535
4/27 : FTP $33 DS 117 entries, 1st for $948
4/22 : FTP $33 DS 126 entries, 3rd for $482
4/18 : STARS $16.50 360 entries, 6th for $243
4/20 : FTP $11 215 entries, 4th for $210
4/7 : FTP $33 DS 133 entries, 1st for $1,077
played a total of 82 mtt's. and got about 6 semi-worthy final tables. comes out to about 7% final tables. Total profit mtt's for april = +$1,650.
Could have been a lot better but omg I ran so bad on stars its retarded. had 4 cashes in $20/180's toward the end of my run there but couldnt ever close the deal and get a top 2 finish. made only one final table where I came in 9th after coming in to the FT 2/9. I lost 2 60/40's where I was ahead and made some sick calls vs resteals. then in the $16.50 where I came in 6th, I came in to the fT 1/9 and lost 2 coinflips in a row to send me to the rail. once with QQ lost AK and I cant remember the other one. Can I get lucky one time plz?
meanwhile on FTP, 321% ROI... something seems wrong with this picture.
With all that I had to ban myself from pokerstars for a week at least. My BR there is really hurting, barely even $400. Gonna have to start off playing the $11 180's until I hit a score there so I can start playing mtt's $22 and higher again.
I am also kind of dissapointed in the fact that I haven't final tabled a significant MTT with at least 400 entries for a nice big score, at least 3k+. It's nice to have these small mtt's around to help keep me afloat when I thought I was going to hit rock bottom, but what I really want is that huge score that could change my life. Something that will help get me to the next level of my poker career.
I do feel really good about my game though, and If I can keep plugging away and get a signifcant amount of mtt's in for May... I think I just may be able to come away with that score I've been looking for. I've plugged the biggest leaks anybody could ever find in there game, and its showed in these past couple of weeks.
Monday, April 30, 2007
working on my preflop leak
Just discovered a new leak in my game that has been costing me a lot of money in the past. This has been something that should have been pretty clear to me in the past as well, but somehow I managed to over look it again. Simply stated, I play way too loosely preflop, especially in the beginning and middle stages of tournaments. My new goal is to identify these trouble spots and hands, analyze the overall situation, and figure out what the best play is. for example if it would make more sense to fold a hand like AQs or AJs to an early position raise if it means risking a healthy stack thaht would be more useful opening pots, stealing blinds, and picking better spots to get my money in.
Recently I just noticed that, most of the times that I do bust out of a tournament, its because I took a gamble to race for all of my chips with a mediocre hand... really got me to thinking.
leak #1 : Overplaying Ax where x is anywhere from a 2 through a Q, and in extreme cases, a King. While these hands are typically strong when opening a pot when you have position, it becomes a whoe other story when you have to play them out of position or facing a raise in front of you. Unless you spike an A or an even better two pair, chances are youll be facing a sticky situation if you face any resistance. I think for alot of us, we forget that A x (2-K) is still a drawing hand, you need to spike one of your hole cards to make it a real hand, so unless you can confidentally put your opponnent on a range of hands where your Ace kicker is bigger than his ace rag, its probably best not to get so aggressive with it and play the hand as best as possible, all depends on the situation.
Recently I just noticed that, most of the times that I do bust out of a tournament, its because I took a gamble to race for all of my chips with a mediocre hand... really got me to thinking.
leak #1 : Overplaying Ax where x is anywhere from a 2 through a Q, and in extreme cases, a King. While these hands are typically strong when opening a pot when you have position, it becomes a whoe other story when you have to play them out of position or facing a raise in front of you. Unless you spike an A or an even better two pair, chances are youll be facing a sticky situation if you face any resistance. I think for alot of us, we forget that A x (2-K) is still a drawing hand, you need to spike one of your hole cards to make it a real hand, so unless you can confidentally put your opponnent on a range of hands where your Ace kicker is bigger than his ace rag, its probably best not to get so aggressive with it and play the hand as best as possible, all depends on the situation.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Making the Best Decisions
So after reviewing my game for the past 2 weeks, I realized I had one huge leak in my game to go along with a few other smaller leaks that really killed my game in this bad run. But none the less I'm glad that it happened and gave me a chance to review my play as a whole and improve myself yet again.
My big leak. I think for me it's more of problem with how I think mentally and how I am more math/money thinking oriented that caused me to have a huge leak in my game. It's really frustrating too because this whole time it was right under my nose, and I've had people tell this before... but it just never set in like how it has now. Something about figuring it out for myself that really made me change my ways.
Anyway, Growing up and while I was in school, I always excelled in math related subjects. In fact it was the only thing I was ever good at in school, I'm sure you can tell by now that my writing and english is pretty terrible... I'm not gonna lie I know it sucks. Same goes for History and all other core subjects in school, I did just the bare minimum to pass and get by... mainly because I didnt care enough to excell or even try hard enough to get good grades. But with math, It always came easy to me, Usualy resulting in me passing with a high A or at worse a B when I wasn't motivated, cutting classes, or whatever.
Well with this same subconcious obsession with numbers... also caused me to be really tight, obsessed, and focused on the money while at the tables. It should be clicking in your heads now, just exactly where I went wrong in my approach to poker. I was focused too much on making/saving money in poker that it caused me to make really poor decisions at the poker table. Instead of making the best decisions that I really I knew I should have, I'd change my thinking to making/saving money and act on that. For example, If I saw a huge pot building and I had anykind of a hand, even though I knew there was be a good chance I was beat, I'd chase that huge pot. I'd stab it time and time again until it was given up or my chips got allin. And It didn't help either that I have this huge ego that makes me so stubborn to have to give up pots and what not.
I'd also go into any poker session with my mind totally focused on winning so much money for that one session. Or I'd play so my stats would like nice when I would have to present them to the forums or whoever for whatever reasons. These are just a few examples of the many problems I had with my approach to poker... up until now that is.
I realize now that all these things, are not what poker is about, but rather making the best decisions at every juncture possible at the poker tables. Wether it be with bankroll management, playing a weak hand oop preflop, or calling off your stack with a weak pair to a huge river bet. Anything that the poker gods may throw in your direction, it's all about making the best decision possible at that current moment, and nothing else matters. Not the money, not the pot odds, not your cards, but what you trully to believe to be is your best play in that current situation.
My big leak. I think for me it's more of problem with how I think mentally and how I am more math/money thinking oriented that caused me to have a huge leak in my game. It's really frustrating too because this whole time it was right under my nose, and I've had people tell this before... but it just never set in like how it has now. Something about figuring it out for myself that really made me change my ways.
Anyway, Growing up and while I was in school, I always excelled in math related subjects. In fact it was the only thing I was ever good at in school, I'm sure you can tell by now that my writing and english is pretty terrible... I'm not gonna lie I know it sucks. Same goes for History and all other core subjects in school, I did just the bare minimum to pass and get by... mainly because I didnt care enough to excell or even try hard enough to get good grades. But with math, It always came easy to me, Usualy resulting in me passing with a high A or at worse a B when I wasn't motivated, cutting classes, or whatever.
Well with this same subconcious obsession with numbers... also caused me to be really tight, obsessed, and focused on the money while at the tables. It should be clicking in your heads now, just exactly where I went wrong in my approach to poker. I was focused too much on making/saving money in poker that it caused me to make really poor decisions at the poker table. Instead of making the best decisions that I really I knew I should have, I'd change my thinking to making/saving money and act on that. For example, If I saw a huge pot building and I had anykind of a hand, even though I knew there was be a good chance I was beat, I'd chase that huge pot. I'd stab it time and time again until it was given up or my chips got allin. And It didn't help either that I have this huge ego that makes me so stubborn to have to give up pots and what not.
I'd also go into any poker session with my mind totally focused on winning so much money for that one session. Or I'd play so my stats would like nice when I would have to present them to the forums or whoever for whatever reasons. These are just a few examples of the many problems I had with my approach to poker... up until now that is.
I realize now that all these things, are not what poker is about, but rather making the best decisions at every juncture possible at the poker tables. Wether it be with bankroll management, playing a weak hand oop preflop, or calling off your stack with a weak pair to a huge river bet. Anything that the poker gods may throw in your direction, it's all about making the best decision possible at that current moment, and nothing else matters. Not the money, not the pot odds, not your cards, but what you trully to believe to be is your best play in that current situation.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
tought times...
Where do I begin?
These past two months have been some of the hardest times I've had to endure in my so called poker career. Nothing at all seems to be going my way, and I can't exactly tell you why this is all happening. I'm not sure if it's my play or lack there of that is causing me to lose day in and day out, or if it really is just variance rearing its ugly head again. If thats the case, where variance seems to kick in every other month and take a toll on me mentally and physically... then I'm just not sure if "poker" is the answer for me. I just dont think my skin is thick enough to put myself through this kind of torture this constantly. Maybe it's time to be real and be honest with myself... maybe I need to open up my eyes and see that this just wasn't meant to be.
When I moved up to San Francisco in February, I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be the start of my poker fame and fortune. I thought I would go on to win huge mtt's, dominate cash games, live financialy secure, and just "live" the dream life. I thought I would travel the world playing poker and playing in WSOP and WPT events, making millions. I was blinded by other players success... I thought hey if they can do it, so can I. And being the over-competitave, ingnorant, egotistical person that I am... I wasn't going to let anybody tell me otherwise nor was I going to let anything else get in the way of my vision and dreams.
I thought that my plan was full proof and within months i'd be rich. I mean I started getting coached from a professional, I was learning alot and winning alot at the same time. I thought I had payed my dues for the last two and a half years cutting my teeth trying to learn this game. All of the hard work, time, and dedication I put into it, I figured would have to pay off now. I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I knew everything about the game that would lead me to success...
Next thing you know... I'm losing hundreds of hundreds dollars by the day... money that could easily make a huge impact on my current financial state. My biggest winning day (over the span of 2 months) aside from doing good in a mtt... was a plus fourty dollars day.
I was coming up short in all of the spots that matter... taking 4th in a big mtt and blowing the chiplead 4 handed... possibly missing out on an extra $4,000 payday. Taking 8th in a $50 mtt where 1st was $9,000+. Getting 30th out of 2,000+ in the $5 rebuy while I was in 4th place chip position and made some terrible plays against the chipleader to make an early exit... who knows... I possibly missed out on 8k there.
These are the things that really get to me, thinking about what could have been if I could have just sucked out that one time... or win that 60/40 for a huge chiplead, maybe If I didnt lose that huge pot where I was a dominating favorite to win, What if I won that one coinflip 4 handed... all of these shortcomings where all of the time I have been let down one way or another, wether It was my own mistakes or just bad luck... It took a toll on me mentally. In a big way.
So what now?
Im left here with my confidence and my dreams shattered. Wondering how much more pain and suffering I can put myself through before I have to give up on this and live with myself knowing that I failed giving it my all.
I'm not really sure of what I should do now.
One thing that I am certain of though, I could not put myself in position to have to rebuild from scratch all over again. If I go bust or close to it one more time... I'm sure it will be the last. And that will be that.
These past two months have been some of the hardest times I've had to endure in my so called poker career. Nothing at all seems to be going my way, and I can't exactly tell you why this is all happening. I'm not sure if it's my play or lack there of that is causing me to lose day in and day out, or if it really is just variance rearing its ugly head again. If thats the case, where variance seems to kick in every other month and take a toll on me mentally and physically... then I'm just not sure if "poker" is the answer for me. I just dont think my skin is thick enough to put myself through this kind of torture this constantly. Maybe it's time to be real and be honest with myself... maybe I need to open up my eyes and see that this just wasn't meant to be.
When I moved up to San Francisco in February, I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be the start of my poker fame and fortune. I thought I would go on to win huge mtt's, dominate cash games, live financialy secure, and just "live" the dream life. I thought I would travel the world playing poker and playing in WSOP and WPT events, making millions. I was blinded by other players success... I thought hey if they can do it, so can I. And being the over-competitave, ingnorant, egotistical person that I am... I wasn't going to let anybody tell me otherwise nor was I going to let anything else get in the way of my vision and dreams.
I thought that my plan was full proof and within months i'd be rich. I mean I started getting coached from a professional, I was learning alot and winning alot at the same time. I thought I had payed my dues for the last two and a half years cutting my teeth trying to learn this game. All of the hard work, time, and dedication I put into it, I figured would have to pay off now. I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I knew everything about the game that would lead me to success...
Next thing you know... I'm losing hundreds of hundreds dollars by the day... money that could easily make a huge impact on my current financial state. My biggest winning day (over the span of 2 months) aside from doing good in a mtt... was a plus fourty dollars day.
I was coming up short in all of the spots that matter... taking 4th in a big mtt and blowing the chiplead 4 handed... possibly missing out on an extra $4,000 payday. Taking 8th in a $50 mtt where 1st was $9,000+. Getting 30th out of 2,000+ in the $5 rebuy while I was in 4th place chip position and made some terrible plays against the chipleader to make an early exit... who knows... I possibly missed out on 8k there.
These are the things that really get to me, thinking about what could have been if I could have just sucked out that one time... or win that 60/40 for a huge chiplead, maybe If I didnt lose that huge pot where I was a dominating favorite to win, What if I won that one coinflip 4 handed... all of these shortcomings where all of the time I have been let down one way or another, wether It was my own mistakes or just bad luck... It took a toll on me mentally. In a big way.
So what now?
Im left here with my confidence and my dreams shattered. Wondering how much more pain and suffering I can put myself through before I have to give up on this and live with myself knowing that I failed giving it my all.
I'm not really sure of what I should do now.
One thing that I am certain of though, I could not put myself in position to have to rebuild from scratch all over again. If I go bust or close to it one more time... I'm sure it will be the last. And that will be that.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
SHIP THE SHOYU!!!
Oh its been awhile, but I finally bagged an mtt today. It was the $33 double stack on fulltilt. It was a pretty small field of only 133 entries, but still... a win is a win. Ship the $1,077 please!
It was quite the roller coaster ride ill tell you that. At one point I was down to 1400 chips at 100/200, that was right after I built up a 12k stack and dusted that off on a hand where I turned 2 pair vs a flopped straight. Then I doubled that with K8>AQ, then from there built my stack back up to 13k without ever getting a real hand, just making plays where I thought my oponnents were weak. I didnt even get a big pocket pair until it got to 12 handed.
After that though, I finally got my monster rush of cards, QQ in the sb shortstack shoved K2 into me, limped AA utg vs agro bb (got checked around to bb btw, ghey but w/e) he led out a Q78 flop and I popped it up, he folded, AT>A3, 55>AQ, and almost every other hand I played went my way. That was nice for a change.
Another big factor that helped me to win was when it was 11 handed, I was short and this super agro guy to my right thought he could just run over me like he was the rest of the table. I had about 20k at the time (blinds 1k/2k, some huge antee) and he had about 50k. gets folded around to him in the sb and he completes my bb when I have AQ. So at this point im thinking id rather double up then have him fold to my allin, and risk me going out to a weaker hand... just a chance I was willing to take... and it paid off. I raised it to 6600 and he instacalled, flop was MONEY when it hit AQx... better yet he instant shoveled right into me.... he had 37. SHIP!!!
Same guy again, folds to his sb and this time he minraises into my K4cc in the bb. We have about the same amount of chips, a little more than 30k @ 1.5k/3k I think. So I flat call and the flop comes 45T two clubs, thats a pretty damm good flop for K4 in my eyes. He checks into me and I know he wants this pot bad, so I just lead a weakish bet of 4k into a 14k pot... insta check raise shovel the 68.... Turn the ace of clubs, hes drawing dead, gg... SHIP!!!
Not bad, accompished some of my goals today, but im just not satisfied enough yet. Gonna keep up the good play and hopefully bag more W's.
Peace
It was quite the roller coaster ride ill tell you that. At one point I was down to 1400 chips at 100/200, that was right after I built up a 12k stack and dusted that off on a hand where I turned 2 pair vs a flopped straight. Then I doubled that with K8>AQ, then from there built my stack back up to 13k without ever getting a real hand, just making plays where I thought my oponnents were weak. I didnt even get a big pocket pair until it got to 12 handed.
After that though, I finally got my monster rush of cards, QQ in the sb shortstack shoved K2 into me, limped AA utg vs agro bb (got checked around to bb btw, ghey but w/e) he led out a Q78 flop and I popped it up, he folded, AT>A3, 55>AQ, and almost every other hand I played went my way. That was nice for a change.
Another big factor that helped me to win was when it was 11 handed, I was short and this super agro guy to my right thought he could just run over me like he was the rest of the table. I had about 20k at the time (blinds 1k/2k, some huge antee) and he had about 50k. gets folded around to him in the sb and he completes my bb when I have AQ. So at this point im thinking id rather double up then have him fold to my allin, and risk me going out to a weaker hand... just a chance I was willing to take... and it paid off. I raised it to 6600 and he instacalled, flop was MONEY when it hit AQx... better yet he instant shoveled right into me.... he had 37. SHIP!!!
Same guy again, folds to his sb and this time he minraises into my K4cc in the bb. We have about the same amount of chips, a little more than 30k @ 1.5k/3k I think. So I flat call and the flop comes 45T two clubs, thats a pretty damm good flop for K4 in my eyes. He checks into me and I know he wants this pot bad, so I just lead a weakish bet of 4k into a 14k pot... insta check raise shovel the 68.... Turn the ace of clubs, hes drawing dead, gg... SHIP!!!
Not bad, accompished some of my goals today, but im just not satisfied enough yet. Gonna keep up the good play and hopefully bag more W's.
Peace
Friday, April 6, 2007
back on the grind and motivated
Well I actually started playing again two nights ago, but nothing too report there. Played some cash games and a few mtt's but nothing really big happened. But... at least I did book two winning days since my comeback. Thats right baby, first night I won $40 and the next I won $15... lol money money moneeeeeyyyy.
So I really want to accomplish my goals this month and take down some huge mtt's. I feel really good about my play and now I just have to put in the time... and with that, I know I am going to take one down.
One of my favorite mtt's right now is the double stack 14k gtd $26 buyin on full tilt. the field is always around 700 but weak as shit. It's sick too because you get alot of chips too work with in the beginning stages and gives you alot of time to build a big stack. But I also need to find another mtt that I can play daily and be consistent in. I've been playing the $5 rebuy on stars and its good, but its just too much of a marathon.
OK thats enough for now, time to go kill some poker. peace
So I really want to accomplish my goals this month and take down some huge mtt's. I feel really good about my play and now I just have to put in the time... and with that, I know I am going to take one down.
One of my favorite mtt's right now is the double stack 14k gtd $26 buyin on full tilt. the field is always around 700 but weak as shit. It's sick too because you get alot of chips too work with in the beginning stages and gives you alot of time to build a big stack. But I also need to find another mtt that I can play daily and be consistent in. I've been playing the $5 rebuy on stars and its good, but its just too much of a marathon.
OK thats enough for now, time to go kill some poker. peace
Sunday, April 1, 2007
So much for dominating in April, Time for a Break
Losing has become way too much of a habit for me in the last month, So i've decided to take a small break for like a week or so. Try to clear my head, not think about poker at all, and hope that this break will help cure me of losing day in and day out.
It's gonna be tough since I dont have a job, the gf is at school most of the week days, and I dont have any close friends out here in San Francisco yet. Basically I'll be bored out of my mind for this whole week. Idk, maybe ill get back into exercising again or something, maybe pick up a few books and reading material... idk.
Sucks to have to take a break right now, I feel like I am playing really well like 95% of the time. But I have to try something different because even playing your best game a majority of the time isnt even enough to cut it sometimes. L8ers
<3 poker forever
and oh yeah, dropped $175 bucks today trying to qualify for the sunday million. played the $10 turbo rebuy (10 buyins for 100), the $8 rebuy for $24, and the $55 super satellite... went 0/3 and would have been better off buying in directly to the sunday mill.... so sick
also busted out of 3 different mtt's before 1st break
It's gonna be tough since I dont have a job, the gf is at school most of the week days, and I dont have any close friends out here in San Francisco yet. Basically I'll be bored out of my mind for this whole week. Idk, maybe ill get back into exercising again or something, maybe pick up a few books and reading material... idk.
Sucks to have to take a break right now, I feel like I am playing really well like 95% of the time. But I have to try something different because even playing your best game a majority of the time isnt even enough to cut it sometimes. L8ers
<3 poker forever
and oh yeah, dropped $175 bucks today trying to qualify for the sunday million. played the $10 turbo rebuy (10 buyins for 100), the $8 rebuy for $24, and the $55 super satellite... went 0/3 and would have been better off buying in directly to the sunday mill.... so sick
also busted out of 3 different mtt's before 1st break
Friday, March 30, 2007
close but no cigar, 13th/600+
Went deep again in another medium sized mtt. It was the $26 buyin 14k gtd on fulltilt. I played pretty well throughout the whole tournament and got deep again, but alas my AK was no match for AJ AIPF on a QQ5 6 board. If I dodge a 3 outer there ive got a 250k stack and am top 3 in chips going into the FT. That was pretty sick.
Not much you can do there. One thing I am happy about though is that I didnt take myself out of this mtt, I played well throughout the whole thing and didnt have any breakdowns. So I'm improving in that department. Maybe next time I'll get some hands deep in the MTT and be able to mow over the Final Table and Take one down. In fact i'm sure of it, if I keep on playing the way I am playing right now.... i'm bound to get extremely lucky one of these times at the FT. Then its payday.
Probably taking tomorrow off and coming back sunday, possibly play a satellite to the sunday million and finally get the sunday million monkey off of my back. L8er
Not much you can do there. One thing I am happy about though is that I didnt take myself out of this mtt, I played well throughout the whole thing and didnt have any breakdowns. So I'm improving in that department. Maybe next time I'll get some hands deep in the MTT and be able to mow over the Final Table and Take one down. In fact i'm sure of it, if I keep on playing the way I am playing right now.... i'm bound to get extremely lucky one of these times at the FT. Then its payday.
Probably taking tomorrow off and coming back sunday, possibly play a satellite to the sunday million and finally get the sunday million monkey off of my back. L8er
Thursday, March 29, 2007
My Ego gets the best of me... deep
tonights results: 2 mtt's on stars
$50+5 331 entries, bust out early when I get it allin on the flop with A9 vs QJ on 9xx flop.
then the $5 rebuy 25k gtd 1915 entries, this one really hurt me.
I played great for 5 hours and was the chipleader for a period deep in the mtt... I never left the top 5 spots either when we got down to 100 players. I was playing awesome and making moves for pots that didnt belong to me, I didnt even get AA once in the mtt, KK once but that lost to 66. Just AK a few times that held a few times.
Anyway, we get down to 30 players and I am 4th in chips with 650k and the cl directly to my right. Hes a crazy ass mofo donkey, donkbetting ace high in numerous pots, and getting allin with ridicilous hands. then these two hands come up and send me to the rail... these 2 hands in 2 minutes out of 5+ hours I lose my focus, stopped paying attention to detail, and let my gaurd down.
TT utg, i raise to 50k blinds 10k/20k. button cold calls and the bb donkey calls. doesn't surprise me, these players are extremely weak. flop J43, bb checks, and I figure I'll take the safe route and check also, see what develops. button bets 80k and bb raises to 200k... i fold.
that may sound like the right play to most, but i think i played it horribly. I obviously have to make a move for the pot, continuation bet and defend my pf raise, now im trapped faced to call a bet and a check raise. and the bb could have anything here, at best a jack... and even thats a small percentage on his range. Any pair 22-99, AK-A2, and 'EVERY OTHER" hand possible... I kid you not, he was that bad. even 72, 73, 82 etc...
but whatever, I should have just got over it, get my composure back, get back to playing good solid poker, and move on over to the next hand. Instead I guess im still tilting, there are numerous distractions bothering me, I get impatient and go bust in a stupid hand vs same donk.
my bb donkey sb. folds to sb who min raises to 40k and I have 44. I obviously should have called and played a flop and not get into trouble with chip leader who is uber aggressive... NOPE, reraise 1/2 my chips and he instacalls. checks to me T93 flop and I shove w/out even thinking it through. He instcalls 77, 7 turn, gg me.
these little things deep in tourneys where I lose my focus for a split second.... are possibly costing me thousands of dollars. It makes me sick. I can live with taking a bad beat to send me to the rail... but not when I know it was my own damm mistakes and loss of focus.
this has gotten way longer than expected. Well just gotta get back on the horse because tomorrow's another day.
$50+5 331 entries, bust out early when I get it allin on the flop with A9 vs QJ on 9xx flop.
then the $5 rebuy 25k gtd 1915 entries, this one really hurt me.
I played great for 5 hours and was the chipleader for a period deep in the mtt... I never left the top 5 spots either when we got down to 100 players. I was playing awesome and making moves for pots that didnt belong to me, I didnt even get AA once in the mtt, KK once but that lost to 66. Just AK a few times that held a few times.
Anyway, we get down to 30 players and I am 4th in chips with 650k and the cl directly to my right. Hes a crazy ass mofo donkey, donkbetting ace high in numerous pots, and getting allin with ridicilous hands. then these two hands come up and send me to the rail... these 2 hands in 2 minutes out of 5+ hours I lose my focus, stopped paying attention to detail, and let my gaurd down.
TT utg, i raise to 50k blinds 10k/20k. button cold calls and the bb donkey calls. doesn't surprise me, these players are extremely weak. flop J43, bb checks, and I figure I'll take the safe route and check also, see what develops. button bets 80k and bb raises to 200k... i fold.
that may sound like the right play to most, but i think i played it horribly. I obviously have to make a move for the pot, continuation bet and defend my pf raise, now im trapped faced to call a bet and a check raise. and the bb could have anything here, at best a jack... and even thats a small percentage on his range. Any pair 22-99, AK-A2, and 'EVERY OTHER" hand possible... I kid you not, he was that bad. even 72, 73, 82 etc...
but whatever, I should have just got over it, get my composure back, get back to playing good solid poker, and move on over to the next hand. Instead I guess im still tilting, there are numerous distractions bothering me, I get impatient and go bust in a stupid hand vs same donk.
my bb donkey sb. folds to sb who min raises to 40k and I have 44. I obviously should have called and played a flop and not get into trouble with chip leader who is uber aggressive... NOPE, reraise 1/2 my chips and he instacalls. checks to me T93 flop and I shove w/out even thinking it through. He instcalls 77, 7 turn, gg me.
these little things deep in tourneys where I lose my focus for a split second.... are possibly costing me thousands of dollars. It makes me sick. I can live with taking a bad beat to send me to the rail... but not when I know it was my own damm mistakes and loss of focus.
this has gotten way longer than expected. Well just gotta get back on the horse because tomorrow's another day.
A New Beginning
I guess an introduction would be appropiate to begin with. Name is Dominc, 22 years old, been playing poker for 3 years now. Mainly nlhe, but I have just started to get myself familiar with other games of poker, lhe, lots of 2-7 low-ball, and some lo8. I currently play limits between .50/1 and 1/2 nl, and 2/4 limit through 5/10, only once dipping my feet into a 10/20 2-7 game on stars.
So why do I deserve to have my own poker blog, what have I done that makes me worthy? I'll tell you right now the best is yet to come. If all goes as planned, I will be killing mtt's beginning today and for the month of april. Thats the short term goal for now.
I have had small amounts of success in my road to becoming a semi-pro poker player thus far. Aside from going broke twice (well pretty damm close anyway), I have clearly been a winning poker player over the last 3 years. Most recently I have turn a $600 bankroll in December into at its highest peak, a $7,000 BR in early March. Some of it form cash games, but most of it from the big mtt score. Which is why I have decided that I am going to dedicate April to playing mtt's. for more results you can look me up... bigchipshi on stars/party, and stylinhawyn on fulltilt. I believe I have just over 20k of total winnings (all 3 sites) according to thepokerdb.com
Up until recently, i dedicated all of my time to cash games (where I will admit there is more money to be made vs mtt's), but I have endured a recent downswing that has hurt my BR by about 30%. So i kind of want to get away from all of that and focus on another aspect of the game, a game that I feel I will be more successful at personally. I feel like I have a greater edge for my playing style in a tournament structured game vs cash games.
So I will be updating this blog at least every day to every other day, with results and my thoughts of what happened. I am hoping that this will motivate me to play hard and finally make something of my poker career. I want to go on a sick rush in April and prove to everybody and myself, that I have what it takes to be a top notch poker player.
My goals are to final table at least 3-5 $20-$70 or $3 - $5 rebuy mtt's. With at least 2 scores of $2,000 plus. I'm aiming very high I know... but what have I got to lose for shooting big?
l8er
So why do I deserve to have my own poker blog, what have I done that makes me worthy? I'll tell you right now the best is yet to come. If all goes as planned, I will be killing mtt's beginning today and for the month of april. Thats the short term goal for now.
I have had small amounts of success in my road to becoming a semi-pro poker player thus far. Aside from going broke twice (well pretty damm close anyway), I have clearly been a winning poker player over the last 3 years. Most recently I have turn a $600 bankroll in December into at its highest peak, a $7,000 BR in early March. Some of it form cash games, but most of it from the big mtt score. Which is why I have decided that I am going to dedicate April to playing mtt's. for more results you can look me up... bigchipshi on stars/party, and stylinhawyn on fulltilt. I believe I have just over 20k of total winnings (all 3 sites) according to thepokerdb.com
Up until recently, i dedicated all of my time to cash games (where I will admit there is more money to be made vs mtt's), but I have endured a recent downswing that has hurt my BR by about 30%. So i kind of want to get away from all of that and focus on another aspect of the game, a game that I feel I will be more successful at personally. I feel like I have a greater edge for my playing style in a tournament structured game vs cash games.
So I will be updating this blog at least every day to every other day, with results and my thoughts of what happened. I am hoping that this will motivate me to play hard and finally make something of my poker career. I want to go on a sick rush in April and prove to everybody and myself, that I have what it takes to be a top notch poker player.
My goals are to final table at least 3-5 $20-$70 or $3 - $5 rebuy mtt's. With at least 2 scores of $2,000 plus. I'm aiming very high I know... but what have I got to lose for shooting big?
l8er
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