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.
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