EPT Dortmund

Bleeeurgh...

Busted level six for a big pot with AJ all in on a JJ8 flop v QQ. Turn 8. River Q. Weird i knew it was coming!!

Ok better go hit the cash games :-)

Hold'em hands part 2

Ok firstly to the three hands that i posted a few days ago....

The first one i think is a close call between calling the flop raise and shoving most non scare cards on the turn, and folding. I don’t think shoving on the flop is a good option because it’s going to get insta called in this spot by a big draw or a dominating hand. I actually decided to fold, this isn’t a spot where i can have a dominating hand.... and there is also a chance he can have a K8, K9, 88 or 99 hand which almost leaves me drawing dead.

The second hand i really hated. I was expecting that if he was going to bet that it would be about $12000... and considering i had hardly seen this player before, i just had to look him up. Especially as i had checked to induce this sort of move. He showed QA which was quite surprising given the action. I’m still not sure its profitable in the long term to call in that spot, but sometimes you just have to go with the feel you have in the hand.

This hand happened shortly after the previous one. I thought that because of this, it looked to me like he had me beat. I just can’t see him betting JJ and smaller pairs. Often calling the turn, and leading out in this kind of hand means a big hand. So i folded....

I’ll search my poker tracker and post some more interesting hands in the next few weeks.

I’ve been looking at my tournament schedule, and in the next few months i am looking forward to playing four EPTs (Dortmund, Warsaw, San Remo, Monte Carlo).. its also my 30th birthday soon and i’m going skiing to Val D’isere which should be wicked. After all that its the WSOP again... it always seems to come around very quickly.... i’ve done a rough schedule which i’ll post closer to the date!

Some Hold'em hands

I haven’t posted any NL Hold’em hands for a while. I’ve actually been doing pretty good in the last eight weeks or so at NL 50/100 and 100/200, which has improved my confidence after the miserable run I had at the start of 2007.

These three hands are all from a $100/$200 NL games.

- I have $29,000 stack. Game is six handed. I limp UTG with 89. UTG+1 calls. Cut off min raises it to $400 (he does this a lot). The button calls, and both blinds fold. The flop comes 89K. I check UTG+1 checks. Cut off (the min raiser) bets $200. Button folds. I raise the pot to $2500. Now UTG+1 (who I think is Ram Vaswani) makes it $9600 to play. He has me covered. What do you reckon is the best play?

- Heads Up game. I have a $37,000 stack, my opponent has a $34,000 stack. He has the button. He makes it $600. I reraise with QK to $1800. He calls. The flop comes 64Q. I bet $2450. My opponent calls. Turn is the K. I bet $4200. He calls again. River comes a 6.

I considered betting but decided to check to hopefully induce a bluff. The pot is $16900. He jams for $25550. This was the first time I have played this guy Heads Up, and only a couple of times in a ring game. What now?

- Last hand. Same guy on a new table. Both $20,000 stacks. Second hand in I raise with QQ to $750 on the button. He makes it $2200. I called. The flop comes K47. He checked. I checked. Turn K. He checked. I bet $3000. He called. River 4. He bets $10,000. What now?

Loads of hands + Rake challenge leaderboard

I mentioned in a previous blog that on December 30th i was down $180,000 playing two tables of $50/$100. The games were against Emily86 on Betfair, and they play much bigger then a regular 50/100 game. I've included my percentage chance of winning the hand when most of the money went in, and included all the pots over $15,000 we played on the table i was losing the most!

A nice way to get me steaming at the beginning - Ben 80%

Haha make a good read and still lose tilt - Ben 78%

Finally one holds up - Ben 81%

Now i think all is going to go well - Ben 100%

Start of sick run - Ben 65%

Unreal $40,000 pot. I was so tilted after this - Ben 71% (i thought much bigger)

Finally i get it in with the worst hand and lose obviously - Emily 64%

Flop nuts and lose - Ben 65%

Nuts again couldn't lose - Ben 100%

Catching Bare Ace - Ben 100%

Really sick $68,000 pot that pair of fives win. I really shouldn't be gambling here. Emily 57%

Tilted i get all in preflop next hand and get lucky one time - Emily 56%

Hmmm Emily's bluffing range is huge, don't like this one so much - Emily 100%

This sums it up - Ben 55%

Coin flip, Emily wins again - Emily 52%

Facing $113,000 stack, the comeback begins - Ben 80%

We like these odds - Ben 97%

Nice turn - Ben 82%

$37,000 pot. Think i may have stopped if my call was wrong - Ben 100%

$80,000 pot. I wanted to make this pot big preflop as i knew if i hit a set i was likely to get a double up. One time. Ben - 73%

Overall that table i lost $35,000. I won about the same on the second table. Too many hands, so i'll just post the biggest three.

One pair wins $66,000. Ben 70%

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz $54,000 lost. Ben 80%

My play on the turn is fishy here. Ben 67.5%

I think that particular day ending even felt like winning a million!

Rake Challenge Leaderboard

1. peego £2250
2. justagame £1190
3. LDO £1097
4. Punterz08 £1062
5. Beau777 £970

Still two and half months to go to catch up! If you signed up through me and think you should have appeared on the leaderboard, post in the messages...

New Year

There is something strange about the start of the New Year when it comes to poker. All profit/losses get reset, and its time to go again. Despite claiming that i am going to take it easy in January, its very unlikely to happen. Think i am playing the best poker online of my life at the moment, so going to keep going. I'm even winning at high stakes NL Hold'em as well..... and when i am feeling less hungover, i'll get round to posting a few hands. I also managed to reverse my biggest ever loss a few days ago. I was $180,000 down playing $50/$100 PL Omaha and got the lot back in the same session.... so sick!

I was really looking forward to playing the Caribbean EPT event then going to the Aussie Millions. Unfortunately, due to a long drawn out house purchase, i can't leave the country for the next few weeks.... so my next tournament is likely to be EPT Dortmund which had a huge field last year.

My blog may well get moved here permanently soon. There is more scope to add stuff and card graphics are coming soon as well.