Now that I have been able to get some serious hours in online and think about my play I have developed a new ultra aggressive preflop tactic in Omaha and so far it has been a huge hit. I am raising with about 40% of hands preflop and calling a lot more before the flop as well. My post flop play is still the same but what my tactic is doing is making it very hard to ever put me on a hand. I am getting paid when I hit more than ever. Hands like 5679 are now an instant raise and sometimes a reraise preflop.
I was so aggressive during one session yesterday on the £2/£5 table that I won 110/330 hands on a full table of ten players. The main thing is that I am trapping players extremely well post flop. Take the hand below. Especially playing short handed I like to be the aggressor…. Raising between 70-80% of hands before the flop. Ok so the example below it is very bad play from my opponent. I have noticed that due to my repetitive raising that I am forcing my opponents into making a lot of mistakes post flop.
------HAND 4------
Game #591143163: Omaha High Pot Limit (£2.50/£5) - 2005/04/20 - 16:56:35 (GMT)
Table "Iris" Seat 3 is the button.
Seat 3: davidlead (£870.36 in chips)
Seat 6: Milkybarkid (£788 in chips)
Seat 8: I’mAFish (£846 in chips)
Milkybarkid: posts small blind £2.50
I’mAFish: posts big blind £5
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [3s 4d 5c 7d]
davidlead: folds
Milkybarkid: raises to £15
I’mAFish: calls £10
----- FLOP ----- [Ac 2s 4h]
Milkybarkid: bets £30
I’mAFish: calls £30
----- TURN ----- [Ac 2s 4h][9s]
Milkybarkid: checks
I’mAFish: bets £90
Milkybarkid: calls £90
----- RIVER ----- [Ac 2s 4h][9d][8h]
Milkybarkid: checks
I’mAFish: bets £270
Milkybarkid: raises to £653 and is all in
I’mAFish: calls £383
----- SHOW DOWN -----
I’mAFish: shows [Ad 4s Jc Jd] (Two Pairs, Aces and Fours, Nine high)
Milkybarkid: shows [3s 4d 5c 7d] and won (£1576) with A Straight, Five high
Milkybarkid collected £1576 from Main pot
In sixteen hours of play this week I am nearly $10000 in profit. I have jumped in to the £10/£20 and broke even but I really don’t need to take the extra risk when things are going so well elsewhere.
I am currently trying to debate whether I should go to the World Series after travelling in Mexico as well….. hmmmmm
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Luton Main Event report
I played in the £1000 No Limit Holdem at Luton over the weekend. Everything went extremely smoothly on Day 1 and I was hitting cards, my bluffs were working and I was sat on a very good table which allowed me to build my chips up to a healthy 60000 which was 5th out of the 44 runners remaining for Day 2….
Some hands that I remember from Day 1.
- Blinds 100/200 crazy player to my right who I had targeted for a double up raises to 1200 to play. I have KK so I call knowing he will pay me off if I get a favourable flop. It flops JJ9. Not really ideal. He checks and I bet 3000. He goes all in for another 6000. Against a whole medley of players I would consider passing here but not against him. I call and he has AK and I am up to 20000
- Blinds 300/600 I call on the button after numerous limpers with 4s6s. Flop 35T rainbow. Everyone checks so I bet 3000. One caller. Turn a 7 to give me the nuts but ther is now a flush draw. He checks again and I bet 3000 again. He reraises 6000 more. I go all in as I don’t want to be outdrawn by slowplaying. He passes. Up to about 35000.
- Blinds 300/600. This hand was bizarre. I limp under the gun with AA. Five other limpers around to the big blind who just raises 1000 more. I call as there are some crazy players on my table and I think one of them may try a move in this pot. Sure enough Ali Mallu raises 7000 more. Big blind passes and I raise another 13000. Ali passes.
- Blinds 400/800. I raise UTG to 4000 with AK. Big blind who was a very bizarre player who had never played live before called. Flop 23K but all clubs. He bets 1000. Hmmm I call. Turn J. he bets 1500. I call. River a 3. He bets 1500 again and I call. He has the nut flush. I think I escaped that one lightly.
- Blinds 600/1200. Button raises to 3500 to play. I have AA in the big blind. I raise 8000 more and after a big think he calls. Flop AJ9 with two hearts. I bet 8000 and he passed. This put me up to around 50000.
I then got a rush of AK’s and no callers to my raises so ended the day on 60000 chips.
Day 2
Twice I raised early on with AQ only to lay them down to all in moves and I was down to 46000. I then raised 5 out of 6 hands with no callers and showed the table a pocket pair each time. Bit of a rush…..
This was a key hand. Blinds 800/1600. I raise again to 4500 to play with AQ and pick up a caller in the big blind. Flop 78K with two clubs. He checks and I decide to represent the K and bet 9000. He calls. I am figuring him now for a flush draw or KQ or KJ. Next card a 2 and he checks again. If he is flushing here I don’t want him to get a free card with a 28000 pot out there I bet 20000. Hopefully he will now even let go of a weak King. After about 4 minutes he calls. Hmmm I am down to 20000 chips now. River a 2. Again he checks and I decide not to bluff my last 20000 so check. I show AQ and he says its good. He had A9 clubs. Amazingly after that bluff I am up to 90000 chips and probably amongst the chip leaders.
I managed to get my chips to 100000 before I was moved to another table.
I then got bluffed out of a hand straight away in a small blind/big blind battle. I think I played the hand badly. Blinds 1000/2000 small blind raises to 5000 and I look down at AQ. He has around 40000. I was going to put him all in but decided to just raise it to 15000. He then moved all in after a think. I had no read on this player and haven’t played with him before so he could have been a rock. I passed as 25000 more was just too much. He showed K9. Damn how I hate it when I get bluffed.
We were down to around 23 players when the hand that killed me happened. I had about 75000 chips and blinds were 1500/3000. Early position young guy raised to 8000 to play. I am in the cut off and decide to call with JJ. My first mistake is that I should have raised it there to find out where I was. Flop 259 rainbow. He bet something like 11000. I was convinced I was winning. I had him on AK or a smaller pocket pair. Again I should have raised there to find out what he had. I called. Turn a T. He checks. I fire out 17000 and he starts thinking…. When he eventually calls I am convinced I am beat as I can’t see what hand he could be calling where I am ahead. River a blank. He checks and I check. He has TT for top set. My own fault I let him catch it. It leaves me on 40000 when I should have been on over 100000 if I had played it better. Still he hit a two outer on me so he was lucky.
With the blinds now 1500/3000 I raise twice with AT and AJ only to pass both times to all in raises behind me. I was down to 24000 when I went all in with ThJh and was called by the button who had me dominated with AJ. I didn’t utilise my last 40000 chips very well to be fair.
Overall I played well and got close to the money again. I have a mentality nowadays to try and win tournaments rather than just make the money. In the past I would have just got anted away until I made the money but I think long term taking greater risks at the bubble stage of tournaments will provide greater rewards….
Some hands that I remember from Day 1.
- Blinds 100/200 crazy player to my right who I had targeted for a double up raises to 1200 to play. I have KK so I call knowing he will pay me off if I get a favourable flop. It flops JJ9. Not really ideal. He checks and I bet 3000. He goes all in for another 6000. Against a whole medley of players I would consider passing here but not against him. I call and he has AK and I am up to 20000
- Blinds 300/600 I call on the button after numerous limpers with 4s6s. Flop 35T rainbow. Everyone checks so I bet 3000. One caller. Turn a 7 to give me the nuts but ther is now a flush draw. He checks again and I bet 3000 again. He reraises 6000 more. I go all in as I don’t want to be outdrawn by slowplaying. He passes. Up to about 35000.
- Blinds 300/600. This hand was bizarre. I limp under the gun with AA. Five other limpers around to the big blind who just raises 1000 more. I call as there are some crazy players on my table and I think one of them may try a move in this pot. Sure enough Ali Mallu raises 7000 more. Big blind passes and I raise another 13000. Ali passes.
- Blinds 400/800. I raise UTG to 4000 with AK. Big blind who was a very bizarre player who had never played live before called. Flop 23K but all clubs. He bets 1000. Hmmm I call. Turn J. he bets 1500. I call. River a 3. He bets 1500 again and I call. He has the nut flush. I think I escaped that one lightly.
- Blinds 600/1200. Button raises to 3500 to play. I have AA in the big blind. I raise 8000 more and after a big think he calls. Flop AJ9 with two hearts. I bet 8000 and he passed. This put me up to around 50000.
I then got a rush of AK’s and no callers to my raises so ended the day on 60000 chips.
Day 2
Twice I raised early on with AQ only to lay them down to all in moves and I was down to 46000. I then raised 5 out of 6 hands with no callers and showed the table a pocket pair each time. Bit of a rush…..
This was a key hand. Blinds 800/1600. I raise again to 4500 to play with AQ and pick up a caller in the big blind. Flop 78K with two clubs. He checks and I decide to represent the K and bet 9000. He calls. I am figuring him now for a flush draw or KQ or KJ. Next card a 2 and he checks again. If he is flushing here I don’t want him to get a free card with a 28000 pot out there I bet 20000. Hopefully he will now even let go of a weak King. After about 4 minutes he calls. Hmmm I am down to 20000 chips now. River a 2. Again he checks and I decide not to bluff my last 20000 so check. I show AQ and he says its good. He had A9 clubs. Amazingly after that bluff I am up to 90000 chips and probably amongst the chip leaders.
I managed to get my chips to 100000 before I was moved to another table.
I then got bluffed out of a hand straight away in a small blind/big blind battle. I think I played the hand badly. Blinds 1000/2000 small blind raises to 5000 and I look down at AQ. He has around 40000. I was going to put him all in but decided to just raise it to 15000. He then moved all in after a think. I had no read on this player and haven’t played with him before so he could have been a rock. I passed as 25000 more was just too much. He showed K9. Damn how I hate it when I get bluffed.
We were down to around 23 players when the hand that killed me happened. I had about 75000 chips and blinds were 1500/3000. Early position young guy raised to 8000 to play. I am in the cut off and decide to call with JJ. My first mistake is that I should have raised it there to find out where I was. Flop 259 rainbow. He bet something like 11000. I was convinced I was winning. I had him on AK or a smaller pocket pair. Again I should have raised there to find out what he had. I called. Turn a T. He checks. I fire out 17000 and he starts thinking…. When he eventually calls I am convinced I am beat as I can’t see what hand he could be calling where I am ahead. River a blank. He checks and I check. He has TT for top set. My own fault I let him catch it. It leaves me on 40000 when I should have been on over 100000 if I had played it better. Still he hit a two outer on me so he was lucky.
With the blinds now 1500/3000 I raise twice with AT and AJ only to pass both times to all in raises behind me. I was down to 24000 when I went all in with ThJh and was called by the button who had me dominated with AJ. I didn’t utilise my last 40000 chips very well to be fair.
Overall I played well and got close to the money again. I have a mentality nowadays to try and win tournaments rather than just make the money. In the past I would have just got anted away until I made the money but I think long term taking greater risks at the bubble stage of tournaments will provide greater rewards….
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Mad Week
It’s been my first official week playing poker for a living and my god has it been some induction. I’m not sure if it was meant to be this turbulent. I have been playing a lot on the £10/£20 Pot Limit Omaha tables on Betfair…. I have won and lost more in pots this week than at any other poker game that I have ever played. The game at the moment is a goldmine but the swings are just insane. I was £10000 down at one point early in the week but a couple of good days have meant I am marginally up now. I have played with some aggressive players in my life but this table has to be seen to be believed.
One of the areas that I am struggling with is that I think I am getting bluffed out of pots too easily with the best hand. Take this situation. In one big hand I called £150 preflop with QQTJ and it flopped 8Q3 rainbow. I bet £600 and pick up one caller who is extremely aggressive and a bit of a calling station. Turn brings a 5 which also brings the diamond flush draw. I bet the pot again (£1800) and my foe calls again. River brings a 7 which is also the third diamond. Now what? There is £5400 in the middle. I’m first to speak and decide to check… whether that is the right move is another question. My foe thinks then bets the full pot of £5400. In this one hand I could have gone from being £7000 up before the hand started to either £800 down if I called and he has a flush or £15000 up if he was bluffing…. I tamely passed but I sooooo wanted to call.
This hand shows why the game is just so good at the moment if you can catch one of the hyper aggressive opponents overplaying a hand.
Game #562580563: Omaha High Pot Limit (£10/£20) - 2005/04/14 - 13:38:39 (GMT)
Table "Harstad" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 5: Milkybarkid (£3553.15 in chips)
Seat 6: Foe (£3337.50 in chips)
Seat 7: doctor123 (£2607.90 in chips)
Seat 8: RayVon (£2000 in chips)
doctor123: posts small blind £10
RayVon: posts big blind £20
----- HOLE CARDS ----- dealt to Milkybarkid [6d 9h 7c 6s]
Milkybarkid: calls £20
Foe: raises to £90
doctor123: folds RayVon: folds
Milkybarkid: calls £70
----- FLOP ----- [9s 6c 2c]
Milkybarkid: checks
Foe: bets £210
Milkybarkid: raises to £840
Foe: raises to £2730
Milkybarkid: raises to £3463.15 and is all-in
Foe: is all-in £517.50
Returned uncalled bets £215.65 to Milkybarkid
----- TURN ----- [9s 6c 2c][Qc]
----- RIVER ----- [9s 6c 2c Qc][4h]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Milkybarkid: shows [6d 9h 7c 6s] (Three of a kind, Sixes, Queen high)
Foe: shows [2h 5s Kh 2s] (Three of a kind, Twos, Queen high)
Milkybarkid collected £6702 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY ----- Total pot £6705
Main pot £6702 Rake £3 Board [9s 6c 2c Qc 4h]
Seat 5: Milkybarkid showed [6d 9h 7c 6s] and won (£6702) with Three of a kind, Sixes, Queen high
Seat 6: Foe (button) lost
Seat 7: doctor123 (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: RayVon (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Over on Pokerstars I managed to have a very good session taking on Darwinism mainly heads up and turned $1300 into $8000 which was a very good session.
I have set myself an amount to continue to play the £10/£20 game and if I lose that I will go back to playing the £2/£5 tables. I know I don’t really have the bankroll to play in the £10/£20 game but if I can get of to a good start I should be ok.
Off to Luton now to play in the main event. It will be good to get back to tournament poker after the week I have had. Hopefully I’ll get some decent cards and play my best game.
One of the areas that I am struggling with is that I think I am getting bluffed out of pots too easily with the best hand. Take this situation. In one big hand I called £150 preflop with QQTJ and it flopped 8Q3 rainbow. I bet £600 and pick up one caller who is extremely aggressive and a bit of a calling station. Turn brings a 5 which also brings the diamond flush draw. I bet the pot again (£1800) and my foe calls again. River brings a 7 which is also the third diamond. Now what? There is £5400 in the middle. I’m first to speak and decide to check… whether that is the right move is another question. My foe thinks then bets the full pot of £5400. In this one hand I could have gone from being £7000 up before the hand started to either £800 down if I called and he has a flush or £15000 up if he was bluffing…. I tamely passed but I sooooo wanted to call.
This hand shows why the game is just so good at the moment if you can catch one of the hyper aggressive opponents overplaying a hand.
Game #562580563: Omaha High Pot Limit (£10/£20) - 2005/04/14 - 13:38:39 (GMT)
Table "Harstad" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 5: Milkybarkid (£3553.15 in chips)
Seat 6: Foe (£3337.50 in chips)
Seat 7: doctor123 (£2607.90 in chips)
Seat 8: RayVon (£2000 in chips)
doctor123: posts small blind £10
RayVon: posts big blind £20
----- HOLE CARDS ----- dealt to Milkybarkid [6d 9h 7c 6s]
Milkybarkid: calls £20
Foe: raises to £90
doctor123: folds RayVon: folds
Milkybarkid: calls £70
----- FLOP ----- [9s 6c 2c]
Milkybarkid: checks
Foe: bets £210
Milkybarkid: raises to £840
Foe: raises to £2730
Milkybarkid: raises to £3463.15 and is all-in
Foe: is all-in £517.50
Returned uncalled bets £215.65 to Milkybarkid
----- TURN ----- [9s 6c 2c][Qc]
----- RIVER ----- [9s 6c 2c Qc][4h]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Milkybarkid: shows [6d 9h 7c 6s] (Three of a kind, Sixes, Queen high)
Foe: shows [2h 5s Kh 2s] (Three of a kind, Twos, Queen high)
Milkybarkid collected £6702 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY ----- Total pot £6705
Main pot £6702 Rake £3 Board [9s 6c 2c Qc 4h]
Seat 5: Milkybarkid showed [6d 9h 7c 6s] and won (£6702) with Three of a kind, Sixes, Queen high
Seat 6: Foe (button) lost
Seat 7: doctor123 (small blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: RayVon (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Over on Pokerstars I managed to have a very good session taking on Darwinism mainly heads up and turned $1300 into $8000 which was a very good session.
I have set myself an amount to continue to play the £10/£20 game and if I lose that I will go back to playing the £2/£5 tables. I know I don’t really have the bankroll to play in the £10/£20 game but if I can get of to a good start I should be ok.
Off to Luton now to play in the main event. It will be good to get back to tournament poker after the week I have had. Hopefully I’ll get some decent cards and play my best game.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Omaha madness
Betfair… well all Crypto sites opened a £5/£10 and £10/£20 PL Omaha table recently. In my wisdom last week I decided to jump aboard as at least 5 bad players were on the table that I have extensive notes about. Thirty minutes later I was down £4500. Ouch. There is a player who seems to be new called Sanex and he bets the pot preflop with around 80% of hands. So each flop was costing about £150 to see. He also hit a Gutshot to win a £3500 pot against me. On one flop I held top set and the nut flush draw only to be outdrawn by a player reraising me with bottom set and hitting runner runner to make a 7 flush against me in a massive pot. The average pot was around the £1500 mark. It really was the most insane PL Omaha I had ever seen. Hitting top pair on the flop meant betting the pot of around £500. I am not sure of the bankroll needed to play in such a game but I know that I should definitely avoid it.
I have played again a couple of times since breaking even over the two sessions. When it gets going it must be the biggest PL Omaha game on the net.
Here is a hand that I played on tilt earlier and won. This hand can’t be worth a call preflop, never mind over a £1000 preflop. It’s probably the worst play I have ever made on the net preflop in terms of money and how bad my hand was. The only method to my complete madness was that I knew Sanex would go all in which would mean that the £980 that OOOa had put in would be dead and having put Sanex on AA I would only be about a 35%-40% dog to his hand. 000a called so I was deep in the mire.
------HAND 5------
Game #557541493: Omaha High Pot Limit (£10/£20) - 2005/04/13 - 10:21:33 (GMT)
Table "Harstad" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 3: sanax (£5746.68 in chips)
Seat 5: MuckMuck (£8333.50 in chips)
Seat 6: 000a (£4215.76 in chips)
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (£1191.62 in chips)
Seat 8: moras (£980 in chips)
Milkybarkid: posts small blind £10
moras: posts big blind £20
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [5s Kh 6c Qs]
sanax: raises to £70
MuckMuck: folds
000a: raises to £240
Milkybarkid: calls £230
moras: folds
sanax: raises to £980
000a: calls £740
Milkybarkid: raises to £1191.62 and is all-in
sanax: raises to £4574.86
000a: is all-in £3235.76
Returned uncalled bets £359.10 to sanax
----- FLOP ----- [Th 2h Jc]
----- TURN ----- [Th 2h Jc][8d]
----- RIVER ----- [Th 2h Jc 8d][Ad]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
sanax: shows [7d Qc Ah Ac] (Three of a kind, Aces, Jack high)
000a: shows [8s 7c 9c Ts] (A Straight, Jack high)
Milkybarkid: shows [5s Kh 6c Qs] (A Straight, Ace high)
000a collected £6048.28 from Side pot #1
Milkybarkid collected £3591.86 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £9643.14 Main pot £3591.86 Side pot #1 £6048.28 Rake £3
Board [Th 2h Jc 8d Ad]
Seat 3: sanax lost
Seat 5: MuckMuck folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: 000a (button) showed [8s 7c 9c Ts] and won (£6048.28) with A Straight, Jack high
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (small blind) showed [5s Kh 6c Qs] and won (£3591.86) with A Straight, Ace high
Seat 8: moras (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
I played in the £150 Pot Limit Rebuy’s in Luton on Monday and as one of the players said to me I must have run over a black cat on the way there. Was all in 4 times with the best hand and got beat each time…. still I’ve had some good luck in tournaments of late so was overdue a night like that.
I am going to play in the £1000 Main Event in Luton on Saturday which I am looking forward to.
I have played again a couple of times since breaking even over the two sessions. When it gets going it must be the biggest PL Omaha game on the net.
Here is a hand that I played on tilt earlier and won. This hand can’t be worth a call preflop, never mind over a £1000 preflop. It’s probably the worst play I have ever made on the net preflop in terms of money and how bad my hand was. The only method to my complete madness was that I knew Sanex would go all in which would mean that the £980 that OOOa had put in would be dead and having put Sanex on AA I would only be about a 35%-40% dog to his hand. 000a called so I was deep in the mire.
------HAND 5------
Game #557541493: Omaha High Pot Limit (£10/£20) - 2005/04/13 - 10:21:33 (GMT)
Table "Harstad" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 3: sanax (£5746.68 in chips)
Seat 5: MuckMuck (£8333.50 in chips)
Seat 6: 000a (£4215.76 in chips)
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (£1191.62 in chips)
Seat 8: moras (£980 in chips)
Milkybarkid: posts small blind £10
moras: posts big blind £20
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [5s Kh 6c Qs]
sanax: raises to £70
MuckMuck: folds
000a: raises to £240
Milkybarkid: calls £230
moras: folds
sanax: raises to £980
000a: calls £740
Milkybarkid: raises to £1191.62 and is all-in
sanax: raises to £4574.86
000a: is all-in £3235.76
Returned uncalled bets £359.10 to sanax
----- FLOP ----- [Th 2h Jc]
----- TURN ----- [Th 2h Jc][8d]
----- RIVER ----- [Th 2h Jc 8d][Ad]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
sanax: shows [7d Qc Ah Ac] (Three of a kind, Aces, Jack high)
000a: shows [8s 7c 9c Ts] (A Straight, Jack high)
Milkybarkid: shows [5s Kh 6c Qs] (A Straight, Ace high)
000a collected £6048.28 from Side pot #1
Milkybarkid collected £3591.86 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £9643.14 Main pot £3591.86 Side pot #1 £6048.28 Rake £3
Board [Th 2h Jc 8d Ad]
Seat 3: sanax lost
Seat 5: MuckMuck folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: 000a (button) showed [8s 7c 9c Ts] and won (£6048.28) with A Straight, Jack high
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (small blind) showed [5s Kh 6c Qs] and won (£3591.86) with A Straight, Ace high
Seat 8: moras (big blind) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
I played in the £150 Pot Limit Rebuy’s in Luton on Monday and as one of the players said to me I must have run over a black cat on the way there. Was all in 4 times with the best hand and got beat each time…. still I’ve had some good luck in tournaments of late so was overdue a night like that.
I am going to play in the £1000 Main Event in Luton on Saturday which I am looking forward to.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Gutshot £750 Main Event Report
After a few drinks with Richard Gryko I turned up for the main event hoping to put in a good performance. Starting chips were 8000 and the clock was 45 minutes. I’m not sure if it was the drinking but I started off very aggressively and was up to 11000 chips very quickly after tangling with Jac Arama. Jac then got his own back on me when he called a decent sized raise in Level 2 with 48 suited and hit trip 8’s against my AQ. By the time Level 3 had arrived I had around 10000 chips. I enjoyed the following hand. Early position raised to 800 and there were two callers before it got to me. I decided this was a good opportunity to pick up the pot with a complete bluff so I raised to 4000 with KT. They all passed…..
Soon the table broke and I was moved upstairs and lingered around the 15000 mark for the next few levels. I lost a few thousand chips when I called a bet on the flop and turn with a flush draw and a Gutshot and missed… then I had AA and KK but didn’t make anything but the blinds. I had 14000 chips when I raised to 1200 to play in early position with JJ. The button called and it I flopped quad Jacks on a JJ5 flop. I checked and the button checked. Next card a T and I bet 1000 and he called. Last card a rag and I bet 3700 hoping that he would put me on a bluff and call if he had something. He moved all in and I had him covered. He had TT so had made a full house on the turn. That put me up to 22000 chips and the Jacks that had been so good to me then turned on me as I lost reasonable pots twice with them. Once calling a reasonable raise and losing a race v AK and the second time I layed them down on a K high flop. I lost a few more pots when I passed medium pairs to reraises and was down to 12000 chips when I picked up QQ and got doubled up by an opponent holding AQ.
The blinds were now 500/1000 and we were down to 3 tables. I was about average in chips with 30000. There were a few very aggressive players at the table including Jimmy Alp. In one amazing hand he called a raise to 3000 from the big blind with 23 suited. It flopped 267 and Jimmy then called a bet of 5000. Turn a 2 and Jimmy got doubled up by an opponent with AA. Management decided to play down to 20 as it was getting late and by the time the blinds reached 1000/2000 I had been treading water for a while. Most pre flop raises were now winning the pot. I picked up a decent pot when I reraised what I thought was a button blind steal with AsTs and the button called. It flopped K34 and I figured that if I bet large if he doesn’t have a K he would pass so I bet 10000. He passed after a dwell… phew.
The last hand of day 1 soon happened which involved me. Jimmy raised to 7000 with the blinds at 1500/3000 and I looked down at AK. I knew that he could literally have anything so I pushed my stack of 30000 into the middle. The small blind then thought for eternity before eventually going all in for 15000. Jimmy passed. Whilst the blind was thinking of calling I put him on TT, JJ or QQ. So I was delighted when he turned over QK and missed his Q and I finished the Day 5th in chips with 51000.
It was nice to return for Day 2 without being short stacked for a change. Hopefully it meant I could play my real game and not a short stacked strategy. Soon I was back amongst the pack when I lost with JJ v AK against a short stack which put me back down to 35000 which was about average. I then raised something like four out of seven hands preflop without a caller which put me up to 60000 ish again. The small stacks were gradually getting knocked out and the two chip leaders also had been knocked out. The blinds had gone up to a massive 3000/6000 which meant the average stack had only 10 big blinds. It became a game of timing and hoping that if you did raise that nobody found a monster behind you.
I then got lucky when I picked up A4 in late position and raised to 11000 to play and the button went all in for 23000. I didn’t like it at all but the pot odds meant I had to call. He had JJ. No help on the flop but an A on the turn and I was now chip leader with about 120000. Fellow blogger Rob Sherwood was then unfortunate to go out on the bubble and we were down to the final table.
I was slightly concerned entering the final table that the blinds were about to go up to 4500/9000 which meant that even though I had the chip lead I only had 12 big blinds. On with the game…. We played 9 handed for about 30 minutes before two players were taken out by Mick Cook’s rockets and I had kept my chips at around the 100000 mark. With blinds at 4500/9000 I raised Jimmy Alp’s big blind from the small blind to 24000 with 55. Flop 88A with two clubs. I then bet out 25000 hoping he hadn’t seen a favourable flop. He called…. Hmmmm I now have him on a flush draw. Turn bring the flush and I now know I can’t be winning. He has to have either an A, 8 or a flush… so I pass to his small bet and am down to 50000. Jimmy then took out the 5th place player when he called an all in bet with bottom pair and the flush draw and made his flush. I then got very lucky and doubled up when I called my last 50000 from the big blind with TQ and Mick had JQ and I rivered a straight. I then had 66 in the big blind and called and all in raise from the short stacked player who held TK and I hit a set and we were down to three. We then swapped percentages in each other so I was guaranteed at least £10000. I decided to take Jimmy on with 5s6s and it flopped 36K. He bet out as I expected but I figured as he plays so loose he was highly likely to be bluffing but on this occasion he held AK and it stood up for me to finish 3rd.
I feel i played my A game throughout the tournament. I felt much more on the ball than i had done for the Vic main event a week earlier. The only time I was all in with the worst hand and survived was when we were down to 4 players and I got lucky with TQ v JQ. Mick was a deserved winner and was definitely the most dangerous opponent at the final table.
I think I will head up to Luton to play in the £150 Pot Limit Holdem Rebuys tonight. I’ve even been to the gym already today. I love not having to go to work on a Monday morning……
Soon the table broke and I was moved upstairs and lingered around the 15000 mark for the next few levels. I lost a few thousand chips when I called a bet on the flop and turn with a flush draw and a Gutshot and missed… then I had AA and KK but didn’t make anything but the blinds. I had 14000 chips when I raised to 1200 to play in early position with JJ. The button called and it I flopped quad Jacks on a JJ5 flop. I checked and the button checked. Next card a T and I bet 1000 and he called. Last card a rag and I bet 3700 hoping that he would put me on a bluff and call if he had something. He moved all in and I had him covered. He had TT so had made a full house on the turn. That put me up to 22000 chips and the Jacks that had been so good to me then turned on me as I lost reasonable pots twice with them. Once calling a reasonable raise and losing a race v AK and the second time I layed them down on a K high flop. I lost a few more pots when I passed medium pairs to reraises and was down to 12000 chips when I picked up QQ and got doubled up by an opponent holding AQ.
The blinds were now 500/1000 and we were down to 3 tables. I was about average in chips with 30000. There were a few very aggressive players at the table including Jimmy Alp. In one amazing hand he called a raise to 3000 from the big blind with 23 suited. It flopped 267 and Jimmy then called a bet of 5000. Turn a 2 and Jimmy got doubled up by an opponent with AA. Management decided to play down to 20 as it was getting late and by the time the blinds reached 1000/2000 I had been treading water for a while. Most pre flop raises were now winning the pot. I picked up a decent pot when I reraised what I thought was a button blind steal with AsTs and the button called. It flopped K34 and I figured that if I bet large if he doesn’t have a K he would pass so I bet 10000. He passed after a dwell… phew.
The last hand of day 1 soon happened which involved me. Jimmy raised to 7000 with the blinds at 1500/3000 and I looked down at AK. I knew that he could literally have anything so I pushed my stack of 30000 into the middle. The small blind then thought for eternity before eventually going all in for 15000. Jimmy passed. Whilst the blind was thinking of calling I put him on TT, JJ or QQ. So I was delighted when he turned over QK and missed his Q and I finished the Day 5th in chips with 51000.
It was nice to return for Day 2 without being short stacked for a change. Hopefully it meant I could play my real game and not a short stacked strategy. Soon I was back amongst the pack when I lost with JJ v AK against a short stack which put me back down to 35000 which was about average. I then raised something like four out of seven hands preflop without a caller which put me up to 60000 ish again. The small stacks were gradually getting knocked out and the two chip leaders also had been knocked out. The blinds had gone up to a massive 3000/6000 which meant the average stack had only 10 big blinds. It became a game of timing and hoping that if you did raise that nobody found a monster behind you.
I then got lucky when I picked up A4 in late position and raised to 11000 to play and the button went all in for 23000. I didn’t like it at all but the pot odds meant I had to call. He had JJ. No help on the flop but an A on the turn and I was now chip leader with about 120000. Fellow blogger Rob Sherwood was then unfortunate to go out on the bubble and we were down to the final table.
I was slightly concerned entering the final table that the blinds were about to go up to 4500/9000 which meant that even though I had the chip lead I only had 12 big blinds. On with the game…. We played 9 handed for about 30 minutes before two players were taken out by Mick Cook’s rockets and I had kept my chips at around the 100000 mark. With blinds at 4500/9000 I raised Jimmy Alp’s big blind from the small blind to 24000 with 55. Flop 88A with two clubs. I then bet out 25000 hoping he hadn’t seen a favourable flop. He called…. Hmmmm I now have him on a flush draw. Turn bring the flush and I now know I can’t be winning. He has to have either an A, 8 or a flush… so I pass to his small bet and am down to 50000. Jimmy then took out the 5th place player when he called an all in bet with bottom pair and the flush draw and made his flush. I then got very lucky and doubled up when I called my last 50000 from the big blind with TQ and Mick had JQ and I rivered a straight. I then had 66 in the big blind and called and all in raise from the short stacked player who held TK and I hit a set and we were down to three. We then swapped percentages in each other so I was guaranteed at least £10000. I decided to take Jimmy on with 5s6s and it flopped 36K. He bet out as I expected but I figured as he plays so loose he was highly likely to be bluffing but on this occasion he held AK and it stood up for me to finish 3rd.
I feel i played my A game throughout the tournament. I felt much more on the ball than i had done for the Vic main event a week earlier. The only time I was all in with the worst hand and survived was when we were down to 4 players and I got lucky with TQ v JQ. Mick was a deserved winner and was definitely the most dangerous opponent at the final table.
I think I will head up to Luton to play in the £150 Pot Limit Holdem Rebuys tonight. I’ve even been to the gym already today. I love not having to go to work on a Monday morning……
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Amused again
Another quote from the Poker News on Sporting Life.....
"Some of England's top poker players are: John Falconer; Keith Hawkins, Dave Colclough, Julian Thew, Willie Tann, Dave 'DevilFish' Ulliott - a former jeweller form Hull - just to mention a few."
Hmmmmm.....
This week
The focus is mainly on playing cash online though I will probably venture to pay in the main event at the Gutshot over the weekend. I know when i published my schedule I said I was going to play in more of the events at the Gutshot but I struggle to motivate myself for smaller tournaments. It's not an arrogance thing its just that i just don't seem to try very hard in them and I have grown too used to decent structures of late to play in fast structure tournaments which finish in 1 day. Also, I am not chasing ranking points which would be a reason why I may have been tempted by them.....
I’d also like to thank On Tilt for sorting out my blog problem yesterday. I got myself in to a right mess playing about with the code.
"Some of England's top poker players are: John Falconer; Keith Hawkins, Dave Colclough, Julian Thew, Willie Tann, Dave 'DevilFish' Ulliott - a former jeweller form Hull - just to mention a few."
Hmmmmm.....
This week
The focus is mainly on playing cash online though I will probably venture to pay in the main event at the Gutshot over the weekend. I know when i published my schedule I said I was going to play in more of the events at the Gutshot but I struggle to motivate myself for smaller tournaments. It's not an arrogance thing its just that i just don't seem to try very hard in them and I have grown too used to decent structures of late to play in fast structure tournaments which finish in 1 day. Also, I am not chasing ranking points which would be a reason why I may have been tempted by them.....
I’d also like to thank On Tilt for sorting out my blog problem yesterday. I got myself in to a right mess playing about with the code.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
On the run
I had to laugh when looking at Sporting Life’s poker news that they have a poll for the world’s greatest poker player. Well who would you expect to see in the top three? I almost choked when I saw the three names nominated… Daniel Negreanu, Devilfish and Chris Moneymaker. Talk about taking things to the extreme...
I am on a mad rush online at the moment which is most welcome after an expensive week at the Vic. I won another $6000 last night to add to the $10000 over the weekend.
Betfair has gone mad again at the moment on the PL Omaha tables. Quite often there is over £1000 to be in the middle before the flop. I watched one hand last night where £3000 was in the middle preflop with 5 players all in.
I have 3 or 4 examples of truly bad play from last night but am only posting this one. I don’t even need to explain this one away……
------HAND 5------
Game #528766973: Omaha High Pot Limit (£2.50/£5) - 2005/04/04 - 20:41:05 (GMT)
Table "Iris" Seat 9 is the button.
Seat 1: Sharky (£464.02 in chips)
Seat 2: Horselove (£904.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Ivorlott (£669 in chips)
Seat 4: seafoo (£392 in chips)
Seat 5: Geo011114 (£633 in chips)
Seat 6: Class_Act (£1047.18 in chips)
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (£1235.41 in chips)
Seat 8: LuckyPete (£270 in chips)
Seat 9: Rhaegar (£2833 in chips)
Seat 10: Molsson (£1352.50 in chips)
Molsson: posts small blind £2.50
Sharky: posts big blind £5
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [Ks Qd Js Kh]
Horselove: folds
Ivorlott: folds
seafoo: folds
Geo011114: calls £5
Class_Act: raises to £22.50
Milkybarkid: raises to £80
LuckyPete: folds
Rhaegar: folds
Molsson: folds
Sharky: folds
Geo011114: folds
Class_Act: calls £57.50
----- FLOP ----- [Kc 7c 3d]
No slowplaying here due to the flush draw. He whacks in nearly a £1000. Surely I must me up against a big flush draw or smaller trips….. You would never get such a gift in a live cash game like this one.
Class_Act: checks
Milkybarkid: bets £44 (betting weak nearly always induces a reraise against an aggressive maniac)
Class_Act: raises to £304.50
Milkybarkid: raises to £1086
Class_Act: is all-in £662.68
Returned uncalled bets £118.82 to Milkybarkid
----- TURN ----- [Kc 7c 3d][Jc]
----- RIVER ----- [Kc 7c 3d Jc][2h]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Milkybarkid: shows [Ks Qd Js Kh] (Three of a kind, Kings, Jack high)
Class_Act: shows [Kd Tc 3s Ad] (Two Pairs, Kings and Threes, Jack high)
Milkybarkid collected £2103.86 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £2106.86 Main pot £2103.86 Rake £3
Board [Kc 7c 3d Jc 2h]
Seat 7: Milkybarkid showed [Ks Qd Js Kh] and won (£2103.86) with Three of a kind, Kings, Jack high
I am on a mad rush online at the moment which is most welcome after an expensive week at the Vic. I won another $6000 last night to add to the $10000 over the weekend.
Betfair has gone mad again at the moment on the PL Omaha tables. Quite often there is over £1000 to be in the middle before the flop. I watched one hand last night where £3000 was in the middle preflop with 5 players all in.
I have 3 or 4 examples of truly bad play from last night but am only posting this one. I don’t even need to explain this one away……
------HAND 5------
Game #528766973: Omaha High Pot Limit (£2.50/£5) - 2005/04/04 - 20:41:05 (GMT)
Table "Iris" Seat 9 is the button.
Seat 1: Sharky (£464.02 in chips)
Seat 2: Horselove (£904.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Ivorlott (£669 in chips)
Seat 4: seafoo (£392 in chips)
Seat 5: Geo011114 (£633 in chips)
Seat 6: Class_Act (£1047.18 in chips)
Seat 7: Milkybarkid (£1235.41 in chips)
Seat 8: LuckyPete (£270 in chips)
Seat 9: Rhaegar (£2833 in chips)
Seat 10: Molsson (£1352.50 in chips)
Molsson: posts small blind £2.50
Sharky: posts big blind £5
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [Ks Qd Js Kh]
Horselove: folds
Ivorlott: folds
seafoo: folds
Geo011114: calls £5
Class_Act: raises to £22.50
Milkybarkid: raises to £80
LuckyPete: folds
Rhaegar: folds
Molsson: folds
Sharky: folds
Geo011114: folds
Class_Act: calls £57.50
----- FLOP ----- [Kc 7c 3d]
No slowplaying here due to the flush draw. He whacks in nearly a £1000. Surely I must me up against a big flush draw or smaller trips….. You would never get such a gift in a live cash game like this one.
Class_Act: checks
Milkybarkid: bets £44 (betting weak nearly always induces a reraise against an aggressive maniac)
Class_Act: raises to £304.50
Milkybarkid: raises to £1086
Class_Act: is all-in £662.68
Returned uncalled bets £118.82 to Milkybarkid
----- TURN ----- [Kc 7c 3d][Jc]
----- RIVER ----- [Kc 7c 3d Jc][2h]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Milkybarkid: shows [Ks Qd Js Kh] (Three of a kind, Kings, Jack high)
Class_Act: shows [Kd Tc 3s Ad] (Two Pairs, Kings and Threes, Jack high)
Milkybarkid collected £2103.86 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £2106.86 Main pot £2103.86 Rake £3
Board [Kc 7c 3d Jc 2h]
Seat 7: Milkybarkid showed [Ks Qd Js Kh] and won (£2103.86) with Three of a kind, Kings, Jack high
Monday, April 04, 2005
Mad March
In the space of a month I had my biggest ever win in a tournament, my biggest cash game loss and my biggest online win. What a month..........
I played in the £1500 main event at the Vic on Saturday. I didn’t play well. I was up to 20000 chips after two levels and lost them all in three hands in the level after the dinner break. Firstly I called a raise pre flop with QQ and then had a stab at an A high flop hoping my opponent had a pocket pair. Whoops he had AA...... the next big hand I lost with TT when I check raised on an 8 high flop to walk in to a set. I was down to 7000 chips when I called a small raise with QhKh and it flopped 8hQcAh. One raiser on the flop and a caller so I move all in. I get quickly called by the original raiser who had a set as well. Three sets against me sent me crashing out......
Cash Mayhem
I sat down with £4500 in the Dealers Choice on Thursday night. They say that luck evens itself out and perhaps this was my unlucky night to make up for Monte Carlo. My flatmate watched me for 4 hours and he couldn't believe the luck that I was getting either. Significant huge pots that I got suckered on:
Numero 1 - Omaha 8/better.
I had KKA5. Flop K37 rainbow. I raise £300 on the flop. I pick up the crazy maniac who can't resist getting involved in every hand. Think his name was Ali. Turn 7 to give me a full house. I bet £900. He calls. River an 8 to bring the low. (surprise). I bet £2000. He calls with K246. Pot gets chopped. He called £900 on the turn when his best hope was a chop. Then £2000 on the river without even the nut low. Arrrrrgh
Numero 2 - Omaha 8/better.
This one is even worse. I had A2QQ. Flop Q73 rainbow to give me top set and the nut low draw. I bet £250 and pick up the same caller. Turn a T which has brought a back door heart flush draw. I bet £750. He calls again. River the Ah to bring the flush and kill my low. He bets £1000. I pass. He shows 4h5h. lol you have to laugh when things like that happen
Numero 3 - Stud 8/better.
I have AA in the dark and a 9 showing. Before it reaches me there has been a raise, a reraise and an all in for £600. My opponent’s cards that I can see are a 2, 3 and a Q. I dwelled and though back to my book I had read on Stud Hi/Lo recently before pushing my stack in to the middle. It looked to me like Player A and B had good low hand draws. Player C obviously had a pair of Q's. Eventually called by A and B after long thinks creating a £2500 main pot and a £2000 side pot. I don't manage to make even two pair but amazingly I would have scooped the high but Player A managed to make a flush on his last card. I spilt the sidepot as I won the high in that one.
Numero 4 - Four card Irish.
Just to cap it off this was my last hand of the evening and just about summed it all up. I held 34AK and it was £25 to play. I called on the button. Flop A25 rainbow to give me the nuts. Early player who was the same one who took me on above on hands 1 and 2 bets out £150. Two callers before it gets to me. I decide I am not going to slowplay this hand so push all in for £800. Maniac calls me with A5 and the turn is a 5. Another player says that he passed the same hand.
It was a horrific night. When you get someone calling you in Omaha 8/better with 4567 when you hold AA24 double suited and they manage to scoop when they hit a flush on a high board on the turn then it’s not your night.
Online - Betfair and Partypoker
I hadn’t had a decent online session for a while. I played for about 6-8 hours and managed to win £5000 by playing PL Omaha multi-tabling on Partypoker and Betfair. The most amazing hand was when I got check raised for $1900 on a 9843 board when I held 99. My foe had 84AK and was drawing dead. Such gifts are always welcome.
I complain when other people get lucky but here is an example of me turning the tables.
Here is one from Betfair.
Game #522562113: Omaha High Pot Limit (£2.50/£5) - 2005/04/03 - 14:52:54
(GMT)
Table "Iris" Seat 8 is the button.
Seat 1: mockler (£100 in chips)
Seat 3: Cilla24 (£930.75 in chips)
Seat 4: BUKRA (£395 in chips)
Seat 5: Barcrest sits out
Seat 6: Milkybarkid (£489.75 in chips)
Seat 7: Unlucky Foe (£500 in chips)
Seat 8: karakel (£387.50 in chips)
Seat 9: Googi (£277.50 in chips)
Googi: posts small blind £2.50
mockler: posts big blind £5
Unlucky Foe: posts big blind £5
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [Ad Kh 6d 5h]
Cilla24: calls £5
Spacedais joins the table at seat #2
BUKRA: folds
Milkybarkid: raises to £22
Unlucky Foe: calls £17
karakel: folds
Googi: folds
mockler: calls £17
Cilla24: calls £17
Small ambitious raise preflop with an A and K suited.
----- FLOP ----- [5d Ks 6c]
mockler: checks
Cilla24: checks
Milkybarkid: bets £90.50
Unlucky Foe: calls £90.50
mockler: folds
Cilla24: folds
Rainbow flop. I have three pairs so bet the pot. Unlucky Foe calls so I have him on a straight draw or maybe just a K.
----- TURN ----- [5d Ks 6c][5s]
Milkybarkid: checks
Unlucky Foe: bets £35
Milkybarkid: calls £35
Ok the check call isn’t great but I think I have this hand nailed so am just trying to milk it for all I can.
----- RIVER ----- [5d Ks 6c 5s][5c]
Milkybarkid: checks
Bigdogdt joins the table at seat #10
Unlucky Foe: bets £75
Milkybarkid: raises to £342.25 and is all-in
Unlucky Foe: calls £267.25
I hit 4 of a kind. I check hoping to induce a bet if he has a pocket pair. He does bet… I raise all in and he calls and shows KK. Without doing my maths here I reckon I had about 1% chance of winning this hand on the flop and hit runner runner.
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Milkybarkid: shows [Ad Kh 6d 5h] (Four of a kind, Fives)
Unlucky Foe: shows [Jd 2c Kd Kc] (A Full House, Kings full of Fives)
Milkybarkid collected £1023 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £1026 Main pot £1023 Rake £3
Board [5d Ks 6c 5s 5c]
Seat 6: Milkybarkid showed [Ad Kh 6d 5h] and won (£1023) with Four of a kind,
Fives
and one from Party
***** Hand History for Game 1837829985 *****
0/0 OmahaHiGameTable (PL) - Sun Apr 03 09:55:02 EDT 2005
Table Table 36727 (Real Money) -- Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: lucol ( $1251.5)
Seat 2: Apache55 ( $1157)
Seat 3: LuaghoutLeah ( $200)
Seat 4: Dreamer ( $2632.25)
Seat 5: JESPEZ98 ( $230)
Seat 6: Milkybarkid ( $1509.25)
Seat 7: Kogen ( $700)
Seat 8: fireblast1 ( $2886.5)
Seat 9: sheila23 ( $342)
Seat 10: aquila1 ( $1000)
lucol posts small blind (5)
Apache55 posts big blind (10)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Milkybarkid [ 5s, Ad, As, 9d ]
Standard raise with double A suited.
LuaghoutLeah folds.
Dreamer calls (10)
JESPEZ98 folds.
Milkybarkid raises (45) to 45
Kogen calls (45)
fireblast1 folds.
sheila23 folds.
lucol folds.
Apache55 folds.
Dreamer calls (35)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ks, 3h, 8d ]
Rainbow flop with no draws so I bet the pot again.
Dreamer checks.
Milkybarkid bets (147)
Kogen folds.
Dreamer calls (147)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5d ]
I have now picked up the flush draw. I am still hoping that a pot bet wins it here. So I bet $441. Hmmm a pot reraise. I have already committed $633 to this pot. I am not convinced that he has anything here and worse case scenario I can still hit an A or a diamond so I call my last $876
Dreamer checks.
Milkybarkid bets (441)
Dreamer raises (1764) to 1764
Milkybarkid calls (876.25)
Milkybarkid is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ 4h ]
Creating Main Pot with $3075.5 with Milkybarkid
** Summary **
Main Pot: $3075.5 Side Pot 1: $446.75 Rake: $3
Board: [ Ks 3h 8d 5d 4h ]
Woohoo my Aces are good.
Dreamer balance $1123, bet $1956, collected $446.75, lost -$1509.25 [ Kd 2s Qd Js ] [ a pair of kings -- Kd,Ks,Qd,8d,5d ]
Milkybarkid balance $3075.5, bet $1509.25, collected $3075.5, net +$1566.25 [ 5s Ad As 9d ] [ a pair of aces -- Ad,As,Ks,8d,5d ]
Overall March was a fantastic month. I surpassed my expectations in Monte Carlo which gave me a much needed boost to my bankroll. My live cash results haven’t been good but I had one of my best ever months online despite not playing a great deal. I will continue to strike a balance between tournaments, cash and playing online…. I am sure April could be interesting with it being my first month when I am not working so can focus and put more hours in.
I played in the £1500 main event at the Vic on Saturday. I didn’t play well. I was up to 20000 chips after two levels and lost them all in three hands in the level after the dinner break. Firstly I called a raise pre flop with QQ and then had a stab at an A high flop hoping my opponent had a pocket pair. Whoops he had AA...... the next big hand I lost with TT when I check raised on an 8 high flop to walk in to a set. I was down to 7000 chips when I called a small raise with QhKh and it flopped 8hQcAh. One raiser on the flop and a caller so I move all in. I get quickly called by the original raiser who had a set as well. Three sets against me sent me crashing out......
Cash Mayhem
I sat down with £4500 in the Dealers Choice on Thursday night. They say that luck evens itself out and perhaps this was my unlucky night to make up for Monte Carlo. My flatmate watched me for 4 hours and he couldn't believe the luck that I was getting either. Significant huge pots that I got suckered on:
Numero 1 - Omaha 8/better.
I had KKA5. Flop K37 rainbow. I raise £300 on the flop. I pick up the crazy maniac who can't resist getting involved in every hand. Think his name was Ali. Turn 7 to give me a full house. I bet £900. He calls. River an 8 to bring the low. (surprise). I bet £2000. He calls with K246. Pot gets chopped. He called £900 on the turn when his best hope was a chop. Then £2000 on the river without even the nut low. Arrrrrgh
Numero 2 - Omaha 8/better.
This one is even worse. I had A2QQ. Flop Q73 rainbow to give me top set and the nut low draw. I bet £250 and pick up the same caller. Turn a T which has brought a back door heart flush draw. I bet £750. He calls again. River the Ah to bring the flush and kill my low. He bets £1000. I pass. He shows 4h5h. lol you have to laugh when things like that happen
Numero 3 - Stud 8/better.
I have AA in the dark and a 9 showing. Before it reaches me there has been a raise, a reraise and an all in for £600. My opponent’s cards that I can see are a 2, 3 and a Q. I dwelled and though back to my book I had read on Stud Hi/Lo recently before pushing my stack in to the middle. It looked to me like Player A and B had good low hand draws. Player C obviously had a pair of Q's. Eventually called by A and B after long thinks creating a £2500 main pot and a £2000 side pot. I don't manage to make even two pair but amazingly I would have scooped the high but Player A managed to make a flush on his last card. I spilt the sidepot as I won the high in that one.
Numero 4 - Four card Irish.
Just to cap it off this was my last hand of the evening and just about summed it all up. I held 34AK and it was £25 to play. I called on the button. Flop A25 rainbow to give me the nuts. Early player who was the same one who took me on above on hands 1 and 2 bets out £150. Two callers before it gets to me. I decide I am not going to slowplay this hand so push all in for £800. Maniac calls me with A5 and the turn is a 5. Another player says that he passed the same hand.
It was a horrific night. When you get someone calling you in Omaha 8/better with 4567 when you hold AA24 double suited and they manage to scoop when they hit a flush on a high board on the turn then it’s not your night.
Online - Betfair and Partypoker
I hadn’t had a decent online session for a while. I played for about 6-8 hours and managed to win £5000 by playing PL Omaha multi-tabling on Partypoker and Betfair. The most amazing hand was when I got check raised for $1900 on a 9843 board when I held 99. My foe had 84AK and was drawing dead. Such gifts are always welcome.
I complain when other people get lucky but here is an example of me turning the tables.
Here is one from Betfair.
Game #522562113: Omaha High Pot Limit (£2.50/£5) - 2005/04/03 - 14:52:54
(GMT)
Table "Iris" Seat 8 is the button.
Seat 1: mockler (£100 in chips)
Seat 3: Cilla24 (£930.75 in chips)
Seat 4: BUKRA (£395 in chips)
Seat 5: Barcrest sits out
Seat 6: Milkybarkid (£489.75 in chips)
Seat 7: Unlucky Foe (£500 in chips)
Seat 8: karakel (£387.50 in chips)
Seat 9: Googi (£277.50 in chips)
Googi: posts small blind £2.50
mockler: posts big blind £5
Unlucky Foe: posts big blind £5
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Milkybarkid [Ad Kh 6d 5h]
Cilla24: calls £5
Spacedais joins the table at seat #2
BUKRA: folds
Milkybarkid: raises to £22
Unlucky Foe: calls £17
karakel: folds
Googi: folds
mockler: calls £17
Cilla24: calls £17
Small ambitious raise preflop with an A and K suited.
----- FLOP ----- [5d Ks 6c]
mockler: checks
Cilla24: checks
Milkybarkid: bets £90.50
Unlucky Foe: calls £90.50
mockler: folds
Cilla24: folds
Rainbow flop. I have three pairs so bet the pot. Unlucky Foe calls so I have him on a straight draw or maybe just a K.
----- TURN ----- [5d Ks 6c][5s]
Milkybarkid: checks
Unlucky Foe: bets £35
Milkybarkid: calls £35
Ok the check call isn’t great but I think I have this hand nailed so am just trying to milk it for all I can.
----- RIVER ----- [5d Ks 6c 5s][5c]
Milkybarkid: checks
Bigdogdt joins the table at seat #10
Unlucky Foe: bets £75
Milkybarkid: raises to £342.25 and is all-in
Unlucky Foe: calls £267.25
I hit 4 of a kind. I check hoping to induce a bet if he has a pocket pair. He does bet… I raise all in and he calls and shows KK. Without doing my maths here I reckon I had about 1% chance of winning this hand on the flop and hit runner runner.
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Milkybarkid: shows [Ad Kh 6d 5h] (Four of a kind, Fives)
Unlucky Foe: shows [Jd 2c Kd Kc] (A Full House, Kings full of Fives)
Milkybarkid collected £1023 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £1026 Main pot £1023 Rake £3
Board [5d Ks 6c 5s 5c]
Seat 6: Milkybarkid showed [Ad Kh 6d 5h] and won (£1023) with Four of a kind,
Fives
and one from Party
***** Hand History for Game 1837829985 *****
0/0 OmahaHiGameTable (PL) - Sun Apr 03 09:55:02 EDT 2005
Table Table 36727 (Real Money) -- Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: lucol ( $1251.5)
Seat 2: Apache55 ( $1157)
Seat 3: LuaghoutLeah ( $200)
Seat 4: Dreamer ( $2632.25)
Seat 5: JESPEZ98 ( $230)
Seat 6: Milkybarkid ( $1509.25)
Seat 7: Kogen ( $700)
Seat 8: fireblast1 ( $2886.5)
Seat 9: sheila23 ( $342)
Seat 10: aquila1 ( $1000)
lucol posts small blind (5)
Apache55 posts big blind (10)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Milkybarkid [ 5s, Ad, As, 9d ]
Standard raise with double A suited.
LuaghoutLeah folds.
Dreamer calls (10)
JESPEZ98 folds.
Milkybarkid raises (45) to 45
Kogen calls (45)
fireblast1 folds.
sheila23 folds.
lucol folds.
Apache55 folds.
Dreamer calls (35)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ks, 3h, 8d ]
Rainbow flop with no draws so I bet the pot again.
Dreamer checks.
Milkybarkid bets (147)
Kogen folds.
Dreamer calls (147)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5d ]
I have now picked up the flush draw. I am still hoping that a pot bet wins it here. So I bet $441. Hmmm a pot reraise. I have already committed $633 to this pot. I am not convinced that he has anything here and worse case scenario I can still hit an A or a diamond so I call my last $876
Dreamer checks.
Milkybarkid bets (441)
Dreamer raises (1764) to 1764
Milkybarkid calls (876.25)
Milkybarkid is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ 4h ]
Creating Main Pot with $3075.5 with Milkybarkid
** Summary **
Main Pot: $3075.5 Side Pot 1: $446.75 Rake: $3
Board: [ Ks 3h 8d 5d 4h ]
Woohoo my Aces are good.
Dreamer balance $1123, bet $1956, collected $446.75, lost -$1509.25 [ Kd 2s Qd Js ] [ a pair of kings -- Kd,Ks,Qd,8d,5d ]
Milkybarkid balance $3075.5, bet $1509.25, collected $3075.5, net +$1566.25 [ 5s Ad As 9d ] [ a pair of aces -- Ad,As,Ks,8d,5d ]
Overall March was a fantastic month. I surpassed my expectations in Monte Carlo which gave me a much needed boost to my bankroll. My live cash results haven’t been good but I had one of my best ever months online despite not playing a great deal. I will continue to strike a balance between tournaments, cash and playing online…. I am sure April could be interesting with it being my first month when I am not working so can focus and put more hours in.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Quickfire Day 2
I didn’t last very long on the second day of the £750 freezeout. Managed to win the blinds once when I raised from the cutoff with AQ. The next pot I entered I raised with 88 and got called by the big blind. Flop 9T4 and he moved all in. I passed. Then I picked up 44 in the small blind. The button who I knew was going to raise if everyone passed to him made a raise to 8000 chips and I went all in for 33000 figuring he wouldn’t call. He did with JK. Flop AJJ and that was that. I finished 15th. He ended up winning it ….. The same player the day before had moved all in with 49 for a massive overbet from the small blind and I called with AK in the big blind and he survived. It shows that often luck and not skill is needed to win these tournaments.
I posted this way back on the 8th November. It’s the third big tournament I have been knocked out of with KJ when in the money....
I posted this way back on the 8th November. It’s the third big tournament I have been knocked out of with KJ when in the money....
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Still in the The Vic £750 freezeout
At the last minute i decided play the £750 freezeout due to the fact I had won a bit of money in the Dealers Choice game.
I actually felt really focused throughout though I had admit I did steam at one point and got lucky twice late on to still be in. Had a tricky looking starting table which had Willie Tann, Simon Trumper and Ali Mallu arrived shortly afterwards. I had managed to slowly build my stack to a 8500 from a starting point of 5000 after level one which I was pretty pleased with. When the blinds reached 100/200 (Level 3) I had around 10000 chips and limped under the gun with JJ. Flop Jc3d4d. As there had been 4 callers to my limp checked hoping for a raiser and Ali Mallu who was sat to my left raised it to 1200. Everyone passed and I called. I thought it was too good an opportunity to scare someone of which is why I didn’t raise. Turn 8s. I check again and Ali raised it 3000. I now moved all in and he said he passed 5d6d so had a massive draw…..
I then steadily managed to build up my chips to 25000 over the next few levels and when blinds reached 400/800 and I raised in middle position to 3200 with 88 and a player in late position called. It flopped TQ4 and I moved all in. He only had 8000 left so could have done me some damage if he called. He mucked JJ. I had put him on AK so I was lucky that a J didn’t fall.
I was up to a high point of 35000 when a hand happened that made me steam for a while. I had reraised Alan Betson a couple of times who was sat directly to my right…. and had actually shown him a bluff reraise. Everyone passed around to him on the small blind and he moved all in for 11400 which was a huge overbet. I saw an A and decided if I squeezed a Q, K or A with it I would call. It was a K so I moved my chips in. He turned over 4s9s and hit a 9 to take the pot down. I know percentage wise I wasn’t a huge favorite but it still made me steam for a while. I kept thinking I should have been on 45000 chips instead of back amongst the field with 25000. I made a few lousy calls to try and hit flops and was down to 20000. I managed to get my focus back and start playing properly again.
Blinds were rapidly increasing and most bets before the flop were taking down the blinds and antes…. I had a bit of a rush of cards and built my stack to 33000 again. With the blinds at 800/1600 and running antes of 200 Alan raised under the gun to 6000 and I looked down at AK. I was pretty sure I could get him to lay most hands down so I raised it to 18000. Unfortunately S Bovis woke up with AA behind me. The only saving grace was that he had just 15000 chips left so I was still in it with 18000. We were down to three tables now and quite close to the money. I then got very lucky. I raised my last 15000 chips with Qc6c and Bad Girl called the majority of her stack in late position. She turned over AK so I was about in as good a shape as I could have hoped for with live cards. It flopped Tc9c6h. Just about the best flop for me I could imagine. Turn a Qs and river a Kc to give me the flush.
Blinds were then up to 1000/2000 and I played tight for a while and the bubble player was knocked out. With 28000 chips I raised with AdJd. All passed around to S Bovis who raised the remainder of my chips. I passed. He said he had 88. As I only had 20000 chips and the blinds were so high I decided I would try and double through rather than return with less than 10 big blinds for Day 2. I picked up 9hJh and moved all in to try and steal the blinds. J Rogers immediately to my left reraised all in for about 20000 more. That didn’t look promising. Everyone passed and he flipped over 66. I thought he must have had a high pocket pair so was pleased to see 66. It flopped TQK to give me the straight….. I was very lucky with that coin flip and we finished two hands after that and I have 43200 chips and the button is on me. We resume with blinds of 1500/3000 and running antes of 200. The average chip count is 53000 and there are 16 players left…..
I posted the chip counts on Blondepoker if anyone wants to check if there mate is still in.
I actually felt really focused throughout though I had admit I did steam at one point and got lucky twice late on to still be in. Had a tricky looking starting table which had Willie Tann, Simon Trumper and Ali Mallu arrived shortly afterwards. I had managed to slowly build my stack to a 8500 from a starting point of 5000 after level one which I was pretty pleased with. When the blinds reached 100/200 (Level 3) I had around 10000 chips and limped under the gun with JJ. Flop Jc3d4d. As there had been 4 callers to my limp checked hoping for a raiser and Ali Mallu who was sat to my left raised it to 1200. Everyone passed and I called. I thought it was too good an opportunity to scare someone of which is why I didn’t raise. Turn 8s. I check again and Ali raised it 3000. I now moved all in and he said he passed 5d6d so had a massive draw…..
I then steadily managed to build up my chips to 25000 over the next few levels and when blinds reached 400/800 and I raised in middle position to 3200 with 88 and a player in late position called. It flopped TQ4 and I moved all in. He only had 8000 left so could have done me some damage if he called. He mucked JJ. I had put him on AK so I was lucky that a J didn’t fall.
I was up to a high point of 35000 when a hand happened that made me steam for a while. I had reraised Alan Betson a couple of times who was sat directly to my right…. and had actually shown him a bluff reraise. Everyone passed around to him on the small blind and he moved all in for 11400 which was a huge overbet. I saw an A and decided if I squeezed a Q, K or A with it I would call. It was a K so I moved my chips in. He turned over 4s9s and hit a 9 to take the pot down. I know percentage wise I wasn’t a huge favorite but it still made me steam for a while. I kept thinking I should have been on 45000 chips instead of back amongst the field with 25000. I made a few lousy calls to try and hit flops and was down to 20000. I managed to get my focus back and start playing properly again.
Blinds were rapidly increasing and most bets before the flop were taking down the blinds and antes…. I had a bit of a rush of cards and built my stack to 33000 again. With the blinds at 800/1600 and running antes of 200 Alan raised under the gun to 6000 and I looked down at AK. I was pretty sure I could get him to lay most hands down so I raised it to 18000. Unfortunately S Bovis woke up with AA behind me. The only saving grace was that he had just 15000 chips left so I was still in it with 18000. We were down to three tables now and quite close to the money. I then got very lucky. I raised my last 15000 chips with Qc6c and Bad Girl called the majority of her stack in late position. She turned over AK so I was about in as good a shape as I could have hoped for with live cards. It flopped Tc9c6h. Just about the best flop for me I could imagine. Turn a Qs and river a Kc to give me the flush.
Blinds were then up to 1000/2000 and I played tight for a while and the bubble player was knocked out. With 28000 chips I raised with AdJd. All passed around to S Bovis who raised the remainder of my chips. I passed. He said he had 88. As I only had 20000 chips and the blinds were so high I decided I would try and double through rather than return with less than 10 big blinds for Day 2. I picked up 9hJh and moved all in to try and steal the blinds. J Rogers immediately to my left reraised all in for about 20000 more. That didn’t look promising. Everyone passed and he flipped over 66. I thought he must have had a high pocket pair so was pleased to see 66. It flopped TQK to give me the straight….. I was very lucky with that coin flip and we finished two hands after that and I have 43200 chips and the button is on me. We resume with blinds of 1500/3000 and running antes of 200. The average chip count is 53000 and there are 16 players left…..
I posted the chip counts on Blondepoker if anyone wants to check if there mate is still in.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Dirty
Sometimes you have one of those nights when you walk out of where you are playing and hate poker. Last night was one of those…
Played in the £250 Omaha Hi/Lo rebuy event which we started with 3000 chips. I played good solid poker for four hours and had built my chips up to a decent 32000. I was probably amongst the top 5 or 6 of the 29 players remaining. Then I tangled with another player with a lot of chips. We were playing three blinds which at the time were 600/600/1200. An early player raised to 4000 to play and I look down and see I have AA59… I decide to try and win it then or at least isolate one caller so I raised it to 16000 to play. He called. Flop 899. He immediately moved all in. Even if I didn’t have a 9 I would have called without hesitation. So I moved my remaining 16000 chips into the middle and he turned over A2TQ. Turn a blank and the river yes you guessed it… a J to give him a straight. There were 74000 chips in that pot and if I won that hand I would have been a big chip leader. Instead I left immediately or I would have gone on tilt big style. The problem I have when these things happen is I equate them in monetary terms. I can’t see how I wouldn’t have made the money if I had won that hand and I think it probably cost me at least £3000… maybe a lot me. Even if he had had two outs or something it wouldn’t have been so bad but a bloody Gutshot…. Arrrrghhhh
Played in the £250 Omaha Hi/Lo rebuy event which we started with 3000 chips. I played good solid poker for four hours and had built my chips up to a decent 32000. I was probably amongst the top 5 or 6 of the 29 players remaining. Then I tangled with another player with a lot of chips. We were playing three blinds which at the time were 600/600/1200. An early player raised to 4000 to play and I look down and see I have AA59… I decide to try and win it then or at least isolate one caller so I raised it to 16000 to play. He called. Flop 899. He immediately moved all in. Even if I didn’t have a 9 I would have called without hesitation. So I moved my remaining 16000 chips into the middle and he turned over A2TQ. Turn a blank and the river yes you guessed it… a J to give him a straight. There were 74000 chips in that pot and if I won that hand I would have been a big chip leader. Instead I left immediately or I would have gone on tilt big style. The problem I have when these things happen is I equate them in monetary terms. I can’t see how I wouldn’t have made the money if I had won that hand and I think it probably cost me at least £3000… maybe a lot me. Even if he had had two outs or something it wouldn’t have been so bad but a bloody Gutshot…. Arrrrghhhh
Monday, March 28, 2005
Brain freeze
I stupidly decided to go to the Vic on Sat evening and donate £2000 of my hard earned reddies to the Vic regulars in the Dealers choice game. I had drunk a “few” pints in the afternoon and decided in my wisdom that I was still ok to play in the cash game. I didn’t play terribly but I certainly didn’t play well either…. Twice I lost very big pots when I held the nuts when my money went in the middle but I just wasn’t feeling on my game so should have given it a miss in the first place. I made a few stupid bluffs as well and walked into a serial check raiser… I should have known better. One big pot that I played in the Omaha 8/better got me thinking….. I held TsThJhQc and it flopped 2d8dTc to give me top set. I make a big bet of around £250 and get reraised by a solid player £750. Does this now become a passing hand? Over to the Omaha/8 better experts that read my blog…… ok so I have top set which is the current nuts… but I have no low draw so effectively if a low card comes on the turn I am being freerolled for a potentially massive pot. My opponent did indeed have a massive draw holding the nut low flush draw and a straight draw and he scooped with a 7 on the river.
So yesterday I thought I would get involved in the $1000 Omaha 8/better tables on Party. I sat started with $1000 and was treading water for around three hours but had managed to get my stack up to about $1700 when I was involved in a couple of massive pots. The first I held top set on a QJ9 flop and called a $150 bet on the flop and a $450 on the turn as it was three way action so the pot odds were good if it paired up. A J on the river and I bet $700 and got called by one of the other players and I was up to $4000. Remarkably I was involved in an even bigger pot on the very next hand. I held A355 and it flopped 544 rainbow. I reraised on the flop and got two callers and there was $700 in the middle. Turn a T and both players check to me and I bet $700. Both players call. A 2 arrived on the river to give me the nut low as well as a full house. I bet $2100 and one passes and the other calls the $1200 he had left in front of him and I scooped. Not sure what he was calling with but I assume he had a smaller full house than me and some kind of low hand. I was up to a high point of $7000 and carried on for about an hour when I dropped a $1000 so finished $5000 up. So I managed to turn a somewhat disastrous start to the weekend into a small profit.
However despite winning a bit over the weekend I am still not happy with playing on Saturday evening. With poker being my only source of income very soon such costly mistakes need to be eradicated.
Enough of telling myself off anyway….
The week ahead
I have been looking forward to the Vic festival for a few weeks now. I will be playing in all the events below probably. The only tournament I may miss is the No Limit Holdem Freezeout £750 a miss because I don’t particularly like the structure/starting chips.
Mon, 28 Mar Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Unlimited Re-buys £250
Tue, 29 Mar No Limit Holdem Freezeout £750
Wed, 30 Mar Pot Limit Holdem Unlimited Re-buys + 1 Add-on 90 £200
Thu, 31 Mar Double chance Pot Limit Omaha Freezeout £1000
Sat, 02 Apr Championship Event No Limit Holdem Freezeout £1500
Sun, 03 Apr No Limit Holdem Freezeout £300
I am sure there will be a few tournament reports. I kick off this evening with the Omaha Hi-Lo. At the last festival I was chip leader when we were down to two tables at this event only to get crushed when I got ¾ of my chips in the middle preflop with AA23 double suited v A2KK. I ended up finishing on the bubble. Hopefully my luck will be better this time.
I am sure blondepoker will be doing Live updates for some of the events.
On another note I have added a link to a new blog. Sherwood Poker… check it out.
So yesterday I thought I would get involved in the $1000 Omaha 8/better tables on Party. I sat started with $1000 and was treading water for around three hours but had managed to get my stack up to about $1700 when I was involved in a couple of massive pots. The first I held top set on a QJ9 flop and called a $150 bet on the flop and a $450 on the turn as it was three way action so the pot odds were good if it paired up. A J on the river and I bet $700 and got called by one of the other players and I was up to $4000. Remarkably I was involved in an even bigger pot on the very next hand. I held A355 and it flopped 544 rainbow. I reraised on the flop and got two callers and there was $700 in the middle. Turn a T and both players check to me and I bet $700. Both players call. A 2 arrived on the river to give me the nut low as well as a full house. I bet $2100 and one passes and the other calls the $1200 he had left in front of him and I scooped. Not sure what he was calling with but I assume he had a smaller full house than me and some kind of low hand. I was up to a high point of $7000 and carried on for about an hour when I dropped a $1000 so finished $5000 up. So I managed to turn a somewhat disastrous start to the weekend into a small profit.
However despite winning a bit over the weekend I am still not happy with playing on Saturday evening. With poker being my only source of income very soon such costly mistakes need to be eradicated.
Enough of telling myself off anyway….
The week ahead
I have been looking forward to the Vic festival for a few weeks now. I will be playing in all the events below probably. The only tournament I may miss is the No Limit Holdem Freezeout £750 a miss because I don’t particularly like the structure/starting chips.
Mon, 28 Mar Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Unlimited Re-buys £250
Tue, 29 Mar No Limit Holdem Freezeout £750
Wed, 30 Mar Pot Limit Holdem Unlimited Re-buys + 1 Add-on 90 £200
Thu, 31 Mar Double chance Pot Limit Omaha Freezeout £1000
Sat, 02 Apr Championship Event No Limit Holdem Freezeout £1500
Sun, 03 Apr No Limit Holdem Freezeout £300
I am sure there will be a few tournament reports. I kick off this evening with the Omaha Hi-Lo. At the last festival I was chip leader when we were down to two tables at this event only to get crushed when I got ¾ of my chips in the middle preflop with AA23 double suited v A2KK. I ended up finishing on the bubble. Hopefully my luck will be better this time.
I am sure blondepoker will be doing Live updates for some of the events.
On another note I have added a link to a new blog. Sherwood Poker… check it out.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Back to the grind
I thought I would have a go at a couple of satellites last night for the Irish Open and The British Poker Open. The Qualifier for the Irish Open on Victor Chandler never really got going for me and the best hand I saw in an hour was AQ. I was still in until a J high flop when I held JK but my opponent took all my chips with JA. I was concentrating harder on trying to qualify for the British Open on Betfair. With 11 out of 57 players remaining I was doing ok until I got crippled when I held QQ in the small blind and the raiser had AA. I then tried a bluff in the small blind and walked into AA again and I was out. One play I noticed that was just terrible was with 12 of us left the button limped with QQ. Truly a bizarre play at the best of times...... anyway it flopped 57A and the QQ then decided to reraise me and I wasn't passing 68 and made my straight and took all his chips. Why ever limp on the button with QQ when the big blind is about 1/10 of the average stack?
Before the excitement of the satellites I managed to get in a bit of time on the $1000 PL Omaha 8/better. Lost a huge pot early on when I held Ac2s4cKs and it flopped 3c5d9c to give me an uncounterfitable nut low draw, a wrap on the straight and the A flush draw. On the flop it turned into 3 way mayhem and the pot was $2500. Turn a 9 and the river a T. Very ugly and someone with a pair of 8's in their hand scooped. I was down to $200 and soon flopped the second best flush with a back door nut low. I wasn't passing that and was up against a lower flush, a bare A who tried bluffing and trips. So I was back up to $800. I then managed to win a big pot when I held 2346 and it flopped A59 and I made double nuts on the river and I was up to $1700. I was then involved in another huge pot when I think my opponents play was terrible. I held Ad2h4dKh and it flopped 3d5d8s..... again I already had the nut low, wrap and the A flush draw.... a complete monster. All my $1700 was in the middle on the flop and it transpired my opponent had 889T. Ok so he had the nut high on the flop but he is being completely freerolled. Assuming no pair up I have about 16 cards in the pack to scoop. Luckily for him the turn and the river didn't bring any of my outs .... dammit. Finished up with $1900 so not too bad all in all.
I have decided against going to play in the Irish Open. I have spent so many weekends away of late I kind of want to relax and see my mates. Will probably head to the Vic to play Dealers Choice on one of the evenings..... I am sure there are some good value tournaments online with it being Easter as well.
Regarding my article in Poker in Europe I will probably have a go at my own exercise later and publish it on my blog. I will be ready for tomatoes to be thrown at me. :-)
Before the excitement of the satellites I managed to get in a bit of time on the $1000 PL Omaha 8/better. Lost a huge pot early on when I held Ac2s4cKs and it flopped 3c5d9c to give me an uncounterfitable nut low draw, a wrap on the straight and the A flush draw. On the flop it turned into 3 way mayhem and the pot was $2500. Turn a 9 and the river a T. Very ugly and someone with a pair of 8's in their hand scooped. I was down to $200 and soon flopped the second best flush with a back door nut low. I wasn't passing that and was up against a lower flush, a bare A who tried bluffing and trips. So I was back up to $800. I then managed to win a big pot when I held 2346 and it flopped A59 and I made double nuts on the river and I was up to $1700. I was then involved in another huge pot when I think my opponents play was terrible. I held Ad2h4dKh and it flopped 3d5d8s..... again I already had the nut low, wrap and the A flush draw.... a complete monster. All my $1700 was in the middle on the flop and it transpired my opponent had 889T. Ok so he had the nut high on the flop but he is being completely freerolled. Assuming no pair up I have about 16 cards in the pack to scoop. Luckily for him the turn and the river didn't bring any of my outs .... dammit. Finished up with $1900 so not too bad all in all.
I have decided against going to play in the Irish Open. I have spent so many weekends away of late I kind of want to relax and see my mates. Will probably head to the Vic to play Dealers Choice on one of the evenings..... I am sure there are some good value tournaments online with it being Easter as well.
Regarding my article in Poker in Europe I will probably have a go at my own exercise later and publish it on my blog. I will be ready for tomatoes to be thrown at me. :-)
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Poker in Europe article
I sent this article to Poker In Europe a few weeks ago. It has just appeared on their homepage. Click here if you fancy a read.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
What next...
I see that the Hendon Mob have updated their rankings and I am 13th in the EPT all time money list which is cool and am also just inside the top 100 money winners worldwide for 2005..... I doubt that will last very long though.
Its been a great boost to the confidence doing well in Monte Carlo.... I have long been profitable playing in cash games but had yet to get a big score in tournaments and was about $20000 down in live festival tournaments prior to this one. I guess what everyone says about tournament poker is true. You have to be able to survive the swings in these tournaments. You can literally run badly for months. Brandon Schaefer was the really success story of Monte Carlo. The kid had only played three $100 tournaments before Deauville, and thanks to winning that, and a second in Monte Carlo he has won $652000 in 2005. Amazing......
The one thing this result does mean is that I can now have a pop at the bigger buy in tournaments when I feel like it. I am tempted to go over and play in the Irish Open final over Easter weekend which is a €2000 NL Holdem event. I definitely would if it wasn't for my hectic poker schedule in the next few weeks. With festivals at the Vic, Gutshot and Luton it’s going to be a very busy few weeks on the poker front.
Since my result in Monte Carlo I have adjusted my targets in poker for 2005. Back here I made it my aim to make $80000/£40000 playing poker in 2005. Since I surpassed that target somewhat unexpectedly I have readjusted it so my aim now is to make $180000. My aim to be ranked in the top 20 in Europe by the end of 2005 still stands though I have plenty of catching up to do. For me its important to try and set my targets as high as possible.... i may fall short but it won't be through lack of effort.
Its been a great boost to the confidence doing well in Monte Carlo.... I have long been profitable playing in cash games but had yet to get a big score in tournaments and was about $20000 down in live festival tournaments prior to this one. I guess what everyone says about tournament poker is true. You have to be able to survive the swings in these tournaments. You can literally run badly for months. Brandon Schaefer was the really success story of Monte Carlo. The kid had only played three $100 tournaments before Deauville, and thanks to winning that, and a second in Monte Carlo he has won $652000 in 2005. Amazing......
The one thing this result does mean is that I can now have a pop at the bigger buy in tournaments when I feel like it. I am tempted to go over and play in the Irish Open final over Easter weekend which is a €2000 NL Holdem event. I definitely would if it wasn't for my hectic poker schedule in the next few weeks. With festivals at the Vic, Gutshot and Luton it’s going to be a very busy few weeks on the poker front.
Since my result in Monte Carlo I have adjusted my targets in poker for 2005. Back here I made it my aim to make $80000/£40000 playing poker in 2005. Since I surpassed that target somewhat unexpectedly I have readjusted it so my aim now is to make $180000. My aim to be ranked in the top 20 in Europe by the end of 2005 still stands though I have plenty of catching up to do. For me its important to try and set my targets as high as possible.... i may fall short but it won't be through lack of effort.
Monday, March 21, 2005
EPT Monte Carlo report
€10000 NL Holdem - EPT Main Event
It all started well on Day 1. My strategy was to play tight for the first two levels as the last thing I wanted to do in such a big buy in event was to go bust on one of the first levels. For the first two levels it all went to plan and I managed to get up to 18000 chips from the starting amount of 10000. I had the eventual winner of the final Rob Hollink to my left and I can say that it wasn't a particularly nice experience... he kept reraising me out of pots and was definitely one of the toughest opponents I have ever had in a tournament. Then for the remaining 3 levels of the Day my chips kept draining away. No massive pots and eventually for level 5 I dropped below 10000 chips for the first time and I didn't win a hand for the remaining 90 minute level. I finished Day 1 with 5800 chips and I was going to have to get used to adjusting my strategy to play with a short stack. I was struggling at 109th out of the 118 players remaining. I had achieved my first aim of making the second day and there were 93 players that I am sure would have swapped places with me. There were actually no interesting hands to report. Most of my hands won were preflop and all my chips were never in the middle.
We resumed Day 2 at level six with blinds of 150/300 and running ante's of 25. I was on a new table which looked slightly more favorable than my table from Day 1 and the only player I recognised was Jani Sointula. I knew that I didn't have very long to survive if I didn't double up. I lost a few hands early on and was down to 4800 chips when another player who was to make it far in the tournament raised it to 900 to play from the cut off. I looked down and saw 33. Jani had been very aggressive since arriving on the table and he could have any hand and be trying to steal the blinds. I decide to just call after considering a reraise. Flop came 237 and the trap was set. I checked and he bet 1000. I called hoping that he would bet again on the turn. The turn card was a K and I checked again and he put me all in. I call and he showed JJ and missed on the river so I doubled up. I was at around 12000 chips moving in to Level 7 which was still ok with blinds of 200/400. I then soon found AA for the first time during the tournament and raised it to 1000 to play under the gun. A late position player reraised me to 2500 and I just called hoping for a favorable flop to trap him. It flopped TT2. I checked to him and he bet 2000. I reraised him as there was a flush draw and I didn't want to regret giving a free card and he passed. I was up to the dizzy heights of about 18000 chips. I then played the first of two hands that were crucial. If either had them had gone wrong then I wouldn't have made Day 3. We were at Level 8 and with blinds of 300/600 I raised in a blind steal attempt to 2000 with 2d3d. The big blind who had about the same amount of chips as me called. It flopped 4cJcQd. He checked to me. I bet 3000 chips hoping that he didn't like the flop and he called immediately. I was sure that he wasn't that strong at the moment. He had been playing very tight and I am sure if he had AQ or QK he would have reraised me so my initial thought was to put him on the flush draw... possibly AcTc which would give him a Gutshot as well. The turn came a 7h and he checked to me again. I decided the pot was too big to give up on so I bet 4000 leaving myself with enough chips to bluff again on the river. Again he called straight away. I was pretty sure that he was not trapping me with a set or two pairs as I think he would have raised me in case I had a strong drawing hand. The river came a 2h and he checked again. Now was not a time for the feint hearted. I pushed my remaining chips which was around 10000 into the middle and survived a two minute staredown before he passed. My next big staredown would come from Gus Hanson on the TV table on Day 3. Incidentally he showed the Qc. So he passed top pair to me. I think he had top pair and the flush draw so I survived a bullet there. I was up to around 29000 chips after surviving that pot. I then passed JJ on the button as there was a raise and a reraise before it got to me and it flopped J77. Damn that hand would have tripled me up as my opponents had QQ and AA. We were at the final Level of the Day with blinds of 600/1200 and running ante's of 100 when I played another of my tournaments crucial hands. I had about 25000 chips I raised from the cut off with J9 to 4000 to play hoping to pick up the pot there and a Scandinavian player called in the big blind. We were very close to the end of Day 2 by now and only about 20 players from the money. It flopped 336 and he checked to me. I checked thinking that he may be trying to set a trap for me. The turn came a J. He immediately bet out 10000 chips. Now here is a decision. I have 21000 chips in front of me and would be practically crippled if I make the wrong decision on this hand. My initial thought was that he had JK or JA. The more I looked at him though the more I was convinced that he was bluffing. Do I risk my tournament on top pair 9 kicker? I decide eventually that he is bluffing so call the 10000. The river is a 6 and he checks and I check. He taps the table when I show my J. He later told me he was drawing dead with 8T. I then lost a small pot when I folded TT on a J high flop which was the winning hand..... I was pleased to finish the Day with 37,600 and was ranked 25th in chips from the remaining 37.
I had a really bad nights sleep after Day 2. Probably a mixture of nerves and excitement. With only 38 players remaining I was in touching distance of the money. As I qualified through a satellite on Betfair even finishing in the money would represent a welcome boost to my bankroll. Still with blinds of 800/1600 and running antes of 150 I couldn't just sit back so decided I would try and pick up a few early pots even if it was just the blinds and antes. The dangerous Julian Gardener was sitting with alot of chips to my left. I soon had Gus Hanson move to my table and luckily he was sitting to my right so at least I could see what he was up to before I acted. Soon after he arrived he called in early position. I had JJ which was by far the best hand I had seen since the Day began and raised it to 7000 to play. Everyone folds including Gus after a dwell. I then won another two hands without seeing a flop after raising with AQ and AK. The players were slowly dwindling and I was playing very cautiously as I would have been gutted to finish on the bubble. There were a few shorter stacks than mine about but out of nowhere Willie Tann finished on the bubble when he clashed in a big pot with Rob Hollink. I was in the money and now I could play a bit more knowing that anything else was now a bonus. I soon was moved to the TV table and after getting used to Gus raising plenty of hands pre flop I then encountered Marcel Luske. He went through a spell of raising a huge number of hand before the flop. I had a really tight image on the TV table. I was literally getting no playable hands so on the occasions I did raise I won the pot there. I did make a move with 25 when Kevin O'Connell limped from late position and I decided the pot was worth stealing so I made a big raise. I flipped over the 25 hoping that when I did get a hand that I may be called now. The very next hand I had AA and made a small raise and everyone passed. It seemed to be that some of the big stacks were self destructing themselves. I watched on as player after player clashed and before I knew it we were down to 17. We drew seats again and I had the pleasure of drawing Seat 4 with Gus Hanson directly to my right. He had about 100,000 chips and I was on around 65000 with blinds of 2000/4000 and running antes of 400. I built my way up to 90000 reraising hands preflop with KK and AK suited. The following hand then happened. Perhaps I should have played this stronger. I raised in middle position to 15000 with 99 and the big blind who liked to see plenty of flops and had about 200,000 called and it flopped 45J. He was first to act raised 15000. I went into the think tank trying to work out whether he had a J or better. Eventually I decided it was quite probably he was bluffing. A reraise here from me though would probably mean that I had to put the remaining 60000 chips in to the middle. I called hoping it would scare him if he was bluffing. The turn was a 6 and he bet 35000. I mucked eventually and later I found out he had QK so he was bluffing. I got blinded away for a bit and was down to 40000 chips when I picked up AQ suited. I late position I moved all in as I wasn't going to pass to a reraise. The big blind woke up and called..... it looked like my tournament was about to finish when he flipped over KK but a flop of QA4 saved me as I was back in it. That was the only time I had all my chips in the middle with the worst hand and won. Gus had raised me when I made up the small blind against him so I decided if everyone passed round to me when Gus was on the big blind I would either fold or raise him. I had A3 and everyone passed around to me. I decided to make a large raise to try and pick up the pot. My bet was 16000 and Gus called in the big blind. Damn that didn't work out too well. It flopped A68 and with only 45000 chips left I pushed it all into the middle. Gus gave me a two minute staredown. I was convinced he was never going to call but just wanted to stop me from raising his big blind again. Soon Gus departed after losing a very big pot with JJ v AK. Julian Gardener than went as well when he walked into AA with JJ in a 270000 chip pot. I was still one of the shortest stacks with about 80000 eventually we got down to 10 players. We were now playing hand for hand and I noticed that it was a €16000 jump if another player got knocked out. The blinds were now a massive 3000/6000 so I had only about 13 big blinds. There were two other players just below me so I decided unless I had a monster I would try and wait for one of those two to get knocked out. I passed TT under the gun and it was the right move as everyone passed to the BB and he showed AA. Dodged a big bullet there. I stayed about the same amount by winning the blinds twice without seeing the flop. Isabelle Mercier then got extremely unlucky when all in with the best hand on the flop. Her opponent hit runner runner clubs to make a flush and we down to 9.
There were still a couple of players who had less chips than me and with another €20000 jump in prize money and the massive incentive of making the final you could cut the tension with a knife. Any raise before the flop was winning 90% of the time and I managed to win a couple of pots with 88 and AK. Jani Sointula eventually departed when he didn't believe a late position raise holding AJ in the BB. His opponent had QQ which held up and we were down to the final 8. Woohoo
All the players had to go and do tournament interviews for the final table. Not sure exactly what I said as I was so focused on the final starting that I probably waffled a bit. Studying the chip counts my position was not good. However there were two players with even less than me.
Seat 1: Romain Feriolo 475,000
Seat 2: Alex Stevic 57,500
Seat 3: Abdulaziz Abdulaziz 181,000
Seat 4: Ben Grundy 90,500
Seat 5: Kevin Seeger 364,500
Seat 6: Mikhail Ustinov 68,500
Seat 7: Brandon Scahefer 488,500
Seat 8: Rob Hollink 384,000
I was just praying for some good hands. We kicked off and John Duthie decided to reduce the blinds which was good news as it meant that I could at least have another move than all in. With blinds of 3000/6000 we kicked off. There was a big crowd watching at quite a few were cheering me on. This was not the time to card dead but it happened. I watched 3 rounds pass by without even an A in my hand. Alex Stevic and Mikhail Ustinov then tangled and Stevic had JJ which beat QQ to take Mikhail out and we were down to 7 players. I then had AT two hands on the trot and everyone passed to my raises. I was still not picking up any hands as was at 68000 chips when I found AJ in the small blind. Rob Hollink made it 18000 to play. This was the best hand I had got in 3 rounds so after a dwell I decided to call and hope for a favorable flop. I also knew from playing with Rob for 10 hours on Day 1 that he could literally have raised with any hand and my AJ may be winning. It flopped QK4 with two clubs. I checked and Rob checked. The turn was a J. I checked again and Rob bet 25000. I first thought I should muck it but the more I thought about it I managed to convince myself that Rob was bluffing. Even in my mind if he had a Q or K then I had out with a T, J or A. So I pushed all in. Unfortunately Rob had KK and had trapped me. No help on the river and I was out in 7th place which paid €79500. Do I have regrets about that hand? Maybe a little. Perhaps I should have passed preflop but I knew he could be raising with anything. I wasn't in a position to sit back and watch another player get knocked out as everyone had at least double my chip count. Rob deserved to win the tournament and he was my tip in the exit interview.
Overall I couldn't have been more pleased with how it went. I concentrated through over 30 hours of poker and the majority of that time I was never in a great chip position. I knew that each and every decision I made from Day 2 was crucial and I don't think I made too many bad ones. The one thing that did surprise me was the amount of players who were in a much better chip position than me self destruct when we got into the money. It really was a bizarre tournament from my point of view. In 30 hours of poker I knocked only two players out. I only had two or three flops in the whole tournament where I wanted a caller when I bet. I had been getting a bit frustrated at getting so close to decent money in a few big tournaments so this is a massive confidence and bankroll boost with me turning pro in a week or so.
It all started well on Day 1. My strategy was to play tight for the first two levels as the last thing I wanted to do in such a big buy in event was to go bust on one of the first levels. For the first two levels it all went to plan and I managed to get up to 18000 chips from the starting amount of 10000. I had the eventual winner of the final Rob Hollink to my left and I can say that it wasn't a particularly nice experience... he kept reraising me out of pots and was definitely one of the toughest opponents I have ever had in a tournament. Then for the remaining 3 levels of the Day my chips kept draining away. No massive pots and eventually for level 5 I dropped below 10000 chips for the first time and I didn't win a hand for the remaining 90 minute level. I finished Day 1 with 5800 chips and I was going to have to get used to adjusting my strategy to play with a short stack. I was struggling at 109th out of the 118 players remaining. I had achieved my first aim of making the second day and there were 93 players that I am sure would have swapped places with me. There were actually no interesting hands to report. Most of my hands won were preflop and all my chips were never in the middle.
We resumed Day 2 at level six with blinds of 150/300 and running ante's of 25. I was on a new table which looked slightly more favorable than my table from Day 1 and the only player I recognised was Jani Sointula. I knew that I didn't have very long to survive if I didn't double up. I lost a few hands early on and was down to 4800 chips when another player who was to make it far in the tournament raised it to 900 to play from the cut off. I looked down and saw 33. Jani had been very aggressive since arriving on the table and he could have any hand and be trying to steal the blinds. I decide to just call after considering a reraise. Flop came 237 and the trap was set. I checked and he bet 1000. I called hoping that he would bet again on the turn. The turn card was a K and I checked again and he put me all in. I call and he showed JJ and missed on the river so I doubled up. I was at around 12000 chips moving in to Level 7 which was still ok with blinds of 200/400. I then soon found AA for the first time during the tournament and raised it to 1000 to play under the gun. A late position player reraised me to 2500 and I just called hoping for a favorable flop to trap him. It flopped TT2. I checked to him and he bet 2000. I reraised him as there was a flush draw and I didn't want to regret giving a free card and he passed. I was up to the dizzy heights of about 18000 chips. I then played the first of two hands that were crucial. If either had them had gone wrong then I wouldn't have made Day 3. We were at Level 8 and with blinds of 300/600 I raised in a blind steal attempt to 2000 with 2d3d. The big blind who had about the same amount of chips as me called. It flopped 4cJcQd. He checked to me. I bet 3000 chips hoping that he didn't like the flop and he called immediately. I was sure that he wasn't that strong at the moment. He had been playing very tight and I am sure if he had AQ or QK he would have reraised me so my initial thought was to put him on the flush draw... possibly AcTc which would give him a Gutshot as well. The turn came a 7h and he checked to me again. I decided the pot was too big to give up on so I bet 4000 leaving myself with enough chips to bluff again on the river. Again he called straight away. I was pretty sure that he was not trapping me with a set or two pairs as I think he would have raised me in case I had a strong drawing hand. The river came a 2h and he checked again. Now was not a time for the feint hearted. I pushed my remaining chips which was around 10000 into the middle and survived a two minute staredown before he passed. My next big staredown would come from Gus Hanson on the TV table on Day 3. Incidentally he showed the Qc. So he passed top pair to me. I think he had top pair and the flush draw so I survived a bullet there. I was up to around 29000 chips after surviving that pot. I then passed JJ on the button as there was a raise and a reraise before it got to me and it flopped J77. Damn that hand would have tripled me up as my opponents had QQ and AA. We were at the final Level of the Day with blinds of 600/1200 and running ante's of 100 when I played another of my tournaments crucial hands. I had about 25000 chips I raised from the cut off with J9 to 4000 to play hoping to pick up the pot there and a Scandinavian player called in the big blind. We were very close to the end of Day 2 by now and only about 20 players from the money. It flopped 336 and he checked to me. I checked thinking that he may be trying to set a trap for me. The turn came a J. He immediately bet out 10000 chips. Now here is a decision. I have 21000 chips in front of me and would be practically crippled if I make the wrong decision on this hand. My initial thought was that he had JK or JA. The more I looked at him though the more I was convinced that he was bluffing. Do I risk my tournament on top pair 9 kicker? I decide eventually that he is bluffing so call the 10000. The river is a 6 and he checks and I check. He taps the table when I show my J. He later told me he was drawing dead with 8T. I then lost a small pot when I folded TT on a J high flop which was the winning hand..... I was pleased to finish the Day with 37,600 and was ranked 25th in chips from the remaining 37.
I had a really bad nights sleep after Day 2. Probably a mixture of nerves and excitement. With only 38 players remaining I was in touching distance of the money. As I qualified through a satellite on Betfair even finishing in the money would represent a welcome boost to my bankroll. Still with blinds of 800/1600 and running antes of 150 I couldn't just sit back so decided I would try and pick up a few early pots even if it was just the blinds and antes. The dangerous Julian Gardener was sitting with alot of chips to my left. I soon had Gus Hanson move to my table and luckily he was sitting to my right so at least I could see what he was up to before I acted. Soon after he arrived he called in early position. I had JJ which was by far the best hand I had seen since the Day began and raised it to 7000 to play. Everyone folds including Gus after a dwell. I then won another two hands without seeing a flop after raising with AQ and AK. The players were slowly dwindling and I was playing very cautiously as I would have been gutted to finish on the bubble. There were a few shorter stacks than mine about but out of nowhere Willie Tann finished on the bubble when he clashed in a big pot with Rob Hollink. I was in the money and now I could play a bit more knowing that anything else was now a bonus. I soon was moved to the TV table and after getting used to Gus raising plenty of hands pre flop I then encountered Marcel Luske. He went through a spell of raising a huge number of hand before the flop. I had a really tight image on the TV table. I was literally getting no playable hands so on the occasions I did raise I won the pot there. I did make a move with 25 when Kevin O'Connell limped from late position and I decided the pot was worth stealing so I made a big raise. I flipped over the 25 hoping that when I did get a hand that I may be called now. The very next hand I had AA and made a small raise and everyone passed. It seemed to be that some of the big stacks were self destructing themselves. I watched on as player after player clashed and before I knew it we were down to 17. We drew seats again and I had the pleasure of drawing Seat 4 with Gus Hanson directly to my right. He had about 100,000 chips and I was on around 65000 with blinds of 2000/4000 and running antes of 400. I built my way up to 90000 reraising hands preflop with KK and AK suited. The following hand then happened. Perhaps I should have played this stronger. I raised in middle position to 15000 with 99 and the big blind who liked to see plenty of flops and had about 200,000 called and it flopped 45J. He was first to act raised 15000. I went into the think tank trying to work out whether he had a J or better. Eventually I decided it was quite probably he was bluffing. A reraise here from me though would probably mean that I had to put the remaining 60000 chips in to the middle. I called hoping it would scare him if he was bluffing. The turn was a 6 and he bet 35000. I mucked eventually and later I found out he had QK so he was bluffing. I got blinded away for a bit and was down to 40000 chips when I picked up AQ suited. I late position I moved all in as I wasn't going to pass to a reraise. The big blind woke up and called..... it looked like my tournament was about to finish when he flipped over KK but a flop of QA4 saved me as I was back in it. That was the only time I had all my chips in the middle with the worst hand and won. Gus had raised me when I made up the small blind against him so I decided if everyone passed round to me when Gus was on the big blind I would either fold or raise him. I had A3 and everyone passed around to me. I decided to make a large raise to try and pick up the pot. My bet was 16000 and Gus called in the big blind. Damn that didn't work out too well. It flopped A68 and with only 45000 chips left I pushed it all into the middle. Gus gave me a two minute staredown. I was convinced he was never going to call but just wanted to stop me from raising his big blind again. Soon Gus departed after losing a very big pot with JJ v AK. Julian Gardener than went as well when he walked into AA with JJ in a 270000 chip pot. I was still one of the shortest stacks with about 80000 eventually we got down to 10 players. We were now playing hand for hand and I noticed that it was a €16000 jump if another player got knocked out. The blinds were now a massive 3000/6000 so I had only about 13 big blinds. There were two other players just below me so I decided unless I had a monster I would try and wait for one of those two to get knocked out. I passed TT under the gun and it was the right move as everyone passed to the BB and he showed AA. Dodged a big bullet there. I stayed about the same amount by winning the blinds twice without seeing the flop. Isabelle Mercier then got extremely unlucky when all in with the best hand on the flop. Her opponent hit runner runner clubs to make a flush and we down to 9.
There were still a couple of players who had less chips than me and with another €20000 jump in prize money and the massive incentive of making the final you could cut the tension with a knife. Any raise before the flop was winning 90% of the time and I managed to win a couple of pots with 88 and AK. Jani Sointula eventually departed when he didn't believe a late position raise holding AJ in the BB. His opponent had QQ which held up and we were down to the final 8. Woohoo
All the players had to go and do tournament interviews for the final table. Not sure exactly what I said as I was so focused on the final starting that I probably waffled a bit. Studying the chip counts my position was not good. However there were two players with even less than me.
Seat 1: Romain Feriolo 475,000
Seat 2: Alex Stevic 57,500
Seat 3: Abdulaziz Abdulaziz 181,000
Seat 4: Ben Grundy 90,500
Seat 5: Kevin Seeger 364,500
Seat 6: Mikhail Ustinov 68,500
Seat 7: Brandon Scahefer 488,500
Seat 8: Rob Hollink 384,000
I was just praying for some good hands. We kicked off and John Duthie decided to reduce the blinds which was good news as it meant that I could at least have another move than all in. With blinds of 3000/6000 we kicked off. There was a big crowd watching at quite a few were cheering me on. This was not the time to card dead but it happened. I watched 3 rounds pass by without even an A in my hand. Alex Stevic and Mikhail Ustinov then tangled and Stevic had JJ which beat QQ to take Mikhail out and we were down to 7 players. I then had AT two hands on the trot and everyone passed to my raises. I was still not picking up any hands as was at 68000 chips when I found AJ in the small blind. Rob Hollink made it 18000 to play. This was the best hand I had got in 3 rounds so after a dwell I decided to call and hope for a favorable flop. I also knew from playing with Rob for 10 hours on Day 1 that he could literally have raised with any hand and my AJ may be winning. It flopped QK4 with two clubs. I checked and Rob checked. The turn was a J. I checked again and Rob bet 25000. I first thought I should muck it but the more I thought about it I managed to convince myself that Rob was bluffing. Even in my mind if he had a Q or K then I had out with a T, J or A. So I pushed all in. Unfortunately Rob had KK and had trapped me. No help on the river and I was out in 7th place which paid €79500. Do I have regrets about that hand? Maybe a little. Perhaps I should have passed preflop but I knew he could be raising with anything. I wasn't in a position to sit back and watch another player get knocked out as everyone had at least double my chip count. Rob deserved to win the tournament and he was my tip in the exit interview.
Overall I couldn't have been more pleased with how it went. I concentrated through over 30 hours of poker and the majority of that time I was never in a great chip position. I knew that each and every decision I made from Day 2 was crucial and I don't think I made too many bad ones. The one thing that did surprise me was the amount of players who were in a much better chip position than me self destruct when we got into the money. It really was a bizarre tournament from my point of view. In 30 hours of poker I knocked only two players out. I only had two or three flops in the whole tournament where I wanted a caller when I bet. I had been getting a bit frustrated at getting so close to decent money in a few big tournaments so this is a massive confidence and bankroll boost with me turning pro in a week or so.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Back home
Just arrived back from Monte Carlo. Still buzzing a bit from playing over 30 hours of poker..... thanks to anyone who sent me good luck messages on here, my phone and on the forums.
There will be a tournament report. I managed to write down some key hands that i played when i got back to my room each evening... will post it tomorrow as it will take ages to write and i am shattered.
There will be a tournament report. I managed to write down some key hands that i played when i got back to my room each evening... will post it tomorrow as it will take ages to write and i am shattered.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Still in.... just
Quick update from monte carlo....
We have played down to 38 at the moment. Started the day with 6700 chips and just finished with 37600... so a bit of a comeback. Think i am at around 25th out of the 38 left.
Fingers crossed for a some decent cards and luck tomorrow.
We have played down to 38 at the moment. Started the day with 6700 chips and just finished with 37600... so a bit of a comeback. Think i am at around 25th out of the 38 left.
Fingers crossed for a some decent cards and luck tomorrow.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Excited
Yikes so tomorrow morning I fly to Monte Carlo for the EPT final. I have no real expectations about how well I think I should do. I have won a great package... my aim is to play my best poker and enjoy myself. I have got nothing to lose.
In two minds about whether I will update my blog. Guess it depends whether I bust out on Day 1 or not.
If anyone wants to check out how me or anyone else is doing the EPT blog and Live Updates from Blondepoker are sure to provide excellent coverage.
In two minds about whether I will update my blog. Guess it depends whether I bust out on Day 1 or not.
If anyone wants to check out how me or anyone else is doing the EPT blog and Live Updates from Blondepoker are sure to provide excellent coverage.
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