Irish Open

I started pretty well and had the best table ive had for a while at one of these big events....

Level 2 i was cruising with nobody really playing back at me and had built my stack to 14000. 50/100 and a few limpers and i raise it up to 500 with the good old AA on the button. Scandie raises it up to 1400 in the SB. In this spot i just don't like three betting. I don't want to give him any reason to fold AK, smaller pairs or a bluff, so i call. The flop comes K94. He bets 1600. I call. Turn is a 4. He checked and i bet small to look weak. Just 1600. He quickly raises it to 5000. I just can't see how i can fold. Anyway... we get all the chips in and he has KK. Guess its tough not to not lose a chunk there.

I finally went out when all in pre with 88 v A9 v QK to get me back in it!

EPT san Remo is sold out so my next tourney is the happy (ish) hunting ground Monte Carlo....

Bleeeurgh

The rake challenge finished a few days ago!

The winners are as follows:

Punterz08 - 1st Prize - Package to EPT San Remo in Italy - Entry plus £500 spending money. Worth about £4000.

Peego - 2nd Prize - Entry to a GUKPT - Entry into event of your choice in season two. Worth £1000.

I played the GUKPT London leg. Zzzzzz … someone obviously on tilt in Level one decides to call 22bb preflop with 56. Did half my stack on that hand. Just half an hour later I decide to float on a JQ3 flop with AT with the intention of bluffing further on. Turn brought a 9. I bet and got called. River K completing a back door flush of which I had the bare Ace. I shoved and got insta called by the queen flush. GG

Online has been going very good. I’m nearly $500,000 up for the year already and haven’t even been playing nosebleed stakes very much yet!

Been playing a small bit of $200/$400 PLO and am about even. I plan on giving it more of a go soon. Been mainly getting the lot HU at 25/50 and 50/100, long may that continue.

Next few tourneys are the Irish Open, EPT San Remo and EPT Monte Carlo. Hopefully I’ll make a run in one of them!

Chilling

I haven't been playing so much in the last few weeks.... just some 25/50 - 100/200 PLO on Betfair and been doing ok. Been so busy with birthday celebrations and skiing. Looking forward to playing alot more in the next few months.

Been looking at flights for the WSOP. Wow they have hit the roof price wise - sick. Since a few years ago prices have trebled, anyone know how to get discounts? Still haven't decided whether to do one extended stint, or a couple of shorter stints. It's cool they have added a few more $10k events and i'll definitely play the PLO, PL Hold'em and the Main. Its about time i ran good in Vegas after the last couple of visits!

I'll post some hands when i get back from skiing. Got a few interesting PLO ones!

Rake Challenge Leaderboard for 1st March (two weeks left)

Punterz08 £7178.41
Peego £7177.31
Kirdirf £4831.27
Beau777 £3382.07
Speedytom £2721.93

Boom

Rake Challenge Leaderboard (6 weeks to go)

1. Peego £4969
2. Kirdirf £3378
3. Punterz08 £3094
4. benno £2932
5. justagame £2727
6. beau777 £2114
7. LDO £1979

I played the Party Poker TV tournament earlier in the week. It was 6 handed and with 4 left i had 260,000 out of 600,000. Managed to finish 3rd which was a bit disappointing. The blinds shot up and it became a shove fest three handed and i didn't get lucky!

Got a really packed poker schedule for the next few months which is exciting. I also just moved into a house i purchased in London, and tied up alot of money that will not be going back into the poker community :-)

After the horrendous January that i had in 2006 and 2007... i finally managed to have a profitable start to the year, with my third best winning month on record. Been running bad for the last week so i'm glad i started the year well!

EPT Dortmund

Bleeeurgh...

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

Ok better go hit the cash games :-)

Hold'em hands part 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some Hold'em hands

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

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

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

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

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

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

Loads of hands + Rake challenge leaderboard

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

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

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

Finally one holds up - Ben 81%

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

Start of sick run - Ben 65%

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

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

Flop nuts and lose - Ben 65%

Nuts again couldn't lose - Ben 100%

Catching Bare Ace - Ben 100%

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

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

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

This sums it up - Ben 55%

Coin flip, Emily wins again - Emily 52%

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

We like these odds - Ben 97%

Nice turn - Ben 82%

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

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

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

One pair wins $66,000. Ben 70%

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz $54,000 lost. Ben 80%

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

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

Rake Challenge Leaderboard

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

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

New Year

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

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

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

End of year review

As I am winding down operations and hardly playing between now and the New Year, I thought it would be a good time to look back on 2007.

This year has definitely been a lot tougher than 2006. When I gave up my job in March 2005 with a small bankroll, I just couldn’t stop winning for most of 2005 and 2006.

Between January and June I definitely got close to going busto. I had losing day after losing day, and I never thought it was possible to run so bad, for so long. Of course alot of it was my fault. Playing games that were too big when out of form. Poor game selection, and lots and lots of tilt. I think at one point in April I was about $400,000 down for the year… yikes.

Tournament form throughout the entire year hasn’t exactly been good either. I’ve gone deep in a couple of EPT events without making the final. The lowest point of the year came when I bubbled in the $5000 rebuy PLO in Vegas. My bankroll was battered and I had a massive chance to win the tournament being in the top five in chips with twenty players left. My AAxx failed to beat KKxx and that was that. Tournaments have huge variance though, and I don’t play very many, so I have to hope 2008 brings better luck on that front.

As terrible as the first six months of the year were the next six months have been amazing. I’ve been running the opposite of the first six months of the year, and when I’m confident and winning I play better.

I just calculated that I am over $1 million up in PL Omaha cash games for the year, and about half that down in NL Hold’em cash games. Most of the Omaha profit coming at $25/$50 and $50/$100 … with some wins at $100/$200 as well. If only I hadn’t played Heads Up Hold’em big stakes at the start of the year, then a very good year would have been an amazing one.

I definitely feel like I should be playing the $200/$400 PL Omaha game on Full Tilt. I just can’t face putting my entire bankroll on the line so we shall see.

Some aims for 2008

- Number one aim to practice better bankroll management and game selection. I will not allow myself to make the same mistakes that I did this year.
- Play some high stakes cash games in Bobby’s room at the Bellagio.
- Get luckier in tournaments.
- Crush the big PL Omaha games online.
- Have a winning year at NL Hold’em cash.
- Play less poker.
- Don’t lose over 50% of my bankroll in January as I have for the last two years.

Playing the big tables!

I have had a big rollercoaster in the last 4/5 days. Been playing $50/$100 up to $250/$500 PL Omaha and NL Hold'em. Here is a pot i played in $250/$500 NL Hold'em...

Big Call

I played Heads Up $100/$200 PL Omaha yesterday and reached my biggest ever stack on a poker table, as you can below. I did lose $55000 on a couple of other tables but won $130,000 on the session. A nice Xmas bonus!

I was going to go to EPT Prague, but am so busy over the next week i just don't have the time. Was looking forward to it as well, as i have never been to Prague.

GUKPT Final

It didn't go to plan! We started with 15000 chips and i lost a fair chunk on the opening hand. Blinds 25/50... i faced a raise and reraise to 600 to play before i looked down at AsKs in the big blind. I called and the flop was Qs4s5h... opponent checked and i bet 1000. He made it 2000. I considered reraising but i was a little concerned he had QQ. Turn was an offsuit J. So i had a Gutshot too now. He bet 2500 which obviously priced me in. River was a blank and if he checked i was going to push, but he bet 3000 and i folded.

After that without really hitting very much i managed to get up to 25000 practically playing every hand. I won a big pot on a 9T37A board with 68... that was the high point.

My exit hand was slightly bizarre. I pushed when i really shouldn't have with Kc2c after floating on a Ac3d3s flop the 4c on the turn, seemed a good spot to check raise all in. My opponent was probably pot committed though and called with A4. If the 4 hadn't arrived on the turn i'm sure my plan would have worked!

Back to the old days

I have been having huge swings just as i did at the start of 2007, when i was playing a fair bit of 50/100 and 100/200 PL Omaha and NL Hold'em. Had quite a few +/-$50k days lately without doing too much damage to the bankroll.

Here are some of the bigger pots i have played lately!

Big pot from back door flush
Move on the turn works out well against my old enemy
Didn’t really know whether I was winning in this hand
Most of my outs were covered here
This tilted me
Running good in a Hold’em hand
Making a big move that works out

I'm playing the GUKPT final which is at the Vic later this week... haven't played a tournament in a while so looking forward to it!

There is only a couple of days to register through this blog for the rake challenge (see a couple of posts below details)

Omaha Tourney

Hehe you can now take me on in an Pot Limit Omaha tournament - exclusively on Betfair Poker.
ALL admirers of this fantastic four-card game thinking that their Christmas has come early.

The tournament will carry a big old $5,000 Guarantee as well as a bounty worth $100 for knocking me out on my home soil!

TOURNEY DETAILS

What: MILK THE KID - $5,000 GTD PLO
When: Every Monday at 7:30pm (GMT)
How much: $55 with rebuys in the first hour and add-on available
Finer details: 2,500 starting chips, 20 minute levels
Bounty you say? Indeed, Ben “Milkybarkid” Grundy will have $100 on his head!

Had a pretty sick week online. Had a stack of over $100k on a $50/$100 table and still ended the week down due to a two hour session of $100/$200 NL Holdem where i didn't win a single decent pot!

Blog rake challenge with prizes

1st Prize - Package to EPT San Remo in Italy - Entry plus £500 spending money. Worth about £4000.

2nd Prize - Entry to a GUKPT event - Entry into event of your choice in season two. Worth £1000.

3rd Prize - Mystery prize to be decided.

Competition information!

Whoever rakes the most between December 1st - March 15th on Betfair Poker can win the prizes. You are already eligible if you already signed up for an account through this blog.

All new sign ups between now and November 30th who sign up through this blog or on this link can also win the prizes.

If you rake a decent amount on Betfair you have a great chance of taking down the first prize. I will put the leaderboard on this blog of the top five rakers at the end of each month, until the competition ends on March 15th. So the prizes are decided by who rakes the most over a 16 week period.

If you do sign up and want to take part in this promotion drop me an email (bengrundy@hotmail.com) to confirm your new Betfair username. Just so i can double check that you registered through this blog. You will also receive 30% rakeback.

I get 10% in you in the tournaments as an interest, as i am giving away these free entries out of my pocket!

If you cannot make EPT San Remo for some reason then the prize can be swapped for a tournament of a similar value. It can't be exchanged for cash.

Any questions post in the comments......

EPT Dublin

I just busted on Day 2. Had a below average stack going into the second day and was looking to make some moves early to try and get some more chips.

Two hands led to my bust out. Blinds 400/800. I had 17000 stack. Mid position pushes all in for 7300. I look down at AhQh on the button and push. He has A9 and a 9 comes on the flop. My stack would have been ok if i won that hand.

Then i was down to 8000 and i pushed all in from the cut off with A5 and got called by AQ. No help from the board and i was out. I keep making Day 2 of these events so hopefully a decent result isn't too far away!

MTT's arrghhhh

I played the $150k guaranteed on Betfair yesterday, which actually ended up with a $174k prize pool! Wow i was steaming by the end. I was in the top 5 chips all the way to the bubble. Then in 20 hands i had KK v AA, then JJ v QQ on JQx flop, then QQ v JK to a fishy Rob Sherwood! lol

From hero to zero in no time at all.

Joey Lovelady won and Rob came third. Congrats. Joey was a total card rack in the final and the result was never in doubt. He only played because i told him it was on without twenty minutes till the start!

Off to play EPT Dublin this week. I play Day 1(b), which is Wednesday!

LAG

Since WPT Barcelona i've been playing aload online including two 16 hour sessions last week. I've managed to get some monster stacks at $25/$50 PLO ... my biggest was $78k and i lost a flip to make it very close to $100k so called it a day. Mind you i think in that particular session i was in for $40k anyway!

Here are a few hands i've played lately.

Donkish draw that was winning all the way! lol

Bad misread

A much better read

One word - TILT

Next up on the tournament circuit is EPT Dublin. After that the GUKPT final and EPT Prague. Hopefully i can get a result in one of them!

Also i forgot to blog about this before, congratulations to Dusk Till Dawn on securing their license to open a poker club in Nottingham. Hopefully there will be some big festivals held there. It will definitely be good for all poker players, as they will run tournaments for all buy in ranges.

WPT Barcelona day 2

Steaming... just busted out.

Playing 16k stack (blinds 200/400) ... I called the BB with 67 suited after two callers to a raise. Flop 67T with two clubs. I led out for 2500. Guy who raised preflop called. Turn a T. I bet 3000. He called. He seemed weak and its tough to put hom on a T. He may have an overpair in distress. River a Jack and i pushed all in. He dwelt for ages and i was sure he would fold. He finally called with 88. lol. I found a calling station.

Another Tourney

Heading over to Barcelona to play the WPT tournament this weekend. I love Barcelona so never mind travelling there for a tournament. Kind of recovered from my tilt from EPT london. These tournaments are so big now, that you don't get that many opportunities for a top three finish, and i definitely think that was one that past me by.

Still its kind of a consolation that cash games have been going so well. My $25/$50 PLO stats have been really good for the last few months. I've played about 30000 hands with a BB/100 hands of over 20, which is definitely unsustainable long term. But i can enjoy the rush while it lasts :-)