Personally I use a 40 buy-in (2.5%) rule. ie I will never buy-in to anything for more than 2.5% of my account balance, and I stick to it religously. It works well for me and makes it's almost impossible for me to go busto. If I have to drop stakes during a downswing I drop stakes. If you read my current diary you'll see I already have at least twice so far. At one point I even abandoned MTTs completely after a run of bad results to rebuild in the low variance environment of STTs.
Many experts would say my 2.5% rule is far too aggresive and suggest that 1%, or even 0.5% is preferable. I know I can be looser for two reasons; 1. I specialise in Bounty Hunters, by their nature variance is lower in BHs than freezeouts because half the prizepool (the head-prizes) gets distrubuted widely through the field, so it's essentially a much less top-heavy prize structure. 2. I feel I have a significant edge in the games I play.
Personally I use a 40 buy-in (2.5%) rule. ie I will never buy-in to anything for more than 2.5% of my account balance, and I stick to it religously. It works well for me and makes it's almost impossible for me to go busto. If I have to drop stakes during a downswing I drop stakes. If you read my current diary you'll see I already have at least twice so far. At one point I even abandoned MTTs completely after a run of bad results to rebuild in the low variance environment of STTs. Many experts would say my 2.5% rule is far too aggresive and suggest that 1%, or even 0.5% is preferable. I know I can be looser for two reasons; 1. I specialise in Bounty Hunters, by their nature variance is lower in BHs than freezeouts because half the prizepool (the head-prizes) gets distrubuted widely through the field, so it's essentially a much less top-heavy prize structure. 2. I feel I have a significant edge in the games I play. Posted by GaryQQQ
There aren't many £1 and £50p MTTs going on skypoker!
Hey Gaz, sounds like you had a brilliant run when you first started.
There is a £1 deep stack at 7-8 and and some £2 1s aswell. They are quite soft.
With the BHers the monies terrible unless you final table. The monday community night would be good 2, 3 games for a fiver. And if you win that you are getting a seat into a higher tournie.
I entered the main and mini tonight. Sat alongside Thewy in the main. Lets just say its true what they say about him. Never seen someone run that well before. 3 hours later, I'm still in both. Infact at one point I was leading the mini and 5th in the main with about 80 left in each. Anyway, 20 minutes later Im out of the main. I had lost a big pot in a cooler(ish) situation and was short stack. I hit trips on a flop soon after. The other guy had a PP and a full house - no getting away from that.
Oh well I hear you say, youre still nailing the mini arent you? Well yes I was.... until this hand:
gazza127
Small blind
500.00
500.00
38791.25
MELfeaAYR
Big blind
1000.00
1500.00
32027.50
Your hole cards
K
A
Doooobs
Fold
morse999
All-in
10230.00
11730.00
0.00
RODDERS45
Fold
TimmyRaRa
Fold
gazza127
Call
9730.00
21460.00
29061.25
MELfeaAYR
All-in
32027.50
53487.50
0.00
gazza127
Call
22797.50
76285.00
6263.75
gazza127
Show
K
A
MELfeaAYR
Show
K
K
morse999
Show
A
A
Flop
5
7
4
Turn
9
River
J
morse999
Win
Pair of Aces
30690.00
30690.00
MELfeaAYR
Win
Pair of Kings
45595.00
45595.00
Dont think I could have gotten away from it. 1st guy could easily be shoving with any PP and second guy could have AK, AQ, QQ. Think im priced in when the other guy comes over the top. I can only fold if I put him on AA or KK (which I clearly didnt). Not once did I think I'd be only drawing to a straight.
And to add insult to injury, the hand that knocked me out:
ODDERS45
Small blind
600.00
600.00
63875.00
TimmyRaRa
Big blind
1200.00
1800.00
26127.50
Your hole cards
10
A
gazza127
All-in
5363.75
7163.75
0.00
MELfeaAYR
Fold
morse999
Fold
RODDERS45
Call
4763.75
11927.50
59111.25
TimmyRaRa
Fold
RODDERS45
Show
A
A
gazza127
Show
10
A
Flop
9
2
8
Turn
J
River
10
RODDERS45
Win
Pair of Aces
11927.50
71038.75
Had to shove with 4bb. Just ran into Aces again! Nightmare.
4 hours of poker tonight. No rebuys, but two add ons later, I finish 42nd in main (19 from cash) and 25th in mini (4 from cash).
This again means the BR has taken a hit. I had to add-on as I had a good chance of winning both. Im thinking I might have to reload....
Yeah I know my play is high variance Geldy. It's just been a horrible few days.... Made more irritating by the fact that I clearly started this diary at the wrong time! 3 weeks ago, I was running so well and this swing has just come at a time when I've decided to share it with the world! Embarrassing much?
I doubt I'll change my style of play. Maybe i'll be a bit more conservative around the bubble (although I find it's always much more rewarding to put pressure on people at this time). Who knows...
Heres hoping to a change of fortune in the next few days... need it for pride more than anything else.
Entered the main and mini tonight. Cashed in both... But because the prizes are so god dam top heavy I made pittence.
43/561 in mini - profit of about a tenner. 26/414 in main - profit of about £15.
4.5 hours... its a bit frustrating.
Went out of mini 44 v 77. I had 12bb on the BB. A guy min raised and I shoved. Reckon 77 is a bit of a loose call when he's got 18BB and he doesnt need to commit, but oh well.
Went out in main, guy min raised utg. Im sitting on button with AKsuited with 12BB (again) and shove. Guy in BB had QQ and I didnt hit (again).
Im clearly playing OK poker to run deep and cash in both. Just annoying that in the space of 5 mins I went from looking in OK shape to grind into some heavy cash (possibly even jackpot) to being out of both tournaments with little more than £25 to show for it.
A better run today. 5 MTTs. 4 cashes and 2 Final tables. No wins though. Mainly due to the hand I'll post in a minute.
So yeah, I must admit I got a tad bit lucky this evening (makes a bit of a change to have a bit of run good).
Although heads up of the 12:00 £400 gtd this happens:
coolmark
Small blind
500.00
500.00
64969.99
gazza127
Big blind
1000.00
1500.00
33530.01
Your hole cards
7
10
coolmark
Raise
2500.00
4000.00
62469.99
gazza127
Call
2000.00
6000.00
31530.01
Flop
4
2
7
gazza127
Check
coolmark
Bet
3000.00
9000.00
59469.99
gazza127
All-in
31530.01
40530.01
0.00
coolmark
Call
28530.01
69060.02
30939.98
coolmark
Show
K
9
gazza127
Show
7
10
Turn
4
River
8
coolmark
Win
Flush to the King
69060.02
100000.00
It'd be interesting to see what people think about this play. Obviously i went into the hand ahead... however is this too aggro? Can I just raise here, then barrel the turn to make him fold? It looks a bit bluffy... i mean I either have the nuts or im drawing. Im doing a bit of both in this hand and was expecting to be ahead of most hands he'd have. I did get a worse hand to call and was unlucky not to take the chip lead and the initiative... worth the gamble? Not sure.
Oh well. Today has been significantly better than the past 2 days.
Only time for the one tournament today as I'm out this evening. Played the 3pm £500 gtd BH.... yes it was out of my £184.94 BR at a cost of £22, but I felt I had to play it as there were only 9 runners registered 10 minutes into the tournament. With so much overlay I though there was clear value and convinced myself it was a good idea.
I suppose it was in hindsight. Came 3rd for a min cash. Really played my short stack very well to get into the cash on the final table so was pleased with that. Still a bit gutted I couldnt win it. However I did effectively double my cash with 7 bounties... so not a bad afternoon all in all.
This past week has been such a rollercoaster its been unreal.
Think I played 3, possibly 4 tournaments today. FT 2 of them, coming 6th and 3rd respectively. Still cant find that allusive win but i'm sure it'l come in time... no need to worry as I've cashed in over half the tournaments i've entered in the last 3 days.
Bad beat of the day... and for once I was the guilty party. It's so filthy but nothing I could do about it... one of those spots im never folding.... like ever.
shizzy1963
Small blind
75.00
75.00
3157.50
gazza127
Big blind
150.00
225.00
3350.00
Your hole cards
A
K
tweedie10
Fold
lilzane
Fold
apollo1131
Call
150.00
375.00
4852.50
shizzy1963
Fold
gazza127
Raise
300.00
675.00
3050.00
apollo1131
Raise
600.00
1275.00
4252.50
gazza127
All-in
3050.00
4325.00
0.00
apollo1131
Call
2750.00
7075.00
1502.50
gazza127
Show
A
K
apollo1131
Show
A
A
Flop
K
7
7
Turn
K
River
4
gazza127
Win
Full House, Kings and 7s
7075.00
7075.00
Man I feel dirty.
What goes around I suppose...
Got caught in a rather nasty spot final 4 in a tournament. I think I made the right lay down at the time.... hopefully. Maybe not. I'll be wondering about this hand for a while... He simply must have the flush. He's seen that I've been playing quite tight, unless he's seen it as a great bluffing card (which it is... grrrrrr).
What do people think?
BLUEM0ON13
Small blind
400.00
400.00
28350.00
sizefive
Big blind
800.00
1200.00
38216.25
Your hole cards
K
A
gazza127
Raise
1600.00
2800.00
26813.75
ajw1310
Fold
BLUEM0ON13
Fold
sizefive
Call
800.00
3600.00
37416.25
Flop
9
6
A
sizefive
Check
gazza127
Bet
1800.00
5400.00
25013.75
sizefive
Call
1800.00
7200.00
35616.25
Turn
10
sizefive
Check
gazza127
Bet
5400.00
12600.00
19613.75
sizefive
Call
5400.00
18000.00
30216.25
River
K
sizefive
All-in
30216.25
48216.25
0.00
gazza127
Fold
sizefive
Muck
sizefive
Win
18000.00
18000.00
sizefive
Return
30216.25
0.00
48216.25
Oh well. I lived to fight another day and finished 3rd...
BR - £359.17 (thats right...somehow I avoided the reload)
Bad couple of days. Not entirely sure I've been doing anything wrong. A tad tilty now and again, but its going to happen when you get outdrawn so many times.
A lot of bad beats the past couple of days, but cba going through hand history at the moment to find out if it's my errors or not. Got the money in good a vast majority of the time... I guess thats all you can do.
It's also the nature of my game I suppose... min cashes mean very little to me - I will play for the win. Either FT or bubble is the pattern at the moment. Just in a bubble patch at the moment.
Sure it'l pick up soon. Still can't find that allusive win.
Work update. I'm back at my old job this week (for probably just this week) - its complicated. No need to bore you, but essentially im restricted to evening poker at the moment.
Played the main tonight. Cashed in 9th shoving 33 into KK. Even though I did cash... I didn't enjoy it at all. The blinds go up so quick that it just turns into a shove-a-thon and essentially the luckiest player will go on to win. Almost no flop action from 50 players left... not my kind of poker.
Anyway... can't complain. Back to my initial BR (ish). Might play a few more tournaments tonight but undecided. Got some Game of Thrones to watch...
Thanks hhyftrftdr (that took me a while to double check i spelt it right - i might just call you hhy from now on). Got a bit lucky in that hand but was pleased I could put it to good use and cash!
Since then things havent been too great. Came back from the cinema last night and decided to play the 2am £200 gtd. I was winning with 18 left, then realised just how tired I was and I had to get up in 3 hours and completely went awall... so apologies to anyone in that. I kind of hit a stage where I was like 'this tournament will be over in an hour or i will be out' mindset. I went out... pretty quickly.
Played some cash this afternoon as I didnt have time for a MTT. Lost 2 BI's on two tables which further proves that i suck balls at cash. It surprises me just how loose people play on cash which may be the reason I suck. Prime example... limped pot, I have AK. I raise 7bb on button and get called by J9os and Q4os... I lost the hand.
So lets leave cash alone and focus on MTTs. Looking forward to tonight. I like the 33 quid Sky Sports BH and mini *flashbacks of my jackpot miss*, but also hoping to bink KOTH (macapaca has won it too many times) and run deep in another tourny. Heres hoping anyway!
Thanks hhyftrftdr (that took me a while to double check i spelt it right - i might just call you hhy from now on). Got a bit lucky in that hand but was pleased I could put it to good use and cash! Since then things havent been too great. Came back from the cinema last night and decided to play the 2am £200 gtd. I was winning with 18 left, then realised just how tired I was and I had to get up in 3 hours and completely went awall... so apologies to anyone in that. I kind of hit a stage where I was like 'this tournament will be over in an hour or i will be out' mindset. I went out... pretty quickly. Played some cash this afternoon as I didnt have time for a MTT. Lost 2 BI's on two tables which further proves that i suck balls at cash. It surprises me just how loose people play on cash which may be the reason I suck. Prime example... limped pot, I have AK. I raise 7bb on button and get called by J9os and Q4os... I lost the hand. So lets leave cash alone and focus on MTTs. Looking forward to tonight. I like the 33 quid Sky Sports BH and mini *flashbacks of my jackpot miss*, but also hoping to bink KOTH (macapaca has won it too many times) and run deep in another tourny. Heres hoping anyway! See you on the tables. Posted by gazza127
1. What did you watch? Was it Hangover Part 3....if so is it good? 2. What level cash was this?....they are crazy calls
I did watch Hangover 3. Bit of a let down. Parts were funny but neither 2 or 3 lived up to the first. Should have stopped after the 1st. If you do go and watch it... wait for the little part after the credits.
That was on 4nl. I was on a 20nl table as well and they all seemed as loose as each other. Couldnt put anyone on anything in any pot. Just spewed money all over the place. You try betting people off their draws.... it simply wont happen.
I did watch Hangover 3. Bit of a let down. Parts were funny but neither 2 or 3 lived up to the first. Should have stopped after the 1st. If you do go and watch it... wait for the little part after the credits. That was on 4nl. I was on a 20nl table as well and they all seemed as loose as each other. Couldnt put anyone on anything in any pot. Just spewed money all over the place. You try betting people off their draws.... it simply wont happen. Must keep to MTTs... im much better at them... Posted by gazza127
I'm gonna wait til it comes out on sky I think, agree with you about 2 being considerably worse than 1......so not expecting a great deal from 3. Oh well Anchorman 2 is out soon!!!
As for 4nl.......quickly learnt bluffing isn't the way, just bet BIG with the goods. But if I could cash in mtt's as often as you do then I wouldn't even entertain 4nl!
Comments
Many experts would say my 2.5% rule is far too aggresive and suggest that 1%, or even 0.5% is preferable. I know I can be looser for two reasons; 1. I specialise in Bounty Hunters, by their nature variance is lower in BHs than freezeouts because half the prizepool (the head-prizes) gets distrubuted widely through the field, so it's essentially a much less top-heavy prize structure. 2. I feel I have a significant edge in the games I play.
There aren't many £1 and £50p MTTs going on skypoker!
Hey Gaz, sounds like you had a brilliant run when you first started.
There is a £1 deep stack at 7-8 and and some £2 1s aswell. They are quite soft.
With the BHers the monies terrible unless you final table. The monday community night would be good 2, 3 games for a fiver. And if you win that you are getting a seat into a higher tournie.
Good luck!
Oh well I hear you say, youre still nailing the mini arent you? Well yes I was.... until this hand:
And to add insult to injury, the hand that knocked me out:
4 hours of poker tonight. No rebuys, but two add ons later, I finish 42nd in main (19 from cash) and 25th in mini (4 from cash).
This again means the BR has taken a hit. I had to add-on as I had a good chance of winning both. Im thinking I might have to reload....
Nightmare.
I genuinely have forgotten what it's like to win a flip. Seriously. What does it feel like? I just cant seem to hit/others are hitting everything.
Hour and a half into a BH...
4 before cash in 4pm....
The cards are just against me at the minute...
I doubt I'll change my style of play. Maybe i'll be a bit more conservative around the bubble (although I find it's always much more rewarding to put pressure on people at this time). Who knows...
Heres hoping to a change of fortune in the next few days... need it for pride more than anything else.
(* *)
^
dev
43/561 in mini - profit of about a tenner.
26/414 in main - profit of about £15.
4.5 hours... its a bit frustrating.
Went out of mini 44 v 77. I had 12bb on the BB. A guy min raised and I shoved. Reckon 77 is a bit of a loose call when he's got 18BB and he doesnt need to commit, but oh well.
Went out in main, guy min raised utg. Im sitting on button with AKsuited with 12BB (again) and shove. Guy in BB had QQ and I didnt hit (again).
Im clearly playing OK poker to run deep and cash in both. Just annoying that in the space of 5 mins I went from looking in OK shape to grind into some heavy cash (possibly even jackpot) to being out of both tournaments with little more than £25 to show for it.
A day in the life of an MTT player....
So yeah, I must admit I got a tad bit lucky this evening (makes a bit of a change to have a bit of run good).
Although heads up of the 12:00 £400 gtd this happens:
Oh well. Today has been significantly better than the past 2 days.
00:00 £400 gtd - 2/50
00:30 £400 BH - 3/64
BR update - £184.94
Looks like I might not have to reload.... yet.
I suppose it was in hindsight. Came 3rd for a min cash. Really played my short stack very well to get into the cash on the final table so was pleased with that. Still a bit gutted I couldnt win it. However I did effectively double my cash with 7 bounties... so not a bad afternoon all in all.
I think I might have salvaged this you know...
BR - £275.07
This past week has been such a rollercoaster its been unreal.
Think I played 3, possibly 4 tournaments today. FT 2 of them, coming 6th and 3rd respectively. Still cant find that allusive win but i'm sure it'l come in time... no need to worry as I've cashed in over half the tournaments i've entered in the last 3 days.
Bad beat of the day... and for once I was the guilty party. It's so filthy but nothing I could do about it... one of those spots im never folding.... like ever.
What goes around I suppose...
Got caught in a rather nasty spot final 4 in a tournament. I think I made the right lay down at the time.... hopefully. Maybe not. I'll be wondering about this hand for a while... He simply must have the flush. He's seen that I've been playing quite tight, unless he's seen it as a great bluffing card (which it is... grrrrrr).
What do people think?
BR - £359.17 (thats right...somehow I avoided the reload)
BOOM.
A lot of bad beats the past couple of days, but cba going through hand history at the moment to find out if it's my errors or not. Got the money in good a vast majority of the time... I guess thats all you can do.
It's also the nature of my game I suppose... min cashes mean very little to me - I will play for the win. Either FT or bubble is the pattern at the moment. Just in a bubble patch at the moment.
Sure it'l pick up soon. Still can't find that allusive win.
BR - £236.71 sigh...
Work update. I'm back at my old job this week (for probably just this week) - its complicated. No need to bore you, but essentially im restricted to evening poker at the moment.
Played the main tonight. Cashed in 9th shoving 33 into KK. Even though I did cash... I didn't enjoy it at all. The blinds go up so quick that it just turns into a shove-a-thon and essentially the luckiest player will go on to win. Almost no flop action from 50 players left... not my kind of poker.
Anyway... can't complain. Back to my initial BR (ish). Might play a few more tournaments tonight but undecided. Got some Game of Thrones to watch...
BR- £294.04
You know its not your night when these happen withing 5 minutes of each other.
Since then things havent been too great. Came back from the cinema last night and decided to play the 2am £200 gtd. I was winning with 18 left, then realised just how tired I was and I had to get up in 3 hours and completely went awall... so apologies to anyone in that. I kind of hit a stage where I was like 'this tournament will be over in an hour or i will be out' mindset. I went out... pretty quickly.
Played some cash this afternoon as I didnt have time for a MTT. Lost 2 BI's on two tables which further proves that i suck balls at cash. It surprises me just how loose people play on cash which may be the reason I suck. Prime example... limped pot, I have AK. I raise 7bb on button and get called by J9os and Q4os... I lost the hand.
So lets leave cash alone and focus on MTTs. Looking forward to tonight. I like the 33 quid Sky Sports BH and mini *flashbacks of my jackpot miss*, but also hoping to bink KOTH (macapaca has won it too many times) and run deep in another tourny. Heres hoping anyway!
See you on the tables.
2. What level cash was this?....they are crazy calls
That was on 4nl. I was on a 20nl table as well and they all seemed as loose as each other. Couldnt put anyone on anything in any pot. Just spewed money all over the place. You try betting people off their draws.... it simply wont happen.
Must keep to MTTs... im much better at them...
As for 4nl.......quickly learnt bluffing isn't the way, just bet BIG with the goods. But if I could cash in mtt's as often as you do then I wouldn't even entertain 4nl!