Thanks Mrsduck! All contributions are welcome, appreciated and not to mention encouraged!
Day 72
...and finally, thank whatever God there is or isn't, I had a good day!
Lets start with MTT's. I again busted early on my two early MTT's. This time it wasnt my fault, just bad run. I'm currently in my biggest every down swing in MTT's. I cant remember ever busting out so soon so many times and not reaching much more than an hour in so many. I guess it happens its just really frustrating, especially as a big score can go a long way to reaching my target.
My biggest score of the night was in one of my favourites. A £5BH HU tourny. I came 2/28 for a £25 profit. I was so close to coming first but I made a bad call when I had my opponent 5/1 down in chips with just a draw. He had a weak top pair and I had 11 outs and even if I had got there it was still a poor call. I could have just folded and found a better spot to force the win. From there he coolered my twice in two hands to take it. Still, its nice to get a good cash boost.
I also managed to last the course in one £300FR for £3.56. Its always nice to win free money. I forgot to add that yesterday I lasted in both the £300 FR's, one for £6 and the other for £2+ so all together a nice £12 BR boost for pretty much nothing. Cannot argue with that at all.
Cash wise, I played four sessions and finished up in them all for a change. Admittedly session 2 and 3 where for a +£0.01 and +£0.53 but I'm taking it! The other two went much better at +£10.83 and +£8.46. Ive mainly stayed at 4nl to try and gain some confidence again and I want a buffer above £600 before I move up fully again.
In summary a nice little confidence boost and if I can get a few more + days then I will feel much better and feel like I'm on the right track again. Only tomorrow will tell I guess.
Tomorrow, again, was a good day. Thats two in a row now and i'm beginning to hope my downswing is over. For now.
The only problem at the moment is MTT's. Again. Just running awful! I played the PS4 freeroll and was donked out in the first few hands after flopping the nuts, a set of Jacks on a flushing board. The FD shoved over my c-bet and obviously I called. And obviously I was outdrew straight away and didnt improve. A £2BH saw me last an hour, take one head but again get busted when a loose limper called with KJo against my A9s aipf. I just cant win ahead in allins. The two £300FR's didnt last long, losing races in each.
Thankfully, cash was the success of the day. Three sessions totalling about 4h30 saw me finish up in each. £6.89, £6.68 and £5.68. Mainly at 4nl with the odd 10nl thrown in. I played well and ran decent in a few spots although I could easily have had double my win rate if not for running into flopped quads three times and quads again on another occasion. Each time I couldn't really get away. I also had a fair few river suck outs of people calling extremely light only to hit river two pairs or trips. I only managed one suck out myself but that was a pretty standard affair. My flopped set went behind to a turned straight (a gutshot) and all money went in only for the board to pair.
So, after a nightmare cash session on Friday I have now had 7 straight winning sessions which has done a lot to give me a lift. I just wish I could run well in MTT's again. At least my BR is now going in the right direction again and I'm hoping to soon reach my last high ballance and go beyound.
A quick cash session of over an hour saw me scrape a £1.80 profit. Things started well until a bad middle patch saw me lose 2 buyins both to strange flop calls that hit two outers to stack me when I had very strong hands. I did manage to claw it back though, thanks to a maniac on a 10nl table as I just picked off his bluffs. Again, I could have had a better result but I guess from the beats I took to make something is a victory and it keeps up my newly gained momentum.
Another winning session over, hopefully tomorrow that will continue and I can make another dent into my target.
I'm sat here trying to think of how to explain my night and I have to say its been another 'might of been' night. I'll start with cash. I pretty much ran awful at 4nl. Firstly getting coolered early when with KK a maniac who was shoving every hand indeed did do. I gleefully called only to have someelse call. With AA. Just to make it worse the other guy had K8o so there went an out. I had a number of awful beats including a set against a flush amongst others. I did, though, run OK at 10nl managing to win about £14 from two tables to take a £5.20 profit from a two hour session.
I lasted midway through the £2BH, taking one HP, but couldn't really get going and lost my one big pot to go out when my dominating AQ lost to A3 aipf. Things did go much better in the £5 for the first time in a long while. I took 3 HP (eventually, I had 4 other oppertunities but couldn't hold when ahead each time) and finished 8/173 for a £16.82 profit. It was a strange tournament as I never really went above or below 20- 40BBs. I played well with what I had though and never got frustrated, just let what happened, happen.
(I also played the Main Event on the side as my GF on her account. She was registered but couldn't get back in time so I played. I was going to play myself but thought it wasnt correct to do so. I was doing really well for a long time, a top 20-40 stack for most of the tourny. That was until my AK lost a 3 way aipf pot against A10 and J9o. I then got KK in the BB and called a 4 bet shove from the SB who had A8o. An A on the turn left me really low and I eventually went out. Very gutting, either pot was worth a top 10 stack and if I had won both I would have been 2/3rd.)
One night I WILL run well. I hope. Still, its nice to string some winning nights together again. I think thats three in a row now and I'm getting closer to my last highest ballance. £700 will be a sweet barrier to break after my last bump in the road.
Sounding a bit like a broken record but again things could have been a lot better today. I played two, two hour cash sessions today. The first I suffered my first -£ session for a while, finishing almost £5 down but in the second I left with an almost £15 profit.
Again, things went terribly at 4nl where I could not win any sort of big pot and I ran into AA 5 times. Four of those I had KK! Again. I went through a similiar patch last year when (and this is no exageration, I counted!) I ran KK into AA 13 times out of having KK 15 times. And has luck would have it, the only time I got AA v KK was on the FT bubble of a £5BH. I was 2/7 and was against 1/7. Suffice to say he hit the K. I hope I'm not having a repeat of this again as that was a hard time to get over.
My luck ran well at 10nl, though, and I took a few small pots through the day. Thankfully on my last orbit I got AA and 4x as I knew I had 2 calling stations. I got two calls. The flop came AKx two diamons. I bet out and got raised. I resisted the urge to three bet and just called hoping to see a blank or to house up. The turn was a blank so I lead quite weak and got a big raise. I shoved the little left and got called by J10dd so as always there was a sweat. Thankfully the gutshot and flush missed (for once) and I doubled up.
So, things are creeping up again and my confidence is growing. I'm hoping for this to continue and a good weekend could see me pass £700. Its starting to feel like a big hurdle to cross and I'm trying real hard just to put this out of my mind when I play and not worry about it. I am doing it for the most part but I do think of it from time to time, especially when I'm up in a session. Its a good learning curve that I intend to ride upwards!
BR £664.19 PP 1548
Thinking about what Robert369 said about wishing he had my patience. Its just a matter of setting yourself small goals on the way to a bigger target. I never thought of my £1000 goal from the start, I just thought about reaching £200. Then £250. Then £300. All the way to where I am now. You just have to concentrate on what you do best and then go on step by step and hopefully, eventually, towards your goal.
Long cash session tonight (about four hours with about a half hour break in middle), mainly at 10nl. Yet again 4nl seemed unbeatable for me! Either running into AA or my AA, KK and QQ could not hold. My biggest pot of the night was a £40 pot on a MC table against a maniac playing any two and happy to go all in either pre or on flop. He actually had a hand shown on Sky when he big 3 bet pre 34o against AK. He flopped bottom pair and AK hit his Aor K (cant remember) and check shoved and got a snap call! Sadly for the AK guy the 4 came on the river. My success was QQ v KQ allin pre. Normally when you have a big 4 bet against you with QQ your not happy but against him I was very happy. Even more so when I held. After that things went quiet. Winning small and losing small.
I was tempted to 'book the win' during a breeak I had as I was up almost £20 on the night but I stuck at it. I did dip down a bit which makes you question yourself but I learnt from mistakes and stuck at it.
All in all finished £12+ up but I found myself making a few mistakes. Tilt chasing and calling during frustrating periods but overall not as bad as I can get. This month has been the most cash I have ever played and certainly during this diary I have never played so much. The only problem is I think its effecting my MTT game as i've noticed a down turn in MTT's while cash goes ok. Need to figure that out!
So, as mentioned my MTT's didnt go well. I lasted a while in £2BH with one head but couldn't win a 60/40 allin with a 20BB stack. The £5BH was a mix of a frustrating beat leading me to take too many chances and I eventually lost a race to bust.
Another small step in the right direction I suppose.
A losing night but technically a winning one? Overall my BR is down 75p but I did make 96PP's which equates to 96p which means I am 21p up! Yeah! LOL. We have to (somehow) look for any and all silver linings!
So, I again didnt have any run in my MTT's (apart from the £300FR in which I lasted an hour and took £4.31 which was decent. I busted the other one when my set of jacks was no good against a set of queens!). The £2 was unusually manic. My table was just full of allins and overbets. I couldn't find any sort of hand to compete and dispite lasting over an hour went out midway I couldn;t find any spots or hold with any holdings. The £5 I again lasted over an hour, not getting much at all and apart from one small pot which gave me a HP I was card dead. I went out when my Aces up ran into a set of kings and then against the same player 2 hands later my short stack was again up against another KK.
I did, though, hit this rather nice hand. Just a bit too nice to get anything out of it;
Player
Action
Cards
Amount
Pot
Balance
marsh07
Small blind
20.00
20.00
1900.00
digbylady
Big blind
40.00
60.00
1645.00
Your hole cards
10c
Ac
punkasmuck
Fold
alanna701
Call
40.00
100.00
2960.00
CraigSG1
Raise
120.00
220.00
3740.00
dazza1308
Fold
marsh07
Fold
digbylady
Fold
alanna701
Call
80.00
300.00
2880.00
Flop
Qc
Kc
Jc
alanna701
Check
CraigSG1
Check
Turn
3d
alanna701
Check
CraigSG1
Bet
40.00
340.00
3700.00
alanna701
Call
40.00
380.00
2840.00
River
10h
alanna701
Check
CraigSG1
Bet
190.00
570.00
3510.00
alanna701
Call
190.00
760.00
2650.00
CraigSG1
Show
10c
Ac
alanna701
Muck
9c
9d
CraigSG1
Win
Royal Flush
760.00
4270.00
Cash wise, I played two sessions tataling almost 3 hours. All at 10nl. I didn't run partically well and nothing really happened. I did lose a bit against one maniac on god mode. His J10s allin 3 bet got ther against my QQ, he then did the same to someone elses AA with J10o and then cold called my 3 bet with 83 off, I had JJ, and he called down big bets bottom pair 3 only to river the 8. Sigh. Being about £20 down I took a little risk and short stacked a 50p/50p action table. I was playing allin or fold and got to £20 before I 3 bet shoved with 88 and won a race (my first and only race win of the night! I was 0/7 before that.) versus AK and decided to call it a night a few orbits later happy to be back to about even.
One real aspect of cash that I find difficult to master is the concept of calling to keep in bluffs. As in, when raising is only really going to get called by a better hand or a hand with very good equity against us. Balancing protecting/getting value from your hand versus letting an aggressive opponent bluff into you has been a difficult learning curve for me. For example we have 99 in a 3 bet pot against a LAG opponent. A decent flop with only one overcard comes. We check and get bet at. Do we raise/call/fold? The best course of action is to call for the reasons stated above but we also make it difficult if another over card hits. Etc, etc. So many variations on a theme! Thats why its such a hard game to master I guess!
So, the end of another month and if I dont play another hand for a week, thanks to my PP payment I would have a new high ballance! But, of corse, where not going to do that!
The way the night went, i'll take a 75p loss (or 21p gain!) and hope that things go better this weekend.
BR £668.73 PP 1737
The new leaderboard challange is interesting. I'll have a go to start with as the last promotion has seen a lot of regulars gain priority and so not be elegiable for this one. I know of a lot of players that are garenteed a good place but I think I could have a chance of sneaking somewhere near the bottom. I'll see how the first week goes and if I think I can gain a place for some cash I will give it a proper go. We'll see, I've only once gone over 2000 PP's and that was with two weeks of happy hour promotions!
PS Anyone help me with posting hands? I try and comp/paste (i have a mac) but it never pastes correctly. I have to paste it into notes first and then on to here but then we lose suits! Very frustrating.
Yes!! So happy to break another barrier. This one was the hardest to get to so far and feels that much better for getting there!
I pretty much played cash all day. Two one hour sessions this morning and a four hour one (95% at 10nl thrtough the day) this evening. I enjoyed a decent morning taking over £27 in profit. It went well apart from one big dip about half way through when my top set was no good three way at a MC table for a £70. I lost to a flopped flush. There was a lot of maniac gambling so I stayed on and was duly rewarded in a few spots when first my AA held against J8o (allin on flop after he had called my big 3 bet, he then jammed with a gutshot) and against same player picked off two bluffs for decent pots. So from £20 down I left with over £10 up on that table.
The evening session was a very frustrating one. I played for hours and only managed £6+ but I take that as a huge victory as I lost count (last count was EIGHT) of the times my premium pairs where beat by rag aces all off them allin pre. Each time I thought surely not again. I never won one all day. My tilting has definatley got better as I just plodded on and even through long periods of missing flops and getting called 3 and four way AND not to mention sharing so many allin pots (once with AA v AA) with the same straigh, two pair and TPTKers. Very frustrating.
I did play one £2BH and was going well in that (had 3 HP's) when I lost my stack with the nut flush against top two when he rivered his FH (allin on turn). Just not running well!
Im very, very pleased with how today went and to reach my £700 goal. Hopefully I can gain a buffer on this level and kick on again. I also gained the most PP ive ever gained in one day, thanks to me playing pretty much only cash and the Happy Days promotion. I cant wait to see how this transfers to the new promotions league table.
A day of just cash today. I played two sessions, one for three hours and the other for almost four with a few five min breaks. It was a roller coaster day. Again my premium pairs did not fair well and made even more frustrating by watching other premium pairs win big pots and not one lose! Mine falling to draws and turned trips and rivered aces.
I played ok for most parts but in others I let a few accumulated beats get to me and made a few soft calls. For the number of hours I played I think I did fairly well as i'm not used to long cash grinds. So many times i was card dead on all four tables for long periods and during a few I ran my only decent holdings into better ones. But I'm learning to stick with it and a few times I was able to be on the other end.
Overall I added over £12 to my BR which I will, again, take as, again, a few holds would have meant a significant BR boost. I'm going to concentrate on cash for at least the next few days and so long as it goes ok I will be aiming to concentrate on cash for the next two weeks depending on how I do on the leader board. If it looks like I dont have a chance I will step back and add more MTT's but if I think I have a chance I will go for it. Looking forward to seeing how I fare at the moment on Monday when the first leader board is available.
BR £715.81 PP 462
Good to have a successful weekend again and so far I'm settling into nl10. Each level has its own nuances and I'm still developing a method that works longterm but I'm getting there.
Played almost a couple of hours and ran pretty horribly. Yet again my premium pairs did not win a hand and I had to run into AA, KK and QQ and lose all. My big hands never got paid and a few times I had to fold big hands such as flopped 2 pair and TPTK and flopped straight that turned into the bottom end.
Surpisingly though I only lost just over half a buyin of £6.63 so even though I lost I thought it was more. Hopefully one day soon I can run as good as a few people I play against.
BR £709.08 PP 508
**EDIT**
After a winning performance at snooker I returned home and was in the mood for some late night poker. I got off to a unlucky start, yet again having to fold decent holdings to bad run outs. But, towards the end I finally had a premium pair hold. Although I had to hit a FH to do so! A light call from 104s to my button raise with KK saw a KQJ flop. I bet out and got called anf had an A turn. I c/c a bet and saw a wondeful Q river. I reraised allin and got a decent double. I finished up on two and down on two but took a nice £11 profit to turn around my day back into the positive.
BR £720.07 PP 544
After finally seeing the new leader board I was dissapointed how far down I was. I'll be lucky to keep a £25 spot so for now I'll keep playing and as long as I'm doing ok i'll keep at it but I'm not chasing points for the sake of it, especially just for £25. See how it goes by Friday.
Today I had three short sessions totaling two hours and I managed to make almost £14. Mainly played to try and boost my points on days I dont usually play but I'm not holding much hope now of being able to finish high enough in the league table.
I'll see how I fare after weekend. At least my BR is still going in the right direction.
Pretty sick cash session today. Feeling a bit gutted. My PP payment went in to take my BR to £750 which was nice.
In my first of a four hour session I ran amazing...ly bad! I was almost £50 down after getting my money in ahead against shovers with a draw (each one a FD) and getting there. This happened five times. No getting away as I had the nuts twice, top two twice and a set the last. I managed to claw it back over the next couple of hours despite again suffering bad hits. Then in my last half hour I dipped again when I got stacked with AQ on a AJxQx board in a B v B spot against a guy raising every hand. He 3 bet me and I called and then he practically jammed on the flop. He then hit his 3 outer. I then lost again against another draw and called it quits. To make matters worse I had been suffering lag and the lobby dissapearing all night but never enough to time me out. That was until last hand I had AA and got three bet by a guy happy to always raise and get it in. I then timed out! At the same time I had a good hand going on another table and lost that also. So not only did I lose my £6+ on those tables but also the chance of any winnings.
Hi Craig, Don't let 1 bad day get you down too much mate, we all get them. you are still doing great mate, so think about that and not the negatives of 1 bad session. I look at it month by month rather than day by day, even though I write my diary up every day, as you do too, pretty much. looks as though you got really really unlucky today, rather than bad play from you, so at least that's something. another way of trying to look at is this, you want these players calling you with their flush draws gut shots, etc as they will pay you off time after time, in the long run. if they never won a hand playing this way, they would soon stop playing wouldn't they. tomorrow's another day, get a win behind you, and you'll soon feel better. good luck, dev
This is the lowest i've ever felt playing poker. To coincide with some awful run bad I also had some personal issues to deal with.
I had to have one of my cats put to sleep and that has left me devastated. I tried to play to keep my mind off it by playing but ive just ran so bad. I lost two huge pots, both with flopped flushes (one 2nd nuts to flooped nuts) for huge pots (at my level £40+) and been hit by chasers getting there and mix that all up with some bad river calls when assuming someone cant be that bad to call all the way with bad holdings.
As a result my BR has took a big hit and I have no confidence and to add to that my feelings.
Im not sure where this leaves me at the moment. I'm certainly done with cash for now. I'll probably play a few MTT's and if I bust i'll leave it.
Right now I'm feeling rubbish but I will try and keep this going even through the bad times. I want to hit my goal but that target looks far away at the monent.
Sorry to hear about your cat Craig. Take a few days off the cash tables and come back to it when you are ready. You are much closer to the 1k than I sm in my similar challenge
Hi Craig, also sorry about your cat mate, they are part of the family aren't they, and it will be a sad loss for you. it will hurt for a few days I'm sure, but life will return to normal again, you'll see. as to the poker, take a day or two off, maybe play an mtt or two,as you say, which will cost you the buy-ins only. if you can't resist a game of cash then I'd drop a level at this time, as your mind is not in such a good place atm. anyway mate, hope today goes ok for you, best wishes, dev
Comments
Nice work Craig..
Keep it going, well played.
I'd swap my b/r for yours right now!!! lols
run good today..
dev
Hi Craig,
Don't let 1 bad day get you down too much mate, we all get them.
you are still doing great mate, so think about that and not the negatives of 1 bad session.
I look at it month by month rather than day by day, even though I write my diary up every day, as you do too, pretty much.
looks as though you got really really unlucky today, rather than bad play from you, so at least that's something.
another way of trying to look at is this, you want these players calling you with their flush draws gut shots, etc as they will pay you off time after time, in the long run. if they never won a hand playing this way, they would soon stop playing wouldn't they.
tomorrow's another day, get a win behind you, and you'll soon feel better.
good luck,
dev
Hi Craig,
also sorry about your cat mate, they are part of the family aren't they, and it will be a sad loss for you.
it will hurt for a few days I'm sure, but life will return to normal again, you'll see.
as to the poker, take a day or two off, maybe play an mtt or two,as you say, which will cost you the buy-ins only.
if you can't resist a game of cash then I'd drop a level at this time, as your mind is not in such a good place atm.
anyway mate, hope today goes ok for you,
best wishes,
dev