Hi Gary, I did briefly have your DTD table open last night and would echo Chris' comments about being less tight - obviously I couldn't see any of the cards, but you pretty much always had < 10 BB from around 70 players left and I was willing you to be shoving when on the button / SB vs BB to try and get a few chips.
It's no issue to hang on by a thread when you are down to, say, 20 with 18 getting paid - the money does mean something to you (as a % of BR) and when short stacked it may be the case that even if you do gamble and double up, you'll still be short and not much more likely to FT/TID... so hang on and hope to get down to 18 before your last few blinds disappear.
But from further out, a few more chances need to be taken to get a stack that can more regularly sneak into the cash (and maybe more)... although there are many, MANY, better tourni players than me that you should turn to for advice on that!!
Of course, that does all depend on why you play poker. If it is wholly for fun.. which is no bad thing... and you have as much/more fun by hanging on as long as possible, then ignore all these comments and just keep doing what you are... for £1.10 you can't find many cheaper hobbies for a couple of hours of fun
WEDNESDAY LATE AFTERNOON Finally remembered to check the timing of the Mini M/E Freeroll which I have been saying to myself that I was going to play for some considerable time.
Reg'd it, played it, and ran very deep. Won several very good pots and just kept building my stack up. "This is how winning poker SHOULD be played I told myself".
Got upto about 18k in chips but never above this balance...blinds started to get higher and started to leak away chips quite fast, having been sitting there card dead for some time.
Then out of nowhere with myself sat on a mere 10k in chips comes a very tricky situation as shown in my Exit hand below.
Afterwards I sat there thinking about what had just happened, and had I just thrown it all away as I had my opponent shove his whole stack of around 55 Big's into the middle and I ended up "calling" off my stack of around 8 BB's with JTs. All of this was pre-flop, and the guy turns over AQo.
Just keep feeling annoyed at myself that I had called the all-in and perhaps could I have waited for a better spot?
Ignore the 2 other boxes prob my pc playing up after I tried editting lol Looking at his hand you probably got the max any value bet on the river would either be folded or bluffed at putting you in a tricky spot ;') Posted by j3ono
That J10 should be open shoved. About the worst line possible to take is limp in then call it off. Jam it, AQ still calls and you still go out, but it gives you the chance to pick up the blinds if no-one had anything to call with. Seems you are still being pretty passive when playing an 8-15bb stack, when you should be looking to play decisive poker.
Long-time since I last updated this diary so here's what I've been upto since my last post - basically NOT ALOT!!!
Nah Seriously, I didn't play any competative poker on Sky at all on Thursday after a few days of high-profile MTT's with the DTD#2 on Monday, TOTP on Tuesday and then Rainman's 2-20@2-20 deepstack, which was the highest profile poker-game on the site this week outside of the main events.
Didn't play very good in this at all, and there was one or two bits put in the chat-box during the free-seat FR I played that wednesday which knocked my confidence back alot in terms of my overall strategy & starting hands, which therefore ended up with me taking the day off competative play thursday.
Did some reading up, consulted the ever-faithful JC Guide to DYM's again which has been a great guide to what I should be starting out with in terms of starting hands, it gives me some sence of guidance and direction, and when I GII with the JT in that freeroll and copped alot of S*** about "You're never ahead in that spot"....lets just say I need some consoling with what to do and when...and that guide has been my DO THIS & WHEN
It seems my form always tends to go up when I start a session after reading this guide, so I need to perhaps keep myself some handy notes on my PC to consult when In the middle of a DYM, or perhaps between DYM's on 1-table sessions so I can keep at the front of my mind exactly what to go with & when.
I've tried to look-up some pages on the ABC's of poker and alot of what I have found thus far seems to be very long-whinded and very difficult for me to understand..P'raps hence need something which is simple & easy to read or listen to? any suggestions welcome!
Today witnessed my return to the DYM Scene of Sky Poker and played just two games as I started my session kinda-late after dinner. Played 1st game pretty much as good as I could have done and cashed it.
Second game, I seem to recall making a stupid call with Pocket tens which ran into a clear flush with FOUR HEARTS in the middle - only thing I think I could have done here was got caught into the trap of mis-reading my hand when my opponent bet and glanced down thinking I had a heart when in fact it was a diamond! INEVITABLE failure ended in this game
FRI 6/6/14
P2, W1, L1
BR -£0.20
SATURDAY 7/6
Spent most of my hours out of the house so very little poker played today and NONE of sky, and what I did partake in was mainly for play-money elsewhere, but I did have a deep run in an MTT and finished in the top 10% of the field, busting 106/999 runners..IF ONLY I could do it on here!!???
SUNDAY
On & Offline alot during the afternoon/Evening as had short sessions due to the heat in my room being just about tolerable! Played 2 DYM's really well and was rewarded for cashing them BOTH!
After dinner into the night hours I began a good session of around 90mins and experimented with two-tabling. Inevitably made some silly calls during the first couple of times I had two tables open and ended failing in both!
However, I refocused and cashed my next two which were the last two of the night.. The last one I cashed in being particularly pleasing as at one-stage I was sat on a mere 1k in chips to 3x opponents with stacks of around 2k, 4k & 5k.
GII with pocket 8's only to find my oppy turned over KK's however, much to my suprise when I next looked at the table, they'd held with 2xprs meaning I'd cracked King's with 8's. The run-good continued and eventually I caught up with the short-stack overtook him and his speculatve all-in was called off and he was duly eliminated!
TONIGHT's Results Were:-
Played:6
Cashed: 4
Fails:2
+£0.40p BR PROFIT!
Moving in the right direction, which is pleasing.
Monday tomorrow, and that means DTD deepstacks, but remains uncertain atm if Im playing as it's a 40th Birthday in my family and as yet I am unsure if we'll be home in time for me to realistically get settled in and enrolled in time to beat the late-reg.
I'll drop you a PM if I manage to get back in time to play..."remains uncertain atm if Im playing as it's a 40th Birthday in my family and as yet I am unsure if we'll be home in time for me to realistically get settled in and enrolled in time to beat the late-reg."
Still in the DTD#2 as I write this quick update @ 10;06pm. Had some v tough spots in tonight's MTT though, and here in a couple of them over the next cpl of posts.
NO1 Dealt AQ in the BB and had a raise in front of me from an earlier (NOT LATER AS SAID BEFORE) position...Am putting him/her on a better hand in this spot.
Here in this spot I achieved a double up to really cement some progress in the MTT and put me on my way to a top 20% finish (however only the top 10-12% of the field cash on Sky)
Still in the DTD#2 as I write this quick update @ 10;06pm. Had some v tough spots in tonight's MTT though, and here in a couple of them over the next cpl of posts. NO1 Dealt AQ in the BB and had a raise in front of me from an earlier (NOT LATER AS SAID BEFORE) position...Am putting him/her on a better hand in this spot. 5 Small blind 200.00 200.00 10170.00 GaryLaud Big blind 400.00 600.00 7471.25 Your hole cards A Q FlyingDagg Fold m Raise 800.00 1400.00 7375.00 Fold Fold Fold GaryLaud Fold m Muck m Win 1000.00 8375.00 m Return 400.00 0.00 8775.00 Posted by GaryLaud
you fold AQ in the bb to a single min raise with no reads, you must be the most exploitable player in the uk.
Monday Deepstack Monday for me means DTD Deepstack time, and I played in DTD game #2 for £1.10.
Sort of kept my starting stack and dropped a little to around 3k but I won a huge pot meaning I trebled up and kept me in until just after break #3 around 10pm.
Around 15mins before I bust out I earned myself a double up to keep myself involved when I was dealt aces and GII. FOR ONCE they held!
I was down to about 7 BB's and got a decent hand K-10 o/s and decided to middle my chips - Villain turns over POCKET KINGS and it's SIGH, GG for me!
Still another deep run in this MTT and I fed the results into my spreadsheet which tells me my finish %'age and I've finished once again within the top 20% of the field so another decent result.
Still in the DTD#2 as I write this quick update @ 10;06pm. Had some v tough spots in tonight's MTT though, and here in a couple of them over the next cpl of posts. NO1 Dealt AQ in the BB and had a raise in front of me from an earlier (NOT LATER AS SAID BEFORE) position...Am putting him/her on a better hand in this spot. 5 Small blind 200.00 200.00 10170.00 GaryLaud Big blind 400.00 600.00 7471.25 Your hole cards A Q FlyingDagg Fold m Raise 800.00 1400.00 7375.00 Fold Fold Fold GaryLaud Fold m Muck m Win 1000.00 8375.00 m Return 400.00 0.00 8775.00 Posted by GaryLaud
Really dont think you should be folding too a min raise with AQ in the BB, raise him, then see what happens from there, youll get alot more information, then decide what u what to do. Unless you get some more resistance, should definitely be seeing the flop here.
It seems like you still have a huge mental block around losing that is stopping you playing as optimally as you could.
As a premium hand, when you get a hand like the AQo above, it has to warrant a call (at least) for such a small investment. Only if it's against someone that I've played a good amount of hands vs and traditionally limps wide / raises only AA KK would there be any need to contemplate folding.
When you only have around 20BB if you hit a Q-high or A-high flop you're going to win the pot a lot of the time - and if you do lose to AA/AK/QQ/KK (a pretty small range), just shrug and move onto the next game.
Not sure what to suggest to overcome that to be honest... take a break and save up until you can afford to have £100 to play £1 tourni / DYM games is possibly the only option, which may give you more confidence to lose a few £££ and not really miss it?
It's always going to be tough to build much of a roll up without taking the (optimum play) risks needed to have a chance of winning decent prizes.
just had a quick read through the hands you posted...
AQ hand: ppl already said, this is way too tight. IMO, this is a clear all in, unless the villain is super nitty. most of the time you will pick up the pot uncontested, and add an extra 1.4k chips to your stack. yes sometimes they will have you crushed, but you have to take these kind of risks if you want to progress beyond reaching around the bubble every tournament.
TT hand: raise pre!
44 hand: All in/fold pre
to me it seems like you are focussing your attention on the wrong thing - outlasting a % of the field as often as possible. Basically what you are striving for is a string of min cashes, which will still lose you money. A win can be worth 100's of min cashes, so thats what you should be going for. some of the best tournament players in the world only cash around 10-15% of the time, but still rake in the money because when they do cash, they often have a mountain of chips they can use to push people (like you atm!) around with, especially on the bubble.
If I were you, I would start your quest for a win by never ever being the first person to limp into a pot. I know it goes against intuition to raise with hands you dont want to risk much with, but I can assure you, it is better than limping.
sorry if I come accross a bit blunt btw, not really my intention.
Comments
I did briefly have your DTD table open last night and would echo Chris' comments about being less tight - obviously I couldn't see any of the cards, but you pretty much always had < 10 BB from around 70 players left and I was willing you to be shoving when on the button / SB vs BB to try and get a few chips.
It's no issue to hang on by a thread when you are down to, say, 20 with 18 getting paid - the money does mean something to you (as a % of BR) and when short stacked it may be the case that even if you do gamble and double up, you'll still be short and not much more likely to FT/TID... so hang on and hope to get down to 18 before your last few blinds disappear.
But from further out, a few more chances need to be taken to get a stack that can more regularly sneak into the cash (and maybe more)... although there are many, MANY, better tourni players than me that you should turn to for advice on that!!
Of course, that does all depend on why you play poker. If it is wholly for fun.. which is no bad thing... and you have as much/more fun by hanging on as long as possible, then ignore all these comments and just keep doing what you are... for £1.10 you can't find many cheaper hobbies for a couple of hours of fun
Just thought I would share this hand for your followers ;')
Finally remembered to check the timing of the Mini M/E Freeroll which I have been saying to myself that I was going to play for some considerable time.
Reg'd it, played it, and ran very deep. Won several very good pots and just kept building my stack up. "This is how winning poker SHOULD be played I told myself".
Got upto about 18k in chips but never above this balance...blinds started to get higher and started to leak away chips quite fast, having been sitting there card dead for some time.
Then out of nowhere with myself sat on a mere 10k in chips comes a very tricky situation as shown in my Exit hand below.
Afterwards I sat there thinking about what had just happened, and had I just thrown it all away as I had my opponent shove his whole stack of around 55 Big's into the middle and I ended up "calling" off my stack of around 8 BB's with JTs. All of this was pre-flop, and the guy turns over AQo.
Just keep feeling annoyed at myself that I had called the all-in and perhaps could I have waited for a better spot?
EXIT HAND
--------------------------------------------------
That J10 should be open shoved. About the worst line possible to take is limp in then call it off. Jam it, AQ still calls and you still go out, but it gives you the chance to pick up the blinds if no-one had anything to call with.
Seems you are still being pretty passive when playing an 8-15bb stack, when you should be looking to play decisive poker.
Gl.
NO1 Dealt AQ in the BB and had a raise in front of me from an earlier (NOT LATER AS SAID BEFORE) position...Am putting him/her on a better hand in this spot.
Monday for me means DTD Deepstack time, and I played in DTD game #2 for £1.10.
Sort of kept my starting stack and dropped a little to around 3k but I won a huge pot meaning I trebled up and kept me in until just after break #3 around 10pm.
Around 15mins before I bust out I earned myself a double up to keep myself involved when I was dealt aces and GII. FOR ONCE they held!
I was down to about 7 BB's and got a decent hand K-10 o/s and decided to middle my chips - Villain turns over POCKET KINGS and it's SIGH, GG for me!
Still another deep run in this MTT and I fed the results into my spreadsheet which tells me my finish %'age and I've finished once again within the top 20% of the field so another decent result.
Because of the raise and the dynamic on my table..I thought the opponent may have repped a good hand such as a big pocket pair.
It seems like you still have a huge mental block around losing that is stopping you playing as optimally as you could.
As a premium hand, when you get a hand like the AQo above, it has to warrant a call (at least) for such a small investment. Only if it's against someone that I've played a good amount of hands vs and traditionally limps wide / raises only AA KK would there be any need to contemplate folding.
When you only have around 20BB if you hit a Q-high or A-high flop you're going to win the pot a lot of the time - and if you do lose to AA/AK/QQ/KK (a pretty small range), just shrug and move onto the next game.
Not sure what to suggest to overcome that to be honest... take a break and save up until you can afford to have £100 to play £1 tourni / DYM games is possibly the only option, which may give you more confidence to lose a few £££ and not really miss it?
It's always going to be tough to build much of a roll up without taking the (optimum play) risks needed to have a chance of winning decent prizes.