Bit of a brutal day today. Yesterday I loved Poker, today its infuriating! Surprised it wasnt worse. Maybe I should have known after getting stacked with KK in a SB v BB battle. I big 3 bet and we go to a A10x flop. He bets 70 pot and in a HU battle I dont think I can fold KK to one bet so call. Turn K. I get led at and raise. He calls. River.....10. Finished £13 down on morning. Didnt play great tbh and cut session short.
Came back this evening. Same story. I played a bit better but again not great. Worse hand was KK again on a MC table. I 3 bet big a button raise in BB and flop came 259 rainbow. I was a little distracted for a few moments and realised guy had open shoved flop. I sigh call for such a big bet and he has flopped nuts. 999.
Suffice to say I didnt run well at all in important pots. I refrained from tilting though which IS a positive. And resisted urge to 'chase losses' by moving up stakes. So again, progress and one reason I am doing this diary.
Managed to scrape some back, only to drop a stack near the end. Just a cooler.
Feel dissapointed now but reflecting on the weekend I am happy with where I am and up on the whole. PP wise I have almost 2000 so happy with that also. Should be able to coast to 3000 now.
With that in mind I aim to play a few more MTT's and hope that cash will supply the BI's (hopefully with a little profit too).
On a side note, did turn £2 into £100 thanks to my weekly scratch card. So I did manage some run good, just not at the poker tables! Only thing is, £20 of that got taxed right away by the better half. Bit like rake really!
++EDIT++
Had a quick 15 mins extra. Not sure why. MAde £5 and a few more PP's. Guess I go to bed a tiny bit happier.
Had the last day off before Xmas today. Bit of a lazy day watching, reading, doing chores and playing poker! If only everyday was like this.
Played the two morning £3 BHs. Very annoyed is not even close. I went deep in both and should have done better. Lost my focus and ending up making bad decisions I know I should have not. Didnt help that a chiplead pot went away from me when QQ failed to beat 67s despite numerous outs. Then busted when my better A was rivered by A2 by a river duece. More rollercoaster in secound but I think I got impatient which isnt like me. Two good runs ruined.
Cash though went better, played for a combined total of about an hour and a half and walked away almost 3 BI's up. I ran well tbh and didnt chase. Could have been better had river cards come on the turn and I had not been bet off good draws. And folding J10 because I was concentrating on three other tables in a hand where I would have flopped nuts and won a huge pot. Sigh.
Anyway, happy with where I am. PP's above 2000 so happy there too. I just need to refocus my mind to MTTs. When I lose focus playing cash I can stand for 5/10 mins or more and refresh. Harder to do that in an MTT.
Tuesday was a bit frustrating. Ran bad and was gratefull to win one pot at the end to claw me back even on a day I should have been two BI's up. Glad to have broke even though.
Wednesday cash was just the same, ran terrible. Flopped and made some great hands and either lost to river cards or got folds. This time I did drop two BI's.
MTT wise though, im happy to report another win. The £2 BH.
Beginning was a bit meh. Up and down then got lucky in a couple of spots, first on the river. From there played decent. Patience the key. Had two spots where I trippled up and took two heads. As we got to about 16, knockouts came very slowly, the final table lasted over half an hour 6 handed and then after that it began to progress down as blinds caught up. There was one dominant chip leader the whole way through to 3 handed. I managed to grind up from at one point 6/6 and 3/3 to 2/3 and then 1/3 and we yoyo’d until I finally knocked out the previous chip leader with a very good bounty to take me HU as the chip leader. Heads up went easy tbh as the guy played just too tight. Easy to play against and it was over very quickly.
SO, very happy and my BR has reached its highest peak in a long time. And very, very happy to get that MTT winning feeling. Best poker feeling there is!
SO gutted, wrote a long blog and as I posted it got deleted!!
Quick recap. Cash went horribly, ran bad in a lot of allin spots and hands. Dropped £80 in three long sessions. Ran KK in AA twice on a MC table against table fish. So sigh. Not to mention a lot of others. Went over my results and honestly got my money in ahead just lost out. Very, very frustrating.
MTTs though went very well. Apart from Friday. Played 5 and went out earlyish to bad suckouts and JJ v AA. One was with KQ on a KQx board. Allin on flop to Q10 who then hit J and a 9.
Tonight though, very well! Finsihed 8th in £2BH. Topsy turny in £5 BH but took two heads. Played great in two free seat FR's Won £48 in one ans stone bubbled the second. out 11th when ten paid. Ouch!
Although not part of my challenge I managed to win a 180 seater SnG for $221 on Pokerstars!!
Not much going on today. Had a short cash session and finished £20+ up. Ran ok. As in I got allin on the flop ahead and stayed ahead. Shock horror.
My two MTT's where not so great. Lost all flips. Again. Also bricked a huge draw on flop of over cards, a up and down straight draw AND overs. Obviosuly I bricked and lost to the 54o v Qh9h who called with a gutshot to the bottom straight on a 7h8h10x flop.
Another very short cash session saw a 50p loss. Not so bad when your first hand is a flopped full house against flopped quads.
Considering where I was at the start of Saturday night, I'm over the moon to be 420ish. Not to mention my PS's BR being its highest ever. Playing the $3 spin and go's at the mo. Did very well at $1 even though I didnt run great. So far the $3 ones are just as soft, just ran so so bad so far and ive finished almost even so a good omen surely?
Hopefully i'm saving all my run good for my first few main events I get to enter. Surely?
Small cash session today. Added a few PP's, approaching 2500 so I've took my feet off the gas a little and can cruise to 3000 if I want. Finished a buy in up. I actually ran real well, flopping Quads KK's for a full double up. KK kept hitting huge for me, I got KK about 6 times and flopped quads, two full boats and two sets. Couldn't miss! Only problem is I only ever got paid by quads (we where all in. Against A3s! Guy actually hit 3 aces so it shows what I need to actually win!) and my last set against a turned 2 pair. That was a small pot. Every body else folded.
I actually got off to a bad start. My very first hand being AA in BB. SB raises and for the first time since I can remeber I decided to slow play. Never just call. JJ8 flop and I call down. Lost to QJ. Typical. Only did it because I know the guy barrells 3 street bluffs.
Well, that was an absolute suck fest of a session. Less than an hour and dropped almost 5 BI's.
Had KK v AA twice. Had AA v 105o against guy who calls everything. Flopped straight, had to give up big pot on turn after nut worse card came. The flush and 4 to straight card. Two opponents went allin and I had to fold. It was right but a chucnk went there. Set over set. And a big str and flush draw that didnt get there.
I am no way exagerating when I say I have run KK into AA at LEAST 30 times past 6 months and lost every one. Not even variance has helped me win any pots. I have had very little AA v KK's and I have lost a few of those.
I must now face facts. I cant win at 10nl. For whatever reason I just cant. Ive spent hours going over hands and every poker expert says as long as you get your money in good it will even out and you have to be honest. I have been honest about my play and yes I have made lots of mistakes but I have had a huge amount of hands go against EV.
Going to have to drop to 4nl when I have short sessions and concentrate on MTT's when I have longer to play.
GL at NL4, but you definitely still have the roll to play NL10 and hopefully will get back to it when you get a bit of confidence back in your cash game.
It may be frowned upon but I've always liked the idea of dropping down for a session, binking a win and then moving back up with a more positive (winning) mindset.
And it's not a fact that you can't win at NL10, just need more hands and maybe a bit of a tweak to game / seat selection. You definitely aren't far away from what I've seen in games vs you.
I'm not exactly good myself, but happy to watch you for half hour or so sometime and chuck out any info I spot which may offer room for improvement.
TY Mrs Duck. Awww. Your thread is always a rollercoaster! Well done on the BH's!
Shakin - Good words, ty. I would like someone to watch me as it would be nice for a different view point.
NL10 is a real swinger. You get so many loose calls and chasing that its blind luck if you catch the person donating chips. As of late its been me getting unlucky and then someone else scooping them up off the fish. Very frustrating.
Anyway, not played much as have had a nasty tummy bug. Feeling a bit low now but hopefully at the end of it. Played more MTT's. Done OK. Played well and managed a cash in one and a few close calls in others. Had a very decent score tonight though as I managed to capture one of the top 3 paid spots in the UKPC Freeroll and turned that into cash. Got down to 3 BB's with 12 left, but I have a lot of experiance at these and managed to find good spots and got lucky. Which you need when that low!
I think past 2 months I have done amazing at the Free seat FR's. Ive cashed 5/6 times for well over £200. I've always done well at turbo's. A lot of people dont realise how much time you have and how quick you can turn a low stack back above average. Its all about picking the right players and spots to get chips in first.
So, back above £400 again. Im having a Ducky rollercoaster of a month! No wonder I have a dicky tummy!
PS Never hit a set with 22. All that run must go to MrsDuck!
If I stop now then I will have beat your target Mrs Duck!
What a difference two days can make. After my succesful night yesterday, winning a UKPC seat that I turned into £48 by finishing in top 3 of 280+ I only gone and done it again! I basically cruised to finish in the top six this time (not sure why it changed yesterday). I was in the chips from the very first hand and never looked back. Always near the top and hitting chip leader status with 12 left and never relinquished it. £96 in two days for free. Oh, add anoth 81p to that as I ran very deep in the Social FR, busting out in a chip lead pot with KK v AK.
This is one of the great reasons I mainly play on Sky. There promotions are second to none. Yes, other sites can offer bigger prizes but you have to be very, very lucky to get them with such huge fields and hurdles to jump.
Played well in my other MTT's, just busting in spots where I am ahead and lose. Standard I guess. I did get a deep run in the £5BH, finishing 20 for a min cash with 3 decent heads. Shame really as I busted by first losing AJs v A8s (was another decent head prise and pot on offer) and then next hand AQ v K8o. GG me.
Add to that two decent small profit cash sessions and Ive had a very good day. +£80 day, been a while since I've had that.
Thanks to both above. No one will ever be happy but Sky really do try hard and have a great dedicated team.
Sunday was a quiet day as I had a return of my bug. Played a couple of short sessions and really regretted it. Dropped 4 BI's. It didnt help that I ran JJ v QQ against an aggressive opponent, AA into set of 10's, AK v QQ against another very aggressive apponent and the most brutal of all, a flopped set of 8's losing to AQ on A8x A Q board. Decided to call it a day and watch 8 epidodes of Lost.
Monday and Tuesday have been better days. Played two hour sessions, one each day, and have clawed back 3 Bi's. Played much better with more thought going in to my play.
Its almost the end of the month. I'm almost at my 3000 target and after Sunday my attention switches to MTT's and my dedication to do more off table work to up my game strategy on both cash and MTT's.
Wednesday was another good day, had a good winning session so thats now 3 in a row. Played half hour at 10nl and finished over a BI up then it was time for MTT's.
Played four (3 on Sky) and got very deep in them all, just not deep enough. Finishing near the bubble in 3/4. Got 19th in the UKPC free seats FR. Thought I was on for my 3rd in a row in this one! Broke even though thanks to bounties and two being FR's.
I had time for another half hour or so session, this time played 4nl. Mainly for confidence, so any bad hits wouldn't dent my BR too much. Played well and managed to finsih 3 BI's up! Mainly played just to add a few PP's to keep my tally going up. Just need 140 now for 3000.
Had a couple of short and successful cash sessions. Nothing amazing, finished 2 BI's up in all at 4nl.
MTT's. Played four. 2 FR'S As usual. The two buy in BH's didnt go well. Suckered in both when well ahead. First FR I was doing well in then had three successive hands when dominating and still losing. AQ v QJ twice and lost. AQ v Q10 and lost.
Second FR went much better. Pretty quiet for the start then managed to hit hands when blinds started getting bigger. Coasted along and played well. Picking good spots and having hands hold. Two big hands of AK v AQ and AA v 99 that got me 2nd in chips and then just shut up shop. Didnt play any hands dispite being tempted and cruised into top 12 and took the £24.
Ever since I have took these seriously I have done really, really well. Almost £300 for nothing. Result!!
Anyway, my BR is moving nicely. 104 PP's off my target. Will try and make a move on that tomorrow so that by Sunday its a formality. The key is not playing when I dont want to and losing more than the extra £15 I get for those extra points.
Finished my book today so I am all ready to dedicate my lunch time over to ready and watching more strategy on MTT's and cash and improving my game/understanding/aggression etc.
My December goals are simple. Study and really aim to improve some aspect by the end of this year.
Comments
GL at NL4, but you definitely still have the roll to play NL10 and hopefully will get back to it when you get a bit of confidence back in your cash game.
It may be frowned upon but I've always liked the idea of dropping down for a session, binking a win and then moving back up with a more positive (winning) mindset.
And it's not a fact that you can't win at NL10, just need more hands and maybe a bit of a tweak to game / seat selection. You definitely aren't far away from what I've seen in games vs you.
I'm not exactly good myself, but happy to watch you for half hour or so sometime and chuck out any info I spot which may offer room for improvement.