GL Edge there are a lot of ups and downs and even going back to zero. Its the not going down way below zero that counts. Sometimes it feels like a switch has been pulled and its hard work and demoralising. Keep a good bankroll management and enjoy the game through those downswings. If the downswings are continuing take a break. You only need a good win to get you back on top and forget about all those horrible beats that you get. Then its all good again only to get another downswing lol. GL
Isnt poker a funny game ?. I mean I play both the bounty hunter and the deepstack well and yet come up short. Conversely I really did my best to butcher a winning position with 9 players left in the late freezeout and yet grab a cash with less than a big blind (335 chips) left in front of me.
Im not complaining but why the bubble boy chose to shove 6,000+ or 15 bb into the chip leader with me on life support Ill never know, but thanks bud.
Mini main b/h 115th no heads 21.15 deepstack 21st 01.00 freezeout 1st £49.95
The mini main was the usual Edge bounty hunter story. About 6/7 levels in sitting on approx 7,500 but as usual no heads. It all then unravels as I get overrun by speculative opponents and my own refusal to shove garbage, although to my recollection I'd have taken several heads if I had. Maybe that's the secret, perhaps I should just shove anytime there's a bounty on offer and sit and wait for the money to roll in eh ?. Yes ?. No sorry just cant do it although if there were multiple bounties on offer it might be the correct play.
The deepstack was one of those games where I'd keep getting to 10,000 chips only to have the same player take 25% a few hands later. In fact he was on about 20,000 and probably had about 10,000 of them from me. I'd take them off the other 4 players then boom I'd ship some to him, in fact come to think of it I don't think he played a hand against the others. Eventually I get relocated to a table where it was hyper mega aggro and my little stack got washed away in the tsunami of raise re-raise shove call etc. Lots of notes taken for future reference. Bustout hand got 7,880 in good with A K on a K high board but runner runner hearts broke mine GG
The early freezeout was, for the most part, the least problematical comp I've played for a long time. It was simply a case of playing ABC and waiting for the others to self destruct, which happened on a regular basis. Once down to 2 tables it was a case of seeing who was open shoving too often and picking it off and who was playing too tight and continually stealing their blinds. Come the final table where I had a small chip lead it was a case of just being careful until the bubble burst after which I seemed to be blessed by the Poker Gods as I pretty much ran riot over the table in about 15 minutes.
Decided not to late reg the 02.00 freezy as I didn't want to play with any kind of superior feelings. You know what I mean, those times when you've had success and you suddenly think you're better than you are.
Well I suppose that you could have forseen it, as the doom button gets pressed on TheEdge. LOL
Welcome to reality as all three comps saw the same ending just at different stages of the comps. Lets begin with the 23.15 deepstack where I've slowly accumulated about 10,000 chips. I get K K in the bb. UTG raises it to 700 (blinds 150/300) and the sb decided to come along which I dont want as hes been playing tricky whilst utg has been raising and shoving wide (50% +). So I make it 2,400, utg snap shoves sb folds and I call. He shows 5 5, Yes!! I knew i was way ahead. However, we all know how it ends and sure enough a 5 on the flop busts me in 19th.
Nevermind its onto the 1am freezeout. Follow the plan, small ball until you have it then hit the afterburners. It worked perfectly, yup right up to the point where my KcQc flopped a 3c7c2c and I get shoved on for my tourney life 2700 chips with blinds 40/80. Ok I call, villain shows Ac 5h, turn is a brick river is a club meh ffs out before the late reg finished.
On to the 2am freezeout where its certainly a little bingoish but nothing manic. Ok youve been here before, stick to the plan and wait for the hands. Oh Oh maniac alert, he shoves all in repeatedly and shows 63 off 95 off 28suited etc wait, wait he shoves again, it folds to me with 9 9 Call. Yup sure enough he shows 10 7 off, hmm not happy with the over lol. Flop 7 7 10 goodnight and that was all she wrote and once again Im gone before the late reg has closed.
Theres probably a case for playing the last hand differently but Im happy with how I played the others. Getting it in ahead is all we can do and I want 55 shoving on my kings and Im quite happy for someone to be drawing to a club on the river so whilst its a downer knowing that winning those probably gets me a FT and ££s I know Im going to be taking those hands down more often than not.
After a couple of days playing a little dym here, timed tourney there and dipping into a couple of deepstacks normal service has resumed lol.
01.00 freezeout 1st £48.10
Great heads up battle with Deek10 and a strong final table meant this went on for over 2 1/2 hours which is quite long for one of these.
Got really lucky during the H/U when I shoved "The Ainsworth" got insta called and managed to flop a pr and river trips..
Didnt really play that solidly tbh I was more interested in finding where players would draw a line and I floated many more flops than usual and tried to outplay my opponents. This wasnt out of disrespect in fact quite the opposite, the freezeouts tend to have the same player pool and so ocassionally I need to try and develop my game if I want to keep getting success.
For those who like to know such things the bankroll is now above £200 for the first time so the challenge is 20% completed although now Ive said that the button of doom is lingering ever ready.
Been following your diary for a while - good read!
Shared a table with you for the first time ever the other day and I was surprised at how many (in my humble opinion) fundamental mistakes you seemed to be making. Not saying this to be negative and I'm only an average player now, but I spent a lot of time making a lot of mistakes that I didn't even realise I was making at the time. If someone had told me them at the time it would have saved me a lot of time and frustration!
A few preflop things for starters (and only in my opinion…) -Limping too many hands that should either be raising or folding -Limping behind with too many hands that should definitely be raising -Not considering position when making decisions -Cold-calling 3bets and iso raises with marginal holdings and often out of position
Would like to see you succeed with this challenge and think you'll do it much more quickly if you take a little time to evaluate your game and post some hands/strat. Could think of it maybe as taking a moment to stop and fix some punctures rather than cycling on with a flat tyre? Definitely lots of positives in your game though
Firstly guys thanks for the support and the good wishes, it's much appreciated.
@Angmar2626. Absolutely no problem with you spotting big flaws in my play and bringing them to my attention. I shall certainly be taking care and time to improve this aspect of my game, if you've spotted it doubtless others have too.
I really thought that my preflop game was my strong area, just goes to show how wrong you can be about something, and Im really appreciative of the fact that you took the time to point out what are obviously glaring deficiencies.
So a few questions spring immediately to mind
Should I go back to using defined preflop charts to determine my ranges until the actions become second nature?
Is there ever a case for limping behind or is that best left for advanced / specific strategy?
What % of our range should we be prepared to play oop and is that also player note dependent ie player x raises every button regardless of holding?
I absolutely get the last 2 points, only the other day I was shouting in frustration as I had to keep folding chips away to action from the position player and asking myself why did I call, lead out, donk into whilst oop. I guess I just needed it reinforcing from a 3rd party.
I hope after August to be able to post hands etc which is when I get my new laptop. The current one is so old it no longer supports xp and vista, wont allow adobe upgrades, freezes if I play more than one table and wont download anything anymore, cant handle the graphics for the new gen of online slots and laughs at me when I try to watch Sky or Netflix. Dont know much but its a compaq presario with altec lansing, which I think means it belongs in the ark.
Firstly guys thanks for the support and the good wishes, it's much appreciated.
@Angmar2626. Absolutely no problem with you spotting big flaws in my play and bringing them to my attention. I shall certainly be taking care and time to improve this aspect of my game, if you've spotted it doubtless others have too.
I really thought that my preflop game was my strong area, just goes to show how wrong you can be about something, and Im really appreciative of the fact that you took the time to point out what are obviously glaring deficiencies.
So a few questions spring immediately to mind
Should I go back to using defined preflop charts to determine my ranges until the actions become second nature?
Is there ever a case for limping behind or is that best left for advanced / specific strategy?
What % of our range should we be prepared to play oop and is that also player note dependent ie player x raises every button regardless of holding?
I absolutely get the last 2 points, only the other day I was shouting in frustration as I had to keep folding chips away to action from the position player and asking myself why did I call, lead out, donk into whilst oop. I guess I just needed it reinforcing from a 3rd party.
I hope after August to be able to post hands etc which is when I get my new laptop. The current one is so old it no longer supports xp and vista, wont allow adobe upgrades, freezes if I play more than one table and wont download anything anymore, cant handle the graphics for the new gen of online slots and laughs at me when I try to watch Sky or Netflix. Dont know much but its a compaq presario with altec lansing, which I think means it belongs in the ark.
Once again thanks for the input.
Have fun and rungood
Mark
Hey don't knock your computer! those Spectrum Zx81's were fine machines!
Well Monday was a total write off as I proceeded to tank everything. Best finish was 9th in the 23.15 deepy and I was 2nd with 10 left. In fact the list of busts was horrible 4 dym, 3 deepys, 3 timed and a b/h meant a total loss on the day of £30 ish and the bankroll back under £200.
In fact the only ray of light in the unremitting blackness was a 29th place in the Sunday Mini for £18 + change.
Not playing anymore tonight, going to pour a huge GnT and watch a dvd.
Thanks for the kind words @Tikay10. If only I played as well as I composed , this challenge might be nearly completed now.
Played a couple of dym XXX Played the Tuesday mini XXX played the £150 freezy XXX
Going to stop now tbh took my amazing missus out for a meal earlier and perhaps too much gin and cider doesnt mix well with poker. I always push the boat out when I'm down the van.
Besides there's another G n T waiting and a box set of Oceans to watch, think Ill skip straight to 13, best one I feel.
I have to admit I feel a little guilty that @zenbudhist got chat banned I was kind of pushing his buttons a bit. Did I overstep the boundaries of wit and banter? If so please accept my sincere apologies to everyone on the forum.
Thanks for the kind words @Tikay10. If only I played as well as I composed , this challenge might be nearly completed now.
Played a couple of dym XXX Played the Tuesday mini XXX played the £150 freezy XXX
Going to stop now tbh took my amazing missus out for a meal earlier and perhaps too much gin and cider doesnt mix well with poker. I always push the boat out when I'm down the van.
Besides there's another G n T waiting and a box set of Oceans to watch, think Ill skip straight to 13, best one I feel.
I have to admit I feel a little guilty that @zenbudhist got chat banned I was kind of pushing his buttons a bit. Did I overstep the boundaries of wit and banter? If so please accept my sincere apologies to everyone on the forum.
Hope you smashed it
Til next time have fun and rungood
Mark
He got himself banned, don't sweat it. He was way below the belt with some of his remarks and you handled them perfectly.
2 freezeouts XX didnt even make the closed reg in either 2 b/h XX no head prizes 3 timed XXX oh dear
Balance £162 and dropping like a rock
Managed to get a streak of 2 cashes in the 2.20 dym and cashed 1 and bust 1 at 3.30.
Right now I cant seem to buy a cash, win a flip or have the best hand hold up. In fact if I could play myself heads up both of me would lose to the rake.
For the first time in a while playing was not fun and the way I lost simply exacerbated the problem. In my mind every other player at the table was a luckbox, donk, moron who shouldnt be in the hand never mind winning my chips etc.
Now of course we all know that the real reason why its a train wreck is because I am playing like a donk moron, refusing to see its my own bad play that's responsible and simply tilting more because of it and thus the self fulfilling prophecy is running unchecked taking chips, bankroll and self respect with it.
What started all this ? Well it was simply consecutive beats, and not even brutal ones at that, and suddenly I was an angry player on a mission to punish those who had put said beats on me. Absolutely spewing forth chips like some manic take away short order cook on speed and with all the stability of a cage of rats in a burning meth lab I drove recklessly down pokers freeway.
Ive managed to get a grip on myself now, (Ooh err missus), and all being well another such episode should be avoidable.
Thanks for the kind words @Tikay10. If only I played as well as I composed , this challenge might be nearly completed now.
Played a couple of dym XXX Played the Tuesday mini XXX played the £150 freezy XXX
Going to stop now tbh took my amazing missus out for a meal earlier and perhaps too much gin and cider doesnt mix well with poker. I always push the boat out when I'm down the van.
Besides there's another G n T waiting and a box set of Oceans to watch, think Ill skip straight to 13, best one I feel.
I have to admit I feel a little guilty that @zenbudhist got chat banned I was kind of pushing his buttons a bit. Did I overstep the boundaries of wit and banter? If so please accept my sincere apologies to everyone on the forum.
Hope you smashed it
Til next time have fun and rungood
Mark
You don't owe any apologies to anyone, if he dished it out he has to expect it back. I thought your retorts were splendidly eloquent & very funny, though it was all a bit one-sided & the poor chap was a little out of his depth, so it was probably best to save him from further punishment.
Let's hope he returns a little more sensible & wiser, & a little less Mr Angry.
Well its not exactly poker for the ages but I finally stumbled into a cash although I'm not happy with how it went. With 4 left I managed to grab a small 3bb chiplead but then proceeded to get nothing to defend with as the other 3 players shoved on me without mercy. Now at this point I usually make a stand but for a whole level 10 mins at 500 / 1000 the best I saw was 8 J suited which Im not calling with for 10 + bb and my tourney life. Blinds go to 600 / 1200 and still getting 23, 48 39s etc Eventually I snap call a 8 bb shove from the button with my last 8.5 bb I was the big blind and see a K 5 of spades Im feeling ok with my A 9 but a river 5 kills me. Next hand Im all in with the s.b. and its gg.
Now Im fairly certain there must have been spots where the correct play would have been to call 1 or more of the repeated all ins or even open shove with rubbish as the others didnt seem to keen to call all ins 3xs etc. Would a tool such as ICM Izer help in these situations.
I am fairly confident when its a fairly standard game but when the player on my right shoves 60% of his hands pre flop regardless of position I really struggle to know which of the hands outside my top 15% I should be making a stand with because I know he doesnt always have it.
The other thing that struck me was how different the FT was from the norm in these comps, very focussed, very serious, almost no chat, no wp, no gg. It all seemed like it was being played for the money rather than enjoyment. Certainly not what Ive come to expect at in these.
Comments
".....All 6 at the FT got paid which was nice as we didnt have that dynamic thats usually there when only 5 get paid......"
Agree, that's never a nice spot.
23.15 deepstack 13th
02.00 freezeout 3rd £20
Isnt poker a funny game ?. I mean I play both the bounty hunter and the deepstack well and yet come up short. Conversely I really did my best to butcher a winning position with 9 players left in the late freezeout and yet grab a cash with less than a big blind (335 chips) left in front of me.
Im not complaining but why the bubble boy chose to shove 6,000+ or 15 bb into the chip leader with me on life support Ill never know, but thanks bud.
Current balance is £122.02
Til next time have fun, rungood and smash it
Mark
21.15 deepstack 21st
01.00 freezeout 1st £49.95
The mini main was the usual Edge bounty hunter story. About 6/7 levels in sitting on approx 7,500 but as usual no heads. It all then unravels as I get overrun by speculative opponents and my own refusal to shove garbage, although to my recollection I'd have taken several heads if I had.
Maybe that's the secret, perhaps I should just shove anytime there's a bounty on offer and sit and wait for the money to roll in eh ?. Yes ?. No sorry just cant do it although if there were multiple bounties on offer it might be the correct play.
The deepstack was one of those games where I'd keep getting to 10,000 chips only to have the same player take 25% a few hands later. In fact he was on about 20,000 and probably had about 10,000 of them from me. I'd take them off the other 4 players then boom I'd ship some to him, in fact come to think of it I don't think he played a hand against the others.
Eventually I get relocated to a table where it was hyper mega aggro and my little stack got washed away in the tsunami of raise re-raise shove call etc.
Lots of notes taken for future reference.
Bustout hand got 7,880 in good with A K on a K high board but runner runner hearts broke mine GG
The early freezeout was, for the most part, the least problematical comp I've played for a long time. It was simply a case of playing ABC and waiting for the others to self destruct, which happened on a regular basis.
Once down to 2 tables it was a case of seeing who was open shoving too often and picking it off and who was playing too tight and continually stealing their blinds.
Come the final table where I had a small chip lead it was a case of just being careful until the bubble burst after which I seemed to be blessed by the Poker Gods as I pretty much ran riot over the table in about 15 minutes.
Decided not to late reg the 02.00 freezy as I didn't want to play with any kind of superior feelings. You know what I mean, those times when you've had success and you suddenly think you're better than you are.
Hope wherever you played you smashed it.
Til next time have fun and rungood
Mark
Welcome to reality as all three comps saw the same ending just at different stages of the comps.
Lets begin with the 23.15 deepstack where I've slowly accumulated about 10,000 chips. I get K K in the bb. UTG raises it to 700 (blinds 150/300) and the sb decided to come along which I dont want as hes been playing tricky whilst utg has been raising and shoving wide (50% +). So I make it 2,400, utg snap shoves sb folds and I call.
He shows 5 5, Yes!! I knew i was way ahead. However, we all know how it ends and sure enough a 5 on the flop busts me in 19th.
Nevermind its onto the 1am freezeout. Follow the plan, small ball until you have it then hit the afterburners. It worked perfectly, yup right up to the point where my KcQc flopped a 3c7c2c and I get shoved on for my tourney life 2700 chips with blinds 40/80.
Ok I call, villain shows Ac 5h, turn is a brick river is a club meh ffs out before the late reg finished.
On to the 2am freezeout where its certainly a little bingoish but nothing manic. Ok youve been here before, stick to the plan and wait for the hands. Oh Oh maniac alert, he shoves all in repeatedly and shows 63 off 95 off 28suited etc wait, wait he shoves again, it folds to me with 9 9 Call.
Yup sure enough he shows 10 7 off, hmm not happy with the over lol. Flop 7 7 10 goodnight and that was all she wrote and once again Im gone before the late reg has closed.
Theres probably a case for playing the last hand differently but Im happy with how I played the others. Getting it in ahead is all we can do and I want 55 shoving on my kings and Im quite happy for someone to be drawing to a club on the river so whilst its a downer knowing that winning those probably gets me a FT and ££s I know Im going to be taking those hands down more often than not.
Wherever you played I hope you smashed it.
Til next time have fun and rungood.
Mark
Only played the one as I was a little stressed following quite a difficult foodbank.
4 hour epic with a really good FT
Til next time have fun and rungood
Mark
01.00 freezeout 1st £48.10
Great heads up battle with Deek10 and a strong final table meant this went on for over 2 1/2 hours which is quite long for one of these.
Got really lucky during the H/U when I shoved "The Ainsworth" got insta called and managed to flop a pr and river trips..
Didnt really play that solidly tbh I was more interested in finding where players would draw a line and I floated many more flops than usual and tried to outplay my opponents. This wasnt out of disrespect in fact quite the opposite, the freezeouts tend to have the same player pool and so ocassionally I need to try and develop my game if I want to keep getting success.
For those who like to know such things the bankroll is now above £200 for the first time so the challenge is 20% completed although now Ive said that the button of doom is lingering ever ready.
Wherever you played hope you smashed it.
Til next time have fun and rungood.
Mark
Been following your diary for a while - good read!
Shared a table with you for the first time ever the other day and I was surprised at how many (in my humble opinion) fundamental mistakes you seemed to be making. Not saying this to be negative and I'm only an average player now, but I spent a lot of time making a lot of mistakes that I didn't even realise I was making at the time. If someone had told me them at the time it would have saved me a lot of time and frustration!
A few preflop things for starters (and only in my opinion…)
-Limping too many hands that should either be raising or folding
-Limping behind with too many hands that should definitely be raising
-Not considering position when making decisions
-Cold-calling 3bets and iso raises with marginal holdings and often out of position
Would like to see you succeed with this challenge and think you'll do it much more quickly if you take a little time to evaluate your game and post some hands/strat. Could think of it maybe as taking a moment to stop and fix some punctures rather than cycling on with a flat tyre? Definitely lots of positives in your game though
Glgl!
@Angmar2626. Absolutely no problem with you spotting big flaws in my play and bringing them to my attention. I shall certainly be taking care and time to improve this aspect of my game, if you've spotted it doubtless others have too.
I really thought that my preflop game was my strong area, just goes to show how wrong you can be about something, and Im really appreciative of the fact that you took the time to point out what are obviously glaring deficiencies.
So a few questions spring immediately to mind
Should I go back to using defined preflop charts to determine my ranges until the actions become second nature?
Is there ever a case for limping behind or is that best left for advanced / specific strategy?
What % of our range should we be prepared to play oop and is that also player note dependent ie player x raises every button regardless of holding?
I absolutely get the last 2 points, only the other day I was shouting in frustration as I had to keep folding chips away to action from the position player and asking myself why did I call, lead out, donk into whilst oop. I guess I just needed it reinforcing from a 3rd party.
I hope after August to be able to post hands etc which is when I get my new laptop. The current one is so old it no longer supports xp and vista, wont allow adobe upgrades, freezes if I play more than one table and wont download anything anymore, cant handle the graphics for the new gen of online slots and laughs at me when I try to watch Sky or Netflix.
Dont know much but its a compaq presario with altec lansing, which I think means it belongs in the ark.
Once again thanks for the input.
Have fun and rungood
Mark
LMPIHYRG
GLGL
In fact the only ray of light in the unremitting blackness was a 29th place in the Sunday Mini for £18 + change.
Not playing anymore tonight, going to pour a huge GnT and watch a dvd.
Hope you all smashed it
Til next time have fun and rungood
Mark
I enjoy this Diary, so well written.
Great & very constructive post by @Angmar2626 too.
Played a couple of dym XXX
Played the Tuesday mini XXX
played the £150 freezy XXX
Going to stop now tbh took my amazing missus out for a meal earlier and perhaps too much gin and cider doesnt mix well with poker. I always push the boat out when I'm down the van.
Besides there's another G n T waiting and a box set of Oceans to watch, think Ill skip straight to 13, best one I feel.
I have to admit I feel a little guilty that @zenbudhist got chat banned I was kind of pushing his buttons a bit. Did I overstep the boundaries of wit and banter? If so please accept my sincere apologies to everyone on the forum.
Hope you smashed it
Til next time have fun and rungood
Mark
Good luck mate.
2 freezeouts XX didnt even make the closed reg in either
2 b/h XX no head prizes
3 timed XXX oh dear
Balance £162 and dropping like a rock
Managed to get a streak of 2 cashes in the 2.20 dym and cashed 1 and bust 1 at 3.30.
Right now I cant seem to buy a cash, win a flip or have the best hand hold up. In fact if I could play myself heads up both of me would lose to the rake.
For the first time in a while playing was not fun and the way I lost simply exacerbated the problem. In my mind every other player at the table was a luckbox, donk, moron who shouldnt be in the hand never mind winning my chips etc.
Now of course we all know that the real reason why its a train wreck is because I am playing like a donk moron, refusing to see its my own bad play that's responsible and simply tilting more because of it and thus the self fulfilling prophecy is running unchecked taking chips, bankroll and self respect with it.
What started all this ? Well it was simply consecutive beats, and not even brutal ones at that, and suddenly I was an angry player on a mission to punish those who had put said beats on me. Absolutely spewing forth chips like some manic take away short order cook on speed and with all the stability of a cage of rats in a burning meth lab I drove recklessly down pokers freeway.
Ive managed to get a grip on myself now, (Ooh err missus), and all being well another such episode should be avoidable.
Either way youll hear about it here.
Have fun and rungood.
Mark
Let's hope he returns a little more sensible & wiser, & a little less Mr Angry.
02.00 freezeout 11th
Well its not exactly poker for the ages but I finally stumbled into a cash although I'm not happy with how it went. With 4 left I managed to grab a small 3bb chiplead but then proceeded to get nothing to defend with as the other 3 players shoved on me without mercy. Now at this point I usually make a stand but for a whole level 10 mins at 500 / 1000 the best I saw was 8 J suited which Im not calling with for 10 + bb and my tourney life.
Blinds go to 600 / 1200 and still getting 23, 48 39s etc
Eventually I snap call a 8 bb shove from the button with my last 8.5 bb I was the big blind and see a K 5 of spades Im feeling ok with my A 9 but a river 5 kills me.
Next hand Im all in with the s.b. and its gg.
Now Im fairly certain there must have been spots where the correct play would have been to call 1 or more of the repeated all ins or even open shove with rubbish as the others didnt seem to keen to call all ins 3xs etc.
Would a tool such as ICM Izer help in these situations.
I am fairly confident when its a fairly standard game but when the player on my right shoves 60% of his hands pre flop regardless of position I really struggle to know which of the hands outside my top 15% I should be making a stand with because I know he doesnt always have it.
The other thing that struck me was how different the FT was from the norm in these comps, very focussed, very serious, almost no chat, no wp, no gg. It all seemed like it was being played for the money rather than enjoyment. Certainly not what Ive come to expect at in these.
Anyway I hope you smashed it.
Til next time HAVE FUN and rungood
Mark