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5 MTT tokens to £500.. BR challenge 1st attempt. Balance £55.32
CraigSG1
Member Posts: 1,831
Hi all.
Another BR challenge and a tall order that may take some time at best and probably see it adjusted if I fail to something like £5 - £500 and see how many attempts that takes.
During lockdown I was sheltering so had four and a half months off work and so played a lot of poker, got into it and did well but towards the end lost patience and ive known for a long time I am slipping, especially in cash where I have never been worse. MTTs have always been my strongest discipline but cash really punished my flaws and lapses and I am ashamed to say temperament. I have some real issues I am ashamed of and I try to address so apologies to all ive offended and im even prepared to accept that even that isn't enough.
I intend to put some time in and study again instead of just relying on old lessons and lazy thinking. I have always made money at the small MTTs so never really had the motivation but like I said, cash games have shown me up and also I know I could do so so much better at MTTs in spots ive just punted off tbh.
So, my usual tournaments are the £2 and £5 BH with the odd £2 rebuy. Im a bus driver so don't get to play as much as I used to so im probably in this for the long haul which im hoping will keep me motivated and honest with this being public.
My hope is to bink one early obviously and make this easier but in reality im hoping if I can take a few heads and maybe a cash to help me in the five goes I have then use that in either small DYM or 2/4p cash to spin up a bit. Lets see.
1st Token:
I busted after an hour with no heads, didn't play particularly well tbh and let the wild play frustrate me and the fortunes of others. Another weakness I need to get better at. Four to go.
Another BR challenge and a tall order that may take some time at best and probably see it adjusted if I fail to something like £5 - £500 and see how many attempts that takes.
During lockdown I was sheltering so had four and a half months off work and so played a lot of poker, got into it and did well but towards the end lost patience and ive known for a long time I am slipping, especially in cash where I have never been worse. MTTs have always been my strongest discipline but cash really punished my flaws and lapses and I am ashamed to say temperament. I have some real issues I am ashamed of and I try to address so apologies to all ive offended and im even prepared to accept that even that isn't enough.
I intend to put some time in and study again instead of just relying on old lessons and lazy thinking. I have always made money at the small MTTs so never really had the motivation but like I said, cash games have shown me up and also I know I could do so so much better at MTTs in spots ive just punted off tbh.
So, my usual tournaments are the £2 and £5 BH with the odd £2 rebuy. Im a bus driver so don't get to play as much as I used to so im probably in this for the long haul which im hoping will keep me motivated and honest with this being public.
My hope is to bink one early obviously and make this easier but in reality im hoping if I can take a few heads and maybe a cash to help me in the five goes I have then use that in either small DYM or 2/4p cash to spin up a bit. Lets see.
1st Token:
I busted after an hour with no heads, didn't play particularly well tbh and let the wild play frustrate me and the fortunes of others. Another weakness I need to get better at. Four to go.
Comments
@CraigSG1
Bus driver? How exciting. Lucky man.
I too have only just started with an MTT challenge. I shall be following.
Remember the freerolls Monday-Friday if you qualify. Well worth playing.
As for being a bus driver. I hear a lot of them say they have a corner office with views of the entire city, and drive a £50,000 vehicle
Couple of updates, bit late with work and two six months olds to contend with (oh, yeah. I have identical twin girls who after being born 7 weeks early are doing fantastic and the light of my life. Hard work but worth it) but some very good news.
So, bullet two was a frustrating one. After going down to about half my stack I managed a treble up and then got into a great situation to get a top 3 stack but lost out to a river three outer. I’m happy with my play because I got what I wanted pre but it didn’t work out.
Bullet three on the other hand was a magic affair and a great way to start which means I have a real chance! Both these where the £2 6pm BH.
I played well but not much was happening until I managed to take my first cash with a head prize of £1.13 so that was a relief and I managed to coast and build and then scrape into a cash. From there I picked up a few hands and a double knock out and with that I added around £5 to my BR so I felt like I was free rolling a bit and was just content to play my game and see what happens.
I managed to pick my spots well and before I knew it i was on the FT with one big chip leader and the rest of us about equal. Chips flew around rather quickly and again I stayed patient and managed to navigate my way to HU with another couple of head prizes and I went in 2-1 down in chips with high confidence and I soon turned that to my advantage with some good hands and then with AJ and a 3-1 lead I put pressure on and he calls. Only thing is, he has AA! Then the other guy plays well and we go back to 2-1 down and we chop and change a bit and again I get ahead and with a great chance to win but my hand fails to hold and he goes ahead and doesn’t look back. The final hand was a killer though, for most of the chips my top two gets it in and he has only one out. It comes on the river. Sigh.
Frustrating but I’m very happy to add £33.86 to my BR.
A dream start I must say. Still have two shots left as well before I get in to the money I’ve won so far.
Bullet four brought me one head for my troubles, I played ok which is important but couldn't get going. Bullet five and last is being fired tonight and then I will have my first BR to go off.
But obviously it didn't pan out sadly. After an hour and a half things quickly went wrong; I got l/c by A4o when I squeezed JJ. He called flop nothing, a big turn bet just a gut shot and hit an A on the river. Then, for the last of my stack a very loose player shoves on my open with AQ but he has 1010 and wins the race and im dust.
Im obviously gutted but I have to be pleased with my play which I need to remember and reaffirm is all I can do and the results will come.
All my bullets have been fired and my hope was to finish with at least a fiver so to have seven times that is awesome. Im hopeful my first attempt will be my last and I can hit my goal with no resets.
My aim here from now on is to still play the 6pm BH and wait until I increase my BR. I may add some SnG and cash games but only at 2/4p and I have to keep my cool and not done it off in frustration that has embarrassingly happened on more than one occasion over the years. This is the main reason for a public diary; to keep me accountable.
Also, I will start my poker retraining. Any ideas would be helpful, my main weaknesses I have found are hand reading and percentages (which I used to be so good at) and tilt control.
Also, I will start my poker retraining. Any ideas would be helpful, my main weaknesses I have found are hand reading and percentages (which I used to be so good at) and tilt control.
I,m on my 2nd audiobook which isn,t going great but my first one was Mental Game of Poker. It suited Audiobooks well and it definitely helped.
P
No training as yet, but I promise I will get to it!
Small session tonight, didn't go well in £2BH - I got sucked out on but I played it badly. Got a call when I 5x it from 96s who called a big c bet on flop with 2nd pr and made trips but I had to know my top pr was no good on that turn but the guy is very loose in my notes (as you see) but again, not much he could have tbh and will hold my hands up and say my fault.
Played cash at 2/4p too for an hour or so and that too got off to a bad start. Lost a race AK v 1010 against a very active and agg player. This time im happy with it because I dominate him so many times and in a race the others. Lost some other small pots (was 3 tabling) but kept my cool and in the end managed to finish 40p up from about £6 down at one point. Could have been better but my hands just where not getting paid a lot.
Cash is a big weakness now, I can slog it out but then go on tilt when I get unlucky and also I cant seem to make the good calls/laydowns in the right order at times. This is definitely down to my hand reading skills deteriorating because when im on it I know where I am in a hand. Just not on it enough.
First losing day of many but hopefully the wins will out number them.
Been a while, work and twins taking up my time.
Finally done a little study on ranges, more of a refresh and I think I just need to redefine my thinking again instead of just autopilot. Biggest thing to remember is to focus on the phrase 'equity' to help get my mind around losing hands when ahead.
Played £2bh, played ok and got two heads for a 70p loss. I got a good stack but it dwindled due to no real fault. My AKs not hitting or losing to dominated hands and small pots not going my way. Im happy though as I didn't make any mistakes, or big ones at any rate.
Always next time.
Thanks @Glenelg Always nice to get comments.
Just the one MTT in my challenge, lasted just over an hour but couldn't get anything going and no heads either. Again, happy with my play and concentration and could easily have gone more my way so Im ok with it.
Some might say you cant rely on hands only to make chips as you wont get anywhere but at these low stakes your hands mean a lot more. You cant 'outplay' someone as easily who isn't thinking on the same lines as you but what you need to be good at is getting thin value from the very loose calls you get. Also, and this has been getting me a lot lately than it should, when you watch a guy play loose they are also going to get good hands too so can be very frustrating when you run into them after being patient. Its affected me more than it should lately.
So you do need hands and for them to hold up to win these low stakes MTTs more than trying to bluff someone off the range you think they have, that's where value betting comes in more.
Thanks my view anyway.
I hope you don't think its cheating or not a true BR challenge but I am 100% trying to turn my 5 tokens into £500.
In the spirit of this; incase someone sees me in another MTT and I fail to deduct from my BR say £5.50 please be assured that I am being honest because in the end I would only be cheating myself.
As proof and what makes me say this is I have just had a 4th in the £2 rebuy for £31+ but that was never part of my challenge at the moment so I will not be adding that to my BR tally at the top of the thread. Its obviously one I could afford to play but if I truly had only £31 I would not have played this and Im not going to retrospectivly add this to my tally as like I have said I would only be cheating myself.
Tonight, I played real well with little but each chance for a head prize went against me but I still had a very good stack then lost two races first KQ v 1010 and then 1010 v KQ and lost that too. Both to the same guy who calls very wild and goes all in wider.
Very frustrated, lost all but one key hand. I know it happens but at least I played well.
Try again next time.
So we had a successful night tonight marred by my HU losing hand. Yes, I got another 2nd in this challenge so I have a cash and two 2nds. In reflection im happy that I have got 5 tokens into £50+ and im relatively happy that I wont now go broke minus some drunk donk off at a cash table. Hmmm, ive never done that before!
I played very well with only a few mistakes and had a hand I will try and find if I can to ask questions on. I chipped up a little early and got the chip lead half way through thanks to a nice three way all in when I had tptk against a draw and another weaker tp. After that though I had a bad run of cards and slipped down but stole some pots here and there before getting lucky KQ v AQ to knock a guy out. I didn't pick another head until the FT (only got one more and that was first out on the FT).
Got to the FT 5/6 and managed to get 1/4 which 4 handed went on for a long time. Played well and at HU was only a little behind. Played good, got how he was playing and after he went all in for the umpteenth time I had 88 v A4 and a nice 3KJ flop was followed by a J and a K and that was that. Had I won he would have had 3/4 BB and im super favourite for the win. That word again, frustrating!
Been a long week at work with six 12 hour shifts done but now I have six days off (or as I write in the middle of these six days) and have had two sessions. First didn't last long with one MTT as was in middle of bathing my twins.
Tonight went better with a fourth place finish, again I was in a great position but two bad hands ended it, when 2nd in chips. First had QQ which called the 98s all in but he hit runner runner straight with the rivered set of QQs helping to add insult to injury in what would have been a nice lead 3 handed then I lose out to same guy to bust out sb v bb with his Ah to my Kh.
I mean its another boost to my BR but that's three or four opportunities for a win that have slipped by. I know it can change and the next four chances I could win them all but we all love that winning feeling no matter for how much it is.
Try again next time.