Only had time for 2 games on Sky today. Won a HU match and got 7th/50 in a micro-stakes MTT for a small profit. After a quiet week my volume should be returning to normal over the weekend.
I feel I’m coming into some form at the moment, in addition to my slightly improved results on the Sky tables I’ve also managed a couple of deep runs in tournaments with super large fields on another well-known site.
The weirdest hand of the day is posted below. One of my fellow players decided to shove his 84 big blind stack from MP with 2/4 offsuit over an UTG limper. Remarkably he even managed to win the hand. This is not a play I would recommend, I even had to check the hand history to make sure I wasn’t seeing things!
After a week of relatively little play I returned to my normal volume. Unfortunately I ran terribly all afternoon/early evening and was resigned to a losing day.
However, the final MTT was to unexpectedly save the day. I made a run to the final table of a 125 runner £2.30 Bounty Hunter, helped on the way by winning two all-in pots as an underdog. For once a big suck-out went my way, in a key mid-stages hand I jammed AJs from the SB over a MP limper and got there against his AQ. Because so many beats had gone against me earlier in the day I felt absolutely no guilt whatsoever!
When we were 4-handed I watched while the other 3 players played an all-in pot, 2 of them were eliminated by the runaway chipleader to ladder me 2 places and get me HU. Unfortunately my stack was puny 10BB vs over 100BB and I lost a race in the second HU hand to bust as runner-up.
After moaning and whinging at my laptop all afternoon I’m now pleasantly surprised to be looking at the highest balance of this challenge so far. Dear Poker Gods; I take it all back!
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 300.00 300.00 8250.00 sooky Big blind 600.00 900.00 14063.75 Your hole cards A J DODIDDLEY Fold Cmartin66 Fold greencards Call 600.00 1500.00 12727.50 darryn1973 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 8250.00 9750.00 0.00 sooky Fold greencards Call 7950.00 17700.00 4777.50 GaryQQQ Show A J greencards Show Q A Flop K 7 3 Turn J River J GaryQQQ Win Three Jacks 17700.00 17700.00
........ and the Poker Gods taketh away (HU SnG, they don't come much worse than this);
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 25.00 25.00 516.00 tony1394 Big blind 50.00 75.00 1409.00 Your hole cards A A GaryQQQ Raise 75.00 150.00 441.00 tony1394 Call 50.00 200.00 1359.00 Flop 7 5 Q tony1394 All-in 1359.00 1559.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 441.00 2000.00 0.00 tony1394 Unmatched bet 918.00 1082.00 918.00 GaryQQQ Show A A tony1394 Show 4 K Turn 8 River 6 tony1394 Win Straight to the 8 1082.00 2000.00
u need to work on your heads up game seem to not be wining very much a such low level and i would just play more mtt seem better at them Posted by rob12345
Yep. I'm an MTT specialist Rob and that's where I expect most of the profit to come from during this challenge. My main reason for crammy in a lot of HU games in the first couple of months was to make sure I earned enough PP to qualify for a C4P bonus, these bonuses are extra important while my roll is still low. Now I've built a cushion the bonuses are less important and I'll no longer be making a point of chasing the 500 point monthly target.
Things are on the up; this was best day of my challenge so far! It’s amazing the difference a week can make, last Sunday I was in the doldrums and didn’t play any poker at all.
In my first game I made the final table in a small Bounty Hunter, but could only manage 5th place for a min-cash. Meanwhile I was already playing the early stages of the 10-45am £150 gtd. Bounty Hunter. For the first hour I stuck to my usual tight/aggressive style and got to the hour break as one of the shorter stacks and without a head prize.
Things took off for me in a 10 minute spell that started in level 8. Two crucial holds gave me full doubles; A9s />KTo and AJo />KQs (my J made a straight flush!), both aipf. Then early in level 9 I managed another full double with my 53s on the BB holding against a limper with A4o on an A53r flop to take the chip lead. These 3 hands were the only times in the entire tournament (before heads-up play) that I was all-in and called.
Going into the final table I was still chip-leader, though still without any head-prizes. My cards then dried up for a quite a while, during this time another player went on a heater and eliminated everybody else left apart from me. A few minutes into HU play I was down to a 16.6K v 97.4K chip deficit with blinds at 500/1000. My opponent was being cautious so I managed to chip up with series of uncalled shoves. A cooler then launched me into the lead, my Q5 doubling against J5 all-in on the turn with two 5s on an otherwise dry board. The cards fell perfectly for me in the winning hand, my set of 4s on a 7h4hQh flop improved to a full-house on the turn to crack a flopped flush. All the chips went in on the river.
This was my best win since the challenge began, despite taking only one head prize I was delighted to take this tournament down. It was purely down to outplaying my opponents, I only picked up one premium pair in the whole tournament, KK in level 2 which only won a tiny pot. At no time did I get lucky and win a pot after getting my chips in behind. The runner-up took a huge 10 heads from the 57 runner field and actually managed to win a few pence more than me, yet I still stand by my Bounty Hunter strategy; always put playing for the win above playing for head-prizes. The emotional high and confidence boost generated by this tournament win is worth far more than those extra few pence, winning an MTT is the best feeling in poker.
Only had time for 3 games and didn’t get much joy. Bubbled the first Bounty Hunter, though I made a small profit on my buy-in with 4 head prizes.
It went downhill after that. I busted out of the next BH in the very first hand. With 2 limpers in the pot I checked my big blind with 24o, a hand I would instantly muck in any other seat. The flop was pretty good for me; 356r. Unfortunately an opponent with 78o got there when he hit a 9 on the river for a higher straight and I was out. With hindsight I wonder if a tight laydown may have been possible (he shoved, I called). I was only losing to 78 or 47. Sets, 2-pairs and over pairs were also in the villains range, some opponents will even get it in with top pair/top kicker at this buy-in. Against an unknown random it's probably a profitable call over time.
In the third game my stack took some serious damage from a calling station who flatted my big open with Q2o, he called my c-bet on a Q high flop and made trip Qs on the turn to crack my pocket aces. You get used to these terrible calls in the micro stakes tournies, it's frustrating when they get lucky, but you have to remember that the players making these awful plays are always losing players in the long run. A standard AJ<99 flip against the same guy a few hands later finished me off.
My first tournament today was a £3.30 Bounty Hunter. It started well with an early double-up and bounty, but two rather unfortunate pots against lucky calling stations spoiled my chances. Firstly 89o called all streets to make an unlikely straight on the river to crack my flopped top set on a J68r board. Then my QJ couldn’t hold against a straight draw when all his chips went in on a Q53r flop. It’s pretty frustrating when a short stacked player flats your preflop raise with 24o and gets there on there the river! After losing another pot with AQs<79o my exit came when I jammed 33 from the small blind into the big blinds 44.
The next tourney was a £2.20 Bounty Hunter. As is often the case in these there was carnage in the early stages; more than half of the 60 runners had been eliminated within 25 minutes. To my relief my hands were holding against the calling stations this time. By the hour break I was above average and free-rolling with my 3 head prizes (if you take 3 head prizes in a Sky Bounty Hunter you’ve won enough cash to cover your entry fee). My cards dried up somewhat in the second hour, though I managed to take one more head prize and make it to final table for 5th place and a small profit. I was busted by the runaway chipleader. He was on a huge heater; hitting everything and taking bounties for fun. In one huge pot just before the bubble he busted another big stack with KK>AA aipf, his 2-outer hit on the turn. When I left the tournament he had around 75% of the chips in play.
With overdue business paperwork needing attention I didn’t have time to enter any more games today.
I’m now close to the point where I’m prepared to enter £5 tournaments. My challenge BRM rules (never risk more than 1/40th of my balance in any one game) allow me to enter £5.00+50p freezeouts when I get to £220. I need £230+ to enter £5.00+75p Bounty Hunters due to their higher rake. When I’m rolled for those games there’s a better chance for rapid growth in my balance due to the higher prizes up for grabs. After two and a half months in the micro stakes I’m very much looking forward to moving up. One more bink and I’m there.
I was back home from work in time to enter the 10-45am £3.30 Bounty Hunter again. Though I spent most of the tournament in ‘short-stack ninja’ mode I somehow made final table for a 4th place finish. My bust-out hand was a standard blind vs blind cooler; I jammed A8s from the SB into QQ on the BB with 11BB effective stacks. With only one head prize my profit from the tournament was nothing to get excited about.
In the afternoon I entered two £2.30 Bounty Hunters. A promising run in the first ended in a harsh beat when I cold 4-bet jammed my AdKd and got outdrawn by a caller with AhJh. A hold there would have put me second in chips with 9 remaining. In the second I made another final table, but could only finish 5th. Frustratingly I had to fold QQ on the river in a crucial final table pot. With 9AKK5 including 3 hearts on the board my hand was never going to be good. Soon after when down to 9BB I open jammed 44 and ran into KK.
My two final tables today didn’t earn much in the way of profit but I have to pretty happy with how things are going at the moment. My balance is on another new high and I’ve been making consistent deep runs for several days. More final tables will inevitably lead to more wins. I feel I’m playing well, it’s clear that the recent painful 5 week spell of negative variance has ended and my confidence is now higher than it’s been for ages.
The most annoying hand of the day is posted below. I decided I was too short to call off another 200 chips chasing a set with my 22 and that I’d rather wait for a better shove spot (I’d have jammed here with 77+). Had I called it looks like it would have been the easiest treble-up in poker history. Still, I can’t be results orientated, flatting or shoving with 22 in that spot is almost certainly a losing play over time.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancelepoisson Small blind 50.00 50.00 2957.50 GaryQQQ Big blind 100.00 150.00 1430.00 Your hole cards 2 2 JimSmith47 Raise 300.00 450.00 16005.00 JAAK47 Fold lepoisson Call 250.00 700.00 2707.50 GaryQQQ Fold Flop 2 K 2 lepoisson Bet 600.00 1300.00 2107.50 JimSmith47 Call 600.00 1900.00 15405.00 Turn 9 lepoisson Bet 1300.00 3200.00 807.50 JimSmith47 Call 1300.00 4500.00 14105.00 River 10 lepoisson All-in 807.50 5307.50 0.00 JimSmith47 Call 807.50 6115.00 13297.50 lepoisson Show K 8 JimSmith47 Show 8 K lepoisson Win Two Pairs, Kings and 2s 3057.50 3057.50 JimSmith47 Win Two Pairs, Kings and 2s 3057.50 16355.00
For what it's worth I've been analyzing how my profit has been made in this challenge so far (these figures are taken from the Sharkscope database using customised filters);
£109 profit has come from 239 MTTs at an average ROI of +22% £23 profit has come from 382 heads-up matches at an average ROI of +8% £21 profit has come from 138 STTs (excluding DYM) at an average ROI of +18% £3 loss has been made in 29 DYMs at an average ROI of -18% £16 profit has come from C4P bonuses
MTTs will be my main focus from now. My long-term average ROI in Sky MTTs is 80%, the 22% achieved so far is disappointing but hardly surprising considering the 5 week downswing that ended a few days ago. My balance should start to grow more quickly if I can get back towards my long term average ROI and get myself rolled to play in higher buy-in games.
I've abandonded chasing a C4P bonus in March after early low volume. Once I'm rolled for £5 games (hopefully within a few days of now) I'll be earning more points for the same quantity of play and the C4P bonuses will become easy to achieve again.
Things didn’t go too well today. After a strong start in my first tourney I busted after open raising with 8d9d and flopping TdJdQh for a made Q-high straight and an open ended redraw to the straight flush. All the chips went in against the only player at the table who had me covered. Unfortunately he had K9o for a higher flopped straight and my flush draw didn’t hit. I could never get away from my hand on that flop and consider it to be one of those unavoidable coolers.
In the second Bounty Hunter I started well again with an early double up, but after getting it in good on the flop was unable to fade flush draws in 2 huge pots to be deprived of 3 bounties and a big chip lead. When I found myself getting short my exit hand was a standard flip. In the third tournament while on the button I foolishly overplayed my QJ on a J high flop and managed to get myself busted by a slowplayed KK in the SB.
In my final tournament (a £1 rebuy) I made a flying start and was on 4x starting stack by the end of level 2 without taking a rebuy (helped on the way by some good fortune when my A4 eliminated an unlucky player with KJ on an AQT44 board). My stack continued to grow but just 3 minutes before the end of the rebuy period and while placed second an awful beat against the chipleader cost me a 16K stack and a huge lead with the average at 5.3K. He got there on the river with QJ to crack my AQ on an AQ3 flop. After that pot I I’d seen enough to know it was unlikely anything would be going my way today, I ended the session early and decided not to bother chasing my money by making a double re-buy and add-on.
Glad to see that the challenge is still going. The balance is much higher than the last time I looked, so I'm glad your doing well. Lets hope you get a major bink soon to rocket yourself towards the target. Good luck mate.
Glad to see that the challenge is still going. The balance is much higher than the last time I looked, so I'm glad your doing well. Lets hope you get a major bink soon to rocket yourself towards the target. Good luck mate. Posted by shaun84
Cheers Shaun, I'm going the right way now after a 5 week downswing. I'm almost rolled for £5 tournies; I need £220+ for freezeouts, £230+ for bounty hunters. I'm itching to get in those now, the £2.30 bounty hunters can get very frustrating at times, particularly when you can't hold against the calling stations and bingo players.
The cards didn’t fall my way in Bounty Hunters today. I lasted well over an hour in the 10-45am, but when getting short I 3-bet shoved my 77 into TT to bust. My exit in the first of two £2.30s came with AK<A2 on an A-high flop, the 2 hitting on the turn by which time I was pot committed. In the third I was to bust in the very first hand after 2 callers flatted my huge 3-bet with pocket KK. With 300BB and 2 head prizes in the pot I was unable to fade a flopped nut-flush draw on the 778 flop. It I’d play it the same again 100% of the time. Meanwhile in a £1 rebuy I found myself with AKo on the BB very first hand at the 5-handed table. Before it was my turn to act one player had open shoved his whole 100BB stack and another had called. I decided I might as well make the call too and gamble for a monster 300BB starting stack. I was up against the AJo of the open shover and the callers 33. The 33 held. With so much wild play going on I was happy to make a quick double rebuy.
Surprisingly I found myself chipleader just two hands later; the 33 guy doubled somebody else to lose a third of his 300BB, then I stacked another player with full house over full house. 5 minutes later I was up to 5x starting stack chips when I 3-bet AA, flopped A33 and stacked an opponent who played 55 about as badly as is possible. Some of my opponents continued to play terribly and by the break I had a massive 31.4K in chips, second was miles behind with 8.7K and the average was 5.3K. Some of you may disagree, but I thought it best to take the add-on anyway with 15 players remaining and only the top 3 to be paid, I always take the add-on at the end of any rebuy period regardless of stack sizes.
With 15 left and only 3 to be paid after the add-ons so there was still a lot of work to do. With such a big stack I didn’t need to gamble so I tightened up. On the way to final table I only played one big pot; I was put in a tough spot when an OOP opponent donk-shoved a pot sized bet on the river of an 89J3A board with 3 clubs, my AKo was good for a juicy pot. At the final table I feel I outplayed my opponents, I went on to take first place for a handy £27 prize and record a new highest closing balance. I also forgave the RNG for being so mean to me in the Bounty Hunters!
In level 1 of my first Bounty Hunter today I made my biggest suck-out of the challenge so far. I got all-in with my QQ pre-flop against 2 opponents (you see so much wild gambling in these games that you can’t fold QQ preflop at any stage against unknown players). They flipped over AQ and AA, so I was drawing very thin. But it was OK, I binked my miracle 1-outer on the turn to scoop a huge pot. The luck had dried up by the final table; I busted in 6th for peanuts after getting it in as favourite and losing twice.
Two more £2.30 Bounty Hunters came to nothing, then the wheels came off a run in the Super6 Freeroll when my AK was outdrawn by AQ after all the chips went in preflop. A lucky TT>AA hand in the mini Bounty Hunter propelled me on another run, I made a small profit with 3 head prizes but fell short of the bubble prizes.
My balance took a small dent today, but it's nothing to worry about, the general trend is upwards. The poker was good fun today, I’m back to enjoying the game after getting disillusioned a couple of weeks ago.
Day 76 – March 24th 2012 Closing balance £223.48 In level 1 of my first Bounty Hunter today I made my biggest suck-out of the challenge so far. I got all-in with my QQ pre-flop against 2 opponents (you see so much wild gambling in these games that you can’t fold QQ preflop at any stage against unknown players). They flipped over AQ and AA, so I was drawing very thin. But it was OK, I binked my miracle 1-outer on the turn to scoop a huge pot. Posted by GaryQQQ
GaryQQQ - U binked your QQQ on the flop, not the turn! (there's always 1!). . Good to see things are goin better m8.
I only bought into 2 MTTs today. In the 9-45am £150 Gtd Bounty Hunter I made a pleasing run to the final table, though my bust out in 5th was rather unfortunate. The SB min-raised with K2, I jammed my stack from the BB with AJ. He made a loose call and got there. It’s frustrating that I couldn’t hold, but it’s a call I want; 2 times out of every 3 that pot will go to me and I’ll be in a great position to go for the win.
After the first game I was correctly rolled for a £5.75 Bounty Hunter (40x £5.75 =£230) for the first time since my challenge began, and so I registered for the 1-30pm £250 gtd.
Things started well with an early double and head prize. After that things didn’t really go my way for a full hour. It turned into one those games where all the hands I passed were smashing flops, all those I played were getting me nowhere. Getting quite short after the break I got it in with KK for a much needed double. Then a crucial slice of luck was on my side as I took my second head prize with AK>TT in a standard flip, my A hitting on the river when I had only 1BB left behind.
I survived the seemingly never ending bubble and went to make final table again. My fate was another cruel bust-out in 5th place with my QQ<KQ aipf for a pot that would have put me in a good position 5-handed. The £9 profit may not be much compared to the buy-in, but it gives a useful increase to my balance. Also it’s morale boosting to cash in the first £5 tourney I’ve entered for 11 weeks.
Apart from that I entered 3 freerolls with no return. Team51 have a fun last-longer competition in the Fantasy Football Freeroll each week. The first out has to pay a forfeit; he/she has to change their on screen location to ‘Team51 Official Tran_ny’ for 7 days. The bad news; I was first out, so I’m the tran_ny. The good news; the tran_ny always seems to run well! Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6070497 25-Mar-12 16:13 NL Holdem £55/52£8.876068248 25-Mar-12 15:58 PL Omaha £0395/451£06067909 25-Mar-12 14:34 NL Holdem £0123/224£06069837 25-Mar-12 12:25 NL Holdem £35/59£8.17
Ouch, a painful final table exit from the first £5.75 tournament I've bought into for 7 weeks;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 400.00 400.00 11240.00 met66 Big blind 800.00 1200.00 18470.00 Your hole cards Q Q EASYFIX Fold Rushquinn Fold AlansLuck Fold GaryQQQ Raise 1600.00 2800.00 9640.00 met66 All-in 18470.00 21270.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 9640.00 30910.00 0.00 met66 Unmatched bet 7630.00 23280.00 7630.00 GaryQQQ Show Q Q met66 Show Q K Flop K A 6 Turn 4 River J met66 Win Pair of Kings 23280.00 30910.00
Comments
Closing balance £166.83
Only had time for 2 games on Sky today. Won a HU match and got 7th/50 in a micro-stakes MTT for a small profit. After a quiet week my volume should be returning to normal over the weekend.
I feel I’m coming into some form at the moment, in addition to my slightly improved results on the Sky tables I’ve also managed a couple of deep runs in tournaments with super large fields on another well-known site.
The weirdest hand of the day is posted below. One of my fellow players decided to shove his 84 big blind stack from MP with 2/4 offsuit over an UTG limper. Remarkably he even managed to win the hand. This is not a play I would recommend, I even had to check the hand history to make sure I wasn’t seeing things!
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6021953 16-Mar-12 17:27 NL Holdem £17/50£1.906023198 16-Mar-12 14:08 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancedryliner Small blind 25.00 25.00 3185.00 agnorr59 Big blind 50.00 75.00 2480.00 Your hole cards 2 8 stokeyjoe1 Fold toproof8 Call 50.00 125.00 380.00 xx All-in 4230.00 4355.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Fold dryliner Fold agnorr59 Fold toproof8 All-in 380.00 4735.00 0.00 xx Unmatched bet 3800.00 935.00 3800.00 toproof8 Show 8 7 xx Show 2 4 Flop Q 3 6 Turn K River 4 xx Win Pair of 4s 935.00 4735.00
Closing balance £175.55
After a week of relatively little play I returned to my normal volume. Unfortunately I ran terribly all afternoon/early evening and was resigned to a losing day.
However, the final MTT was to unexpectedly save the day. I made a run to the final table of a 125 runner £2.30 Bounty Hunter, helped on the way by winning two all-in pots as an underdog. For once a big suck-out went my way, in a key mid-stages hand I jammed AJs from the SB over a MP limper and got there against his AQ. Because so many beats had gone against me earlier in the day I felt absolutely no guilt whatsoever!
When we were 4-handed I watched while the other 3 players played an all-in pot, 2 of them were eliminated by the runaway chipleader to ladder me 2 places and get me HU. Unfortunately my stack was puny 10BB vs over 100BB and I lost a race in the second HU hand to bust as runner-up.
After moaning and whinging at my laptop all afternoon I’m now pleasantly surprised to be looking at the highest balance of this challenge so far. Dear Poker Gods; I take it all back!
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6027759 17-Mar-12 22:18 NL Holdem £22/125£18.826027628 17-Mar-12 20:38 NL Holdem £262/86-£2.306030407 17-Mar-12 18:24 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056026759 17-Mar-12 18:00 NL Holdem £28/55£1.206030138 17-Mar-12 17:33 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106030108 17-Mar-12 17:24 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906029957 17-Mar-12 17:19 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106026339 17-Mar-12 16:56 NL Holdem £233/71-£2.306023225 17-Mar-12 16:14 PL Omaha £0358/482£06029312 17-Mar-12 15:00 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
The Poker Gods giveth (run to BH FT);
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 300.00 300.00 8250.00 sooky Big blind 600.00 900.00 14063.75 Your hole cards A J DODIDDLEY Fold Cmartin66 Fold greencards Call 600.00 1500.00 12727.50 darryn1973 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 8250.00 9750.00 0.00 sooky Fold greencards Call 7950.00 17700.00 4777.50 GaryQQQ Show A J greencards Show Q A Flop K 7 3 Turn J River J GaryQQQ Win Three Jacks 17700.00 17700.00
........ and the Poker Gods taketh away (HU SnG, they don't come much worse than this);
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 25.00 25.00 516.00 tony1394 Big blind 50.00 75.00 1409.00 Your hole cards A A GaryQQQ Raise 75.00 150.00 441.00 tony1394 Call 50.00 200.00 1359.00 Flop 7 5 Q tony1394 All-in 1359.00 1559.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 441.00 2000.00 0.00 tony1394 Unmatched bet 918.00 1082.00 918.00 GaryQQQ Show A A tony1394 Show 4 K Turn 8 River 6 tony1394 Win Straight to the 8 1082.00 2000.00
Happy St.Patricks Day everybody!
It was an evening of poker and Guinness for me tonight;
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/pokerguinness.jpg/
Closing balance £209.84
Things are on the up; this was best day of my challenge so far! It’s amazing the difference a week can make, last Sunday I was in the doldrums and didn’t play any poker at all.
In my first game I made the final table in a small Bounty Hunter, but could only manage 5th place for a min-cash. Meanwhile I was already playing the early stages of the 10-45am £150 gtd. Bounty Hunter. For the first hour I stuck to my usual tight/aggressive style and got to the hour break as one of the shorter stacks and without a head prize.
Things took off for me in a 10 minute spell that started in level 8. Two crucial holds gave me full doubles; A9s />KTo and AJo />KQs (my J made a straight flush!), both aipf. Then early in level 9 I managed another full double with my 53s on the BB holding against a limper with A4o on an A53r flop to take the chip lead. These 3 hands were the only times in the entire tournament (before heads-up play) that I was all-in and called.
Going into the final table I was still chip-leader, though still without any head-prizes. My cards then dried up for a quite a while, during this time another player went on a heater and eliminated everybody else left apart from me. A few minutes into HU play I was down to a 16.6K v 97.4K chip deficit with blinds at 500/1000. My opponent was being cautious so I managed to chip up with series of uncalled shoves. A cooler then launched me into the lead, my Q5 doubling against J5 all-in on the turn with two 5s on an otherwise dry board. The cards fell perfectly for me in the winning hand, my set of 4s on a 7h4hQh flop improved to a full-house on the turn to crack a flopped flush. All the chips went in on the river.
This was my best win since the challenge began, despite taking only one head prize I was delighted to take this tournament down. It was purely down to outplaying my opponents, I only picked up one premium pair in the whole tournament, KK in level 2 which only won a tiny pot. At no time did I get lucky and win a pot after getting my chips in behind. The runner-up took a huge 10 heads from the 57 runner field and actually managed to win a few pence more than me, yet I still stand by my Bounty Hunter strategy; always put playing for the win above playing for head-prizes. The emotional high and confidence boost generated by this tournament win is worth far more than those extra few pence, winning an MTT is the best feeling in poker.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6031289 18-Mar-12 13:23 NL Holdem £31/57£31.586030419 18-Mar-12 12:31 NL Holdem £25/39£2.71
BH win final hand; http://t.co/yNjhYEBR
That's more like it, I declare my 5 week downswing officially over!
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/challengeto180312.jpg/
Closing balance £206.55
Only had time for 3 games and didn’t get much joy. Bubbled the first Bounty Hunter, though I made a small profit on my buy-in with 4 head prizes.
It went downhill after that. I busted out of the next BH in the very first hand. With 2 limpers in the pot I checked my big blind with 24o, a hand I would instantly muck in any other seat. The flop was pretty good for me; 356r. Unfortunately an opponent with 78o got there when he hit a 9 on the river for a higher straight and I was out. With hindsight I wonder if a tight laydown may have been possible (he shoved, I called). I was only losing to 78 or 47. Sets, 2-pairs and over pairs were also in the villains range, some opponents will even get it in with top pair/top kicker at this buy-in. Against an unknown random it's probably a profitable call over time.
In the third game my stack took some serious damage from a calling station who flatted my big open with Q2o, he called my c-bet on a Q high flop and made trip Qs on the turn to crack my pocket aces. You get used to these terrible calls in the micro stakes tournies, it's frustrating when they get lucky, but you have to remember that the players making these awful plays are always losing players in the long run. A standard AJ<99 flip against the same guy a few hands later finished me off.
6037566 19-Mar-12 17:12 NL Holdem £222/31-£2.306037446 19-Mar-12 16:32 NL Holdem £242/42-£2.306036429 19-Mar-12 15:02 NL Holdem £27/40£1.31
Closing balance £210.34
My first tournament today was a £3.30 Bounty Hunter. It started well with an early double-up and bounty, but two rather unfortunate pots against lucky calling stations spoiled my chances. Firstly 89o called all streets to make an unlikely straight on the river to crack my flopped top set on a J68r board. Then my QJ couldn’t hold against a straight draw when all his chips went in on a Q53r flop. It’s pretty frustrating when a short stacked player flats your preflop raise with 24o and gets there on there the river! After losing another pot with AQs<79o my exit came when I jammed 33 from the small blind into the big blinds 44.
The next tourney was a £2.20 Bounty Hunter. As is often the case in these there was carnage in the early stages; more than half of the 60 runners had been eliminated within 25 minutes. To my relief my hands were holding against the calling stations this time. By the hour break I was above average and free-rolling with my 3 head prizes (if you take 3 head prizes in a Sky Bounty Hunter you’ve won enough cash to cover your entry fee). My cards dried up somewhat in the second hour, though I managed to take one more head prize and make it to final table for 5th place and a small profit. I was busted by the runaway chipleader. He was on a huge heater; hitting everything and taking bounties for fun. In one huge pot just before the bubble he busted another big stack with KK>AA aipf, his 2-outer hit on the turn. When I left the tournament he had around 75% of the chips in play.
With overdue business paperwork needing attention I didn’t have time to enter any more games today.
I’m now close to the point where I’m prepared to enter £5 tournaments. My challenge BRM rules (never risk more than 1/40th of my balance in any one game) allow me to enter £5.00+50p freezeouts when I get to £220. I need £230+ to enter £5.00+75p Bounty Hunters due to their higher rake. When I’m rolled for those games there’s a better chance for rapid growth in my balance due to the higher prizes up for grabs. After two and a half months in the micro stakes I’m very much looking forward to moving up. One more bink and I’m there.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6041342 20-Mar-12 15:00 NL Holdem £25/60£5.696041561 20-Mar-12 13:36 NL Holdem £320/65-£1.90
Closing balance £216.93
I was back home from work in time to enter the 10-45am £3.30 Bounty Hunter again. Though I spent most of the tournament in ‘short-stack ninja’ mode I somehow made final table for a 4th place finish. My bust-out hand was a standard blind vs blind cooler; I jammed A8s from the SB into QQ on the BB with 11BB effective stacks. With only one head prize my profit from the tournament was nothing to get excited about.
In the afternoon I entered two £2.30 Bounty Hunters. A promising run in the first ended in a harsh beat when I cold 4-bet jammed my AdKd and got outdrawn by a caller with AhJh. A hold there would have put me second in chips with 9 remaining. In the second I made another final table, but could only finish 5th. Frustratingly I had to fold QQ on the river in a crucial final table pot. With 9AKK5 including 3 hearts on the board my hand was never going to be good. Soon after when down to 9BB I open jammed 44 and ran into KK.
My two final tables today didn’t earn much in the way of profit but I have to pretty happy with how things are going at the moment. My balance is on another new high and I’ve been making consistent deep runs for several days. More final tables will inevitably lead to more wins. I feel I’m playing well, it’s clear that the recent painful 5 week spell of negative variance has ended and my confidence is now higher than it’s been for ages.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6048195 21-Mar-12 18:30 NL Holdem £25/62£3.416047825 21-Mar-12 17:23 NL Holdem £210/37-£2.306046778 21-Mar-12 13:35 NL Holdem £34/51£5.48
The most annoying hand of the day is posted below. I decided I was too short to call off another 200 chips chasing a set with my 22 and that I’d rather wait for a better shove spot (I’d have jammed here with 77+). Had I called it looks like it would have been the easiest treble-up in poker history. Still, I can’t be results orientated, flatting or shoving with 22 in that spot is almost certainly a losing play over time.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancelepoisson Small blind 50.00 50.00 2957.50 GaryQQQ Big blind 100.00 150.00 1430.00 Your hole cards 2 2 JimSmith47 Raise 300.00 450.00 16005.00 JAAK47 Fold lepoisson Call 250.00 700.00 2707.50 GaryQQQ Fold Flop 2 K 2 lepoisson Bet 600.00 1300.00 2107.50 JimSmith47 Call 600.00 1900.00 15405.00 Turn 9 lepoisson Bet 1300.00 3200.00 807.50 JimSmith47 Call 1300.00 4500.00 14105.00 River 10 lepoisson All-in 807.50 5307.50 0.00 JimSmith47 Call 807.50 6115.00 13297.50 lepoisson Show K 8 JimSmith47 Show 8 K lepoisson Win Two Pairs, Kings and 2s 3057.50 3057.50 JimSmith47 Win Two Pairs, Kings and 2s 3057.50 16355.00
£109 profit has come from 239 MTTs at an average ROI of +22%
£23 profit has come from 382 heads-up matches at an average ROI of +8%
£21 profit has come from 138 STTs (excluding DYM) at an average ROI of +18%
£3 loss has been made in 29 DYMs at an average ROI of -18%
£16 profit has come from C4P bonuses
MTTs will be my main focus from now. My long-term average ROI in Sky MTTs is 80%, the 22% achieved so far is disappointing but hardly surprising considering the 5 week downswing that ended a few days ago. My balance should start to grow more quickly if I can get back towards my long term average ROI and get myself rolled to play in higher buy-in games.
I've abandonded chasing a C4P bonus in March after early low volume. Once I'm rolled for £5 games (hopefully within a few days of now) I'll be earning more points for the same quantity of play and the C4P bonuses will become easy to achieve again.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/85/challenge220312bydiscip.jpg/
Closing balance £209.88
Things didn’t go too well today. After a strong start in my first tourney I busted after open raising with 8d9d and flopping TdJdQh for a made Q-high straight and an open ended redraw to the straight flush. All the chips went in against the only player at the table who had me covered. Unfortunately he had K9o for a higher flopped straight and my flush draw didn’t hit. I could never get away from my hand on that flop and consider it to be one of those unavoidable coolers.
In the second Bounty Hunter I started well again with an early double up, but after getting it in good on the flop was unable to fade flush draws in 2 huge pots to be deprived of 3 bounties and a big chip lead. When I found myself getting short my exit hand was a standard flip. In the third tournament while on the button I foolishly overplayed my QJ on a J high flop and managed to get myself busted by a slowplayed KK in the SB.
In my final tournament (a £1 rebuy) I made a flying start and was on 4x starting stack by the end of level 2 without taking a rebuy (helped on the way by some good fortune when my A4 eliminated an unlucky player with KJ on an AQT44 board). My stack continued to grow but just 3 minutes before the end of the rebuy period and while placed second an awful beat against the chipleader cost me a 16K stack and a huge lead with the average at 5.3K. He got there on the river with QJ to crack my AQ on an AQ3 flop. After that pot I I’d seen enough to know it was unlikely anything would be going my way today, I ended the session early and decided not to bother chasing my money by making a double re-buy and add-on.
6053626 22-Mar-12 17:02 NL Holdem £114/28-£1.106052099 22-Mar-12 16:27 NL Holdem £230/56-£2.306051511 22-Mar-12 15:08 NL Holdem £213/32-£2.306054727 22-Mar-12 13:24 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95
Closing balance £227.06
The cards didn’t fall my way in Bounty Hunters today. I lasted well over an hour in the 10-45am, but when getting short I 3-bet shoved my 77 into TT to bust. My exit in the first of two £2.30s came with AK<A2 on an A-high flop, the 2 hitting on the turn by which time I was pot committed. In the third I was to bust in the very first hand after 2 callers flatted my huge 3-bet with pocket KK. With 300BB and 2 head prizes in the pot I was unable to fade a flopped nut-flush draw on the 778 flop. It I’d play it the same again 100% of the time. Meanwhile in a £1 rebuy I found myself with AKo on the BB very first hand at the 5-handed table. Before it was my turn to act one player had open shoved his whole 100BB stack and another had called. I decided I might as well make the call too and gamble for a monster 300BB starting stack. I was up against the AJo of the open shover and the callers 33. The 33 held. With so much wild play going on I was happy to make a quick double rebuy.
Surprisingly I found myself chipleader just two hands later; the 33 guy doubled somebody else to lose a third of his 300BB, then I stacked another player with full house over full house. 5 minutes later I was up to 5x starting stack chips when I 3-bet AA, flopped A33 and stacked an opponent who played 55 about as badly as is possible. Some of my opponents continued to play terribly and by the break I had a massive 31.4K in chips, second was miles behind with 8.7K and the average was 5.3K. Some of you may disagree, but I thought it best to take the add-on anyway with 15 players remaining and only the top 3 to be paid, I always take the add-on at the end of any rebuy period regardless of stack sizes.
With 15 left and only 3 to be paid after the add-ons so there was still a lot of work to do. With such a big stack I didn’t need to gamble so I tightened up. On the way to final table I only played one big pot; I was put in a tough spot when an OOP opponent donk-shoved a pot sized bet on the river of an 89J3A board with 3 clubs, my AKo was good for a juicy pot. At the final table I feel I outplayed my opponents, I went on to take first place for a handy £27 prize and record a new highest closing balance. I also forgave the RNG for being so mean to me in the Bounty Hunters!
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6058828 23-Mar-12 17:29 NL Holdem £243/45-£2.306060247 23-Mar-12 17:28 NL Holdem £11/25£25.906058530 23-Mar-12 17:14 NL Holdem £247/63-£2.306057687 23-Mar-12 13:40 NL Holdem £324/72-£2.176061133 23-Mar-12 12:21 NL Holdem £21/2£1.906061269 23-Mar-12 12:14 NL Holdem £0.502/2-£0.55
Bounty Hunter madness;
Closing balance £223.48
In level 1 of my first Bounty Hunter today I made my biggest suck-out of the challenge so far. I got all-in with my QQ pre-flop against 2 opponents (you see so much wild gambling in these games that you can’t fold QQ preflop at any stage against unknown players). They flipped over AQ and AA, so I was drawing very thin. But it was OK, I binked my miracle 1-outer on the turn to scoop a huge pot. The luck had dried up by the final table; I busted in 6th for peanuts after getting it in as favourite and losing twice.
Two more £2.30 Bounty Hunters came to nothing, then the wheels came off a run in the Super6 Freeroll when my AK was outdrawn by AQ after all the chips went in preflop. A lucky TT>AA hand in the mini Bounty Hunter propelled me on another run, I made a small profit with 3 head prizes but fell short of the bubble prizes.
GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6066223 25-Mar-12 00:47 NL Holdem £374/426£0.996066892 24-Mar-12 22:54 NL Holdem £258/122-£2.306070104 24-Mar-12 20:08 NL Holdem £22/2-£2.106070137 24-Mar-12 19:57 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056062780 24-Mar-12 19:13 NL Holdem £0103/244£06066225 24-Mar-12 19:06 NL Holdem £279/87-£2.306064994 24-Mar-12 16:42 NL Holdem £26/54£2.236069033 24-Mar-12 16:35 NL Holdem £11/2£0.95My balance took a small dent today, but it's nothing to worry about, the general trend is upwards. The poker was good fun today, I’m back to enjoying the game after getting disillusioned a couple of weeks ago.
I make a huge suck-out;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceboyingreen Small blind 15.00 15.00 1485.00 scottygirl Big blind 30.00 45.00 4855.00 Your hole cards Q Q delyob Raise 150.00 195.00 1965.00 Jaypee61 Fold GaryQQQ Raise 435.00 630.00 2120.00 boyingreen Fold scottygirl All-in 4855.00 5485.00 0.00 delyob All-in 1965.00 7450.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2120.00 9570.00 0.00 scottygirl Unmatched bet 2330.00 7240.00 2330.00 scottygirl Show Q A delyob Show A A GaryQQQ Show Q Q Flop 5 7 Q Turn 2 River 10 GaryQQQ Win Three Queens 7240.00 7240.00
.
Good to see things are goin better m8.
GL
Closing balance £240.52
I only bought into 2 MTTs today. In the 9-45am £150 Gtd Bounty Hunter I made a pleasing run to the final table, though my bust out in 5th was rather unfortunate. The SB min-raised with K2, I jammed my stack from the BB with AJ. He made a loose call and got there. It’s frustrating that I couldn’t hold, but it’s a call I want; 2 times out of every 3 that pot will go to me and I’ll be in a great position to go for the win.After the first game I was correctly rolled for a £5.75 Bounty Hunter (40x £5.75 =£230) for the first time since my challenge began, and so I registered for the 1-30pm £250 gtd.
Things started well with an early double and head prize. After that things didn’t really go my way for a full hour. It turned into one those games where all the hands I passed were smashing flops, all those I played were getting me nowhere. Getting quite short after the break I got it in with KK for a much needed double. Then a crucial slice of luck was on my side as I took my second head prize with AK>TT in a standard flip, my A hitting on the river when I had only 1BB left behind.
I survived the seemingly never ending bubble and went to make final table again. My fate was another cruel bust-out in 5th place with my QQ<KQ aipf for a pot that would have put me in a good position 5-handed. The £9 profit may not be much compared to the buy-in, but it gives a useful increase to my balance. Also it’s morale boosting to cash in the first £5 tourney I’ve entered for 11 weeks.
Apart from that I entered 3 freerolls with no return. Team51 have a fun last-longer competition in the Fantasy Football Freeroll each week. The first out has to pay a forfeit; he/she has to change their on screen location to ‘Team51 Official Tran_ny’ for 7 days. The bad news; I was first out, so I’m the tran_ny. The good news; the tran_ny always seems to run well!
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6070497 25-Mar-12 16:13 NL Holdem £55/52£8.876068248 25-Mar-12 15:58 PL Omaha £0395/451£06067909 25-Mar-12 14:34 NL Holdem £0123/224£06069837 25-Mar-12 12:25 NL Holdem £35/59£8.17
Ouch, a painful final table exit from the first £5.75 tournament I've bought into for 7 weeks;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 400.00 400.00 11240.00 met66 Big blind 800.00 1200.00 18470.00 Your hole cards Q Q EASYFIX Fold Rushquinn Fold AlansLuck Fold GaryQQQ Raise 1600.00 2800.00 9640.00 met66 All-in 18470.00 21270.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 9640.00 30910.00 0.00 met66 Unmatched bet 7630.00 23280.00 7630.00 GaryQQQ Show Q Q met66 Show Q K Flop K A 6 Turn 4 River J met66 Win Pair of Kings 23280.00 30910.00