With a slightly reduced work load over the school holiday I managed to get home earlier than usual allowing me to enter the 9-45am and 10-45am Bounty Hunters. These are my favourite daytime MTTs on Sky for these reasons;
1.They carry a £150 guarantee, attracting a field of 50+ entrants at £3.30 each 2.The rake is a reasonable 10%, much better value than the £2.30 and £5.75 games which are raked at 15% 3.Around 1/3 of the field are reasonably competent daytime regulars, the other 2/3 are less experienced casual players. This results in a fairly soft field, good value for the £3.30 entry fee.
I also registered for a £2.30 Bounty Hunter, a satellite into an £11.00 Bounty Hunter (I’m playing these to win the seat now that my balance is healthier, not the £11.00 in cash as I was previously) and a freeroll.
The £2.30 game, the satellite and the 10-45am tournament all came to nothing, but things were to go better in the other two. In the 9-45am Bounty Hunter I’d worked my way up to the chip lead after 30 minutes. At that stage despite having the biggest stack I still didn’t have any head prizes. My Bounty Hunter strategy is to play to win the tournament, not gamble unneccesarily for head prizes. This means that when I run deep I’ve usually take less bounties than most, but I don’t concern myself too much with that as in my opinion my strategy leads to a bigger long term profit. A cooler after 45 minutes doubled an opponent and sent me back to the middle of the pack . My pocket 6s flopped and open-ended straight flush draw. The straight flush didn’t hit but I was to river a full house on the 98786 board, my opponent held 98 for a higher full house and had been ahead on all streets, I’d incorrectly put him on a flush.
The last hand before the break was a crazy 3-way aipf affair that propelled me back into the lead (hand history posted below). I’d been playing fairly aggressively and opening or 3-betting a high percentage of pots.This played right into my hands when I picked up AA and nobody believed me. I managed to get two shorter stacks to go all-in with mediocre hands; A2o and QJo. A 3-way all-in pot is always a bit scary, even if you have AA you can expect to lose at least 30% of the time.Though to my relief my monster held up this time and I picked up the head prizes.
That big pot gave me a decent stack to work with and a great opportunity to go on a deep run.
The dealer gave me plenty to play with and I think I played my hands well. I eventually won the tournament for a return of just over £45. Heads-up play was surprisingly brief despite starting with relatively deep and level stacks. The runner up gifted all his chips when he didn’t believe I had a king and got all his chips in on the turn with KKTQ on the board, he held QJ. While all this was going on I’d also made the final table of the freeroll. I busted in 3rd place for £5.25, a very nice return for my 25 poker points.
Today was a very good day; my biggest individual win of the quest so far, my most protitable day so far, and my highest closing balance so far. That 5 week downswing is fading into a distant memory, I think I'll crack a beer
At least AA held! KK just fold pre! ;-) On a roll now! Incidentally, forgot to say re JOGLE, enjoyed the blog and the pics. I cycled it LEJOG about 15 years ago with some mates. BRUTAL it was! We done it in 9 x days. The Scotland bit was done in monsoon conditions! I had to be lifted on/off the bike the last two days! lol Also, no GPS/smart phones in those days either! pad p.s. Have you locked Lea up and stolen her "run-good"?
p.s. Have you locked Lea up and stolen her "run-good"? Posted by Glenelg
Haha, it's funny how it's turned around. While I was on a my 5 week downswing she went on a heater and was winning everything, all of a sudden it seems to have swapped around. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
Cheers Pad
PS LEJOGs/JOGLEs on bikes are for wimps; real men do it on foot
My two £2.30 Bounty Hunters saw very early level 1 exits when I decided to commit myself with a flopped set, then flopped top two pairs, both times I came off second best to straights. I fared better in a £2.40 satellite and qualified for the £500 gtd Bounty Hunter at 2-00pm, this to become the first £11 game I’ve played in since this quest began. Several satellites run for this tournament, they all have a very fast structure so a fair degree of luck is required. However this also has a benefit; the target tournament itself therefore contains quite a few satellite qualifiers who aren’t necessarily strong players, it’s a shame that the guarantee had to be reduced from £1,000 to £500 recently.
The £500 gtd went off with 73 runners. I had a pleasing first hour and went into the break 8th/32 with a headprize worth £4.69, so I was already up on the price of my £2.40 satellite seat. In the second hour my stack began to dwindle until a crucial double got me back into the top half of the field; I check/shoved a flopped flush draw and overcard after seeing a flop with a limper, he called with top pair, my flush hit to give me a full double. When we reached the bubble (10 paid) many of those still alive tightened up condierably, this is typical when there are a lot of satellite players and it is a great time to pick up plenty of chips. On the final table bubble I missed another flopped flush draw to double a short stack and find myself below average and 5th/7 at the second break. I made the final table though very short, my bust out hand was on the unlucky side; in a 4-way limped pot I jammed with top two pairs and found a dominated caller, unfortunately he made a runner-runner flush to be bust me in 6th.
With a return of just over £30 for my £2.40 satellite seat I should be pleased, but immediately after busting this tournament I’m more disappointed than anything else. I was playing for the win and 6th place feels like a failure. I’ll try and satellite into this tournament again, I feel I have an edge over the field and it will be profitable for me to enter as often as possible. When my balance exceeds £500 I’ll probably be happy to buy-in direct. Trying to look on the bright side I can be happy to report another profitable day, it’s definitely pleasing to see my balance continuing to grow nicely as it has for 3 weeks now.
Looking at my results there have been 3 distinct phases so far;
games 0-290 - a pleasing slow, gradual start as my balance grew playing mainly micro stakes STTs
games 290 - 760 - a frustrating 5 week downswing, unable to make progress
games 760 onwards - recent results have been very pleasing, I've enjoyed a spell of rapid growth
Obviously I'm loving stage 3 and hoping it continues as long as possible. However, I have to be realistic, the variance involved in MTTS means that another downswing is inevitable.
My winning streak came to an end today. Luck wasn’t on my side as I failed to cash in all of my tournaments. It’s no big deal, I know I played well and I can’t do any more than that. It’s the nature of game that even if you could play every hand perfectly there'll be spells where you lose many games in a row, particularly in MTTs.
After work tomorrow I’m away visiting relatives for Easter, it’s unlikely I’ll be playing again until Monday.
After a poker free weekend I was keen to get back to the tables this morning. Two deep runs in early low stakes Bounty Hunters led to final tables. Unfortunately I was unable to win either with 2nd and 3rd place finishes. After those I was flying in the top 3 of an afternoon £5.75 Bounty Hunter that had started with over 100 runners until an AK<A6 bad beat and an AK<TT cooler on a KT2r flop busted me just before the bubble. At that stage I could have played it safe and folded for a min-cash, but that’s not my style of play; I’m always playing for the win and have absolutely no fear of busting on bubbles.
Over the weekend I received a C4P offer from Sky; if I earn 700+PP this month I’ll get a 25% C4P boost. I’m confident of earning 500+PP this month, though 700 might be a bit of a stretch. I’ll decide towards the end of the month whether to push on for 700 or not. It shouldn’t be too hard if I mix a few HU matches into my MTT schedule.
Bearing in mind the the offer mentioned above I sat in a few HU matches today for the first time in a while and managed to return a small profit. In one of the games I accidentally found myself sitting opposite fellow forum member Spashies at a hyper table. He's not the sort of opponent I'm looking to play as it soon became obvious there was no skill edge on either side; it all came down to whoever got lucky in the first all-in and called pot (it was me with Q8 />A7 aipf!). I'll be much better off waiting for random opponents to join me at a table, often they're inexperienced at HU play and I'll have a better chance of beating the rake.
At the moment I’m playing very confidently and feel I’m in good form. I finished up on the day but if I’d run better in a few key spots my results could have been much better.
No joy for me at the tables today; I ran badly and failed to cash in any of my tournaments. The closest I came was 9th place in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter with 8 to be paid. The bust-out hand in that one was an unavoidable cooler; I got my short stack in from the BB when Iflopped top pair and a Q-high flush draw on an all hearts board but was unable to improve against a limper slow-playing his AA (without the A of hearts).
I’m not going to turn this diary into a bad beat bore so I won’t be quoting any other hand histories, suffice to say I got very unlucky in several other key pots during the session. There will be multiple losing days during this quest, they’re fully expected and nothing to worry about. I’ll only get angry if I play badly. As long as I consistently play to the best of my ability I’m confident success will be the eventual outcome.
I carried on today where I left off yesterday; the wheels came off some promising tournament runs when I got unlucky in key spots. If I could have dodged a few two-outers with two to come it might have been a different story. It’s frustrating when you see poor play being rewarded, but you have to accept it. Bad beats are an essential part of poker, if the fish never won they wouldn’t stay in the games.
Mixing in a few HU matches to boost my PP total has been worthwhile so far, I made a profit in my HU matches today to offset some of my MTT losses and the points are clocking up nicely.
While I was failing miserably in MTTs my partner who plays as Lea116311 was sat next to me having a storming afternoon; she won the 2-00pm £500 gtd Bounty Hunter for a very tasty £188.90 after satelliting in for only £2.40. Am I envious? Too right I am, I’d love a big bink like that at the moment! Well played Lea.
Another poor day, I ran dreadfully again. After the hand below in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter I decided to snap quit my session early before any tilt set in. KK has been a terrible hand for me lately; twice today I busted a tournament with KK against A-rag after getting my chips in good only to see my opponent hit on the river.
After three days of terrible luck during which I’ve lost almost 20% of my bankroll I think this can now be considered a mini-downswing. I’m tempted to drop my max buy-in to £2 + fee until things start going my way again, I’ll decide tomorrow.
After sleeping on it I decided there’s no valid reason to drop stakes just because I’ve had three bad days. As long as I stick to my BRM rules there’s no danger of blasting off a big part of my roll.
That decision nearly bore fruit immediately; I had a great run in my first £5.75 Bounty Hunter of the day. Going into the final table I had 7 head prizes and a big chip lead. Unfortunately it all went pear-shaped at the sharp end and I crashed out in third place. I was very disappointed not to win this one, it was easily my best chance of binking a £5.75 game in this quest so far. Despite that annoyance I don’t think I played badly, sometimes the cards just play themselves; I lost my lead and doubled another player when my flopped top two pairs and flush draw failed to improve against flopped bottom set, soon after in a blind vs blind pot I was outkicked by one card with ace vs ace on an ace-high flop to bust.
In the afternoon I managed to win a £60 gtd freezeout for £37.50. I thought I played well and my good hands held up. The runner-up BEESnHONEY was unfortunate to finish second, he played a strong heads-up game but the luck was on my side. After a 3-street bluff failed badly I found myself very short, then suddenly came back to win the game in a crazy three hand spell. I open jammed JTs from the SB with 10BB, BEESnHONEY correctly made the call with A7, we both hit the 7JA flop, but I came back from behind by making a miracle runner-runner straight flush. Next hand I 3-bet shoved K8s from the BB and got a fold, then won a standard flip with 55>JTs for the win.
In Response to Re: My quest to turn £51 into £1,051 on Sky Poker____ **** latest balance £333.74 **** : Friday the 13th! Pffftttt!! Was wondering if you had another challenge in mind when this is over? You seem like a guy who likes/needs "challenges"? Posted by Glenelg
£48 up makes Friday 13th the most profitable day of this so far, no room for silly superstitions here. No other challenges planned at the moment, I'll think about it when this one is over.
Couldn’t get anything going in tournaments today, best I could manage was 8th in a freeroll. I didn’t lose much money, so I’m not too worried about it. It was one of those days where there were a high proportion of bingo-style gamblers at my tables in the in low stakes Bounty Hunters, this is often the case at the weekend. I got donked out of 3 of my tournaments in the very early stages including the mini Super Bounty Hunter.
Saturday is the only day of the week you might find me playing poker in the evening. I love the big fields and choice of games, but to be honest I rarely do well because I’m so tired and find it hard to concentrate. I’m up for work at 1-30am six days per week, Saturday is a particularly busy day, most of it spent on my feet and I don’t bother taking a break. On the way home I pick up two of my children from their mother and have them for the rest of the weekend. My usual bed time after a 1-30am start is 7-00pm, so I start to flag quite badly after that time on a Saturday (particularly if a beer or two have been consumed . If I do stay up late I prefer railing any fellow team members who may be making deep tournament runs rather than getting involved myself.
Despite a lack of success at the poker tables I finished the day in profit overall after landing a £2.50 each way bet on Neptune Collonges at 33/1 in the Grand National (using money separate from my poker bankroll). I was most surprised; this was the first time I’d picked the winner for about 20 years! I rarely gamble on anything other than poker these days, often the Grand National is my only racing bet of the year. This time round it happened to be my second winning horse within a week. Last Sunday afternoon Team51 were given a very strong racing tip by one of our members via the private team Facebook group. The tip seemed so strong that most of the team decided to have an investment. I only had a small wager but some of the guys put on quite a bit of money. The horse stormed home to win and the team were ecstatic. Though the starting price was somewhat shorter following a late gamble most of us got on early at a very tasty 16/1.
'It was one of those days where there were a high proportion of bingo-style gamblers at my tables in the in low stakes Bounty Hunters, this is often the case at the weekend'
'It was one of those days where there were a high proportion of bingo-style gamblers at my tables in the in low stakes Bounty Hunters, this is often the case at the weekend' But this is a good thing right ? Posted by Dudeskin8
I'm guessing long term YES. But short-term challenge maybe not!
'It was one of those days where there were a high proportion of bingo-style gamblers at my tables in the in low stakes Bounty Hunters, this is often the case at the weekend' But this is a good thing right ? Posted by Dudeskin8
Absolutely!
This is a very profitable situation over the long run, but it's high variance too. Not many small pots are played out, you just have to keep it tight and get it in preflop with your premiums or post flop when you flop well and hope for the best. Turn and river play is almost non-existant. The early stages are a minefield and you're going to have to make a few big holds to go deep.
The hand below is one of my bust-outs from today and a good example of the perils in these games. If I know my opponents hole cards I'm begging for him to call, when he gets there I just have to take on the chin and move onto the next game. I'd never get it in this light against a good thinking player, at these levels I happily will against an unknown random.
Comments
Closing balance £323.98
With a slightly reduced work load over the school holiday I managed to get home earlier than usual allowing me to enter the 9-45am and 10-45am Bounty Hunters. These are my favourite daytime MTTs on Sky for these reasons;
1. They carry a £150 guarantee, attracting a field of 50+ entrants at £3.30 each
2. The rake is a reasonable 10%, much better value than the £2.30 and £5.75 games which are raked at 15%
3. Around 1/3 of the field are reasonably competent daytime regulars, the other 2/3 are less experienced casual players. This results in a fairly soft field, good value for the £3.30 entry fee.
I also registered for a £2.30 Bounty Hunter, a satellite into an £11.00 Bounty Hunter (I’m playing these to win the seat now that my balance is healthier, not the £11.00 in cash as I was previously) and a freeroll.
The £2.30 game, the satellite and the 10-45am tournament all came to nothing, but things were to go better in the other two. In the 9-45am Bounty Hunter I’d worked my way up to the chip lead after 30 minutes. At that stage despite having the biggest stack I still didn’t have any head prizes. My Bounty Hunter strategy is to play to win the tournament, not gamble unneccesarily for head prizes. This means that when I run deep I’ve usually take less bounties than most, but I don’t concern myself too much with that as in my opinion my strategy leads to a bigger long term profit. A cooler after 45 minutes doubled an opponent and sent me back to the middle of the pack . My pocket 6s flopped and open-ended straight flush draw. The straight flush didn’t hit but I was to river a full house on the 98786 board, my opponent held 98 for a higher full house and had been ahead on all streets, I’d incorrectly put him on a flush.
The last hand before the break was a crazy 3-way aipf affair that propelled me back into the lead (hand history posted below). I’d been playing fairly aggressively and opening or 3-betting a high percentage of pots.This played right into my hands when I picked up AA and nobody believed me. I managed to get two shorter stacks to go all-in with mediocre hands; A2o and QJo. A 3-way all-in pot is always a bit scary, even if you have AA you can expect to lose at least 30% of the time.Though to my relief my monster held up this time and I picked up the head prizes.
That big pot gave me a decent stack to work with and a great opportunity to go on a deep run.
April poker points 56The dealer gave me plenty to play with and I think I played my hands well. I eventually won the tournament for a return of just over £45. Heads-up play was surprisingly brief despite starting with relatively deep and level stacks. The runner up gifted all his chips when he didn’t believe I had a king and got all his chips in on the turn with KKTQ on the board, he held QJ. While all this was going on I’d also made the final table of the freeroll. I busted in 3rd place for £5.25, a very nice return for my 25 poker points.
Today was a very good day; my biggest individual win of the quest so far, my most protitable day so far, and my highest closing balance so far. That 5 week downswing is fading into a distant memory, I think I'll crack a beer
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6121489 4-Apr-12 13:04 NL Holdem £320/58-£3.306121022 4-Apr-12 12:29 NL Holdem £31/66£42.606118386 4-Apr-12 12:16 NL Holdem £03/220£5.256120193 4-Apr-12 11:22 NL Holdem £223/32-£2.306123898 4-Apr-12 10:35 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.208/8-£2.40
The crazy Bounty Hunter hand mentioned above;
At least AA held! KK just fold pre! ;-) On a roll now!
Incidentally, forgot to say re JOGLE, enjoyed the blog and the pics. I cycled it LEJOG about 15 years ago with some mates. BRUTAL it was! We done it in 9 x days. The Scotland bit was done in monsoon conditions! I had to be lifted on/off the bike the last two days! lol Also, no GPS/smart phones in those days either!
pad
p.s. Have you locked Lea up and stolen her "run-good"?
Cheers Pad
PS LEJOGs/JOGLEs on bikes are for wimps; real men do it on foot
Closing balance £348.17
My two £2.30 Bounty Hunters saw very early level 1 exits when I decided to commit myself with a flopped set, then flopped top two pairs, both times I came off second best to straights. I fared better in a £2.40 satellite and qualified for the £500 gtd Bounty Hunter at 2-00pm, this to become the first £11 game I’ve played in since this quest began. Several satellites run for this tournament, they all have a very fast structure so a fair degree of luck is required. However this also has a benefit; the target tournament itself therefore contains quite a few satellite qualifiers who aren’t necessarily strong players, it’s a shame that the guarantee had to be reduced from £1,000 to £500 recently.
The £500 gtd went off with 73 runners. I had a pleasing first hour and went into the break 8th/32 with a headprize worth £4.69, so I was already up on the price of my £2.40 satellite seat. In the second hour my stack began to dwindle until a crucial double got me back into the top half of the field; I check/shoved a flopped flush draw and overcard after seeing a flop with a limper, he called with top pair, my flush hit to give me a full double. When we reached the bubble (10 paid) many of those still alive tightened up condierably, this is typical when there are a lot of satellite players and it is a great time to pick up plenty of chips. On the final table bubble I missed another flopped flush draw to double a short stack and find myself below average and 5th/7 at the second break. I made the final table though very short, my bust out hand was on the unlucky side; in a 4-way limped pot I jammed with top two pairs and found a dominated caller, unfortunately he made a runner-runner flush to be bust me in 6th.
With a return of just over £30 for my £2.40 satellite seat I should be pleased, but immediately after busting this tournament I’m more disappointed than anything else. I was playing for the win and 6th place feels like a failure. I’ll try and satellite into this tournament again, I feel I have an edge over the field and it will be profitable for me to enter as often as possible. When my balance exceeds £500 I’ll probably be happy to buy-in direct. Trying to look on the bright side I can be happy to report another profitable day, it’s definitely pleasing to see my balance continuing to grow nicely as it has for 3 weeks now.
April poker points 75
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6127479 5-Apr-12 17:23 NL Holdem £106/73£19.246126693 5-Apr-12 14:59 NL Holdem £239/49-£2.306126907 5-Apr-12 14:43 NL Holdem £229/30-£2.306129742 5-Apr-12 13:05 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956129262 5-Apr-12 12:31 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.203/16£8.60
A runner-runner flush ends my run in the £500 gtd Bounty Hunter;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 500.00 500.00 8620.00 wweboyz Big blind 1000.00 1500.00 50785.00 Your hole cards Q 10 Stevie8 Fold SwineFlu Call 1000.00 2500.00 33944.50 bandit180 Fold alley6728 Call 1000.00 3500.00 29492.50 GaryQQQ Call 500.00 4000.00 8120.00 wweboyz Check Flop Q 8 10 GaryQQQ All-in 8120.00 12120.00 0.00 wweboyz Fold SwineFlu Call 8120.00 20240.00 25824.50 alley6728 Fold GaryQQQ Show Q 10 SwineFlu Show K 10 Turn 8 River 5 SwineFlu Win Flush to the King 20240.00 46064.50
Looking at my results there have been 3 distinct phases so far;
games 0-290 - a pleasing slow, gradual start as my balance grew playing mainly micro stakes STTs
games 290 - 760 - a frustrating 5 week downswing, unable to make progress
games 760 onwards - recent results have been very pleasing, I've enjoyed a spell of rapid growth
Obviously I'm loving stage 3 and hoping it continues as long as possible. However, I have to be realistic, the variance involved in MTTS means that another downswing is inevitable.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/3/challengeto050412.jpg/
Closing balance £325.04
My winning streak came to an end today. Luck wasn’t on my side as I failed to cash in all of my tournaments. It’s no big deal, I know I played well and I can’t do any more than that. It’s the nature of game that even if you could play every hand perfectly there'll be spells where you lose many games in a row, particularly in MTTs.
After work tomorrow I’m away visiting relatives for Easter, it’s unlikely I’ll be playing again until Monday.
April poker points 103
Recent Results Show Last 250 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6133051 6-Apr-12 17:09 NL Holdem £529/95-£1.996133639 6-Apr-12 16:58 NL Holdem £38/17-£3.306134367 6-Apr-12 16:33 NL Holdem £312/32-£3.306133526 6-Apr-12 15:09 NL Holdem £531/44-£5.756132283 6-Apr-12 13:54 NL Holdem £316/81-£0.696134947 6-Apr-12 13:38 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2015/29-£2.406131858 6-Apr-12 13:09 NL Holdem £325/89-£3.306134946 6-Apr-12 13:03 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2013/27-£2.406129404 6-Apr-12 11:55 NL Holdem £0116/192£0
Didn’t play
Day 91 – April 8th 2012
Didn’t play
Day 92 – April 9th 2012
Closing balance £343.59
After a poker free weekend I was keen to get back to the tables this morning. Two deep runs in early low stakes Bounty Hunters led to final tables. Unfortunately I was unable to win either with 2nd and 3rd place finishes. After those I was flying in the top 3 of an afternoon £5.75 Bounty Hunter that had started with over 100 runners until an AK<A6 bad beat and an AK<TT cooler on a KT2r flop busted me just before the bubble. At that stage I could have played it safe and folded for a min-cash, but that’s not my style of play; I’m always playing for the win and have absolutely no fear of busting on bubbles.
Over the weekend I received a C4P offer from Sky; if I earn 700+PP this month I’ll get a 25% C4P boost. I’m confident of earning 500+PP this month, though 700 might be a bit of a stretch. I’ll decide towards the end of the month whether to push on for 700 or not. It shouldn’t be too hard if I mix a few HU matches into my MTT schedule.
Bearing in mind the the offer mentioned above I sat in a few HU matches today for the first time in a while and managed to return a small profit. In one of the games I accidentally found myself sitting opposite fellow forum member Spashies at a hyper table. He's not the sort of opponent I'm looking to play as it soon became obvious there was no skill edge on either side; it all came down to whoever got lucky in the first all-in and called pot (it was me with Q8 />A7 aipf!). I'll be much better off waiting for random opponents to join me at a table, often they're inexperienced at HU play and I'll have a better chance of beating the rake.
At the moment I’m playing very confidently and feel I’m in good form. I finished up on the day but if I’d run better in a few key spots my results could have been much better.
April poker points 132
Recent Results Show Last 250 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6151709 9-Apr-12 18:44 NL Holdem £119/60-£1.106150560 9-Apr-12 17:56 NL Holdem £267/74-£2.306153926 9-Apr-12 17:52 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856149970 9-Apr-12 17:15 NL Holdem £525/110-£1.536153135 9-Apr-12 15:27 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956152970 9-Apr-12 15:20 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056152630 9-Apr-12 13:28 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956149690 9-Apr-12 13:11 NL Holdem £33/65£15.196149348 9-Apr-12 12:25 NL Holdem £361/84-£3.306148845 9-Apr-12 12:09 NL Holdem £22/31£7.89
Closing balance £317.39
No joy for me at the tables today; I ran badly and failed to cash in any of my tournaments. The closest I came was 9th place in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter with 8 to be paid. The bust-out hand in that one was an unavoidable cooler; I got my short stack in from the BB when I flopped top pair and a Q-high flush draw on an all hearts board but was unable to improve against a limper slow-playing his AA (without the A of hearts).
I’m not going to turn this diary into a bad beat bore so I won’t be quoting any other hand histories, suffice to say I got very unlucky in several other key pots during the session. There will be multiple losing days during this quest, they’re fully expected and nothing to worry about. I’ll only get angry if I play badly. As long as I consistently play to the best of my ability I’m confident success will be the eventual outcome.
April poker points 160
Recent Results Show Last 250 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6156359 10-Apr-12 19:07 NL Holdem £223/70-£2.306156153 10-Apr-12 18:58 NL Holdem £525/66-£5.756156304 10-Apr-12 17:57 NL Holdem £522/39-£5.506155411 10-Apr-12 16:10 NL Holdem £59/55-£5.756154920 10-Apr-12 14:49 NL Holdem £239/48-£2.306157842 10-Apr-12 14:37 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056157572 10-Apr-12 13:36 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956157558 10-Apr-12 13:28 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056157518 10-Apr-12 13:21 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056157072 10-Apr-12 12:33 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2017/23-£2.40
Closing balance £303.39
I carried on today where I left off yesterday; the wheels came off some promising tournament runs when I got unlucky in key spots. If I could have dodged a few two-outers with two to come it might have been a different story. It’s frustrating when you see poor play being rewarded, but you have to accept it. Bad beats are an essential part of poker, if the fish never won they wouldn’t stay in the games.
Mixing in a few HU matches to boost my PP total has been worthwhile so far, I made a profit in my HU matches today to offset some of my MTT losses and the points are clocking up nicely.
While I was failing miserably in MTTs my partner who plays as Lea116311 was sat next to me having a storming afternoon; she won the 2-00pm £500 gtd Bounty Hunter for a very tasty £188.90 after satelliting in for only £2.40. Am I envious? Too right I am, I’d love a big bink like that at the moment! Well played Lea.
April poker points 214
Recent Results Show Last 250 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6161295 11-Apr-12 19:37 NL Holdem £232/66-£1.366161068 11-Apr-12 17:31 NL Holdem £522/56-£5.756163677 11-Apr-12 17:18 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956160901 11-Apr-12 17:06 NL Holdem £237/41-£2.306160255 11-Apr-12 16:37 NL Holdem £529/77-£1.536163269 11-Apr-12 15:32 NL Holdem £51/2£4.756163132 11-Apr-12 15:01 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856163127 11-Apr-12 14:56 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056160665 11-Apr-12 13:49 NL Holdem £58/36-£1.996159948 11-Apr-12 13:22 NL Holdem £338/55-£2.176157085 11-Apr-12 12:19 NL Holdem £0115/182£06159538 11-Apr-12 12:13 NL Holdem £332/60-£3.306162188 11-Apr-12 12:05 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.205/17-£2.406162337 11-Apr-12 11:26 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056162154 11-Apr-12 10:41 NL Holdem £0.501/2£0.456162234 11-Apr-12 10:31 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056161539 11-Apr-12 02:13 NL Holdem£11/2£0.95
good luck liamboi11
Closing balance £285.74
Another poor day, I ran dreadfully again. After the hand below in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter I decided to snap quit my session early before any tilt set in. KK has been a terrible hand for me lately; twice today I busted a tournament with KK against A-rag after getting my chips in good only to see my opponent hit on the river.
After three days of terrible luck during which I’ve lost almost 20% of my bankroll I think this can now be considered a mini-downswing. I’m tempted to drop my max buy-in to £2 + fee until things start going my way again, I’ll decide tomorrow.
April poker points 241
Recent Results Show Last 50 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6165654 12-Apr-12 16:57 NL Holdem £553/60-£5.756165553 12-Apr-12 16:43 NL Holdem £230/62-£2.306165235 12-Apr-12 16:09 NL Holdem £553/68-£5.756164749 12-Apr-12 15:56 NL Holdem £225/49-£2.306167763 12-Apr-12 14:15 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056167715 12-Apr-12 14:01 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956167048 12-Apr-12 13:38 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2017/33-£2.406166536 12-Apr-12 02:14 NL Holdem£11/2£0.95
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancedirtygirty Small blind 10.00 10.00 1940.00 willox01 Big blind 20.00 30.00 1780.00 Your hole cards K K RmaGedon Raise 80.00 110.00 1960.00 beckwith02 Fold GaryQQQ Raise 240.00 350.00 1940.00 neilat Fold dirtygirty Call 230.00 580.00 1710.00 willox01 Fold RmaGedon Call 160.00 740.00 1800.00 Flop 6 Q 4 dirtygirty Bet 40.00 780.00 1670.00 RmaGedon Call 40.00 820.00 1760.00 GaryQQQ Raise 500.00 1320.00 1440.00 dirtygirty Fold RmaGedon Call 460.00 1780.00 1300.00 Turn 10 RmaGedon Check GaryQQQ All-in 1440.00 3220.00 0.00 RmaGedon All-in 1300.00 4520.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 140.00 4380.00 140.00 RmaGedon Show 6 A GaryQQQ Show K K River 8 RmaGedon Win Flush to the Ace 4380.00 4380.00
Closing balance £333.74
Mini downswing over!
After sleeping on it I decided there’s no valid reason to drop stakes just because I’ve had three bad days. As long as I stick to my BRM rules there’s no danger of blasting off a big part of my roll.
That decision nearly bore fruit immediately; I had a great run in my first £5.75 Bounty Hunter of the day. Going into the final table I had 7 head prizes and a big chip lead. Unfortunately it all went pear-shaped at the sharp end and I crashed out in third place. I was very disappointed not to win this one, it was easily my best chance of binking a £5.75 game in this quest so far. Despite that annoyance I don’t think I played badly, sometimes the cards just play themselves; I lost my lead and doubled another player when my flopped top two pairs and flush draw failed to improve against flopped bottom set, soon after in a blind vs blind pot I was outkicked by one card with ace vs ace on an ace-high flop to bust.
In the afternoon I managed to win a £60 gtd freezeout for £37.50. I thought I played well and my good hands held up. The runner-up BEESnHONEY was unfortunate to finish second, he played a strong heads-up game but the luck was on my side. After a 3-street bluff failed badly I found myself very short, then suddenly came back to win the game in a crazy three hand spell. I open jammed JTs from the SB with 10BB, BEESnHONEY correctly made the call with A7, we both hit the 7JA flop, but I came back from behind by making a miracle runner-runner straight flush. Next hand I 3-bet shoved K8s from the BB and got a fold, then won a standard flip with 55>JTs for the win.
April poker points 269
Recent Results Show Last 250 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6170946 13-Apr-12 18:14 NL Holdem £522/61-£5.756171635 13-Apr-12 16:59 NL Holdem £31/25£34.206170192 13-Apr-12 14:57 NL Holdem £317/22-£3.306170575 13-Apr-12 13:36 NL Holdem £53/41£26.506172046 13-Apr-12 12:11 NL Holdem (Sat) £2.2016/17-£2.406171579 13-Apr-12 02:33 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956171573 13-Apr-12 02:29 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056171529 13-Apr-12 02:26 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956171541 13-Apr-12 02:24 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056171517 13-Apr-12 02:17 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
Was wondering if you had another challenge in mind when this is over? You seem like a guy who likes/needs "challenges"?
Closing balance £325.31
Couldn’t get anything going in tournaments today, best I could manage was 8th in a freeroll. I didn’t lose much money, so I’m not too worried about it. It was one of those days where there were a high proportion of bingo-style gamblers at my tables in the in low stakes Bounty Hunters, this is often the case at the weekend. I got donked out of 3 of my tournaments in the very early stages including the mini Super Bounty Hunter.
Saturday is the only day of the week you might find me playing poker in the evening. I love the big fields and choice of games, but to be honest I rarely do well because I’m so tired and find it hard to concentrate. I’m up for work at 1-30am six days per week, Saturday is a particularly busy day, most of it spent on my feet and I don’t bother taking a break. On the way home I pick up two of my children from their mother and have them for the rest of the weekend. My usual bed time after a 1-30am start is 7-00pm, so I start to flag quite badly after that time on a Saturday (particularly if a beer or two have been consumed
Despite a lack of success at the poker tables I finished the day in profit overall after landing a £2.50 each way bet on Neptune Collonges at 33/1 in the Grand National (using money separate from my poker bankroll). I was most surprised; this was the first time I’d picked the winner for about 20 years! I rarely gamble on anything other than poker these days, often the Grand National is my only racing bet of the year. This time round it happened to be my second winning horse within a week. Last Sunday afternoon Team51 were given a very strong racing tip by one of our members via the private team Facebook group. The tip seemed so strong that most of the team decided to have an investment. I only had a small wager but some of the guys put on quite a bit of money. The horse stormed home to win and the team were ecstatic. Though the starting price was somewhat shorter following a late gamble most of us got on early at a very tasty 16/1.
April poker points 299
Recent Results Show Last 250 Results (1 Search)GameIDDate (UTC+0100)TypeEntryFeePositionProfit6177012 15-Apr-12 01:21 NL Holdem £2311/314-£2.306176319 15-Apr-12 00:27 NL Holdem £3406/469-£3.306176889 14-Apr-12 22:01 NL Holdem £229/153-£2.306174164 14-Apr-12 21:29 NL Holdem £08/504£26180401 14-Apr-12 21:19 NL Holdem £31/2£2.856179428 14-Apr-12 18:31 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956176023 14-Apr-12 18:18 NL Holdem £513/72-£1.536178988 14-Apr-12 17:25 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.056175451 14-Apr-12 17:09 NL Holdem £221/54-£2.306175239 14-Apr-12 16:54 NL Holdem £273/73-£2.306178177 14-Apr-12 14:14 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956178141 14-Apr-12 14:02 NL Holdem £11/2£0.956178121 14-Apr-12 13:56 NL Holdem £12/2-£1.05
This is a very profitable situation over the long run, but it's high variance too. Not many small pots are played out, you just have to keep it tight and get it in preflop with your premiums or post flop when you flop well and hope for the best. Turn and river play is almost non-existant. The early stages are a minefield and you're going to have to make a few big holds to go deep.
The hand below is one of my bust-outs from today and a good example of the perils in these games. If I know my opponents hole cards I'm begging for him to call, when he gets there I just have to take on the chin and move onto the next game. I'd never get it in this light against a good thinking player, at these levels I happily will against an unknown random.