Thanks to Devonfish and Woogie for your encouraging comments, they are very much appreciated.
I didn’t play much today, but I do have another small bink to report. This time it was a £2.30 Bounty Hunter. I had the ideal start when taking out two maniacs in the first level. From there I was a top three stack all the way and was winning plenty of pots both with and without the goods.
The key hand came shortly after we broke to final table; I won a very big pot when my pocket TT met the A7 of another big stack on an AT7 flop. I didn’t bust my opponent,but the pot was big enough to give me 50% of the chips in play. With only 3 spots paid I was then able to run over the table until the bubble burst then push on for a fairly easy victory.
Two tournament binks in two days have given me a welcome confidence boost, admittedly they were both small but I'll gladly take them. Hopefully the recent downswing is over, though I’m still quite a way behind my peak balance of £708.33. All my big hands held-up today, a welcome change after recent experiences.
Once again I didn’t manage to get online until quite late today. I registered for the first two Bounty Hunters going but didn’t manage to get anywhere. After that I didn’t have time for any more MTTs so made do with a few HU STTs, I ran well and won back the MTT buy-ins plus a little extra.
My June Cash for Points payment of £7.07 was credited today.
Also I’ve decided to withdraw £200 from my account. For the purposes of this diary I’ll still be including the withdrawn money in the headline balance above, though the balance on my screen will show as £200 less (ie it's showing as £452.72 at the moment). I feel it’s pretty unlikely I’ll drop below the £200 mark again before completing this quest, so there doesn’t seem much point leaving it all there gathering dust. If I do go on a massive downswing I’ll simply put it back on.
First game today was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, I won back my entry fee in head prizes but consider myself rather unlucky it wasn’t more; close to the bubble my QQ failed to hold against the chipleader’s TJo when all the chips went in on a 57T rainbow flop. A hold would have put me second in chips at the time and given me a great shot at a deep run.
The second £5.75 went better with a run to the final table, helped on the way by winning a huge mid-stages pot when my flopped set of sixes cracked pocket TT and a turned set of fours. However that first £5.75 win of this quest still eludes me; I went out in third place in a sick 3-way final hand. Having just lost a big pot the tilting SB open shoved 25BB with ATo, I had the easiest of calls from the SB with AKs and 15BB behind. Unfortunately the chipleader on the BB decided to call us both with his Q9, the board ran out 8QQ99 and that was that, he’d come back from the shortest stack with 5BB while 4-handed to winning the tournament in about 3 minutes.
In the evening I tried my luck in the Mini Bounty Hunter. Below average after some early yo-yoing I found a great post flop shove spot holding KQ on a JT4r flop. My two callers held AQ and A9 leaving me fewer outs than I hoped. I failed to hit and made an early exit. I was too tired for any more poker after that.
No spectacular results, but admittedly the current run of four consecutive winning days is pleasing. Recently I've done terribly on Sundays when my usual games morph into bingo shove-fests, so it's not going to be easy to extend the run to five. I'll try my best.
This morning I entered the £3.30 Bounty Hunters at 9-45 and 10-45. Didn’t get anywhere in the 9-45. In the 10-45 I made final table only to bust in a standard AKs<JJ aipf flip for sixth place. Without any head-prizes I didn’t win back much more than the buy-in.
In the afternoon I needed 3 TVs with so much quality sport to choose from; British Grand Prix, Wimbledon final and Tour de France, so I wasn’t too bothered about playing poker. However, I did sit in a few cheap games for fun. I ran badly and didn’t win anything. In a £2.30 Bounty Hunter I had a particularly barmy bust-out hand; my flopped set of aces failing to improve against QJ on an AKT flop.
At the time of writing I’m about to play in the (last ever?) League Stars freeroll, though the result won't affect my balance. It finishes very late for me, so I’ll be taking a risk averse approach in the early stages happy to bust and go to bed or double and then take it a bit more seriously. July poker points 161
I only had time for 2 MTTs today; a £2.30 Bounty Hunter at 1-45pm and an £11 Bounty Hunter at 2-00pm.
In the £2.30 game I had a run to final table, but I still can’t win those final table flips. I jammed AJ from the button into a caller with TT on the big blind, a standard play for both players with the average stack at only 15BB. I binked a jack, but it was no good as the tens improved to a set to bust me in sixth place.
Obviously I’d rather have the deep run in the £11 game, but I could neither pick-up or make a good hand and only won a couple of small pots. Down to only 13BB by level 6 I found what seemed a good shove spot over a serial limper with KJs on the button. Unfortunately the player on the big blind woke up with pocket AA and I couldn’t find a suck-out.
After that I managed to lose a bit more in a few quick HU STTs. The best result of the day was away from the poker tables; my 10 year-old car went straight through its MOT test with no work required!
My first games of the day were the two £3.30 morning Bounty Hunters. No joy for me in these today; I got busted from both by harsh bad beats.
Next up I tried a satellite for the new afternoon £22 Bounty Hunter (my BRM rules don’t allow a direct buy-in). To my annoyance I bubbled it, although I won back treble the satellite buy-in. I’d much rather have won a seat as I thought it quite likely the target tournament would run with an overlay.
My final MTT of the day was the 1-30 £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I had the measure of my starting table and had chipped up to double starting stack before it broke. Between levels 6 to 8 I had a terrible 25 minute card-dead period during which my stack withered away. The strongest hand I picked up in that time was Q5o which I folded; ironically it would have made a full house. When down to only 12BB as level 9 started I went into short-stack ninja shove/fold mode. I got about half a dozen uncalled shoves through to keep my head above water, then managed to win a much needed double-up when my 3-bet shoved AJ held-up against a raise/caller with QJs.
Just when I’d dragged myself into contention, and with the bubble approaching (7th of 11 with 8 paid), another bad beat almost stopped me in my tracks. With AK on the button I jammed over a short-stacks open limp. He called off his stack with A7 and binked a 7 to double up and put me down to 11th/11 with only 9BB behind. It's very annoying when you see terrible play like that get rewarded. I got through another couple of uncalled shoves before finding myself in a flip; my AQ racing against JJ. For once it went my way and I doubled off a big stack to put myself back up to 5th/10, though quite a way below average and with the runaway chipleader directly to my direct left.
I survived the bubble, but soon went out in eighth place. My pocket 99 was an easy shove from the button, the chipleader snapped me off with his TT on the small blind. It was an unavoidable cooler and I barely won back more than the buy-in.
When I busted out two very short stacks at the other table were stalling and slowly blinding-out to ladder. Not me, I always play for the win. There’s no way I’d pass the opportunity with 99, a double there (and maybe a head-prize, I had the big blind covered) would have given a dangerous stack and the chance to push on and take it down.
I’m owed a ton of run-good in these £5.75s. I’ve now played 102 during this quest from which I’ve made 24 final tables, yet I’m still waiting for that elusive first win.
Once again I started the day with the two £3.30 morning Bounty Hunters. In the 9-45 I got off to a flyer and was crushing my table, soon accumulating five head prizes. I thought it was going a bit too well to true; in the second hour my doomswitch was suddenly activated. I lost two back to back flips, each for big pots and head prizes, quickly followed by three comedy bad beats as I went from captain table to bust in 5 minutes.
In the 10-45 I had to make an annoying laydown in level 3 with the pocket pair I hate the most; KK. With blinds at 20/40 the UTG player raised to 160, I 3-bet on the button to 500 from my 1400 stack, the SB and the original raiser both flat called (terrible play by both when you consider stack sizes). The flop came down ace-high and the SB insta-shoved. He must have held an ace or better to shove into two players after the pre-flop action, I couldn’t possibly call. Whatever he held he’d played it terribly, it’s so tilting to see poor play being rewarded. That left me with 900 chips and I couldn’t find a way back. I was busted in a blind v blind flip by the player who was on the SB in the hand above, when I left he was hitting absolutely everything and was runaway chipleader.
Next I tried a £2.30 game in which most of the field were playing in typical bingo fashion. It didn’t last long; I took a brutal two-outer on the river for a 240BB pot after I’d got my chips in with 91% equity.
From there things didn’t improve and I managed the rare feat of being the bubble boy twice in a row. Firstly in a £2.40 BH satellite, I jammed KQs from the button at a 3-handed table and managed to run into AQs. Then in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter my 94 on the BB lost to a limper slowplaying pocket JJ. All the chips went in with 9724 on the board only for a 7 to hit on the river counterfeiting my 2 pairs. A few orbits earlier I’d had to make a big laydown with pocket TT to a tight player; he put me all-in on the turn with 557K on the board after I’d check/raised the flop.
After that lot I’d had enough of the MTT bad-runnage and finished my session with a few fast HU matches to let off steam.
I got in from work a few minutes after the 11-30am £5.75 Bounty Hunter started, so I entered using the useful new late registration facility. However it wasn’t long before I realised my MTT run-bad was going to carry straight on from where it left off yesterday; I got donked out in level 3 by a bingo player who cracked my pocket aces with the mighty T5s.
Next I tried a 15 minute timed tournament in which I lost a flip. Then a £2.30 Bounty Hunter in which my pocket 99 was no good against J7o. Meanwhile I played 2 HU matches, I lost both after losing three out of three flips.
I had one last try in another £2.30. It was going well until I got donked again with AK<53o on an A52 flop. My opponent called my pre-flop raise, flop and turn bets, then rivered his gutshot. Enough was enough and I quit for the day.
Constantly impressed with your efforts and committment to this Gary, very impressive, keep up the good work m8.
it's such a tough challeng especially when variance starts to bite, no doubt you'll suceed, I reckon a couple of nice binks and you'll be there inside 2 months now. Good Luck
My session started well with a run to the final table of the 10-45am Bounty Hunter. The early stages were a bingo shove-fest, but I managed to survive and went to final table third in chips. My downfall came when I doubled an opponent with my A9s<89s. I opened, he flatted, I c-bet he called. On the turn I had top pair and the nut-flush draw. Stack sizes meant I couldn’t possibly fold at that point, unfortunately my opponent had turned trip 8s which held-up. Left with only 4BB I went out two hands later in sixth place. A disappointing end, however it was pleasing to make my deepest tournament run for several days.
Next up was the 1-30pm £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I busted early when I didn’t believe a big 3-bet over-shove and paid off AA with my pocket 99.
Then I tried the £11.00 2-00pm game. I only managed to win one small pot with pocket 88 in level 1, apart from that I could neither pick up nor make a hand. It was a shame because there were a couple of awful calling stations at my table. Unfortunately they were connecting with flops better than anybody else and running up big stacks. Down to only 12BB after 45 minutes of play I squeeze-shoved JTs from the button over 2 limpers, a player in the blinds called with AQ and knocked me out.
Very few tournaments of interest run in the afternoon so I tried a couple of HU STTs and a push/fold cash table instead. I ran as badly as possible and lost every all-in, even when holding dominating cards. That was the first and last time I’ll be seen playing push/fold heads-up cash, the rake was horrendous.
By then I’d had enough of poker and quit for the day. It’s just not happening for me at the moment, I’ll be back for another try tomorrow afternoon.
I played a series of low stakes MTTs this afternoon and evening, but again nothing was going my way. I won’t bore you with tedious hand histories; suffice to say the poker gods have got it in for me at the moment. HU matches went better with 3 wins from 4.
I’m happy with the way I’m playing, which is more important than a run of disappointing results. I’ll keep plugging away, tomorrow’s another day, things will turn my way again sooner or later.
hi Gary, feeling it 4u atm as i know all about playing well & seeing my b/roll going backwards. keep doing the right things & results will turn your way again 4sure. it's all about character atm & i know you are strong in that department so you will beat this challenge sooner rather than later imo. keep grinding m8 we are all behind you 100% all the way!!! dev
This morning I tried my luck in the two £3.30 Bounty Hunters. As usual on a Sunday wild bingo poker was the order of the day. This played into my hands in the 9-45 when I had 4x starting stack by the end of level 3 courtesy of a hyper-maniac. It was the opposite in the 10-45; I was donked out by AK<AT aipf in the first orbit.
In the 9-45 I went on to make a min-cash, helped on the way by an 88>QQ suckout to bust a short stack. This was a somewhat heartening result after recent days, though my bust-out hand was pretty annoying. I opened to 2.3x with KJ on the button, the BB flatted with Q9. With effective stacks at less than 15BB I couldn’t find a fold on the JT8 flop.
After a break I entered an afternoon £2.30 Bounty Hunter, though I was paying more attention to the Tour de France stage on TV than I was to the poker. However, I managed a pleasing second place finish from 60 runners. I would have liked to win obviously, but the big flip HU didn’t go my way. With 30BB behind I 3-bet shoved with AK on the BB. The winner made a rather dodgy call in my opinion with pocket 22, a flip was the best he could hope for, often in that spot I’ll turn up with a bigger pair, however I didn’t hit and he took the victory.
I also played a few HU matches, finishing slightly ahead. After a run of poor results recently it feels good to post a small profit.
No joy for me today. I entered 7 MTTs (2 of those satellites) and managed to draw a complete blank. I won’t bore you with tedious details, but a count shows that I busted from 5 of the 7 after getting my chips as favourite and failing to swerve my opponent’s outs. In one I lost a standard AK<JJ aipf flip, in the other I jammed K9 from the button as a short stack and failed to improve against AT in the blinds.
While a series of beats is frustrating I’m not overly concerned if I keep busting out due to bad luck, that won’t last forever. I’d have something to worry about if my exits were due to playing badly and donking off my stack.
July poker points 360
(results to follow)
Start how you intend to continue. My first tournament exit of the day gave a taste of things to come;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancebigdaveys Small blind 30.00 30.00 712.50 DougMania Big blind 60.00 90.00 1902.50 Your hole cards K K Howbeon Raise 180.00 270.00 4300.00 tiddy0010 Fold greygre888 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 1375.00 1645.00 0.00 bigdaveys Fold DougMania Fold Howbeon Call 1195.00 2840.00 3105.00 Howbeon Show J J GaryQQQ Show K K Flop 4 J 2 Turn 7 River 3 Howbeon Win Three Jacks 2840.00 5945.00
I only entered two low stakes tournaments on Sky today. In the 10-45 Bounty Hunter, I busted on the final table bubble when my 3-bet shoved pocket 88 was unable to hold against a raise/caller with A4s. In an afternoon game I lost 75% of my stack to a loose gambler in level 1 when my AQs didn’t improve against his 66 aipf. I fought on for another 45 minutes but eventually busted when I jammed my 11BB short stack from the button with K7s. The same player who'd held the 66 in the earlier hand called with Q8o on the BB, it was a quick kill when he flopped trip 8s.
I’m disappointed to see there are now fewer tournaments than ever for me to choose from in the afternoon. If you take out the satellites to evening games (I’m unable to play in the evening) there's very little left to choose from. Nearly all the £5.75 Bounty hunters have gone, they used to run at least once per hour. This change is going to make it more difficult for me to complete this quest. I prefer MTTs to other forms of poker. At the moment it looks like I may have to start spending more of my time playing STTs.
Comments
pleased 4u.
keep it going m8,i know the end will be coming very soon.
dev
Closing balance £643.25
(£20.43 up today)
Thanks to Devonfish and Woogie for your encouraging comments, they are very much appreciated.
I didn’t play much today, but I do have another small bink to report. This time it was a £2.30 Bounty Hunter. I had the ideal start when taking out two maniacs in the first level. From there I was a top three stack all the way and was winning plenty of pots both with and without the goods.
The key hand came shortly after we broke to final table; I won a very big pot when my pocket TT met the A7 of another big stack on an AT7 flop. I didn’t bust my opponent,but the pot was big enough to give me 50% of the chips in play. With only 3 spots paid I was then able to run over the table until the bubble burst then push on for a fairly easy victory.
Two tournament binks in two days have given me a welcome confidence boost, admittedly they were both small but I'll gladly take them. Hopefully the recent downswing is over, though I’m still quite a way behind my peak balance of £708.33. All my big hands held-up today, a welcome change after recent experiences.
July poker points 105
6561417HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker05/07/2012 14:31NL Hold'em £2 + £0.31/20£15.686563828HNLT,HU0.25GBPSkyPoker05/07/2012 12:17NL Hold'em £5 + £0.251/2£4.75
Closing balance £652.72
(£9.47 up today)
Once again I didn’t manage to get online until quite late today. I registered for the first two Bounty Hunters going but didn’t manage to get anywhere. After that I didn’t have time for any more MTTs so made do with a few HU STTs, I ran well and won back the MTT buy-ins plus a little extra.
My June Cash for Points payment of £7.07 was credited today.
Also I’ve decided to withdraw £200 from my account. For the purposes of this diary I’ll still be including the withdrawn money in the headline balance above, though the balance on my screen will show as £200 less (ie it's showing as £452.72 at the moment). I feel it’s pretty unlikely I’ll drop below the £200 mark again before completing this quest, so there doesn’t seem much point leaving it all there gathering dust. If I do go on a massive downswing I’ll simply put it back on.
July poker points 123
6569391HNLT,HU0.25GBPSkyPoker06/07/2012 17:11NL Hold'em £5 + £0.251/2£4.756566316HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker06/07/2012 17:04NL Hold'em £2 + £0.321/53-£2.36569317HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker06/07/2012 16:55NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.856566417HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker06/07/2012 16:45NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7517/55-£5.756568531HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker06/07/2012 15:43NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.85
Closing balance £669.61
(up £16.89 today)
First game today was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, I won back my entry fee in head prizes but consider myself rather unlucky it wasn’t more; close to the bubble my QQ failed to hold against the chipleader’s TJo when all the chips went in on a 57T rainbow flop. A hold would have put me second in chips at the time and given me a great shot at a deep run.
The second £5.75 went better with a run to the final table, helped on the way by winning a huge mid-stages pot when my flopped set of sixes cracked pocket TT and a turned set of fours. However that first £5.75 win of this quest still eludes me; I went out in third place in a sick 3-way final hand. Having just lost a big pot the tilting SB open shoved 25BB with ATo, I had the easiest of calls from the SB with AKs and 15BB behind. Unfortunately the chipleader on the BB decided to call us both with his Q9, the board ran out 8QQ99 and that was that, he’d come back from the shortest stack with 5BB while 4-handed to winning the tournament in about 3 minutes.
In the evening I tried my luck in the Mini Bounty Hunter. Below average after some early yo-yoing I found a great post flop shove spot holding KQ on a JT4r flop. My two callers held AQ and A9 leaving me fewer outs than I hoped. I failed to hit and made an early exit. I was too tired for any more poker after that.
No spectacular results, but admittedly the current run of four consecutive winning days is pleasing. Recently I've done terribly on Sundays when my usual games morph into bingo shove-fests, so it's not going to be easy to extend the run to five. I'll try my best.
July poker points 146
6572035HNL0.3GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 00:46NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3348/442-£2.176572136HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker07/07/2012 18:47NL Hold'em £5 + £0.753/54£19.256570909HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker07/07/2012 16:17NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7517/72£0.116574292HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker07/07/2012 15:30NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.856574271HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker07/07/2012 15:23NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.15
nearly back up to £700 again.
dev
Closing balance £657.46
(down £12.15 today)
This morning I entered the £3.30 Bounty Hunters at 9-45 and 10-45. Didn’t get anywhere in the 9-45. In the 10-45 I made final table only to bust in a standard AKs<JJ aipf flip for sixth place. Without any head-prizes I didn’t win back much more than the buy-in.
In the afternoon I needed 3 TVs with so much quality sport to choose from; British Grand Prix, Wimbledon final and Tour de France, so I wasn’t too bothered about playing poker. However, I did sit in a few cheap games for fun. I ran badly and didn’t win anything. In a £2.30 Bounty Hunter I had a particularly barmy bust-out hand; my flopped set of aces failing to improve against QJ on an AKT flop.
At the time of writing I’m about to play in the (last ever?) League Stars freeroll, though the result won't affect my balance. It finishes very late for me, so I’ll be taking a risk averse approach in the early stages happy to bust and go to bed or double and then take it a bit more seriously.
July poker points 161
6550566HNL0.0GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 22:30NL Hold'em £0 + £0201/209£06540943HNL0.0GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 19:35NL Hold'em £0 + £030/94£06576549HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 17:09NL Hold'em £2 + £0.328/52-£2.36578924HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 16:49NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.156576965HNLST0.2GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 16:48NL Hold'em £2 + £0.211/48-£2.26579151HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 16:37NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.156573966OPL0.0GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 16:12PL Omaha Hi £0 + £0325/336£06575865HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 13:39NL Hold'em £3 + £0.36/50£1.956575558HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker08/07/2012 12:40NL Hold'em £3 + £0.317/60-£3.3
Closing balance £643.76
(down £13.70 today)
I only had time for 2 MTTs today; a £2.30 Bounty Hunter at 1-45pm and an £11 Bounty Hunter at 2-00pm.
In the £2.30 game I had a run to final table, but I still can’t win those final table flips. I jammed AJ from the button into a caller with TT on the big blind, a standard play for both players with the average stack at only 15BB. I binked a jack, but it was no good as the tens improved to a set to bust me in sixth place.
Obviously I’d rather have the deep run in the £11 game, but I could neither pick-up or make a good hand and only won a couple of small pots. Down to only 13BB by level 6 I found what seemed a good shove spot over a serial limper with KJs on the button. Unfortunately the player on the big blind woke up with pocket AA and I couldn’t find a suck-out.
After that I managed to lose a bit more in a few quick HU STTs. The best result of the day was away from the poker tables; my 10 year-old car went straight through its MOT test with no work required!
July poker points 187
6583851HNLT,HU0.25GBPSkyPoker09/07/2012 16:45NL Hold'em £5 + £0.251/2£4.756581038HNLB1.0GBPSkyPoker09/07/2012 16:45NL Hold'em £10 + £148/97-£116583752HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker09/07/2012 16:41NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.156583791HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker09/07/2012 16:33NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.156580946HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker09/07/2012 16:30NL Hold'em £2 + £0.36/55£2.36583764HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker09/07/2012 16:28NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.856582375HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker09/07/2012 16:23NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.156583540HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker09/07/2012 16:19NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.15
Closing balance £647.94
(up £4.18 today)
My first games of the day were the two £3.30 morning Bounty Hunters. No joy for me in these today; I got busted from both by harsh bad beats.
Next up I tried a satellite for the new afternoon £22 Bounty Hunter (my BRM rules don’t allow a direct buy-in). To my annoyance I bubbled it, although I won back treble the satellite buy-in. I’d much rather have won a seat as I thought it quite likely the target tournament would run with an overlay.
My final MTT of the day was the 1-30 £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I had the measure of my starting table and had chipped up to double starting stack before it broke. Between levels 6 to 8 I had a terrible 25 minute card-dead period during which my stack withered away. The strongest hand I picked up in that time was Q5o which I folded; ironically it would have made a full house. When down to only 12BB as level 9 started I went into short-stack ninja shove/fold mode. I got about half a dozen uncalled shoves through to keep my head above water, then managed to win a much needed double-up when my 3-bet shoved AJ held-up against a raise/caller with QJs.
Just when I’d dragged myself into contention, and with the bubble approaching (7th of 11 with 8 paid), another bad beat almost stopped me in my tracks. With AK on the button I jammed over a short-stacks open limp. He called off his stack with A7 and binked a 7 to double up and put me down to 11th/11 with only 9BB behind. It's very annoying when you see terrible play like that get rewarded. I got through another couple of uncalled shoves before finding myself in a flip; my AQ racing against JJ. For once it went my way and I doubled off a big stack to put myself back up to 5th/10, though quite a way below average and with the runaway chipleader directly to my direct left.
I survived the bubble, but soon went out in eighth place. My pocket 99 was an easy shove from the button, the chipleader snapped me off with his TT on the small blind. It was an unavoidable cooler and I barely won back more than the buy-in.
When I busted out two very short stacks at the other table were stalling and slowly blinding-out to ladder. Not me, I always play for the win. There’s no way I’d pass the opportunity with 99, a double there (and maybe a head-prize, I had the big blind covered) would have given a dangerous stack and the chance to push on and take it down.
I’m owed a ton of run-good in these £5.75s. I’ve now played 102 during this quest from which I’ve made 24 final tables, yet I’m still waiting for that elusive first win.
July poker points 205
6585438HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker10/07/2012 15:47NL Hold'em £5 + £0.758/56£1.256587382HNLSAT0.4GBPSkyPoker10/07/2012 13:22NL Hold'em £4.4 + £0.43/13£8.46585153HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker10/07/2012 13:19NL Hold'em £3 + £0.315/53-£2.176584800HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker10/07/2012 12:54NL Hold'em £3 + £0.320/54-£3.3
Closing balance £642.37
(down £5.57 today)
Once again I started the day with the two £3.30 morning Bounty Hunters. In the 9-45 I got off to a flyer and was crushing my table, soon accumulating five head prizes. I thought it was going a bit too well to true; in the second hour my doomswitch was suddenly activated. I lost two back to back flips, each for big pots and head prizes, quickly followed by three comedy bad beats as I went from captain table to bust in 5 minutes.
In the 10-45 I had to make an annoying laydown in level 3 with the pocket pair I hate the most; KK. With blinds at 20/40 the UTG player raised to 160, I 3-bet on the button to 500 from my 1400 stack, the SB and the original raiser both flat called (terrible play by both when you consider stack sizes). The flop came down ace-high and the SB insta-shoved. He must have held an ace or better to shove into two players after the pre-flop action, I couldn’t possibly call. Whatever he held he’d played it terribly, it’s so tilting to see poor play being rewarded. That left me with 900 chips and I couldn’t find a way back. I was busted in a blind v blind flip by the player who was on the SB in the hand above, when I left he was hitting absolutely everything and was runaway chipleader.
Next I tried a £2.30 game in which most of the field were playing in typical bingo fashion. It didn’t last long; I took a brutal two-outer on the river for a 240BB pot after I’d got my chips in with 91% equity.
July poker points 230From there things didn’t improve and I managed the rare feat of being the bubble boy twice in a row. Firstly in a £2.40 BH satellite, I jammed KQs from the button at a 3-handed table and managed to run into AQs. Then in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter my 94 on the BB lost to a limper slowplaying pocket JJ. All the chips went in with 9724 on the board only for a 7 to hit on the river counterfeiting my 2 pairs. A few orbits earlier I’d had to make a big laydown with pocket TT to a tight player; he put me all-in on the turn with 557K on the board after I’d check/raised the flop.
After that lot I’d had enough of the MTT bad-runnage and finished my session with a few fast HU matches to let off steam.
6590228HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker11/07/2012 16:07NL Hold'em £5 + £0.759/56-£3.876593016HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker11/07/2012 16:04NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.856592900HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker11/07/2012 15:48NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.856592816HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker11/07/2012 15:36NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.156589964HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker11/07/2012 14:16NL Hold'em £2 + £0.315/21-£2.36591850HNLSAT0.2GBPSkyPoker11/07/2012 13:34NL Hold'em £2.2 + £0.27/25-£2.46589963HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker11/07/2012 13:17NL Hold'em £3 + £0.333/57-£1.96589541HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker11/07/2012 12:26NL Hold'em £3 + £0.324/62£2.35
It was one of those days;
b Big blind 20.00 30.00 2335.00 Your hole cards 10 7 VK41 Call 20.00 50.00 1415.00 Sully202 Call 20.00 70.00 3150.00 MPIP44 Fold GaryQQQ Call 10.00 80.00 2185.00 b Raise 20.00 100.00 2315.00 VK41 Call 20.00 120.00 1395.00 Sully202 Call 20.00 140.00 3130.00 GaryQQQ Call 20.00 160.00 2165.00 Flop 2 8 10 GaryQQQ Check b Bet 160.00 320.00 2155.00 VK41 Call 160.00 480.00 1235.00 Sully202 Call 160.00 640.00 2970.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2165.00 2805.00 0.00 b All-in 2155.00 4960.00 0.00 VK41 Fold Sully202 Fold b Unmatched bet 150.00 4810.00 150.00 GaryQQQ Show 10 7 b Show 9 9 Turn 2 River 9 b Win Full House, 9s and 2s 4810.00 4960.00
Closing balance £626.37
(down £16.00 today)
I got in from work a few minutes after the 11-30am £5.75 Bounty Hunter started, so I entered using the useful new late registration facility. However it wasn’t long before I realised my MTT run-bad was going to carry straight on from where it left off yesterday; I got donked out in level 3 by a bingo player who cracked my pocket aces with the mighty T5s.
Next I tried a 15 minute timed tournament in which I lost a flip. Then a £2.30 Bounty Hunter in which my pocket 99 was no good against J7o. Meanwhile I played 2 HU matches, I lost both after losing three out of three flips.
I had one last try in another £2.30. It was going well until I got donked again with AK<53o on an A52 flop. My opponent called my pre-flop raise, flop and turn bets, then rivered his gutshot. Enough was enough and I quit for the day.
July poker points 249
6594399HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker12/07/2012 14:41NL Hold'em £2 + £0.310/30-£1.556595040HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker12/07/2012 14:31NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7562/79-£5.756594219HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker12/07/2012 14:17NL Hold'em £2 + £0.323/29-£2.36596726HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker12/07/2012 12:41NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.156593350HNL 0.2GBPSkyPoker12/07/2012 12:26NL Hold'em £2 + £0.265/68-£2.26596621HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker12/07/2012 12:10NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.05
When you're running bad even pocket aces are no good;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 20.00 20.00 1650.00 pin77729 Big blind 40.00 60.00 2820.00 Your hole cards A A bigdaveys Raise 120.00 180.00 2495.00 biscuitman Fold spice Fold bingo! Call 120.00 300.00 1930.00 GaryQQQ Raise 375.00 675.00 1275.00 pin77729 Fold bigdaveys Fold bingo! Call 275.00 950.00 1655.00 Flop Q 9 3 GaryQQQ Bet 395.00 1345.00 880.00 bingo! Call 395.00 1740.00 1260.00 Turn 4 GaryQQQ All-in 880.00 2620.00 0.00 bingo! Call 880.00 3500.00 380.00 GaryQQQ Show A A bingo! Show 5 10 River J bingo! Win Flush to the Queen 3500.00 3880.00
it's such a tough challeng especially when variance starts to bite, no doubt you'll suceed, I reckon a couple of nice binks and you'll be there inside 2 months now. Good Luck
Closing balance £607.11
(down £19.26 today)
My session started well with a run to the final table of the 10-45am Bounty Hunter. The early stages were a bingo shove-fest, but I managed to survive and went to final table third in chips. My downfall came when I doubled an opponent with my A9s<89s. I opened, he flatted, I c-bet he called. On the turn I had top pair and the nut-flush draw. Stack sizes meant I couldn’t possibly fold at that point, unfortunately my opponent had turned trip 8s which held-up. Left with only 4BB I went out two hands later in sixth place. A disappointing end, however it was pleasing to make my deepest tournament run for several days.
Next up was the 1-30pm £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I busted early when I didn’t believe a big 3-bet over-shove and paid off AA with my pocket 99.
Then I tried the £11.00 2-00pm game. I only managed to win one small pot with pocket 88 in level 1, apart from that I could neither pick up nor make a hand. It was a shame because there were a couple of awful calling stations at my table. Unfortunately they were connecting with flops better than anybody else and running up big stacks. Down to only 12BB after 45 minutes of play I squeeze-shoved JTs from the button over 2 limpers, a player in the blinds called with AQ and knocked me out.
Very few tournaments of interest run in the afternoon so I tried a couple of HU STTs and a push/fold cash table instead. I ran as badly as possible and lost every all-in, even when holding dominating cards. That was the first and last time I’ll be seen playing push/fold heads-up cash, the rake was horrendous.
By then I’d had enough of poker and quit for the day. It’s just not happening for me at the moment, I’ll be back for another try tomorrow afternoon.
July poker points 281
6599438HNLB1.0GBPSkyPoker13/07/2012 16:42NL Hold'em £10 + £153/94-£116599225HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker13/07/2012 16:10NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7543/56-£5.756602076HNLT,HU0.25GBPSkyPoker13/07/2012 15:32NL Hold'em £5 + £0.252/2-£5.256601834HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker13/07/2012 15:17NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.056601550HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker13/07/2012 13:24NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.856598931HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/07/2012 13:14NL Hold'em £3 + £0.36/60£7.196601585HNLT,HU0.25GBPSkyPoker13/07/2012 13:12NL Hold'em £5 + £0.252/2-£5.25
Closing balance £591.56
(down £15.55 today)
I played a series of low stakes MTTs this afternoon and evening, but again nothing was going my way. I won’t bore you with tedious hand histories; suffice to say the poker gods have got it in for me at the moment. HU matches went better with 3 wins from 4.
I’m happy with the way I’m playing, which is more important than a run of disappointing results. I’ll keep plugging away, tomorrow’s another day, things will turn my way again sooner or later.
July poker points 315
6605689HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 00:54NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3195/221-£2.36604891HNL0.3GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 00:40NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3410/444-£3.36605660HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 23:48NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3249/329-£2.36608522HNLT,HU0.25GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 20:38NL Hold'em £5 + £0.251/2£4.756608281HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 19:49NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.856608249HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 19:44NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.156604893HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 19:13NL Hold'em £2 + £0.357/93-£1.556605715HNL0.1GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 17:54NL Hold'em £1 + £0.19/39-£1.16604391HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 17:31NL Hold'em £2 + £0.374/76-£2.36607508HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 16:57NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.856605575HNL0.3GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 16:55NL Hold'em £3 + £0.321/29-£3.36604203HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker14/07/2012 16:53NL Hold'em £2 + £0.338/55-£2.3
feeling it 4u atm as i know all about playing well & seeing my b/roll going backwards.
keep doing the right things & results will turn your way again 4sure.
it's all about character atm & i know you are strong in that department so you will beat this challenge sooner rather than later imo.
keep grinding m8
we are all behind you 100% all the way!!!
dev
Closing balance £609.65
(up £18.09 today)
This morning I tried my luck in the two £3.30 Bounty Hunters. As usual on a Sunday wild bingo poker was the order of the day. This played into my hands in the 9-45 when I had 4x starting stack by the end of level 3 courtesy of a hyper-maniac. It was the opposite in the 10-45; I was donked out by AK<AT aipf in the first orbit.
In the 9-45 I went on to make a min-cash, helped on the way by an 88>QQ suckout to bust a short stack. This was a somewhat heartening result after recent days, though my bust-out hand was pretty annoying. I opened to 2.3x with KJ on the button, the BB flatted with Q9. With effective stacks at less than 15BB I couldn’t find a fold on the JT8 flop.
After a break I entered an afternoon £2.30 Bounty Hunter, though I was paying more attention to the Tour de France stage on TV than I was to the poker. However, I managed a pleasing second place finish from 60 runners. I would have liked to win obviously, but the big flip HU didn’t go my way. With 30BB behind I 3-bet shoved with AK on the BB. The winner made a rather dodgy call in my opinion with pocket 22, a flip was the best he could hope for, often in that spot I’ll turn up with a bigger pair, however I didn’t hit and he took the victory.
I also played a few HU matches, finishing slightly ahead. After a run of poor results recently it feels good to post a small profit.
July poker points 334
6609043HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 16:27NL Hold'em £2 + £0.32/60£12.76606758OPL0.0GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 16:13PL Omaha Hi £0 + £0269/376£06608595HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 13:10NL Hold'em £3 + £0.357/57-£3.36608311HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 12:34NL Hold'em £3 + £0.38/53£3.496610875HNLT,HU0.25GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 12:15NL Hold'em £5 + £0.251/2£4.756610863HNLT,HU0.25GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 12:07NL Hold'em £5 + £0.251/2£4.756610836HNLT,HU0.25GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 11:59NL Hold'em £5 + £0.252/2-£5.256610141HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker15/07/2012 08:00NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.95
Closing balance £585.50
(down £24.15 today)
No joy for me today. I entered 7 MTTs (2 of those satellites) and managed to draw a complete blank. I won’t bore you with tedious details, but a count shows that I busted from 5 of the 7 after getting my chips as favourite and failing to swerve my opponent’s outs. In one I lost a standard AK<JJ aipf flip, in the other I jammed K9 from the button as a short stack and failed to improve against AT in the blinds.
While a series of beats is frustrating I’m not overly concerned if I keep busting out due to bad luck, that won’t last forever. I’d have something to worry about if my exits were due to playing badly and donking off my stack.
July poker points 360
(results to follow)
Start how you intend to continue. My first tournament exit of the day gave a taste of things to come;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancebigdaveys Small blind 30.00 30.00 712.50 DougMania Big blind 60.00 90.00 1902.50 Your hole cards K K Howbeon Raise 180.00 270.00 4300.00 tiddy0010 Fold greygre888 Fold GaryQQQ All-in 1375.00 1645.00 0.00 bigdaveys Fold DougMania Fold Howbeon Call 1195.00 2840.00 3105.00 Howbeon Show J J GaryQQQ Show K K Flop 4 J 2 Turn 7 River 3 Howbeon Win Three Jacks 2840.00 5945.00
Closing balance £581.03
(down £4.47 today)
I only entered two low stakes tournaments on Sky today. In the 10-45 Bounty Hunter, I busted on the final table bubble when my 3-bet shoved pocket 88 was unable to hold against a raise/caller with A4s. In an afternoon game I lost 75% of my stack to a loose gambler in level 1 when my AQs didn’t improve against his 66 aipf. I fought on for another 45 minutes but eventually busted when I jammed my 11BB short stack from the button with K7s. The same player who'd held the 66 in the earlier hand called with Q8o on the BB, it was a quick kill when he flopped trip 8s.
I’m disappointed to see there are now fewer tournaments than ever for me to choose from in the afternoon. If you take out the satellites to evening games (I’m unable to play in the evening) there's very little left to choose from. Nearly all the £5.75 Bounty hunters have gone, they used to run at least once per hour. This change is going to make it more difficult for me to complete this quest. I prefer MTTs to other forms of poker. At the moment it looks like I may have to start spending more of my time playing STTs.
July poker points 366
6618092HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker17/07/2012 16:52NL Hold'em £2 + £0.313/22-£2.36617252HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker17/07/2012 13:04NL Hold'em £3 + £0.37/43-£2.17