There’s not much of interest to report from the tables today. I got min-cashes in a £3.30 and £2.30 Bounty Hunters for a small winning day. If my AA had held against KQo with 3 left in the £2.30 the profit probably would have been much higher. But it didn’t, this is poker we’re talking about!
The hand below is from today’s 9-45 £3.30 BH. On the face of it this is a terrible flop for our under-pair. Most players in these games would fold to the c-bet and move on without further ado. However while stacks are this deep I see this as a good spot for float. We have a position and I expect the villain to c-bet his entire range. He probably considers my pre-flop calling range to include a lot of aces and combos of broadway cards, if he’s missed the flop the only draw he can hold is a gut-shot and it’s going to be difficult for him to continue. When we call the half-pot bet we only need to win the pot 25% of the time to break-even. His turn check is a sign of weakness and we pick up a useful 660 chip pot by firing off a bet. Had he fired a second barrel or check/raised my turn bet I’d have given up. In MTTs having the ability to know how to use position to your advantage and pick up lots of little pots like this without needing to showdown greatly increases your chance of making a deep run.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancewillie Small blind 30.00 30.00 4385.00 Paulp Big blind 60.00 90.00 1860.00 Your hole cards 4 4 A Raise 120.00 210.00 8752.50 Covermals Fold coombsie12 Fold GaryQQQ Call 120.00 330.00 5030.00 willie Fold Paulp Fold Flop 6 10 A A Bet 165.00 495.00 8587.50 GaryQQQ Call 165.00 660.00 4865.00 Turn Q A Check GaryQQQ Bet 385.00 1045.00 4480.00 A Fold GaryQQQ Muck GaryQQQ Win 660.00 5140.00 GaryQQQ Return 385.00 0.00 5525.00
It wasn’t my day today, I lost everything entered and quit my session early. I must have done something to upset the Poker Gods, several times I lost all-in pots after getting my chips in as a strong favourite only to see the chips go the other day.
Close to the end when I was already frustrated from earlier misfortune I took a nasty beat when stacks went in with one card to come on the final table bubble of a £3.30 freezeout. From there I jumped straight into a Hyper HU STT and lost an 80/20 to a bad call in only third hand (my check/shove with flopped top pair losing to flopped bottom pair). After those two beats came so close together I could feel tilt starting to set in. That’s a bad time to play so I de-registered from my next tournament and called it a day.
Spells of awful luck are totally standard in poker, everybody reading this diary will know exactly how it feels. I’ll be back as usual tomorrow with my mind fully reset and keen to resume play.
I had very little time for poker today. Though in the little I did play I ran just as badly as yesterday, once again unable win all-pots to save my life. No worries, they are all spots I want to take and they'll be very profitable for me over time. If I was losing because my chips were going in bad that's when I'd have something to worry about.
Ouch. If I can fade the flush draw on the river here I take two head prizes and have twice as many chips as anybody else in the tournament.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 30.00 30.00 6087.50 eBig blind 60.00 90.00 837.50 Your hole cards A J flamefree Fold T Call 60.00 150.00 1080.00 lynneyloo Fold GaryQQQ Call 30.00 180.00 6057.50 e Check Flop J 5 A GCheck eon1961 Bet 60.00 240.00 777.50 T Call 60.00 300.00 1020.00 GaryQQQ Raise 360.00 660.00 5697.50 eCall 300.00 960.00 477.50 T Call 300.00 1260.00 720.00 Turn 8 GaryQQQ Bet 780.00 2040.00 4917.50 eAll-in 477.50 2517.50 0.00 T All-in 720.00 3237.50 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 60.00 3177.50 4977.50 GaryQQQ Show A J eShow 2 A T Show 3 Q River K T Win Flush to the Ace 3177.50 3177.50
The heads-up games are going no better. I liked the flop, not the turn and river.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalances Small blind 15.00 15.00 520.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 30.00 45.00 435.00 Your hole cards A K s Call 15.00 60.00 505.00 GaryQQQ All-in 435.00 495.00 0.00 s All-in 505.00 1000.00 0.00 s Unmatched bet 70.00 930.00 70.00 s Show A 7 GaryQQQ Show A K Flop 5 J K Turn Q River 4 s Win Flush to the Ace 930.00 1000.00
Rather than turn this diary into a bad-beat bore I’ve decided to use today’s entry to give you a tip about low to mid stakes Bounty Hunters;
Think twice before late-registering.
Why? Because the very start of a Bounty Hunter when is the most profitable stage of the tournament. All the worst players are still in the field. Typically as soon as the first cards are dealt rapid bust-outs will commence due to the many wild gamblers spread around the tables. These guys will happily get their stack in with mediocre holdings. If you pick-up a premium or smash a flop there’s a great chance you’ll get paid to the max. You don’t want to miss this juicy action.
There are other things to consider too. Below is a screenshot of a typical Bounty Hunter lobby taken while late-registration was still available. You’ll see that 20 of the 56 entrants had already busted. That means 18% of the prizepool has already gone, awarded in head-prizes. Just 82% is left to play for. If you buy-in now your average opponent will be sitting with 55% more chips than you (3.1K v your 2K). There will be far fewer gamblers to exploit as many of them will be among the 20 who have busted. Most of the stronger players will still be alive and will have bigger stacks than you. All these things combined make late-reg unappealing.
In my opinion a late entry when you miss the start by just a minute or two is fine, but as more time passes by it quickly gets less attractive. I’d suggest that a buy-in towards the end of late registration is unwise. Even if there’s a small overlay you’d be better off waiting for the next game to start.
Due to family commitments I played very little poker. For the fourth day in a row I was rubbish at holding when all-in and ahead and finished a little down from a small batch of STTs.
It’s still not happening for me in the micro MTT’s at the moment. I’m picking up plenty of small pots without any difficulty only to run terribly when it comes to the crucial big all-ins. Runs like this are standard in tournaments, I’ll just keep plugging away and trying to play my best until the variance turns around. I’m saving up the run-good for a future heater.
At least I cashed in something. My min-cash in a £3.30 freeze-out was my first in-the-money finish since Wednesday. In the end I was coolered with pair<pair aipf during 3-handed play with effective stacks under 20BB.
Fun hand from a Bounty Hunter today. Given the action on previous streets we can eliminate QQ-AA from the villains range and it looks very likely he has a jack. I shove over 2x pot on the river for maximum value knowing that a jack will be calling. I see no point betting less; he may smell a rat and flat-call a smaller bet rather than re-raising me all-in. Of course quads 5s was possibility, albeit highly unlikely. in which we can laugh off a harsh cooler.
Player
Action
Cards
Amount
Pot
Balance
*
Small blind
10.00
10.00
4300.00
Konny
Big blind
20.00
30.00
1810.00
Your hole cards
K
K
GaryQQQ
Raise
60.00
90.00
1860.00
Mal007
Fold
*
Call
50.00
140.00
4250.00
Konny
Fold
Flop
5
J
10
*
Check
GaryQQQ
Bet
90.00
230.00
1770.00
*
Call
90.00
320.00
4160.00
Turn
5
*
Check
GaryQQQ
Bet
190.00
510.00
1580.00
*
Call
190.00
700.00
3970.00
River
5
*
Check
GaryQQQ
All-in
1580.00
2280.00
0.00
*
Call
1580.00
3860.00
2390.00
*
Show
2
J
GaryQQQ
Show
K
K
GaryQQQ
Win
Full House, 5s and Kings
3860.00
3860.00
The above was a rare highlight. The hand below was my exit from another tournament and is standard fare for me at the moment. I was calling here with a very solid read that the villain’s 3-bet shove is likely to be a middle pair.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceANGLINGMAN Small blind 30.00 30.00 2210.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 60.00 90.00 2905.00 Your hole cards J J Primeiro Fold wotAflop Raise 120.00 210.00 640.00 margates Call 120.00 330.00 3435.00 * All-in 3085.00 3415.00 0.00 ANGLINGMAN Fold GaryQQQ All-in 2905.00 6320.00 0.00 wotAflop All-in 640.00 6960.00 0.00 margates Fold * Unmatched bet 120.00 6840.00 120.00 GaryQQQ Show J J wotAflop Show A K * Show 10 10 Flop 10 4 3 Turn 2 River 6 * Win Three 10s 6840.00 6960.00
Phew; a long overdue cash in a Bounty Hunter and my first winning day since Wednesday last week.
Most of the profit came thanks to a deep run in the 10-45AM £3.30. For the first time in a while I ran well when all-in including a lucky double with AT>AJ aipf two from the money and winning two 40/60s as the underdog at the final table. I busted in third place after three hours of play in an unavoidable cooler; my rivered nut-flush losing to a turned full-house. I knew I didn’t have the nuts on a paired board but with effective stacks only ~20BB deep my hand was far too strong to even consider folding in a blind v blind pot.
Much like London buses another cash also came in the very next tournament with another third in a small £2.30 Bounty Hunter. On the bubble I benefited from a major suck-out; with only 9BB behind my K3o was a standard shove when it folded to me on the SB. I somehow got there against the BB’s pocket KK!
Below is the hand from this morning’s Bounty Hunter that set me off on the deep run. I’d like to point out a couple of decisions in this hand that might help beginners or improving players.
Firstly I see little point in raising over the limpers pre-flop. With several passive calling stations at the table if I do the most likely thing is that at least two of them will call my raise, I’ll then miss the flop and have difficulty playing my pocket pair OOP with overcards on the board. Seeing a flop for free and taking it from there offers by far the best risk/reward ratio.
Second it’s worth taking a good look at the flop action. When Player A puts out a small bet and player B calls I’m pretty sure they both have either a piece of the flop or a draw, so I put in a smallish check-raise to build the pot with my set while being careful not to make my bet so big that either of them fold. Any king and any flush draw are among holdings that I expect to call my raise. Slow-playing now by just calling the minimum bet is a common mistake. The pot won’t get very big and flush-draws get the chance to improve at minimum cost. Putting in a much bigger check/raise would also be an error, the last thing we want here is to make our opponents fold.
When player B unexpectedly shoves over my check-raise I’m delighted. We’re not worried he holds pocket KK as his pre-flop limp on the button means we can eliminate it from his range with 99% certainty. All we have to think about now is winning as many chips as possible out from Player A. The last thing I should do is put in a raise that makes Player A fold. You see light calls made by opponents chasing bounties in these games, so I don’t think player A will fold any king or flush draw if I merely call, in fact he may now think that I only have either a flush draw or a weak made hand. Flat-calling the shove and hoping Player A also calls is our best bet. When he does he’s now committed to the pot and my plan is to shove on any turn. I hate the ace because it might scare Player A into a reluctantly folding a king, however I go through with my plan and put the rest of my stack in. Player A calls even though he'd been drawing almost dead on the flop, completely dead on the turn, and I win the maximum possible.
Player B didn't really do much wrong, he was just unlucky to run into a bigger set. Player A played his cards badly in my opinion. The presence of many players in the field making unwise decisions like this are why these low-stakes MTTs are easily beatable.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance666bumpy Small blind 40.00 40.00 5495.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 80.00 120.00 3500.00 Your hole cards 8 8 rainman001 Fold A Call 80.00 200.00 4790.00 ebb69 Fold B Call 80.00 280.00 1540.00 666bumpy Call 40.00 320.00 5455.00 GaryQQQ Check Flop 2 K 8 666bumpy Check GaryQQQ Check A Bet 80.00 400.00 4710.00 B Call 80.00 480.00 1460.00 666bumpy Fold GaryQQQ Raise 320.00 800.00 3180.00 A Call 240.00 1040.00 4470.00 B All-in 1460.00 2500.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 1220.00 3720.00 1960.00 A Call 1220.00 4940.00 3250.00 Turn A GaryQQQ All-in 1960.00 6900.00 0.00 A Call 1960.00 8860.00 1290.00 GaryQQQ Show 8 8 A Show 4 K B Show 2 2 River 9 GaryQQQ Win Three 8s 8860.00 8860.00
No joy for me in the micro Bounty Hunters today. The bingo callers were having their day in sun. That’s fine by me, I profit from these guys in the long run, it’s important that they get lucky often enough to keep them in the games.
In HU STTs I fared better to claw a little back. I'm finding it harder to motivate myself for the HU STTs now because they only offer the opportunity of small profits. They were great when I need to grind up my balance using low variance games, but now I much prefer playing for the larger prizes up for grabs in micro MTTs.
For now my 40 buy-in rule is keeping me out the £5.75 Bounty Hunters that run all day. I’m itching to get into them as soon as possible, however I’ll be waiting until my balance reaches the reuired £230 no matter how long it takes. Discipline and patience FTW!
A bizarre river call in a HU match. It’s either a misclick, or he thinks there’s a reasonable chance I'm bluffing with the same hand or worse.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 15.00 15.00 1770.00 * Big blind 30.00 45.00 1185.00 Your hole cards 9 9 GaryQQQ Raise 45.00 90.00 1725.00 * Call 30.00 120.00 1155.00 Flop Q Q Q * Check GaryQQQ Bet 80.00 200.00 1645.00 * Call 80.00 280.00 1075.00 Turn 5 * Check GaryQQQ Bet 190.00 470.00 1455.00 * Call 190.00 660.00 885.00 River 7 * Check GaryQQQ Bet 395.00 1055.00 1060.00 * Call 395.00 1450.00 490.00 GaryQQQ Show 9 9 * Muck 8 9 GaryQQQ Win Full House, Queens and 9s 1450.00 2510.00
I couldn’t negotiate the micro Bounty Hunter minefields today;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceROBIN-U Small blind 50.00 50.00 1545.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 100.00 150.00 1343.75 Your hole cards A J mattytun Fold r Call 100.00 250.00 950.00 p Call 100.00 350.00 4305.00 ROBIN-U Fold GaryQQQ All-in 1343.75 1693.75 0.00 r All-in 950.00 2643.75 0.00 p Call 1343.75 3987.50 2961.25 GaryQQQ Show A J r Show K J p Show K 7 Flop 7 4 4 Turn 9 River 6 p Win Two Pairs, 7s and 4s 3987.50 6948.75
Nice one Gary. Great achievement already to have virtually £200 from 0p. That takes a lot of skill and a lot of discipline! Keep it up! Posted by Lambert180
Cheers Paul, thanks for that. Good luck to you for tomorrow.
I only played two games today. Results were pleasing with a win in a HU match and second in a small Bounty Hunter.
In the tournament I was only deprived a win by the harsh run-out in the hand below. It was somewhat unfortunate because I felt I was at the top of my game throughout and always the best player at my tables. I prefer to be performance-orientated rather than results-orientated, there’s nothing more I could have done so I’m totally cool with the outcome.
April Poker Points 229
Today’s results; 7840506HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker18/04/2013 15:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.32/25£6.517841642HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker18/04/2013 12:22NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.9 So near, yet so far. I come within one card of winning the Bounty Hunter and reaching a new highest balance;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance* Small blind 500.00 500.00 18149.50 GaryQQQ Big blind 1000.00 1500.00 30350.50 Your hole cards Q Q * Raise 2000.00 3500.00 16149.50 GaryQQQ Raise 5000.00 8500.00 25350.50 * All-in 16149.50 24649.50 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 12649.50 37299.00 12701.00 * Show 10 A GaryQQQ Show Q Q Flop K 10 Q Turn 8 River J * Win Flush to the Ace 37299.00 37299.00
Up-to-date graph of daily closing balances so far;
I donked myself out of a £3.30 freezeout when I put a maniac to the test with my pocket 77 at a bad time and couldn't improve against his over-pair.
In a £2.30 Bounty Hunter I bubbled after losing the big all-in with AK<KQ aipf.
In a £2.20 Deepstack I was an early casualty. Two hands did for me in that one; my KQ coming second best to KT after a KQT flop, then when my 3-bet with pocket QQ was flatted by KQo, the JT9 flop condemned me.
I made a couple of deep runs today, it was nice to turn a profit and get back over £200, though results were somewhat disappointing all things considered.
In a £250 guaranteed £2.30 Bounty Hunter I came close to a decent score but got donked out at the sharp end by the runaway chipleader, a calling station who was hitting everything and busting players for fun. He called my turn shove for a huge pot with only a jack-high flush draw and one card to come. He got there of course to beat my made straight. I was 2nd/9 from 147 at the time with several <10BB short stacks on life-support. I was begging for the call so I can’t whinge the one in five times I don’t fade the draw. It was a pretty brutal beat but it’s the nature of tournament poker.
Earlier I got heads-up in a smaller £2.30 BH, though needing to overcome a big chip deficit. HU play was over almost before it started. My open-shove from the button with a suited king was called by Q4o, another call I’m happy to take, but it was a quick kill; the flop came down Q44.
I seem to be stuck on a plateau at the moment, I’ve hovering around the £200 mark for a couple of weeks now. Hopefully I’ll push on soon.
Fun float in the £250 guaranteed. I had a feeling my opponent had probably missed this flop and decided to make play for the pot. Seeing flops with small pairs is far more profitable if you have ability to out-play your opponents post-flop and can still win pots without a set.
Comments
Closing Balance £210.59
Up £8.44 today
There’s not much of interest to report from the tables today. I got min-cashes in a £3.30 and £2.30 Bounty Hunters for a small winning day. If my AA had held against KQo with 3 left in the £2.30 the profit probably would have been much higher. But it didn’t, this is poker we’re talking about!
April Poker Points 131
Today’s results;
7809496HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 14:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.33/28£5.937810940HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 13:00NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957810329HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 10:48NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97808765HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.310/75£4.017810460HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 10:41NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057808465HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker10/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.345/91-£3.3
The hand below is from today’s 9-45 £3.30 BH. On the face of it this is a terrible flop for our under-pair. Most players in these games would fold to the c-bet and move on without further ado. However while stacks are this deep I see this as a good spot for float. We have a position and I expect the villain to c-bet his entire range. He probably considers my pre-flop calling range to include a lot of aces and combos of broadway cards, if he’s missed the flop the only draw he can hold is a gut-shot and it’s going to be difficult for him to continue. When we call the half-pot bet we only need to win the pot 25% of the time to break-even. His turn check is a sign of weakness and we pick up a useful 660 chip pot by firing off a bet. Had he fired a second barrel or check/raised my turn bet I’d have given up. In MTTs having the ability to know how to use position to your advantage and pick up lots of little pots like this without needing to showdown greatly increases your chance of making a deep run.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancewillie Small blind 30.00 30.00 4385.00 Paulp Big blind 60.00 90.00 1860.00 Your hole cards 4 4 A Raise 120.00 210.00 8752.50 Covermals Fold coombsie12 Fold GaryQQQ Call 120.00 330.00 5030.00 willie Fold Paulp Fold Flop 6 10 A A Bet 165.00 495.00 8587.50 GaryQQQ Call 165.00 660.00 4865.00 Turn Q A Check GaryQQQ Bet 385.00 1045.00 4480.00 A Fold GaryQQQ Muck GaryQQQ Win 660.00 5140.00 GaryQQQ Return 385.00 0.00 5525.00
Closing Balance £198.54
Down £12.05 today
It wasn’t my day today, I lost everything entered and quit my session early. I must have done something to upset the Poker Gods, several times I lost all-in pots after getting my chips in as a strong favourite only to see the chips go the other day.
Close to the end when I was already frustrated from earlier misfortune I took a nasty beat when stacks went in with one card to come on the final table bubble of a £3.30 freezeout. From there I jumped straight into a Hyper HU STT and lost an 80/20 to a bad call in only third hand (my check/shove with flopped top pair losing to flopped bottom pair). After those two beats came so close together I could feel tilt starting to set in. That’s a bad time to play so I de-registered from my next tournament and called it a day.
Spells of awful luck are totally standard in poker, everybody reading this diary will know exactly how it feels. I’ll be back as usual tomorrow with my mind fully reset and keen to resume play.
April Poker Points 139
Today’s results;
7814699HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 14:18NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057813768HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 13:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.37/16-£3.37814418HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 12:56NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057812535HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 12:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.316/16-£2.37814429HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 12:43NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057813616HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker11/04/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.37/13-£3.3
Enough is enough! I could feel tilt creeping in so I quit my session after this hand;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 10.00 10.00 502.00 * Big blind 20.00 30.00 468.00 Your hole cards J 8 GaryQQQ Raise 30.00 60.00 472.00 * Call 20.00 80.00 448.00 Flop 4 8 3 * Bet 60.00 140.00 388.00 GaryQQQ All-in 472.00 612.00 0.00 * All-in 388.00 1000.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 24.00 976.00 24.00 GaryQQQ Show J 8 * Show Q 3 Turn 3 River 6 * Win Three 3s 976.00 976.00
Closing Balance £194.78
Down £3.76 today
I had very little time for poker today. Though in the little I did play I ran just as badly as yesterday, once again unable win all-pots to save my life. No worries, they are all spots I want to take and they'll be very profitable for me over time. If I was losing because my chips were going in bad that's when I'd have something to worry about.
April Poker Points 147
Today’s results;
7819370HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker12/04/2013 17:21NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057819331HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker12/04/2013 17:17NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057819299HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker12/04/2013 17:12NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057816772HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker12/04/2013 14:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.39/29-£0.61
Ouch. If I can fade the flush draw on the river here I take two head prizes and have twice as many chips as anybody else in the tournament.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 30.00 30.00 6087.50 eBig blind 60.00 90.00 837.50 Your hole cards A J flamefree Fold T Call 60.00 150.00 1080.00 lynneyloo Fold GaryQQQ Call 30.00 180.00 6057.50 e Check Flop J 5 A GCheck eon1961 Bet 60.00 240.00 777.50 T Call 60.00 300.00 1020.00 GaryQQQ Raise 360.00 660.00 5697.50 eCall 300.00 960.00 477.50 T Call 300.00 1260.00 720.00 Turn 8 GaryQQQ Bet 780.00 2040.00 4917.50 eAll-in 477.50 2517.50 0.00 T All-in 720.00 3237.50 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 60.00 3177.50 4977.50 GaryQQQ Show A J eShow 2 A T Show 3 Q River K T Win Flush to the Ace 3177.50 3177.50
The heads-up games are going no better. I liked the flop, not the turn and river.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalances Small blind 15.00 15.00 520.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 30.00 45.00 435.00 Your hole cards A K s Call 15.00 60.00 505.00 GaryQQQ All-in 435.00 495.00 0.00 s All-in 505.00 1000.00 0.00 s Unmatched bet 70.00 930.00 70.00 s Show A 7 GaryQQQ Show A K Flop 5 J K Turn Q River 4 s Win Flush to the Ace 930.00 1000.00
Swings & swongs
Keep it up Gary
Closing Balance £181.78
Down £13.00 today
Another day spent on the wrong side of variance!
Rather than turn this diary into a bad-beat bore I’ve decided to use today’s entry to give you a tip about low to mid stakes Bounty Hunters;
Think twice before late-registering.
Why? Because the very start of a Bounty Hunter when is the most profitable stage of the tournament. All the worst players are still in the field. Typically as soon as the first cards are dealt rapid bust-outs will commence due to the many wild gamblers spread around the tables. These guys will happily get their stack in with mediocre holdings. If you pick-up a premium or smash a flop there’s a great chance you’ll get paid to the max. You don’t want to miss this juicy action.
There are other things to consider too. Below is a screenshot of a typical Bounty Hunter lobby taken while late-registration was still available. You’ll see that 20 of the 56 entrants had already busted. That means 18% of the prizepool has already gone, awarded in head-prizes. Just 82% is left to play for. If you buy-in now your average opponent will be sitting with 55% more chips than you (3.1K v your 2K). There will be far fewer gamblers to exploit as many of them will be among the 20 who have busted. Most of the stronger players will still be alive and will have bigger stacks than you. All these things combined make late-reg unappealing.
In my opinion a late entry when you miss the start by just a minute or two is fine, but as more time passes by it quickly gets less attractive. I’d suggest that a buy-in towards the end of late registration is unwise. Even if there’s a small overlay you’d be better off waiting for the next game to start.
http://postimg.org/image/yyibwh50f/
April Poker Points 168
7822159HNL 0.1GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 19:45NL Hold'em £1 + £0.123/135-£1.17820791HNL 0.2GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 19:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.253/86-£2.27821865HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 18:00NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3106/189-£2.37824002HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 17:52NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97821657HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 17:05NL Hold'em £2 + £0.320/28-£2.37823749HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 16:51NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957821431HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 16:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.346/55-£2.37823598HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 16:14NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057820792HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 14:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.317/36-£2.37820628HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker13/04/2013 13:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.39/27-£2.3Today’s results;
Closing Balance £178.23
Down £3.55 today
Due to family commitments I played very little poker. For the fourth day in a row I was rubbish at holding when all-in and ahead and finished a little down from a small batch of STTs.
April Poker Points 174
Today’s results;
7828105HNL6MX,ST0.2GBPSkyPoker14/04/2013 19:25NL Hold'em £2 + £0.25/6-£2.27828247HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker14/04/2013 19:09NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957828210HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker14/04/2013 19:00NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057828203HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker14/04/2013 18:57NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057827984HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker14/04/2013 18:47NL Hold'em £2 + £0.12/2-£2.17827461HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker14/04/2013 15:56NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957826094HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker14/04/2013 09:39NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.95
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 10.00 10.00 420.00 * Big blind 20.00 30.00 550.00 Your hole cards Q Q GaryQQQ Raise 30.00 60.00 390.00 * Call 20.00 80.00 530.00 Flop 9 4 6 * Bet 20.00 100.00 510.00 GaryQQQ Raise 110.00 210.00 280.00 * Call 90.00 300.00 420.00 Turn 10 * All-in 420.00 720.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 280.00 1000.00 0.00 * Unmatched bet 140.00 860.00 140.00 GaryQQQ Show Q Q * Show 10 8 River 8 * Win Two Pairs, 10s and 8s 860.00 1000.00
Closing Balance £171.58
Down £6.65 today
It’s still not happening for me in the micro MTT’s at the moment. I’m picking up plenty of small pots without any difficulty only to run terribly when it comes to the crucial big all-ins. Runs like this are standard in tournaments, I’ll just keep plugging away and trying to play my best until the variance turns around. I’m saving up the run-good for a future heater.
At least I cashed in something. My min-cash in a £3.30 freeze-out was my first in-the-money finish since Wednesday. In the end I was coolered with pair<pair aipf during 3-handed play with effective stacks under 20BB.
April Poker Points 201
Today’s results;
7830906HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 15:30NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957829406HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 15:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.39/16-£2.37830822HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 15:02NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957829286HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 14:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.316/21-£1.557830778HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 14:40NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057830707HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 14:34NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057829173HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 14:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.316/19-£2.37829033HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 13:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.311/21-£2.37830514HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 12:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97829559HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 11:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.33/11£6.77828734HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.376/79-£3.37828462HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker15/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.331/69-£3.3
Fun hand from a Bounty Hunter today. Given the action on previous streets we can eliminate QQ-AA from the villains range and it looks very likely he has a jack. I shove over 2x pot on the river for maximum value knowing that a jack will be calling. I see no point betting less; he may smell a rat and flat-call a smaller bet rather than re-raising me all-in. Of course quads 5s was possibility, albeit highly unlikely. in which we can laugh off a harsh cooler.
The above was a rare highlight. The hand below was my exit from another tournament and is standard fare for me at the moment. I was calling here with a very solid read that the villain’s 3-bet shove is likely to be a middle pair.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceANGLINGMAN Small blind 30.00 30.00 2210.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 60.00 90.00 2905.00 Your hole cards J J Primeiro Fold wotAflop Raise 120.00 210.00 640.00 margates Call 120.00 330.00 3435.00 * All-in 3085.00 3415.00 0.00 ANGLINGMAN Fold GaryQQQ All-in 2905.00 6320.00 0.00 wotAflop All-in 640.00 6960.00 0.00 margates Fold * Unmatched bet 120.00 6840.00 120.00 GaryQQQ Show J J wotAflop Show A K * Show 10 10 Flop 10 4 3 Turn 2 River 6 * Win Three 10s 6840.00 6960.00
Closing Balance £193.05
Up £21.47 today
Phew; a long overdue cash in a Bounty Hunter and my first winning day since Wednesday last week.
Most of the profit came thanks to a deep run in the 10-45AM £3.30. For the first time in a while I ran well when all-in including a lucky double with AT>AJ aipf two from the money and winning two 40/60s as the underdog at the final table. I busted in third place after three hours of play in an unavoidable cooler; my rivered nut-flush losing to a turned full-house. I knew I didn’t have the nuts on a paired board but with effective stacks only ~20BB deep my hand was far too strong to even consider folding in a blind v blind pot.
Much like London buses another cash also came in the very next tournament with another third in a small £2.30 Bounty Hunter. On the bubble I benefited from a major suck-out; with only 9BB behind my K3o was a standard shove when it folded to me on the SB. I somehow got there against the BB’s pocket KK!
April Poker Points 207
Today’s results;
7832687HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker16/04/2013 14:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.33/17£3.357832112HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker16/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.33/68£18.12
Below is the hand from this morning’s Bounty Hunter that set me off on the deep run. I’d like to point out a couple of decisions in this hand that might help beginners or improving players.
Firstly I see little point in raising over the limpers pre-flop. With several passive calling stations at the table if I do the most likely thing is that at least two of them will call my raise, I’ll then miss the flop and have difficulty playing my pocket pair OOP with overcards on the board. Seeing a flop for free and taking it from there offers by far the best risk/reward ratio.
Second it’s worth taking a good look at the flop action. When Player A puts out a small bet and player B calls I’m pretty sure they both have either a piece of the flop or a draw, so I put in a smallish check-raise to build the pot with my set while being careful not to make my bet so big that either of them fold. Any king and any flush draw are among holdings that I expect to call my raise. Slow-playing now by just calling the minimum bet is a common mistake. The pot won’t get very big and flush-draws get the chance to improve at minimum cost. Putting in a much bigger check/raise would also be an error, the last thing we want here is to make our opponents fold.
When player B unexpectedly shoves over my check-raise I’m delighted. We’re not worried he holds pocket KK as his pre-flop limp on the button means we can eliminate it from his range with 99% certainty. All we have to think about now is winning as many chips as possible out from Player A. The last thing I should do is put in a raise that makes Player A fold. You see light calls made by opponents chasing bounties in these games, so I don’t think player A will fold any king or flush draw if I merely call, in fact he may now think that I only have either a flush draw or a weak made hand. Flat-calling the shove and hoping Player A also calls is our best bet. When he does he’s now committed to the pot and my plan is to shove on any turn. I hate the ace because it might scare Player A into a reluctantly folding a king, however I go through with my plan and put the rest of my stack in. Player A calls even though he'd been drawing almost dead on the flop, completely dead on the turn, and I win the maximum possible.
Player B didn't really do much wrong, he was just unlucky to run into a bigger set. Player A played his cards badly in my opinion. The presence of many players in the field making unwise decisions like this are why these low-stakes MTTs are easily beatable.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance666bumpy Small blind 40.00 40.00 5495.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 80.00 120.00 3500.00 Your hole cards 8 8 rainman001 Fold A Call 80.00 200.00 4790.00 ebb69 Fold B Call 80.00 280.00 1540.00 666bumpy Call 40.00 320.00 5455.00 GaryQQQ Check Flop 2 K 8 666bumpy Check GaryQQQ Check A Bet 80.00 400.00 4710.00 B Call 80.00 480.00 1460.00 666bumpy Fold GaryQQQ Raise 320.00 800.00 3180.00 A Call 240.00 1040.00 4470.00 B All-in 1460.00 2500.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 1220.00 3720.00 1960.00 A Call 1220.00 4940.00 3250.00 Turn A GaryQQQ All-in 1960.00 6900.00 0.00 A Call 1960.00 8860.00 1290.00 GaryQQQ Show 8 8 A Show 4 K B Show 2 2 River 9 GaryQQQ Win Three 8s 8860.00 8860.00
nearly back to 1/5 of the way there.
(* *)
^
dev
Keep it up!
Closing Balance £190.28
Down £2.77 today
No joy for me in the micro Bounty Hunters today. The bingo callers were having their day in sun. That’s fine by me, I profit from these guys in the long run, it’s important that they get lucky often enough to keep them in the games.
In HU STTs I fared better to claw a little back. I'm finding it harder to motivate myself for the HU STTs now because they only offer the opportunity of small profits. They were great when I need to grind up my balance using low variance games, but now I much prefer playing for the larger prizes up for grabs in micro MTTs.
For now my 40 buy-in rule is keeping me out the £5.75 Bounty Hunters that run all day. I’m itching to get into them as soon as possible, however I’ll be waiting until my balance reaches the reuired £230 no matter how long it takes. Discipline and patience FTW!
April Poker Points 225
Today’s results;
7838666HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 16:19NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97838516HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 15:58NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97838616HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 15:26NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957836849HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 15:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.318/29-£1.557836490HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 14:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.38/20-£2.37837782HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 11:59NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957837784HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 11:54NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057837620HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 11:43NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97835957HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.356/83-£2.177835619HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker17/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.326/70-£3.3
A bizarre river call in a HU match. It’s either a misclick, or he thinks there’s a reasonable chance I'm bluffing with the same hand or worse.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 15.00 15.00 1770.00 * Big blind 30.00 45.00 1185.00 Your hole cards 9 9 GaryQQQ Raise 45.00 90.00 1725.00 * Call 30.00 120.00 1155.00 Flop Q Q Q * Check GaryQQQ Bet 80.00 200.00 1645.00 * Call 80.00 280.00 1075.00 Turn 5 * Check GaryQQQ Bet 190.00 470.00 1455.00 * Call 190.00 660.00 885.00 River 7 * Check GaryQQQ Bet 395.00 1055.00 1060.00 * Call 395.00 1450.00 490.00 GaryQQQ Show 9 9 * Muck 8 9 GaryQQQ Win Full House, Queens and 9s 1450.00 2510.00
I couldn’t negotiate the micro Bounty Hunter minefields today;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceROBIN-U Small blind 50.00 50.00 1545.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 100.00 150.00 1343.75 Your hole cards A J mattytun Fold r Call 100.00 250.00 950.00 p Call 100.00 350.00 4305.00 ROBIN-U Fold GaryQQQ All-in 1343.75 1693.75 0.00 r All-in 950.00 2643.75 0.00 p Call 1343.75 3987.50 2961.25 GaryQQQ Show A J r Show K J p Show K 7 Flop 7 4 4 Turn 9 River 6 p Win Two Pairs, 7s and 4s 3987.50 6948.75
Closing Balance £198.69
Up £8.41 today
I only played two games today. Results were pleasing with a win in a HU match and second in a small Bounty Hunter.
In the tournament I was only deprived a win by the harsh run-out in the hand below. It was somewhat unfortunate because I felt I was at the top of my game throughout and always the best player at my tables. I prefer to be performance-orientated rather than results-orientated, there’s nothing more I could have done so I’m totally cool with the outcome.
April Poker Points 229
Today’s results;
7840506HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker18/04/2013 15:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.32/25£6.517841642HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker18/04/2013 12:22NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.9
So near, yet so far. I come within one card of winning the Bounty Hunter and reaching a new highest balance;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance* Small blind 500.00 500.00 18149.50 GaryQQQ Big blind 1000.00 1500.00 30350.50 Your hole cards Q Q * Raise 2000.00 3500.00 16149.50 GaryQQQ Raise 5000.00 8500.00 25350.50 * All-in 16149.50 24649.50 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 12649.50 37299.00 12701.00 * Show 10 A GaryQQQ Show Q Q Flop K 10 Q Turn 8 River J * Win Flush to the Ace 37299.00 37299.00
Up-to-date graph of daily closing balances so far;
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9939/graphday106.jpg
Closing Balance £193.43
Down £5.26 today
It wasn’t my day with no joy from 3 MTTs.
I donked myself out of a £3.30 freezeout when I put a maniac to the test with my pocket 77 at a bad time and couldn't improve against his over-pair.
In a £2.30 Bounty Hunter I bubbled after losing the big all-in with AK<KQ aipf.
In a £2.20 Deepstack I was an early casualty. Two hands did for me in that one; my KQ coming second best to KT after a KQT flop, then when my 3-bet with pocket QQ was flatted by KQo, the JT9 flop condemned me.
April Poker Points 236
Today’s results;
7845625HNLHU0.1GBPSkyPoker19/04/2013 15:35NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97844066HNL 0.2GBPSkyPoker19/04/2013 14:20NL Hold'em £2 + £0.212/15-£2.27845426HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker19/04/2013 12:22NL Hold'em £1 + £0.052/2-£1.057843340HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker19/04/2013 12:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.34/17-£0.617844730HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker19/04/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.313/14-£3.3
Bounty Hunter bubble harshness.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance* Small blind 150.00 150.00 5060.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 300.00 450.00 6217.50 Your hole cards K A gemz13 Raise 600.00 1050.00 13652.50 VK41 Fold * Call 450.00 1500.00 4610.00 GaryQQQ All-in 6217.50 7717.50 0.00 gemz13 Fold * All-in 4610.00 12327.50 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 1307.50 11020.00 1307.50 * Show Q K GaryQQQ Show K A Flop 4 Q Q Turn 7 River 7 * Win Full House, Queens and 7s 11020.00 11020.00
Closing Balance £201.07
Up £7.64 today
I made a couple of deep runs today, it was nice to turn a profit and get back over £200, though results were somewhat disappointing all things considered.
In a £250 guaranteed £2.30 Bounty Hunter I came close to a decent score but got donked out at the sharp end by the runaway chipleader, a calling station who was hitting everything and busting players for fun. He called my turn shove for a huge pot with only a jack-high flush draw and one card to come. He got there of course to beat my made straight. I was 2nd/9 from 147 at the time with several <10BB short stacks on life-support. I was begging for the call so I can’t whinge the one in five times I don’t fade the draw. It was a pretty brutal beat but it’s the nature of tournament poker.
Earlier I got heads-up in a smaller £2.30 BH, though needing to overcome a big chip deficit. HU play was over almost before it started. My open-shove from the button with a suited king was called by Q4o, another call I’m happy to take, but it was a quick kill; the flop came down Q44.
I seem to be stuck on a plateau at the moment, I’ve hovering around the £200 mark for a couple of weeks now. Hopefully I’ll push on soon.
April Poker Points 263
Today’s results;
7850999HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 18:05NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.857849001HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 18:00NL Hold'em £2 + £0.39/147£7.117850960HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 17:57NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.157850951HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 17:53NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.157848818HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 17:05NL Hold'em £2 + £0.32/18£4.987849476HNLSAT0.3GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 17:05NL Hold'em £3.3 + £0.36/15-£3.67850402HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 16:41NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.857848073HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 14:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.36/34-£0.87847888HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 14:15NL Hold'em £2 + £0.36/7-£2.37849846HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker20/04/2013 13:12NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.85
Fun float in the £250 guaranteed. I had a feeling my opponent had probably missed this flop and decided to make play for the pot. Seeing flops with small pairs is far more profitable if you have ability to out-play your opponents post-flop and can still win pots without a set.
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 75.00 75.00 11720.00 Ilera Big blind 150.00 225.00 2332.50 Your hole cards 2 2 gforce1 Fold * Raise 300.00 525.00 9075.00 tw33ks Fold GaryQQQ Call 225.00 750.00 11495.00 Ilera Fold Flop J 3 4 GaryQQQ Check * Bet 300.00 1050.00 8775.00 GaryQQQ Raise 795.00 1845.00 10700.00 * Call 495.00 2340.00 8280.00 Turn 3 GaryQQQ Bet 1495.00 3835.00 9205.00 * Fold GaryQQQ Muck GaryQQQ Win 2340.00 11545.00 GaryQQQ Return 1495.00 0.00 13040.00