So +0.22p - Does that mean we get one more shot at a £5.75 BH or do we drop back down now? Pretty sick exit hand - VUL Keep up the good work. Posted by POKERTREV
Cheers Trev, I will.
My choice of first tourny tomorrow depends on what time I get home from work. If the next game I fancy due to run is a £5.75 I'll be in. If it's a lower buy-in that's what I'll go for too. My playing hours are limited so quite often I'll just jump in the first thing going rather than be too choosy (as long as it fits with the 40 buy-in rule of course).
My first tourney today was the 10-45AM £3.30 Bounty Hunter. I ran quite deep, albeit as a short stack most of the way, but was rubbish at all-ins when it mattered most at the sharp end. I busted close to the bubble with one head prize as a consolation.
That left my balance on £228 just four minutes before the 12-30PM £5.75 BH was due to start. I decided to jump into (and won) a £3.15 hyper HU STT to get myself back over £230 in quick time so I could enter the BH without having to break my 40 buy-in rule, a decision that was destined to bear fruit.
After late registering (which I hate doing in Bounty Hunters, though it was by only four minutes) I enjoyed a flying start in the 12-30PM with a flopped set winning me an early double and head-prize. With a couple of smaller pots also going my way I was soon up to 5K from 2K starting. However my stack dwindled for the next hour while I picked up a series of junk hands and missed all flops seen. The only pot of any size I won during that time came courtesy of my uncalled river shove with air in a 3-way pot which forced one of my opponents in the hand to lay down pocket kings. The board was 29A28 rainbow, I held an unimproved QTs.
Eventually, having fallen as low as 20th of the 22 left, I picked up a premium pair and managed a full double when my aces held against flopped top pair (see below). That set me off on a mini heater which saw me through the bubble and onto final table, going in as 4th of 6 in chips. My cards dried up again during 3-handed play with a very aggressive dynamic at the table. I fell dangerously short but won two standard races to recover from 10BB and make heads-up play. Despite a fierce battle I was ultimately unable to turn around the big chip deficit. My exit came when my check/shoved combo draw failed to improve against A4s with a weak flopped top pair. It was a spot I had to take, I had great equity and needed to double ASAP if I were to go on and win. I don’t regret making the shove at all and can live with the outcome, after all I’d done well in earlier flips.
In the end my return for my £5.75 was £34.50 plus £13.50 in head-prizes, a very pleasing result for only my second try after moving up. Yesterday’s nightmare debut is already forgiven!
I’m very pleased to finish the day on a new highest balance. My aim now is to try and push on towards the £300 mark and hopefully avoid falling below the £230 barrier and having to drop down again. I’ll still be playing micro-stakes games, particularly the morning £3.30s which I enjoy so much, but if avoid a downswing my preferred buy-in will now be £5.75 for the foreseeable future due to the bigger prizes up for grabs.
Yeah! Very well done. Although I am a bit gutted as last night I had pulled level with your tally thanks to a 3rd in £400 rebuy but now youve pulled away again! hehe.
It wasn’t my day. Sometimes you’re simply not going to win no matter what you do, it was like that for me today as I found myself the wrong side of a bunch of coolers and managed to lose nearly all flips.
My best chance of a bink came in an afternoon £2.30. With 4 left I was clear chipleader. However AQ<J4s on an ace-high flop and two lost flips later I was out in fourth.
It was nice to play in the evening Mini for the first time this year. Saturday is the only evening I can even consider entering due to my work hours. Even then I find it hard to play anywhere near my best. I’m guaranteed to be pretty tired after a 1-30am start and a busy day and therefore find it hard to concentrate and tend to play impatiently. I only lasted 20 minutes today. Already short after early skirmishes I check/shoved my flopped nut-flush draw into pocket aces and didn’t bink.
I’ve abandoned any idea of making any C4P this month. I could still make it easily enough if I crammed in a load of £3.15 HU hypers over the next couple of days, but I consider using that time trying to bink MTTs to carry a higher expected value.
Coolers R Us. It was one of those days, £5.50 freezeout exit hand;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceBELL_POKER Small blind 100.00 100.00 7857.50 STEVE1937 Big blind 200.00 300.00 2765.00 Your hole cards K K kg101 Fold timeforbed Fold GaryQQQ Raise 400.00 700.00 2279.00 BELL_POKER Call 300.00 1000.00 7557.50 STEVE1937 All-in 2765.00 3765.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2279.00 6044.00 0.00 BELL_POKER Fold STEVE1937 Unmatched bet 286.00 5758.00 286.00 STEVE1937 Show A A GaryQQQ Show K K Flop 10 A 7 Turn 3 River 8 STEVE1937 Win Three Aces 5758.00 6044.00
Nothing much to report today. I only played 3 MTTs and 4 HU matches this morning, for the rest of the day I was too busy for poker. In the MTTs I didn’t get anything going, I didn't pick up many cards to play with and never really felt ‘in the zone’. I won a couple of the HUs but seem to be going through a phase of being bad at flips in the hyper games.
I started with the two morning £3.30s. In the 9-45 I came close to the money but lost my first flip of the tournament. I 3-bet jammed 20BB with a small pair from the BB over a guy opening every button to 3BB. He made what I consider a light call with QJo, but fair play he had a flip, probably the best he could hope for. It worked out well for him, he hit his cards hard (full house) and I was out. In the 10-45 after an hour of not much happening I got my last 12BB aipf 3-ways with AK against J7s and and JTs, I was dead on the flop to a flush.
At lunch I entered a £2.20 Rebuy with the knowledge I was rolled to use 3 buy-ins maximum. I won the first hand so was unable to take my usual instant rebuy. However at a crazy table with players getting all-in very light I soon found myself up to more than 4x starting stack by early in level 2 without having taken a rebuy. At that point I had a big chip lead and decided to tighten-up, happy to nit it up from there to the add-on. The plan didn’t work out too well; I lost my entire stack in the space of just three hands. First my KK was no good against 75, two hands later I lost the rest with JJ<AA. I decided to quit knowing a double rebuy and add-on would break my BR rules. Also I just wasn’t feeling it, I had a feeling in my heart it just wasn’t going to be my day.
Final tournament was an afternoon £5.75 BH. I knew I was at a wild table almost immediately when I saw two eliminations in the first two hands. I folded almost continuously for three levels, the strongest hole-cards I saw in that time being A6o which I open- folded from UTG. The only pot of I won of any size came in level 4 when getting short I doubled with A7>A2 on an ace-high board. I was out soon after losing most of my stack when my check-raised top pair and flush draw couldn’t hold against ace-rag with a gutshot and overcard. I got the last of my chips in with KJ and ran into KK.
Quick brm question for you, linked to my own challenge. I know you play pretty much just MTT's but I intend to mix in a little cash too. If you were to do the same, would you alter you buyin rules? It's generally considered 40 buyins (2.5%) for MTT's and 20 buyins (5%) for Cash, would you go along with this or stick to the 40 buyins for safety in a challenge like this?
Hi Gary Quick brm question for you, linked to my own challenge. I know you play pretty much just MTT's but I intend to mix in a little cash too. If you were to do the same, would you alter you buyin rules? It's generally considered 40 buyins (2.5%) for MTT's and 20 buyins (5%) for Cash, would you go along with this or stick to the 40 buyins for safety in a challenge like this? Posted by Slykllist
To be honest I never play cash, so you're probably better off asking someone else. Personally I'd stick to the 2.5% rule for cash too for the peace of mind. These challenges are easy while you're winning, whether you succeed or fail mainly depends on your ability to keep calm and disciplined during the downswings. Good luck.
Yay, that’s more like it; I won a small MTT today! A welcome confidence boost and a relief after three days of firing blanks.
The win came in my first and only game of the day, a £50 gtd £3.30 freezeout. I feel I won for two reasons; I played well, and I enjoyed a great run of cards, particularly at the final table. It pretty much went like a dream, for most of the tournament I was chipleader and always felt in control. I used my stack to chip-up nicely on the bubble winning pots both when I did and didn’t have anything. Each time I got an opponent all-in and behind my cards held-up. The most crucial time being when my AQ survived against QJs with a flush draw and a gutshot on an AK6 flop during three-handed play. Only three hands later victory was mine with quad aces no less! At the final table I’d picked up AA and KK twice each, it’s hard to lose when cards like that keep coming.
As I expect most of you are aware the new Sky Poker Rewardsscheme replaces Cash for Points after today. Personally I think this is a great change that can benefit everybody on the site, including those who may see a slight reduction in their loyalty payments initially. The whole poker economy relies on maintaining a healthy pool of recreational players and newbies playing at the lowest stakes. If those games start to dry up it will have a knock-on effect right up to the highest levels. Offering easily achievable loyalty rewards to all those at the lower limits who currently get nothing has to be a good thing.
If more poker players step onto the bottom rung of the ladder naturally more money will trickle up to those who’ve reached the top. Everybody will be a winner. I’ve played on Sky Poker every single day in April, probably averaging around three or four hours of play per day. Yet I’ve still fallen short of earning a Cash for Points payment. Surely this can’t be right? The whole poker community, including those playing the most at the top, should want there to be attractive inducements to maximise the number of recreational players getting involved in games at the lower levels. In my opinion any other view is very short-sighted.
April Poker Points 409
Today’s result;
7886727HNL0.3GBPSkyPoker30/04/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.31/16£21.7 The big hold that got me heads-up with a huge lead;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceA Small blind 150.00 150.00 7730.00 B Big blind 300.00 450.00 4870.00 Your hole cards Q A GaryQQQ Raise 600.00 1050.00 18350.00 A Call 450.00 1500.00 7280.00 B Fold Flop 6 K A A Check GaryQQQ Bet 825.00 2325.00 17525.00 A Raise 2400.00 4725.00 4880.00 GaryQQQ Raise 3900.00 8625.00 13625.00 A All-in 4880.00 13505.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 2555.00 16060.00 11070.00 A Show J Q GaryQQQ Show Q A Turn 8 River 2 GaryQQQ Win Pair of Aces 16060.00 27130.00
Easy game, three hands later victory is mine with quad aces!
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance* Small blind 200.00 200.00 4720.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 400.00 600.00 26680.00 Your hole cards A A * Raise 600.00 1200.00 4120.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 1600.00 26280.00 Flop A J 9 GaryQQQ Check * Bet 400.00 2000.00 3720.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 2400.00 25880.00 Turn A GaryQQQ Check * Bet 400.00 2800.00 3320.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 3200.00 25480.00 River 4 GaryQQQ All-in 25480.00 28680.00 0.00 * All-in 3320.00 32000.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 22160.00 9840.00 22160.00 * Show 7 7 GaryQQQ Show A A GaryQQQ Win Four Aces 9840.00 32000.00
"As I expect most of you are aware the new Sky Poker Rewardsscheme replaces Cash for Points after today. Personally I think this is a great change that can benefit everybody on the site, including those who may see a slight reduction in their loyalty payments initially. The whole poker economy relies on maintaining a healthy pool of recreational players and newbies playing at the lowest stakes. If those games start to dry up it will have a knock-on effect right up to the highest levels. Offering easily achievable loyalty rewards to all those at the lower limits who currently get nothing has to be a good thing. "
Due to running out of excuses to keep putting-off some decorating work at home my only games today were the two morning £3.30 Bounty Hunters.
In the 9-45 I ran fairly deep but busted not far from the money in 17th/81 for no return. To be honest I was always below average and struggled to get anything going. I’m totally at ease with my exit; I came second in a standard overcards v pair race at a time when I needed to double if I were to drag myself into contention. I always play for the win, hence I’d much rather take a flip that gives me a shot at making final table over folding my way to a min-cash on fumes, an unwise strategy I see many others adopt.
Again in the 10-45 I spend well over an hour bumping along near the bottom of the field failing to make hands. This time though I did start to pick-up some useful cards with the bubble looming and gradually made my way near the top of the field, going on to make final table slightly below average. Four-handed play was pretty tough, I found myself up against Mike1975, a talented MTT player and two difficult to play loose-aggressive opponents. Fortunately I got more cards to work with and managed to get heads-up against Mike with a slight lead. From there though it went pear-shaped, I was totally outplayed heads-up and had to settle with second place. I think the final hand can be considered a cooler; I check/shoved my flush draw and over-cards to the board into an unlikely made straight in a spot where Mike is probably c-betting his entire opening range (see below).
Despite the annoyance of a second place finish I have to consider today a success; I'm happy to find myself on a new highest balance again, something that felt very unlikely a couple of days ago.
Hi gary - excellent work so far. Im gutted I havent been on your table much in any tournies like we did last time round, would be great to get on a final table and down to heads up! Anyway, i just won the £75 velocity (shame you cant play that as its perfect for your game and for only 55p is an absoloute bargain. Its my favouraite mini tourny and I wish it was on more than one night!) so im back on level with you. Its not a brag (ok, maybe a teeny, tiny one as I love winning), more a thank you as having someone to push me to do better is great. By following your BR rules im more confident I wont suffer big drops and therefore keep my confidence high and stop me tilting.
Also, on the tilting note, its refreshing to see your outlook and has helped me keep my head better when things go wrong and its actually paid divid ends already. Early in a tourny I lost 75% of my stack to a nutter caller who called me all way down with a gutshot to the worst str when I had trips. But, instead of pushing allin and throwing my dummy I hung in there and actually won the thing!
All poker players should read this thread and your last one as it shows that EVERYONE has bad beats, lows, highs and run good etc and that Sky (and other poker sites) are not rigged! By following simple BR management and by keeping cool you can go a long way.
"As I expect most of you are aware the new Sky Poker Rewards scheme replaces Cash for Points after today. Personally I think this is a great change that can benefit everybody on the site, including those who may see a slight reduction in their loyalty payments initially. The whole poker economy relies on maintaining a healthy pool of recreational players and newbies playing at the lowest stakes. If those games start to dry up it will have a knock-on effect right up to the highest levels. Offering easily achievable loyalty rewards to all those at the lower limits who currently get nothing has to be a good thing. " THIS. Well said. Congrats on the bink too. Posted by MAXALLY
Couldnt agree more if I tried!!!! Always felt this needed looking at for the lower stake players.
My only MTTs today were a couple of £5.75 Bounty Hunters. I also played a £2.10 HU STT which I won.
In the first £5.75 after struggling to make hands for an hour my exit came with my only premium pair of the session. When down to 19BB my min-raise from UTG and a flat call induced a squeeze-shove from a 13BB shortie in the blinds. I re-shoved and the caller put in the extra 17BB, so we were aipf 3-ways. My jacks were up against AK and AQ giving me a good shot of winning the 51BB pot and a head-prize. It wasn’t to be, the big stack’s AQ binked to scoop the pot and take two bounties. I don’t mind busting in big +ev situations and would snap take this spot every time.
I took an early head-prize in the second £5.75 but my exit came soon after when my pre-flop 4-bet with AQ was flatted by the OOP 3-bettor. The queen-high flop condemned me; my opponent had played his pocket aces perfectly, I'd have folded to a 5-bet shove pre-flop.
Hey Gary not been playing for the last month just wanted to say really well done on doubling your bankroll and more in that time keep up the good work, really impressive.
Hey Gary not been playing for the last month just wanted to say really well done on doubling your bankroll and more in that time keep up the good work, really impressive. Posted by benc
Hey, thanks Ben. It's good to see you back.
Congrats on completing your dissertation. I'm sure your month of poker exclusion from will bear fruit, it was a wise decision. You've certainly 'got your head screwed' on as they say.
Good luck to you at the tables (not that I think you need it!).
No luck in my two Bounty Hunters today. First up was a morning £3.30. Finding myself short in the mid-stages I found what looked like a good squeeze/shove spot with Q9s in the SB and 2 limpers in the pot before my turn to act. It didn’t look quite so good when the BB woke up with AA.
After a couple of hours doing decorating I returned to the poker tables to enter the 2-30PM £5.75. I lasted precisely four hands! Once again I ran into pocket AA, unfortunately I was holding KK at the time. As you might expect all the chips went in preflop. It’s unthinkable to fold pocket kings pre-flop at any stage of a Bounty Hunter without a very strong read. Many villains are prepared to punt their stacks surprisingly light in these games. When you run KK into AA it’s just an unavoidable cooler, all you can do is take it on the chin (unless you suck-out of course) and move on to the next game. Far more often they’ll turn over worse than KK, even while stacks are still 100BB deep.
I'd busted out of the 2-30PM BH in plenty of time to enter the 2-35PM £1.10 Rebuy. In a quirk of fate it was destined to save the day. With £3.30 invested (includes an instant rebuy and the add-on) I managed to win the event for a pleasing return of £28.00. I was above average and felt comfortable through most of the tournament. The only time I fell short was post-bubble during three-handed play when I found myself somewhat distant in third place after a bad run of cards. A flip brought me back into contention when I jammed QTo from the button and doubled off pocket 66 in the SB. Going into heads-up play I had a 4-1 chip deficit to overcome. The eventual runner-up was using unconventional plays and bet sizes that didn’t really seem to be working, so it didn’t take me too long to gain the advantage. He was then saved at the death by lucky river cards twice and I began to wonder if I'd be able to close it out. However when I put him under a spell of relentless pressure it eventually paid off; I jammed pocket 99 from the SB and managed to dodge the overcard when called by A8 for the victory.
Yay, we have a new highest balance. Hopefully I’ll be able to push on through the £300 barrier in the near future.
Comments
My choice of first tourny tomorrow depends on what time I get home from work. If the next game I fancy due to run is a £5.75 I'll be in. If it's a lower buy-in that's what I'll go for too. My playing hours are limited so quite often I'll just jump in the first thing going rather than be too choosy (as long as it fits with the 40 buy-in rule of course).
Closing Balance £274.10
Up £43.88 today
My first tourney today was the 10-45AM £3.30 Bounty Hunter. I ran quite deep, albeit as a short stack most of the way, but was rubbish at all-ins when it mattered most at the sharp end. I busted close to the bubble with one head prize as a consolation.
That left my balance on £228 just four minutes before the 12-30PM £5.75 BH was due to start. I decided to jump into (and won) a £3.15 hyper HU STT to get myself back over £230 in quick time so I could enter the BH without having to break my 40 buy-in rule, a decision that was destined to bear fruit.
After late registering (which I hate doing in Bounty Hunters, though it was by only four minutes) I enjoyed a flying start in the 12-30PM with a flopped set winning me an early double and head-prize. With a couple of smaller pots also going my way I was soon up to 5K from 2K starting. However my stack dwindled for the next hour while I picked up a series of junk hands and missed all flops seen. The only pot of any size I won during that time came courtesy of my uncalled river shove with air in a 3-way pot which forced one of my opponents in the hand to lay down pocket kings. The board was 29A28 rainbow, I held an unimproved QTs.
Eventually, having fallen as low as 20th of the 22 left, I picked up a premium pair and managed a full double when my aces held against flopped top pair (see below). That set me off on a mini heater which saw me through the bubble and onto final table, going in as 4th of 6 in chips. My cards dried up again during 3-handed play with a very aggressive dynamic at the table. I fell dangerously short but won two standard races to recover from 10BB and make heads-up play. Despite a fierce battle I was ultimately unable to turn around the big chip deficit. My exit came when my check/shoved combo draw failed to improve against A4s with a weak flopped top pair. It was a spot I had to take, I had great equity and needed to double ASAP if I were to go on and win. I don’t regret making the shove at all and can live with the outcome, after all I’d done well in earlier flips.
In the end my return for my £5.75 was £34.50 plus £13.50 in head-prizes, a very pleasing result for only my second try after moving up. Yesterday’s nightmare debut is already forgiven!
I’m very pleased to finish the day on a new highest balance. My aim now is to try and push on towards the £300 mark and hopefully avoid falling below the £230 barrier and having to drop down again. I’ll still be playing micro-stakes games, particularly the morning £3.30s which I enjoy so much, but if avoid a downswing my preferred buy-in will now be £5.75 for the foreseeable future due to the bigger prizes up for grabs.
April Poker Points 338
Today’s results;
7871807HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker26/04/2013 12:34NL Hold'em £3 + £0.151/2£2.857869516HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker26/04/2013 12:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.752/69£42.257869594HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker26/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.315/71-£2.177871515HNLHU0.05GBPSkyPoker26/04/2013 10:35NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.95
All is forgiven! After yesterdays J2o shenannigans pocket AA behaved itself much better today;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancenoble01 Small blind 75.00 75.00 3375.00 STRATHX328 Big blind 150.00 225.00 27042.50 Your hole cards A A TheBossAK Fold *Call 150.00 375.00 5297.50 hammerdave Fold GaryQQQ Raise 495.00 870.00 2352.50 noble01 Fold STRATHX328 Fold * Call 345.00 1215.00 4952.50 Flop 8 J K * Check GaryQQQ Bet 725.00 1940.00 1627.50 * All-in 4952.50 6892.50 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 1627.50 8520.00 0.00 * Unmatched bet 2600.00 5920.00 2600.00 * Show K Q GaryQQQ Show A A Turn 4 River 6 GaryQQQ Win Pair of Aces 5920.00 5920
Closing Balance £259.30
Down £14.80 today
It wasn’t my day. Sometimes you’re simply not going to win no matter what you do, it was like that for me today as I found myself the wrong side of a bunch of coolers and managed to lose nearly all flips.
My best chance of a bink came in an afternoon £2.30. With 4 left I was clear chipleader. However AQ<J4s on an ace-high flop and two lost flips later I was out in fourth.
It was nice to play in the evening Mini for the first time this year. Saturday is the only evening I can even consider entering due to my work hours. Even then I find it hard to play anywhere near my best. I’m guaranteed to be pretty tired after a 1-30am start and a busy day and therefore find it hard to concentrate and tend to play impatiently. I only lasted 20 minutes today. Already short after early skirmishes I check/shoved my flopped nut-flush draw into pocket aces and didn’t bink.
I’ve abandoned any idea of making any C4P this month. I could still make it easily enough if I crammed in a load of £3.15 HU hypers over the next couple of days, but I consider using that time trying to bink MTTs to carry a higher expected value.
April Poker Points 378
Today’s results;
7874855HNLB0.5GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 20:15NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5463/556-£5.57877612HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 19:11NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.157877416HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 19:04NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.157875446HNL 0.5GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 19:00NL Hold'em £5 + £0.514/38-£5.57875244HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 18:00NL Hold'em £2 + £0.389/160-£2.37877064HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 16:52NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957874365HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker27/04/2013 14:45NL Hold'em £2 + £0.34/32£3.85
Coolers R Us. It was one of those days, £5.50 freezeout exit hand;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceBELL_POKER Small blind 100.00 100.00 7857.50 STEVE1937 Big blind 200.00 300.00 2765.00 Your hole cards K K kg101 Fold timeforbed Fold GaryQQQ Raise 400.00 700.00 2279.00 BELL_POKER Call 300.00 1000.00 7557.50 STEVE1937 All-in 2765.00 3765.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 2279.00 6044.00 0.00 BELL_POKER Fold STEVE1937 Unmatched bet 286.00 5758.00 286.00 STEVE1937 Show A A GaryQQQ Show K K Flop 10 A 7 Turn 3 River 8 STEVE1937 Win Three Aces 5758.00 6044.00
Closing Balance £247.18
Down £12.12 today
Nothing much to report today. I only played 3 MTTs and 4 HU matches this morning, for the rest of the day I was too busy for poker. In the MTTs I didn’t get anything going, I didn't pick up many cards to play with and never really felt ‘in the zone’. I won a couple of the HUs but seem to be going through a phase of being bad at flips in the hyper games.
April Poker Points 391
Today’s results;
7880033HNLT,HU0.15GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 12:55NL Hold'em £3 + £0.152/2-£3.157879208HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.312/14-£3.37879755HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 10:50NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957878102HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.336/79-£2.177877812HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.346/78-£3.37879602HNLT,HU0.05GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 09:36NL Hold'em £1 + £0.051/2£0.957879555HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker28/04/2013 09:30NL Hold'em £2 + £0.12/2-£2.1
Closing Balance £234.89
Down £12.29 today
Another day devoid of any success.
I started with the two morning £3.30s. In the 9-45 I came close to the money but lost my first flip of the tournament. I 3-bet jammed 20BB with a small pair from the BB over a guy opening every button to 3BB. He made what I consider a light call with QJo, but fair play he had a flip, probably the best he could hope for. It worked out well for him, he hit his cards hard (full house) and I was out. In the 10-45 after an hour of not much happening I got my last 12BB aipf 3-ways with AK against J7s and and JTs, I was dead on the flop to a flush.
At lunch I entered a £2.20 Rebuy with the knowledge I was rolled to use 3 buy-ins maximum. I won the first hand so was unable to take my usual instant rebuy. However at a crazy table with players getting all-in very light I soon found myself up to more than 4x starting stack by early in level 2 without having taken a rebuy. At that point I had a big chip lead and decided to tighten-up, happy to nit it up from there to the add-on. The plan didn’t work out too well; I lost my entire stack in the space of just three hands. First my KK was no good against 75, two hands later I lost the rest with JJ<AA. I decided to quit knowing a double rebuy and add-on would break my BR rules. Also I just wasn’t feeling it, I had a feeling in my heart it just wasn’t going to be my day.
Final tournament was an afternoon £5.75 BH. I knew I was at a wild table almost immediately when I saw two eliminations in the first two hands. I folded almost continuously for three levels, the strongest hole-cards I saw in that time being A6o which I open- folded from UTG. The only pot of I won of any size came in level 4 when getting short I doubled with A7>A2 on an ace-high board. I was out soon after losing most of my stack when my check-raised top pair and flush draw couldn’t hold against ace-rag with a gutshot and overcard. I got the last of my chips in with KJ and ran into KK.
April Poker Points 407
Today’s results;
7883282HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker29/04/2013 15:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7554/87-£5.757883423HNLR0.2GBPSkyPoker29/04/2013 14:00NL Hold'em £2R + £0.29/12-£3.877882008HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker29/04/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.323/76-£3.37881594HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker29/04/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.317/76-£1.04
Quick brm question for you, linked to my own challenge. I know you play pretty much just MTT's but I intend to mix in a little cash too. If you were to do the same, would you alter you buyin rules? It's generally considered 40 buyins (2.5%) for MTT's and 20 buyins (5%) for Cash, would you go along with this or stick to the 40 buyins for safety in a challenge like this?
Closing Balance £256.59
Up £21.70 today
Yay, that’s more like it; I won a small MTT today! A welcome confidence boost and a relief after three days of firing blanks.
The win came in my first and only game of the day, a £50 gtd £3.30 freezeout. I feel I won for two reasons; I played well, and I enjoyed a great run of cards, particularly at the final table. It pretty much went like a dream, for most of the tournament I was chipleader and always felt in control. I used my stack to chip-up nicely on the bubble winning pots both when I did and didn’t have anything. Each time I got an opponent all-in and behind my cards held-up. The most crucial time being when my AQ survived against QJs with a flush draw and a gutshot on an AK6 flop during three-handed play. Only three hands later victory was mine with quad aces no less! At the final table I’d picked up AA and KK twice each, it’s hard to lose when cards like that keep coming.
As I expect most of you are aware the new Sky Poker Rewards scheme replaces Cash for Points after today. Personally I think this is a great change that can benefit everybody on the site, including those who may see a slight reduction in their loyalty payments initially. The whole poker economy relies on maintaining a healthy pool of recreational players and newbies playing at the lowest stakes. If those games start to dry up it will have a knock-on effect right up to the highest levels. Offering easily achievable loyalty rewards to all those at the lower limits who currently get nothing has to be a good thing.
If more poker players step onto the bottom rung of the ladder naturally more money will trickle up to those who’ve reached the top. Everybody will be a winner. I’ve played on Sky Poker every single day in April, probably averaging around three or four hours of play per day. Yet I’ve still fallen short of earning a Cash for Points payment. Surely this can’t be right? The whole poker community, including those playing the most at the top, should want there to be attractive inducements to maximise the number of recreational players getting involved in games at the lower levels. In my opinion any other view is very short-sighted.
April Poker Points 409
Today’s result;
7886727HNL 0.3GBPSkyPoker30/04/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £3 + £0.31/16£21.7
The big hold that got me heads-up with a huge lead;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceA Small blind 150.00 150.00 7730.00 B Big blind 300.00 450.00 4870.00 Your hole cards Q A GaryQQQ Raise 600.00 1050.00 18350.00 A Call 450.00 1500.00 7280.00 B Fold Flop 6 K A A Check GaryQQQ Bet 825.00 2325.00 17525.00 A Raise 2400.00 4725.00 4880.00 GaryQQQ Raise 3900.00 8625.00 13625.00 A All-in 4880.00 13505.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 2555.00 16060.00 11070.00 A Show J Q GaryQQQ Show Q A Turn 8 River 2 GaryQQQ Win Pair of Aces 16060.00 27130.00
Easy game, three hands later victory is mine with quad aces!
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance* Small blind 200.00 200.00 4720.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 400.00 600.00 26680.00 Your hole cards A A * Raise 600.00 1200.00 4120.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 1600.00 26280.00 Flop A J 9 GaryQQQ Check * Bet 400.00 2000.00 3720.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 2400.00 25880.00 Turn A GaryQQQ Check * Bet 400.00 2800.00 3320.00 GaryQQQ Call 400.00 3200.00 25480.00 River 4 GaryQQQ All-in 25480.00 28680.00 0.00 * All-in 3320.00 32000.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 22160.00 9840.00 22160.00 * Show 7 7 GaryQQQ Show A A GaryQQQ Win Four Aces 9840.00 32000.00
Closing Balance £276.95
Up £20.36 today
Due to running out of excuses to keep putting-off some decorating work at home my only games today were the two morning £3.30 Bounty Hunters.
In the 9-45 I ran fairly deep but busted not far from the money in 17th/81 for no return. To be honest I was always below average and struggled to get anything going. I’m totally at ease with my exit; I came second in a standard overcards v pair race at a time when I needed to double if I were to drag myself into contention. I always play for the win, hence I’d much rather take a flip that gives me a shot at making final table over folding my way to a min-cash on fumes, an unwise strategy I see many others adopt.
Again in the 10-45 I spend well over an hour bumping along near the bottom of the field failing to make hands. This time though I did start to pick-up some useful cards with the bubble looming and gradually made my way near the top of the field, going on to make final table slightly below average. Four-handed play was pretty tough, I found myself up against Mike1975, a talented MTT player and two difficult to play loose-aggressive opponents. Fortunately I got more cards to work with and managed to get heads-up against Mike with a slight lead. From there though it went pear-shaped, I was totally outplayed heads-up and had to settle with second place. I think the final hand can be considered a cooler; I check/shoved my flush draw and over-cards to the board into an unlikely made straight in a spot where Mike is probably c-betting his entire opening range (see below).
Despite the annoyance of a second place finish I have to consider today a success; I'm happy to find myself on a new highest balance again, something that felt very unlikely a couple of days ago.
May Poker Points 6
Today’s results;
7889284HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker01/05/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.32/70£23.667889044HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker01/05/2013 09:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.317/81-£3.3
Oooops, 10-45 final hand, I check/shove my flush-draw into a made straight and fail to bink;
mike1975 Small blind 800.00 800.00 97444.00 GaryQQQ Big blind 1600.00 2400.00 40156.00 Your hole cards J 7 mike1975 Raise 2400.00 4800.00 95044.00 GaryQQQ Call 1600.00 6400.00 38556.00 Flop 2 6 5 GaryQQQ Check mike1975 Bet 4800.00 11200.00 90244.00 GaryQQQ All-in 38556.00 49756.00 0.00 mike1975 Call 33756.00 83512.00 56488.00 mike1975 Show 3 4 GaryQQQ Show J 7 Turn K River 6 mike1975 Win Straight to the 6 83512.00 140000.00
nice going Gary...
keep going mate.
not read much of the book as I've been playing, but from what I've read it's good.
just shout when you'd like it back.
be lucky
ian
I'm sure we'll bump into each other sooner or later Craig. Congrats on your latest bink, you're in great form at the moment.
Closing Balance £269.23
Down £7.72 today
My only MTTs today were a couple of £5.75 Bounty Hunters. I also played a £2.10 HU STT which I won.
In the first £5.75 after struggling to make hands for an hour my exit came with my only premium pair of the session. When down to 19BB my min-raise from UTG and a flat call induced a squeeze-shove from a 13BB shortie in the blinds. I re-shoved and the caller put in the extra 17BB, so we were aipf 3-ways. My jacks were up against AK and AQ giving me a good shot of winning the 51BB pot and a head-prize. It wasn’t to be, the big stack’s AQ binked to scoop the pot and take two bounties. I don’t mind busting in big +ev situations and would snap take this spot every time.
I took an early head-prize in the second £5.75 but my exit came soon after when my pre-flop 4-bet with AQ was flatted by the OOP 3-bettor. The queen-high flop condemned me; my opponent had played his pocket aces perfectly, I'd have folded to a 5-bet shove pre-flop.
May Poker Points 23
Today’s results;
7894801HNLT,HU0.1GBPSkyPoker02/05/2013 16:30NL Hold'em £2 + £0.11/2£1.97893809HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker02/05/2013 15:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7539/71-£3.877893675HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker02/05/2013 14:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7528/72-£5.75
Congrats on completing your dissertation. I'm sure your month of poker exclusion from will bear fruit, it was a wise decision. You've certainly 'got your head screwed' on as they say.
Good luck to you at the tables (not that I think you need it!).
Closing Balance £284.88
Up £15.65 today
No luck in my two Bounty Hunters today. First up was a morning £3.30. Finding myself short in the mid-stages I found what looked like a good squeeze/shove spot with Q9s in the SB and 2 limpers in the pot before my turn to act. It didn’t look quite so good when the BB woke up with AA.
After a couple of hours doing decorating I returned to the poker tables to enter the 2-30PM £5.75. I lasted precisely four hands! Once again I ran into pocket AA, unfortunately I was holding KK at the time. As you might expect all the chips went in preflop. It’s unthinkable to fold pocket kings pre-flop at any stage of a Bounty Hunter without a very strong read. Many villains are prepared to punt their stacks surprisingly light in these games. When you run KK into AA it’s just an unavoidable cooler, all you can do is take it on the chin (unless you suck-out of course) and move on to the next game. Far more often they’ll turn over worse than KK, even while stacks are still 100BB deep.
I'd busted out of the 2-30PM BH in plenty of time to enter the 2-35PM £1.10 Rebuy. In a quirk of fate it was destined to save the day. With £3.30 invested (includes an instant rebuy and the add-on) I managed to win the event for a pleasing return of £28.00. I was above average and felt comfortable through most of the tournament. The only time I fell short was post-bubble during three-handed play when I found myself somewhat distant in third place after a bad run of cards. A flip brought me back into contention when I jammed QTo from the button and doubled off pocket 66 in the SB. Going into heads-up play I had a 4-1 chip deficit to overcome. The eventual runner-up was using unconventional plays and bet sizes that didn’t really seem to be working, so it didn’t take me too long to gain the advantage. He was then saved at the death by lucky river cards twice and I began to wonder if I'd be able to close it out. However when I put him under a spell of relentless pressure it eventually paid off; I jammed pocket 99 from the SB and managed to dodge the overcard when called by A8 for the victory.
Yay, we have a new highest balance. Hopefully I’ll be able to push on through the £300 barrier in the near future.
May Poker Points 37
Today’s results;
7896895HNLR0.1GBPSkyPoker03/05/2013 14:35NL Hold'em £1R + £0.11/29£25.977896598HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker03/05/2013 14:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7577/77-£5.757895698HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker03/05/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.333/86-£3.3