In Response to Re: 1,000 Poker Points ----- /> £1,000 Can it be done? Latest balance £676.08 : wow a man of many talents ps gl in your challenge hope you've got your mojo back Posted by GELDY
Thank-you very much, though I'm not sure walking really counts as a talent!
I didn't have much time for poker today. Just managed to squeeze three quick micro-stakes games in for a bit of fun. Was happy to finish slightly up on the day. I'm hoping to have time to get a few tournaments in tomorrow afternoon.
There was a pleasing start to my session today with £39 for second place in a £5.50 freezeout. The aggressive winner doubled off me in the mid-stages with AQ /> AK aipf, though I returned the favour to a certain extent with J9s /> Ako aipf with five left. In the final hand I check/jammed with an open-ended straight draw and flush draw combo, but my queen-high with draws failed to improve against my opponent's flopped top two pairs. I don't regret the play; I was unlucky he 'd flopped so well, and even when he had I knew I'd still have good equity against his calling range.
In my second game, a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, I ran fairly deep but lost a huge flip for the chiplead and a head-prize to bust short of the money. With a 4BB shortie on the BB I limp/re-shoved AK from UTG to trap. The only player at the table who had me covered limp/called behind with pocket 44 and won the race. Pocket 44 was serving him well in this game, a few hands earlier he'd busted another player with 44 /> KK aipf. It was a great spot for me to get my stack in and I don't regret the play. At least I had the consolation of a small profit from head-prizes.
The third and final MTT of the day was the Mini Bounty Hunter. For the first 40 minutes I was totally card dead and only opened one hand; pocket 33 which didn't make a set. After that I went on a bit of a heater and took a couple of heads on my way to four times the starting stack. Tight/aggressive play and a big hold to double-up on the bubble took me into the money (AQ /> QT, all the chips going in on the turn on a queen high board). I peaked at 12/73 from 566 after that hand, though it was a very volatile situation with all stacks shallow. Soon after I open shoved a suited queen from the SB, a standard play with effective stacks 12BB, unfortunately the BB was sitting on pocket KK which held-up. That left me short now, I worked my stack as hard as I could for a while to maintain fold equity but busted the first time I was all-in and called; my 3-bet jam with 77 losing the race against the opener's KTo. It had been a fun run while it lasted.
A day of near misses I suppose, though the profit is very pleasing. It feels great to be knocking on the door of the £700 mark again, mid-session a week ago today my balance was below £600. The painful month-long downswing is behind me now.
Edit; I returned to the tables for an hour in the evening when I heard there was a £2,500 timed freeroll running. I cashed for £5.67, my closing balance and loss for the day has been adjusted accordingly.
Not my day. I entered three Bounty Hunters this morning without any success.
In the 9-45am £3.30 I busted quite deep when I was coolered with JJ into QQ. I took a beat to bust from the 10-45am £3.30, I got my stack in with the nuts on the flop as 82% favourite but was outdrawn by two pairs.
After that I tried a £5.75. After losing a JJ < AQ race I was down to 2.5BB at one point, though I somehow hauled myself back into it with a quick quadruple then treble. My big chance to get something going came when I got my stack aipf with AK against AQ in level 7 for a well above average stack, however two pairs on the run-out meant I had to settle for a chop. After that my cards dried up and I blinded down for a while, eventually busting with 55 < 99 aipf when down to only 9BB.
I'm happy I played well in my three MTTs today but the cards simply weren't on my side; I lost 3/3 flips and found myself the the wrong side of some coolers, in particular KK into AA for a huge pot in an £11 BH.
First up was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, a total damp squib for me. Apart from a treble-up when down to fumes (after running a full house into quads) I didn't win a single pot, my exit coming soon after when my Kjs lost an aipf race against pocket 44.
Next came an £11 Bounty Hunter. I was going great in the mid-stages, outplaying my table and up to second place in chips overall when I managed to crash n' burn. First I was coolered; my KK on the SB into AA on the button. The BB was aipf too with pocket TT. As the biggest of the three stacks the huge pot was worth the chiplead and two head-prizes to me, however pocket TT made a set to treble-up, my kings came third. Two hands later I lost a flip with 99 < AQ aipf. That left me short, I fought hard and worked the short stack hard for a couple of levels but failed to find a way back. Soon after shoving Q9s into a shortie who woke-up with pocket KK I exited in my third flip of the day; my 3-bet shove on the button with KJ being called by TT and 88 in the blinds, the opener folded. With added dead chips in the middle it turned out to be a great spot to punt my stack, had I trebled I'd have been above average and right back in the game, but it wasn't to be.
After that I tried another £5.75. I got lucky in level 3 to double with AK /> KK aipf, but I did no more than tread water after that. My exit came when I got action with from two opponents holding draws with my flopped top pair that then improved to top two pairs. Unfortunately the worst card in the deck was dealt on the river by which time I was hopelessly committed. One villain completed a straight draw, the other completed a flush draw to scoop a massive pot.
In a HU STT I had QQ against K9 aipf for the win but couldn't hold, at the same time I doubled an opponent with JJ < QJ in a DYM, then ran JJ into KK in the very next hand.
Sigh. The beginning of the end of a promising run in an £11 Bounty Hunter;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 50.00 50.00 6342.50 d Big blind 100.00 150.00 1615.00 Your hole cards K K 1mad Fold FLORIDA Fold artifice7 Fold S Call 100.00 250.00 3665.00 GaryQQQ Raise 300.00 550.00 6042.50 d Raise 500.00 1050.00 1115.00 S All-in 3665.00 4715.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 3415.00 8130.00 2627.50 d All-in 1115.00 9245.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Show K K d Show 10 10 S Show A A Flop 10 7 3 Turn 3 River 8 d Win Full House, 10s and 3s 5145.00 5145.00 S Win Two Pairs, Aces and 3s 4100.00 4100.00
Reading this post you have won over £600 from nothing purely on winning flips. So why do you get so frustrated when you lose the flips? You go all in with anything higher than A-8o and then moan because you lost.
Read this thread yourself, there are times when nothing more than going all in pre with A-K has won you a lot. But when going all in A-K pre doesn't win you spit your dummy out. You really need to understand you have no control over you style of play, its all flips, I mean literally its 80% all in and hope you don't get called.
When you do get called you declare the other guy to have made a bad call, but when you call in a similair situation you call it a good move longterm and the other guy got lucky.
You've made £600 from zero on Skypoker, you also know this is almost on impossible on any other site and yet you still moan. Just be happy wth what you have achieved and stop moaning if you don't win everyday.
Lets face it, we could all decide to play the way you do, but skypoker would be dead in a week. Want to win on skypoker? Only play A-K or pairs higher than 8's. theres no need for notes, no real skill, its poker roulette.
Reading this post you have won over £600 from nothing purely on winning flips. So why do you get so frustrated when you lose the flips? You go all in with anything higher than A-8o and then moan because you lost. Read this thread yourself, there are times when nothing more than going all in pre with A-K has won you a lot. But when going all in A-K pre doesn't win you spit your dummy out. You really need to understand you have no control over you style of play, its all flips, I mean literally its 80% all in and hope you don't get called. When you do get called you declare the other guy to have made a bad call, but when you call in a similair situation you call it a good move longterm and the other guy got lucky. You've made £600 from zero on Skypoker, you also know this is almost on impossible on any other site and yet you still moan. Just be happy wth what you have achieved and stop moaning if you don't win everyday. Lets face it, we could all decide to play the way you do, but skypoker would be dead in a week. Want to win on skypoker? Only play A-K or pairs higher than 8's. theres no need for notes, no real skill, its poker roulette. Posted by OHIMGOOD
It's a diary! It's a challenge! The guy like to hurt himself! He's telling a story! Most of us enjoy his pain & suffering. Also, if you only play AK or pairs higher than 8's ???? U ARE VickiPKR and I claim my £5!
Reading this post you have won over £600 from nothing purely on winning flips. So why do you get so frustrated when you lose the flips? You go all in with anything higher than A-8o and then moan because you lost. Read this thread yourself, there are times when nothing more than going all in pre with A-K has won you a lot. But when going all in A-K pre doesn't win you spit your dummy out. You really need to understand you have no control over you style of play, its all flips, I mean literally its 80% all in and hope you don't get called. When you do get called you declare the other guy to have made a bad call, but when you call in a similair situation you call it a good move longterm and the other guy got lucky. You've made £600 from zero on Skypoker, you also know this is almost on impossible on any other site and yet you still moan. Just be happy wth what you have achieved and stop moaning if you don't win everyday. Lets face it, we could all decide to play the way you do, but skypoker would be dead in a week. Want to win on skypoker? Only play A-K or pairs higher than 8's. theres no need for notes, no real skill, its poker roulette. Posted by OHIMGOOD
Gary's challenges are a cornerstone of the forum, give it a rest!
And..... it's possible on any site that has freerolls if you have the patience and the discipline that Gary does.
Keep up the good work Gary, the tide will turn soon!
Reading this post you have won over £600 from nothing purely on winning flips. So why do you get so frustrated when you lose the flips? You go all in with anything higher than A-8o and then moan because you lost. Read this thread yourself, there are times when nothing more than going all in pre with A-K has won you a lot. But when going all in A-K pre doesn't win you spit your dummy out. You really need to understand you have no control over you style of play, its all flips, I mean literally its 80% all in and hope you don't get called. When you do get called you declare the other guy to have made a bad call, but when you call in a similair situation you call it a good move longterm and the other guy got lucky. You've made £600 from zero on Skypoker, you also know this is almost on impossible on any other site and yet you still moan. Just be happy wth what you have achieved and stop moaning if you don't win everyday. Lets face it, we could all decide to play the way you do, but skypoker would be dead in a week. Want to win on skypoker? Only play A-K or pairs higher than 8's. theres no need for notes, no real skill, its poker roulette. Posted by OHIMGOOD
Kinda true, although he isn't really complaining about losing them. End of the day there isn't really MUCH skill to skypoker mtt's as the majority are BH's and you just gotta hope your hands hold up.
In Response to Re: 1,000 Poker Points ----- /> £1,000 Can it be done? Latest balance £670.74 : Kinda true, although he isn't really complaining about losing them. End of the day there isn't really MUCH skill to skypoker mtt's as the majority are BH's and you just gotta hope your hands hold up. Posted by RUNGOODPLZ
still unsure how u know this as your sharkscope record says you've never played on sky??
Reading this post you have won over £600 from nothing purely on winning flips. So why do you get so frustrated when you lose the flips? You go all in with anything higher than A-8o and then moan because you lost. Read this thread yourself, there are times when nothing more than going all in pre with A-K has won you a lot. But when going all in A-K pre doesn't win you spit your dummy out. You really need to understand you have no control over you style of play, its all flips, I mean literally its 80% all in and hope you don't get called. When you do get called you declare the other guy to have made a bad call, but when you call in a similair situation you call it a good move longterm and the other guy got lucky. You've made £600 from zero on Skypoker, you also know this is almost on impossible on any other site and yet you still moan. Just be happy wth what you have achieved and stop moaning if you don't win everyday. Lets face it, we could all decide to play the way you do, but skypoker would be dead in a week. Want to win on skypoker? Only play A-K or pairs higher than 8's. theres no need for notes, no real skill, its poker roulette. Posted by OHIMGOOD
Amusingly - and yes I have been amused thanks to your post - I always thought your alias was "Oh my God". I guess it´s my normal reaction to what you write.
And my reaction this time as well - yep - the same - how you can write such rubbish is totally beyond me.
GaryQQQ takes on crazy challenges - keeps us all enthralled with the journey - and delivers never one to spit out his dummy - where did you got that idea from? and he loses flips more often than he gets coolered or has a bad beat - not that surprising given that one loses flips 50% of the time - what other ways does one get knocked out of tournaments? and then you finish it off with both an oxymoron and a rubbish strategy
it would be quite amusing if it wasn´t an attack on a good player and forum poster
Reading this post you have won over £600 from nothing purely on winning flips. So why do you get so frustrated when you lose the flips? You go all in with anything higher than A-8o and then moan because you lost. Read this thread yourself, there are times when nothing more than going all in pre with A-K has won you a lot. But when going all in A-K pre doesn't win you spit your dummy out. You really need to understand you have no control over you style of play, its all flips, I mean literally its 80% all in and hope you don't get called. When you do get called you declare the other guy to have made a bad call, but when you call in a similair situation you call it a good move longterm and the other guy got lucky. You've made £600 from zero on Skypoker, you also know this is almost on impossible on any other site and yet you still moan. Just be happy wth what you have achieved and stop moaning if you don't win everyday. Lets face it, we could all decide to play the way you do, but skypoker would be dead in a week. Want to win on skypoker? Only play A-K or pairs higher than 8's. theres no need for notes, no real skill, its poker roulette. Posted by OHIMGOOD
I can assure you that I don't play an aipf flipping game, any regular at my tables will know this. Often I only mention bust-out hands here. Much of the time that will be a flip when I'm short stacked, perhaps leading to your mistaken impression of how I play. The truth is very different, I like seeing flops and enjoy post-flop play while stack sizes still allow it, as such I tend to play less aipf pots than the average player in my favoured Bounty Hunters. For example I've just checked yesterdays numbers; I played 3 flips in 247 MTT hands. I can assure you I didn't fold the other 244! I usually play at least 20% of hands, 20% of 247 is 50. Nobody, including me, ever wins a poker tournament without winning a few of the inevitable flips along the way, when I feel the time is right I'll certainly take them.
In this diary, as promised in the opening post, I update progress daily and include all results. By nature any MTT player will spend most of his/her time losing, even the elite players. Every now and then there'll be a bink mixed in, the better players binking a bit more often that the less skilled. Other MTT diary writers before me have tended to make most of their updates when they've got the glory of a decent score to report, during the downswings they go very quiet, sometimes never to return. I'm sure it makes for a much more exciting read, however for better or worse my diary portrays the reality of playing MTTs more accurately. Hopefully I get across the patience and discipline required to be successul.
I've just pulled out of a month-long downswing, something all MTT players will know all too well. I'm sure this diary was a pretty miserable read during that time and that I was prone to whinge at times, but thats what it's like, so that's what I'm gonna post. Unlike others I shall continue to post daily through the bad times, not just the good times. If you don't like it don't read it.
As for your suggested strategy; 88+ and AK represents the top 4.3% of hands. If you stick to that range it means you'll get to play a hand once every 4 orbits on average at a 6-max table. I'd suggest that's far too tight to be optimal. For the record I'm a winning player on all the sites I've ever played on except for one. I have a decent four-figure profit on my prefered rival site using an alias that's different to the one I have here on Sky.
not posted in ages, mainly because i'm only playing the 7pm freeroll atm. keep it going mate, over 2/3 of the way there. great achievement already and i'm sure you will see this through. still got that that champagne on ice!!!
ps, i've still got your book safe, give me a shout when you want it back. if you e-mail or PM me your address, i'll pop it round.
Anyone that wants to criticise this diary will pretty much be a losing player IMO as they will not have a grasp on poker as a game (its ups and downs) and good MTT stratagy. And then to end it with (and this is my biggest poker gripe) that Sky Poker (aka On-line Poker) is fixed is pure spite.
How can Sky/On-line Poker be fixed. They dont tell you what hands to play, how to play them, what to bet etc, etc. S*** happens and it generally happens both ways.
My first game was a £3.30 Bounty Hunter. I busted when coolered in the mid-stages with A9 into JJ with AJx9 on the board.
Second up was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I was going great with the chiplead and three head-prizes under my belt until we broke to final table. Then the table crashed and I couldn't get back.
My internet connection was working perfectly throught. For half an hour I tried everything known to man; restarting my system, using different browsers as well as the downloadable client, I tried on a different system, clearing cookies, calling CS to see if they could do anything, asking for help on this forum, etc.
I could log onto Sky Poker and open the tournament lobby as usual using any of those methods, but each time the table tried to launch I came to the same dead-end; a message telling me 'please be advised that you already have this table open'.
Nothing I tried could get me back to my seat, see the video below. 40 minutes later my stack blinded out in fourth place.
Edit; Sky Poker have generously given me a tournament entry later this week by way of apology for today's final table problem. As far as I'm conerned it's very fair compensation and the matter is resolved to my satisfaction. I'm going to leave this diary entry and the video up in the hope that it can help Sky's technical experts resolve this unusual glitch.
Have you thought about adding some £22 BHs in? The fields are very small, very weak and good bankroll builders. As far as BRM is concerned, if your still grinding the odd free roll and 3.30s, adding in some 22s would be good IMO
Have you thought about adding some £22 BHs in? The fields are very small, very weak and good bankroll builders. As far as BRM is concerned, if your still grinding the odd free roll and 3.30s, adding in some 22s would be good IMO Posted by RyanC7
Thanks for the tip. I must admit I've been tempted by the lunch-time £22 game, but I'm sticking to a strict 40 buy-in rule, so I won't enter it until I get up to £880.
I entered three Bounty Hunters today without much success.
First up was a £3.30 in which I ended up with a min-cash after a roller-coaster ride. In the mid-stages I was down to 5BB after losing an AK < QQ aipf flip, however I doubled twice within an orbit and fought my way back, at one point getting as high as third in chips. To my annoyance I more-or-less ruined my own chances of a deep finish by making a couple of bad calls in to leave myself very short. Soon after the bubble burst I got my stack in against a limper with Q2 on the BB on a Q-high flop with only 6BB left, I was out-kicked by his Q8.
Second game was a £5.75. I was drawn at a wild table and found myself aipf 3-ways early in the game with my KQ facing 52o and pocket JJ. The 52o somehow won the pot and I was out.
Next I tried my luck in a £11 tournament. After a promising start I lost a big chunk when my turned straight ran into a rivered full-house. I hated it when the board paired on the river, but I was fully committed by then and folding was out of the question. For 30+ minutes after that I was card-dead and falling uncomfortably short until I woke with AK on the BB. The button open-shoved, the small blind shoved too! I had to make the call and was relieved to see AQ and AJ, my kicker played for a treble-up and one head-prize. Unfortunately that was the only highlight. I busted at my next table, unable to fade a draw when my J7 on the BB was beaten by limper's QT on a JK7 flop.
The £11 Bounty Hunters are surprisingly soft, no tougher than the £2.30s and £5.75s. I'm going to try to make a point of entering them more often.
In the afternoon I had some errands to run so couldn't commit to any more MTTs, instead I played a few leisurely STTS for a bit of fun finishing roughly even.
Although I finished down a bit poker was fun today, I had some friendly tables and enjoyed playing
First game was a Speed £5.75 Bounty Hunter. It was a near miss. I got myself into a good position at the sharp-end, but cards didn't fall my way when it mattered most. Soon after another player had recovered after blinding down to only 2BB, then again down to 3BB, I stone-cold bubbled with AQ < JJ aipf.
In the 1-00pm £11 Bounty Hunter I won a small pot in the first hand with my pocket KK. After that nothing went my way. I busted 30 minutes later without having won another chip. I gambled my last 12BB by 3-bet shoving with 97. As hoped I had two live cards in a HU pot but I didn't connect. I had a free entry for this tournament due to my final table problem on Tuesday.
While waiting for my next MTT I jumped into some STTs. In a DYM I busted in the first hand. My stack went in with 99 on a K9x flop. The flat-caller of my pre-flop raise held KK. HU games didn't go much better, I finished a little down after failing to swerve a couple of 3-outers.
In the 2-00pm £11 Bounty Hunter I busted in level 2 in a huge 5K pot (168BB) worth a clear chip lead. I don't usually get it in pre with AK when 80BB deep. However in this game I decided to go with my notes and took on an opponent prone to gambling. My read was spot-on; he called my shove with AQ, exactly the sort of hand I was hoping to see. The run-out wasn't so good; J2KAT and I went out to a straight. These lunchtime £11 tournaments have frustrated me so far during this challenge. That won't last forever, I'm determined to take one down sooner or later.
Comments
Closing Balance £655.83
Up £5.07 today
I didn't have much time for poker today. Just managed to squeeze three quick micro-stakes games in for a bit of fun. Was happy to finish slightly up on the day. I'm hoping to have time to get a few tournaments in tomorrow afternoon.
October Poker Points 310 (£3.10)
Today’s results;
8472602 H NL 6MX,DN 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 18/10/2013 17:14 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.25 1/6 £1.75 8470282 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 18/10/2013 14:45 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3 2/12 £2.47 8471741 H NL 6MX,DN 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 18/10/2013 13:06 NL Hold'em £1 + £0.15 1/6 £0.85
Closing Balance £699.39
Up £43.56 today
There was a pleasing start to my session today with £39 for second place in a £5.50 freezeout. The aggressive winner doubled off me in the mid-stages with AQ /> AK aipf, though I returned the favour to a certain extent with J9s /> Ako aipf with five left. In the final hand I check/jammed with an open-ended straight draw and flush draw combo, but my queen-high with draws failed to improve against my opponent's flopped top two pairs. I don't regret the play; I was unlucky he 'd flopped so well, and even when he had I knew I'd still have good equity against his calling range.
In my second game, a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, I ran fairly deep but lost a huge flip for the chiplead and a head-prize to bust short of the money. With a 4BB shortie on the BB I limp/re-shoved AK from UTG to trap. The only player at the table who had me covered limp/called behind with pocket 44 and won the race. Pocket 44 was serving him well in this game, a few hands earlier he'd busted another player with 44 /> KK aipf. It was a great spot for me to get my stack in and I don't regret the play. At least I had the consolation of a small profit from head-prizes.
The third and final MTT of the day was the Mini Bounty Hunter. For the first 40 minutes I was totally card dead and only opened one hand; pocket 33 which didn't make a set. After that I went on a bit of a heater and took a couple of heads on my way to four times the starting stack. Tight/aggressive play and a big hold to double-up on the bubble took me into the money (AQ /> QT, all the chips going in on the turn on a queen high board). I peaked at 12/73 from 566 after that hand, though it was a very volatile situation with all stacks shallow. Soon after I open shoved a suited queen from the SB, a standard play with effective stacks 12BB, unfortunately the BB was sitting on pocket KK which held-up. That left me short now, I worked my stack as hard as I could for a while to maintain fold equity but busted the first time I was all-in and called; my 3-bet jam with 77 losing the race against the opener's KTo. It had been a fun run while it lasted.
A day of near misses I suppose, though the profit is very pleasing. It feels great to be knocking on the door of the £700 mark again, mid-session a week ago today my balance was below £600. The painful month-long downswing is behind me now.
October Poker Points 334 (£3.34)
Today’s results;
8476336 H NL B 0.5 GBP SkyPoker 19/10/2013 20:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5 51/566 £4.2 8477338 H NL 6MX,DN 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 19/10/2013 17:49 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 1/6 £2.7 8475420 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 19/10/2013 15:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 31/135 £3.16 8474033 H NL 0.5 GBP SkyPoker 19/10/2013 13:15 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5 2/26 £33.5
Closing Balance £693.84
Down £5.55 today
Edit; I returned to the tables for an hour in the evening when I heard there was a £2,500 timed freeroll running. I cashed for £5.67, my closing balance and loss for the day has been adjusted accordingly.
Not my day. I entered three Bounty Hunters this morning without any success.
In the 9-45am £3.30 I busted quite deep when I was coolered with JJ into QQ. I took a beat to bust from the 10-45am £3.30, I got my stack in with the nuts on the flop as 82% favourite but was outdrawn by two pairs.
After that I tried a £5.75. After losing a JJ < AQ race I was down to 2.5BB at one point, though I somehow hauled myself back into it with a quick quadruple then treble. My big chance to get something going came when I got my stack aipf with AK against AQ in level 7 for a well above average stack, however two pairs on the run-out meant I had to settle for a chop. After that my cards dried up and I blinded down for a while, eventually busting with 55 < 99 aipf when down to only 9BB.
October Poker Points 348 (£3.48)
Today’s results;
8478020 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 20/10/2013 11:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 24/82 -£5.75 8478410 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 20/10/2013 10:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 77/83 -£3.3 8478098 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 20/10/2013 09:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 28/80 -£2.17Not my day today, fared badly in the big all-ins;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancefreddiek12 Small blind 15.00 15.00 1965.00 wi03 Big blind 30.00 45.00 2960.00 Your hole cards K J rich211 Fold indy147 Fold GaryQQQ Raise 75.00 120.00 2150.00 * Call 75.00 195.00 2225.00 freddiek12 Fold wi03 Fold Flop Q 10 A GaryQQQ Bet 115.00 310.00 2035.00 * Raise 350.00 660.00 1875.00 GaryQQQ Raise 685.00 1345.00 1350.00 * All-in 1875.00 3220.00 0.00 GaryQQQ All-in 1350.00 4570.00 0.00 * Unmatched bet 75.00 4495.00 75.00 GaryQQQ Show K J * Show Q 10 Turn Q River 5 * Win Full House, Queens and 10s 4495.00 4570.00
Closing Balance £670.74
Down £23.10 today
I'm happy I played well in my three MTTs today but the cards simply weren't on my side; I lost 3/3 flips and found myself the the wrong side of some coolers, in particular KK into AA for a huge pot in an £11 BH.
First up was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter, a total damp squib for me. Apart from a treble-up when down to fumes (after running a full house into quads) I didn't win a single pot, my exit coming soon after when my Kjs lost an aipf race against pocket 44.
Next came an £11 Bounty Hunter. I was going great in the mid-stages, outplaying my table and up to second place in chips overall when I managed to crash n' burn. First I was coolered; my KK on the SB into AA on the button. The BB was aipf too with pocket TT. As the biggest of the three stacks the huge pot was worth the chiplead and two head-prizes to me, however pocket TT made a set to treble-up, my kings came third. Two hands later I lost a flip with 99 < AQ aipf. That left me short, I fought hard and worked the short stack hard for a couple of levels but failed to find a way back. Soon after shoving Q9s into a shortie who woke-up with pocket KK I exited in my third flip of the day; my 3-bet shove on the button with KJ being called by TT and 88 in the blinds, the opener folded. With added dead chips in the middle it turned out to be a great spot to punt my stack, had I trebled I'd have been above average and right back in the game, but it wasn't to be.
After that I tried another £5.75. I got lucky in level 3 to double with AK /> KK aipf, but I did no more than tread water after that. My exit came when I got action with from two opponents holding draws with my flopped top pair that then improved to top two pairs. Unfortunately the worst card in the deck was dealt on the river by which time I was hopelessly committed. One villain completed a straight draw, the other completed a flush draw to scoop a massive pot.
In a HU STT I had QQ against K9 aipf for the win but couldn't hold, at the same time I doubled an opponent with JJ < QJ in a DYM, then ran JJ into KK in the very next hand.
October Poker Points 378 (£3.78)
Today’s results;
8485612 H NL 6MX,DN 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 17:21 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 6/6 -£3.3 8485581 H NL ST,HU 0.05 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 17:03 NL Hold'em £1 + £0.05 2/2 -£1.05 8484170 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 15:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 30/111 -£5.75 8483479 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 14:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 19/53 -£7.25 8483323 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 21/10/2013 13:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 60/71 -£5.75Sigh. The beginning of the end of a promising run in an £11 Bounty Hunter;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 50.00 50.00 6342.50 d Big blind 100.00 150.00 1615.00 Your hole cards K K 1mad Fold FLORIDA Fold artifice7 Fold S Call 100.00 250.00 3665.00 GaryQQQ Raise 300.00 550.00 6042.50 d Raise 500.00 1050.00 1115.00 S All-in 3665.00 4715.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Call 3415.00 8130.00 2627.50 d All-in 1115.00 9245.00 0.00 GaryQQQ Show K K d Show 10 10 S Show A A Flop 10 7 3 Turn 3 River 8 d Win Full House, 10s and 3s 5145.00 5145.00 S Win Two Pairs, Aces and 3s 4100.00 4100.00
Read this thread yourself, there are times when nothing more than going all in pre with A-K has won you a lot. But when going all in A-K pre doesn't win you spit your dummy out. You really need to understand you have no control over you style of play, its all flips, I mean literally its 80% all in and hope you don't get called.
When you do get called you declare the other guy to have made a bad call, but when you call in a similair situation you call it a good move longterm and the other guy got lucky.
You've made £600 from zero on Skypoker, you also know this is almost on impossible on any other site and yet you still moan. Just be happy wth what you have achieved and stop moaning if you don't win everyday.
Lets face it, we could all decide to play the way you do, but skypoker would be dead in a week. Want to win on skypoker? Only play A-K or pairs higher than 8's. theres no need for notes, no real skill, its poker roulette.
Gary's challenges are a cornerstone of the forum, give it a rest!
And..... it's possible on any site that has freerolls if you have the patience and the discipline that Gary does.
Keep up the good work Gary, the tide will turn soon!
And my reaction this time as well - yep - the same - how you can write such rubbish is totally beyond me.
GaryQQQ takes on crazy challenges - keeps us all enthralled with the journey - and delivers
never one to spit out his dummy - where did you got that idea from?
and he loses flips more often than he gets coolered or has a bad beat - not that surprising given that one loses flips 50% of the time - what other ways does one get knocked out of tournaments?
and then you finish it off with both an oxymoron and a rubbish strategy
it would be quite amusing if it wasn´t an attack on a good player and forum poster
(ps they are rhetorical questions)
I can assure you that I don't play an aipf flipping game, any regular at my tables will know this. Often I only mention bust-out hands here. Much of the time that will be a flip when I'm short stacked, perhaps leading to your mistaken impression of how I play. The truth is very different, I like seeing flops and enjoy post-flop play while stack sizes still allow it, as such I tend to play less aipf pots than the average player in my favoured Bounty Hunters. For example I've just checked yesterdays numbers; I played 3 flips in 247 MTT hands. I can assure you I didn't fold the other 244! I usually play at least 20% of hands, 20% of 247 is 50. Nobody, including me, ever wins a poker tournament without winning a few of the inevitable flips along the way, when I feel the time is right I'll certainly take them.
In this diary, as promised in the opening post, I update progress daily and include all results. By nature any MTT player will spend most of his/her time losing, even the elite players. Every now and then there'll be a bink mixed in, the better players binking a bit more often that the less skilled. Other MTT diary writers before me have tended to make most of their updates when they've got the glory of a decent score to report, during the downswings they go very quiet, sometimes never to return. I'm sure it makes for a much more exciting read, however for better or worse my diary portrays the
reality of playing MTTs more accurately. Hopefully I get across the patience and discipline required to be successul.
I've just pulled out of a month-long downswing, something all MTT players will know all too well. I'm sure this diary was a pretty miserable read during that time and that I was prone to whinge at times, but thats what it's like, so that's what I'm gonna post. Unlike others I shall continue to post daily through the bad times, not just the good times. If you don't like it don't read it.
As for your suggested strategy; 88+ and AK represents the top 4.3% of hands. If you stick to that range it means you'll get to play a hand once every 4 orbits on average at a 6-max table. I'd suggest that's far too tight to be optimal. For the record I'm a winning player on all the sites I've ever played on except for one. I have a decent four-figure profit on my prefered rival site using an alias that's different to the one I have here on Sky.
Good luck to you at the tables.
not posted in ages, mainly because i'm only playing the 7pm freeroll atm.
keep it going mate, over 2/3 of the way there.
great achievement already and i'm sure you will see this through.
still got that that champagne on ice!!!
ps, i've still got your book safe, give me a shout when you want it back.
if you e-mail or PM me your address, i'll pop it round.
best wishes buddy,
ian
Closing Balance £686.06
Up £15.32 today
Sigh, more frustration.
My first game was a £3.30 Bounty Hunter. I busted when coolered in the mid-stages with A9 into JJ with AJx9 on the board.
Second up was a £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I was going great with the chiplead and three head-prizes under my belt until we broke to final table. Then the table crashed and I couldn't get back.
My internet connection was working perfectly throught. For half an hour I tried everything known to man; restarting my system, using different browsers as well as the downloadable client, I tried on a different system, clearing cookies, calling CS to see if they could do anything, asking for help on this forum, etc.
I could log onto Sky Poker and open the tournament lobby as usual using any of those methods, but each time the table tried to launch I came to the same dead-end; a message telling me 'please be advised that you already have this table open'.
Nothing I tried could get me back to my seat, see the video below. 40 minutes later my stack blinded out in fourth place.
Final table not launching fail;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jPne3SVil0&feature=youtu.be
Edit; Sky Poker have generously given me a tournament entry later this week by way of apology for today's final table problem. As far as I'm conerned it's very fair compensation and the matter is resolved to my satisfaction. I'm going to leave this diary entry and the video up in the hope that it can help Sky's technical experts resolve this unusual glitch.
October Poker Points 389 (£3.89)
Today’s results;
8486474 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 22/10/2013 12:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 4/75 £18.62 8486541 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 22/10/2013 10:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 51/85 -£3.3
Closing Balance £681.83
Down £4.23 today
I entered three Bounty Hunters today without much success.
First up was a £3.30 in which I ended up with a min-cash after a roller-coaster ride. In the mid-stages I was down to 5BB after losing an AK < QQ aipf flip, however I doubled twice within an orbit and fought my way back, at one point getting as high as third in chips. To my annoyance I more-or-less ruined my own chances of a deep finish by making a couple of bad calls in to leave myself very short. Soon after the bubble burst I got my stack in against a limper with Q2 on the BB on a Q-high flop with only 6BB left, I was out-kicked by his Q8.
Second game was a £5.75. I was drawn at a wild table and found myself aipf 3-ways early in the game with my KQ facing 52o and pocket JJ. The 52o somehow won the pot and I was out.
Next I tried my luck in a £11 tournament. After a promising start I lost a big chunk when my turned straight ran into a rivered full-house. I hated it when the board paired on the river, but I was fully committed by then and folding was out of the question. For 30+ minutes after that I was card-dead and falling uncomfortably short until I woke with AK on the BB. The button open-shoved, the small blind shoved too! I had to make the call and was relieved to see AQ and AJ, my kicker played for a treble-up and one head-prize. Unfortunately that was the only highlight. I busted at my next table, unable to fade a draw when my J7 on the BB was beaten by limper's QT on a JK7 flop.
The £11 Bounty Hunters are surprisingly soft, no tougher than the £2.30s and £5.75s. I'm going to try to make a point of entering them more often.
In the afternoon I had some errands to run so couldn't commit to any more MTTs, instead I played a few leisurely STTS for a bit of fun finishing roughly even.
Although I finished down a bit poker was fun today, I had some friendly tables and enjoyed playing
October Poker Points 433 (£4.33)
Today’s results;
8492586 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 17:58 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 1/2 £2.85 8492429 H NL 6MX,DN 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 17:50 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.25 5/6 -£2.25 8492556 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 17:49 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 1/2 £2.85 8492377 H NL 6MX,DN 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 17:14 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.25 1/6 £1.75 8492296 H NL 6MX,DN 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 16:49 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 6/6 -£3.3 8492066 H NL 6MX,DN 0.5 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 15:09 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5 1/6 £4.5 8492079 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 23/10/2013 14:49 NL Hold'em <span style="fo
Closing Balance £668.79
Down £13.04 today
Not my day.
First game was a Speed £5.75 Bounty Hunter. It was a near miss. I got myself into a good position at the sharp-end, but cards didn't fall my way when it mattered most. Soon after another player had recovered after blinding down to only 2BB, then again down to 3BB, I stone-cold bubbled with AQ < JJ aipf.
In the 1-00pm £11 Bounty Hunter I won a small pot in the first hand with my pocket KK. After that nothing went my way. I busted 30 minutes later without having won another chip. I gambled my last 12BB by 3-bet shoving with 97. As hoped I had two live cards in a HU pot but I didn't connect. I had a free entry for this tournament due to my final table problem on Tuesday.
While waiting for my next MTT I jumped into some STTs. In a DYM I busted in the first hand. My stack went in with 99 on a K9x flop. The flat-caller of my pre-flop raise held KK. HU games didn't go much better, I finished a little down after failing to swerve a couple of 3-outers.
In the 2-00pm £11 Bounty Hunter I busted in level 2 in a huge 5K pot (168BB) worth a clear chip lead. I don't usually get it in pre with AK when 80BB deep. However in this game I decided to go with my notes and took on an opponent prone to gambling. My read was spot-on; he called my shove with AQ, exactly the sort of hand I was hoping to see. The run-out wasn't so good; J2KAT and I went out to a straight. These lunchtime £11 tournaments have frustrated me so far during this challenge. That won't last forever, I'm determined to take one down sooner or later.
October Poker Points 433 (£4.33)
Today’s results;
8495392 H NL ST,HU 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 14:11 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.25 1/2 £4.75 8495297 H NL 6MX,DN 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 14:09 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.25 6/6 -£2.25 8495384 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 14:08 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 2/2 -£3.15 8493747 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 14:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 50/56 -£7.25 8495296 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 13:54 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 2/2 -£3.15 8493413 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 13:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 25/38 -£11 8493748 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 24/10/2013 12:00 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 <div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX56964186" style="margi