Still treading water, just a min-cash to show from four Bounty Hunters today.
First up was a £3.30. I had a stack going for a while, but slowly bled my chips away in the mid-stages to an invincible guy at my table who was running pure and hitting every river.
Second game was a £5.75 Speed. After finding myself the right side of a big cooler (KJ vs KT on a KKx flop) and making a couple of crucial holds I went into the final table as chipleader for the second day in a row. I thought I was going to bubble again after losing 2/2 flips with AK < 44 and AJ < 66 aipf and slipping to 4th/4. However a quads /> full-house cooler between two other players on the bubble meant I survived for a min-cash. My exit was an unavoidable cooler, I open-shoved KQ from the SB with only 9BB behind and ran into AK.
In the 1-00pm £11 Bounty Hunter I got myself fairly deep and was in with a chance of a run, though to no avail. I have no regrets about my exit in 13/47; after four of us saw a flop my Kqs clashed with J9o with 78Kr on the board. The villain was sitting a big chiplead at the time and happy to call light. My big flop check/raise didn't put him off, he caught his gut-shot and I hit the rail. What can you do? I wanted the action and was happy to risk my tournament life as an overwhelming favourite. When he gets there all I can do is wish him luck and move on.
Success in the £11 MTTs continues to elude me for now, I still haven't cashed in one yet during this challenge. It's not going to put me off though, I know it's only a matter of time before I find the necessary run-good to do the business.
Final MTT was a normal speed £5.75. I was going well with three head-prizes, but when it came down to inevitable flip time I didn't fare well again, losing 99 < AJ aipf for my fourth head and a stack 150% of average. I fought hard but couldn't find a way back, busting with 66 < AQ aipf, with pocket 44 also all-in I stood to treble. Unfortunately the flop came down QAQ and I was out in 23/107.
My biggest chunk of luck today came in a DYM, I doubled with 22 over AA aipf on the bubble and cashed. Soon after that the same guy lost with AA aipf again to another opponent. All's well that ends well though; despite losing with aces twice he cashed too.
A bink feels close. I still made a small profit today despite losing all four MTT flips (FAO OhImGood; 4 flips out of out of 441 hands played Had I won all four it might have been a different story.
October Poker Points 503 (£5.03)
Today’sresults;
8498795HNL6MX,DN0.3GBPSkyPoker25/10/2013 15:09NL Hold'em £3 + £0.31/6£2.78497794HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker25/10/2013 14:30NL Hold'em £5 + £0.7523/107-£0.118496802HNLB1.0GBPSkyPoker25/10/2013 13:00NL Hold'em £10 + £113/47-£118497124HNLB0.75GBPSkyPoker25/10/2013 12:00NL Hold'em £5 + £0.753/25£15.658496724HNLB0.3GBPSkyPoker25/10/2013 10:45NL Hold'em £3 + £0.328/70-£3.3 Flipping heck. I keep getting within a race or two of a decent score. This hand was played at a £5.75 Speed Bounty Hunter final table, I was runner-up in all four standard pair v overcards flips involving me today;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 200.00 200.00 18217.50 macman65 Big blind 400.00 600.00 13865.00 Your hole cards K A * All-in 3482.50 4082.50 0.00 troy88 Fold SN1PER Fold GaryQQQ All-in 18217.50 22300.00 0.00 macman65 Fold GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 14935.00 7365.00 14935.00 GaryQQQ Show K A *Show 4 4 Flop 8 3 10 Turn 5 River 7 * Win Pair of 4s 7365.00 7365.00
I didn't last long in my first game, a £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I went out soon after losing most of my stack semi-bluff check/shoving at the flop in a big HU pot with a flush draw. My opponent called surprisingly light, middle pair with a mediocre hand kicker and no draws, the sort of hand I was trying to force him to lay down. Fair play to him though, his hand held-up for a double and left me on fumes.
Next was an £11 Bounty Hunter. I had a terrible start losing 25% of my stack, probably the minimum considering, in the very first hand when my opponent caught a card to go ahead on the river. Then a failed bluff and another couple of lost pots later I found myself down to only 437.5 chips at 20/40. It was time to boom or bust. I doubled next hand with 88 /> A9 aipf, then trebled with AK /> AT and JJ an orbit later to get back to over starting stack. Boom! From there I went on a heater, making a few big holds as I cruised into the chiplead. I rode my big stack all the way to the sharp end, picking up 6 head prizes on the way, though by the time we broke to final table I'd slipped somewhat to 4/6.
It was a tough final table with no obvious soft spots. I had a strong aggressive opponent on my direct left so tightened up. I didn't pick up any playable hands and folded just about everything for several orbits. Then I won a timely race, 99 /> Ats aipf to double. Not long after that I busted an opponent and took the lead with three left when my turned trips with 46 busted his AQ. An unwise play cost me the lead. I flatted a button min-raise with KJ on the SB and played for stacks on a dry jack-high flop. I ran into pocket AA and didn't improve. With hind-sight I wish I'd 3-bet pre-flop and folded to a shove. I got taken out by a beat, my AJ losing to KJ aipf. A hold would have all-but locked up a £24 pay jump for second place and given me a playable stack to take into HU play. However I can't complain, I'd run very well to get that far after finding myself so short early on, also third place money wasn't too shabby.
After a break I tried some STTs. It was a total fail, I ran awfully to lose all five buy-ins in DYMs. HU STTs didn't go much better.
I tried a couple of all-in sats for the Main Event with no joy. All-in sats were brought in after I suggested them in a 'design a tournament' competition on this very forum. It didn't do me any favours; I wasn't awarded one the three prizes up for grabs in the competition (two of the winning suggestions never got off the ground) and I've never binked a seat in one either!
In the evening I fired up three tournaments. I was double average in all of them at one point, though that didn't last long. In a £2.30 Bounty Hunter I was taken out by a gut-shot chaser who got there on the river. In a £1.10 Deepie my 5x on the BB ran into a limper with pocket 88, the board ran out 58353, no getting away there. In the Mini after a promising first hour my luck turned after I lost a standard AQ < TT aipf flip to double a shortie. After that nothing went my way and. My exit came with a beat, I three-bet shoved AK with 22BB from the button over a 3BB cut-off open. The villain made the call for 70% of his stack with AQ and caught his three-outer to take me out.
It was nice to make a profit today, though I'm a bit disappointed I lost a good chunk of the winnings from the £11 Bounty Hunter in the evening. I feel I'm playing well at the moment , there's no doubt I'm in a much better frame of mind than I was during the recent downswing. I don't know if it'll come or not, but I feel very ready to bink a tournament right now.
I entered the two morning £3.30 Bounty Hunters today without success. My best chance came in the 10-45am. After sucking out with 66 /> JJ aipf I was above average for a while in level 10, but as usually seems the case for me my run came off the rails when it came down to the first big flip; my TT < AK aipf. I dusted off the rest of my stack with a blind vs blind aipf bluff that didn't work and probably made me look like a total donk, my opponents pre-flop call with queen-high being ahead of my rags and holding for a 45BB pot.
What does the combination of symbols /> mean? Posted by FCHD
Nothing. It's just a weird quirk of the forum software.
I try to use the second of those two symbols on it's own to signify 'greater than', its normal meaning. For some reason when I make the post a forward slash gets added by the software without me wanting it there. Try it yourself and you'll see.
I entered three Bounty Hunter tournaments today. In the first two, a £2.30 Speed and an £11 game, I got nothing going and left empty-handed.
As for the third game; for a few days I've been saying I feel a bink is coming, and it did
Confidence counts for so much in poker. I've been 'in the zone' for a few days, playing well and getting fairly deep often. Just not finding enough of that all-important late-stages run-good to take it all the way. Well, it turned out I was right; the stars aligned this afternoon and I pulled it off in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter with 101 entrants.
Much of it is a haze now, and I haven't been through the hand history yet, but for the first hour and a half I was below average and struggling. Twice when falling down towards the 10BB danger zone I managed to double when my pre-flop shoves were called and my hand held-up. I don't remember making any major mistakes and slowly built my stack from there to move towards the top of the field as we approached the late-stages.
If my memory is correct I didn't actually flip once in the whole tournament. I did suck-out once, though I'm certain my play was correct in the circumstances. When down to two tables I had a loose aggressive opponent to deal with. He was very difficult to play and putting all of the table under enormous pressure. Soon after doubling off him when I 3-bet shoved TT over his usual raise behind a limper (my tens held against A8s and also busted the limper who called with a smaller pair, a crucial hand) he open-shoved from the SB into my BB with 9BB behind. I held A6o, it was the final table bubble. Against this particular villains range I considered any ace to be a call. As it was I got lucky and made a straight to get there against his AJ. When you consider he'd eliminated 8 players and had a big bounty on his head it makes the call a no-brainer in my opinion, you could even argue for making the call with just about any two cards.
Going into final table I was second in chips, there was nobody at the table I feared and I knew I was in with a good chance of victory. The chip leader was on my direct left. He was playing 'unconventional' poker and proved a tough nut to crack. On one occasion when we were down to three-handed I raised with A8 on the button and he flat-called OOP with a junk hand on the SB. I bet the ace-high flop, and the turn eight which improved my hand to two pairs. On the river the villain caught a gut-shot to make the nuts, having held zero showdown value on previous streets. I fired a fairly small value bet and he only called. Just about any other player would have led out with a big bet or re-raised in his spot. That hand took me from chipleader back to third and was an example of how awkward he was to beat.
I kept patient and eventually I got him when I opened raised from the SB with AJo. He opted to defend with AQ rather than re-raise. I got his stack on an AJx flop and went into heads-up play with a big lead. The deck had been very kind to me during three-handed play. It was hard to get paid, but I remember making three sets, two nut-flushes and picking up pocket AA twice.
The chips were going one way only right from the start of heads-up. I kept picking up hands and I can only assume my opponent wasn't. When I'd ground him down to <10BB my A3s was an easy open-shove from the SB. I got a call from QTo and my hand held for a sweet victory.
Poker is a funny game. Two weeks ago I was absolutely sick of it after a month-long downswing and had almost no motivation to play. Thank goodness I managed to pull myself out of the rut and reset my own bad attitude. Look at the difference it's made, I've rebuilt to a new highest balance and feel like I'm on the crest of a wave.
it was hard to read your diary when you were saying you couldnt be bothered playing, and registering for russian roulettes. this diary was a gold mine of info and inspiration when i was cutting my teeth here. made up you're back on the horse.
So after taking loads of bullll for telling you that "flips" are quite obviously a MASSIVE leak in your game as you will flip with 4-4, you actually listened an binked. Don't thank me.
So after taking loads of bullll for telling you that "flips" are quite obviously a MASSIVE leak in your game as you will flip with 4-4, you actually listened an binked. Don't thank me. Posted by OHIMGOOD
What a plank.
Well done Gary, that 1k target is firmly in your sights now! I know how it feels to suffer a harsh downswing, and the impact it can have on your game, so I tip my hat in your direction for sticking at it.
In Response to Re: 1,000 Poker Points ----- /> £1,000 Can it be done? Latest balance £790.41 : What a plank.Well done Gary, that 1k target is firmly in your sights now! I know how it feels to suffer a harsh downswing, and the impact it can have on your game, so I tip my hat in your direction for sticking at it. Wp sir. Posted by hhyftrftdr
+1
+1 again
Mini heater and you could have this closed out by the end of the month!
Comments
Up £3.94 today
Still treading water, just a min-cash to show from four Bounty Hunters today.
First up was a £3.30. I had a stack going for a while, but slowly bled my chips away in the mid-stages to an invincible guy at my table who was running pure and hitting every river.
Second game was a £5.75 Speed. After finding myself the right side of a big cooler (KJ vs KT on a KKx flop) and making a couple of crucial holds I went into the final table as chipleader for the second day in a row. I thought I was going to bubble again after losing 2/2 flips with AK < 44 and AJ < 66 aipf and slipping to 4th/4. However a quads /> full-house cooler between two other players on the bubble meant I survived for a min-cash. My exit was an unavoidable cooler, I open-shoved KQ from the SB with only 9BB behind and ran into AK.
In the 1-00pm £11 Bounty Hunter I got myself fairly deep and was in with a chance of a run, though to no avail. I have no regrets about my exit in 13/47; after four of us saw a flop my Kqs clashed with J9o with 78Kr on the board. The villain was sitting a big chiplead at the time and happy to call light. My big flop check/raise didn't put him off, he caught his gut-shot and I hit the rail. What can you do? I wanted the action and was happy to risk my tournament life as an overwhelming favourite. When he gets there all I can do is wish him luck and move on.
Success in the £11 MTTs continues to elude me for now, I still haven't cashed in one yet during this challenge. It's not going to put me off though, I know it's only a matter of time before I find the necessary run-good to do the business.
Final MTT was a normal speed £5.75. I was going well with three head-prizes, but when it came down to inevitable flip time I didn't fare well again, losing 99 < AJ aipf for my fourth head and a stack 150% of average. I fought hard but couldn't find a way back, busting with 66 < AQ aipf, with pocket 44 also all-in I stood to treble. Unfortunately the flop came down QAQ and I was out in 23/107.
My biggest chunk of luck today came in a DYM, I doubled with 22 over AA aipf on the bubble and cashed. Soon after that the same guy lost with AA aipf again to another opponent. All's well that ends well though; despite losing with aces twice he cashed too.
A bink feels close. I still made a small profit today despite losing all four MTT flips (FAO OhImGood; 4 flips out of out of 441 hands played
October Poker Points 503 (£5.03)
Today’s results;
8498795 H NL 6MX,DN 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 15:09 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 1/6 £2.7 8497794 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 14:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 23/107 -£0.11 8496802 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 13:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 13/47 -£11 8497124 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 12:00 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 3/25 £15.65 8496724 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 25/10/2013 10:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 28/70 -£3.3
Flipping heck. I keep getting within a race or two of a decent score. This hand was played at a £5.75 Speed Bounty Hunter final table, I was runner-up in all four standard pair v overcards flips involving me today;
PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalanceGaryQQQ Small blind 200.00 200.00 18217.50 macman65 Big blind 400.00 600.00 13865.00 Your hole cards K A * All-in 3482.50 4082.50 0.00 troy88 Fold SN1PER Fold GaryQQQ All-in 18217.50 22300.00 0.00 macman65 Fold GaryQQQ Unmatched bet 14935.00 7365.00 14935.00 GaryQQQ Show K A *Show 4 4 Flop 8 3 10 Turn 5 River 7 * Win Pair of 4s 7365.00 7365.00
Closing Balance £693.67
Up £20.94 today
I didn't last long in my first game, a £5.75 Bounty Hunter. I went out soon after losing most of my stack semi-bluff check/shoving at the flop in a big HU pot with a flush draw. My opponent called surprisingly light, middle pair with a mediocre hand kicker and no draws, the sort of hand I was trying to force him to lay down. Fair play to him though, his hand held-up for a double and left me on fumes.
Next was an £11 Bounty Hunter. I had a terrible start losing 25% of my stack, probably the minimum considering, in the very first hand when my opponent caught a card to go ahead on the river. Then a failed bluff and another couple of lost pots later I found myself down to only 437.5 chips at 20/40. It was time to boom or bust. I doubled next hand with 88 /> A9 aipf, then trebled with AK /> AT and JJ an orbit later to get back to over starting stack. Boom! From there I went on a heater, making a few big holds as I cruised into the chiplead. I rode my big stack all the way to the sharp end, picking up 6 head prizes on the way, though by the time we broke to final table I'd slipped somewhat to 4/6.
It was a tough final table with no obvious soft spots. I had a strong aggressive opponent on my direct left so tightened up. I didn't pick up any playable hands and folded just about everything for several orbits. Then I won a timely race, 99 /> Ats aipf to double. Not long after that I busted an opponent and took the lead with three left when my turned trips with 46 busted his AQ. An unwise play cost me the lead. I flatted a button min-raise with KJ on the SB and played for stacks on a dry jack-high flop. I ran into pocket AA and didn't improve. With hind-sight I wish I'd 3-bet pre-flop and folded to a shove. I got taken out by a beat, my AJ losing to KJ aipf. A hold would have all-but locked up a £24 pay jump for second place and given me a playable stack to take into HU play. However I can't complain, I'd run very well to get that far after finding myself so short early on, also third place money wasn't too shabby.
After a break I tried some STTs. It was a total fail, I ran awfully to lose all five buy-ins in DYMs. HU STTs didn't go much better.
I tried a couple of all-in sats for the Main Event with no joy. All-in sats were brought in after I suggested them in a 'design a tournament' competition on this very forum. It didn't do me any favours; I wasn't awarded one the three prizes up for grabs in the competition (two of the winning suggestions never got off the ground) and I've never binked a seat in one either!
In the evening I fired up three tournaments. I was double average in all of them at one point, though that didn't last long. In a £2.30 Bounty Hunter I was taken out by a gut-shot chaser who got there on the river. In a £1.10 Deepie my 5x on the BB ran into a limper with pocket 88, the board ran out 58353, no getting away there. In the Mini after a promising first hour my luck turned after I lost a standard AQ < TT aipf flip to double a shortie. After that nothing went my way and. My exit came with a beat, I three-bet shoved AK with 22BB from the button over a 3BB cut-off open. The villain made the call for 70% of his stack with AQ and caught his three-outer to take me out.
It was nice to make a profit today, though I'm a bit disappointed I lost a good chunk of the winnings from the £11 Bounty Hunter in the evening. I feel I'm playing well at the moment , there's no doubt I'm in a much better frame of mind than I was during the recent downswing. I don't know if it'll come or not, but I feel very ready to bink a tournament right now.
October Poker Points 567 (£5.67)
Today’s results;
8501220 H NL B 0.5 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 20:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.5 200/583 -£3.62 8503425 H NL ST,HU 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 20:07 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.15 1/2 £2.85 8501630 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 20:05 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3 106/278 -£2.3 8503414 H NL L,HU 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 19:48 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 1/2 £2.7 8501820 H NL L,SAT 0.15 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 19:47 NL Hold'em £1.65 + £0.15 7/37 -£1.8 8503371 H NL T,HU 0.25 GBP SkyPoker 26/10/2013 19:46 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.25 2/2 -£5.25 8501615 H NL 0.1 GBP <span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,Sans-Serif;
Closing Balance £693.56
Down 11p today
I entered the two morning £3.30 Bounty Hunters today without success. My best chance came in the 10-45am. After sucking out with 66 /> JJ aipf I was above average for a while in level 10, but as usually seems the case for me my run came off the rails when it came down to the first big flip; my TT < AK aipf. I dusted off the rest of my stack with a blind vs blind aipf bluff that didn't work and probably made me look like a total donk, my opponents pre-flop call with queen-high being ahead of my rags and holding for a 45BB pot.
October Poker Points 573 (£5.73)
Today’s results;
8503964 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 27/10/2013 10:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 20/112 £3.19 8503687 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 27/10/2013 09:45 NL Hold'em £3 + £0.3 54/97 -£3.3
I try to use the second of those two symbols on it's own to signify 'greater than', its normal meaning. For some reason when I make the post a forward slash gets added by the software without me wanting it there. Try it yourself and you'll see.
Good luck to you too
Closing Balance £790.41
Up £96.85 today
Boom!
I entered three Bounty Hunter tournaments today. In the first two, a £2.30 Speed and an £11 game, I got nothing going and left empty-handed.
As for the third game; for a few days I've been saying I feel a bink is coming, and it did
Confidence counts for so much in poker. I've been 'in the zone' for a few days, playing well and getting fairly deep often. Just not finding enough of that all-important late-stages run-good to take it all the way. Well, it turned out I was right; the stars aligned this afternoon and I pulled it off in a £5.75 Bounty Hunter with 101 entrants.
Much of it is a haze now, and I haven't been through the hand history yet, but for the first hour and a half I was below average and struggling. Twice when falling down towards the 10BB danger zone I managed to double when my pre-flop shoves were called and my hand held-up. I don't remember making any major mistakes and slowly built my stack from there to move towards the top of the field as we approached the late-stages.
If my memory is correct I didn't actually flip once in the whole tournament. I did suck-out once, though I'm certain my play was correct in the circumstances. When down to two tables I had a loose aggressive opponent to deal with. He was very difficult to play and putting all of the table under enormous pressure. Soon after doubling off him when I 3-bet shoved TT over his usual raise behind a limper (my tens held against A8s and also busted the limper who called with a smaller pair, a crucial hand) he open-shoved from the SB into my BB with 9BB behind. I held A6o, it was the final table bubble. Against this particular villains range I considered any ace to be a call. As it was I got lucky and made a straight to get there against his AJ. When you consider he'd eliminated 8 players and had a big bounty on his head it makes the call a no-brainer in my opinion, you could even argue for making the call with just about any two cards.
Going into final table I was second in chips, there was nobody at the table I feared and I knew I was in with a good chance of victory. The chip leader was on my direct left. He was playing 'unconventional' poker and proved a tough nut to crack. On one occasion when we were down to three-handed I raised with A8 on the button and he flat-called OOP with a junk hand on the SB. I bet the ace-high flop, and the turn eight which improved my hand to two pairs. On the river the villain caught a gut-shot to make the nuts, having held zero showdown value on previous streets. I fired a fairly small value bet and he only called. Just about any other player would have led out with a big bet or re-raised in his spot. That hand took me from chipleader back to third and was an example of how awkward he was to beat.
I kept patient and eventually I got him when I opened raised from the SB with AJo. He opted to defend with AQ rather than re-raise. I got his stack on an AJx flop and went into heads-up play with a big lead. The deck had been very kind to me during three-handed play. It was hard to get paid, but I remember making three sets, two nut-flushes and picking up pocket AA twice.
The chips were going one way only right from the start of heads-up. I kept picking up hands and I can only assume my opponent wasn't. When I'd ground him down to <10BB my A3s was an easy open-shove from the SB. I got a call from QTo and my hand held for a sweet victory.
Poker is a funny game. Two weeks ago I was absolutely sick of it after a month-long downswing and had almost no motivation to play. Thank goodness I managed to pull myself out of the rut and reset my own bad attitude. Look at the difference it's made, I've rebuilt to a new highest balance and feel like I'm on the crest of a wave.
October Poker Points 595 (£5.95)
Today’s results;
8508497 H NL B 0.75 GBP SkyPoker 28/10/2013 14:30 NL Hold'em £5 + £0.75 1/101 £108 8507896 H NL B 1.0 GBP SkyPoker 28/10/2013 14:00 NL Hold'em £10 + £1 66/76 -£11 8509555 H NL ST,HU 0.1 GBP SkyPoker 28/10/2013 13:59 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.1 1/2 £1.9 8507821 H NL B 0.3 GBP SkyPoker 28/10/2013 13:45 NL Hold'em £2 + £0.3 30/30 -£2.3
Thanks for the rail
+1 again
Mini heater and you could have this closed out by the end of the month!
GL today & tomorrow!
Absolutely amazing, & an inspiration to so many.
Many congrats Gary.