lol wasn't aware you were a scouser got a decent chance of champions league this year, never read either of them books, american history x is a great film the bit where he gets him to open his mouth on the kerb and stamps on his head always gives me the chills though, that guy is great in fightclub as well.
Just finished a 3 hour slog in the 6pm £5.50 and took it down =], i may be wrong but apart from the HU shuffle i dont think i have taken down an mtt since i started the diary a few 2nds and final tables, but finally a victory which is good to get out the way. I felt i was on top of my game early on patiently picking good spots and i made one call which i was happy with which i will post in a minute, Hu was against a very good player, i had a 3/1 chip lead at the start and he got even quite quickly, then i got the lead again with a well timed bluff before getting nearly even again. Then i got lucky when i made a play that pretty much won me the game, basically the player had been minraising almost every big blinding so i was jamming over the top alot, ended up getting in q2 against k10 and hit the 2 on the turn always nice to win when i'm a slight underdog and then i won a standard all in with JJ against Ax to win the game. So i'm very happy with that result, only played about 4 HU games previous to the mtt and was on a little profit, probably helped me to play better coming into the tournament fresh without having played for hours and hopefully will increase my confidence in buying in to mtts on a regular basis when i feel i'm playing well.
Making this call was a very close decision as it would of left me without much of a stack, i timed right down when making the decision but my instincts were screaming to call based onthe board texture and an incredibly quick call on the flop by the villain which made me feel like a draw was more plausible than a made hand, similarly the check back on the turn doesn't suggest any kind of made hand, finally the shove screamed desperation to win the pot. Ignore the bet sizing pre i think it's too early to be minraising i'm not sure why i did it, would normally be 2.5 or 3x so i may have misjudged the blinds.
Standard stack off from villain there lol, nothing much to report for today just grinding a little profit HU and enjoying playing opponents like the one above on a regular basis, easy money long term =]
I have just finished up for the night, the last hour and a half was very swingy. I think i tilted for a little bit maybe because of he hand above and then a couple more similar type hands, i jumped into some hypers as always like a degen when i'm losing, only one 21 though which i managed to take down against a player who i know to be very good at HU. I then got lucky in signing up for a 15.75 standard game and the person being away the whole game so that was some free money, i decided that as i was virtually given that money i would sign up to a 31.50 game against the same person who i just referred to and have bumped into in hypers 3-4 times now to experience a higher game with the mentality that its only really cost me 15. I got lucky to win the 31.50 jamming a10 over a minraise at 50-100 and flopping an A against JJ, apart from that not many flops were seen which i'm obviously not used too at the level i play, normally its costant OOP stationing and me just patiently waiting for the right value hands.
The game flow/dynamics felt very different to what i'm used to, which means that a badly timed bluff or missed value can be a big difference in the game therefore it feels alot more intense, now this is probably alot to do with my perception of the stakes and i'm sure to the villain it is just super standard. But it's funny in HU how context can really affect your game and how you play, i'm sure if i was playing the exact same player at 2.10 level without any knowledge of the player the game would of felt super standard and thats why i'm trying to test myself against these players every so often so i can tell myself they are not like crazy brilliant players who read your soul HU but just another player whose style be it a very good winning style, you have to adjust to in order to beat. By no means do i think i could beat these guys who make very decent profits long term at the moment, but it is good to know that i can at least hold my own and it is always a confidence booster to win any game above the usual stakes i play.
I have just finished up for the night, the last hour and a half was very swingy. I think i tilted for a little bit maybe because of he hand above and then a couple more similar type hands, i jumped into some hypers as always like a degen when i'm losing, only one 21 though which i managed to take down against a player who i know to be very good at HU. I then got lucky in signing up for a 15.75 standard game and the person being away the whole game so that was some free money, i decided that as i was virtually given that money i would sign up to a 31.50 game against the same person who i just referred to and have bumped into in hypers 3-4 times now to experience a higher game with the mentality that its only really cost me 15. I got lucky to win the 31.50 jamming a10 over a minraise at 50-100 and flopping an A against JJ, apart from that not many flops were seen which i'm obviously not used too at the level i play, normally its costant OOP stationing and me just patiently waiting for the right value hands. The game flow/dynamics felt very different to what i'm used to, which means that a badly timed bluff or missed value can be a big difference in the game therefore it feels alot more intense, now this is probably alot to do with my perception of the stakes and i'm sure to the villain it is just super standard. But it's funny in HU how context can really affect your game and how you play, i'm sure if i was playing the exact same player at 2.10 level without any knowledge of the player the game would of felt super standard and thats why i'm trying to test myself against these players every so often so i can tell myself they are not like crazy brilliant players who read your soul HU but just another player whose style be it a very good winning style, you have to adjust to in order to beat. By no means do i think i could beat these guys who make very decent profits long term at the moment, but it is good to know that i can at least hold my own and it is always a confidence booster to win any game above the usual stakes i play. Posted by benc
You make a lot of good points there mate, but i think because its a new and higher level to you, you might be thinking about it more than you should and thats when things become tricky because you start to look for things that are not there. Thats why as i told you before i am building my bankroll up so that when i move up the levels i wont be scared to lose because sometimes playing a new level we can get scared of losing the new amount we are playing for .
Yeah you have great discipline Hothweals, unfortunately i have problems with mine lol luckily i'm rolled enough to not have to worry too much when i take shots, however if you ever see me sat playing one of the top HU guys in the highstakes cash get ojn the chatbox and get me off ha ha!
Playing some 5 aside football today should be fun, played football for a team most of my childhood and miss playing regularly so looking foward to it and it's probably one of the few activities i can do these days without drifting off and thinking about poker.
Yeah it was the first time i had played for £33 so i wasn't sure of the standard, i mean apart from the obvious guy UTG playing terribly everyone else seemed pretty standard, maybe i'm just overcomplicating it afterwards if i go out to a cooler and having unrealistic expectations of playing absolutely perfectly, i mean i could of just nitted up and folded Qs if i had given myself longer to think before shipping and kept grinding away but that isn't my style and i guess i'll never win a tournament if i avoid marginalish situations. 1) This is england is a great film had to study it in media at A level and really enjoyed it, tv spin off not so good but still a decent watch. 2) I dont actually read that much apart from psychology journals every so often and whatever book related work im assigned, i read one flew over the cuckoos nest when i did english lit at A level and i enjoyed that so i guess i would say that is my favourite book. 3) West Ham are my team have been since i was old enough to be taken to upton park by my dad, had a season ticket for years untill i was like 18, have been to three playoff finals and the famous 2006 cup final which was amazing, still bitter about gerrards goal in the last few minutes costing us but was still a magical game to be at. How about you? havn't seen much related to football in what i have read in your diary.. Posted by benc
I'd just advise to be careful with the shot taking. It's funny how the brain works (obviously this doesn't apply to all) but it's SO easy to say to yourself 'I'll just play this £31.50 game and if I lose then it was only profits (or w/e) anyway', you lose that one then think 'well I'll just play 1 more, win that and then I'm pretty much break even and will stop', lose that one and think 'ok definitely just 1 more, I can't lose 3 in a row, just win this one then at least I got half my money back' then boom you're £100 down.
I've done it before, before you play the first game you can swear you will definitely only play 1 regardless of the result but the brain will think of all kinds of excuses to get you to keep going so just be careful.
From what I can see, every time you've took a shot @ £15s, £21s etc it's went well but we all know that sometimes you'll play someone who has literally no clue what they're doing and still get crushed by the deck.
Thanks for the advice Lambert i do try to follow a more cautious route but as you say the brain can work in funny ways, when you feel hard done by, the best idea always seems to be chasing the loss rather than calling it a night, have started withdrawing again a bit more now so i can't afford to be blowing aload of my roll in one silly night. Maybe i will start posting my roll and c4p again at the end of my sessions, then the threat of having to post a large hummiliating loss will stop me from doing anything stupid (cue me posting a large hummiliating loss later this evening).
5 a side was good, our team had no subs though so 20 minutes was actually tougher than i expected, i jog regularly so managed to last without passing out or playing the goalhanger role. We lost 6-4 to a much better team, It is a regular thing so looking foward to next week already.
First game of the day 5.25, guy plays normally for two mins- loses one very small pot so decides the only option is to go ahead and shove every hand, i think i'm right to call here seeing as he is shoving every single sb? standard river when you get it in against these guys, glad i'm doing the eliminator otherwise i'd already be steaming off on the hypers lol
First game of the day 5.25, guy plays normally for two mins- loses one very small pot so decides the only option is to go ahead and shove every hand, i think i'm right to call here seeing as he is shoving every single sb? standard river when you get it in against these guys, glad i'm doing the eliminator otherwise i'd already be steaming off on the hypers lol x Small blind 15.00 15.00 925.00 benc Big blind 30.00 45.00 1030.00 Your hole cards A 4 x All-in 925.00 970.00 0.00 benc Call 910.00 1880.00 120.00 x Show J 2 benc Show A 4 Flop 10 10 6 Turn 7 River J x Win Two Pairs, Jacks and 10s 1880.00 1880.00 Posted by benc
Its all about the game types really and the way the range widens depending on the game. For example i feel in a turbo or hper it is the right call however in a standard game with a longer structure i would probably wait for a better spot
Yeah i mean i'm way ahead of the average hand i think with him shoving every single sb although i could of maybe tried to wait a little longer, still it was ahead when i go it in so thats the most important thing.
Second hand of eliminator ...... although i have managed to win every all in since to get a near starting stack back lol
Had a good couple of hours of HU from 11, played someone at 10s who was not great and after beating them twice they jumped into a 21 game so i would of been silly not to take up that opportunity which i won, then i played aload of 5s and it was going well, sadly i had already scheduled the next 5 hours to do c-work which is so annoying after such a good start to the day but it has to be done. Hopefully will get some more hours in later, will post a hand in a minute which i think is a good example of the type of situation i encounter occasionally that for someone getting into HU might be hard to understand/ makes me look like a calling station lol. I seemed to take abuse from every single player i came up against today lol so thats always a good sign of a decent session, at the moment my only real target is trying to maintain my little silver star on scope and stay on the leaderboard, apart from that i'm not using excel to track every single game anymore and trying to not look at my roll till the end of a session.
Right so this hand is pretty standard pre and on the flop i think, could of bet the turn but opponent was steaming a bit and i didn't want to be put to an all in decision if they put in like a strange minraise.
When the 7 hits on the river i'm fairly certain i have the best hand, i choose to minbet for a number of reasons..alot of the time the player will call with anything just to see/not have a bruised ego at folding to a minbet thats a quarter of the pot which means a little extra value, in this particular case the opponent has a tendency to do strange things like raise to a big amount in a manner that is inconsistent with how they play hands when they actually have it, so i'm also fully expecting a minraise or even a 3x bet which i can snap off. To put it simply based on past info and how they have played previous hands, if they had a hand good enough to shove they would of already bet on one of the streets and most definetly led out on the river, so i can rule out the hand being a monster and therefore the shove being for value, which leads to the question why would they shove a marginal hand when they can easily call and take away a decent pot, which all adds up to make this a snap call when they shove the river, as it always feels like a desperation bluff that is preying on my show of weakness with the minbet, but luckily i'm well aware that they percieve my minbet to be weak and therefore believe a shove with nothing should take the pot away. What made me particularly happy about this hand was that it was the higher level game and i still trusted my read and made the call when on previous occasions i may not off. I hope this gives some insight into how i'm thinking during these games and doesn't just seem like a load off rambling....Here is the hand:
Managed to get through the slog of a few hours coursework, listening to the football helped although i was a blackburn win away from winning a 6 fold accy for £200, still only bet to make listening to the football a bit more fun. Playing the main and mini as a reward for the work slog so hopefully can do ok in them, if not will get aload of time in grinding HU tonight i think, maybe even play some hypers on the side.
Comments
2) Shogun by James Clavell. Also love 1984
3) Everton, the only team a proper scouser supports
I felt i was on top of my game early on patiently picking good spots and i made one call which i was happy with which i will post in a minute, Hu was against a very good player, i had a 3/1 chip lead at the start and he got even quite quickly, then i got the lead again with a well timed bluff before getting nearly even again. Then i got lucky when i made a play that pretty much won me the game, basically the player had been minraising almost every big blinding so i was jamming over the top alot, ended up getting in q2 against k10 and hit the 2 on the turn always nice to win when i'm a slight underdog and then i won a standard all in with JJ against Ax to win the game. So i'm very happy with that result, only played about 4 HU games previous to the mtt and was on a little profit, probably helped me to play better coming into the tournament fresh without having played for hours and hopefully will increase my confidence in buying in to mtts on a regular basis when i feel i'm playing well.
The game flow/dynamics felt very different to what i'm used to, which means that a badly timed bluff or missed value can be a big difference in the game therefore it feels alot more intense, now this is probably alot to do with my perception of the stakes and i'm sure to the villain it is just super standard. But it's funny in HU how context can really affect your game and how you play, i'm sure if i was playing the exact same player at 2.10 level without any knowledge of the player the game would of felt super standard and thats why i'm trying to test myself against these players every so often so i can tell myself they are not like crazy brilliant players who read your soul HU but just another player whose style be it a very good winning style, you have to adjust to in order to beat. By no means do i think i could beat these guys who make very decent profits long term at the moment, but it is good to know that i can at least hold my own and it is always a confidence booster to win any game above the usual stakes i play.
Playing some 5 aside football today should be fun, played football for a team most of my childhood and miss playing regularly so looking foward to it and it's probably one of the few activities i can do these days without drifting off and thinking about poker.
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=2006%20fa%20cup%20final%20gerrard%202nd%20goal&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDYQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwSJSaHDcVYo&ei=_v8PUZ6rKMnD0QXm9oDQBw&usg=AFQjCNHydx1BQxELfcQrm14Dt44ALKeLJw&bvm=bv.41867550
I've done it before, before you play the first game you can swear you will definitely only play 1 regardless of the result but the brain will think of all kinds of excuses to get you to keep going so just be careful.
From what I can see, every time you've took a shot @ £15s, £21s etc it's went well but we all know that sometimes you'll play someone who has literally no clue what they're doing and still get crushed by the deck.
5 a side was good, our team had no subs though so 20 minutes was actually tougher than i expected, i jog regularly so managed to last without passing out or playing the goalhanger role. We lost 6-4 to a much better team, It is a regular thing so looking foward to next week already.
Second hand of eliminator ...... although i have managed to win every all in since to get a near starting stack back lol
Will try add in the image of this morning..
When the 7 hits on the river i'm fairly certain i have the best hand, i choose to minbet for a number of reasons..alot of the time the player will call with anything just to see/not have a bruised ego at folding to a minbet thats a quarter of the pot which means a little extra value, in this particular case the opponent has a tendency to do strange things like raise to a big amount in a manner that is inconsistent with how they play hands when they actually have it, so i'm also fully expecting a minraise or even a 3x bet which i can snap off. To put it simply based on past info and how they have played previous hands, if they had a hand good enough to shove they would of already bet on one of the streets and most definetly led out on the river, so i can rule out the hand being a monster and therefore the shove being for value, which leads to the question why would they shove a marginal hand when they can easily call and take away a decent pot, which all adds up to make this a snap call when they shove the river, as it always feels like a desperation bluff that is preying on my show of weakness with the minbet, but luckily i'm well aware that they percieve my minbet to be weak and therefore believe a shove with nothing should take the pot away. What made me particularly happy about this hand was that it was the higher level game and i still trusted my read and made the call when on previous occasions i may not off. I hope this gives some insight into how i'm thinking during these games and doesn't just seem like a load off rambling....Here is the hand: