Nice write ups don, big factor in the hand with dohh imo is i would expect to see bb leading 4x on the turn quite often here so the c/r is going to be hard to balance and would guess quite heavily skewed towards semi bluffs. Also sizing on the river as an exploit in dohhs spot would make me feel you'd chosen a sizing whereby you still have an amount behind to be in an ok spot if you fold which as chip leader on money bubble would entice me to bluff this spot. With the line you took i think it makes sense to size up a bit on turn to setup around a pot river jam and as played i'd just ovbt jam river.
I've decided today to do a half day update. In truth for the first time in a while I can really feel the tilt hitting and hitting hard.
Since Sunday we've won the major sat, or well qualified through it, had 1 min cash, and minimal heads. How we run in all in spots, is honestly been such a brutal run.
I reflected on yesterday and struggling to sleep I loaded some NL4 on the site where I'd roll split. We finished +4 buy ins, but in truth this was a session where I was extremely focused on sizing, hand selection, adjusting between regs and recs etc. I'd felt yesterday I'd tried too much to force things, and by doing this I could go back to basics reset and find leaks and fix them. I've always learnt more by doing rather than reading charts or whatever. Was a few interesting hands, and a couple of villians where we knew we'd have to trust our read and make some uneasy call downs but we did that.
Feeling abit rejuvinated we started with the 10.30 this morning whre we finished 9th with 0 heads, onto the 11.30 where we finished 9th 0 heads, then the 1.30 where we finished 9th with 0 heads. The latter was majorly frustrating, we were in good shape 5/9 with a good stack and tangled with a shorty with half our stack, A8<KQo then 2 hands later AQ<KQo both AIP against same villian to take us from good, and potentially great shape to bust.
2pm was better we got 3 heads in that but then probably the most frustrating orbit ive ever had, and the difference between being a huge chip leader with 4-5 heads and being out. First was QQ in sb and a late registrant in BB. We open they call T high draw heavy board we cbet sized up they min click we jam, the snap with KT and river a K. Very next hand we have AKcc open on btn and SB calls, cbet a Q93 flop with 2 diamonds. 9 turn and blank river they lead river and since we unblock all the draws i feel we have to call they have 93o. Then Open A9s UTG BB calls, 953r flop, we cbet they call, turn is 9d which does add a diamond draw, we check back, opponent has shown aggression we have double pot its still very easy to get money in. river is 7d. They shove, as we planned only they have 23dd. ARGH!
2.30 was an improvement we got 8th with 1 head. Still 0 cashes since a min cash on sunday tho. Really frustrating this one, We ended up on shorties table and had to make some calls, kids needed attention and I missed several spots dealing with them... typcially why I 1 table on phone when they around. Ended up losing a flip leaving me with hardly any chips, spot dead we end up folding to 475 chips, not even 2.5bb, but a quad up followed by a double, followed by really strong grinding we got upto 10k again. Only to run AJ into QQ bvb for 18bb effective. There'd be no recovery this time.
3.30 was puke. UTG min opens at 15/30. +1 shoves for 30bb and we have AKcc. We've had a really good start and upto 3.3k UTG is only person with a similar stack and they call our reshove with QQ. 30bb shove is A7o so one of our outs is gone, but such a needless flip at this stage that we dont need to take, especially when like i said yest we've been flipping like a 1 sided coin. We're left with 375 chips, and cant spin back up.
4.30 Really highlights the puke im facing in all in spots. We're bb and fold hand 1, no dramas, hand 2, 2 limps and we're in SB with 9s. 6x takes 2 callers. We just under pot cb on a 456 two club flop, and then shove on a 4d turn for 1.5x pot. We get snapped by Q7 with no club draw, river is a 3. Monster pot, and I take this line because I know this villian will call insanely wide. But still please let me hold one time.
I really feel i need this run to end, I'm still enjoying it, but its hard losing so often when cards go on their back. I feel like I'm still playing close to A game, and putting myself in profitable spots, and I guess this post is me venting a little in a space around people who probably won't care a jot, but who also understand the plight.
Wow... and a huge credit to @DOHHHHHHH who reminded me that if I'm still playing well to keep playing. What an evening session its been. We've got some profits and heartbreak to discuss.
The evening schedule consisted of the 5.30, Main semi, 6.30, Rebuy BH, 7.30, 7.35 and the mini.
I won't go into too much detail with the 5.30, essentially we open flop top pair get lead into call two streets and he bombs Ace river. At this point I'm on my phone running the little ones bath and I go to fold, my fat thumb clicks call, DOHHHHHHHHHHHHH and not that DOHHHHHHH either. He has AQ so that river could have easily saved us 1300 chips, more than enough to recover and get back into it, but at least this time it was my stupid fault and not that of the deck. There was no recovery from my remaining 135 chips.
The main semi was next And we started well, the middle was good, and then we just went card dead, in a sat I dont usually mind this, but then we took a spot and ran into Jacks. We needed probably 1.5 doubles so content with it, close but no bone in this instance.
I cant really remember much of the 6.30. Apart from towards the end, we got 3 heads so a tiny (14p) profit on the entry, but towards the end and I honestly cant remember the hand, I think it was AK v AT AIP for like 15bb and we didn't hold but regardless we were left with 1/4 of a BB. From there it was crazy, we quadruple up so now we have a little over a BB, we quadruple up again, then double then grind our backsides off, and we even got to a high point of 30bb just before blinds went up. Obviously alot of luck in that recovery aswell as picking some good spots, and not rushing in, but alas it wasnt to be there, I cant remember exit on this, but standard.
7@7 and the first heart break of the update, We ran golden in this ill be honest, Every time we had a hand people just put money in. I didn't do anything fancy at all, but someone was smiling on me, people open shoving 30bb into us and we're sitting with a monster. From very early on we were 2.5 to 1 chip leader over second. We maintained that for ages until we got put on the table with 2nd and 3rd in chips with 3 tables left. No idea what was going on as they decided to tangle just before the bubble and flip with another opponent in the pot, meaning the winner took my chip lead, 2nd place in chips finished 2/3 outside the money as a result. Painful flip that. The winner of that flip would be our eventual opponent hu. We went into that hu with a staggering 9 heads each, mine worth marginally more. My strategy was working well, but then the 55 min past break hit. He'd obviously got on the phone to his big brother because when we came back he went full aggro. And properly crushed me for a good 5 mins. Eventually he jams and we have 6s I dont love it espeically when I feel we have an edge but I need momentum, i need to counter this ruthless aggression. He has 9s oops, i lost a hu not that long ago KK v 99 so i hoped for some return on that, but todays not the day. £94 for second is still a nice score, just not the £170 for first.
Ill skip the 7.30 and quickly cover the 7.35 and mini for now. The 7.35 went well. Think we took 5 heads for £24, and we had a decent stack too, I'll be honest tho, oop to natnug 3 handed with icm implications, dude no idea if u read this, but mad respect, again ruthless aggression. We found 4b jams in a couple of spots and took down, but was cautious to not do this too often. But eventually was clear the other table we're going to let me breathe, the third player on our table wasnt going to either. I needed to find more 4b jam spots and let him make decisions. 4s was our go to and I hoped natnug wouldnt want to flip for half their stack. I can have worse Ax than his AQ tho, we didnt win the flip. Brutal icm beat that but 3 handed I had to put myself in awkward spots and I'm content with it against someone far more experienced at that than me.
MIni started well. We got a head. Playing well, abit wavy. Before one of the most interesting spots I've seen. Folds to button who opens, we 3b AKs from SB. BB cold 4b jams for 60bb. Dont love it but AK blocks AA KK we have a fair amount of the call invested. So make the call. He has ATo. T high flop. urgh. I cant remember the exit, but probably standard.
The 7.30 is the main talking point of today. Started slow and wavy, struggling for momentum then @Duesenberg 3b us from the BB to our button open. Historically hes never got out of line with me and I instantly rule out 4b, even debate folding but thats too nitty, so we call play through streets in position. 9 high flop, he continues, he sticks me in on a blank turn. I know he hates kings so we can rule that out, can he have jacks tens, ak still? sigh i call after what probably looks like a slowroll, seems this was the first time ive caught him getting out of line... well other than get back to streaming dude, miss the streams. We fade the river outs and have a stack. We go on to take 3 heads on route to money. We're short going over bubble and this is probably one of the greatest grinds ive done. We go from 10k to about 45k and the only showdown we have was when we called an all in pre from a shorter stack and held with the best hand for head number 4. Again we just grind and ladder, quietly sitting in the background waiting to pounce. BTN opens, SB jams, we're third in chips with 6s, i debate it then get out of the way, SB wins leaving BTN short. We'd have got there but still good fold. We eventually win a AQ v AT v the BTN of that hand to go to hu a slight dog but with 5 head locked. Grindy heads up eventually our opponent has enough and starts open shoving. 1 hand... 2 hands... 3 hands... I call... I'll leave that hand below. Thats one very painful second place finish. £53 for 2nd there, but that was our tournament.
We totalled 3 heads all day, and 0 cashes. The 4.30 was the best, we took 2 heads, and was even chip leader and hour in, the fact that I'm writing this at 5.39 shows how big the blow up was.
Weird spot in truth where 5 of the top 15 stacks all at one table. Being chip leader We still have access to heads too. But with the stack depths it was always going to take an effort to get them. Then came the blow up. One guy is bombing everything, twice we make tp and dont find folds as in first instance he turns the flush and in the 2nd rivers a gutter ball in the corner pocket.,
Sigh.
Everything else was standard, I've not played great in truth ontop of struggling to hold or win the flip when cards go on their back. And i can accept that.
Just a small update today. This is a mix of me reflecting and some decisions, and well a mini life update.
I'll start with the reflecting. Yesterdays update was far lower standard than normal, and I thought about that afterwords. Why? I also realized I was being snappy with the kids. As you know I've had some IRL stress this week, obviously stress playing on my mental health, this isn't new and I've been aware that last 2-3 weeks my anxiety has been a little worse than usual. Yesterday was a big example of this. When I'm struggling the kids tend to pick up on it and struggle themselves. The issue is when I struggle I often go into what they call sensory overload. Even basic noises such as my pc fan can sound like I'm sat next to a jet plane to explain this. For those who have experience of this situation they'll understand, for those that haven't I wish I could describe it to you but I don't have the words to explain. But with all senses hieghtened to a point that even my pc fan my brain is registering as a threat, add in 2 screaming kids, theres not a whole lot of thought process. I have to be recongnising when I'm in this situation, not just for me but for the kids too... but also I cannot be putting myself in spots where I'm playing cards like that. Being unable to think beyond a primal level is not the place for playing a strategy based game like poker. The 4.30 mtt really highlights that, I said yest about reads on villian, the issue is I can fold these if i break both those hands down. Yes I lose some chips, but I go far from doubling the villian and going broke. When I'm thinking like this the problem is I can have reads, but seeing beyond how I would play xyz combos is impossible. Thus I give the villian ranges far different to what the villian actually has. This is something I will be working on.
Further to this, once kids were settled in bed I was in one major come down, as a result I couldn't sleep. This isn't abnormal for me after days like that, and in truth it gives me alot of time to reflect when my minds almost in a medatative state, which is how I get out of those spots. I'd played some cash between finishing my mtt session and my friday night gaming, and between tournaments during the day, we finished +6 for the day with a +7 -1 and break even set of small sessions. It also means I've recovered most of the loses I had on that site since I transfered some funds over, and now only -3. All the losses were from struggling to adjust to mtts there, abit of bad luck but mainly remembering ante and full ring ranges.
Furthering on from that being unable to sleep I'd been considering splitting roll again, and having some on Stars (I assume we can mention Stars since its a sister site). This is a thought I'd considered a while back, I want as many options as I can for days where I can commit to a full days enjoying poker, but I gave myself a sort of target of £1000. That seemed not miles away on Sunday before this weeks trials. With Thursdays results, we'd closed that gap, but a poor performance from me yest, put a dent in those hopes. I decided get any monetary goals out of my head and focus on having fun again. I'll never have to much over there, simply put bigger fields more varience. So I withdraw £100, and sent it straight on over, they gave me around $125 for me to play with.
Since I couldn't sleep I fired up 3 mtts, a $1 turbo PKO, a $4.40 standard PKO and a $4.40 freezeout. This also gave me time to make sure my tracker is working. First hand the $4.40 PKO we get kings, and almost a full treble up with a head from a guy 2-3 bigs below us getting it in 3 way against 2x TJ on T44. I dont think I've ever been in such good shape on the flop in a pot worth so many bigs. We had slightly late regged this. But from there this tournament was a bit tricky, not because of oppos, I'm certain based on what I saw I would long term be a winner there, but just cards weren't as kind as hand 1. We eventually bust with KK ironically cold 4 bet shoving over a UTG open and lojack 3b for 50bb (i didnt like any other 3b sizing and I don't like taking Kings m/w OOP since we were small blind) to get snapped by ATo. Board runs out 9 high, but sadly 2345 is part of that.
The freezeout. started bizzare, utg min opens, HJ min 3bs, we have AJo on btn. Usually I'd fold AJo to a 3b over a utg open but we're 160bb deep, have position and its a 3b to 3bb. UTG calls, AAx flop, X turn, A river. I bet small on flop to look stealy, checked back turn to induce and 3 way to that river, UTG Pots, HJ flats. Ill be honest I have no idea how to size this but one of those where i think bigger is better, people dont fold full houses, I feel all in is too much so go for 4x the pot bet and get two folds, no idea what they doing but decent pot to start the tournament. Was abit grindy after AA cracked by 88 and JJ into QQ losing the minimum both times, eventually we have 34ss bvb flop comes A2x with 2 spaces, villian goes large but i dont think we can fold here, he shoves on a 3 turn. We sigh call, we still have about 38% against his ATo with no spades, but brick as he rivers a safe T. We're close in stacks so no recovery.
The $1 turbo was Probably the most interesting of the lot. Not from any strategy point of view but how it worked. We slightly late regged and didn't find any early spots, 10bb comes quick in turbos but what was interesting this structure was fast levels, but the blind jumps were smaller than im used to e.g. 100/200 goes to 125/250, 150/300 etc. So its not crushing to be on 10bb and the blinds go up. Alot of practice of 8-13bb in this tournament, but we where shoving just about enough to consistently be in that window without getting calls. This is a double edged sword. I got to final table having had 2 showdowns, I was covered both times AA v 88 v KT, and JJ v AQ, Trust me that wasn't my shoving range, just the times I got called. It meant we got to final table the only player in the top 20 without taking a head, everyone else had 5+, and barely making any profit as a result. In ICM craziness, 1st and 2nd (who had 3rd covered by 2.5) clashed and 2nd snapped off the over shove from chip leader with nothing but a gutshot, which didnt get there. Good ladder. Few shoves, a guy limps our BB we win an extra 3bb over getting a walk there as a result when we check jam the flop (standard let him stab before shoving type play, think I had 150 hands with him at this point according to my hud and he'd done that alot in limped pots), and we were 3/8. But still less than a quarter of the chips of chip leader. What I'm going to describe now will make you vomit. UTG has 3bb. Folds, Guy behind us has 6bb, 1 person is sat out with 2bb, and obviously theres alot of other shorter stacks on top. As much as I have 18bb i should never be tangling with chip leader here, but our stack is still almost nothing to him. Anyways UTG folds, we're in plus 1 and look at KK. I min raise, let some of these shorter stacks jam, 6bb stack shoves, taking his head alone is worth about the same as the ladder. chip leader flats. folds back to us. ICM or no ICM chip leader has $7 in heads, now a head was worth 25 cents if you havent bust anyone so we can assume hes ran insane, is a major headhunter, or likely a combination of the 2. With 18bbs We just have to put the money in. Chip leader has AA. 6bb stack has JJ, J on flop, so not only do we bust, but the guy we covered gets a treble up meaning we finish 8th instead of 7th by proxy of being the bigger stack. I will be honest, thats the most painful bust since I had QQ heads up 2 days ago.
I took today off, took the kids out, my youngest had a school trip to a farm at the end of term, but was disappointed it was a crop farm. So I hunted out a localish one (a good 90 mins drive away) that was open to public and had animals. Great day out and the kids loved it. Fully recommend if any of yous are in the area with kids.
Well Euros final day, and as a Scot i was perfecly positioned to have the game alongside overlay hunting.
Also going to start discussing some of the stuff I'm doing elsewhere and updating all rolls. Its been a rather interesting day of poker to say the least. Kid free and quiet I feel like I've played some of my best poker ever.
Starting with the Euros site im on, we entered one on their majors, a standard 50/50 PKO format with 5.50 entry. It started well, UTG opens +1 3bets BIG, we have AA in MP, i cold 4 small, 2 callers before its back on +1 who shoves, we reshove, 2 more calls. AA v KK (+1), KQo (UTG) and urmmm 64o. almost a quadruple up very early and 2 heads. Couple more heads later and we're sitting chip lead comfortable and just picking spots. Interestingly twice during this mtt i opened Ax into a sub 6bb BB, both times they peeled 76o and flop 458. Seems a viable strategy. Anyways it cooled off and I was keeping up with the chip leaders through sheer aggression. We eventually got to final table middle of the pack and 3 heads. Final table again via sheer aggression and finding cards at just the right times, we took every head on FT bar 3. The 2 that outlasted us and 1 other. We eventually finished 3rd, really wierd exit hand I'll try explain. BTN has 15bb, Im 2nd in chips with 50bb and chip leader has 52bb. BTN fold, SB limps, we 3x A8o, they peel. They c/r my small cbet on K99r. I call in pos, We can have all the strong 9s, and KK. They can have some 9s aswell of course. but with pos i think we can work this. They check turn, i debate betting here but check back as if they have air thats what id do with my houses and trips, and probably even AK. The pot river. Against this line it smells fishy, their bet is 21bb, we have 45bb and theres the icm implications. We should Never ever be bluffing here, but i know I have range advantage. So I ship with nothing but A high. They get into time bank and eventually call with T9o. In truth I didn't expect them to be that strong, but im still happy with the play, if their tanking trips then we're getting everything else bar houses to fold. we get that through we're taking about a 3-1 chip lead 3 handed. 156 euros for third inc heads.
Onto stars, played 4 mtts there and only one run. We got a head in a pko but some varience meant we couldn't build on that. The bigger $4.40 however we came 32nd, one place off a ladder. Again we got there really thanks to aggression in the correct spots. Really frustrating exit, we open UTG, +1 3bets and folds back to us. We shove for 30bb more, hes getting 2-1 on a call, and its a pay jump, I'm never ever light here and he calls and gets there was A2s against our AK. I love his 3b, but I dont think hes ever in good shape when i jam... e.g. i never have KQ there. and its 45bb I dont have to shove that spot. Just let the 5bb u have invested go dude, no need to put another 40bb in. The cash there plus the head leaves us basically break even for the day here.
Sky has been a frustrating day, 1 6th place (but no final table) in the 3.30. Everything else we bust early or folded to get a spot and lost anyways. Again another one of those days where when the cards go on their back I come out the loser most of the time. The rebuy bh was the only noteable before the 3.30, we got a stack early in that cold 4b jamming KK called by TT who had us covered, he pinged a T but we rivered a K. Alas that was to no avail as we run KK into AA against the only stack that hurts us. We bust our last 300 chips or so shortly after. Chose to stick to my 1 bullet plus addon approach in the rebuy so left after that.
The 3.30 was a grind, from memory an early head but by time we got going properly we had starting stack with 20 left. Few pots and some doubles, take a couple of heads and we're chip leader itm with we head and 8 left. At this point I'm very very confident of going onto FT and going to final 3 minimum. We then get moved table and sandwhiched between 2nd and 3rd in chips, horrid for icm but okay. The other stack on this table was the tournament shortstack who is button for our BB, so genuinely that table move couldn't put me in a worse seat. First hand 2nd in chips limp and we 3x AJo, J8x flop with two spades and I size up pot cbet. they call turn 9s and they lead jam, Ive no reason to go broke here so fold and I'll find a better spot but now 3rd in chips. an orbit and zero hands played later BTN shoves as he did previous orbit, SB calls, we have QQ in the BB and reshove. More than happy to iso here and take BTN on with dead money for a head. SB has KK. so we hold v buttons T8o (bad timing my man) but dont improve and come 6th without seeing a final table. £19 inc heads for this effort.
We also lost a further tenner on kane to hit the target, the only knockout game I havent had this bet on is the semi against the Dutch as I forgot about it. Seriously Harry.
Closing Balances Sky £688 Stars $121 Euros Site €209
Overall a very profitable day I'm happy with. Going to get some food and either watch Cobra Kai or start a night grind.
Overnight i played 3/4 tournaments on stars, got nowhere but did win a level one power path this morning. Infact stars is my current nemisis, yesterdays result on the Euros site really got me going there, and another near miss there today we'll go into that later.
According to my hud we've played 16 mtts on stars, and currently running at around 250bb below EV. Thats fine of course, small sample in huge fields. I wont bore you with the bad beats but basically no runs, and few spots for huge chips (plus heads in the pkos) and we aren't holding. Thats fine, I'll keep putting myself in those positions and soon enough results will come. In truth I'm mostly interested in stars because of the power path anyways.
Euros site saw 3 mtts today. @DOHHHHHHH recommended a 10bb starting stack hyper structure, we didn't get going in that but ill defo try the low buy in versions even if I'm treating those as practice for short stack games. We also done 2x €5 PKO's. First one was meh, never got going can't even remember the exit. The other, is painful. Think we had 4 heads to make profit for the tournament, all fairly standard stuff, then another really odd hand, we open JJ get one caller before only stack that covers us 3bets, I call and so does the other guy, run out I cant remember but essentialy we had overpair till the K on the river. We've pot controlled and the 3b player has been happy to do so too. In the end its QQ v JJ v 72o. 72o has somehow got there, treble up from calling 7bb out of a 20bb stack pre with 72o MBN! 2/3 hands later we get AK thanks to good pot control we have 42bb still, UTG shoves for 11bb and +1 flicks their last 0.8bb in, big stack flats and folds to us with AK. We reship for 42bb and big stack snaps with 4s. 4s hold against 6 overs without improving and we're out, win that flip and we're moster chip lead heading towards the money. Sigh.
Sky has been a mixed bag, 1 final table in daytime session think it was the 2.30 where we finished 4th for £25 inc heads, couple of heads elsewhere but really nothing going, again grind to later stages only to bust anyways. Went out for dinner and loaded our usual nightly grind although I removed the 7.35 as had other comps going and was already struggling with too many tables. Not made that mistake in a while.
6.30 we made small profit with heads, but a genuine mistep from me calling an all in i can and should fold on took us back down and we couldnt spin back up, eventually busting AK<A2 AIP. 7@7 had no ability to get going in, and the 7.30 was a slog that didn't come to anything, eventually shoving AQ into 2 random cards which got there.
The rebuy was interesting, thats the craziest ive seen the rebuy period and in truth we got out the rebuy period in very good shape, good chip stack and only in for a single bullet, as you know I wouldnt have re-entered anyways but sure 2/3 people on my table must have been in for 10+ bullets. one of them made final table so I think they broke even. The mid stage was abit meh, lost 2/3 pots at same time as im busting elsewhere and honestly mindset was ah sigh another night for this, but then, just then for a moment that one sided coin turned. We won 3 huge flips, at risk all 3 times, then A5 held we QJ to take us to heads up. Our opponent was good and took me a while to settle into the heads up, but once settled i more than held my own and eventually they 3b jammed AJ into our AQ abit of a cooler hu and we managed to hold for £254 plus change.
We also got a cash in the mini, we were chip leader with 32 left, but in truth I felt I hadnt got the max on a couple of hands around this time and that would come to haunt me as we bust in 21st for about £20. JJ v AK the hand that ended us, but frustratingly we'd set that opponent up for success losing AK v QT just after the bubble.
Overall a profitable day and balances as follows. Sky: £940 Stars: $90 Euro Site: €206
I'll start with the through the night session since I couldn't sleep again. I swear someone at stars is having a good laugh at my expense as we played 3 tournaments, bust all 3 in insane cooler fasion, at least its started to normalize that ev graph, set over set first, then QQ into AA BTN v SB (wish i could get there just once in this spot lol) then get a check in BB with Q9dd flop 3 diamonds for SB to randomly open shove the flop with A4dd... like wtf dude. Euro site was abit more luck, we entered what I am going to describe as the softest mtt ive ever entered, honestly theres lads losing bank that would make a profit in this mtt, anyways we bust early with AK v A5 but I'd seen enough to break my re-entry rule and re-enter. Knowing I had to finish third if I didn't get any heads to break even. We got 1 head and finished 3rd for tiny profit. Disappointed with that result as one of the lads hu sucked out on me at least 5 times before i eventually bust, and the other player well im going to be kind, wasnt going to cause problems.
Day time session was small we played 12.30 1.30 2.30 and 3.30. We won the 12.30 for £85 inc heads, taking almost first place in prizes with heads, I'll be honest I felt I was playing well, but you could have thrown me into the depths of vesuvius and I'd have cooled down. The deck was smashing us, and people playing back because obviously I can't have it everytime, but every time i had it. Everytime they do that my chip lead growns, got to hu with about a 8-1 chip lead, and its was another £5.50 reg hu with us, but eventually they flopped a pair jammed it into my eye and im sitting with a cool Tens for an overpair. We also finished 6th in the 3.30 think maybe £20 for that. Odd flip to bust us, I overbomb shove 8s after several limps including a player whod completely taken me off my game and a guy who has us covered by about 3bb snaps with OJo. We win that flip and I'm extremely confident we get to at least hu again. We also shot took a €11 euro mtt looks mega soft our bust out hand saw A8o cold calling a cold 4b jam.
Evening session was abit trickier. we some how got to 7th in the 6.30 with £10 in heads for another £30. Abit disappointed there, but we went card dead at the exact wrong moment, although we crawled into the money so I guess i cant overly complain to be 21/22 and get to 7th especially when my first double was flushing in a A4 v A4 all in pre situation. No other cashes to mention, infact I dont even think a single head, we didn't enter mini 10k structure I mentioned i dislike so thought I'd avoid.
Stars had 1 mtt, a pko micromillions, very disappointed not to cash here, we made a small profit on heads before running AQ into KK then KK into same villians flopped set of 3s. One massively interesting hand when a guy shoves for 5bb and gets 3 callers inc myself, QJx flop shorty ships me and big stack call and check down, board bricks out and shorty has unknown hand the other 3 of us chop it up all holding KT.
Eurosite had 2 mtts, both pkos, first one is the same one from Sunday night, we bust here AA v QQ all in pre, covered by 0.25bb and a Q spiked the river. Sigh. Was a 300bb pot too we were in great shape going into that hand. The second we broke the money with profit already in hand, but again went absolutely card dead, and bricked every flop with our middling hands for about an hour. Eventually i peel an open with QJhh 9Tx flop with 2 hearts, brick turn when we ship it all in and get called by our opponent with A2o for no pair no draw giving us a total of 24 outs, which we brick. Yuk. Get the double there and we're a cool 4th in chips headed towards the final table. Possibly another night session tonight, will see. But day time tomorrow will be limited as finally got a scan for my knee.
Todays a day which isn't all that exciting. So I'll try focus on some fun hands.
First up had my scan today at 3.40 so that was always going to make any grinding today a chore. Very awkward timing. So we played the 12.30. In truth happy with how I played there, just kind of the story of the day. We just didn't have much to work with, aggression was met with resistance, and in most cases we didn't get paid the few times we did actualy have it.
Over night was a small session, abit puke, we got to stage two of the power path and got to 51 left, with 50 seats. BB is sat out and usual everyone time bank folds, if small blind just called they win pot and hes out, we have 1.2bb left, which is actually not far off average but during this hand blinds went up now we have 0.8 and BB next hand. 2 guys on my table typical uber passive I want to see every flop types and one of them decided to limp my BB and won... bubble boy. Great. if one person limped hand before id have had a seat too. We also bubbled an MTT on the euro site, Lost 3 flips in a row to the same villian. 2 of which id have bust him on and the third he did bust me. sigh.
Onto tonight. We played usual sky schedule and mostly all early busts, all standard stuff. We did get a head in the rebuy bounty hunter first hand turning a house against trips. Then took over starting stack hand too. But then AK v AK v QQ all in pre, where our AK came third in the hand killed any momentum there, We hobbled over addon but i genuinely dont think I won a hand after the second hand. Certainly didnt win a hand where a flop was seen. This was really story elsewhere too, if we saw a turn we didn't win the hand. Just one of those days.
No stars to talk of but 2 mtts on euro site, the same major we came third in on Sunday and one with a similar structure although half starting stack. Couple of interesting hands to go over, First was losing just 50bb in a 4b pot JJ v AA v T8s - yeap 4b pot and T8s still hanging in there, we had pos and pot controled over no cbet, bet turn for half pot and when we got 2 callers against a UTG 4b I elected to check back river. Best hand won, but delighted to lose the min as was feeling it was very AK from UTG and did nearly value jam the river. We took a number of heads here, and eventually bust in 8th for another final table, really tough final table where everything went wrong, we grew an early chip lead but then got check bombed on and forced to fold a big double draw, then bricked the nut flush v the tables bomber. Eventually busting another flip. The other one we got to 6th. Again we were breifly chip leader, but similar story couple of big bricks then another lost flip to bust us. If i could flip I'd be dangerous. However these 2 results did save the day, Odd to get more in head prizes than we do in prize money but payout structures means that will almost always be the case here, none of our heads were major spots. Always majorly covering our opponents and taking plus ev spots.
Unlikely for a session tomorrow, I think a day off would do us good, and taking kids to cinema
Today was supposed to be a day off. But I felt like a small mid afternoon session, and so I did. I had a choice between the 12.30 and some cash and given time restrictions. In truth I miscalculated which bus I needed to get and gave myself less of a window so I thought the 12.30 might not finish in time, when in reality it comfortably would have.
So off to the euros site I went and I sat 4 tables of NL10 with my usual 4 different alias. Given I wont sit cash often I kind of want the regs to treat me like a random at least to begin with, this gives me a little more breathing room to spot the weaker players and get into pots with them, especially when 100bb deep isn't my strongest game. And the site allows us to have 5. There's one that historically has always made more money than others, I think people take an alias and just disrespect it, thats also the one I've been using for tournaments and the only one I wont change for that reason.
Anyways to the actual session and it didn't take long to spot the sucker. Hand 1 we're in bb with JJ and 3b to take down pre, had 2 (none of the other tables are going yet) it opens again and I would normally 3b KQo from the sb but aware players wont have seen this alias before, I've just sat down and 3b hand 1 I decided to flat for table image reasons. What a decision that was the opener was the sucker shall we say. Kxxr flop and opponent cbets. We call and blank diamond turn adding a FD, opponent bombs for like 7x pot, If I call here im calling any river, I go into timebank and elect to call, they shove river we call they had J8dd for NP and the missed turn flush draw. We then lost a 300bb pot on that table with AKo v AA, oppo 4b and we flat with position, flop comes down all clubs giving us the NFD. Oppo pot cbets, and at this point i should just Jam anyways, but I think pot to stack ratio is too small, we'll get it in on turn anyways and I'd just flat AKcc here. Thats where i level myself, I dont think we have many sets on this board as played but we would be shoving them so we can shove the NFD with 2 overs. Obviously our overs weren't good but at least 1 will be alot of the time. We stacked the bomb pot man a few more times however to make up for that, including the time he actually had it (AA) as we made quad 3's. Nice to get there against aces one time lol. In the end we ended up with 1 stack at 460bb, 1 stack at 260bb, 1 stack at 160bb and the other just never got moving, but lost the min on that table too. +36 roughly for the session. Given I only played 60-90 mins its a very good ROI.
Cinema was amazing, and the kids loved it, followed by McDonalds for a full days treat.
Once home I knew I couldn't play my usual night session, so instead I decided I've got to shot take the main and mini combo. Main started well, got a nice early head upto 12k chips, head was interesting spot BvB calling open with K3cc, 873 one club flop call oppos cbet turn K river K and he stacked his TT. Little unlucky for him but flush also got there, I'll take the W tho. That orbit was insane as we got 4 pocket pairs, JJ 66 88 55 and won with all 4 without showdown, it wasn't finished there as that BB we got KK. UTG opens 3b and he 4b. His 4b sizing was massively off, and I so nearly folded, but im not good enough to fold Kings even when my gut screams he has aces and his bet says he has aces. I jam he has Aces. We never really recovered from that, got back to 8k before calling for a head in a spot where again I smelt the villian was weak, just not as weak as our effective second pair (77 on 952ddx) he had a weak 9. We then trebled 77 v A6 v A6 - cant imagine ever being in better shape with 7s AIP 3 way. Before we bust 4b shoving over another odd sized 3b this time screamed please fold and getting snapped by 7s which held against our AQs.
We got 2 heads in the mini in truth never got going in the mini despite 2 heads sounding amazing. First head we open JJ got 3b from a player whod been very active, we 4b jam for 1k effective and they call KQo and we hold. The second head we're back down to just over starting which is now 10bbs, and open T9s mostly hoping to just pay for our blinds, I didn't realize the BTN was short tho and they jam, I hate it because they have 1700 and we have 2200 but when i work out the pot, the head equity and the fact we're short and cover them equity we have to call. Amazingly T high was good, but to make sure we flopped a flush. Whitted back down to 2.5k at 150/300 and shoved ATo and snapped by 72o, we didn't hold. We'll be back.
I was actually going to use today to talk about a few things, but I may do that tomorrow or saturday instead.
Updating yesterday today. It was a day of oh so nearly in many regards. Friday as always was a low volume day, but still plenty to talk about.
Played 11.30, 12,30, 1.30 and 2.30. Got 2nd in thr 11.30 with 2 heads, for £25. The opponent HU is someone whos been on the site as long as I can remember, and known to have a very unorthodox style was good to be challenging ourselves against him and a different type of hu match compared to what time used to. 12.30 was an early bad beat yawn bust. The 1.30 was another final table we got 4th with a further 2 heads for £22 total. Very disappointed with this result, I'd put myself in a spot to do better before things just didn't go our way, and thats fine. Eventual bust out was a very frustrating beat. But thats poker. We got 3 heads the in 2.30 before a bad beat and then a lost flip seen us go from a good stack to bust. such is life. Money back there though.
I have been looking to add more of next buy in up to my schedule, and I used yesterday to scout out one of the €10 majors on the euro site. It starts at same time as the other one I've done well in at €5 and almost indential structure just different stacking stacks. I used yesterday to give it a scout. And well I'm not proud of the start as I accidently misclicked called 40BB with AQhh on Q3395 with 4 diamonds on the river. Left us with 8 bigs. Got those 8 bigs in and reentered. As stated I don't usually reenter but I was scouting out the tournament and it felt soft enough so I wanted to give it a proper feel. This overall was a tournament I am proud of. Very very grindy tournament more than winning big hands. We did win 2 big hands through the tournament, but other than that it was consistent ability to win small pots that kept us afloat. Was able to position myself in maintaining 15-30bb throughout mostly just opening cbetting type stuff. We did get one head, and was in for 3 more altho 2 of these would haunt us. We got 9th before busting with a flip. Annoying final table where we came in 4th in a lane of our own, double any one below us, but half of anyone above us. Issue is we doubled 1 villian, and others doubled too, with blinds going up I took a spot, which if i can see cards with money in middle I'd still take so no complaints. This is definately one to add to the schedule however.
Overall I'm still trying to ground myself when I think of where the roll was just a few weeks ago to where it is now. I feel I'm playing well and I'm also learning through doing and making mistakes which for me is far better than having access and trying to memorize charts. I kind of want to talk about this more and I hinted at that in the last update, but I've already waffled enough today but I will find a spot to do so.
Closing Balances: Sky: £991 Euro Site: €285 Stars: untouched since last update at $79
Having struggled to sleep again (stupid health issues) Im giving an ususal time for an update.
In truth I was going to update after busting the mini, but I was frustrated at myeself and felt thats not the best time to post. We played a reasonable amount of Pokers yesterday, 3 tournaments (all majors) on the euro site, 2x €10 PKO's including a 6 max, and the usual €5 one, quick run down on those was didn't run great in important spots, Tried to grind with little to work with in all 3, and essentially lost with high equity spots in all 3 (combo draws).
Sky was a mixed bag, I say mixed, it started well with a nice 4th place in the 11.30, we bust when we 3b jammed 16bigs and got called by 97o and didn't hold and tbh that set the tone for the day. Lose a flip here, cooler there, sick beat there type day. Wont bore too much with hands, we took 1 head in the 11.30 to go with our 4th place for £10. Bricked a few heads in others, inc one of the bad beat exits would have been a full double + a head on any other river.
We also main shot, although that was more about keeping tables open. We were busting everything in record time during the evening session. Few spots we really dont have to take too. And in truth each exit, be it from good play or the missteps I was allowing to creep in was taking its tole on my confidence. I was still playing well, but obviously playing frustrated. I could find big lay downs in big spots, but I was also finding those big bluff shoves in spots where I don't need to do them. The main didn't go well, in truth we never got going, we did recover a little but it was too late and was always going to need to run good from the spot we found ourselves in. The mini on the other hand went great. We took several heads and found ourselves on the final table and quickly in the final 4 and soon after 3. I've taken time on this to reflect and I'm very much aware I was playing knowing the mini was the tournament saving my day, had I not cashed in the mini it would have been my biggest losing day in my poker life. I'm rolled for that, but that was looming on my back. Part of that was shot taking 2x €10 comps and shot taking the main with no results, so this is something that I remind myself of. But in the moment I did not play that final table well at all. We lost with our big hands (QQ and TT) but we lost the min with both hands, so theres positives to be taken from that, but I know I can play better than I did in that final 3 and thats where I'll be self critical and learn from it. Its a good result which had some scope to be better, even if the deck was cool for us at that stage.
Im saying this because its actually a good transition to what I keep saying I want to say, so I'm going to give balances mid post.
Sky: £1016 Eurosite: €265
So a small loss over the course for today. However I've been reflecting alot recently. Poker and specifically playing mtts has given me stability and routine this past month. As much as I'll moan with the beats and the coolers as @DOHHHHHHH will tell you, its not like i used to be, but its also been so good for my mental health and my coping with IRL issues.
I also have alot of belief in myself, historically as i previously said I'd win a little here and there and grind NL4 for hours, for little gain and have no real love back for the game. With the mtts, I still get that buzz going onto a final table, even if only the top 3 pay. Yes I've made that final table. The routine saying right I'm starting my evening session at 6.30 or 5.05 or whatever. Knowing we have x amount of options to enter.
Im also looking at this objectively, a month ago I was headed to Germany, I had £237 in a poker account. I now have 4 figures in 1, 3 figures in another and slightly under 3 figures in the highest varience one. I can't state how proud I am. And how humbled I've been by the welcome I've had back on the forum.
I honestly could write a book on this reflection, but its me trying to say, that ragey little man that started this diary 11 years ago, wouldn't believe this last month.
Another interesting day on the felt. As you were aware I didn't get much sleep last night so once kids were away I had a nap, alarms set for 4.30 with plans to have a night grind starting just after 5. We woke up at 6.45 DO'H.
At that point I don't feel Sunday schedule massively caters to what I enjoy playing beyond 7 i opted to just play some games, but by 9 I was bored, entered a 6 max major on the euro site, late regged the 9@9 for my second attempt at that, the 2 9.30 tournaments (rebuy and £11) and the 10.15. I did also consider shotting the midex but I said to mytself see how the session goes and decide nearer time.
The £11 tournament is probably one of the most interesting starts to a tournament I've ever had. Within the first 2 orbits we had 2 heads. we'd only played 2 hands, both from the BB and both totaling about 200 chips. Huge RNG of people having huge hands when we've folded UTG the bigger stack by a few chips losing and us being allowed to call the all in next hand with any two. Winning both. Crazy set of circumstances, unfortunetly we couldn't build on that luck and that was the case mostly across the board. The £3 rebuy we double stacked to start and had a very difficult rebuy period but having a double stack meant we never went below initial starting, and then the add-on. We took 2 heads after the add-on before folding for what seemed an eternity. A good player opened from the c/o we 3b with intentions to stack and were unfortunetly outpipped AQ by AK. We can avoid going broke here but against a good opponent who will be playing more optimal I think we played it okay. Unfortunetly that was out only run on sky. So losing day there. Eurosite seen a small cash with a head to break even after taking an early re-entry. Again cards just didn't fall for us.
At that point I thought ah I'll just go play some games but quickly bored once more I remembered I got a free €2 token on the eurosite that can only be used on €2 mtts, why i cant stack it into a €5 mtt i dont know but okay, the only €2 mtt that stood out to me as worth playing had been the 11.30pm one, nice guarentee, should be soft and a day like today when I'm not going to be tired is a good chance to play it. I should have shot taken the midex too but i forgot until about 20 past midnight and I'm not going in at level 4. The €2 tournament sees my first win of a tournament on the eurosite tho. We've obviously had a very high number of final tables over there but I haven't converted beyond the 3rd place last week. Probably the most patient I've been in later stages of an mtt with antes as I just waited for spots, and that strategy was rewarded by the deck, we didnt have many monsters per say but alot of good hands which allowed us to build. Once we got chip lead for once we didn't look back again just waiting for spots rather than piling ICM pressure on people in a tournament with €15 up top. 4 handed 1 lad bust 3rd and 4th in what I can only describe as creative calls but that in turn gave him the chip lead and a 2-1 chip lead heads up, was the first time I hadn't been chip leader since 6th left. While I think he was probably the weakest of the 4 opponents I could have got heads up, he was also the most unorthodox which does tend to trip me up. AA v JJ can be a cooler at any time, at heads up tho its pretty sick glad I was on the right end of that one. Cards cooled heads up and our opponents unorthodox line meant we had to get out of line in a couple of spots to just avoid getting crushed. He then started a jamming strategy, 46bb deep effective I dont love this, its a reasonable counter to our edge, but was consistent enough to be a good hand, but not a monster. Eventually I called one with A9, he had AK but well we got lucky. 9 on the turn. €15 for the win and €19 for heads. Flat payout structures in bounty hunters do seem to create alot of wierd scenarios where I feel this will be common on that site, even though head prize is 50% instead of the 75% we get here. Think I only took 5 heads and got more than first place.
Absolutely. This isnt factoring thae $80 or so on stars aswell. Honestly anytime i load the client and see the balance i pinch myself to make sure it's not some mad dream and I fell into a coma somewhere during the euros
Forever the birdesmaid, thats the story of today, before I get into it I will sound disappointed here, and I think thats fair. But I also have huge amounts of positives to take away from today, which I'll try and focus on.
First up I planned to have a big session today, but also keep tables to a level when I'm not missing stuff, so I limited myself to 4 and a 5th only for a main shot. Started at 1.30 but still had stuff to do around the house so was on phone for that and as a result missed the 2.30. We got 2nd in the 1.30, very disappointing second because I recovered from a 10-1 dog to get the chip lead. Played my absolute heart out and let it slip away. Still good money and a positive start to the day.
No more scores, few coolers and bad beats before heading into the night session. Starting on eurosite with the 2 5.05 majors. I honestly cant believe how soft the €10 one is, I took 2 entries at that, and didn't make it past late reg, however I kept putting myself in very high EV spots and we cant win them all. We got a min cash with 2 heads in the €5 one, KK v ATs for the second time today crushing my dreams, hold there and we have a final table stack. Alas wasn't to be. That said 4 from money we did get in 99 v AA AIP and would have been left with 2bb if not for the 99x flop. Its important to highlight the run good aswell as the beats. Sky was going well though, so well I didn't enter the 7.30 to keep tables to that rule.
6.30 we got 2 heads and bust 10 before the money for a minimal loss, very frustrating tournament, amazing start we just couldn't convert on, the 7@7 and mini was a similar story great start brick some heads before a yucky exit in both.
The rebuy bounty hunter however, once again in for the minimum of 1 entry and the addon, and just grinded away. This kind of performance is what I know I'm capable of, yes you have to run well in the latter stages of this mtt, but I took good spots, had my luck when I needed it. Eventually we found outselves heads up v an opponent who was very good, no qualms there, the deck let us down hu, but even with a kind deck I think I might have been a dog against that opponent anyways. Much respect where its due.
Then the main shot, you know that Little Brittan meme that went around during the euros about england getting through rounds, and they'd fallen up the tree. Well thats kind of how the main was. It was rare I had big playable hands, but when I did I almost always got a full double. Early doors we took a head but then struggled and I thought id post main shot took a head, bust story again. Anyways eventually we ground to the cash poor haysie doubled us up 3 times only for us to bust him in 9th. Tough opponent to play against aswell. My best ever main result is 5th, that was back on the sky poker tv days, a long time ago. Today we matched it. Im disappointed it wasn't better, I honestly feel thats some of the best poker I've ever played, we lost a huge flip AQ v TT all in pre to a run out of QJxKA, worst way to lose a flip imo, then we ran JJ into KK BvB no complaints there best hand held. I don't play that final table any different at all if I get a mulligan. We maximised our potential score today.
So I come away disappointed, on what I believe is my single most profitable day in my poker career. Its a very wierd feeling to have.
Comments
Since Sunday we've won the major sat, or well qualified through it, had 1 min cash, and minimal heads. How we run in all in spots, is honestly been such a brutal run.
I reflected on yesterday and struggling to sleep I loaded some NL4 on the site where I'd roll split. We finished +4 buy ins, but in truth this was a session where I was extremely focused on sizing, hand selection, adjusting between regs and recs etc. I'd felt yesterday I'd tried too much to force things, and by doing this I could go back to basics reset and find leaks and fix them. I've always learnt more by doing rather than reading charts or whatever. Was a few interesting hands, and a couple of villians where we knew we'd have to trust our read and make some uneasy call downs but we did that.
Feeling abit rejuvinated we started with the 10.30 this morning whre we finished 9th with 0 heads, onto the 11.30 where we finished 9th 0 heads, then the 1.30 where we finished 9th with 0 heads. The latter was majorly frustrating, we were in good shape 5/9 with a good stack and tangled with a shorty with half our stack, A8<KQo then 2 hands later AQ<KQo both AIP against same villian to take us from good, and potentially great shape to bust.
2pm was better we got 3 heads in that but then probably the most frustrating orbit ive ever had, and the difference between being a huge chip leader with 4-5 heads and being out. First was QQ in sb and a late registrant in BB. We open they call T high draw heavy board we cbet sized up they min click we jam, the snap with KT and river a K. Very next hand we have AKcc open on btn and SB calls, cbet a Q93 flop with 2 diamonds. 9 turn and blank river they lead river and since we unblock all the draws i feel we have to call they have 93o. Then Open A9s UTG BB calls, 953r flop, we cbet they call, turn is 9d which does add a diamond draw, we check back, opponent has shown aggression we have double pot its still very easy to get money in. river is 7d. They shove, as we planned only they have 23dd. ARGH!
2.30 was an improvement we got 8th with 1 head. Still 0 cashes since a min cash on sunday tho. Really frustrating this one, We ended up on shorties table and had to make some calls, kids needed attention and I missed several spots dealing with them... typcially why I 1 table on phone when they around. Ended up losing a flip leaving me with hardly any chips, spot dead we end up folding to 475 chips, not even 2.5bb, but a quad up followed by a double, followed by really strong grinding we got upto 10k again. Only to run AJ into QQ bvb for 18bb effective. There'd be no recovery this time.
3.30 was puke. UTG min opens at 15/30. +1 shoves for 30bb and we have AKcc. We've had a really good start and upto 3.3k UTG is only person with a similar stack and they call our reshove with QQ. 30bb shove is A7o so one of our outs is gone, but such a needless flip at this stage that we dont need to take, especially when like i said yest we've been flipping like a 1 sided coin. We're left with 375 chips, and cant spin back up.
4.30 Really highlights the puke im facing in all in spots. We're bb and fold hand 1, no dramas, hand 2, 2 limps and we're in SB with 9s. 6x takes 2 callers. We just under pot cb on a 456 two club flop, and then shove on a 4d turn for 1.5x pot. We get snapped by Q7 with no club draw, river is a 3. Monster pot, and I take this line because I know this villian will call insanely wide. But still please let me hold one time.
I really feel i need this run to end, I'm still enjoying it, but its hard losing so often when cards go on their back. I feel like I'm still playing close to A game, and putting myself in profitable spots, and I guess this post is me venting a little in a space around people who probably won't care a jot, but who also understand the plight.
Current balance £732
Wow... and a huge credit to @DOHHHHHHH who reminded me that if I'm still playing well to keep playing. What an evening session its been. We've got some profits and heartbreak to discuss.
The evening schedule consisted of the 5.30, Main semi, 6.30, Rebuy BH, 7.30, 7.35 and the mini.
I won't go into too much detail with the 5.30, essentially we open flop top pair get lead into call two streets and he bombs Ace river. At this point I'm on my phone running the little ones bath and I go to fold, my fat thumb clicks call, DOHHHHHHHHHHHHH and not that DOHHHHHHH either. He has AQ so that river could have easily saved us 1300 chips, more than enough to recover and get back into it, but at least this time it was my stupid fault and not that of the deck. There was no recovery from my remaining 135 chips.
The main semi was next And we started well, the middle was good, and then we just went card dead, in a sat I dont usually mind this, but then we took a spot and ran into Jacks. We needed probably 1.5 doubles so content with it, close but no bone in this instance.
I cant really remember much of the 6.30. Apart from towards the end, we got 3 heads so a tiny (14p) profit on the entry, but towards the end and I honestly cant remember the hand, I think it was AK v AT AIP for like 15bb and we didn't hold but regardless we were left with 1/4 of a BB. From there it was crazy, we quadruple up so now we have a little over a BB, we quadruple up again, then double then grind our backsides off, and we even got to a high point of 30bb just before blinds went up. Obviously alot of luck in that recovery aswell as picking some good spots, and not rushing in, but alas it wasnt to be there, I cant remember exit on this, but standard.
7@7 and the first heart break of the update, We ran golden in this ill be honest, Every time we had a hand people just put money in. I didn't do anything fancy at all, but someone was smiling on me, people open shoving 30bb into us and we're sitting with a monster. From very early on we were 2.5 to 1 chip leader over second. We maintained that for ages until we got put on the table with 2nd and 3rd in chips with 3 tables left. No idea what was going on as they decided to tangle just before the bubble and flip with another opponent in the pot, meaning the winner took my chip lead, 2nd place in chips finished 2/3 outside the money as a result. Painful flip that. The winner of that flip would be our eventual opponent hu. We went into that hu with a staggering 9 heads each, mine worth marginally more. My strategy was working well, but then the 55 min past break hit. He'd obviously got on the phone to his big brother because when we came back he went full aggro. And properly crushed me for a good 5 mins. Eventually he jams and we have 6s I dont love it espeically when I feel we have an edge but I need momentum, i need to counter this ruthless aggression. He has 9s oops, i lost a hu not that long ago KK v 99 so i hoped for some return on that, but todays not the day. £94 for second is still a nice score, just not the £170 for first.
Ill skip the 7.30 and quickly cover the 7.35 and mini for now. The 7.35 went well. Think we took 5 heads for £24, and we had a decent stack too, I'll be honest tho, oop to natnug 3 handed with icm implications, dude no idea if u read this, but mad respect, again ruthless aggression. We found 4b jams in a couple of spots and took down, but was cautious to not do this too often. But eventually was clear the other table we're going to let me breathe, the third player on our table wasnt going to either. I needed to find more 4b jam spots and let him make decisions. 4s was our go to and I hoped natnug wouldnt want to flip for half their stack. I can have worse Ax than his AQ tho, we didnt win the flip. Brutal icm beat that but 3 handed I had to put myself in awkward spots and I'm content with it against someone far more experienced at that than me.
MIni started well. We got a head. Playing well, abit wavy. Before one of the most interesting spots I've seen. Folds to button who opens, we 3b AKs from SB. BB cold 4b jams for 60bb. Dont love it but AK blocks AA KK we have a fair amount of the call invested. So make the call. He has ATo. T high flop. urgh. I cant remember the exit, but probably standard.
The 7.30 is the main talking point of today. Started slow and wavy, struggling for momentum then @Duesenberg 3b us from the BB to our button open. Historically hes never got out of line with me and I instantly rule out 4b, even debate folding but thats too nitty, so we call play through streets in position. 9 high flop, he continues, he sticks me in on a blank turn. I know he hates kings so we can rule that out, can he have jacks tens, ak still? sigh i call after what probably looks like a slowroll, seems this was the first time ive caught him getting out of line... well other than get back to streaming dude, miss the streams. We fade the river outs and have a stack. We go on to take 3 heads on route to money. We're short going over bubble and this is probably one of the greatest grinds ive done. We go from 10k to about 45k and the only showdown we have was when we called an all in pre from a shorter stack and held with the best hand for head number 4. Again we just grind and ladder, quietly sitting in the background waiting to pounce. BTN opens, SB jams, we're third in chips with 6s, i debate it then get out of the way, SB wins leaving BTN short. We'd have got there but still good fold. We eventually win a AQ v AT v the BTN of that hand to go to hu a slight dog but with 5 head locked. Grindy heads up eventually our opponent has enough and starts open shoving. 1 hand... 2 hands... 3 hands... I call... I'll leave that hand below. Thats one very painful second place finish. £53 for 2nd there, but that was our tournament.
Closing Balance: £859
9.30, 9.45, 10.30, 10.45, 12.30, 1.30, 2.30, 3.30 and 4.30 played.
We totalled 3 heads all day, and 0 cashes. The 4.30 was the best, we took 2 heads, and was even chip leader and hour in, the fact that I'm writing this at 5.39 shows how big the blow up was.
Weird spot in truth where 5 of the top 15 stacks all at one table. Being chip leader We still have access to heads too. But with the stack depths it was always going to take an effort to get them. Then came the blow up. One guy is bombing everything, twice we make tp and dont find folds as in first instance he turns the flush and in the 2nd rivers a gutter ball in the corner pocket.,
Sigh.
Everything else was standard, I've not played great in truth ontop of struggling to hold or win the flip when cards go on their back. And i can accept that.
Closing Balance £819
I'll start with the reflecting. Yesterdays update was far lower standard than normal, and I thought about that afterwords. Why? I also realized I was being snappy with the kids. As you know I've had some IRL stress this week, obviously stress playing on my mental health, this isn't new and I've been aware that last 2-3 weeks my anxiety has been a little worse than usual. Yesterday was a big example of this. When I'm struggling the kids tend to pick up on it and struggle themselves. The issue is when I struggle I often go into what they call sensory overload. Even basic noises such as my pc fan can sound like I'm sat next to a jet plane to explain this. For those who have experience of this situation they'll understand, for those that haven't I wish I could describe it to you but I don't have the words to explain. But with all senses hieghtened to a point that even my pc fan my brain is registering as a threat, add in 2 screaming kids, theres not a whole lot of thought process. I have to be recongnising when I'm in this situation, not just for me but for the kids too... but also I cannot be putting myself in spots where I'm playing cards like that. Being unable to think beyond a primal level is not the place for playing a strategy based game like poker. The 4.30 mtt really highlights that, I said yest about reads on villian, the issue is I can fold these if i break both those hands down. Yes I lose some chips, but I go far from doubling the villian and going broke. When I'm thinking like this the problem is I can have reads, but seeing beyond how I would play xyz combos is impossible. Thus I give the villian ranges far different to what the villian actually has. This is something I will be working on.
Further to this, once kids were settled in bed I was in one major come down, as a result I couldn't sleep. This isn't abnormal for me after days like that, and in truth it gives me alot of time to reflect when my minds almost in a medatative state, which is how I get out of those spots. I'd played some cash between finishing my mtt session and my friday night gaming, and between tournaments during the day, we finished +6 for the day with a +7 -1 and break even set of small sessions. It also means I've recovered most of the loses I had on that site since I transfered some funds over, and now only -3. All the losses were from struggling to adjust to mtts there, abit of bad luck but mainly remembering ante and full ring ranges.
Furthering on from that being unable to sleep I'd been considering splitting roll again, and having some on Stars (I assume we can mention Stars since its a sister site). This is a thought I'd considered a while back, I want as many options as I can for days where I can commit to a full days enjoying poker, but I gave myself a sort of target of £1000. That seemed not miles away on Sunday before this weeks trials. With Thursdays results, we'd closed that gap, but a poor performance from me yest, put a dent in those hopes. I decided get any monetary goals out of my head and focus on having fun again. I'll never have to much over there, simply put bigger fields more varience. So I withdraw £100, and sent it straight on over, they gave me around $125 for me to play with.
Since I couldn't sleep I fired up 3 mtts, a $1 turbo PKO, a $4.40 standard PKO and a $4.40 freezeout. This also gave me time to make sure my tracker is working. First hand the $4.40 PKO we get kings, and almost a full treble up with a head from a guy 2-3 bigs below us getting it in 3 way against 2x TJ on T44. I dont think I've ever been in such good shape on the flop in a pot worth so many bigs. We had slightly late regged this. But from there this tournament was a bit tricky, not because of oppos, I'm certain based on what I saw I would long term be a winner there, but just cards weren't as kind as hand 1. We eventually bust with KK ironically cold 4 bet shoving over a UTG open and lojack 3b for 50bb (i didnt like any other 3b sizing and I don't like taking Kings m/w OOP since we were small blind) to get snapped by ATo. Board runs out 9 high, but sadly 2345 is part of that.
The freezeout. started bizzare, utg min opens, HJ min 3bs, we have AJo on btn. Usually I'd fold AJo to a 3b over a utg open but we're 160bb deep, have position and its a 3b to 3bb. UTG calls, AAx flop, X turn, A river. I bet small on flop to look stealy, checked back turn to induce and 3 way to that river, UTG Pots, HJ flats. Ill be honest I have no idea how to size this but one of those where i think bigger is better, people dont fold full houses, I feel all in is too much so go for 4x the pot bet and get two folds, no idea what they doing but decent pot to start the tournament. Was abit grindy after AA cracked by 88 and JJ into QQ losing the minimum both times, eventually we have 34ss bvb flop comes A2x with 2 spaces, villian goes large but i dont think we can fold here, he shoves on a 3 turn. We sigh call, we still have about 38% against his ATo with no spades, but brick as he rivers a safe T. We're close in stacks so no recovery.
The $1 turbo was Probably the most interesting of the lot. Not from any strategy point of view but how it worked. We slightly late regged and didn't find any early spots, 10bb comes quick in turbos but what was interesting this structure was fast levels, but the blind jumps were smaller than im used to e.g. 100/200 goes to 125/250, 150/300 etc. So its not crushing to be on 10bb and the blinds go up. Alot of practice of 8-13bb in this tournament, but we where shoving just about enough to consistently be in that window without getting calls. This is a double edged sword. I got to final table having had 2 showdowns, I was covered both times AA v 88 v KT, and JJ v AQ, Trust me that wasn't my shoving range, just the times I got called. It meant we got to final table the only player in the top 20 without taking a head, everyone else had 5+, and barely making any profit as a result. In ICM craziness, 1st and 2nd (who had 3rd covered by 2.5) clashed and 2nd snapped off the over shove from chip leader with nothing but a gutshot, which didnt get there. Good ladder. Few shoves, a guy limps our BB we win an extra 3bb over getting a walk there as a result when we check jam the flop (standard let him stab before shoving type play, think I had 150 hands with him at this point according to my hud and he'd done that alot in limped pots), and we were 3/8. But still less than a quarter of the chips of chip leader. What I'm going to describe now will make you vomit. UTG has 3bb. Folds, Guy behind us has 6bb, 1 person is sat out with 2bb, and obviously theres alot of other shorter stacks on top. As much as I have 18bb i should never be tangling with chip leader here, but our stack is still almost nothing to him. Anyways UTG folds, we're in plus 1 and look at KK. I min raise, let some of these shorter stacks jam, 6bb stack shoves, taking his head alone is worth about the same as the ladder. chip leader flats. folds back to us. ICM or no ICM chip leader has $7 in heads, now a head was worth 25 cents if you havent bust anyone so we can assume hes ran insane, is a major headhunter, or likely a combination of the 2. With 18bbs We just have to put the money in. Chip leader has AA. 6bb stack has JJ, J on flop, so not only do we bust, but the guy we covered gets a treble up meaning we finish 8th instead of 7th by proxy of being the bigger stack. I will be honest, thats the most painful bust since I had QQ heads up 2 days ago.
I took today off, took the kids out, my youngest had a school trip to a farm at the end of term, but was disappointed it was a crop farm. So I hunted out a localish one (a good 90 mins drive away) that was open to public and had animals. Great day out and the kids loved it. Fully recommend if any of yous are in the area with kids.
Closing Balance: 719
Also going to start discussing some of the stuff I'm doing elsewhere and updating all rolls. Its been a rather interesting day of poker to say the least. Kid free and quiet I feel like I've played some of my best poker ever.
Starting with the Euros site im on, we entered one on their majors, a standard 50/50 PKO format with 5.50 entry. It started well, UTG opens +1 3bets BIG, we have AA in MP, i cold 4 small, 2 callers before its back on +1 who shoves, we reshove, 2 more calls. AA v KK (+1), KQo (UTG) and urmmm 64o. almost a quadruple up very early and 2 heads. Couple more heads later and we're sitting chip lead comfortable and just picking spots. Interestingly twice during this mtt i opened Ax into a sub 6bb BB, both times they peeled 76o and flop 458. Seems a viable strategy. Anyways it cooled off and I was keeping up with the chip leaders through sheer aggression. We eventually got to final table middle of the pack and 3 heads. Final table again via sheer aggression and finding cards at just the right times, we took every head on FT bar 3. The 2 that outlasted us and 1 other. We eventually finished 3rd, really wierd exit hand I'll try explain. BTN has 15bb, Im 2nd in chips with 50bb and chip leader has 52bb. BTN fold, SB limps, we 3x A8o, they peel. They c/r my small cbet on K99r. I call in pos, We can have all the strong 9s, and KK. They can have some 9s aswell of course. but with pos i think we can work this. They check turn, i debate betting here but check back as if they have air thats what id do with my houses and trips, and probably even AK. The pot river. Against this line it smells fishy, their bet is 21bb, we have 45bb and theres the icm implications. We should Never ever be bluffing here, but i know I have range advantage. So I ship with nothing but A high. They get into time bank and eventually call with T9o. In truth I didn't expect them to be that strong, but im still happy with the play, if their tanking trips then we're getting everything else bar houses to fold. we get that through we're taking about a 3-1 chip lead 3 handed. 156 euros for third inc heads.
Onto stars, played 4 mtts there and only one run. We got a head in a pko but some varience meant we couldn't build on that. The bigger $4.40 however we came 32nd, one place off a ladder. Again we got there really thanks to aggression in the correct spots. Really frustrating exit, we open UTG, +1 3bets and folds back to us. We shove for 30bb more, hes getting 2-1 on a call, and its a pay jump, I'm never ever light here and he calls and gets there was A2s against our AK. I love his 3b, but I dont think hes ever in good shape when i jam... e.g. i never have KQ there. and its 45bb I dont have to shove that spot. Just let the 5bb u have invested go dude, no need to put another 40bb in. The cash there plus the head leaves us basically break even for the day here.
Sky has been a frustrating day, 1 6th place (but no final table) in the 3.30. Everything else we bust early or folded to get a spot and lost anyways. Again another one of those days where when the cards go on their back I come out the loser most of the time. The rebuy bh was the only noteable before the 3.30, we got a stack early in that cold 4b jamming KK called by TT who had us covered, he pinged a T but we rivered a K. Alas that was to no avail as we run KK into AA against the only stack that hurts us. We bust our last 300 chips or so shortly after. Chose to stick to my 1 bullet plus addon approach in the rebuy so left after that.
The 3.30 was a grind, from memory an early head but by time we got going properly we had starting stack with 20 left. Few pots and some doubles, take a couple of heads and we're chip leader itm with we head and 8 left. At this point I'm very very confident of going onto FT and going to final 3 minimum. We then get moved table and sandwhiched between 2nd and 3rd in chips, horrid for icm but okay. The other stack on this table was the tournament shortstack who is button for our BB, so genuinely that table move couldn't put me in a worse seat. First hand 2nd in chips limp and we 3x AJo, J8x flop with two spades and I size up pot cbet. they call turn 9s and they lead jam, Ive no reason to go broke here so fold and I'll find a better spot but now 3rd in chips. an orbit and zero hands played later BTN shoves as he did previous orbit, SB calls, we have QQ in the BB and reshove. More than happy to iso here and take BTN on with dead money for a head. SB has KK. so we hold v buttons T8o (bad timing my man) but dont improve and come 6th without seeing a final table. £19 inc heads for this effort.
We also lost a further tenner on kane to hit the target, the only knockout game I havent had this bet on is the semi against the Dutch as I forgot about it. Seriously Harry.
Closing Balances
Sky £688
Stars $121
Euros Site €209
Overall a very profitable day I'm happy with. Going to get some food and either watch Cobra Kai or start a night grind.
Overnight i played 3/4 tournaments on stars, got nowhere but did win a level one power path this morning. Infact stars is my current nemisis, yesterdays result on the Euros site really got me going there, and another near miss there today we'll go into that later.
According to my hud we've played 16 mtts on stars, and currently running at around 250bb below EV. Thats fine of course, small sample in huge fields. I wont bore you with the bad beats but basically no runs, and few spots for huge chips (plus heads in the pkos) and we aren't holding. Thats fine, I'll keep putting myself in those positions and soon enough results will come. In truth I'm mostly interested in stars because of the power path anyways.
Euros site saw 3 mtts today. @DOHHHHHHH recommended a 10bb starting stack hyper structure, we didn't get going in that but ill defo try the low buy in versions even if I'm treating those as practice for short stack games. We also done 2x €5 PKO's. First one was meh, never got going can't even remember the exit. The other, is painful. Think we had 4 heads to make profit for the tournament, all fairly standard stuff, then another really odd hand, we open JJ get one caller before only stack that covers us 3bets, I call and so does the other guy, run out I cant remember but essentialy we had overpair till the K on the river. We've pot controlled and the 3b player has been happy to do so too. In the end its QQ v JJ v 72o. 72o has somehow got there, treble up from calling 7bb out of a 20bb stack pre with 72o MBN! 2/3 hands later we get AK thanks to good pot control we have 42bb still, UTG shoves for 11bb and +1 flicks their last 0.8bb in, big stack flats and folds to us with AK. We reship for 42bb and big stack snaps with 4s. 4s hold against 6 overs without improving and we're out, win that flip and we're moster chip lead heading towards the money. Sigh.
Sky has been a mixed bag, 1 final table in daytime session think it was the 2.30 where we finished 4th for £25 inc heads, couple of heads elsewhere but really nothing going, again grind to later stages only to bust anyways. Went out for dinner and loaded our usual nightly grind although I removed the 7.35 as had other comps going and was already struggling with too many tables. Not made that mistake in a while.
6.30 we made small profit with heads, but a genuine mistep from me calling an all in i can and should fold on took us back down and we couldnt spin back up, eventually busting AK<A2 AIP. 7@7 had no ability to get going in, and the 7.30 was a slog that didn't come to anything, eventually shoving AQ into 2 random cards which got there.
The rebuy was interesting, thats the craziest ive seen the rebuy period and in truth we got out the rebuy period in very good shape, good chip stack and only in for a single bullet, as you know I wouldnt have re-entered anyways but sure 2/3 people on my table must have been in for 10+ bullets. one of them made final table so I think they broke even. The mid stage was abit meh, lost 2/3 pots at same time as im busting elsewhere and honestly mindset was ah sigh another night for this, but then, just then for a moment that one sided coin turned. We won 3 huge flips, at risk all 3 times, then A5 held we QJ to take us to heads up. Our opponent was good and took me a while to settle into the heads up, but once settled i more than held my own and eventually they 3b jammed AJ into our AQ abit of a cooler hu and we managed to hold for £254 plus change.
We also got a cash in the mini, we were chip leader with 32 left, but in truth I felt I hadnt got the max on a couple of hands around this time and that would come to haunt me as we bust in 21st for about £20. JJ v AK the hand that ended us, but frustratingly we'd set that opponent up for success losing AK v QT just after the bubble.
Overall a profitable day and balances as follows.
Sky: £940
Stars: $90
Euro Site: €206
I'll start with the through the night session since I couldn't sleep again. I swear someone at stars is having a good laugh at my expense as we played 3 tournaments, bust all 3 in insane cooler fasion, at least its started to normalize that ev graph, set over set first, then QQ into AA BTN v SB (wish i could get there just once in this spot lol) then get a check in BB with Q9dd flop 3 diamonds for SB to randomly open shove the flop with A4dd... like wtf dude. Euro site was abit more luck, we entered what I am going to describe as the softest mtt ive ever entered, honestly theres lads losing bank that would make a profit in this mtt, anyways we bust early with AK v A5 but I'd seen enough to break my re-entry rule and re-enter. Knowing I had to finish third if I didn't get any heads to break even. We got 1 head and finished 3rd for tiny profit. Disappointed with that result as one of the lads hu sucked out on me at least 5 times before i eventually bust, and the other player well im going to be kind, wasnt going to cause problems.
Day time session was small we played 12.30 1.30 2.30 and 3.30. We won the 12.30 for £85 inc heads, taking almost first place in prizes with heads, I'll be honest I felt I was playing well, but you could have thrown me into the depths of vesuvius and I'd have cooled down. The deck was smashing us, and people playing back because obviously I can't have it everytime, but every time i had it. Everytime they do that my chip lead growns, got to hu with about a 8-1 chip lead, and its was another £5.50 reg hu with us, but eventually they flopped a pair jammed it into my eye and im sitting with a cool Tens for an overpair. We also finished 6th in the 3.30 think maybe £20 for that. Odd flip to bust us, I overbomb shove 8s after several limps including a player whod completely taken me off my game and a guy who has us covered by about 3bb snaps with OJo. We win that flip and I'm extremely confident we get to at least hu again. We also shot took a €11 euro mtt looks mega soft our bust out hand saw A8o cold calling a cold 4b jam.
Evening session was abit trickier. we some how got to 7th in the 6.30 with £10 in heads for another £30. Abit disappointed there, but we went card dead at the exact wrong moment, although we crawled into the money so I guess i cant overly complain to be 21/22 and get to 7th especially when my first double was flushing in a A4 v A4 all in pre situation. No other cashes to mention, infact I dont even think a single head, we didn't enter mini 10k structure I mentioned i dislike so thought I'd avoid.
Stars had 1 mtt, a pko micromillions, very disappointed not to cash here, we made a small profit on heads before running AQ into KK then KK into same villians flopped set of 3s. One massively interesting hand when a guy shoves for 5bb and gets 3 callers inc myself, QJx flop shorty ships me and big stack call and check down, board bricks out and shorty has unknown hand the other 3 of us chop it up all holding KT.
Eurosite had 2 mtts, both pkos, first one is the same one from Sunday night, we bust here AA v QQ all in pre, covered by 0.25bb and a Q spiked the river. Sigh. Was a 300bb pot too we were in great shape going into that hand. The second we broke the money with profit already in hand, but again went absolutely card dead, and bricked every flop with our middling hands for about an hour. Eventually i peel an open with QJhh 9Tx flop with 2 hearts, brick turn when we ship it all in and get called by our opponent with A2o for no pair no draw giving us a total of 24 outs, which we brick. Yuk. Get the double there and we're a cool 4th in chips headed towards the final table. Possibly another night session tonight, will see. But day time tomorrow will be limited as finally got a scan for my knee.
Closing Balances
Sky £1026 (we've broke the 4 figure barrier)
Stars $82
Eurosite €198
First up had my scan today at 3.40 so that was always going to make any grinding today a chore. Very awkward timing. So we played the 12.30. In truth happy with how I played there, just kind of the story of the day. We just didn't have much to work with, aggression was met with resistance, and in most cases we didn't get paid the few times we did actualy have it.
Over night was a small session, abit puke, we got to stage two of the power path and got to 51 left, with 50 seats. BB is sat out and usual everyone time bank folds, if small blind just called they win pot and hes out, we have 1.2bb left, which is actually not far off average but during this hand blinds went up now we have 0.8 and BB next hand. 2 guys on my table typical uber passive I want to see every flop types and one of them decided to limp my BB and won... bubble boy. Great. if one person limped hand before id have had a seat too. We also bubbled an MTT on the euro site, Lost 3 flips in a row to the same villian. 2 of which id have bust him on and the third he did bust me. sigh.
Onto tonight. We played usual sky schedule and mostly all early busts, all standard stuff. We did get a head in the rebuy bounty hunter first hand turning a house against trips. Then took over starting stack hand too. But then AK v AK v QQ all in pre, where our AK came third in the hand killed any momentum there, We hobbled over addon but i genuinely dont think I won a hand after the second hand. Certainly didnt win a hand where a flop was seen. This was really story elsewhere too, if we saw a turn we didn't win the hand. Just one of those days.
No stars to talk of but 2 mtts on euro site, the same major we came third in on Sunday and one with a similar structure although half starting stack. Couple of interesting hands to go over, First was losing just 50bb in a 4b pot JJ v AA v T8s - yeap 4b pot and T8s still hanging in there, we had pos and pot controled over no cbet, bet turn for half pot and when we got 2 callers against a UTG 4b I elected to check back river. Best hand won, but delighted to lose the min as was feeling it was very AK from UTG and did nearly value jam the river. We took a number of heads here, and eventually bust in 8th for another final table, really tough final table where everything went wrong, we grew an early chip lead but then got check bombed on and forced to fold a big double draw, then bricked the nut flush v the tables bomber. Eventually busting another flip. The other one we got to 6th. Again we were breifly chip leader, but similar story couple of big bricks then another lost flip to bust us. If i could flip I'd be dangerous. However these 2 results did save the day, Odd to get more in head prizes than we do in prize money but payout structures means that will almost always be the case here, none of our heads were major spots. Always majorly covering our opponents and taking plus ev spots.
Unlikely for a session tomorrow, I think a day off would do us good, and taking kids to cinema
Closing balances:
Sky: £982
Stars: $79
Euros site: €248
So off to the euros site I went and I sat 4 tables of NL10 with my usual 4 different alias. Given I wont sit cash often I kind of want the regs to treat me like a random at least to begin with, this gives me a little more breathing room to spot the weaker players and get into pots with them, especially when 100bb deep isn't my strongest game. And the site allows us to have 5. There's one that historically has always made more money than others, I think people take an alias and just disrespect it, thats also the one I've been using for tournaments and the only one I wont change for that reason.
Anyways to the actual session and it didn't take long to spot the sucker. Hand 1 we're in bb with JJ and 3b to take down pre, had 2 (none of the other tables are going yet) it opens again and I would normally 3b KQo from the sb but aware players wont have seen this alias before, I've just sat down and 3b hand 1 I decided to flat for table image reasons. What a decision that was the opener was the sucker shall we say. Kxxr flop and opponent cbets. We call and blank diamond turn adding a FD, opponent bombs for like 7x pot, If I call here im calling any river, I go into timebank and elect to call, they shove river we call they had J8dd for NP and the missed turn flush draw. We then lost a 300bb pot on that table with AKo v AA, oppo 4b and we flat with position, flop comes down all clubs giving us the NFD. Oppo pot cbets, and at this point i should just Jam anyways, but I think pot to stack ratio is too small, we'll get it in on turn anyways and I'd just flat AKcc here. Thats where i level myself, I dont think we have many sets on this board as played but we would be shoving them so we can shove the NFD with 2 overs. Obviously our overs weren't good but at least 1 will be alot of the time. We stacked the bomb pot man a few more times however to make up for that, including the time he actually had it (AA) as we made quad 3's. Nice to get there against aces one time lol. In the end we ended up with 1 stack at 460bb, 1 stack at 260bb, 1 stack at 160bb and the other just never got moving, but lost the min on that table too. +36 roughly for the session. Given I only played 60-90 mins its a very good ROI.
Cinema was amazing, and the kids loved it, followed by McDonalds for a full days treat.
Once home I knew I couldn't play my usual night session, so instead I decided I've got to shot take the main and mini combo. Main started well, got a nice early head upto 12k chips, head was interesting spot BvB calling open with K3cc, 873 one club flop call oppos cbet turn K river K and he stacked his TT. Little unlucky for him but flush also got there, I'll take the W tho. That orbit was insane as we got 4 pocket pairs, JJ 66 88 55 and won with all 4 without showdown, it wasn't finished there as that BB we got KK. UTG opens 3b and he 4b. His 4b sizing was massively off, and I so nearly folded, but im not good enough to fold Kings even when my gut screams he has aces and his bet says he has aces. I jam he has Aces. We never really recovered from that, got back to 8k before calling for a head in a spot where again I smelt the villian was weak, just not as weak as our effective second pair (77 on 952ddx) he had a weak 9. We then trebled 77 v A6 v A6 - cant imagine ever being in better shape with 7s AIP 3 way. Before we bust 4b shoving over another odd sized 3b this time screamed please fold and getting snapped by 7s which held against our AQs.
We got 2 heads in the mini in truth never got going in the mini despite 2 heads sounding amazing. First head we open JJ got 3b from a player whod been very active, we 4b jam for 1k effective and they call KQo and we hold. The second head we're back down to just over starting which is now 10bbs, and open T9s mostly hoping to just pay for our blinds, I didn't realize the BTN was short tho and they jam, I hate it because they have 1700 and we have 2200 but when i work out the pot, the head equity and the fact we're short and cover them equity we have to call. Amazingly T high was good, but to make sure we flopped a flush. Whitted back down to 2.5k at 150/300 and shoved ATo and snapped by 72o, we didn't hold. We'll be back.
I was actually going to use today to talk about a few things, but I may do that tomorrow or saturday instead.
Closing balances
Sky £959
Euro Site €283
Played 11.30, 12,30, 1.30 and 2.30. Got 2nd in thr 11.30 with 2 heads, for £25. The opponent HU is someone whos been on the site as long as I can remember, and known to have a very unorthodox style was good to be challenging ourselves against him and a different type of hu match compared to what time used to. 12.30 was an early bad beat yawn bust. The 1.30 was another final table we got 4th with a further 2 heads for £22 total. Very disappointed with this result, I'd put myself in a spot to do better before things just didn't go our way, and thats fine. Eventual bust out was a very frustrating beat. But thats poker. We got 3 heads the in 2.30 before a bad beat and then a lost flip seen us go from a good stack to bust. such is life. Money back there though.
I have been looking to add more of next buy in up to my schedule, and I used yesterday to scout out one of the €10 majors on the euro site. It starts at same time as the other one I've done well in at €5 and almost indential structure just different stacking stacks. I used yesterday to give it a scout. And well I'm not proud of the start as I accidently misclicked called 40BB with AQhh on Q3395 with 4 diamonds on the river. Left us with 8 bigs. Got those 8 bigs in and reentered. As stated I don't usually reenter but I was scouting out the tournament and it felt soft enough so I wanted to give it a proper feel. This overall was a tournament I am proud of. Very very grindy tournament more than winning big hands. We did win 2 big hands through the tournament, but other than that it was consistent ability to win small pots that kept us afloat. Was able to position myself in maintaining 15-30bb throughout mostly just opening cbetting type stuff. We did get one head, and was in for 3 more altho 2 of these would haunt us. We got 9th before busting with a flip. Annoying final table where we came in 4th in a lane of our own, double any one below us, but half of anyone above us. Issue is we doubled 1 villian, and others doubled too, with blinds going up I took a spot, which if i can see cards with money in middle I'd still take so no complaints. This is definately one to add to the schedule however.
Overall I'm still trying to ground myself when I think of where the roll was just a few weeks ago to where it is now. I feel I'm playing well and I'm also learning through doing and making mistakes which for me is far better than having access and trying to memorize charts. I kind of want to talk about this more and I hinted at that in the last update, but I've already waffled enough today but I will find a spot to do so.
Closing Balances:
Sky: £991
Euro Site: €285
Stars: untouched since last update at $79
In truth I was going to update after busting the mini, but I was frustrated at myeself and felt thats not the best time to post. We played a reasonable amount of Pokers yesterday, 3 tournaments (all majors) on the euro site, 2x €10 PKO's including a 6 max, and the usual €5 one, quick run down on those was didn't run great in important spots, Tried to grind with little to work with in all 3, and essentially lost with high equity spots in all 3 (combo draws).
Sky was a mixed bag, I say mixed, it started well with a nice 4th place in the 11.30, we bust when we 3b jammed 16bigs and got called by 97o and didn't hold and tbh that set the tone for the day. Lose a flip here, cooler there, sick beat there type day. Wont bore too much with hands, we took 1 head in the 11.30 to go with our 4th place for £10. Bricked a few heads in others, inc one of the bad beat exits would have been a full double + a head on any other river.
We also main shot, although that was more about keeping tables open. We were busting everything in record time during the evening session. Few spots we really dont have to take too. And in truth each exit, be it from good play or the missteps I was allowing to creep in was taking its tole on my confidence. I was still playing well, but obviously playing frustrated. I could find big lay downs in big spots, but I was also finding those big bluff shoves in spots where I don't need to do them. The main didn't go well, in truth we never got going, we did recover a little but it was too late and was always going to need to run good from the spot we found ourselves in. The mini on the other hand went great. We took several heads and found ourselves on the final table and quickly in the final 4 and soon after 3. I've taken time on this to reflect and I'm very much aware I was playing knowing the mini was the tournament saving my day, had I not cashed in the mini it would have been my biggest losing day in my poker life. I'm rolled for that, but that was looming on my back. Part of that was shot taking 2x €10 comps and shot taking the main with no results, so this is something that I remind myself of. But in the moment I did not play that final table well at all. We lost with our big hands (QQ and TT) but we lost the min with both hands, so theres positives to be taken from that, but I know I can play better than I did in that final 3 and thats where I'll be self critical and learn from it. Its a good result which had some scope to be better, even if the deck was cool for us at that stage.
Im saying this because its actually a good transition to what I keep saying I want to say, so I'm going to give balances mid post.
Sky: £1016
Eurosite: €265
So a small loss over the course for today. However I've been reflecting alot recently. Poker and specifically playing mtts has given me stability and routine this past month. As much as I'll moan with the beats and the coolers as @DOHHHHHHH will tell you, its not like i used to be, but its also been so good for my mental health and my coping with IRL issues.
I also have alot of belief in myself, historically as i previously said I'd win a little here and there and grind NL4 for hours, for little gain and have no real love back for the game. With the mtts, I still get that buzz going onto a final table, even if only the top 3 pay. Yes I've made that final table. The routine saying right I'm starting my evening session at 6.30 or 5.05 or whatever. Knowing we have x amount of options to enter.
Im also looking at this objectively, a month ago I was headed to Germany, I had £237 in a poker account. I now have 4 figures in 1, 3 figures in another and slightly under 3 figures in the highest varience one. I can't state how proud I am. And how humbled I've been by the welcome I've had back on the forum.
I honestly could write a book on this reflection, but its me trying to say, that ragey little man that started this diary 11 years ago, wouldn't believe this last month.
@The_Don90
@Duesenberg 3b us from the BB to our button open. Historically he's never got out of line with me
Seriously?
He's a nice bloke, smashing bloke actually, but I'd not trust him at a poker table one iota. He's always at it, trust me.
PS - 3rd in the Mini - wonderful result, well done. You are unrecognisable from the player & person you were 10 or 15 years ago.
At that point I don't feel Sunday schedule massively caters to what I enjoy playing beyond 7 i opted to just play some games, but by 9 I was bored, entered a 6 max major on the euro site, late regged the 9@9 for my second attempt at that, the 2 9.30 tournaments (rebuy and £11) and the 10.15. I did also consider shotting the midex but I said to mytself see how the session goes and decide nearer time.
The £11 tournament is probably one of the most interesting starts to a tournament I've ever had. Within the first 2 orbits we had 2 heads. we'd only played 2 hands, both from the BB and both totaling about 200 chips. Huge RNG of people having huge hands when we've folded UTG the bigger stack by a few chips losing and us being allowed to call the all in next hand with any two. Winning both. Crazy set of circumstances, unfortunetly we couldn't build on that luck and that was the case mostly across the board. The £3 rebuy we double stacked to start and had a very difficult rebuy period but having a double stack meant we never went below initial starting, and then the add-on. We took 2 heads after the add-on before folding for what seemed an eternity. A good player opened from the c/o we 3b with intentions to stack and were unfortunetly outpipped AQ by AK. We can avoid going broke here but against a good opponent who will be playing more optimal I think we played it okay. Unfortunetly that was out only run on sky. So losing day there. Eurosite seen a small cash with a head to break even after taking an early re-entry. Again cards just didn't fall for us.
At that point I thought ah I'll just go play some games but quickly bored once more I remembered I got a free €2 token on the eurosite that can only be used on €2 mtts, why i cant stack it into a €5 mtt i dont know but okay, the only €2 mtt that stood out to me as worth playing had been the 11.30pm one, nice guarentee, should be soft and a day like today when I'm not going to be tired is a good chance to play it. I should have shot taken the midex too but i forgot until about 20 past midnight and I'm not going in at level 4. The €2 tournament sees my first win of a tournament on the eurosite tho. We've obviously had a very high number of final tables over there but I haven't converted beyond the 3rd place last week. Probably the most patient I've been in later stages of an mtt with antes as I just waited for spots, and that strategy was rewarded by the deck, we didnt have many monsters per say but alot of good hands which allowed us to build. Once we got chip lead for once we didn't look back again just waiting for spots rather than piling ICM pressure on people in a tournament with €15 up top. 4 handed 1 lad bust 3rd and 4th in what I can only describe as creative calls but that in turn gave him the chip lead and a 2-1 chip lead heads up, was the first time I hadn't been chip leader since 6th left. While I think he was probably the weakest of the 4 opponents I could have got heads up, he was also the most unorthodox which does tend to trip me up. AA v JJ can be a cooler at any time, at heads up tho its pretty sick glad I was on the right end of that one. Cards cooled heads up and our opponents unorthodox line meant we had to get out of line in a couple of spots to just avoid getting crushed. He then started a jamming strategy, 46bb deep effective I dont love this, its a reasonable counter to our edge, but was consistent enough to be a good hand, but not a monster. Eventually I called one with A9, he had AK but well we got lucky. 9 on the turn. €15 for the win and €19 for heads. Flat payout structures in bounty hunters do seem to create alot of wierd scenarios where I feel this will be common on that site, even though head prize is 50% instead of the 75% we get here. Think I only took 5 heads and got more than first place.
Closing Balances
Sky: £994
Eurosite: €302
@The_Don90
You must be chuffed to bits with this Don...
Closing Balances
Sky: £994
Eurosite: €302
First up I planned to have a big session today, but also keep tables to a level when I'm not missing stuff, so I limited myself to 4 and a 5th only for a main shot. Started at 1.30 but still had stuff to do around the house so was on phone for that and as a result missed the 2.30. We got 2nd in the 1.30, very disappointing second because I recovered from a 10-1 dog to get the chip lead. Played my absolute heart out and let it slip away. Still good money and a positive start to the day.
No more scores, few coolers and bad beats before heading into the night session. Starting on eurosite with the 2 5.05 majors. I honestly cant believe how soft the €10 one is, I took 2 entries at that, and didn't make it past late reg, however I kept putting myself in very high EV spots and we cant win them all. We got a min cash with 2 heads in the €5 one, KK v ATs for the second time today crushing my dreams, hold there and we have a final table stack. Alas wasn't to be. That said 4 from money we did get in 99 v AA AIP and would have been left with 2bb if not for the 99x flop. Its important to highlight the run good aswell as the beats. Sky was going well though, so well I didn't enter the 7.30 to keep tables to that rule.
6.30 we got 2 heads and bust 10 before the money for a minimal loss, very frustrating tournament, amazing start we just couldn't convert on, the 7@7 and mini was a similar story great start brick some heads before a yucky exit in both.
The rebuy bounty hunter however, once again in for the minimum of 1 entry and the addon, and just grinded away. This kind of performance is what I know I'm capable of, yes you have to run well in the latter stages of this mtt, but I took good spots, had my luck when I needed it. Eventually we found outselves heads up v an opponent who was very good, no qualms there, the deck let us down hu, but even with a kind deck I think I might have been a dog against that opponent anyways. Much respect where its due.
Then the main shot, you know that Little Brittan meme that went around during the euros about england getting through rounds, and they'd fallen up the tree. Well thats kind of how the main was. It was rare I had big playable hands, but when I did I almost always got a full double. Early doors we took a head but then struggled and I thought id post main shot took a head, bust story again. Anyways eventually we ground to the cash poor haysie doubled us up 3 times only for us to bust him in 9th. Tough opponent to play against aswell. My best ever main result is 5th, that was back on the sky poker tv days, a long time ago. Today we matched it. Im disappointed it wasn't better, I honestly feel thats some of the best poker I've ever played, we lost a huge flip AQ v TT all in pre to a run out of QJxKA, worst way to lose a flip imo, then we ran JJ into KK BvB no complaints there best hand held. I don't play that final table any different at all if I get a mulligan. We maximised our potential score today.
So I come away disappointed, on what I believe is my single most profitable day in my poker career. Its a very wierd feeling to have.
Closing Balances:
Sky: £1333
Eurosite: €286