I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Things around my house were absolutely nuts with a million kids and friends and family. Online poker was definately something on the back burner over the last week or so, but I did manage to get in a few hours.
In general, I have been stinkin' it up at PS in the 50NL cash games. Call with suited connectors, don't hit. Raise with Jacks, have and Ace and a Queen hit the flop. It's not like I am getting no cards, I just don't seem to be hitting anything. The icing on the cake yesterday was when I was 4-tabling and ended up all-in on the flop on 2 tables at the same time with top set, only to get sucked out with flushes and straights on both and lose 2 buy-ins in 5 seconds.
On Full Tilt, things are ok, I am down a little on the cash games, but the times that I have lost money with big hands, I have been behind when the money got in. On the 24th, the big blow was having pocket aces, and calling a 5xBB raise on the button from a player in middle position. I am thinking AK or AQ. Flop comes out Q93rainbow, we get all of the money in, he has a set of 9s. Ick. No suckout for me, there goes 1 buy-in.
I haven't gone below my $2k achievement at any time, but I was at one point at almost $2,200, and now am currently at:
PS: $554
FT: $1,513
Total: $2,067
It's not bad considering the all-in losses that I have had in the last week.
I will make January goals on the 31st of the month, as well as post my New Year's resolution(s) as well. I hope all is well with your families, and I shall post a couple more times this year and update you on my status.
Thanks for reading, Merry Christmas.
Ryan
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Back from Vegas
Vegas was a great time, went with both of my parents, no wife, no kids, no work or other stresses to worry about for four days. It was wonderful.
All in all, the poker played during the trip was almost uneventful. I was up a whopping $300 for the trip. My biggest hands of the trip were:
1) Flopping quad 4s in a raised pot with a K44 flop, getting paid on the flop and turn by 2 guys holding AA and AK, and then paid on the river by the AA guy again who rivered the 4-flush. Also got a modest $100 for the high hand jackpot.
2) Big blind special 53cc with the flop 2c4c9d, got it all in postflop against a guy with Kings who didn't raise preflop. Hit my flush on the turn.
3) Flopped a set of 7s on a board of AK7. Got paid nice by a guy with top 2.
Worst hand of the trip was when I raised with KTcc from middle position and got 2 callers. Flop comes out TT5. Bet, raise, call. Turn come a Q. We get all the month in, he has AT. Ick. Sick cooler there.
Other bad one was flopping a set of queens on a KQ9 board, playing very agressive, and getting rivered by a T with a guy calling the whole way with AJ. What the??
All in all, I thought I played pretty well. Made a few good value bets, a couple of timely bluffs. Could have easily been up $1k or so if a couple of things go my way.
I return to the land of online poker for the next few weeks, and there will not be any live poker in the near future here.
Quick update of bankroll status:
FT: $1,426
PS: $732
Total bankroll: $2,158
Back to the grind. See you all at the tables.
Ryan
All in all, the poker played during the trip was almost uneventful. I was up a whopping $300 for the trip. My biggest hands of the trip were:
1) Flopping quad 4s in a raised pot with a K44 flop, getting paid on the flop and turn by 2 guys holding AA and AK, and then paid on the river by the AA guy again who rivered the 4-flush. Also got a modest $100 for the high hand jackpot.
2) Big blind special 53cc with the flop 2c4c9d, got it all in postflop against a guy with Kings who didn't raise preflop. Hit my flush on the turn.
3) Flopped a set of 7s on a board of AK7. Got paid nice by a guy with top 2.
Worst hand of the trip was when I raised with KTcc from middle position and got 2 callers. Flop comes out TT5. Bet, raise, call. Turn come a Q. We get all the month in, he has AT. Ick. Sick cooler there.
Other bad one was flopping a set of queens on a KQ9 board, playing very agressive, and getting rivered by a T with a guy calling the whole way with AJ. What the??
All in all, I thought I played pretty well. Made a few good value bets, a couple of timely bluffs. Could have easily been up $1k or so if a couple of things go my way.
I return to the land of online poker for the next few weeks, and there will not be any live poker in the near future here.
Quick update of bankroll status:
FT: $1,426
PS: $732
Total bankroll: $2,158
Back to the grind. See you all at the tables.
Ryan
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Off to Vegas Baby!
The fact that I have had a nice online run in the last few weeks gets me even more excited about my trip to Vegas. I am headed out tomorrow, and I am there until Monday morning. Staying downtown at the Nugget, but I will venture out to the TI. I am definately a live 1/2NL player, I can't stand the heat of 2/5, out of my league and my bankroll presently.
That being said, I am almost sad to not be playing online poker for the next few days. It has been a good run, and I hope it continues.
Quickly, the last 24 hours have included 4-180 $4 sit-n-gos on PS. The first one I went out on the very first hand (haven't played in one of these for 6-8 months at least, but I wanted to see something other than cash). Got AA on the button, after a preflop raiser, I raise again with my two red aces, the guy insta-pushes all in for our starting 1500 stacks and turns over the monstrous Q5cc. I laughed for only a second until the flop brought 3 clubs. WeeeeeEEE!! Had me basically drawing dead.
2nd one I made it to the last 3 tables with a pretty good stack, but lost my AK vs. AQ AIPF, then with about 2k in chips left, I pushed with KQoff and lose a race to TT. pfff. The other 2 I went out in 50ish place, nothing eventlful.
Played a little cash. My two biggest hand had me all-in preflop as a huge underdog, QQ vs. KK and AKcc va. AdAh. I flopped a set of queens on the first hand and then turned a flush in the second hand, much to the shagrin of my opponent. Probably could have avoided being all in on both of the hands, but I had had a few drinks, and felt like gambling!
This morning, I played about 25 hands, the last one being on the button with 5s7s, raising it up to $2. I get min-raise to $3.50 by the BB and I called. Yes, very bad call, but this was my last hand, I wanted to play it. Flop comes K57. :D Only worried about KK now. He bets $4, I raise to $14, he calls. Turn is a 6, rainbows the board. He checks, I push all in, he calls. river is an 8, he shows AK for top pair. Cha ching! Obviously then start giving me $hit about playing 57. I obviuosly wrote in the chat box: "Well, they were sooooooted!!" That pissed him off, and then he left.
The session wasn't without a bad beat or two from my opponents, and overall, I now sit in this position:
PS: $685
FT: $1,262 + 6x$26 tokens = 1,418
Total Bankroll: $2,103. ($3k reached by Dec 31???)
Thanks all for reading, won't be posting again until next week Wednesday to recap my Vegas trip.
Ryan
That being said, I am almost sad to not be playing online poker for the next few days. It has been a good run, and I hope it continues.
Quickly, the last 24 hours have included 4-180 $4 sit-n-gos on PS. The first one I went out on the very first hand (haven't played in one of these for 6-8 months at least, but I wanted to see something other than cash). Got AA on the button, after a preflop raiser, I raise again with my two red aces, the guy insta-pushes all in for our starting 1500 stacks and turns over the monstrous Q5cc. I laughed for only a second until the flop brought 3 clubs. WeeeeeEEE!! Had me basically drawing dead.
2nd one I made it to the last 3 tables with a pretty good stack, but lost my AK vs. AQ AIPF, then with about 2k in chips left, I pushed with KQoff and lose a race to TT. pfff. The other 2 I went out in 50ish place, nothing eventlful.
Played a little cash. My two biggest hand had me all-in preflop as a huge underdog, QQ vs. KK and AKcc va. AdAh. I flopped a set of queens on the first hand and then turned a flush in the second hand, much to the shagrin of my opponent. Probably could have avoided being all in on both of the hands, but I had had a few drinks, and felt like gambling!
This morning, I played about 25 hands, the last one being on the button with 5s7s, raising it up to $2. I get min-raise to $3.50 by the BB and I called. Yes, very bad call, but this was my last hand, I wanted to play it. Flop comes K57. :D Only worried about KK now. He bets $4, I raise to $14, he calls. Turn is a 6, rainbows the board. He checks, I push all in, he calls. river is an 8, he shows AK for top pair. Cha ching! Obviously then start giving me $hit about playing 57. I obviuosly wrote in the chat box: "Well, they were sooooooted!!" That pissed him off, and then he left.
The session wasn't without a bad beat or two from my opponents, and overall, I now sit in this position:
PS: $685
FT: $1,262 + 6x$26 tokens = 1,418
Total Bankroll: $2,103. ($3k reached by Dec 31???)
Thanks all for reading, won't be posting again until next week Wednesday to recap my Vegas trip.
Ryan
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
A first time for everything
No, I have no been playing that long, but something happened this morning that has never happened to me before.
I started with $50 on 4 tables on FT and was up to about $70 on one table when an interesting hand came up. I had 8h7h on the button, a preflop raiser (with $45) made it $2, I called, as did the BB (with $20). Flop come AhQh4h. I flop a flush. Very nice. Then it gets crazy, the BB bets $4, MP min-raises to $8. Now, at this point, when I see the min-raise, I figure that he hit a set, or he is trying to represent a flush, I don't know really. I decide to call, and then the BB moves all in for his remaining $14. MP then calls, leaving $25 behind. I go ahead and move all in for my stack and MP calls.
MP: Ad2c
BB: AsJd
Both were drawing to runner-runner full house, which they obviously didn't hit, and I took a huge pot. Then, the disaster hand comes up. I actually peak into the cashier and see that I am about $10 from making my $2k goal that was supposed to be for next month. (Too early for that now...)
A few hands later, I am now in the BB and I find 77. UTG raises to $1.75, called in 3 places, I call as well. 5 to the flop. I have everyone covered significantly, UTG has about $70. Flop comes Q75, two spades. I lead out with my set for $5, BB calls, folds to the button who thinks quite a while before raising to $12. At this point, I have to figure that my set is best, and I don't want the flush getting there, so I raise to $30. BB then insta-pushes all in for his $70. The button thinks about it for a while before folding (he ended up being on a flush draw, I though he had odds to call, but decided to fold) and I obviusly called. The only hand I didn't want to see, I saw. QQ. Ick. I am basically dead. Turn gave me life with another spade (I have the 7s, he has no spades) but the river bricked.
Yes, I have never been on the losing end of set over set. Twice have I been the higher set. Funny thing is, I was just reading in the CP forum about set over set yesterday, thinking about how I had never experienced it. All I can say is ick.
Did some other good things other than that beat, and did manage to increase the bankroll:
FT: $1,177 + six $26 satellite tokens (won another one this morning) = 1,333
PS: $635
Total: $1,968
So close. Almost there. I'll let you know when I am.
Thanks for reading.
Ryan
I started with $50 on 4 tables on FT and was up to about $70 on one table when an interesting hand came up. I had 8h7h on the button, a preflop raiser (with $45) made it $2, I called, as did the BB (with $20). Flop come AhQh4h. I flop a flush. Very nice. Then it gets crazy, the BB bets $4, MP min-raises to $8. Now, at this point, when I see the min-raise, I figure that he hit a set, or he is trying to represent a flush, I don't know really. I decide to call, and then the BB moves all in for his remaining $14. MP then calls, leaving $25 behind. I go ahead and move all in for my stack and MP calls.
MP: Ad2c
BB: AsJd
Both were drawing to runner-runner full house, which they obviously didn't hit, and I took a huge pot. Then, the disaster hand comes up. I actually peak into the cashier and see that I am about $10 from making my $2k goal that was supposed to be for next month. (Too early for that now...)
A few hands later, I am now in the BB and I find 77. UTG raises to $1.75, called in 3 places, I call as well. 5 to the flop. I have everyone covered significantly, UTG has about $70. Flop comes Q75, two spades. I lead out with my set for $5, BB calls, folds to the button who thinks quite a while before raising to $12. At this point, I have to figure that my set is best, and I don't want the flush getting there, so I raise to $30. BB then insta-pushes all in for his $70. The button thinks about it for a while before folding (he ended up being on a flush draw, I though he had odds to call, but decided to fold) and I obviusly called. The only hand I didn't want to see, I saw. QQ. Ick. I am basically dead. Turn gave me life with another spade (I have the 7s, he has no spades) but the river bricked.
Yes, I have never been on the losing end of set over set. Twice have I been the higher set. Funny thing is, I was just reading in the CP forum about set over set yesterday, thinking about how I had never experienced it. All I can say is ick.
Did some other good things other than that beat, and did manage to increase the bankroll:
FT: $1,177 + six $26 satellite tokens (won another one this morning) = 1,333
PS: $635
Total: $1,968
So close. Almost there. I'll let you know when I am.
Thanks for reading.
Ryan
Monday, December 10, 2007
Wild Weekend!!
Lurking around the CP forums recently, and on this blog, I had stated that:
a) I would not be playing much online poker in December
b) I have no poker goals in December
c) I will make new goals in January when I wake up hungover on New Year's Day.
Let me begin this new entry by saying that is all out the window now. After a pretty successful weekend, I have re-evaluated my position and bankroll, and ready to make some December goals:
1) Increase bankroll to $2k
2) Find 1 or 2 days to play several $10-$30 MTTs and try to make a deep run
3) Continue to 4-table $0.25/0.50 on FT and Stars and have winning sessions
4) Try as best as possible to always get my money in ahead
I had mentionned on the CP forums last week that I thought $2k was a possibility for my bankroll by the end of December, but wasn't sure how much I was gonna be playing. I got in a lot of time this weekend with some good results. At one time, I had logged in 12 hours and shown no profit whatsoever. That changed as I continued to play. Here are some of the highlight hands from this weekend:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782482
I obviously nailed the flop on this hand, but it was the turn and river that allowed my opponent to almost catch up and bet out big on the river. Luckily, I had two hearts in my hand to make this an easy call.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782490
This was a slightly loose call preflop, but I guess this is one of the wonders of suited connectors. I flopped the nuts and got my opponent to come along. The turn and river definately scared me (as Stars doesn't show hold cards until the hand is over) but was happy to see him holding an overpair.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782495
I don't know what this opponent was thinking on the flop, but I didn't believe he had a set. I was right.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782501
This hand was a little funny, but everyone was bitching and complaining that I was bullying. I kept taking down hands pre-flop with raises. Holding the 2nd nuts preflop, I thought I would just be an a$$, I didn't think he would actually call. :D
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782506
Your standard suckout on flop, get sucked out on turn, re-suck out on river. Thanks river!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782512
I guess he put me on top pair or tens?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1785878
Understandably bad call on the flop, but turned the perfect card to get all of his money
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1793480
Another donk move here, but I thought he was trying to steal. Even if he had top pair, I was still the favorite. Turns out I was drawing slim, but managed to hit my turn card nicely.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1793485
I guess if I keep posting all of these donk moves, people are going to want to find me at the tables. I did have an open-ended straight flush draw, so the flop call was ok. Turn call was bad. I probably could have moved all-in on the river knowing now that he had top set, so I might have lost some money there. I'll take it either way.
As I post this, my latest bankroll info is this:
FT: $1,166 + five $26 tourney tokens = $1,296
PS: $607
Total Bankroll: $1,903
I am excited to see that I am about 2 big pot away from my $2k goal that I was gonna have for January, but is now my December goal. I guess $3k will be my January goal now, but let's get to $2k first.
Thanks for reading. If anyone has comments regarding my play, please do make them. I am still learning this game.
See you at the tables.
Ryan
a) I would not be playing much online poker in December
b) I have no poker goals in December
c) I will make new goals in January when I wake up hungover on New Year's Day.
Let me begin this new entry by saying that is all out the window now. After a pretty successful weekend, I have re-evaluated my position and bankroll, and ready to make some December goals:
1) Increase bankroll to $2k
2) Find 1 or 2 days to play several $10-$30 MTTs and try to make a deep run
3) Continue to 4-table $0.25/0.50 on FT and Stars and have winning sessions
4) Try as best as possible to always get my money in ahead
I had mentionned on the CP forums last week that I thought $2k was a possibility for my bankroll by the end of December, but wasn't sure how much I was gonna be playing. I got in a lot of time this weekend with some good results. At one time, I had logged in 12 hours and shown no profit whatsoever. That changed as I continued to play. Here are some of the highlight hands from this weekend:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782482
I obviously nailed the flop on this hand, but it was the turn and river that allowed my opponent to almost catch up and bet out big on the river. Luckily, I had two hearts in my hand to make this an easy call.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782490
This was a slightly loose call preflop, but I guess this is one of the wonders of suited connectors. I flopped the nuts and got my opponent to come along. The turn and river definately scared me (as Stars doesn't show hold cards until the hand is over) but was happy to see him holding an overpair.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782495
I don't know what this opponent was thinking on the flop, but I didn't believe he had a set. I was right.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782501
This hand was a little funny, but everyone was bitching and complaining that I was bullying. I kept taking down hands pre-flop with raises. Holding the 2nd nuts preflop, I thought I would just be an a$$, I didn't think he would actually call. :D
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782506
Your standard suckout on flop, get sucked out on turn, re-suck out on river. Thanks river!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1782512
I guess he put me on top pair or tens?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1785878
Understandably bad call on the flop, but turned the perfect card to get all of his money
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1793480
Another donk move here, but I thought he was trying to steal. Even if he had top pair, I was still the favorite. Turns out I was drawing slim, but managed to hit my turn card nicely.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1793485
I guess if I keep posting all of these donk moves, people are going to want to find me at the tables. I did have an open-ended straight flush draw, so the flop call was ok. Turn call was bad. I probably could have moved all-in on the river knowing now that he had top set, so I might have lost some money there. I'll take it either way.
As I post this, my latest bankroll info is this:
FT: $1,166 + five $26 tourney tokens = $1,296
PS: $607
Total Bankroll: $1,903
I am excited to see that I am about 2 big pot away from my $2k goal that I was gonna have for January, but is now my December goal. I guess $3k will be my January goal now, but let's get to $2k first.
Thanks for reading. If anyone has comments regarding my play, please do make them. I am still learning this game.
See you at the tables.
Ryan
Thursday, December 6, 2007
LOL
I have to laugh at how my last 3 sessions have gone. I have put in about 12 hours of play since my last post, and each session (3+ hours each) have gone like this:
Hands 1-100: Lose 1 or 2 huge all-in hands with the 2nd nuts, down 2+ buy-ins
Hands 101-250: Tread water, back off and play a little tighter, and then win at least one huge all-in hand to regain some of the losses
Hands 251-500: Nothing happens, up $10, down $10, nothing eventful at all
Hands 501-end: Maintain tight play, and on the last round of the night, I pick up Aces or Kings at least once or twice and get a re-raiser and an all-in before me, and take the pot. In one session, it happened to be checking from the big blind with Q4 (my dad's favorite hand - because it was hit late mother's favorite hand) and flopping QQ4 and getting into a raiser war with someone who slow played KK.
Each session, I end up down 2-3 buyins to start and battle back to get to even and then just above, so I have averaged like $2 an hour for the last 3 sessions. AWESOME!!!
Bankroll after last post:
FT: $1,250
PS: $127
Total: $1,377
Bankroll after this post:
FT: $1,227
PS: $198
Total: $1,425
In conclusion, the bankroll is up, but it has been tough. I am still on track for $2k before New Year's. Let's hope I can keep it going.
Thanks, see you at the tables.
Ryan
Hands 1-100: Lose 1 or 2 huge all-in hands with the 2nd nuts, down 2+ buy-ins
Hands 101-250: Tread water, back off and play a little tighter, and then win at least one huge all-in hand to regain some of the losses
Hands 251-500: Nothing happens, up $10, down $10, nothing eventful at all
Hands 501-end: Maintain tight play, and on the last round of the night, I pick up Aces or Kings at least once or twice and get a re-raiser and an all-in before me, and take the pot. In one session, it happened to be checking from the big blind with Q4 (my dad's favorite hand - because it was hit late mother's favorite hand) and flopping QQ4 and getting into a raiser war with someone who slow played KK.
Each session, I end up down 2-3 buyins to start and battle back to get to even and then just above, so I have averaged like $2 an hour for the last 3 sessions. AWESOME!!!
Bankroll after last post:
FT: $1,250
PS: $127
Total: $1,377
Bankroll after this post:
FT: $1,227
PS: $198
Total: $1,425
In conclusion, the bankroll is up, but it has been tough. I am still on track for $2k before New Year's. Let's hope I can keep it going.
Thanks, see you at the tables.
Ryan
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Keep on truckin....
Well, nothing really to exciting to note in the last couple of days. Still been playing solid poker, getting my money in with the best hands, doing pretty much what I think I should be doing.
Bankroll got a boost of about $75 last night when I 3-tabled some $0.25/0.50 NL on FT. Started with 3 stacks of $35 and ran two of them up to over $75, and was down on the other table. Continued to play a couple of 6-man sit-n-gos that I discussed earlier that give a $26 satellite token to the winner. Finished 2nd in both that I played in for only a profit of $3.40 each, but I was shortstacked on both going to heads up.
On the first, I was a 5500 to 3500 dog in chips, and this guy had been moving in almost every hand. I finaly picked up TT and he called with J4. Board came T5632. LOL! Anyways, I am not complaining on those little 6-man SNG. I am on a roll, I have finished 1st or 2nd every one that I have played except 1.
I am still looking for some time to play some MTTs, but time constraints are pretty certain in my house these days. 3 kids, a wife that is loco about Christmas, my mom in town and my trip to Vegas next week, those are just a few of the things preventing me from putting in 4-5 straight hours playing a tourney. It's ok though, my wife is out for 10 days next month, so there will be opportunity soon enough.
Bankroll update: Cash and tourney credits on FT ~ $1,250. Plus the $127 on Stars gives me my highest level yet of nearing $1,400. Very excited, and hope to keep the momentum going.
Thanks for reading, and good luck at the tables.
Ryan
Bankroll got a boost of about $75 last night when I 3-tabled some $0.25/0.50 NL on FT. Started with 3 stacks of $35 and ran two of them up to over $75, and was down on the other table. Continued to play a couple of 6-man sit-n-gos that I discussed earlier that give a $26 satellite token to the winner. Finished 2nd in both that I played in for only a profit of $3.40 each, but I was shortstacked on both going to heads up.
On the first, I was a 5500 to 3500 dog in chips, and this guy had been moving in almost every hand. I finaly picked up TT and he called with J4. Board came T5632. LOL! Anyways, I am not complaining on those little 6-man SNG. I am on a roll, I have finished 1st or 2nd every one that I have played except 1.
I am still looking for some time to play some MTTs, but time constraints are pretty certain in my house these days. 3 kids, a wife that is loco about Christmas, my mom in town and my trip to Vegas next week, those are just a few of the things preventing me from putting in 4-5 straight hours playing a tourney. It's ok though, my wife is out for 10 days next month, so there will be opportunity soon enough.
Bankroll update: Cash and tourney credits on FT ~ $1,250. Plus the $127 on Stars gives me my highest level yet of nearing $1,400. Very excited, and hope to keep the momentum going.
Thanks for reading, and good luck at the tables.
Ryan
Monday, December 3, 2007
So close...
I have not had a lot of time to play tournaments lately... Work, home life, kids, wife, etc., they all prevent me from having 4-5 straight hours available to play poker. Yesterday, I was not planning on playing much poker, but that all changed when I got a call from my neighbor.
He plays on Stars, but was broke. He wanted to play the $100k guaranteed $10+1 buy-in tourney that they have on Sundays, so I loaned him the $11 to get in with a 50/50 split on the return. He started playing and called me 3 hours later to tell me he was in the money, and wanted me to come over to watch/hang out. We were an unimpressive 150th out of 600 left.
By the time we widdled our way down, and after a huge river suckout for a massive pot, we were 25th with 110 people left. Holy Shit. First prize of $20k only 109 players away. It all seemed pretty attainable. A huge hand came up with about 100 people left when we tried a button steal with JT. The BB called and the flop comes AJ4. BB bets, we raise, he goes all-in. We still had some chips left, and decided to fold. Still questioning that one...
After a double-up with Aces a couple of hands later, we had an average stack when the bustout hand came up. Dealt AJ in the SB, it is folded to us, and with stack sizes and blinds, it was an auto-shove. BB had AK. We turned an OESD which never materialized, and we were out. Good for $280ish, but fuck, so close to some real money. I took my half, and now I have a little bit to play with on PS.
My weekend on FT was very much less eventful. Cash games went so-so, and was down about $80 for the weekend. I seemed to get the 2nd best hands every time. The biggest pot I lost was a $200 pot against 2 other guys all-in after a flop of 722, I had called another $1 in the BB with K2suited, when all the money went in, the 2 other guys had 82 and KK (really bad slow-play on his part). The turn was a devistating 8 to give the 82 guys a FH. Was unbelievable.
The most positive part of the weekend is finding a sit-n-go that seems easy to beat. On FT, they have a $6 6-man sit-n-go where the winner gets a $26 tourney token and the runner-up gets $10. I played 9 of them this weekend, and won 5 token. I took 2nd place in 2 other, for a total cash of $150 (cash and tokens) from an investment of $59.40. That's a pretty sweet ROI. The problem on FT is that I cannot cash those tokens in for T$, like you can on PS. I guess I will have to find some time for a few $26 tourneys.
Ending bankroll for the weekend with tokens and cash on FT and cash on Stars totals just over $1,300 which is as high as it has ever been. I am pretty stoked.
I hope everyone else is finding success at the tables, and I hope to see you there. Thanks to Loretta8 and Tony Eusebio for the inspiration to play the $6 sit-n-gos. Reading about their successes drove me to try for myself, and I found some success as well.
Thanks again guys, and thanks for reading.
Ryan
He plays on Stars, but was broke. He wanted to play the $100k guaranteed $10+1 buy-in tourney that they have on Sundays, so I loaned him the $11 to get in with a 50/50 split on the return. He started playing and called me 3 hours later to tell me he was in the money, and wanted me to come over to watch/hang out. We were an unimpressive 150th out of 600 left.
By the time we widdled our way down, and after a huge river suckout for a massive pot, we were 25th with 110 people left. Holy Shit. First prize of $20k only 109 players away. It all seemed pretty attainable. A huge hand came up with about 100 people left when we tried a button steal with JT. The BB called and the flop comes AJ4. BB bets, we raise, he goes all-in. We still had some chips left, and decided to fold. Still questioning that one...
After a double-up with Aces a couple of hands later, we had an average stack when the bustout hand came up. Dealt AJ in the SB, it is folded to us, and with stack sizes and blinds, it was an auto-shove. BB had AK. We turned an OESD which never materialized, and we were out. Good for $280ish, but fuck, so close to some real money. I took my half, and now I have a little bit to play with on PS.
My weekend on FT was very much less eventful. Cash games went so-so, and was down about $80 for the weekend. I seemed to get the 2nd best hands every time. The biggest pot I lost was a $200 pot against 2 other guys all-in after a flop of 722, I had called another $1 in the BB with K2suited, when all the money went in, the 2 other guys had 82 and KK (really bad slow-play on his part). The turn was a devistating 8 to give the 82 guys a FH. Was unbelievable.
The most positive part of the weekend is finding a sit-n-go that seems easy to beat. On FT, they have a $6 6-man sit-n-go where the winner gets a $26 tourney token and the runner-up gets $10. I played 9 of them this weekend, and won 5 token. I took 2nd place in 2 other, for a total cash of $150 (cash and tokens) from an investment of $59.40. That's a pretty sweet ROI. The problem on FT is that I cannot cash those tokens in for T$, like you can on PS. I guess I will have to find some time for a few $26 tourneys.
Ending bankroll for the weekend with tokens and cash on FT and cash on Stars totals just over $1,300 which is as high as it has ever been. I am pretty stoked.
I hope everyone else is finding success at the tables, and I hope to see you there. Thanks to Loretta8 and Tony Eusebio for the inspiration to play the $6 sit-n-gos. Reading about their successes drove me to try for myself, and I found some success as well.
Thanks again guys, and thanks for reading.
Ryan
Monday, November 26, 2007
Mission Accomplished
Goals are a good thing. My wife is always telling me about goals. As is my father. Without goals, you can't measure your success. You can't measure when you are compared to where you were. I have never really had goals. I just go through like and see where it takes me, and so far, it has taken me to some good places.
I made a goal to hit $1k in my bankroll before the end of the month. After 6 weeks of grinding at $0.25/0.50, I hit my target. Was really nice to see that bankroll go into the 4 digits. I know $1k is not much to some people, but from $100 and grinding up, $1,000 seems like a nice number. I don't plan on cashing out any time soon, I would like to attempt at running the bankroll up to $2k or $3k, but for now, I am thrilled with my success up until now.
The hand that took me over hump was your classic TPTK vs. a set, me obviously having the set. Gotta say, it is amazing how many online micro-limit players are willing to go broke with 1 pair, even if it is top pair.
I had a a few other interesting hands in the session, one where I was all-in on the flop on a 994 board with my J9 vs. K9 vs. 44. Somehow, a K came on the river to bail out the other guy, but I was left with $40 less on that hand.
Another interesting hand that I got berated for was one in the BB when I had 63sooooted. UTG raises to $2, and right away I said that I would fold, unless there was at least 1 other caller. The button ended up calling, and even after he did, I considered folding, but opted not to. Both stacks had me covered, and I thought that was reason enough, just in case I hit the flop well. The flop comes a beautiful K63 rainbow. I lead out for $4, and the UTG player insta-all-ins for $50. The button folds, and I mumbled to myself that if I am going to play $hit like this, I better bet out and be aggressive if I hit it. I called all-in with the UTG player showing AA. My hand held up, and that gave me a nice boost. (Obviously not after the UTG player gave me shit about playing 63.
Now that I hit my first goal, here is my new one:
Since I will probably not be playing much poker in the next 3 weeks (Daughter's birthday this weekend, company kid's party as well, company adult party and our own Christmas party the next weekend, and a trip to Vegas on the 13th through 17th of December) I am going to not make a goal until after Christmas. I will be playing some but not much. When I wake up on January 1st, we will see where my roll is, and make a goal at that time. I am going to play a few more MTTs if I can get some time, which has been hard to come by, but probably more 25c/50c for me at this time. Hopefully, we can continue this run of fortune and get to $2k in the near future. Currently, the roll is $1,042.54 and counting. GL me.
Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving, and hope to see you all at the tables.
Thanks for reading.
Ryan
I made a goal to hit $1k in my bankroll before the end of the month. After 6 weeks of grinding at $0.25/0.50, I hit my target. Was really nice to see that bankroll go into the 4 digits. I know $1k is not much to some people, but from $100 and grinding up, $1,000 seems like a nice number. I don't plan on cashing out any time soon, I would like to attempt at running the bankroll up to $2k or $3k, but for now, I am thrilled with my success up until now.
The hand that took me over hump was your classic TPTK vs. a set, me obviously having the set. Gotta say, it is amazing how many online micro-limit players are willing to go broke with 1 pair, even if it is top pair.
I had a a few other interesting hands in the session, one where I was all-in on the flop on a 994 board with my J9 vs. K9 vs. 44. Somehow, a K came on the river to bail out the other guy, but I was left with $40 less on that hand.
Another interesting hand that I got berated for was one in the BB when I had 63sooooted. UTG raises to $2, and right away I said that I would fold, unless there was at least 1 other caller. The button ended up calling, and even after he did, I considered folding, but opted not to. Both stacks had me covered, and I thought that was reason enough, just in case I hit the flop well. The flop comes a beautiful K63 rainbow. I lead out for $4, and the UTG player insta-all-ins for $50. The button folds, and I mumbled to myself that if I am going to play $hit like this, I better bet out and be aggressive if I hit it. I called all-in with the UTG player showing AA. My hand held up, and that gave me a nice boost. (Obviously not after the UTG player gave me shit about playing 63.
Now that I hit my first goal, here is my new one:
Since I will probably not be playing much poker in the next 3 weeks (Daughter's birthday this weekend, company kid's party as well, company adult party and our own Christmas party the next weekend, and a trip to Vegas on the 13th through 17th of December) I am going to not make a goal until after Christmas. I will be playing some but not much. When I wake up on January 1st, we will see where my roll is, and make a goal at that time. I am going to play a few more MTTs if I can get some time, which has been hard to come by, but probably more 25c/50c for me at this time. Hopefully, we can continue this run of fortune and get to $2k in the near future. Currently, the roll is $1,042.54 and counting. GL me.
Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving, and hope to see you all at the tables.
Thanks for reading.
Ryan
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Terrific!
Wow is all I can say. It was a great weekend for me. Was a long weekend here in Mexico, and I had some things to do over the weekend, but I got to play a lot of poker on Monday. A lot of my play was from 4:30am to 7:00am (Mountain time), as my wife was busy with work, and I had to help (she works out of the house) and tend to the kids as well.
During the course of the day, my bankroll has skyrocketed to a level I have never had before, over $850. I started the weekend around $525-550, and on Saturday morning, I sat down and played 4 tables on FT. Within 20 minutes, I was down $100 for the session. After a horrible beat with AA vs JT, I started to tilt a little bit and donked off another $60.
I got up, made a pot of coffee, walked outside, took a couple of deep breaths, and regrouped. Now at $440 in my bankroll, I started playing some good poker.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1724135
What I didn't realise here until the end was that I hit a 1-outer on the turn to take the pot. Lucky for me, he had top 2, and paid me off nicely on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1724144
The whole rule about going broke in an unraised pot holds true on this hand. I flop the nuts with the hidden strength of my hand and get paid off nicely when the other 2 guys have decent hands. I know some will say limping under the gun with 99 is probably not too wise, but I can definately say that my under the gun play is not incredibly good. Any comments on this one?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1724156
This guy had been raising, re-raising everyone at this particular table, and taking down pots with huge bets on the flop, and had been mildly successful. He had the exact hand I wanted him to have, and my big bet was not enough to push him off the hand. Cha-ching!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1724217
In this particular hand, I had raised 3 times in a row previously. The 3 previous hands were KK, then I raised with QJ and took down the pot with a flop bet, and then hand right before this one, I re-raised with AK after a raise and a call. I don't know what this guy put me on, but I figured my image was kind of maniacal, so I thought an all-in was a decent play from the cutoff. I got a loose call, and took down a decent pot.
I through in a couple of 9-person sit-n-gos and a $24 MTT into the mix this weekend with no good results. When I first started playing online, all I did was $5 and $10 sit-n-gos, but it has been so long, I can't remember how to play them. I guess in a cash game, since the blinds never change, each hand is a new game. The patience required for the sit-n-gos is just not there anymore. One day, when I have more time, I will get back into it. For now, cash is doing me just fine.
Thanks for reading, hope to see you at the tables..
Ryan
During the course of the day, my bankroll has skyrocketed to a level I have never had before, over $850. I started the weekend around $525-550, and on Saturday morning, I sat down and played 4 tables on FT. Within 20 minutes, I was down $100 for the session. After a horrible beat with AA vs JT, I started to tilt a little bit and donked off another $60.
I got up, made a pot of coffee, walked outside, took a couple of deep breaths, and regrouped. Now at $440 in my bankroll, I started playing some good poker.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1724135
What I didn't realise here until the end was that I hit a 1-outer on the turn to take the pot. Lucky for me, he had top 2, and paid me off nicely on the river.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1724144
The whole rule about going broke in an unraised pot holds true on this hand. I flop the nuts with the hidden strength of my hand and get paid off nicely when the other 2 guys have decent hands. I know some will say limping under the gun with 99 is probably not too wise, but I can definately say that my under the gun play is not incredibly good. Any comments on this one?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1724156
This guy had been raising, re-raising everyone at this particular table, and taking down pots with huge bets on the flop, and had been mildly successful. He had the exact hand I wanted him to have, and my big bet was not enough to push him off the hand. Cha-ching!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1724217
In this particular hand, I had raised 3 times in a row previously. The 3 previous hands were KK, then I raised with QJ and took down the pot with a flop bet, and then hand right before this one, I re-raised with AK after a raise and a call. I don't know what this guy put me on, but I figured my image was kind of maniacal, so I thought an all-in was a decent play from the cutoff. I got a loose call, and took down a decent pot.
I through in a couple of 9-person sit-n-gos and a $24 MTT into the mix this weekend with no good results. When I first started playing online, all I did was $5 and $10 sit-n-gos, but it has been so long, I can't remember how to play them. I guess in a cash game, since the blinds never change, each hand is a new game. The patience required for the sit-n-gos is just not there anymore. One day, when I have more time, I will get back into it. For now, cash is doing me just fine.
Thanks for reading, hope to see you at the tables..
Ryan
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Going through the motions
Last couple of days have been pretty boring, nothing much to speak of as far as profit on the poker tables. I find it interesting sometimes that you sit down for a session online, and for some reason, you just don't feel like you are going to win.
This morning was a perfect example. I just really felt that when I sat down to 3 tables, it didn't feel right, or something, and I felt I was going to play poorly. And I did. I got 2 or 3 premium hands and played them like shit. Overpushed on two of them preflop and my opponent folded both times after his re-raise. And the other, I had KK, and cursed the computer when the A came on the flop and chicken-shitted my way to checking down to river until my opponent hit his set of jacks and called his overbet like a donk.
Ended up down about $35 for the session to erase the $30 or so that I had won late the night before. The roll is not exactly comfortable for $0.25/0.50 at $530, as the variance could kill me soon, I just can't bring myself to play lower stakes. I have seen Tony Eusebio playing the $0.15/0.30 deepstack 6-man tables, but I can't play 6-man, as evidenced by my 2 previous bankrolls flushing down the toilet. I thought I liked the action of 6-man, but I am just no good at it. I guess I am just a tight nit.
Anyways, hopefully we can get something going in the next few days and push me back over the $600 mark. Still hoping for the $1k mark by the end of the month.
See you at the tables.
Ryan
This morning was a perfect example. I just really felt that when I sat down to 3 tables, it didn't feel right, or something, and I felt I was going to play poorly. And I did. I got 2 or 3 premium hands and played them like shit. Overpushed on two of them preflop and my opponent folded both times after his re-raise. And the other, I had KK, and cursed the computer when the A came on the flop and chicken-shitted my way to checking down to river until my opponent hit his set of jacks and called his overbet like a donk.
Ended up down about $35 for the session to erase the $30 or so that I had won late the night before. The roll is not exactly comfortable for $0.25/0.50 at $530, as the variance could kill me soon, I just can't bring myself to play lower stakes. I have seen Tony Eusebio playing the $0.15/0.30 deepstack 6-man tables, but I can't play 6-man, as evidenced by my 2 previous bankrolls flushing down the toilet. I thought I liked the action of 6-man, but I am just no good at it. I guess I am just a tight nit.
Anyways, hopefully we can get something going in the next few days and push me back over the $600 mark. Still hoping for the $1k mark by the end of the month.
See you at the tables.
Ryan
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Workin' my way back up...
The bankroll got another boost last night, after a very good session. Ironically, my two best pots were ones that I was behind going to the river, and proceded to got lucky.
#1: I get dealt KdQd in middle position, I raise to $1.50 (3xBB) and get 3 callers, including the button and the BB. Flop comes Q22, 1 diamond. I think I have the best hand at this point, so after the BB checks, I lead for $2, a smallish feeler bet. Next guy calls, and the button raises to $4. Damn min-raise. What does it mean? Pocket aces? A 2? He can't have a 2 calling from the button. BB folds, I call, other guy calls.
Turn is a 5d. Decent card for me, now gives me a flush draw. I check, next guy checks, button bets $13 of the $22 he has left. I don't know what I was thinking, but because that second diamond came on the turn, I decided to raise to $30, took the other guy out of the pot, and the button calls with A2. Dammit! Lucky for me, the river was a 3rd diamond, and the $60ish pot gets shipped over my way. Sorry for the bad beat there....
#2 I get dealt AA in middle position, I raise to $2, get 2 callers, the cutoff and the BB. Flop comes Q94 rainbow. Seems like a tame enough board for AA, so after the BB checks, I bet $4, the cutoff thinks for about 15 seconds, and raises to $10. Now, this could mean JT, AQ, KQ, KK, so I am not too worried. But when the BB shoves for the $19 he has left, I have got to think that I am behind. The cutoff has about $18 left after his raise, and I have them both covered substantially, so I figure if I am behind the BB, I can break even or so with the cutoff. So, I push my stack into the pot, and the cutoff calls.
Cutoff: QQ (top set)
BB: 99 (middle set)
Crap, very bad. That is, until an A comes on the turn to give me top set, and the river is a blank, and I scoop quite a large pot.
After a week of losing those hands, along with many others, I finally got lucky a couple of times, and have now run my FT bankroll back up the $525. +$220 in the last 2-3 days. So that is a positive sign.
I am still on track to hit $1k by the end of the month. We will see you all at the tables, and thanks for reading.
Ryan
#1: I get dealt KdQd in middle position, I raise to $1.50 (3xBB) and get 3 callers, including the button and the BB. Flop comes Q22, 1 diamond. I think I have the best hand at this point, so after the BB checks, I lead for $2, a smallish feeler bet. Next guy calls, and the button raises to $4. Damn min-raise. What does it mean? Pocket aces? A 2? He can't have a 2 calling from the button. BB folds, I call, other guy calls.
Turn is a 5d. Decent card for me, now gives me a flush draw. I check, next guy checks, button bets $13 of the $22 he has left. I don't know what I was thinking, but because that second diamond came on the turn, I decided to raise to $30, took the other guy out of the pot, and the button calls with A2. Dammit! Lucky for me, the river was a 3rd diamond, and the $60ish pot gets shipped over my way. Sorry for the bad beat there....
#2 I get dealt AA in middle position, I raise to $2, get 2 callers, the cutoff and the BB. Flop comes Q94 rainbow. Seems like a tame enough board for AA, so after the BB checks, I bet $4, the cutoff thinks for about 15 seconds, and raises to $10. Now, this could mean JT, AQ, KQ, KK, so I am not too worried. But when the BB shoves for the $19 he has left, I have got to think that I am behind. The cutoff has about $18 left after his raise, and I have them both covered substantially, so I figure if I am behind the BB, I can break even or so with the cutoff. So, I push my stack into the pot, and the cutoff calls.
Cutoff: QQ (top set)
BB: 99 (middle set)
Crap, very bad. That is, until an A comes on the turn to give me top set, and the river is a blank, and I scoop quite a large pot.
After a week of losing those hands, along with many others, I finally got lucky a couple of times, and have now run my FT bankroll back up the $525. +$220 in the last 2-3 days. So that is a positive sign.
I am still on track to hit $1k by the end of the month. We will see you all at the tables, and thanks for reading.
Ryan
Monday, November 12, 2007
Wow, what a down-swing...
An incredible run of KK into AA and King-high flushes into Ace-high flushes has taken its toll. And the hand that changed my luck was and all-in on the flop of 762 with me holding 77 and my opponent with AA. Runner-runner flush for him sent me packing on that hand, and my luck has been bad ever since.
Some examples:
AQ < 88 on a Q42 board all-in post flop
KK < TT all-in pre-flop
QcTc < AcKs on a Jc9c8s board all-in post-flop
The list goes on and on and on. It seemed like everytime I had a hand to push with, it was second best. Had I won that hand I talked about in the beginning, my FT account would have been $650+. After this run, I was down to about $300, an incredible swing that had me contemplating a cash-out. But, I really don't want to cash out, I want to re-start and gain some momentum, see if we can right to ship.
Things definately turned around this morning, as I logged in to see my account at $304.13. Depressing. So I was up early enough this morning to play about 45 minutes, 3-tabling, I should be able to get in quite a few hands. I get onto to 3 tables pretty quickly, and the very first hand I get on the first table is KcQc. Not a bad starting hand, I'm in middle position after posting the BB, and raise it up to $1.75 (playing 0.25/0.50). Guy beside me calls, so does the button, the SB and the BB. Fine, 5 players to the flop. Let's hope for something good...
Flop comes out AcJcTc. LOL!! I flop a Royal Flush. SB checks, BB bets $2, I call, guy beside me raises to $6, SB folds, BB calls. I call. At this point, I am hoping someone flopped a set or a straight.
Turn is Td. I am hoping someone filled up, did something, BB checks, I bet $4, other guy calls, BB calls.
River is a 5h. BB now bets $8, I raise to $20, other guy folds, BB calls the additional $12 and shows A5 for 2 pair. Obviously, I take the pot. Over the course of the next 30 minutes, I flop 2 sets, a straight, and then the following hand capped the session:
Hero: Kh8h in middle position. I call, 2 more callers, SB completes, BB checks. Flop: K52 two diamonds. It is checked around to the last guy who bets $1.50. Normally, I fold in this situation, because with any king, I am definately outkicked. 2 other people call, so I decide to call and see what comes of it.
Turn: 8d This completes the flush. This time, the SB bets out $3. I told myself that I was going to fold unless someone else called to build the pot and see what happens. I have 2 pair, but it is definately not good enough. BB calls, so I decide to call, as does the other guy.
River: Ks Wow! I went from looking not very good to rivering the nuts! SB bets out again, $7, the BB calls, I raise to $20, and both the SB and BB call. Amazingly enough, the BB had K5 for a fullhouse, 2nd nuts, and did not re-raise. The SB had T9d for the flush. So that pot was huge, another good one for me.
And the end of it all, I was up almost $130 for the session, to bring my account back up to a respectable $430ish, and well back on my way to getting to $1000 by the end of the month.
Thanks for reading, and good luck at the tables!
Ryan
Some examples:
AQ < 88 on a Q42 board all-in post flop
KK < TT all-in pre-flop
QcTc < AcKs on a Jc9c8s board all-in post-flop
The list goes on and on and on. It seemed like everytime I had a hand to push with, it was second best. Had I won that hand I talked about in the beginning, my FT account would have been $650+. After this run, I was down to about $300, an incredible swing that had me contemplating a cash-out. But, I really don't want to cash out, I want to re-start and gain some momentum, see if we can right to ship.
Things definately turned around this morning, as I logged in to see my account at $304.13. Depressing. So I was up early enough this morning to play about 45 minutes, 3-tabling, I should be able to get in quite a few hands. I get onto to 3 tables pretty quickly, and the very first hand I get on the first table is KcQc. Not a bad starting hand, I'm in middle position after posting the BB, and raise it up to $1.75 (playing 0.25/0.50). Guy beside me calls, so does the button, the SB and the BB. Fine, 5 players to the flop. Let's hope for something good...
Flop comes out AcJcTc. LOL!! I flop a Royal Flush. SB checks, BB bets $2, I call, guy beside me raises to $6, SB folds, BB calls. I call. At this point, I am hoping someone flopped a set or a straight.
Turn is Td. I am hoping someone filled up, did something, BB checks, I bet $4, other guy calls, BB calls.
River is a 5h. BB now bets $8, I raise to $20, other guy folds, BB calls the additional $12 and shows A5 for 2 pair. Obviously, I take the pot. Over the course of the next 30 minutes, I flop 2 sets, a straight, and then the following hand capped the session:
Hero: Kh8h in middle position. I call, 2 more callers, SB completes, BB checks. Flop: K52 two diamonds. It is checked around to the last guy who bets $1.50. Normally, I fold in this situation, because with any king, I am definately outkicked. 2 other people call, so I decide to call and see what comes of it.
Turn: 8d This completes the flush. This time, the SB bets out $3. I told myself that I was going to fold unless someone else called to build the pot and see what happens. I have 2 pair, but it is definately not good enough. BB calls, so I decide to call, as does the other guy.
River: Ks Wow! I went from looking not very good to rivering the nuts! SB bets out again, $7, the BB calls, I raise to $20, and both the SB and BB call. Amazingly enough, the BB had K5 for a fullhouse, 2nd nuts, and did not re-raise. The SB had T9d for the flush. So that pot was huge, another good one for me.
And the end of it all, I was up almost $130 for the session, to bring my account back up to a respectable $430ish, and well back on my way to getting to $1000 by the end of the month.
Thanks for reading, and good luck at the tables!
Ryan
Monday, November 5, 2007
Funny, this game of poker
I got in about 10 hours of poker this weekend, mostly cash, played a couple of sit-n-gos, all my play on FT. Early Saturday morning, I played about 4 hours, and stunk it up playing cash games. Lost 2 big all-in pots for about $40 each, and was up about $10 on everything else cash. I will say that each time, when the money got in, I was behind, so it is not surprising that I lost the 2 hands.
While all of that was going on, I decided to play an 18-man $10+1 sit-n-go. It went very well, and with not too much effort, I managed to get down to the final 4 as the 2nd stack. Once the money burst, the table was crazy, all-ins with middle pair, low flush draws. I ended up getting my money in with QQ vs. AK vs. AJ and luckily it held, and I had a massive chip lead which I held until the final 2. I actually ended up losing to chip lead to 2 coolers, and I was 3-1 down in chips. But a PF all-in with AA vs KQs and then the very next hand all-in with AJ vs A9 and that was that. $72 bucks, and I was back to even for the session.
The rest of the weekend, I was never up or down more than about $15 total at any time, none of my cash tables were very active, had some nice hands, and would raise 3 times the big blind, and everyone folds. No big pots to speak of at all.
Then, last night, about 10pm, I was just about to pack it in for the night and head to bed, I said that I would play 1 more round on each of the 4 tables I was playing. In a matter of 5 minutes, I got aces 3 times, kings twice, AK about 4 times and hit 3 sets with small pocket pairs. With all of those hands, I won all but one hand (folded 88 with a AQ9 board). Was all-in with my KK vs. AK and it held, slowplayed a set of aces to get paid of decently on the river. Hit a straight with AK, top 2 pair with AK, and took blinds with most of the rest. All in all, I was up about $65 in 5 minutes. It was crazy. All that work all weekend, and variance finally hit me in the right spot. Was refreshing.
At the end of it all, my PS balance is still $20.05, and my FT balance is up to $553.20, so I have always worked myself back to my peak online roll of $600+. I am almost there, and looking to hit $1k on Full Tilt by the end of the month.
Thanks for reading, and will see you all at the tables.
Ryan
While all of that was going on, I decided to play an 18-man $10+1 sit-n-go. It went very well, and with not too much effort, I managed to get down to the final 4 as the 2nd stack. Once the money burst, the table was crazy, all-ins with middle pair, low flush draws. I ended up getting my money in with QQ vs. AK vs. AJ and luckily it held, and I had a massive chip lead which I held until the final 2. I actually ended up losing to chip lead to 2 coolers, and I was 3-1 down in chips. But a PF all-in with AA vs KQs and then the very next hand all-in with AJ vs A9 and that was that. $72 bucks, and I was back to even for the session.
The rest of the weekend, I was never up or down more than about $15 total at any time, none of my cash tables were very active, had some nice hands, and would raise 3 times the big blind, and everyone folds. No big pots to speak of at all.
Then, last night, about 10pm, I was just about to pack it in for the night and head to bed, I said that I would play 1 more round on each of the 4 tables I was playing. In a matter of 5 minutes, I got aces 3 times, kings twice, AK about 4 times and hit 3 sets with small pocket pairs. With all of those hands, I won all but one hand (folded 88 with a AQ9 board). Was all-in with my KK vs. AK and it held, slowplayed a set of aces to get paid of decently on the river. Hit a straight with AK, top 2 pair with AK, and took blinds with most of the rest. All in all, I was up about $65 in 5 minutes. It was crazy. All that work all weekend, and variance finally hit me in the right spot. Was refreshing.
At the end of it all, my PS balance is still $20.05, and my FT balance is up to $553.20, so I have always worked myself back to my peak online roll of $600+. I am almost there, and looking to hit $1k on Full Tilt by the end of the month.
Thanks for reading, and will see you all at the tables.
Ryan
Friday, November 2, 2007
Quickie update
FT Balance: $495.66
PS Balance: $20.05
Nothing exciting to report really... Had some time so I played the $5+R on PS yesterday, just got killed. Played conservatively, and waiting for a hand, because there were 2-3 guys pushing on every hand at my first table. Picked up KK about 20 minutes in, pushed, got called by KQos and T5os. KQ hits runner-runner for a four-flush to beat me. Whatever... Rebought, same shit. Rebought, same shit, rebought again, and.... Same shit. Gave that up.
Played a couple of MTTs on FT, was out in 4 hands after raises and re-raises PF, got in with my TT on a 9-high board against Q9 and he hits another 9 on the river. GG me. Then played another where I got all in 3-way AA vs. AK vs. 44. No good, GG me.
Played a little cash, couldn't seem to win a hand. Figured I'd just stop for the day and cut my losses. Come back tomorrow and see if things turn around.
Ryan
PS Balance: $20.05
Nothing exciting to report really... Had some time so I played the $5+R on PS yesterday, just got killed. Played conservatively, and waiting for a hand, because there were 2-3 guys pushing on every hand at my first table. Picked up KK about 20 minutes in, pushed, got called by KQos and T5os. KQ hits runner-runner for a four-flush to beat me. Whatever... Rebought, same shit. Rebought, same shit, rebought again, and.... Same shit. Gave that up.
Played a couple of MTTs on FT, was out in 4 hands after raises and re-raises PF, got in with my TT on a 9-high board against Q9 and he hits another 9 on the river. GG me. Then played another where I got all in 3-way AA vs. AK vs. 44. No good, GG me.
Played a little cash, couldn't seem to win a hand. Figured I'd just stop for the day and cut my losses. Come back tomorrow and see if things turn around.
Ryan
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Up, Down, Up, Down...
Things haven't changed much since last time, still grinding out $0.25/0.50 NL on FT post of my online playing time. Shot my roll on FT up to about $580 before experiencing a couple of coolers that cost me about $35 a piece. So I am back to basically where I was in the last post.
I wondered what other people felt about this, but do you find a difference in the play at this level on FT and Pokerstars? It seems as though the play of FT is much more, um, normal? I mean, there's no crazy play like open-pushing with any two cards, even open-pushing on flops, or anything crazy like that. Whether they are more knowledgeable players, I am not sure, but I definately would rate the play as less crazy. That being said, as I tight player like I am, crazy play sometimes work when I have a monster, not so much when I have second pair and continuously fold...
Sorry for the short post, but gotta get back to bed. I am sick right now and have been sleeping 13 hours a night and still am fatigued in the middle of the day. Talk to you all soon.
Good luck at the tables.
Ryan
I wondered what other people felt about this, but do you find a difference in the play at this level on FT and Pokerstars? It seems as though the play of FT is much more, um, normal? I mean, there's no crazy play like open-pushing with any two cards, even open-pushing on flops, or anything crazy like that. Whether they are more knowledgeable players, I am not sure, but I definately would rate the play as less crazy. That being said, as I tight player like I am, crazy play sometimes work when I have a monster, not so much when I have second pair and continuously fold...
Sorry for the short post, but gotta get back to bed. I am sick right now and have been sleeping 13 hours a night and still am fatigued in the middle of the day. Talk to you all soon.
Good luck at the tables.
Ryan
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel down...
FT Bankroll: $524.77
PS Bankroll: $41.26
Total Online Bankroll: $566.03
Well, after my run in the FT $750k, going back to grinding at the $0.25/0.50 level just doesn't seem to be as fun. I sit there thinking back to a hand about 60 people before the money bubble where I got all of my chips in against a raiser before me, with his AJ vs. my AK and my hand holding up. The thrill and excitement that came along with winning that hand, I don't know that I have experienced that, maybe ever, in online poker.
Now, I sit down this morning and 4-table some cash games on FT and mosey along with nothing really exciting happening, and then I win an $85 pot when all of the money gets in on a flop of Q94 when I am holding Q9suited when I call from the button against a raiser to $1.75 and another caller. Maybe a loose call, but it worked out well when the original better overshoves all-in with pocket aces and he doesn't catch up. Now that was fun, but the prospect of $130k for the winner of the FT tourney, that pot of gold out there was much more thrilling than this $85.
Because the FT tourney took away basically an entire Sunday afternoon with my kids, I will not be trying to qualify anymore for that tourney until at least next year, say May or June when my wife goes up to Canada on vacation with the kids for 5 weeks. But for this one time, man, what a thrill.
Good luck at the tables all, hope to see you all there, and good luck.
Ryan
PS Bankroll: $41.26
Total Online Bankroll: $566.03
Well, after my run in the FT $750k, going back to grinding at the $0.25/0.50 level just doesn't seem to be as fun. I sit there thinking back to a hand about 60 people before the money bubble where I got all of my chips in against a raiser before me, with his AJ vs. my AK and my hand holding up. The thrill and excitement that came along with winning that hand, I don't know that I have experienced that, maybe ever, in online poker.
Now, I sit down this morning and 4-table some cash games on FT and mosey along with nothing really exciting happening, and then I win an $85 pot when all of the money gets in on a flop of Q94 when I am holding Q9suited when I call from the button against a raiser to $1.75 and another caller. Maybe a loose call, but it worked out well when the original better overshoves all-in with pocket aces and he doesn't catch up. Now that was fun, but the prospect of $130k for the winner of the FT tourney, that pot of gold out there was much more thrilling than this $85.
Because the FT tourney took away basically an entire Sunday afternoon with my kids, I will not be trying to qualify anymore for that tourney until at least next year, say May or June when my wife goes up to Canada on vacation with the kids for 5 weeks. But for this one time, man, what a thrill.
Good luck at the tables all, hope to see you all there, and good luck.
Ryan
Monday, October 29, 2007
Busted in 420th
Well, this taught me a lot of things, especially being my first time in a big tournament like this. My final hand I should not have been in.
I crossed the money bubble in 180th out of 522 people with a healthy 23.5k in chips. I raised 3 times after the money bubble, once with nothing from the cutoff to steal blinds, and got re-raised all-in by someone with 15k in chips in the BB and folded. Then, I raised with AQdd from middle position a few hands later. The flop came 3 low spades, and eventually folded on the turn.
I was down to about 12.5k in chips, and called from the button with QJss (blinds were at 500/1000 I think, one guy raised to 2400, another guy called, so did I, and so did the BB. So there is 10k in the pot, I have 10k left. Flop comes J65 rainbow. I ended up with all of my money in, and one of the guys in middle position had hit a set of 5's. Good game me. I should not have been in the pot on the first place, but such is life.
It was a fun run for 4 1/2 hours, and I was happy to cash in my first Sunday major tournament. Thanks for all of those who railed.
See you all at the tables.
Ryan
I crossed the money bubble in 180th out of 522 people with a healthy 23.5k in chips. I raised 3 times after the money bubble, once with nothing from the cutoff to steal blinds, and got re-raised all-in by someone with 15k in chips in the BB and folded. Then, I raised with AQdd from middle position a few hands later. The flop came 3 low spades, and eventually folded on the turn.
I was down to about 12.5k in chips, and called from the button with QJss (blinds were at 500/1000 I think, one guy raised to 2400, another guy called, so did I, and so did the BB. So there is 10k in the pot, I have 10k left. Flop comes J65 rainbow. I ended up with all of my money in, and one of the guys in middle position had hit a set of 5's. Good game me. I should not have been in the pot on the first place, but such is life.
It was a fun run for 4 1/2 hours, and I was happy to cash in my first Sunday major tournament. Thanks for all of those who railed.
See you all at the tables.
Ryan
Sunday, October 28, 2007
$750k - 2nd break
Overall, a great hour for me, got seriously involved in 3 pots, and won them all. I am sitting on about 10.5k chips, avg stack is 6,800, and I am sitting around 300th with 1600 left, with 522 getting paid.
The first hand is not retrievable, because I got moved right after the hand, but I had JTdd on the button, it is limped in 3 spots, I call, SB completes, BB checks. I have about 2,600 at this point, short stack in the hand. Flop comes KdQh4d, I have an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw, BB bets 400 with about 1000 in the pot, folded to me, I raise to 1000, he moves all-in and I call, He shows KQos for 2 pair, I hit a diamond on the river to stay alive.
Now my stack is a healthier 5,500ish, when the following hand occurs:
Full Tilt Poker Game #3997198196: $750,000 Guarantee (29181959), Table 60 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:35:02 ET - 2007/10/28
Seat 1: Pechorin (6,950)
Seat 2: BarFine600 (3,180)
Seat 3: Shark point (8,375)
Seat 4: Shkn_Nt_Strd (2,730)
Seat 5: PJS JR (5,155)
Seat 6: JohnyDallas (14,697)
Seat 7: pfino (4,170)
Seat 8: luckychewy (2,210)
Seat 9: lolo163 (3,500)
Shark point posts the small blind of 60
Shkn_Nt_Strd posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR [6h 6s]
PJS JR calls 120
JohnyDallas folds
pfino folds
luckychewy has 15 seconds left to act
luckychewy raises to 420
lolo163 folds
Pechorin folds
BarFine600 folds
Shark point folds
Shkn_Nt_Strd has 15 seconds left to act
Shkn_Nt_Strd folds
PJS JR calls 300
*** FLOP *** [5c 8c 3s]
PJS JR checks
luckychewy has 15 seconds left to act
luckychewy bets 625
PJS JR raises to 2,040
luckychewy calls 1,165, and is all in
PJS JR shows [6h 6s]
luckychewy shows [As Kh]
Uncalled bet of 250 returned to PJS JR
*** TURN *** [5c 8c 3s] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [5c 8c 3s 9d] [Ts]
PJS JR shows a pair of Sixes
luckychewy shows Ace King high
PJS JR wins the pot (4,600) with a pair of Sixes
luckychewy stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,600 | Rake 0
Board: [5c 8c 3s 9d Ts]
Seat 1: Pechorin didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: BarFine600 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Shark point (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Shkn_Nt_Strd (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: PJS JR showed [6h 6s] and won (4,600) with a pair of Sixes
Seat 6: JohnyDallas didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: pfino didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: luckychewy showed [As Kh] and lost with Ace King high
Seat 9: lolo163 didn't bet (folded)
I was hoping to see a hand like AK, and my hand was lucky enough to hold up. A little while later:
Full Tilt Poker Game #3997324577: $750,000 Guarantee (29181959), Table 60 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:47:11 ET - 2007/10/28
Seat 1: Pechorin (5,310)
Seat 2: BarFine600 (3,420)
Seat 3: Shark point (7,535)
Seat 4: Shkn_Nt_Strd (2,790)
Seat 5: PJS JR (7,305)
Seat 6: JohnyDallas (16,872)
Seat 7: pfino (4,650)
Seat 8: KwaziWabbit (6,692)
Seat 9: lolo163 (3,080)
Pechorin posts the small blind of 80
BarFine600 posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR [Js Jh]
Shark point folds
Shkn_Nt_Strd folds
PJS JR raises to 420
JohnyDallas folds
pfino folds
KwaziWabbit folds
lolo163 folds
Pechorin has 15 seconds left to act
Pechorin calls 340
BarFine600 folds
*** FLOP *** [Td 2c 3h]
Pechorin checks
PJS JR bets 960
Pechorin calls 960
*** TURN *** [Td 2c 3h] [9s]
Pechorin checks
PJS JR bets 5,925, and is all in
Pechorin folds
Uncalled bet of 5,925 returned to PJS JR
PJS JR mucks
PJS JR wins the pot (2,920)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,920 | Rake 0
Board: [Td 2c 3h 9s]
Seat 1: Pechorin (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 2: BarFine600 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Shark point didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Shkn_Nt_Strd didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: PJS JR collected (2,920), mucked
Seat 6: JohnyDallas didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: pfino didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: KwaziWabbit didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: lolo163 (button) didn't bet (folded)
I realise my push on the turn screams overpair, but I just did not want to check to check-raise and have my opponent check behind (which he most likely would have) only to see an A or K on the river to question whether my hand is good.
Lost one hand before the break when I raised with 77 in middle position and got re-raised all-in by the SB who had about 3,800 chips. I decided to fold after much contemplation, as I did not feel like racing against that many chips. Maybe I was dominated, who knows. But losing would have knocked my down from 10.5k to about 7k. Maybe it was weak, but I didn't care to risk it at this point.
Off the the next level, 120/240 (25 ante), will let you know how I fare.
Ryan
The first hand is not retrievable, because I got moved right after the hand, but I had JTdd on the button, it is limped in 3 spots, I call, SB completes, BB checks. I have about 2,600 at this point, short stack in the hand. Flop comes KdQh4d, I have an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw, BB bets 400 with about 1000 in the pot, folded to me, I raise to 1000, he moves all-in and I call, He shows KQos for 2 pair, I hit a diamond on the river to stay alive.
Now my stack is a healthier 5,500ish, when the following hand occurs:
Full Tilt Poker Game #3997198196: $750,000 Guarantee (29181959), Table 60 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:35:02 ET - 2007/10/28
Seat 1: Pechorin (6,950)
Seat 2: BarFine600 (3,180)
Seat 3: Shark point (8,375)
Seat 4: Shkn_Nt_Strd (2,730)
Seat 5: PJS JR (5,155)
Seat 6: JohnyDallas (14,697)
Seat 7: pfino (4,170)
Seat 8: luckychewy (2,210)
Seat 9: lolo163 (3,500)
Shark point posts the small blind of 60
Shkn_Nt_Strd posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR [6h 6s]
PJS JR calls 120
JohnyDallas folds
pfino folds
luckychewy has 15 seconds left to act
luckychewy raises to 420
lolo163 folds
Pechorin folds
BarFine600 folds
Shark point folds
Shkn_Nt_Strd has 15 seconds left to act
Shkn_Nt_Strd folds
PJS JR calls 300
*** FLOP *** [5c 8c 3s]
PJS JR checks
luckychewy has 15 seconds left to act
luckychewy bets 625
PJS JR raises to 2,040
luckychewy calls 1,165, and is all in
PJS JR shows [6h 6s]
luckychewy shows [As Kh]
Uncalled bet of 250 returned to PJS JR
*** TURN *** [5c 8c 3s] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [5c 8c 3s 9d] [Ts]
PJS JR shows a pair of Sixes
luckychewy shows Ace King high
PJS JR wins the pot (4,600) with a pair of Sixes
luckychewy stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,600 | Rake 0
Board: [5c 8c 3s 9d Ts]
Seat 1: Pechorin didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: BarFine600 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Shark point (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Shkn_Nt_Strd (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: PJS JR showed [6h 6s] and won (4,600) with a pair of Sixes
Seat 6: JohnyDallas didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: pfino didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: luckychewy showed [As Kh] and lost with Ace King high
Seat 9: lolo163 didn't bet (folded)
I was hoping to see a hand like AK, and my hand was lucky enough to hold up. A little while later:
Full Tilt Poker Game #3997324577: $750,000 Guarantee (29181959), Table 60 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:47:11 ET - 2007/10/28
Seat 1: Pechorin (5,310)
Seat 2: BarFine600 (3,420)
Seat 3: Shark point (7,535)
Seat 4: Shkn_Nt_Strd (2,790)
Seat 5: PJS JR (7,305)
Seat 6: JohnyDallas (16,872)
Seat 7: pfino (4,650)
Seat 8: KwaziWabbit (6,692)
Seat 9: lolo163 (3,080)
Pechorin posts the small blind of 80
BarFine600 posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR [Js Jh]
Shark point folds
Shkn_Nt_Strd folds
PJS JR raises to 420
JohnyDallas folds
pfino folds
KwaziWabbit folds
lolo163 folds
Pechorin has 15 seconds left to act
Pechorin calls 340
BarFine600 folds
*** FLOP *** [Td 2c 3h]
Pechorin checks
PJS JR bets 960
Pechorin calls 960
*** TURN *** [Td 2c 3h] [9s]
Pechorin checks
PJS JR bets 5,925, and is all in
Pechorin folds
Uncalled bet of 5,925 returned to PJS JR
PJS JR mucks
PJS JR wins the pot (2,920)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,920 | Rake 0
Board: [Td 2c 3h 9s]
Seat 1: Pechorin (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 2: BarFine600 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Shark point didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Shkn_Nt_Strd didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: PJS JR collected (2,920), mucked
Seat 6: JohnyDallas didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: pfino didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: KwaziWabbit didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: lolo163 (button) didn't bet (folded)
I realise my push on the turn screams overpair, but I just did not want to check to check-raise and have my opponent check behind (which he most likely would have) only to see an A or K on the river to question whether my hand is good.
Lost one hand before the break when I raised with 77 in middle position and got re-raised all-in by the SB who had about 3,800 chips. I decided to fold after much contemplation, as I did not feel like racing against that many chips. Maybe I was dominated, who knows. But losing would have knocked my down from 10.5k to about 7k. Maybe it was weak, but I didn't care to risk it at this point.
Off the the next level, 120/240 (25 ante), will let you know how I fare.
Ryan
50FTP = $216
After reading Loretta8's blog on turning 50FTP into a $750k ticket, I thought I would try the same. The first couple 50FTP tournaments went poorly, but I won the third. The satellite into the tourney was not easy. I actually was chipleader with about 20 left, then lost a huge all-in PF with my KK vs. AA. I made a valiant comeback, and ended up winning, don't really know how, but I did.
I am writing this just after the first break of the tourney, and I am at 3200 chips from a starting stack of 3000. Won a couple of pots, nothing over 200 or 300 chips. Just kind of hanging around, because it seems as though the blinds are very low compared to stack size. Now that we get into the 2nd hour, things change a little.
I will post an update as I can during the breaks. Thanks for railing, if you are.
Ryan
I am writing this just after the first break of the tourney, and I am at 3200 chips from a starting stack of 3000. Won a couple of pots, nothing over 200 or 300 chips. Just kind of hanging around, because it seems as though the blinds are very low compared to stack size. Now that we get into the 2nd hour, things change a little.
I will post an update as I can during the breaks. Thanks for railing, if you are.
Ryan
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Back down to Earth...
PS Bankroll: $33.59
FT Bankroll: $305.11
Total Online Bankroll: $338.70
Well...
My run of good fortune is pretty much over. I guess I am not the poker player I thought I might be. My Pokerstars account has dwindled by taking a series of beats, being card dead, and then proceeding to go on a major tilt. At one point, I lost over $75 on 2 successive hands having AJ and AQ, and open-pushing with both because I was steaming, and getting called once by KK and the other time by AA and losing of course.
When I get some time, I am going to play a few MTTs with my remaining money, maybe a $5 or $10 and see if I can make a deep run and build the bankroll back up. If not, I probably won't deposit any more on PS.
My FT bankroll was as high as about $350. I then proceeded to lose another series of beats, some bad, some not so bad. 4-tabling it the other day, I was all-in 3 times within 5 minutes with KK, AA and JJ, to be called with inferior hands each time and losing all 3 for about $100 worth of beats. The bankroll went all the way down to about $130. Almost back to where I started.
In the last 3 days, my luck has come back a little, and the very few times I have gotten all of my money in, I have been a favorite and won. I also flopped flushes twice with small suited connectors and got paid off both times, once with the guy holding A-rag with the A of the flush cards, and the other time with TPTK, and had him drawing dead on the turn. So the FT bankroll is back to healthy, will be playing cash there, and an MTT or two on PS when I have a few hours to spare, which is basically never at this point. Work 50-60 hours a week, and then working with my wife after hours and being with my 3 kids, that fills up my day and then some. I really don't want to play tired, even as much as I am addicted to the game.
I don't know many people on FT, although I have been railing Loretta8 and Tony Eusebio without them knowing. They are really the only 2 people I know there, and I read their blogs, so I thought I would see how they were doing. Good luck to them, and the rest of you at the tables.
Ryan
FT Bankroll: $305.11
Total Online Bankroll: $338.70
Well...
My run of good fortune is pretty much over. I guess I am not the poker player I thought I might be. My Pokerstars account has dwindled by taking a series of beats, being card dead, and then proceeding to go on a major tilt. At one point, I lost over $75 on 2 successive hands having AJ and AQ, and open-pushing with both because I was steaming, and getting called once by KK and the other time by AA and losing of course.
When I get some time, I am going to play a few MTTs with my remaining money, maybe a $5 or $10 and see if I can make a deep run and build the bankroll back up. If not, I probably won't deposit any more on PS.
My FT bankroll was as high as about $350. I then proceeded to lose another series of beats, some bad, some not so bad. 4-tabling it the other day, I was all-in 3 times within 5 minutes with KK, AA and JJ, to be called with inferior hands each time and losing all 3 for about $100 worth of beats. The bankroll went all the way down to about $130. Almost back to where I started.
In the last 3 days, my luck has come back a little, and the very few times I have gotten all of my money in, I have been a favorite and won. I also flopped flushes twice with small suited connectors and got paid off both times, once with the guy holding A-rag with the A of the flush cards, and the other time with TPTK, and had him drawing dead on the turn. So the FT bankroll is back to healthy, will be playing cash there, and an MTT or two on PS when I have a few hours to spare, which is basically never at this point. Work 50-60 hours a week, and then working with my wife after hours and being with my 3 kids, that fills up my day and then some. I really don't want to play tired, even as much as I am addicted to the game.
I don't know many people on FT, although I have been railing Loretta8 and Tony Eusebio without them knowing. They are really the only 2 people I know there, and I read their blogs, so I thought I would see how they were doing. Good luck to them, and the rest of you at the tables.
Ryan
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Holy Variance...
Ending PS Balance: $305.73
Ending FT Balance: $335.21
Total Online Bankroll: $640.94
First of all, just to reference to my previous posts:
1) Lost over $100 yesterday 4-tabling on FT, then later on PS. It was as though I couldn't even buy a pot. Got to be at the end, I tilted off some money on a KKT4 board with 77, then when the 9 came on the river, I pushed, and of course the guy called with AK.
2) PS says I don't qualify for the bloggers tourney. That's ok really, don't know if my schedule would have fit to play anyways...
To my post of the day:
After getting poor results 4-tabling it yesterday, I was going to take a break. Yah right. I can't take a break, I love playing poker too much. So I hopped on this morning and decided to 2-table it for an hour or so before work. Got in about 200 hands between the 2 tables with wonderful results. I played 3 big pots and won all 3. (Playing $0.25/0.50)
Pot 1: I have 77 on the button, middle position raised to $1.75, I call, SB and BB both call. Flop is 7s4s3s. Pretty good flop for me, but obviously I am still not comfortable with 3 spades out there. It is checked to me, with $7 in the pot, I put out a $3 feeler bet to see what's up. If someone calls, I figure the As is out there. The SB folds, BB now raises to $8 (with $15 behind), middle position calls. $hit. Someone's got the flush, so the board has to pair. Of course I call the $5 after taking quite a bit of time. The turn is a beautiful 4c. BB immediately moves all-in, middle position thinks for a good 30 seconds, and as I am yelling CALL CALL CALL to the monitor, he folds, of course I call and scoop the pot when the BB shows 9s8s for the flopped flush. Nice $60+ dollar pot.
Pot 2: I have KK in middle position, and after 1 limper, I raise to $2.50. Late position calls, as well as a very loose BB (who has everyone covered), early limper folds. Flop comes 933 rainbow. I like this flop a lot. With about $8 in the pot, I bet $3 making it look like a standard continuation bet. Late position calls, and the BB raises to $14. It could be argued that I should have thought about it a little more, but because he was such a loose player, I put him on K9 or A9, no way he slowplayed AA on me, I insta-shove for my remaining $30ish, late position folds and BB insta-calls. Oh oh. Turn 4, River 3. I scoop the pot when BB shows T9os?
Pot 3: I was just about to head up and shower, and decided to take one more orbit around the only table I had left open. I middle position, I find 9h9d, after the first 3 players limp. Now, some would say raise, but if I raise to $2 or $2.50, the donks say 'POT ODDS, had to call!' If I raise to $4 or $5, I get no action. I decide to limp, and by the time we see the flop, there are 7 players. Eeeesh. My mood changes when the flop comes Q93 rainbow. Check, check, guy behind me bets out $5 (with $18 behind) into a $3.50 pot. I thought that was strange, definately doesn't have JT, maybe QJ or Q9, who knows, anyways, I call, everyone else folds. Turn is a J, he now checks. I bet $7, and he calls after thinking about it for a moment. He's got $11 left, so I put him all-in after and Ace hits on the river. He seems to relunctantly call, and mucks. I look at the HH and he has 33 for a set of 3's. He played it as though he thought he was behind the whole way, which he was. I still managed to get all of his money.
So, life has been restored to my bankroll. The goal is to hit $1k by the end of the month. If I can achieve that, I might reward myself with a buy-in to a $50-$100 tourney and see if I can really give myself a boost with a deep finish. If not, we will just keep pluggin' away at 50NL and see what happens.
Thanks for ready, see you at the tables.
Ryan
Ending FT Balance: $335.21
Total Online Bankroll: $640.94
First of all, just to reference to my previous posts:
1) Lost over $100 yesterday 4-tabling on FT, then later on PS. It was as though I couldn't even buy a pot. Got to be at the end, I tilted off some money on a KKT4 board with 77, then when the 9 came on the river, I pushed, and of course the guy called with AK.
2) PS says I don't qualify for the bloggers tourney. That's ok really, don't know if my schedule would have fit to play anyways...
To my post of the day:
After getting poor results 4-tabling it yesterday, I was going to take a break. Yah right. I can't take a break, I love playing poker too much. So I hopped on this morning and decided to 2-table it for an hour or so before work. Got in about 200 hands between the 2 tables with wonderful results. I played 3 big pots and won all 3. (Playing $0.25/0.50)
Pot 1: I have 77 on the button, middle position raised to $1.75, I call, SB and BB both call. Flop is 7s4s3s. Pretty good flop for me, but obviously I am still not comfortable with 3 spades out there. It is checked to me, with $7 in the pot, I put out a $3 feeler bet to see what's up. If someone calls, I figure the As is out there. The SB folds, BB now raises to $8 (with $15 behind), middle position calls. $hit. Someone's got the flush, so the board has to pair. Of course I call the $5 after taking quite a bit of time. The turn is a beautiful 4c. BB immediately moves all-in, middle position thinks for a good 30 seconds, and as I am yelling CALL CALL CALL to the monitor, he folds, of course I call and scoop the pot when the BB shows 9s8s for the flopped flush. Nice $60+ dollar pot.
Pot 2: I have KK in middle position, and after 1 limper, I raise to $2.50. Late position calls, as well as a very loose BB (who has everyone covered), early limper folds. Flop comes 933 rainbow. I like this flop a lot. With about $8 in the pot, I bet $3 making it look like a standard continuation bet. Late position calls, and the BB raises to $14. It could be argued that I should have thought about it a little more, but because he was such a loose player, I put him on K9 or A9, no way he slowplayed AA on me, I insta-shove for my remaining $30ish, late position folds and BB insta-calls. Oh oh. Turn 4, River 3. I scoop the pot when BB shows T9os?
Pot 3: I was just about to head up and shower, and decided to take one more orbit around the only table I had left open. I middle position, I find 9h9d, after the first 3 players limp. Now, some would say raise, but if I raise to $2 or $2.50, the donks say 'POT ODDS, had to call!' If I raise to $4 or $5, I get no action. I decide to limp, and by the time we see the flop, there are 7 players. Eeeesh. My mood changes when the flop comes Q93 rainbow. Check, check, guy behind me bets out $5 (with $18 behind) into a $3.50 pot. I thought that was strange, definately doesn't have JT, maybe QJ or Q9, who knows, anyways, I call, everyone else folds. Turn is a J, he now checks. I bet $7, and he calls after thinking about it for a moment. He's got $11 left, so I put him all-in after and Ace hits on the river. He seems to relunctantly call, and mucks. I look at the HH and he has 33 for a set of 3's. He played it as though he thought he was behind the whole way, which he was. I still managed to get all of his money.
So, life has been restored to my bankroll. The goal is to hit $1k by the end of the month. If I can achieve that, I might reward myself with a buy-in to a $50-$100 tourney and see if I can really give myself a boost with a deep finish. If not, we will just keep pluggin' away at 50NL and see what happens.
Thanks for ready, see you at the tables.
Ryan
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
What happened??
Ending PS Balance: $201.33
Ending FT Balance: $335.21
Total Online Bankroll: $536.54
Bad, bad bad bad bad bad bad.
Bad.
Details later. But it was baaaaaaaaad.
Ryan
Ending FT Balance: $335.21
Total Online Bankroll: $536.54
Bad, bad bad bad bad bad bad.
Bad.
Details later. But it was baaaaaaaaad.
Ryan
Monday, October 8, 2007
Wild Weekend!
Ending PS Balance: $242.55
Ending FT Balance: $401.86
Total Online Bankroll: $644.41
Was a crazy weekend to day the least. Got in about 3000 hands of 50NL buying in for $30. I don't know if it is fear that prevents me from buying in for the full amount. I guess with my roll as it stands right now, I can stand to lost 2 buyins at $30, but two @ $50 just seems to be too big of a risk. I tend to keep my pots small, pick up blinds when I can, so I don't really feel the need to be a big stack.
Started out Saturday morning on Pokerstars playing 4 tables. After about 700 hands, I was up on 2 tables, down on 2, basically even for the session. I was getting pretty bored, and my kids were about to get up. (my wife sleeps in until at least 10 on the weekends, so my poker time is usually between 5am and 8am when the kids get up.) Anyways, I figured it was time to get aggressive or quit for the day. I decided the following hand was an opportunity for some post-flop agression:
In the cut-off, I get dealt 8d7d, I have really enjoyed playing more suited connectors lately, they definately have good value. 3 limpers before me, I decided to limp and see what happens. Blinds check, 6 people to the flop, all with stacks between $25-45:
Flop: 8h7hKc There's $3 in the pot, and the BB puts in a $2 bet, 2 callers before me. So, there is $9 in the pot, 5 people left in the pot. Do I put in a raise now? Hope someone has AK or KQ and pays me off? There are some cards that I definately don't want to see on the turn, so I take my time before putting in a raise to $7. Small blind now re-raises to $17, which represents 60% of his stack, so he is committed for sure. BB goes all-in for $29 total, two previous callers fold, I call all-in for about $27 and the SB calls as well.
SB: AcAs
BB: AhKh
Man, was I sweating those last 2 cards, which put a 3rd heart on board (2h) on the turn, but a lovely 8c on the river to complete my boat and take the main pot of about $85. Of course, the small blind then goes crazy about me playing 87, only to get $hit from the rest of the table about limping with Aces in the SB with 5 other players. Needless to say, it was a nice boost.
So I ended the morning session up about $60.
On Sunday morning, I four-tabled again PS, and was up about $80 collectively on all 4 tables by playing no big pots. I think the biggest pot I won is when I called an all-in bet with QQ from a short-stack pusher who had AK. Queens held up for a $24-25 pot. Unfortunately, right before I ended my session, I raised in late position with Ah8h, only caller was the BB. He checked a flop of JT7 with 2 hearts. I put in a bet of $3 which he called. Turn comes an off-suit 9. I'm excited. So excited that I turn blinders on when he raises my bet on the turn, as we get all the money in (I had about $42 total when the hand started). I figured I was on a freeroll until the river is a blank and he turns over KhQh for the nuts. #$*&%@*!$^. That cut my profit in 1/2, but still a respectable $40-45 profit for that session.
Later on Sunday, I tried my luck at a $20+2 45-man SNG on FT, which I busted out in 31st after getting no cards, and losing a race with AJ suited vs. 66. Crap. Then hopped on the $0.25/$0.50 cash tables on FT and did very nicely. Was lucky to get All-in preflop twice, once with QQ vs. TT and the other with KK vs. QQ.
Anyways, I've been running, good, let's hope it keeps going. Good luck to everyone, hope to see you at the tables.
Ryan
Ending FT Balance: $401.86
Total Online Bankroll: $644.41
Was a crazy weekend to day the least. Got in about 3000 hands of 50NL buying in for $30. I don't know if it is fear that prevents me from buying in for the full amount. I guess with my roll as it stands right now, I can stand to lost 2 buyins at $30, but two @ $50 just seems to be too big of a risk. I tend to keep my pots small, pick up blinds when I can, so I don't really feel the need to be a big stack.
Started out Saturday morning on Pokerstars playing 4 tables. After about 700 hands, I was up on 2 tables, down on 2, basically even for the session. I was getting pretty bored, and my kids were about to get up. (my wife sleeps in until at least 10 on the weekends, so my poker time is usually between 5am and 8am when the kids get up.) Anyways, I figured it was time to get aggressive or quit for the day. I decided the following hand was an opportunity for some post-flop agression:
In the cut-off, I get dealt 8d7d, I have really enjoyed playing more suited connectors lately, they definately have good value. 3 limpers before me, I decided to limp and see what happens. Blinds check, 6 people to the flop, all with stacks between $25-45:
Flop: 8h7hKc There's $3 in the pot, and the BB puts in a $2 bet, 2 callers before me. So, there is $9 in the pot, 5 people left in the pot. Do I put in a raise now? Hope someone has AK or KQ and pays me off? There are some cards that I definately don't want to see on the turn, so I take my time before putting in a raise to $7. Small blind now re-raises to $17, which represents 60% of his stack, so he is committed for sure. BB goes all-in for $29 total, two previous callers fold, I call all-in for about $27 and the SB calls as well.
SB: AcAs
BB: AhKh
Man, was I sweating those last 2 cards, which put a 3rd heart on board (2h) on the turn, but a lovely 8c on the river to complete my boat and take the main pot of about $85. Of course, the small blind then goes crazy about me playing 87, only to get $hit from the rest of the table about limping with Aces in the SB with 5 other players. Needless to say, it was a nice boost.
So I ended the morning session up about $60.
On Sunday morning, I four-tabled again PS, and was up about $80 collectively on all 4 tables by playing no big pots. I think the biggest pot I won is when I called an all-in bet with QQ from a short-stack pusher who had AK. Queens held up for a $24-25 pot. Unfortunately, right before I ended my session, I raised in late position with Ah8h, only caller was the BB. He checked a flop of JT7 with 2 hearts. I put in a bet of $3 which he called. Turn comes an off-suit 9. I'm excited. So excited that I turn blinders on when he raises my bet on the turn, as we get all the money in (I had about $42 total when the hand started). I figured I was on a freeroll until the river is a blank and he turns over KhQh for the nuts. #$*&%@*!$^. That cut my profit in 1/2, but still a respectable $40-45 profit for that session.
Later on Sunday, I tried my luck at a $20+2 45-man SNG on FT, which I busted out in 31st after getting no cards, and losing a race with AJ suited vs. 66. Crap. Then hopped on the $0.25/$0.50 cash tables on FT and did very nicely. Was lucky to get All-in preflop twice, once with QQ vs. TT and the other with KK vs. QQ.
Anyways, I've been running, good, let's hope it keeps going. Good luck to everyone, hope to see you at the tables.
Ryan
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Pokerstars!!!
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!
This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.
Registration code: 8476253
Do I qualify? I don't know, I started my blog before seeing the ad, should that be enough to be able to play? I hope so.
Down, Down, then back up...
Current PS Balance: $137.26
Current FT Balance: $358.44
Total Online BR: $495.70
Work has been crazy lately, and it's been tough to get 3 minutes to post anything. The summary of the last week:
PS Balance has fluctuated between $100 and $230 in the last week. Taken some pretty rough beats, had aces cracked AI PF against kings, queens, jacks and 6-3 suited.
FT has gone much better. Took a $30 buy-in on a $0.25/$0.50 cash table up to $110 by rivering a flush, a straight, and then getting AI PF against TT with my QQ and having it hold up.
Early this morning, I played a MTT with 350ish people in it and made the final table. Got lucky with 14/15 players to go by getting all-in as a short stack with A5, Q4 and J8. Even though each was a slim PF favorite, having them all hold up was nice. 10th and 9th place went out simultaneously, then down to 8 with 15k chips in the pot and me having 9k left. 4 players, and the flop came out 6h2h2c. I was holding AhTh and didn't have anything else to do but push. The chipleader called my bet with 45os. A non-heart 5 on the river sealed my fate. Was a nice $190 cash, but with $1,850ish for first, I was disappointed.
That being said, my $200 initial bankroll is up close to $500, so we are on the right track.
Thanks for reading, and see you at the tables!
Ryan
Current FT Balance: $358.44
Total Online BR: $495.70
Work has been crazy lately, and it's been tough to get 3 minutes to post anything. The summary of the last week:
PS Balance has fluctuated between $100 and $230 in the last week. Taken some pretty rough beats, had aces cracked AI PF against kings, queens, jacks and 6-3 suited.
FT has gone much better. Took a $30 buy-in on a $0.25/$0.50 cash table up to $110 by rivering a flush, a straight, and then getting AI PF against TT with my QQ and having it hold up.
Early this morning, I played a MTT with 350ish people in it and made the final table. Got lucky with 14/15 players to go by getting all-in as a short stack with A5, Q4 and J8. Even though each was a slim PF favorite, having them all hold up was nice. 10th and 9th place went out simultaneously, then down to 8 with 15k chips in the pot and me having 9k left. 4 players, and the flop came out 6h2h2c. I was holding AhTh and didn't have anything else to do but push. The chipleader called my bet with 45os. A non-heart 5 on the river sealed my fate. Was a nice $190 cash, but with $1,850ish for first, I was disappointed.
That being said, my $200 initial bankroll is up close to $500, so we are on the right track.
Thanks for reading, and see you at the tables!
Ryan
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Luck - Good and Bad
The discussion of poker being a game of luck versus a game of skill has gone on for a long time now with all of the new rules being set down, internet gaming laws, etc. I have been on the fence regarding this issue. My favorite quote has always been:
"Luck - when preparation meets opportunity"
Simply stated, you have to be good to get lucky, on the long term. Anyone can get lucky once. Continuing to get lucky, and to capitalize on those opportunities that arise requires skill.
My dad always liked to describe poker as a game of timing. It is tough to get paid off with a monster unless someone else has one too. I thought about that a lot while playing the last 2 days. I wanted to see the %s of if I got paid off with my big pre-flop hands (AQ+, TT+) and then my big post-flop hands (if I flop a nut-flush draw or open-ended straight draw, or flop 2-pair, that sort of thing).
The results were pretty astonishing over a 4 1/2 hour session playing 25NL (412 hands):
Hand # times dealt Total Profit
AA 2 $1.15
KK 3 $5.50
QQ 2 -$17.50 (Flopped set of Q's vs. set of K's)
JJ 1 $0.35 (picked up blinds)
TT 4 -$4.55
AK, AQ 7 $3.25
So, all of these preminum hands, and playing them, I am down $11.65 for the session. Then we look at the results from other playable, but not premium hands:
Hand # times dealt Total Profit
88 4 $24.75 (Once all in on a flop of AQ8, villain had AQ)
99 3 -$2.20
22-77 17 $2.25 (no flopped sets)
Suited Aces 8 $1.10
T8s 4 $8.25 (I track this one because it's my favorite hand)
As you can see from this breakdown, it's not about winning with the big hands. You aren't going to really win with them unless someone else has a really big hand too. The beauty with some of these smaller hands is that they are concealed from your opponent, and allow you to win big pot when the right cards come up.
So, is poker about luck, skill, or timing? It's a bit of all three, but if the timing is not right, if your David does not have its Goliath, then you just ain't gonna get paid.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far. See you on the felt.
Ryan
"Luck - when preparation meets opportunity"
Simply stated, you have to be good to get lucky, on the long term. Anyone can get lucky once. Continuing to get lucky, and to capitalize on those opportunities that arise requires skill.
My dad always liked to describe poker as a game of timing. It is tough to get paid off with a monster unless someone else has one too. I thought about that a lot while playing the last 2 days. I wanted to see the %s of if I got paid off with my big pre-flop hands (AQ+, TT+) and then my big post-flop hands (if I flop a nut-flush draw or open-ended straight draw, or flop 2-pair, that sort of thing).
The results were pretty astonishing over a 4 1/2 hour session playing 25NL (412 hands):
Hand # times dealt Total Profit
AA 2 $1.15
KK 3 $5.50
QQ 2 -$17.50 (Flopped set of Q's vs. set of K's)
JJ 1 $0.35 (picked up blinds)
TT 4 -$4.55
AK, AQ 7 $3.25
So, all of these preminum hands, and playing them, I am down $11.65 for the session. Then we look at the results from other playable, but not premium hands:
Hand # times dealt Total Profit
88 4 $24.75 (Once all in on a flop of AQ8, villain had AQ)
99 3 -$2.20
22-77 17 $2.25 (no flopped sets)
Suited Aces 8 $1.10
T8s 4 $8.25 (I track this one because it's my favorite hand)
As you can see from this breakdown, it's not about winning with the big hands. You aren't going to really win with them unless someone else has a really big hand too. The beauty with some of these smaller hands is that they are concealed from your opponent, and allow you to win big pot when the right cards come up.
So, is poker about luck, skill, or timing? It's a bit of all three, but if the timing is not right, if your David does not have its Goliath, then you just ain't gonna get paid.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far. See you on the felt.
Ryan
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Smooth sailing... for now...
Starting PS Bankroll: $174.55
Ending PS Bankroll: $195.85
Profit: $21.30
Here are some of the important hands of the day:
PokerStars Game #12202149180: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/09/22 - 09:35:14 (ET)
Table 'Serpens' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Atope ($11.70 in chips)
Seat 2: PJS JR. ($14.45 in chips)
Seat 3: le_lunatic ($9.20 in chips)
Seat 4: lucky_davidi ($36.05 in chips)
Seat 5: crystalbalz ($21.60 in chips)
Seat 6: Romfour ($30.15 in chips)
Romfour: posts small blind $0.10
Atope: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [8h Th]
PJS JR.: raises $0.75 to $1 (bit of a loose raise, but T8s is my favorite hand)
le_lunatic: calls $1
lucky_davidi: folds
crystalbalz: folds
Romfour: folds
Atope: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ts 3d 6h]
PJS JR.: bets $1
le_lunatic: calls $1
*** TURN *** [Ts 3d 6h] [8s]
Perfect turn card for me for sure, I love T8s
PJS JR.: bets $4
le_lunatic: calls $4
*** RIVER *** [Ts 3d 6h 8s] [2h]
PJS JR.: bets $8.45 and is all-in
le_lunatic: calls $3.20 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PJS JR.: shows [8h Th] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
le_lunatic: mucks hand
PJS JR. collected $17.85 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $18.75 | Rake $0.90
Board [Ts 3d 6h 8s 2h]
Seat 1: Atope (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: PJS JR. showed [8h Th] and won ($17.85) with two pair, Tens and Eights
Seat 3: le_lunatic mucked [Tc Jc]
Seat 4: lucky_davidi folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: crystalbalz (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Romfour (small blind) folded before Flop
Then later...
PokerStars Game #12207359800: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/09/22 - 15:25:47 (ET)
Table 'Lesya' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: PinniePoo ($23.20 in chips)
Seat 2: PJS JR. ($25.75 in chips)
Seat 3: dginchico ($9.75 in chips)
Seat 5: Hadaoui ($28.55 in chips)
Seat 6: 2gr8u ($33 in chips)
PJS JR.: posts small blind $0.10
dginchico: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [Qd Ad]
Hadaoui: folds
2gr8u: folds
PinniePoo: folds
PJS JR.: raises $1 to $1.25
dginchico: raises $1 to $2.25
PJS JR.: calls $1
*** FLOP *** [6d 7s 2d]
PJS JR.: bets $7.50
dginchico: calls $7.50 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [6d 7s 2d] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [6d 7s 2d 4s] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PJS JR.: shows [Qd Ad] (high card Ace)
Didn't hit my outs, but apparently I didn't need to
dginchico: mucks hand
PJS JR. collected $18.55 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $19.50 | Rake $0.95
Board [6d 7s 2d 4s 5c]
Seat 1: PinniePoo (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: PJS JR. (small blind) showed [Qd Ad] and won ($18.55) with high card Ace
Seat 3: dginchico (big blind) mucked [Kc Td]
Seat 5: Hadaoui folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: 2gr8u folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Then, this was a nice little hand as well...
PokerStars Game #12208777379: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/09/22 - 16:44:29 (ET)
Table 'Liriope II' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: PJS JR. ($25.30 in chips)
Seat 2: Seikeau ($24.40 in chips)
Seat 4: Insoxenated ($23.95 in chips)
Seat 5: vettejunkie ($58.50 in chips)
Seat 6: love Fruits ($23.25 in chips)
stavar77 will be allowed to play after the button
Insoxenated: posts small blind $0.10
vettejunkie: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [7d 7h]
love Fruits has timed out
love Fruits: folds
love Fruits is sitting out
PJS JR.: raises $0.50 to $0.75
Seikeau: folds
Insoxenated: raises $1.25 to $2
vettejunkie: folds
PJS JR.: calls $1.25
*** FLOP *** [2h 2d 2s]
Insoxenated: bets $2
PJS JR.: calls $2
*** TURN *** [2h 2d 2s] [9s]
Insoxenated: bets $1
PJS JR.: raises $4 to $5
Insoxenated: folds
PJS JR. collected $9.80 from pot
PJS JR.: doesn't show hand
Was hoping for a little more action, maybe he folded 33-66?
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $10.25 | Rake $0.45
Board [2h 2d 2s 9s]
Seat 1: PJS JR. collected ($9.80)
Seat 2: Seikeau (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Insoxenated (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 5: vettejunkie (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: love Fruits folded before Flop (didn't bet)
I tried to keep my hands small unless I had a monster, which I rarely had. Anyways, it was a good day overall... we will see you tomorrow.
See you at the tables. Ryan
Ending PS Bankroll: $195.85
Profit: $21.30
Here are some of the important hands of the day:
PokerStars Game #12202149180: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/09/22 - 09:35:14 (ET)
Table 'Serpens' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Atope ($11.70 in chips)
Seat 2: PJS JR. ($14.45 in chips)
Seat 3: le_lunatic ($9.20 in chips)
Seat 4: lucky_davidi ($36.05 in chips)
Seat 5: crystalbalz ($21.60 in chips)
Seat 6: Romfour ($30.15 in chips)
Romfour: posts small blind $0.10
Atope: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [8h Th]
PJS JR.: raises $0.75 to $1 (bit of a loose raise, but T8s is my favorite hand)
le_lunatic: calls $1
lucky_davidi: folds
crystalbalz: folds
Romfour: folds
Atope: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ts 3d 6h]
PJS JR.: bets $1
le_lunatic: calls $1
*** TURN *** [Ts 3d 6h] [8s]
Perfect turn card for me for sure, I love T8s
PJS JR.: bets $4
le_lunatic: calls $4
*** RIVER *** [Ts 3d 6h 8s] [2h]
PJS JR.: bets $8.45 and is all-in
le_lunatic: calls $3.20 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PJS JR.: shows [8h Th] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
le_lunatic: mucks hand
PJS JR. collected $17.85 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $18.75 | Rake $0.90
Board [Ts 3d 6h 8s 2h]
Seat 1: Atope (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: PJS JR. showed [8h Th] and won ($17.85) with two pair, Tens and Eights
Seat 3: le_lunatic mucked [Tc Jc]
Seat 4: lucky_davidi folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: crystalbalz (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Romfour (small blind) folded before Flop
Then later...
PokerStars Game #12207359800: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/09/22 - 15:25:47 (ET)
Table 'Lesya' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: PinniePoo ($23.20 in chips)
Seat 2: PJS JR. ($25.75 in chips)
Seat 3: dginchico ($9.75 in chips)
Seat 5: Hadaoui ($28.55 in chips)
Seat 6: 2gr8u ($33 in chips)
PJS JR.: posts small blind $0.10
dginchico: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [Qd Ad]
Hadaoui: folds
2gr8u: folds
PinniePoo: folds
PJS JR.: raises $1 to $1.25
dginchico: raises $1 to $2.25
PJS JR.: calls $1
*** FLOP *** [6d 7s 2d]
PJS JR.: bets $7.50
dginchico: calls $7.50 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [6d 7s 2d] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [6d 7s 2d 4s] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PJS JR.: shows [Qd Ad] (high card Ace)
Didn't hit my outs, but apparently I didn't need to
dginchico: mucks hand
PJS JR. collected $18.55 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $19.50 | Rake $0.95
Board [6d 7s 2d 4s 5c]
Seat 1: PinniePoo (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: PJS JR. (small blind) showed [Qd Ad] and won ($18.55) with high card Ace
Seat 3: dginchico (big blind) mucked [Kc Td]
Seat 5: Hadaoui folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: 2gr8u folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Then, this was a nice little hand as well...
PokerStars Game #12208777379: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2007/09/22 - 16:44:29 (ET)
Table 'Liriope II' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: PJS JR. ($25.30 in chips)
Seat 2: Seikeau ($24.40 in chips)
Seat 4: Insoxenated ($23.95 in chips)
Seat 5: vettejunkie ($58.50 in chips)
Seat 6: love Fruits ($23.25 in chips)
stavar77 will be allowed to play after the button
Insoxenated: posts small blind $0.10
vettejunkie: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PJS JR. [7d 7h]
love Fruits has timed out
love Fruits: folds
love Fruits is sitting out
PJS JR.: raises $0.50 to $0.75
Seikeau: folds
Insoxenated: raises $1.25 to $2
vettejunkie: folds
PJS JR.: calls $1.25
*** FLOP *** [2h 2d 2s]
Insoxenated: bets $2
PJS JR.: calls $2
*** TURN *** [2h 2d 2s] [9s]
Insoxenated: bets $1
PJS JR.: raises $4 to $5
Insoxenated: folds
PJS JR. collected $9.80 from pot
PJS JR.: doesn't show hand
Was hoping for a little more action, maybe he folded 33-66?
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $10.25 | Rake $0.45
Board [2h 2d 2s 9s]
Seat 1: PJS JR. collected ($9.80)
Seat 2: Seikeau (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Insoxenated (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 5: vettejunkie (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: love Fruits folded before Flop (didn't bet)
I tried to keep my hands small unless I had a monster, which I rarely had. Anyways, it was a good day overall... we will see you tomorrow.
See you at the tables. Ryan
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Bad Players
Beginning PS Bankroll: $172.25
Ending PS Bankroll: $174.55
Profit: $2.30 (3-hour session)
Probably the most frustrating thing about low-limit hold'em is the amount of bad players. Obviously, if you are running well, you welcome all of the bad players. When you are not running so well, it makes it difficult to be consistantly in the money.
Case in point, last night, I played 14 6-man $3.25 sit-n-gos, all on PS. Finished in the money in 4 of the first 5, 3-2nd place finishes, and 1 first. Then, all of a sudden, my good hands keep getting taken out by not-so-good hands:
AA < 44 - all-in pre-flop
A8 < J8 - all-in after a flop of 8-8-5
TT < J2 - all-in after a flop of 2-3-4
Ended the session by finishing 4th-6th in my last 6 sit-n-gos, and ended up down about $8.60 for the sit-n-go session. I would be lying if I said I wasn't on a bit of a tilt after doing so poorly in the last 6 tourneys. The only good thing about being on tilt is that it helps me a little sometimes in cash games. I am typicaly quite a timid player, or conservative to say the least. When I jump onto a cash games after poorly played sit-n-gos, I seem to get agressive. Most of the time, it works out.
I proceeded to make back about $11 playing 2 tables of 10NL, with not much action on one table, and doubling up on the other after flopping a set of 2's, and having my opponent make trip Aces by the river.
Won't be playing Wednesday, playing some live poker tonight, and then my wife is in for surgery on Thursday. Probably won't be playing now until Saturday then.
Thanks for reading.
Ryan
Ending PS Bankroll: $174.55
Profit: $2.30 (3-hour session)
Probably the most frustrating thing about low-limit hold'em is the amount of bad players. Obviously, if you are running well, you welcome all of the bad players. When you are not running so well, it makes it difficult to be consistantly in the money.
Case in point, last night, I played 14 6-man $3.25 sit-n-gos, all on PS. Finished in the money in 4 of the first 5, 3-2nd place finishes, and 1 first. Then, all of a sudden, my good hands keep getting taken out by not-so-good hands:
AA < 44 - all-in pre-flop
A8 < J8 - all-in after a flop of 8-8-5
TT < J2 - all-in after a flop of 2-3-4
Ended the session by finishing 4th-6th in my last 6 sit-n-gos, and ended up down about $8.60 for the sit-n-go session. I would be lying if I said I wasn't on a bit of a tilt after doing so poorly in the last 6 tourneys. The only good thing about being on tilt is that it helps me a little sometimes in cash games. I am typicaly quite a timid player, or conservative to say the least. When I jump onto a cash games after poorly played sit-n-gos, I seem to get agressive. Most of the time, it works out.
I proceeded to make back about $11 playing 2 tables of 10NL, with not much action on one table, and doubling up on the other after flopping a set of 2's, and having my opponent make trip Aces by the river.
Won't be playing Wednesday, playing some live poker tonight, and then my wife is in for surgery on Thursday. Probably won't be playing now until Saturday then.
Thanks for reading.
Ryan
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Here we go...
Hello all!
My name is Ryan (PJS JR on FT, PJS JR. on Stars), and I am an addict. That's right, I am addicted. I can't get enough. Poker that is. I started playing about 2 months ago, low limit stuff, and I figure that I am going to be playing as much as possible, and I want to track my progress, so the best way to do this is with a blog.
I plan on doing the basic stuff, showing some hand histories, talking about bad beats, game theory, my overall thoughts about poker and non-poker related stuff, and hope to have a lot of fun along the way.
About 7 weeks ago, I deposited $100 of PokerStars and $100 on FullTilt. I see a lot of differences between the two sites, promotions offered, a little variance in the games offered and tournament buy-ins, so I thought I would try both.
I have focussed my play on the following:
PokerStars:
$3.00+0.25 6-person turbo sit-n-gos
$0.05/$0.10 6-person cash games
FullTilt:
$2.00+0.25 9-person sit-n-gos
I have thrown in the odd $5.00+0.50 9-person on Stars and FT, though I have played very few. Currently, as of September 18, 2007, my account balances are as follows:
Stars: $172.25
FT: $120.44
Total Profit: $92.69
A pretty good start. I will leave that as my first post, and try to post at least twice a week. I want to post a 6-person sit-n-go from a couple of weeks back that I came back from 10 chips to rally for an improbable victory, and I'll do that in my next post.
For now, I hope to see all of you at the tables, and good luck!
Ryan
My name is Ryan (PJS JR on FT, PJS JR. on Stars), and I am an addict. That's right, I am addicted. I can't get enough. Poker that is. I started playing about 2 months ago, low limit stuff, and I figure that I am going to be playing as much as possible, and I want to track my progress, so the best way to do this is with a blog.
I plan on doing the basic stuff, showing some hand histories, talking about bad beats, game theory, my overall thoughts about poker and non-poker related stuff, and hope to have a lot of fun along the way.
About 7 weeks ago, I deposited $100 of PokerStars and $100 on FullTilt. I see a lot of differences between the two sites, promotions offered, a little variance in the games offered and tournament buy-ins, so I thought I would try both.
I have focussed my play on the following:
PokerStars:
$3.00+0.25 6-person turbo sit-n-gos
$0.05/$0.10 6-person cash games
FullTilt:
$2.00+0.25 9-person sit-n-gos
I have thrown in the odd $5.00+0.50 9-person on Stars and FT, though I have played very few. Currently, as of September 18, 2007, my account balances are as follows:
Stars: $172.25
FT: $120.44
Total Profit: $92.69
A pretty good start. I will leave that as my first post, and try to post at least twice a week. I want to post a 6-person sit-n-go from a couple of weeks back that I came back from 10 chips to rally for an improbable victory, and I'll do that in my next post.
For now, I hope to see all of you at the tables, and good luck!
Ryan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)