broken computer

First day back home from school and I dropped my macbook. that was fun. its getting fixed right now so i will be without playing for a little while. that is unless i want to use my old compaq. Jeez once I started using a Mac I got spoiled and now can't even picture using anything else.

How about I end this very slow year by taking a week off. Get back at it in the new year. More tourneys=more money let us hope.

Sue Collini, out.

Just searching the net

Today I wanted to see if people could view my blog from searching through yahoo so I entered 'llebdet' and I was hit with a bunch of hits to different forums all showing the bad beats and regular hand replays that happen as a result of any poker game. I clicked on a couple to see the stupid things people had posted. In this one I shove for 10 bbs with KQo and get isolated and called by AK and AA. the AA holds and for some reason this guy decided to post it...Wooohooo!

http://weaktight.com/1662871

In this one, I made a marginal play stacking with 99 on a 10742 board (I think) and he insta called and showed 107o.

In the last one some french guy makes a thin 3bet from my pos raise late in the FTOPs #10 and I decide that he is bluffing and call him down. At the bottom he calls me a fish en francais. Pretty funny but this was almost 8 months ago and I should have just shipped it preflop - it was such an easy shove just considering the position factors. As you see I got lucky and rivered my 11 outer to win and he went out 68th. I don't know why people post suck-out hands. Get a life.
Glad I don't play like this anymore:

Sunday November 29th 2009

Played pretty much all day starting at noon starting with some qualifiers. Qualified into the 750k and sunday million but had very little success in either. Early in the million I had KK cracked by someone who limped utg, call a 6x raise and flopped a set on a 1073 flop. I had seen this player already min raise with Q10 on a 1022 flop out of pos to a preflop raiser and call him down so I knew this player to be very active when they limp/call that big of a raise. We got it all in on the flop after I followed (had 15% of stack in preflop and cbet made it over 40%) and he min raised for almost all my chips. I couldnt' fold it and he won a big pot with 77.
In the 750k I played pretty snug and was down to 2100 pretty early. Didn't 3bet to a pos raiser wiht blinds at 30-60 and I had JJ in the bb. Just check called the whole way with 626-7-9 board and he had flopped a boat with 22. Lost about 1000 in that pot. I hung around between 800 and 1500 for over an hour and finally got in with a9 to KK and lost. Oh well.
Out of the 10 or so tournaments I played the one I did well in was the 2pm. got pretty deep and finished 6th out of a pretty big field.

I have a video made up, hopefully I can get it loaded on here.
played well but busted in 6th for $2771. There was so much 3, 4 and 5 betting it was crazy but I found myself right at home in that atmosphere. The last hand the sb shoved with 30bbs and I had 7bbs in the bigblind with 88 and made the easy call. he showed JJ and it was just unlucky like that. ohwell

small, odd raises finally screwed me!

made the most retarded misclick - first one ever!
playing with 90 people left in the $3 rebuy on fulltilt i had 90k with blinds at 1-2k i was in middle position and facing no real opposition, just chipping up like mad.
had Jh2h and want to raise to 4280, however, i raise to 44280...what the heck was i thinking..luckily only the button stacked for his 25k and AKo. i flop great flop 3c4h5h and turns Qh...i look, he has the Kh..crap..river 6h. first time that has happened since ive been doing small odd raises (probably like a 1 in 10,000 type occurence). Sucked but didn't bust me.
played 13 tourneys tonight and cashes in 7. Pretty nice if I didn't decide I would just play $26 and less--mehwell

Fulltilt 750K Part 1 and 2

A review of a few hands in the Sunday FT 750k. Here are two short clips (the blog will only allow 100MB downloads at a time).
Any comments are appreciated - interested to see what you think of these hands.

Leaking

This last week or so I haven't got a chance to play a whole lot but when I have I am finding that I am leaking way too many chips away either raising preflop and cbet folding to raises, or checking to multiple late position callers and folding the flop. Either way my game is all out of whack and I am not sure if it is from not playing enough, raising too much in early position and thus having to play out of position or 3betting preflop and cbet bluffing and folding to raises.
I have found myself getting into too many situations where I don't know where I am. I have been trying to 3 and 4 bet more preflop and it has been working like a charm. Even early in tournaments a small 3 bet in position or on the flop has helped me take control so much easier. A play that seems so standard is becoming a stretch as I am trying to get a good idea on the skill level of those I am playing against.
I am loving to raise the flop with weak holdings when I know my opponent has something middling and re-evaluating the turn/ betting again when a scary card comes. What I have to be doing is putting the pressure on my opponent.

I played a hand very weakly against an aggressive yet successful pro who plays about 800 tourneys a month. He raised the button and I was in the bb with A9o mid multi (blinds 50-100, he had 6000, i had 2400) he raised to his standard 350 and I repopped to 825. What I thought this would do for a solid pro was make him draw a line in his range and either fold or stack almost everything. leaving his decision one way or the other, either way I was pretty happy to get it all-in if he took the button/sb/bb situation into account and narrowed his range. He had also shown down as little as J10off inthe same position and had raised utg wiht KJs the very first hand and 3 pronged a flopped flush draw to a late position caller. He hit the river and the other player gave him 1200chips with a flopped two-overs and a gutter and hit running two pair. Either way I know he plays very well postflop but I was blinded by the flat call he made of the 825. the flop came K49 and I didn't think I could fold the hand (this could very well be flawed thinking - My main thought against it is that one of the only hands that he would just call the preflop 3bet with is KQ) I bet 475 of my 1575 and he called. The turn was a brick and I thought for 10seconds and shoved. He insta called wiht KQ. I was hoping to narrow his range preflop, hit a decent flop for my hand but I am not sure if and how I should have gotten away from this postflop.

-Should I have just let him take the blinds again, he had done it several times and I had little to fight back with?
-Should I have just shoved preflop?
-Could I have check-folded at any point?
-Should I have just called preflop and decided from there? Still not a bad flop for my hand.
-should i have played it just the same?

I think of the five main ways of playing it the worst is a tie between a check fold and just call. At this stage of the tournament I cant be just calling, I think that with a strong player I will be in a very tough spot on so many flops and havent narrowed his range by just calling.

either way, Id like to know what people think about it. This hand is very indicative of the way I things have been going. I thought the preflop 3bet narrowed his range and all I think he will just call with is KQ.. I dunno, what do you think?
Maybe the fold and wait to play a weaker player in position is better

Sunday Report:Oct 4 2009

Played 4 tourneys today: 3 majors (750k on FT, Million on PS and 200k on UB) and the double-deuce. Despite getting a good amount of chips in all three I had a few really good race spots where I was getting all-in for 75+ bbs with top set (nuts in all cases but one where a rare 35 made a straight) and lost two of them for big pots. Very happy to get the dough in like that but surprised still at the frequency people are willing to gamble so deep early and middle in $215+ multis. I did make two very strange plays today, again following my latest trend of 3bet bluffs that I can't let go. Twice I 2.2x 3bet A9o vs a late pos raiser with a big stack (80bbs) vs a smaller (35bbs) stack and shoved a low flop only to have the other player calls a low board with 1010. A very dumb and unneccesary trend I have been assuming that people have been watching my play closer and after I build up a solid image and 3bet 2.2x and show top 5 hands that they will recognize. My mistake totally as I forget that people on sundays are probably more toady than most tourneys. Ah well, a small cash in the doubledeuce was thrilling. Enough to bring me back for the slate on Tuesday.

Side note: found this horrid video you gotta check out. this guy is a total idiot and I can't believe he thinks people will want to advertise on his site.. A MUST see, a video entitled "folding KK preflop" I thought it might be a good one that has an interesting situation that was a good fold...you will be shocked when you watch this but great for a laugh!! Enjoy, bi for now

http://www.pokertube.com/MyPokerface.aspx?movie=11793

New Start

Hey, its been awhile. I've been playing very little this past month and as of today I am moving onto a new venture for awhile. I will be playing more on UB and PS as well as playing the Sunday majors. I've had to bail on the Bankroll Challenge for now, it took too much time playing 1c-2c but I would love to get back into it in the future.
Had a bad start to the new regime, played 13 MTTs and didn't have a single cash. Not good results considering I am used to cashing in roughly 18%.
The great thing is though, that I know what I was doing wrong!
Often times people don't know what they have done wrong to get such undesirable results, however, I do. I simply spread myself too thin. Considering the start times of the tourneys I played (6pm-930pm) and the value of some of them (UB $6.6, AND somehow I had qualied into the Daily Dollar, these just act as a distraction from the real tourneys I should be watching). I was playing good and tight early but when the middle stages of the tournament came I was raising to thin in early position and not willing to fold to small 3bets. No I think often, if you are playing a good player, they will 3bet an utg raise thin and you can call or 4bet and not fold, what I was doing wrong was that I was opening with wrong types of hands utg. I was raising AJo/KQo/66 - hands I should be folding in almost every spot(unless when stacks are deep and the table dynamics dictate that I will be able to get these raises through). However, in these spots, I was raising utg with 25-30bbs and then calling a small 3bet, hitting a piece and not folding. I sincerely hope that no one was watching it because it is not indicative of my actual playing style. Playing tight early was great but when it got later I should have made some more moves in position and just thrown away everything 2nd level in every other spot.
I will make the adjustment and next session I will be playing fewer tables that are so inconsequential.

Lapozie 7th Place EPT Barcelona

Just wanted to say congrats to Matt Lapossie for his 7th place finish in the EPT Barcelona. Sucks to be eliminated by 120,000 EUROS should be an okay consolation prize, good job man.

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/photo-gallery/?t=120&e=460&p=4

Poker takes a backseat

The first couple weeks of school have been very busy and I haven't had a chance to play much poker of late. I played a couple qualies last night and the 630pm HU tourney that I won last week. Won my first 3 rounds and bluff away my stack on the third hand of the 4th match with a three barrel bluff against the wrong guy. The first time I have done that in awhile.

Kind of exciting, lapozie, Matt Lapossie is playing the EPT Barcelona this week and has made it down to the Final Table, 8 players in EPT. He is 3rd in chips and with a $1.3mil-ish US first prize this would be a serious event if he can continue to play well and take it down. Day 4 just finished there and he has been in the top 3 in chips since Day 2 so his consistency has been spot on. Interesting too is the way the writers for pokernews.com are reporting on the live action. adding things like "Lapossie raises again, surprise.." and "Lapossie raised and called with 46s..." (in that spot a short stack had stacked and he was committed. Either way, really exciting to hear a London boy doing well in some Live action. We will see tomorrow how she goes but from how things appear to be happening and with Marc Goodwin the only real big name threat left I'd say he has a really solid chance. Good Luck Matt!

Found a couple new website links sent to me from my brother-in-law talking about the life of a professional poker player. Here they are, check em out:

http://consumerist.com/5330265/pitfalls-of-being-a-pro-poker-player

http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/2009/08/confessions-of-online-poker-player.html

Bankroll Challenge Day #26

Lost my first buy-in today playing 1c-2c as I lost playing 3 tables with AA vs KQo, J7o and 98s after each of those hands limped and called a raise, hit a good flop for them and them not having a big enough stack for me to fold (all with less than $1.50).

END OF DAY #26: $112.16

Bankroll Challenge Day #24

I moved up stakes to $.05-$.10 with a buy-in of $6(staying within my 5% of total rule). I played well overall but got caught in a few bad races and lost a couple coinflips. Have yet to lose a buy-in yet but will be moving back down to 1c-2c. Haven't spent much time playing but will get back at it sooner or later.

End of Day #24: $117.60

$26 Heads-Up Tournament - Full Tilt

Full Tilt runs a nice low-limit ($26) tourney at 6:30pm daily that usually attracts somewhere between 220-300 people. This is a really weak tournament overall and the blinds are set at a very good structure providing you get a player who plays fast along with you. What usually happens is that if there are more than 256 players to start it will play down one round to eliminate the people to get to 256. It is a bracket style tournament where each player is given 2000chips and the blinds start at 10-20 (very reasonable 100 bbs to start). I have played this tourney probably about 6-8 times ever but have yet to make the money in it (that usually entails winning 3 heads-up rounds to reach the final 32). Since this is my first full day away at school and I figured to have to go to bed early I only played 3 MTTs and 2 qualifiers, cashing in the 6pm and failing to cash in the other three. I played well and was able to make a real good run of this tournament winning all 8 of 8 matches against some very weak players.
I am really enjoying heads-up play of late, though I am certain it is the weakest part of my game. I am positive that I would get murdered by the guys that spend a lot of time play heads-up. However, in this field I was able to play againsta much weaker players than would ever see in a standard heads-up tournament.
I approached each match very similarly and use the players weakness and fears(or lack thereof) against them.

• I look up there stats on officialpokerrankings.com and find out if they are a profitable player or are they able to cash alot. Also in what stage of tournaments do they go out the most. This I find important in that if they are often going out within the first 10-30% of tournaments, I would consider them to probably be jumping into a game while their wife makes dinner and just wants a quick fix. I would like to play small pots against them as it is likely that they will play fast with and without a hand. This is by no means accurate, I know some very solid players who attempt to get lots of chips early in MTTs and are willing to go out in order to get them, but when they get deep they play well. However, you must start somewhere with a player and unless I have seen them play before, it is unlikely that I will have an idea of what they do
• After I get an idea of the 'type' of player they are, I will begin nearly every match by playing snug, limping and betting small, attempting to get an idea of what kinds of hands they will call down with raise, and fold. I like to find out if they 'min' bet works and in what spots it works. If I find a player is not responding to this and is raising me a lot I will usually do one of two things. 1) tighten up like mad and check big hands to let him know I will check down good hands/nuts. This will not last for long, I am only doing this to show a couple and earn more check behinds after I bluff flops and value bet 2nd pairs on the turn out of pos. If the player seems too dense for that 2) I will do something that stupid players always recognize, Bluff in a dumb spot. When I say bluff I mean to play a hand pretty much backwards to what my mind is telling me, I'm saying call the flop with 4high and min raise the turn and bluff 2xmin the river with nothing. I will show him that I will bluff, and that he must call my bets. I won't do this type of play for much of my chips but in a spot that will look so weird that it will stand out in his head for the rest of the match.
• No matter what the player does, after he adjusts to the way I want, I will be persistent in my 2/3 pot value bets, check a lot of flops with ahigh when I can't stand a raise and still have some value in bluffing the turn/picking up some over-outs and I will min bet bluff any spot in position. Once I see his mode of operation, it is usually a matter of time before the weak players get so frustrated that they play a weak hand against me and lose, then enter in the chat box how lucky I got. This happened in the match of the final four. I played a really weak player and from the beginning he check folded, limp called and folded the flop and was just waiting to pick a hand against me. After 12 hands, he had won only 2 for about 1bb profit and I had won the other 10, having 3200 of the chips in play. On the last hand, I got KK in the bb and he limped, I had been raising but not once in the bb preflop, though Im sure he didnt notice. He limped for 20, I raised to 80 and he called. The flop came Jc5s6d and I lead out for 120, he raised to 480, basically committing himself, I moved in and he called with J9h. Nothing came to help and he gave me $500 without a fight.
• My main recommendation for low limit heads-up tournaments is to find out your players weakness in the first 10 hands, it might cost you 10-15% of your stack but it will be worthwhile. Work your way back and you will own them, be persistent, dont tank on hands, people get anxious around isnta-bets and will make mistakes.

I was able to get heads-up versus a player who was weak by their stats, but the payout was so uneven ($1769 for 1st and $1011 for 2nd) we made a deal, we each took $1365 and played for $50. I beat him about 6 hands in when I limp called a raise on the button with j6h. The flop came all hearts, Qhigh. We got it all-in and I beat his KdKs.

$1397.44 for 1st. Not bad for my first day in North Bay playing micro tourneys. Gotta get to bed, its 1am, gotta be up in 6 hours ugh.

Its been a long time....Packing, Moving, Wedding, School....

Wow it has been a while... In the last few weeks I have only been playing a few multis a night. Spoke with a few guys about poker. Lapozie a good young player from London who I met years ago met last week to talk about poker as a business and the best way to make a living at it. Definately a good person to stay in touch with and share ideas. I do want to move up limits and my moving away to teacher's college seemed like the best time to do it. I have moved in to my new place and have my first day of school tomorrow so after that I should be able to plan my entire year, poker and all. I will have to get used to using a Mac as I will be giving my other Laptop to the wife.

Have been moving out of our house for the last two weeks so tonight, my first night in North Bay, I was able to relax and have a few beers, though it is lonely here. Made great time of 4 hours 24 minutes on the road.

Pete's wedding is this weekend, I am excited and nervous for him and having to make my own speech (almost done)!

Have to get to bed, miss my lady and the boys.

MeLtdOwn: randomramblins about a MTT

Tonight(or this morning to be more accurate) I was out for a bit and unable to get the full sked in as usual so I decided to just jump in the midnight ($11 1500chip tourney: Do I really play $11 tourneys, ah yes. I find nothing more entertaining than invested the ever severe .2% of my bankroll into a tournament) and the 1am ($26 3000 chip tourney). For the sake of this post, I played the 1am and got about halfway through and busted quite uneventfully so I won't mention any further on it. Now in the midnight, there are usually about 1900-2300 people entering during the week (with about 90% of them being the worst players on the site).

FT play-money player 1: Gee, I think I want to play poker for some real money, I find that I always am winning at the touraments I play and think I could show those people how to do it.
FT play-money player 2: I dont know man, I think its fixed, I always seem to see people making a flush whenever they play suited cards, that it why I limp and call a raise, a reraise and a rereraise with k4 suited, because a flush comes so much...you should put some money onto fulltilt, how about $11?! I'll stake you, you can play the midnight tournament and then we can molest each other two minutes later (that part maybe no word-for-word)

So these guniuses, I don't know how they got their money onto the site, decide to play the midnight tourney. First prize around $4000 most days so not bad investment for a possible $4k return and it requires very little focus, especially early. Within 20 minutes the field usually loses about 500 people (even with a decent structure for a small stake tourney - 50bbs, people somehow just fly outta this thing). This was a very weird tourney nonetheless, I was up and down and had some really interesting hands all culminating in a downward spiral of four awful hands...

Uh-oh I am short: blinds 25-50 stack 1400. about 1600/2201 people left.
I have AJo and I raise to 150 in the c/o. The button reraises to 250 (sounds queer I know, I thought that too). Sometimes I would fold here but considering it was so early I decided the idiot factor was too strong to be ignored and called. the flop came 943 all hearts. I have Ah. I decide to check and evaluate with the thought that since it is early I could stack here for funsies, unregister for the 1am and go to bed(cough masturbate cough). ONE problem, I have him covered, ohwell. He has about 850 on the flop and there is 575 in the pot. A way to know he is an idiot, he bets pot like it is the magical winning button that saves time and makes you win (lalala), where with one more click 'max' then bet, he would be all-in. I digress, I decide it would be fun to stack and move. He, get this, TANKS (uses his time bank to think - for those non-poker minds) and calls with A9d. He holds and I have around 400 left, huh. I shoulda know that min 3bet was A9 (soooted!).
Now is where I decide if I want to play anymore or just stack and go to bed. I surprisly am not that tired and I am watching the new episodes of the WSOP ME on pokertube.com (they don't pay me for promotions...yet) so I was still in the mood to play. I waited and picked spots and finally triple up when I move all-in utg with A5, the button calls and the bb isolates for 3k, the button folds and I get to 1300 when I flop a 5 and beat his AQo. YAY, Im back (should take the CAPS off, I wasn't really that excited and there was still a ton of people left and I was under the starting stack.

If you can't beat em, join em..play like an idiot to beat idiots "nice min raise"
My buddy Rich has become a supporter of the min raise or just over min raise in tourneys these days (more on that later) and I agree that it can be so sexy for your game. HOWEVER, early in a tournament I see little to no value in doing it. And the worst, are the manners in which these toads are using the min-raise button. How on god's green earth are you min-raising in the sb after two early position limps?! It's like taking a kicker in the 3rd round of a fantasy football league - everybody talks about how dumb it is but you don't fully realise it til you see your buddy passing up on starting RB's to get Steven Godkoswki(I can't spell it, fuck em).
So I'm just chillin around 1300 for awhile til I pick up AA in the bb with the blinds at 50-100, it goes limp, limp, limp, limp, limp, a couple folds mixed in,then the sb makes a sick play, he MIN raises, WTF, well done bud, did I miss a chapter in Supersystem or is that a move you learned playing for cheerios down at the soup kitchen (regular worth 1, multigrain worth 2 and the rare honey nut worth 5!). I decide with so many limpers it would be fun to see a flop and try to get some more money in the pot. However, I can't just call, that would be silly...BUT I can raise...So I min raise! haha "make it 300 to go suckas!!" The action goes around and two fold but we have 5 of us going to the flop (a $1500 pot, yippee!) the flop comes 1074, stellar, I think okay, there is enough out there, after the sb checks I move all-in for 1000 and get three, count em three callers! what a cooler, someone has a set I think, they show their hands, sb has AJ, one has q10 and the last man who called had the devilish J9, wow so sick!! haha. I fade the 8, Queen and 10 and more than quadruple up! haza! I chill for a while til we get to the money, it usually happens by about 215am, and I'm pretty sure I cash in this specific tourney about 40% of the time, no lie.
I chill and and chip up pretty consistently until we get down to about 100 players and we are getting into the deep money, like $28.41 we're talking about! This is when I start to turn it on, I am raising and reraising and just murdering people, I move from 22k (about 30bbs) up to 90k without being all-in within about ten minutes, just picking on the weak players or are planning on moving up in the money to get the extra $2 that is offered if you outlast 13 more people. Getting late I am raising 2.1-2.3x with everything and it is working like a charm, as we get down to 25 people I am in the top 5, not good for the field, I check everyone left at my table and only one guy is a winning player and he has profitted a cool $300 out of $5k in cashes, IDIOTs!
I get into a fun couple hands where the guy two to my right(always on the button when im in the bb) starts stealing my raises spots and raising me, bastard! I decide we better put our dinks on the table and see whats what. I repop him (this sounds a lot like the story matt damon tells Ganish about Johnny Chan at the turkish bath but it doesnt stay that way) three or four times and he finally ef's off. He seemed like he was getting sick of it and he raises my bb again, we are two of the bigger stacks so I don't wanna tangle but I would. I have 99 in the bb and he makes it 2.5x to 25k, I reraise to 65k and he tanks and repops to 147k. Hey! This is button/sb/bb play, he can't have it, can he? I shove for my 310k and he tanks, wow he really got caught 4betting here and I 5bet him out with half his stack in the middle. He folded and I took a huge pot.

The end is where it is not so fun, with the blinds at 10-20k 2k ante, I am raising a good amount but everyone is shoving on me, I keep having to fold until I raise in the c/o wiht A6o to 44500 and the sb shoves for around 120-130ish, whatever the number was I was getting about 2-1 and I thought I had to make a stand, I was also the chip leader at over 600k so I could afford calling it. (btw chip leader with 30bbs, crazy, I know!) I call he shows A10o and I lose. two hands late, with 13people left I am just looking to make the final table. I raise utg to 44k with AJo and the bb moves for 164k. I call, kinda frustrated but having a good feeling that he thought I was raising with anything, he shows 77 and I lose to that. Another couple hands later I am at 280k and have 66 onthe button, a short stack min raises, seems decent but I don;t know what to do, he has about 160k. Fulltilt freezes and my comp is shutting it down...oHno! it must have hit my disconnect button cause I signed back on and still had a chance, I shove and he tanks then calls with 1010, crap, I lose again. down to 89k, blinds 10k-20k I move utg A3c, gotta be a favourite, get insta called and lose to AKo, out, lost 1/4 of the chips in play in 8 hands and Im out.
13th place for $165 or something, woohooo.
The funny part was the way it went down, I was playing a bunch of idiots, raising and taking everything and avoiding conflict, I made one thin-ish call and everything went down hill from there. If I were to bet I woulda said I was a lock to win that tourney, no one else knew what they were doing. Ohwell, like I said, I was over it right away...More entertainment but great to try new stuff and see how it works.
Sorry not much in the way of educational this time but definately just a way to vent and a reason to stay up later, bedtime was at 11pm, score!
had a great party last night, the gf organized all my friends to come out, and beau, to go downtown for my going away, so fun, my stomach hurts, I think someone put something in my beer, something poisonous. All for now, TTYL.

Bankroll Challenge Day #12

Its been a slow few days, only play about ten tournies since last post and about two hours of bankroll challenge.
Played tonight and started with around $119. Played two different tables and had a few hands worth mentioning.
In this 1c-2c cash game style I have been dictating my play around the types of weak players seem to be. Some are too tight, too loose, too passive, too aggressive or a combination of a few of those but it is a complete rarity to find someone with any substance playing at these levels (really who that is 'good' is going to spend much time at 1c-2c unless they have to built their bankroll to play higher). One tacted to counter people who are playing too straight forward is mixing it up and raising and calling raises with different 'weak' hands.
In the first hand I had been at the table a couple times around and found things very slow going. I (have around my $4 starting stack) got 5h2h in middle pos and raised to 7c (just to mix it up). It folded to the sb(about $1.60) who called and the bb folded. 16c in pot. flop came 24A, call different suits. sb checked and I bet representing an ace, 8c. sb called. pot 32c. The turn came 2s, putting two spades on the board. He checked and I felt like he had a decent ace, like A10, A9. I decide to overbet to get him to call again, he cant think the 2 helped me. I bet 54cents. He calls pretty quick. I know before the river comes out that Im gonna bet the rest of his 80cents. the river is a 7s, putting 3 spades on board, he checked and I bet 80cents. He thought for 15seconds and called with KK. Haha he musta felt stupid when he saw my hand, I didn't even get chirped but I suppose my play didn't add up to him or he was just being stubborn with his KK. Chalk another one up to the overbet!
I moved to a new table as that one was moving too slow, I had won a couple bucks there but it was shutting down. At the new table it was insane, the avg pot was over $1.25! To put that in perspective it was like sitting at a $1-2 game and having pots averaging $125 every hand(I never thought you all were stupid, the example was as much for my sake as yours, what a sick amount of action for 1c-2c!)!!
I only played there for a half hour and played about 4 hands, waiting for spots to make some easy money. Leading up to these two hands I saw a played with $18 at the table, limping for 2c and calling a $3 all-in wiht J10o, I assume that people had seen him do that because they were moving all-in with K9 and Q6! Now this is what low limits is all about.
I pick up 1010 in the sb and see 5 people limp in, I want to maximize my money (and I'll be honest, have a little fun), I move all-in for $4.50 and get called by two players who had limped, the utg limper had AKo and 80cents and the mid pos and third man allin had A7o and $3(coooler??omg haha) board came two kings and I lost the main pot but won about $2.2 off of the second man.
The last hand I played I had glorious KK and I raised inthe cutoff to 10cents, the sb reraised to 24 cents with 44cent back. Even though I was pretty sure he had AA I still had to call (are you kidding me? its 58cents!!) He showed AA and I lost a monster $1.36 pot, so sick.

Not much excitement, played a couple small MTTS tonight 2/3 in cashes got deepish in one 39/1300, just need to break through late.

END OF DAY #12: 123.47

Bankroll Challenge Day #6

Took Monday and most of Tuesday off from playing. Decided to put in a little time for the bankroll challenge. Play for about an hour 1c-2c with a $4 buy-in and for the first time had to leave the table because the amount I had on it was more than 10% of my total bankroll. Made over $10 tonight and considering that is 500bbs, its pretty good.
Had two interesting hands that my opponents total misplayed and illustrates the weak play of these micro-limit games.

1. I had 99 in second pos after an UTG limp. I raised it to 14cents and everyone folded except the initial limper. The flop came down Jd10dJc and the limper checked (he had about $7), I didn't have a diamond but thought I could bet and get a lot of weak ace-x hands to fold and small pairs. I bet 18cents, a small information bet, he called, the turn was a 5s and he checked. I thought about a diamond draw, 10-x or even KQ so I checked hoping to save some money on the river but maybe pay off a bluff. The river was the 9d. so beautiful. He checked to me and I decided to overbet, I bet $1.34 into a $.67 pot. He quickly raised enough to put me allin, around $2 more. I knew that was a safe card, the daimonds hit, the KQ hit a straight, i just cant beat a J10, J9 and I didn't think any body would play a flopped full house like this. I called and he showed KJo. He played it so weak and then expected me to bet the river. Interesting nonetheless and ofcourse I hit a 2 outer but I wasn't put much more in, especially on a river like that where a draw had hit, if I hadn't of hit it ofcourse. Add $4 to the stack right there.
2. This hand I have K9s in the sb and there are 3 limpers, I call and the BB checks, the flop comes 3s5h7s. I have the second nut flush draw but decide to check and wait to hit something. It checks around and the turn is As, I now have the nuts. I check to induce some action (3 late pos limpers all have $2 or less, sb has $3). It checks around again, there is 10cents in the pot. The river is the 6c, now there is a four straight on the board, a 4 will make a straight but I still have the nuts. Now that this straight has hit the board I bet 31cents into a 10cent pot (check my notes on overbetting these micro games, no one cares about 'change', they are too curious). BB folds, 1st limper folds, 2nd limper calls with 50cents back. 3rd limper raises minimum to 62cents, I wait and raise to over $3. The 2nd limper calls himself all-in as does the 3rdd limper, a decent, $7 pot and I have the nuts. The 2nd limper shows J4h for a straight the 3rd limper shows 89o for the nuts straight. I take a good sized pot.

Good day overall for the challenge!

END OF DAY #6: $117.64

Bankroll Challenge Day #3

Only played about an hour in the last two days. Doubled on one hand early when I had KQs from the sb and a button raiser raised preflop I called flop came Khigh, we got it allin on the flop (superloose player, I should clarify the reason I fast-played it) with $4 each vs his K10, I held. Gave most of it back in tough hands, 99 vs AA on button I raised and we got into that whole button, sb, position thing where I thought he was full of it (so hard to give people credit in the blinds some times!!) and another where I call a raise to 7c in pos with AQo and flop came Qhigh, he had $2.5 and it got allin, his KK held. Either way, tough couple days, didn't play at all today actually but did go down overall. This might take a lot longer than I think it will...


END OF DAY #3: $104.90

Sunday Report: August 9th 2009

(Above: Keith Harding, also my fantasy profile photo. Looks kinda like the real Keith if you knew him)

My first real Sunday playing on FullTilt in a long time. It seems weak but as a player that considers himself to be pretty serious about poker, I have probably only played in about 15 sunday majors ever. Being a small stake 'pro'(when I say pro I use it very loosely in that I gain my primary income from poker, in most other sense, I do not consider myself advanced enough to be professional) I find it very difficult to fork over the $200+ for the larger tournaments when a bad sunday playing everything could force a 10%+ hit to my bankroll.

Today was the FTOPS Event #10 - $322 1.5million tournament. I played that at 6pm as well as the 7:05pm Mulligan - $216 200k. The story in them is pretty much the same. I called too many raises early with small-medium pairs, missed and checked folded the flops when I missed. Usually not a horrible play when you are getting to limp but calling raises 4 or 5 times in each tournament and then folding is a very bad gameplan if you are not mixing in raising in the proper spots. As such, I saw my stacks in both dwindle pretty decently until I finally decided to make stands in each.

In the FTOPS with about 18bbs in the sb I called a mid pos raise with 66 and check raised an active player allin on a 1083 flop. He called with 99 and held. Bad preflop call, I hadn't narrowed his range preflop and just hoped and shoved when I could have moved on to the next hand with 14.5bbs. I don't hate my move, if it had a real reason to it. I thought he could have an over pair or two big cards and decided that he had two overs. Silly of me, I just got bored-ish (which is rare for me) and was annoyed about not picking up any hands all tourney (also rare).

In the Mulligan it basically went the same way, played tight and saw 6-7 flops of 93 hands. I waited to have 20bbs on the button to a mid pos raise from a 14bb player and shoved with 99, he insta called with AKo and turned a K, crippled, went out a few hands later, QJo to AKo. Ohwell, $538 down the tube and a waste of a good Sunday where almost every field is stacked with 60%+ losing players.

I am finding my early tournament play to be too passive of late, I feel as though I need to get chips handed to me and get late in the tourney for my real game to come out, my game late in tourneys has been very effective of late, just a matter of playing more and getting a chance to be deep. I suppose the lack of need to win might be effecting my play somewhat but I hoped doing things like writing about it would help. We will see; definately an okay problem to have but I have thought about doing what Rich did last month, where he plays very aggressive early kind of following in the footsteps of players like grindtherail and daisyxoxo. Perhaps I will try that just to get myself in those deep spots again.

In a side note also had Fantasy Football draft today where my team looks pretty decent(so I am told as I am far from a fantasy specialist):

QB- Tom Brady

RB- C.Johnson, Lynch, E. Graham, Hightower, L. Washington

WR- T.O., Breaston, R. Williams, Burleson, Muhammad

TE- Gonzalez

K- Longwell

D- Vikings

I do really wish I picked up Vick like my buddy Keith thought of, genius use of a last round pick, Good Job Keith! When he gets back in week 5 he should be a monster where he's playing, if it is in the wildcat as I think they should (Omg, I sound like a fantasy junky, shoot me now)

Fun day overall, surprised I'm not hungover after mixing chocolate liqeur with grapefruit juice last night, what was I thinking, unreal.

All for now

Maintaining your Bankroll and Satelite Play

I think the biggest part of playing poker is your bankroll management. The key to bankroll management in online MTTs is to establish a good enough online 'float' where you don't need to make deposits and you are able to play for at least two months without cashing at all. Now two months definately seems like a long time, and it is incredibly unlikely for a winning player to go more than 20ish tournaments without cashing so for most people that is not a problem. The variance, and the reason I suggest using the two month period as a guideline, is in a downturn (a time when you may not be getting the results you want) you may find your bankroll dwindling and it can be very worrysome. When you worry about this, it can effect your play. When I first started out playing on FullTilt I used deposit $400 (about 15 tournament buy-ins) and play until I lost that or made a decent cash. So I invested 6.5% of my bankroll in every tournament I played. A few times I would get low and be worried about going broke all together (now this 'broke' was not in terms of my bank account, but in terms of my online account) and it would effect me playing well. When I did make a cash for, say, $2500, I would withdrawal everything from my account BUT $400. Again, leaving myself in the position to not only have 15 buy-ins but also make myself worry about going broke and having to deposit again. As Rich would say, you are paying yourself too much and I was. I never gave myself a chance to get comfortable in my online play. The first 5 tournaments into that 15 tournament stake and I would get worried again, start playing tighter, and undoubtedly, play worse.

After I started to get a few more cashes and feel like I was still making money I was able to leave a little more and a little more on the account until I knew I would probably never need to deposit again(knock on wood, let us hope).

Recently, as I have felt comfortable in my bankroll online, I have started to play some more satelites to bigger tournaments, specifically the FTOPS that is going on right now. I bought into a few tourneys for $6-26 and won seats in a few. I am finding the satelite, because of its structure, to not only be very fun, as it simulates both bubble play and late tournament play, but it is also very profitable for a winning player. There are a few reasons I find that a smart, winning player is more successful at satelites than the average leisure player:

1. How to play tight early: most leisure players just have a set amount of time and need instant gratification or they get bored, often gambling or making weird calls, then getting short and not having the patience to wait for a spot to double up. If for some reason, I get short in a satelite, I consider the tournament (and the money I invested) lost. I then regroup and decide to find the perfect spot to get my remaining chips in as a favourite and hope to double up.
2. understanding of late tournament play: I have found that leisure players have no idea what to do around the bubble. Example: in a 100person $26 satelite, top 12 get a seat to a $216 tournament. When it reaches the final 30 or so, and if I have enough chips, I begin to really notice who is 1)trying to get chips 2)trying to hold on to their own chips 3) hanging on for dear life with less than 10bbs. Once I realize that, I begin to attack those I feel will give up their chips without a fight. This section, between say 30 people to 20 people, is where I think I am able to win a seat.
3. knowing when to raise and how much: late in satelites, weak players are constantly raising 3x in position and folding to allins with less than 5M, this is not a profitable(obv). when it gets this late in tournaments you have to know who a raise is going to work on the most and what to do to get your desired result. I usually try to find a spot on the table where the weak players are in the blinds and I can at least feel comfortable that as I continuously steal their blinds, the people to act behind me won't either 1)catch onto it or 2) be willing to stop me. Televised poker has taught us over and over that a standard tournament raise is 3-4x bb. More recently, it has become obvious that smaller raises usually work and don't risk nearly as many chips. I find that late in satelites the small raise is much more effect. In fact, the raise of 2.3-2.6x seems to get the point across without risking my whole stack. Now, there are definately situations where I like to overbet (4x raise or just move all-in) in order to scare the players for their tournament life. Example: 14 people left in that same tournament, blinds 300-600, I have KJo on the button with 7000. I have both players in the blinds covered but never want to raise and fold to an allin here, first I will tank for 10secs and shove for 7k. Not an idea move in all situations, but, suppose the bb with 6100 has A7 or A8, does he really want to call for his tourney, on the bubble with that hand? Probably not, I love this play because they have to pick up at least AQ or 77 to feel comfortable enough to call, and even then, with two people to the satelite seat, should they. I know I wouldn't. Strike fear in those tight players by making them make a decision. The worse play they make in that same spot would be to raise to 1800, I have A7 in the bb and shove, and now not only have they given me an opening to move but they have to make a decision for most of their tournament when if they just moved all-in to begin with they would have stolen the blinds and moved onto the next hand.

I really think satelites are the best tournaments out there for a winning player, also the best way to learn how to play late in MTTs and SNGs. If you are always keeping in mind just cashing, you will never make enough money to support your downswings, you must go for the gusto and in satelites that doesn't mean making crazy plays it means making someone else have to make a tough logical play. Once in a while it won't work for you and the bb will call off his tourney with A8o but you can't worry about that, you have to be willing to get some chips in order to last late in satelites and the profitable move late in a satelite is usually the most (pro-actively) aggressive.

Someone else Saved my tournament...

Playing the 10rebuy tonight I found myself in a hand like no other. I don't think that I have played one street of action where I have changed my mind this many times. In a game where they say there are over 200 variables to be looked at in one decision, and I usually process most of them automatically, I actually had to stop, and analyze the play be made, which usually takes a split seconds.

Playing 120-240 ante 25 with about 200 people left in $11 rebuy on FT. 640 people started.

Brand new to table; 2nd pos(12k), 3rd pos(7k), button(11k) and sb(5k) limp, BB (me- 5300) check with 67o. The pot has 1425.

Flop comes Kd7d6d

sb checks, I check bottom two (I check to evaluate the flop action. Likely call a small bet and lead allin for my stack on the turn if a diamond doesnt hit and versus one opponent, in these limped hands, it is much more likely that someone is limping with something suited, not knowing this table I assume someone could have done so) 2nd pos bets 720, 3rd pos calls, button folds and (to my surprise) the sb raises to 1940.WOW. Seems like an obvious fold to me but I wanted to re-evaluate before I folded.

• I checked the flop, assuming someone to bet with a big diamond or top pair, intending to call and ship it on a brick turn. 2nd pos did so by betting 720. If it folds to me I will call and lead allin on the turn for about 4400 if a brick hits.
• when 3rd pos flats my first thought is the nuts, however the speed in which he did so (very fast, less than 2 seconds) makes me feel like he has a strong hand, like KxQd but that he doesn't want to built a massive pot yet. My plan still seems to be okay, though I suppose a call on the flop is pretty weak considering the possible four cards my opponents are now holding to either have me beat or draw vs me. I think I will probably fold or move in on the flop, hopefully making a good King/diamond fold in the 2nd pos by the squeezeish play and only have to worry about 3rd pos.
• when the sb raises to 1920 of his 5k, it seems pretty obvious he has the nuts; could he not?I can't think of any other hand I would make this move with (perhaps the made Qhigh flush). I think for ten seconds (ofcourse, processing all this as I go) and fold. What's interesting is what happens after I fold.
• 2nd pos then moves allin for his 12k total, 3rd pos thinks for five seconds and stacks for his 7k and the sb (basically committed with any live hand) stacks for his last 3k.
• Could I have possibly folded the 4th best hand?!

2nd pos shows Jd10d. for the third nuts.

3rd pos shows 77 for middle set.

sb shows (a massive surprise) Ad4c!

So I folded the third best hand and would be needed perfect perfect 6,6. to win. The turn was a 6 and the river As. 3rd pos took a massive pot and sb was knocked out. Seems as though, if the sb hadn't made that weird raise, assuming that no one had a made hand, I would have gone broke too.

An interesting hand for sure, but the way it played out was what made it so cool, I avoided busting by someone else making a mistake (not the worst mistake I've ever seen ofcourse. If their goal was to get it allin on the flop, they did. And hands opened it was probably a slightly negative equity play. I think with a flop like that, a bet and a call in front, you must assume at least one, probably two outs (diamonds) are gone from you. But if you want to make things happen and get some chips middle of a tourney, just tell me ahead of time so I can fold my bottom two!!

Bankroll Challenge Day #1

So based on my rules for bankroll playing I decided that it would be best to start at the 1c-2c 9 player tables on UB. The max buy-in they allow is $4 so I started sitting at just one table.

Table 1. $.01-$.02: Buy-in $4
Got into a great spot where the player to my left called any amount preflop and on the flop, he clicked his 'call any' button. I moved a couple times with nut hands but finally a hand came up where his $3+ stack came all my way. Playing five handed all three limped to me in the SB him in the BB, i compete with 710o and he checks, flop comes 77K and I bet 13c into a 10c pot. he insta calls (has that call any button on) so does one other (has about 60c). Turn comes 8 an and I shove for $4+. He insta calls for about $3.5 and shows K9o. I take down big pot. Leave that table after a bit up about $3.

Table 2. $.01-$.02: Buy-in $4
I love this limit!!! first played hand, a limp for 2c with 8c back, another player min raises and one more call, I have AKo in the sb, and shove for $4 (the min raiser has about 4.12 but Im not worried, its 1-2c!!) and the bb call shoves for 60c with K10o, I hold and ty for the 60c. HAHA


notes for the day

• if ever on tilt and need to either get rid of some angst from all the beats, or want to play tight, passive; play 1c-2c, it is incredible how playing this allows you to regroup, remember to play position and take your edges in the right spots.


• Don't stab at uncontested pots, so many people are checking and calling it is not a profitable play.


• dont be afraid to limp, everyone does it and you can get away with a lot of thin suited limps, BUT when you limp, dont call raises with those mid-blackjack hands, people always follow


• NOTE: when you make a hand, overbet the shit out of it, 2-3x the pot in the right games works like a charm

I ended up finding a couple really slow tables to play at in the early afternoon and made a few bucks. Not a lot in the grander scheme of things but considering the size of the game making 100 bbs isnt bad at all!

END OF DAY #1: $106.53

Head's Up Debaucle

Last night playing the 8:35 $3.30 rebuy tournament on Full Tilt, I got deep in the tournament with very little problems. with about 30 people I was the chip leader and chipping up quite easily. Got down to the final table and played a hand really poorly with 7 players left.

UTG I pick up 1010 and have been raising a lot but usually in pos. everyone has been giving me respect and if not I have been losing the minimum post flop. I have 750k (with 6m in play) and I raise to 50k (blinds 10-20k 2k ante). folds to sb who I know as a loose flushmaster that likes to see flops. he calls and the bb folds. 124k in pot. Flop comes Q73 and he leads for 60k, I call, pot has 244k. turn comes 5 (no flush draw). He bets 110k and I decide that he hasn't defined his hand yet. 464k in pot. river comes 8. he bets 180k, looks so weak and I thought I had it on the turn so stay with my read and call. he shows KQo and wins 824k pot. I have 350k left.
Very next hand in BB. I wake up with AA. and type in the chat box: nh sir, what a bad call by me... as i am saying that, 2nd pos loose big stack raises to 52k and gets two callers, action to me. gl all and i shove. get isolated by the initial raiser and folds from other two. My AA beats his AKo and Im back around 900k.

Now, I am reborn, Rich and I talk about how I'm back to my original spot and from then on I just dominate this table, raising everyother hand and calling raises, leading into preflop raisers, threebetting the stronger players and calling down the weakest players. I knock out one or two in 70-30 spots and have about 3.1m 3 handed. Player to my left is decent and has around 2.4m. I have been raising my button (his sb) and my sb(his bb) like crazy and he has reraised me once while the other MsMuffin is getting slowly dwindled, though he is not overly anxious to play back at her, I would be content to play MsMuffin because she has been so bad.
with 3.1m on button and blinds 30-60k 5k ante, I raise to 135k with A2d, sb reraises to 425k and I think he must know that MsMuffin is awful and will go out soon, he can't stack here unless he has a monster. So I shove and he insta calls with KK, I flop an A and we are headsup.
ME (5.5m) vs. MsMuffin (500k)
At this point MsMuffin has already clicked the deal button(a new feature this very week on FT) but I obviously have no need to even look at. I raise a couple hands and fold one when i get A3o on the button and decide to raise, she has about 460k but I hit the pot button by accident and raise to 260k. FUCK ME. She calls and the flop comes 953, and shoves, I insta call and she shows 97o, I cant hit anything and she is back up to near 1m. Game on, kinda.
Now, I know it doesn't seem like such a big deal to most people who have half a brain for poker, you would say, well if she is gonna call a raise for more than half her stack she would call an allin, right? Not this idiot. Huge mistake on my part, I move, she would likely fold as I had seen her done before.
So we continue playing and get in a big hand where I am in the bb with K3 and she has limped. flop comes k42 and I check, she bets min, i raise 3x and she reraises min. For some reason, I shove and she shows K4, I dont hit and now have 2.8m to her 3.2m. I try to run a couple bluffs but she has been doing the min riase, min lead, min reraise and so on like mad. (believe it or not, a tough strategy to play against HU with BB's) and I dwindle to 1.4m. I limp on the button as she has been raising min every bb (not optimal as you have to play out of pos, but if you are min leading the flop, kinda takes the problem out of the way) with K9o, planning to trap, she min raises (blinds at 40-80 at this point) and I shove, she insta calls and shows A3o, I flop k95 and she doesn't improve. back in it 3.4m or so. 3 hands later, I raise min from the sb with 99, she min reraises and i shove, she insta calls with KJs and turns a J to win the hand, A 5.4m pot. FUCK. I get a series of 32, 42,92,47 and cant call a single min raise, have to stack with k4 with 300k and lose to her AJo.

Just an awful feeling, I owned the table and had a bad player 10-1 in chips and couldnt finish her off. So instead of $2250 I get $1390. Don't get me wrong, not bad for a $3 tourney, but when you have the victory in sight, its more frustrating to lose HU versus such a toad than lose the $1k.

Live and learn, I have to stop and think, I let that HU match get away from me, usually I don't but I will learn from it and move on. Fuck poker is fun.

Bankroll Challenge

Like many pros in I have seen in the past, I have decided to dabble in a bankroll challenge.

A way to show people that a small buy-in like $100 can be turned into $10,000 in a short period of time following tight rules of bankroll management and game selection.

The guidelines for my challenge will be:

1. must never buy in to a cash game for more than 5% of bankroll; with the exception of the lowest limits where I can buy-in for $2.50


2. must leave the cash game table if the money represents more than 10% of bankroll


3. cannot buy in to a MTT or SNG for more than 2% of bankroll, unless its $1 tourney, if bankroll is too low

With patience and putting some time in I think the best way to make this successful will be to play small limit cash games, however, that opening thought may change, AND, if for some reason I'm unsuccessful I'll be happy to try it again.
Let's do this thing

Bachelor Party!

This is the first of hopefully many blogs for me here. Preparing all day for my moving to North Bay later this month and after reading several posts by a known poker player that gave me some great insight, I thought it would be a really good idea for me to keep in touch with people but also allow myself to talk about the important things to me.

This weekend was Pete`s bachelor party and we had a great time. There were, however, a few uncomfortable and anxious moments throughout the weekend that mainly came as a result of the large number of people that were there. For the most part these things had to do with leaving things out, not having sleeping space for all, and general disagreements amongst our guests. The cottage in question, my aunt and uncle`s two bedroom modern bungalow in Gananoque. This place is amazing, and they have never been tentative to offer it out to anyone who was interested, this however, has worried me of late in that it may become uncomfortable for them to do so while feeling confident that they will get best out of it themselves. They are very giving people and I don`t think they would ever really feel bad about lending out their place, but I worry that they may be too generous for their own good. What a great quality to have though!! Truly great people, they even were okay with us having 13 people stay when the palce only sleeps 5!

While at the cottage we visited my Dad and his wife, Mary! Also super understanding, they volunteered to housed my uncle and even came by to say hi to us all and pitch in with a little tubing-assistance. In the future I think we will stay somewhere that has 1) more space for our huge party 2) has a maid service (as even after we left and checked things two and three times, we were still worried we hadn`t tidied enough)

Cutting it close from 4 nights to 3, I am glad to be home, have had some great time with FMB(future Mrs. B) and GW (Gus-Welly).

Watching the new show, More to Love we are finally settled for the night, where I am deciding on playing some tourneys after FMB goes to sleep.

I hope to talk about my life in London, North Bay and all the trips we hope to take in the next little bit. The wedding, Poker, sports and post some photos. So whoever I draw to read this, I hope you enjoy and send your feedback, I love to write and what better to write about then the things I love (listed above, inclusive- FMB & GW).

SYL