Finally Found a Decent Limit to Play.

Playing FTP I've started playing .50/1.00 table. Its' tough to do when you have half the max buy-in. But you can actually play. You can push some people off hands. They still overvalue Ace low kicker, but not all the time. There are still suck outs and donkeys, I've just noticed less.

Two Key Hands from today as I sat at home waiting for a fridge to be delivered.

Bought in for $30 (only had $50 in my account). Had ups and downs, but was up to $34 when I was dealt QQ (I'm UTG+2)

UTG raises to 4
I reraise to 8
It folds to UTG who calls.
*** FLOP *** [2h 7d 4d]

UTG bets $17.50

Now I think for a moment. OK. He probably has a hand as he's been playing pretty solid. I doubht he has Aces, as I don't think he would have just called my re-raise. KK? Similiar feeling, but possible. Work my way down to other hands that could beat me... set? maybe a set of 7s. Hard to seem him raising UTG w/ 44, or 22. Those you want to see a cheap flop would limp. I'm about 60% sure I have the best hand. So I reraise all in ($25.85).

UTG calls and shows JJ. Man, was I in heaven. $66.20.
------------------------------

A few hands later, I'm in the SB. (I have $64.20). Two limpers; Mid Postion and Cutoff.

I look down at AQo

I re-raise to 3.
BB folds, but two limpers call.
*** FLOP *** [4d 4h Qd]

I bet $9 and Mid Position folds.
Cutoff raises to $24. So now I'm in a quandry. My first thought is that if he had a 4, I'm dead (obviously). But instead of panicing I start thinking about how he's been playing. Average tightness, hasn't seen TOO many hands. And they've been decent hands, nothing outrageous.

But then I think, what hands could he have that could beat me. MAYBE A4, but even that seems a bit loose for him. I worry about 44 for a second, but think if he hit Quads, he's gonna slow play. Not likely going to reraise a flush draw.
AA and KK are options too, but unlikely with no preflop raise. He's gotta have a Q. Which means I have him out kicked.I reraises all-in ($61.20). He calls and shows KQ. I take down a monster pot of $129.40.

SIDE NOTE: While I was playing that, I was playing in a 2 table SnG ($6.60), where top 4 gets a $26 tournament token (5th gets a measley $4). And I got my token. My first time ever. I've played a few of these recently and OFTEN finish either money bubble or token bubble. I was chip leader as we got to the bubble, but I had the 2nd and 3rd chip leaders (we were all close) to my immediate left. I tried not to tangle with them unless I had to. Managed to wait it out and got my token....Now what do I do with it???

I think there's a 17K Guaranteed tonight to use it on.

I am a Donkey (part 2)

Well I polished off my last $20 bucks on FTP. A poor performance @ a .05/.10 table. I forgot, you can't play poker at those limits. Just wait for solid hands. I played in a SnG and was doing well. There was a jackass who in the first few minutes went All-in on every hand. I never even had a mediocre hand to call him with. He managed to suck out and bust 3 people. Then blinded himself off until 4 people left (I was in 4th) and still manage to have 2nd biggest stack. I ended up busting out to him. I was just glad to see him only finish 3rd instead of 2nd or 1st.

Re-bought this morning for $50. Grabbed $39 (leaves $11 for either 1 $11 or 2 $5.50 SnG if I lost it all) and jumped into a $.50/1.00 table. I really like those limits a bit better. It's just dangerous since it's most of my bankroll right now. I made a quick $10 and then had to go to work. Big Hands included:
AK suited: Flopped the flush draw with 3 opponents. No one called my bet.
AA: Had 1 opponent call my preflop Raise, but he folded when I raised after the flop came Q high with no connectors.
89h: Limped in with three others. Flopped a K-high flush. No callers to my bet.

I might get some play in tonight but I doubt it. TV shows to watch!

I am a Donkey.

Horrible night of poker last Saturday. I had my 2500 FTP satellite into the 200K Guaranteed. And I played poorly. I've mentally blocked hands, so I can't review.

During and after, I entered a couple of SnGs ($10+$1), and failed in those. At the start of the night I had about $120 with FTP. I decided to give the .50/1.00 NL cash game a try and bought in with $40.

Lost it all on pocket Tens. I raised preflop (about $5.00), one caller. The a beautiful 10 came on the flop for my set. I bet $17.00. Guy called. Turn is a Q. I bet $17.00, he re-raised, putting me all-in. I should have seen this as a flag I guess, but didn't. I called and he showed QQ for a better set.

After that, I continued to play in some SnGs. I'm not doing so hot, so I decide to call it a night. Let me just check my account. $3.10! ACK! DONK! I quickly jumped into a $1.00 9 handed SnG and finished 3rd (I think I did this to bring some confidence bank) for $1.80, bringing my account to $4.90. I ended the night, feeling pretty crappy.

Over the next couple of days, I played very little, but did take my ENTIRE BANKROLL (sounds much riskier than the mere $4.90 it really is) and played some .05/.10 NL, Quickly managed that to about $15. dropped to about $8 after I failed SnG attempt, and then got it back up to just under $20. I might try a 45-person $5.00 SnG tonight. We'll have to see.

Fish Quote

I finished first in a $11+1 SnG. This would be a good night, if winning didn't make me EVEN for the night. I played in a few at the same time that I lost.

Daniel Negreanu had an interesting quote on ESPN's Poker Edge radio show.
Definition of a Fish:
"If you're the 7th best player in the world, but you're playing in a seven-handed game with the other 6, you're now a fish."

Mediocre night at the poker tables.

I played a couple of SnG tournaments last night on Full Tilt Poker. A 45 player SnG which I place a disappointing 9th. My heart wasn't in it for some reason.

I also entered a satellite-satellite for their 200K Guaranteed Tournament on Sunday. Basically the buy-in is 300 Full Tilt Points, 9 players. Only the winner gets entry into a 2500pt satellite where 9 players win entry into the 200k Tournament.

Couple of key hands.

3 hands in, I get AA, and was all-in preflop against, the powerhouse of QJo. HUH? Oh well, more money for me. That hand held me for quite some time. We go into three handed and I'm just a few chips behind the chip leader.

This hand pretty much clinched it for me.
Seat 2: Unimpressed (5,925) BUTTON
Seat 4: PLAYER A (1,540) SB
Seat 9: PLAYER B (6,035) BB
I’m dealt 9c, 7c. Manage to flop a straight and cripple Player B (he flopped top pair and turned top two pair) to go into heads up with a HUGE chip lead.

Unimpressed (12,000) - Player A (1,500)

I got him as low as: Unimpressed (13,010) - Player A (490). However, my aggression starts hurting me as he starts hitting cards. At one point the chip counts was: Unimpressed (9,480) - Player A (4,020)

I’ll admit, that I was starting to get a little nervous. Cards haven’t been going my way, and I didn’t like the trend it took. It ends when I’m dealt QTo and flop top 2 pair. We get all our money in after the flop and Player A has KQo. No king comes and I walk away with the seat to the satellite on Saturday.
-----------

I'm definitely OK with how I've been playing. I stay focused and wait for cards. I don't think I'm really getting hit by the deck. If you're going to win any kind of poker tournament you DO have to get some cards, and I'm just able show patiences until the cards come.
I still have a lot of work to do, but I can see my game improving.

I've Finally Slain the Beast!

Last night, I finally get a chance to enter a MTT cash tournament ($11 buy-in) and not a satellite. Now, to keep interested, I usually play a 1 table SNG at the same time. I see a 45 player SnG, just opening up. I sign up for it, but then decide against it and join a regular 9person SnG. I lose at that while I'm in the MTT so I enter a new one. I'm in the middle of both when all of a sudden a new table pops up. I FORGOT to unregister for the 45 person SnG. CRAP!

I decide to check my balance on FTP while play. I started the night with $60, but now have only $20 (basically because of the first SNG I lost and the three I'm in at the time).

So I busted out of the single table SnG around 7th or so. Nothing spectacular. I failed to finish in the money in the MTT. I was doing OK in the 45 player SnG and was just focusing on that (and playing Xbox to keep me from getting bored and playing marginal hands). I managed to get to the final table. I was severly short stacked, but didn't get desperate. Even at one point when I had about 450 in chips and the blinds were 60-120 (in the BB everyone folded to me, and in the SB, I went all-in when it folded around to me and the BB folded). I hit some good hands then, and tripled up. Waited patiently for a few more hands, doubled up a few times again. Found myself heads up, down about 2-1 in chips.

Heads up play didn't last very long. First hand. I'm dealt a very poor hand, but still called a 3x BB rise. Had to fold on the flop.

The 2nd hand I'm down: 51,680 to 15,820.

I'm dealt a marginal hand of 98o and raise. my opponent calls. Flop comes 3-3-A. I have a 3rd of my chips in the pot already, so decide to push All-in to end the hand here. Unfortunately my opponent had an Ace and i was done.

But I did manage to make about $115 in that SnG , and get my first Multi-Table cash (not counting one freeroll I won over a year ago, and not counting the $3 I won when I played in a satellite on Sunday).

Now reviewing my hand history for that tournament I have come up with some pros and cons to my play.

PRO: Good hand selection. For the most part, I'm not often picking just junk hands and willing to see flops cheaply if my cards dictate it. Throwing away the marginal hands I do hit to shows of strength (example, A3s- I played that for the flush. Ace hit the board. I bet. Was re-raised and folded. Opponent showed a set of 4s).

CON: The one of many that was easy to see. Not capitalizing when opponent shows weakness. There were a bunch of hands where I missed the flop and just checked down to the river. Only to show the opponent either missed to but had a higher high card, or hit some tiny pair on the river to win. Need to be willing to bet out and take the pot. Though a lot of the time it has to do with having low chips at the time. If I had more chips, I'd more than likely fire in a bet and let it go if it's re-raised.

Overall, I'm happy with how I've been performing in tournaments recently. If those satellites had been cash tournaments I would have cashed in both of those too.

My 2nd MTT Final Table!

That's right. I made my first final table Thursday night, in a Satellite Tourney. Finished 6th place. Unfortunately as it was a Satellite, only the top 4 paid entry into the bigger tournament and no cash was given out. Well, tonight I made my 2nd final table. Another Satellite MTT tournament. Top 5 positions paid entry into the bigger tournament. 6th place got $3.00 (buy in was $11).

I went into the final table and 3 hands in had QT, flop game x-Q-T. Someone with more chips than me went all-in with A6o. And I became tied for chip leader. I dominated and began to push people around else around. Lost some chips, built it back up.

Finally, we were down to 6 players. I'm about middle stacked. There are 2 or 3 people who are pretty much dead. I look down at JJ. I raise, another guy raises all-in, putting my tournament life on the line. I think, I think... I already laid down pocket 7s earlier after a flop came and 2 overcards... I finally decide, I want some cushion between me and the lower stacks. I call. My opponent flips over AA, nothing comes and I'm out in 6th place.

That's right... I was the bubble boy. Sure I won $3. But I was right there! GRRRR! Shoulda let those jacks go in that spot and just played to get 5th since there was no difference between 1st and 5th. I would have had it too. Stupid call. Any other CASH tournament, where there's more money to be won the higher up you go, I would have made that call almost every time. But in that spot... I just didn't need to... grrrr...

I need to stay away from Satellites!

My First MTT Final Table!

I finally did it. Made a final table. I haven't played too many MTT in the past, as I never had the patience to wait, so I would bust out early. Until recently, I've finally been able to get past that and wait for good cards and not try to force the action. The downside is that I've often finished just before the final table. I even have 3 recent 10th place finishes.

Last night I finally broke the curse. Not only did I make it to the final table, but I did so with the chip lead.

The tournament was a $6.00 +$.60 Satellite to the $200k Guaranteed Event on Sunday Evening. I was able to keep patient by Multi-tabling a cash game on FTP and a cash game on Titan Poker. I was able to play stupid hands there, and not feel the urge to force action in the tournament.

I hit a strong hand early and tripled up to about 4500 chips and just waited for cards. I was in the BB with QJ. A coule of limpers and I check to see the flop. T-8-K. SB bets 150 (pot size), me and everyone else calls.
The Turn is the 9 giving me a the straight.
One guy bets 750, I reraise all-in for 1290, and two people call.

SB had K9, and the other guy had 67 for the idiots straight. I knocked out two players, and never looked back. I continued to build my chip stack, and pick my spots well. The only times I got chips in with the worst of it was if I was up against someone who couldn't hurt me.

As I said, in the end I made the final table, but that's it. The amount of players were the perfect amount to allow 4 positions to win entry into the 200k ($216.00) and no cash prize.

With 6 people left and I'm the short stack, I get dealt A8 of hearts, end up heads up with one player (2nd shortest stack).
The flop, 8-2-5, no hearts (2 spades)

I bet, he re-raises, I re-raise.... and this is where I just didn't think. he re-raised again, I finally push all-in. He hesitates a second. Then calls. Now If I thought his first re-raise was maybe a steal, or he hit part of that flop (2 or a 5), that would be one thing. But with his 2nd re-raise, I should have known something was up. Here clearly wasn't worried about a single card out there. Sure enough, he flips over Pocket 8s. And I"m drawing dead to anything but runner-runner Aces.

Was I flabbergasted when they came!!! No.. just kidding. a 2 came and I was now drawing dead. Out in 6th place.

A bitter sweet ending to a good performance by me.

“Big Gamble” Pays Off…. TWICE.

As many of you know, I play micro limits (so for you big cash players out there, these values are gonna seem super small). Other day, I decided to just play some heads up SnGs. I have confidence in my heads up game. It’s where my aggressive side can come out and play. So I stuck with the $5 SnGs on Full Tilt and on Titan Poker, doing well on both sites. I also threw in some SnGs and MTT (which I haven’t done as well on). My latest deposit was $50. And unfortunately through bad Cash Game play and not finishing 1st in qualifiers I tried, I was down to just over $20. Once again, I head over to the heads up. Win one, then lose one. Finally, I decide to go All-in as it were on one heads up. I put my remaining $20 in it. And, well manage a win. So I’m up to $40+. Again, I’m back to the qualifier MTT and not succeeding so my cash was back to just over $20. Again, I decide to go all in, but this time sit down to a $22 SnG, short handed (6 players) on FT. Now, as I’ve stated before, I haven’t played well in SnGs recently. I’m not sure why, I just haven’t had the patience.

One big surprise… no shortage of donkey’s even at the $22 SnG. All-in on A-9 on the first hand. Crazy. I would say 3 out of 6. Luckily two of them went out right away…

Long story short (too late), I managed to win in a “grueling” heads up battle. Grueling because he almost never raised (I think once) preflop, just called or checked, willing to slow play. The chip lead went back and forth a few times. Finally, I was able to counter his style of play, see flops cheaply and bluff him off a few pots when he just called preflop and I raised. Then if flop came and I missed, I could check to the river, and he’s check right behind. If he didn’t have a hand, he’d check, if he did, he’d usually bet the river and I’d let it go. He might have gotten a few bluffs, by betting the river, but only because I had nothing either. In the end, I was able to get a big chip lead and just push him around, until he barely had the blinds covered, and I took it home.

I turned my $20 into $76. not aThe key now is not to get greedy; though I might make an attempt at a $17,000 Guaranteed Tournament that has a $26 buy-in. We’ll have to see if I’m feeling frisky or not.

-----EDIT-----
I was just reviewing my hand history for that SNG, man I played poorly. Luckily he played worse. My opponent had a 5 to 1 chip lead on me 3 times. Each time I was able to battle back. He didn't want to gamble so he folded to most raises by me. When I finally got a strong chip lead, I never really let it go. The final hand I had a 6 to 1 chip lead. He ended up going all-in after a flop I missed, but figured I could gamble to win it right there, and still have a huge chip lead. Luckily I didn't have to wait long to jump ahead.

Full Tilt Poker Game #561224665: $20 + $2 Sit & Go (3672677), Table 1 -
120/240 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:34:56 ET - 2006/04/11
Seat 4: VILLIAN (1,200)
Seat 5: HERO (7,800)
HERO posts the small blind of 120
VILLIAN posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Td Ad]
HERO raises to 480
VILLIAN calls 240
*** FLOP *** [Kc 6h 7d]
VILLIAN bets 720, and is all in
HERO calls 720
VILLIAN shows [Js 6c]
HERO shows [Td Ad]
*** TURN *** [Kc 6h 7d] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 6h 7d Tc] [3c]
VILLIAN shows a pair of Sixes
HERO shows a pair of Tens
HERO wins the pot (2,400) with a pair of Tens
HERO: gg
VILLIAN: gg
VILLIAN stands up
HERO stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,400 Rake 0
Board: [Kc 6h 7d Tc 3c]
Seat 4: VILLIAN (big blind) showed [Js 6c] and lost with a pair of
Sixes
Seat 5: HERO (small blind) showed [Td Ad] and won (2,400) with a
pair of Tens

A Good Time At Foxwoods

Another trip to Foxwoods last week and it worked out nicely.

My brother-in-law had buy-in into an ACT II for the Foxwoods Poker Classic, but busted out first when his pocket aces were cracked.

I sat in on an ACT I earlier, and played for the first half. Basically, I was dealt pocket 2s in the SB. Middle position limped in. Button raised to 200 (2x the BB). I called, limper called and the flop came A-2-5. I bet out $400, middle position folds, button reraises all-in. I worry about a better set, figure the straight is unlikely because of the raise. So I call. Buttom flips over pocket Ks. She ends up with a $25 chip left. I double up. Afterwards, I can't really believe she went all in with the A out there. I bet it saying I'm not really afraid of it or I have it. Which basically kills her KK. Oh well. I would later bust out when I made a questionable call for 1/3 of my chips with AJ and a board of all low cards. Guy raised all-in, I thought, and called. He had KK and an A never appeared. It did appear later. Unfortunately I was all-in preflop with pocket 7s (it was the first hand I had in a while and my stack was dwindling). And the caller had an A5. The Ace wasted no time and showed up on the flop. I excited the ACT I and proceeded over to the sign in.
I had a decision to make... 2-4 limit, or 1-2 no limit. I like the limit at Foxwoods as the rake is only taken from the pot. So if you put no money in, you lose no money. At 1-2 NL, the rake is $5.00 every half hour from everyone. Which means you can sit there and lose money if you get no playable hands.
Last time I was at Foxwoods, I sat down at a 2-4 limit table at 11:30pm and finally stopped at 5:00am turning my $100 into $300. Not too shabby.

So this time I decided to give the 1/2 table a try. I sit down at a full table, and there are about 3 or 4 people at the table that know each other (mother, son, friend, friend), but they seemed to be on the up and up. After awhile the two friends left and it was just mother and son. Anyway, I sit there for a while and my $100 buy-in dwindles down to about $40. I finally hit a couple of hands, A5 and AQ that stayed the best hands and finally had a stack higher than my starting.

I'm waiting for a hand, and get dealt 66 in early position, so I limp in. Middle position person (player A) with a large stack raises to $15 (this is not a HUGE bet, this is standard at this table). A late position player calls, I call.
FLOP: A - 6 - 3 (rainbow)
I'm first to act, so I bet $40. Player A calls, 2nd player folds.

TURN: 9.

Now at this time, there is some NCAA stuff on the TV (George Mason just beat UCONN), player A is not focused on the table... which works out. I want to win this right now. So I push All-in. It's about $140. Player A is looking at the TV, finally turns around to the table and seems my stack in the middle of the table and does a little jump, asks me how much (he has me covered). Then calls. Without much thought. He flips over AQ. And he's drawing dead. I scoop up a HUGE pot.

A little while later, my brother in law comes by and I cash out. $400 and change. We were going to dinner and I didn't want to worry about carrying a bunch of chips to the cashier, so I colored up. Felt nice to carry around 4 black chips.

--------------

I've been playing a little more online. Primarily at Full Tilt and at Titan (I got $50 "free" dollars at Titan, I just can't cash it out for quite sometime). And basically breaking even on both. I play micro limits so there's not much POKER being played. Just hand selection. It's hard to be patient sometimes.

Though I finally got to a point where I can play my aggressive style and it pays off. I have to play MTTs and stay tight until the antes kick in and get a little higher. Most "bad" players are out, and people will fold to strong bets. I was in a MTT on FTP that started with 177. At about the 50 player mark I found myself the chip leader. That lasted awhile, until I made some stupid plays. Played a little fast and loose with my stack and had it dwindled. I was almost busted when I thought I was on the button and trying to steal the blinds, when it turned out I was in the SB and ended up reraising an UTG raiser. I had A5 and almost half my chips committed, so I called (dumb move as well). Raiser had A9. Flop comes Q-A-2. Luckily for me, the Turn came a 2, which killed his kicker and we split the pot. I would later finish in 12th when someone turned an Ace. Oh well. Unfortunately it was a satellite and the top 2 got seats into a WSOP qualifier, and only positions 3-7 paid any cash. But it was still a good performance by me.

Unfortunately, I was up until 2am in the tournament. Had to get up early the next day to drive 2 hours to see relatives. Man that was a tough day.